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Sakha Republic
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The Sakha (Yakutia) Republic (Respublika Sakha (Yakutiya); , Sakha Respublikata) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). At half the size of the Far Eastern Federal District, it is the largest subnational governing body by area in the world at 3,100,000 km² with a population of less than one million. Its capital is Yakutsk.
ha stretches to the Henrietta Islands in the far north and is washed by the Laptev and Eastern Siberian Seas of the Arctic Ocean.
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Encyclopedia
The Sakha (Yakutia) Republic (Respublika Sakha (Yakutiya); , Sakha Respublikata) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). At half the size of the Far Eastern Federal District, it is the largest subnational governing body by area in the world at 3,100,000 km² with a population of less than one million. Its capital is Yakutsk.
Geography
- Borders:
- Highest point: Peak Pobeda (3,003 m), Peak Mus-Khaya (2959 m or 3,011 m)
- Maximum N->S distance:
- Maximum E->W distance:
Sakha stretches to the Henrietta Islands in the far north and is washed by the Laptev and Eastern Siberian Seas of the Arctic Ocean. These waters, the coldest and iciest of all seas in the northern hemisphere, are covered by ice for 9-10 months of the year. New Siberian Islands are a part of the republic's territory. After Nunavut was separated from Canada's Northwest Territories, Sakha became the largest subnational entity (statoid) in the world, with an area of , slightly smaller than the territory of India.
Sakha can be divided into three great vegetation belts. About 40% of Sakha lies above the Arctic circle and all of it is covered by permafrost which greatly influences the region's ecology and limits forests in the southern region. Arctic and subarctic tundra define the middle region, where lichen and moss grow as great green carpets and are favorite pastures for reindeer. In the southern part of the tundra belt, scattered stands of dwarf Siberian pine and larch grow along the rivers. Below the tundra is the vast taiga forest region. Larch trees dominate in the north and stands of fir and pine begin to appear in the south. Taiga forests cover about 47% of Sakha and almost 90% of the cover is larch.
Time zones
Sakha spans three different time zones:
- Yakutsk Time Zone (YAKT/YAKST). UTC+9 (YAKT)/ UTC+10 (YAKST). Covers the republic's territory to the west of the Lena River as well as the territories of uluses located on the both sides of the Lena River.
- Vladivostok Time Zone (VLAT/VLAST). UTC+10 (VLAT)/UTC+11 (VLAST). Covers most of the republic's territory located between 127°E and 140°E longitude.
- Magadan Time Zone (MAGT/MAGST). UTC+11 (MAGT)/UTC+12 (MAGST). Covers most of the republic's territory located east of 140°E longitude.
Rivers
Navigable Lena River (4,310 km), as it moves northward, includes hundreds of small tributaries located in the Verkhoyansk Range. Other major rivers include:
- Vilyuy River (2,650 km) Lena River tributary
- Olenyok River (2,292 km)
- Aldan River (2,273 km) Lena River tributary
- Kolyma River (2,129 km)
- Indigirka River (1,726 km)
- Alazeya River (1,590 km)
- Amga River (1,462 km) Aldan River tributary
- Olyokma River (1,320 km) Lena River tributary
- Markha River (1,181 km) Vilyuy River tributary
- Tyung River (1,092 km) Vilyuy River tributary
- Maya River (1,053 km) Aldan River tributary
- Anabar River (939 km)
- Yana River (872 km)
- Morkoka River (812 km) Markha River tributary
- Uchur River (812 km) Aldan River tributary
- Linde River (804 km) Lena River tributary
- Nyuya River (798 km) Lena River tributary
- Selennyakh River (796 km) Indigirka River tributary
Lakes
There are over 700 lakes in the republic. Major lakes and reservoirs include:
- Mogotoyevo Lake
- Nedzheli Lake
- Nerpichye Lake
- Vilyuyskoye Reservoir
Mountains
Sakha's greatest mountain range, the Verkhoyansk Range, runs parallel and east of the Lena River, forming a great arc that begins the Sea of Okhotsk and ends in the Laptev Sea.
The Chersky Range runs east of the Verkhoyansk Range and has the highest peak in Sakha, Peak Pobeda (3,003 m). Recent satellite photos, however, revealed that Peak Mus-Khaya may in fact be a higher point, reaching 3,011 m.
The Stanovoi Range borders Sakha in the south.
Natural resources
Sakha is well endowed with raw materials. The soil contains large reserves of oil, gas, coal, diamonds, gold, silver, tin, tungsten and many others. 99% of all Russian diamonds are mined in Sakha, accounting for over 25% of the world's diamond production.
Climate
Sakha is known for its climate extremes, with the Verkhoyansk Range being the coldest area in the northern hemisphere. The Northern Hemisphere's Pole of Cold is at Verkhoyansk, where the temperatures reached as low as in 1892, and at Oymyakon, where the temperatures reached as low as in 1933.
- Average January temperature: (coast) to (Pole of Cold).
- Average July temperature: (coast) to (central parts).
- Average annual precipitation: 200 mm (central parts) to 700 mm (mountains of Eastern Sakha).
Administrative divisions
Demographics
The official languages are both Russian and Sakha, also known as Yakut, which is spoken by approximately 25% of the population. The Yakut language is Turkic with Mongolian influence and some borrowings from Sakha's Paleosiberian indigenous peoples.
- Population: 949,280 (2002)
- Urban: 609,999 (64.3%)
- Rural: 339,281 (35.7%)
- Male: 464,217 (48.9%)
- Female: 485,063 (51.1%)
- Females per 1000 males: 1,045
- Average age: 30.0 years
- Urban: 31.0 years
- Rural: 27.4 years
- Male: 30.0 years
- Female: 26.6 years
- Number of households: 305,017 (with 937,954 people)
- Urban: 212,593 (with 600,696 people)
- Rural: 92,424 (with 337,258 people)
- Vital statistics: (2005)
- Births: 13,591 (birth rate 14.3)
- Deaths: 9,696 (death rate 10.2)
- Ethnic groups: According to the 2002 Census the national composition is • 432,290 Yakuts (45.54%), • 390,617 Russians (41.15%), • 34,633 Ukrainians (3.65%), • 18,232 Evenks (1.92%), • 11,657 Evens (1.23%), • 10,755 Tatars (1.13%), • 7,266 Buriats (0.77%), • 4,236 Belarusians (0.45%), • 2,764 Armenians (0.29%), • 2,355 Bashkirs (0.25%), • 2,293 Azeris (0.24%), • 2,283 ethnic Germans (0.24%), • 2,255 Moldovans (0.24%), • 2,072 Mordovians (0.22%), • 1,815 Koreans (0.19%), • 1,700 Chuvash (0.18%), • 1,454 Kyrgyz (0.15%), • 1,272 Dolgans (0.13%), • 1,272 Uzbeks (0.13%), • 1,105 Tajiks (0.12%), • 1,097 Yukagirs (0.12%), • 1,000 Ingush (0.11%), and other groups of less than one thousand persons each. (0.28% of the inhabitants declined to state their nationality on the census questionnaire.)
Historical population figures are shown below:
| census 1939 | census 1959 | census 1970 | census 1979 | census 1989 | census 2002 |
|---|
| Yakuts | 233,273 (56.5%) | 226,053 (46.4%) | 285,749 (43.0%) | 313,917 (36.9%) | 365,236 (33.4%) | 432,290 (45.5%) | | Dolgans | 10 (0.0%) | 64 (0.0%) | 408 (0.0%) | 1,272 (0.1%) | | Evenks | 10,432 (2.5%) | 9,505 (2.0%) | 9,097 (1.4%) | 11,584 (1.4%) | 14,428 (1.3%) | 18,232 (1.9%) | | Evens | 3,133 (0.8%) | 3,537 (0.7%) | 6,471 (1.0%) | 5,763 (0.7%) | 8,668 (0.8%) | 11,657 (1.2%) | | Yukaghir | 267 (0.1%) | 285 (0.1%) | 400 (0.1%) | 526 (0.1%) | 697 (0.1%) | 1,097 (0.1%) | | Chukchis | 400 (0.1%) | 325 (0.1%) | 387 (0.1%) | 377 (0.0%) | 473 (0.0%) | 602 (0.1%) | | Russians | 146,741 (35.5%) | 215,328 (44.2%) | 314,308 (47.3%) | 429,588 (50.4%) | 550,263 (50.3%) | 390,671 (41.2%) | | Ukrainians | 4,229 (1.0%) | 12,182 (2.5%) | 20,253 (3.0%) | 46,326 (5.4%) | 77,114 (7.0%) | 34,633 (3.6%) | | Others | 14,723 (3.6%) | 20,128 (4.1%) | 27,448 (4.1%) | 43,695 (5.1%) | 76,778 (7.0%) | 58,826 (6.2%) |
Vital Statistics for 2007: Source
- Birth Rate: 15.88 per 1000
- Death Rate: 9.68 per 1000
- Net Immigration: -5.7 per 1000
- NGR: +0.62% per Year
- PGR: +0.06% per Year
History
The Sakha arrived relatively recently in 13th century to their current geographical area from Central Asia. They are heterogeneous of Turkic origin. They conquered the indigenous hunter-gatherer tribes and began to call themselves "Sakha", the origin of which is not clear, therefore much debated.
The Evenki referred to the Sakha as "Yako" and this term was adopted by the Russians when they began arriving in the region in the early 17th century. Tygyn, a king of the Khangalassky Yakuts, granted territory for Russian settlement in return for military pact that included war against indigenous rebels of all North Eastern Asia (Magadan, Chukotka, Kamchatka and Sakhalin). King of Megino-Khangalassky Yakuts, Kull began a Sakha conspiracy by allowing the first stockade construction. In August of 1638, the Moscow Government formed a new administrative unit with the administrative center of Lensky Ostrog, which cemented the town's his relative Tygyn to enter into tricky pact with Russians in plan to conquer all of North Eastern Asia in centuries to come. The Lensky Ostrog (Fort Lensky), the future city of Yakutsk, was founded by Pyotr Beketov, a Cossack, on September 25, 1632 (the date of ascendancy in the territory).
The date of arrival and the origin of the Russian settlers at the extremely remote Russkoye Ustye in the Indigirka delta, whose later residents were known for their archaic culture, remains somewhat enigmatic. Most historians speculate that it took place some time in the 17th century as well.
Russians established agriculture in the Lena River basin. The members of religious groups who were exiled to Sakha in the second half of the 19th century began to grow wheat, oats, and potatoes. The fur trade established a cash economy. Industry and transport began to develop at the end of the 19th century and in the beginning of the Soviet period. This was also the beginning of geological prospecting, mining, and local lead production. The first steam-powered ships and barges arrived.
On April 27, 1922 the former "Yakutskaya land" was proclaimed the Yakut ASSR, although in fact the eastern part of the territory, including the city of Yakutsk, was controlled by the White Russians (see Yakut Revolt). In 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Yakutia was recognized in Moscow as the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation.
Yakutia's remoteness, even compared to the rest of Siberia, made it a place of exile of choice for both Czarist and Communist governments of Russia. Among the famous Czarist-era exiles were the democratic writer Nikolai Chernyshevsky, Doukhobor conscientious objectors (whose story was told to Leo Tolstoy by Vasily Pozdnyakov), and the Socialist Revolutionary and writer Vladimir Zenzinov, who left an interesting account of his Arctic experiences.
Politics
The head of government in Sakha is the President. The first President of Sakha was Mikhail Yefimovich Nikolayev. As of 2008, the president is Vyacheslav Shtyrov, who was elected on January 27, 2002.
The supreme legislative body of state authority in Sakha is a unicameral State Assembly known as the Il Tumen. The government of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic is the executive body of state authority.
Economy
Industry generates slightly above 50% of the gross national product of Sakha, stemming primarily from mineral exploitation. Industrial enterprises are concentrated in the capital Yakutsk, as well as in Aldan, Mirny, Neryungri, Pokrovsk, and Udachny. The diamond, gold and tin ore mining industries are the major focus of the economy. Uranium ore is beginning to be mined. Turkic-language Sakha are in politics, government, finance, economy and cattle-breeding (horses and cows for milk and meat). The Paleoasian indigenous peoples are hunters, fishermen, and reindeer herders.
Transportation
Water transport ranks first for cargo turnover. There are six river ports, two sea ports (Tiksi and Zelyony Mys). Four shipping companies, including the Arctic Sea Shipping Company, operate in the republic. The republic's main waterway is the Lena River, which links Yakutsk with the rail station of Ust-Kut in Irkutsk Oblast.
Air transport is the most important for transporting people. Airlines connect the republic with most regions of Russia. Yakutsk Airport has an international terminal.
Two federal roads pass the republic. They are Yakutsk–Bolshoy Never and Yakutsk–Magadan.
However, due to the presence of permafrost, use of asphalt is not practical, and therefore the roads are made of clay. When heavy rains blow over the region, the roads often turn to mud, sometimes stranding hundreds of travellers in the process.
The Berkakit–Tommot railroad is currently in operation. It links the Baikal Amur Mainline with the industrial centers in South Yakutia. Construction of the Amur-Yakutian Railway continues northward; the plans are for it to reach Yakutsk by 2012.
Education
The most important facilities of higher education include Yakutsk State University and Yakutsk State Agricultural Academy.
Religion
Before the arrival of the Russian Empire, the majority of the local population believed in Tengrianism common to Turkic-language people of Central Asia, or in Paleoasian indigenous shamanism with both 'light' (community leading) and 'dark' (healing through spirit journey) shamans. Under the Russians, the local population was putatively converted to the Russian Orthodox Church and required to take Orthodox Christian names, but in practice generally continued to follow traditional religions. During the Soviet era, most or all of the shamans died without successors.
Currently, while Orthodox Christianity maintains a following (however, with very few priests willing to be stationed outside of Yakutsk), there is interest and activity toward renewing the traditional religions. As of 2008, the Orthodox leaders described the world view of the republic's indigenous population (or, rather, those who are not completely indifferent to religion) as dvoyeverie (dual belief system), or a "tendency toward syncretism", as evidenced by the locals sometimes first inviting a shaman, and then an Orthodox priest to carry out their rites in connection with some event in their life.
See also
External links
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