Yakutsk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Yakutsk (English) Якутск (Russian) Дьокуускай (Yakut) | |
|---|---|
| Image:Jakutsk theater.jpg Oyuunsky Square. To the left Sakha theater new building. | |
| Image:Lena watershed.png Location of Yakutsk in the Lena watershed | |
| Coordinates Coordinates: | |
| Coat of Arms | Flag |
| Image:Yakutsk coat of arms.jpg | Image:Yakutsk flag.gif |
| City Day: Second Sunday of September | |
| Administrative status | |
| Federal subject In jurisdiction of Capital of | Sakha Republic Sakha Republic Sakha Republic |
| Local self-government | |
| Charter | Charter of Yakutsk |
| Municipal status | Urban okrug |
| Mayor | Yury Zabolev |
| Legislative body | City Council of Deputies |
| Area | |
| Area | n/a |
| Population (as of the 2002 Census) | |
| Population - Rank - Density | 210,642 inhabitants 89th n/a |
| Events | |
| Founded | 1632 |
| Other information | |
| Postal code | 677000 |
| Dialing code | +7 4112 |
| Official website | |
| http://www.yakutsk-city.ru/ | |
Yakutsk (Russian: Яку́тск; Yakut: Дьокуускай [dʒokuːskaj]) is a city in the Russian Far East, located about 4° (450 kilometres) below the Arctic Circle. It is the capital of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic (formerly the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic), Russia and a major port on the Lena River. It is served by Yakutsk Airport as well as the smaller Magan Airport. Population: 210,642 (2002 Census); 186,626 (1989 Census).
Yakutsk was founded in 1632 as a Cossack fort but did not grow into a city until the discovery of large reserves of gold and other minerals in the 1880s and 1890s. These reserves were developed extensively during the industrialisation under Stalin. The rapid growth of forced labour camps in Siberia also encouraged Yakutsk's development.
Yakutsk is a destination of Lena Highway. Actually, the city's connection to the Highway is available strictly by ferry in the summer, or in the dead of winter, directly over the frozen Lena River, as Yakutsk lies entirely on its western bank, and there is no bridge anywhere in the Sakha Republic that crosses the mighty Lena. The river is impassable for large stretches of the year when it is full of loose ice, or when the ice cover is not sufficiently thick to support traffic, or when the water level is high and the river turbulent with spring flooding. So the Highway actually ends on the eastern bank of Lena in Nizhny Bestyakh (Нижний Бестях), an urban-type settlement of some 4 thousand people. Additionally, Yakutsk is connected with Magadan in the Russian Far East by the Kolyma Highway. A massive dual-use railroad and roadway bridge over Lena is scheduled to be built 40 km upriver at Tabaga by 2012, when Amur Yakutsk Mainline, the North-South railroad being extended from the South, will finally connect the city with the East-West Baikal Amur Mainline. In the dead of winter, the frozen Lena makes for a passable highway for ice truckers using its channel to deliver provisions to far-flung outposts.
Yakutsk State University is situated in the city. There's also a branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which contains, among others, the Institute of Cosmophysical Research, which runs the Yakutsk Extensive Air Shower installation (one of the largest cosmic-ray detector arrays in the world), and the Permafrost Research Institute developed with the aim of solving the serious and costly problems associated with construction of buildings on frozen soil.
Yakutsk is also home of some theaters and museums among others, Sakha theater and the Museum of Mammoth.
The city has offices of many mining companies, including ALROSA, whose diamond mines in Yakutia account for about 20% of the world's rough diamond output.
Yakutsk is one of the coldest cities on earth, with January temperatures averaging −40.9 °C (−41.6 °F). The coldest temperatures ever recorded outside Antarctica occur in the basin of the Yana River to the northeast. However, July temperatures can often exceed 90°F (32.2°C), making the region among the greatest in the world for seasonal temperature differentials. Yakutsk is the biggest city built on continuous permafrost. Most houses are built on concrete piles.
With the Lena River navigable in the summer, there are various boat cruises offered, including upriver to the Lena Pillars, and downriver tours which visit spectacular scenery in the lower reaches and the Lena delta.
| Weather averages for Yakutsk | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | -5.8 (22) | -2.2 (28) | 8.3 (47) | 21.1 (70) | 31.1 (88) | 35.1 (95) | 38.3 (101) | 35.4 (96) | 27.0 (81) | 20.5 (69) | 3.1 (38) | -3.9 (25) | 38.3 (101) |
| Average high °C (°F) | -39.5 (-39) | -31.4 (-25) | -14.1 (7) | 0.0 (32) | 12.1 (54) | 21.7 (71) | 25.1 (77) | 21.5 (71) | 11.9 (53) | -3.5 (26) | -24.4 (-12) | -36.8 (-34) | -5.5 (22) |
| Average low °C (°F) | -45.9 (-51) | -41.2 (-42) | -29.8 (-22) | -14.3 (6) | -0.3 (31) | 8.3 (47) | 11.7 (53) | 8.5 (47) | 0.7 (33) | -12.3 (10) | -32.8 (-27) | -43.2 (-46) | -15.8 (4) |
| Record low °C (°F) | -63.0 (-81) | -64.4 (-84) | -54.9 (-67) | -41.0 (-42) | -18.1 (-1) | -7.2 (19) | -1.5 (29) | -7.8 (18) | -14.2 (6) | -40.9 (-42) | -54.5 (-66) | -59.8 (-76) | -64.4 (-84) |
| Precipitation mm (inch) | 9 (0.4) | 7 (0.3) | 6 (0.2) | 10 (0.4) | 18 (0.7) | 37 (1.5) | 39 (1.5) | 37 (1.5) | 29 (1.1) | 20 (0.8) | 16 (0.6) | 12 (0.5) | 240 (9.4) |
| Source: Pogoda.ru.net[1] 8.09.2007 | |||||||||||||
[edit] References
- ^ Pogoda.ru.net (Russian). Retrieved on September 8, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Image:Commons-logo.svg Commons has media related to Yakutsk
- Flickr photos tagged yakutsk
- Yakutsk State University
- Lena Pillars at Natural Heritage Protection Fund site
- (Russian) Some photos of Yakutsk
- (Russian) Yakutsk past and present: a photo gallery at the site of the Ministry of Construction of the Sakha Republic
| Image:Coat of Arms of Sakha (Yakutia).png | Cities and towns in the Sakha Republic | Image:Flag of Sakha.svg |
| Capital: Yakutsk Aldan | Lensk | Mirny | Neryungri | Nyurba | Olyokminsk | Pokrovsk | Srednekolymsk | Tommot | Udachny | Verkhoyansk | Vilyuysk |
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