Provideniya
Encyclopedia
Provideniya (Providence) is an urban-type settlement
Urban-type settlement
Urban-type settlement ; , selyshche mis'koho typu ) is an official designation for a type of locality used in some of the countries of the former Soviet Union...

 situated on Komsomolskaya Bay, part of Provideniya Bay
Providence Bay, Siberia
Emma Harbor, Plover Bay, and Ureliki redirect hereProvidence Bay is a fjord in the southern coast of the Chukchi Peninsula of northeastern Siberia. It was a popular rendezvous, wintering spot, and provisioning spot for whalers and traders in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries...

 in the northeastern part of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug , or Chukotka , is a federal subject of Russia located in the Russian Far East.Chukotka has a population of 53,824 according to the 2002 Census, and a surface area of . The principal town and the administrative center is Anadyr...

, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. It is located across the Bering Strait
Bering Strait
The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...

 from Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, and is very close to the International Date Line
International Date Line
The International Date Line is a generally north-south imaginary line on the surface of the Earth, passing through the middle of the Pacific Ocean, that designates the place where each calendar day begins...

. The town is served by Provideniya Bay Airport
Provideniya Bay Airport
Provideniya Bay Airport is a small airport in Chukotka, Russia located 3 km southwest of Provideniya. It services primarily small transport aircraft. A concrete apron contains four parking spaces...

, the closest Russian airport to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. There is a technical school, one functioning cinema, a post office, a museum of Chukotka history and culture, one of the only two ski slopes in Chukotka, a bakery complex and port facilities. Population: Municipally, Provideniya is subordinated to Providensky Municipal District and is municipally incorporated along with the former Rural Settlements of Novoye Chaplino
Novoye Chaplino
Novoye Chaplino is a village in Providensky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, in the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. Population: 2008: about 330,, 2003: 422, more than 90% of which were Chukchi or Siberian Yupik. Municipally, Novoye Chaplino is subordinated to Providensky Municipal...

 and Sireniki as Provideniya Urban Settlement. Provideniya is the administrative centre of Providensky Administrative District
Providensky District
Providensky District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the six in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is located in the southern half of the Chukchi Peninsula with a northwest extension reaching almost to Kolyuchinskaya Bay on the Arctic...

 and Providensky Municipal District.

History

Provideniya is a former Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 military port, sited on a fjord
Fjord
Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...

 sheltered from the Bering Sea. The largest settlement east of Anadyr
Anadyr (town)
Anadyr is a port town and the administrative centre of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the extreme north-eastern region of Russia. It is at the mouth of the Anadyr River, on the tip of the southern promontory that sticks out into Anadyrskiy Liman...

, it was established in the 1930s as the port to serve the eastern end of the Northern Sea Route
Northern Sea Route
The Northern Sea Route is a shipping lane officially defined by Russian legislation from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean specifically running along the Russian Arctic coast from Murmansk on the Barents Sea, along Siberia, to the Bering Strait and Far East. The entire route lies in Arctic...

. The port is found in Komsomolskaya Bay (named after the Soviet Komsomol
Komsomol
The Communist Union of Youth , usually known as Komsomol , was the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Komsomol in its earliest form was established in urban centers in 1918. During the early years, it was a Russian organization, known as the Russian Communist Union of...

 youth organisation), a branch of the much larger Provideniya Bay, providing a suitable deep water harbor for Russian ships, close to the southern limits of the winter ice fields.

Despite the religious significance of its name (it is Russian for Providence
Divine Providence
In Christian theology, divine providence, or simply providence, is God's activity in the world. " Providence" is also used as a title of God exercising His providence, and then the word are usually capitalized...

), the town's title was never changed during the Soviet era, although a large statue of Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...

 was erected there, and still stands.

For British, Russian, and American use of the harbor in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries see Providence Bay, Siberia
Providence Bay, Siberia
Emma Harbor, Plover Bay, and Ureliki redirect hereProvidence Bay is a fjord in the southern coast of the Chukchi Peninsula of northeastern Siberia. It was a popular rendezvous, wintering spot, and provisioning spot for whalers and traders in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries...

.

Inhabitants

A significant proportion of the town's current residents are Yupik, reflecting the high percentage of indigenous peoples in both Providensky and Chukotsky
Chukotsky District
Chukotsky District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the six in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is the easternmost district of the autonomous okrug and the closest part of Russia to the United States. It borders with the Chukchi Sea in the north, the Bering Sea in the...

 Districts.

Climate

Provideniya has an arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

 climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...

, although winters are not as severe due to the coastal location, and colorful flowers help bring the tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...

 to life during the summer. Winter temperatures are significantly higher than at other places within Chukotka such as Uelen
Uelen
Uelen is a rural locality in the Chukotsky District, just south of the Arctic Circle in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the Russian Far East. Population: 776 in 2003, with 595 Chukchi and 72 Yupik. Located near Cape Dezhnev where the Bering Sea meets the Chukchi Sea, it is the easternmost settlement...

 and Ushakovskoye
Ushakovskoye
Ushakovskoye was a rural locality on the south east coast of Wrangel Island, Shmidtovsky District in the Russian Arctic that was deserted in 2003. Ushakovskoye was named after the explorer and founder of the polar station in Rogers Bay, Georgy Ushakov, who discovered a number of new islands in...

, because it is a more southerly settlement with greater maritime influence from the Bering Sea, as with nearby Nome
Nome, Alaska
Nome is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. According to the 2010 Census, the city population was 3,598. Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901, and was once the...

 which has similar winter moderation. Summers are generally cool and the settlement receives heavy rainfall, especially when low pressure systems move northwards from the Pacific Ocean.

Transport

The town is sometimes referred to as the Doorway to the Arctic, and since the breakup of the Soviet Union, tourism from nearby Alaska has given the local economy a significant boost. Bering Air
Bering Air
Bering Air is an American regional airline headquartered in Nome, Alaska, USA. It operates domestic scheduled passenger and charter services, as well as air ambulance and helicopter services...

, an Alaskan airline, offers charter services to Provideniya Bay Airport
Provideniya Bay Airport
Provideniya Bay Airport is a small airport in Chukotka, Russia located 3 km southwest of Provideniya. It services primarily small transport aircraft. A concrete apron contains four parking spaces...

 from both Nome
Nome, Alaska
Nome is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. According to the 2010 Census, the city population was 3,598. Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901, and was once the...

 and Anchorage
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...

. Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines is an airline based in the Seattle suburb of SeaTac, Washington in the United States. The airline originated in 1932 as McGee Airways. After many mergers with and acquisitions of other airlines, including Star Air Service, it became known as Alaska Airlines in 1944...

 made a Friendship Flight to Provideniya in July 1988 when it became the first American airline to serve a Soviet town. Chukotavia
Chukotavia
ChukotAVIA ) is an airline based in Anadyr, Russia. It operates passenger, cargo, and utility services. Its main base is Anadyr Ugolny Airport.-History:...

 provides flights to Anadyr
Anadyr (town)
Anadyr is a port town and the administrative centre of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the extreme north-eastern region of Russia. It is at the mouth of the Anadyr River, on the tip of the southern promontory that sticks out into Anadyrskiy Liman...

.

High-sprung transports connect the town's concrete slabbed main street with outlying settlements along the fjord and coast.

See also

  • List of inhabited localities in Providensky District

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK