Encyclopedia
Vladivostok is the administrative center of
Primorsky Krai,
Russia, situated close to the Russo-
Chinese border and
North Korea. It is the home port of the
Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet. The city's name means "rule the East" in Russian; in the
Chinese language, the city is known as ??? — "
Sea Cucumber Marsh".
History
Geography
Vladivostok is in the
Russian Far East, on the coast of the Sea of Japan and near both the
Chinese and
Korean borders.
It is located in the Southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky peninsula , which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.
- Total city area: 600 km².
- Geographical coordinates:
The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik , the height of which is 257 m. Eagle's Nest Mount is often called the highest point of the city; however, with the height of only 199 m , it is the highest point of the downtown area, but not of the whole city.
Vladivostok shares the latitude with:
Sukhumi,
Almaty,
Marseille,
Tuscany,
Boston, and
Toronto.
Railroad distance to
Moscow is 9,302 km. The direct distance to Moscow is 6,430 km. Direct distance to
Bangkok is 5,600 km, to
San Francisco—8,400 km, to
Seoul—750 km, to
Tokyo—1,050 km, to
Beijing—1,331 km.
Climate
- Mean annual temperature: 4.3°C
- Average temperature in January: −13.7°C
- Average temperature in August: 20.2°C
- Average annual precipitation: 722 mm -- strong summer maximum
Köppen classification:
DwbDemographics
The city's population was 594,701 as of the 2002 Census.
From 1958 to 1991, only Soviet citizens were allowed to live in, or even visit, Vladivostok . Before this closure, the city had large Korean and Chinese populations.
Vladivostok has one of the largest
Armenian communities in eastern Russia. There are a number of Armenian
bakeries and
restaurants in the city.
Economy
The city's main industries are
shipping, commercial
fishing, and the naval base. Fishing accounts for almost four-fifths of Vladivostok's commercial production. Other food production totals 11%.
In 1995, Vladivostok's annual international trade totalled 725 million USD, including 206 million USD of exported goods, and 519 million USD of imported goods. The main export items were
fish,
timber products, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, and
ships. The main import items were food products,
medicine,
clothing,
footwear,
automobiles, household technical items, and ships.
Since the dissolution of the
Soviet Union, many businesses have opened offices in Vladivostok, taking advantage of its location.
Unfortunately, the
crime rate and cost of living have also increased, and the city is believed to be a hotbed of
organized crime activity and abuse of power by regional and municipal authorities.
Transportation
The
Trans-Siberian Railway was built to connect
European Russia with Vladivostok, Russia's first
Pacific Ocean port. Finished in 1905, the rail line ran from Moscow to Vladivostok via several of Russia's main cities. Part of the railroad, known as the Chinese Eastern Line, crossed over into Manchuria, China, passing through
Harbin, a major city in Manchuria.
Air routes connect Vladivostok-Knevichi airport with
Japan ;
People's Republic of China ;
North Korea ;
South Korea ; Vietnam .
It is possible to get to Vladivostok from several of the larger city of Russia. Regular flights to Anchorage and Seattle were available in the 1990s but have been cancelled since.
Urban Transport On 28 June 1908, Vladivostok's first tram line was started along Svetlanskaya Street from the railway station in Lugovaya Street. On 9 October 1912, the first wooden cars manufactured in Belgium entered service. Today, the following means of public transportation are in use in Vladivostok trolleybus, bus, tram, train, funicular, ferryboat, and cutter. The main urban traffic lines are City Center <> Vtoraya Rechka, City Center <> Balyayeva, and City Center <> Lugovaya Street.
Education
Vladivostok is home to numerous educational institutions, including six
universities:
- the Far Eastern National University ,
- the Far Eastern State Technical University ,
- the Marine State University ,
- the Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service,
- Vladivostok State Medical University, and
- Pacific State University of Economics .
The Presidium of the Far Eastern Division of the
Russian Academy of Sciences as well as ten of its research institutes are also located in Vladivostok, as is the Pacific Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography .
Media
Over fifty
newspapers and regional additions to Moscow publications are issued in Vladivostok. The largest newspaper of the
Primorsky Krai and the whole
Russian Far East is
Vladivostok with a circulation of 124,000 copies at the beginning of 1996. Its founder, joint-stock company Vladivostok-News, also issues a weekly English-language newspaper
. The subjects of the publications issued in these newspapers vary from information around Vladivostok and Primorye to major international events. Newspaper
Zolotoy Rog gives every detail of economic news. Entertainment materials and cultural news constitute a larger part of Novosti newspaper which is the most popular among Primorye's young people.
As of 2006, there are fourteen channels broadcasting. They are Channel One, RTR, OTV-Prim, Rambler, STS, TNT, MTV Russia, Muz-TV, Kultura, Ren-TV,
NTV, DTV Viasat.
As of 1999, there are also seven radio stations, the most popular being 24-hour VBC and Europa+ . Europa+ normally broadcasts popular modern British-American music, while the ratio of Russian and foreign songs over VBC is fifty-fifty. Every hour one can hear local news over these radio stations. Radio Vladivostok operates from 06:00 till 01:00. It broadcasts several special programs which are devoted to the music of the 1950s-1980s as well as New Age.
Arguably Russia's most famous rock band,
Mumiy Troll , hails from Vladivostok and frequently puts on shows there. In addition, the city played host to the now-legendary "VladiROCKstok '96" International Music Festival in September 1996. Hosted by the Mayor and Governor, and organized by two young American expatriates, the festival drew nearly 10,000 people and top-tier musical acts from St. Petersburg and Seattle, as well as several leading local bands.
Pollution
Two thirds of Vladivostok's suburbs are so
polluted that living in them is classified as a health hazard, according to the local ecological specialists,
Ecocenter. Some areas, such as those near the printing works in Pokrovsky Park and the Far Eastern National University campus, are so polluted that they are defined as ecological disaster zones. Only a few areas have permissible levels of contamination. Professor Boris Preobrazhensky, a top ecologist at the Pacific Institute of Geography said that there was nowhere in the area that was really healthy to live.
The
Ecocenter report has taken ten years to compile and is believed to be the most comprehensive of its kind. It was based on analysis of over 30,000 samples of water, snow, soil, air and human tissues taken between 1985 and 1993. Samples showed significant rises over that period in the levels of heavy metals, such as
cadmium,
zirconium,
cobalt,
arsenic, and mercury, which severely affect the respiratory and nervous systems.
The pollution has a number of causes, according to
Ecocenter geo-chemical expert Sergei Shlikov. Vladivostok has about 80 industrial sites, which may not be many compared to Russia's most industrialized areas, but those around the city are particularly environmentally unfriendly, such as shipbuilding and repairing, power stations, printing, fur farming and mining. In addition, Vladivostok has a particularly vulnerable geography which compounds the effect of the pollution. Winds cannot clear pollution from some of the most densely populated areas around the Pervaya and Vtoraya Rechka as they sit in basins which the winds blow over. In addition there is little snow in winter and no leaves or grass to catch the dust to make it settle down.
Sport
Vladivostok is home to the football club
FC Luch-Energia Vladivostok, who play in the
Russian Premier League, and basketball club
Spartak-Primorye.
Miscellaneous
Vladivostok's phone code is +7 4232, or simply 8 22 if you call from inside of
Primorsky Krai.
It is a
sister-city of:
Yul Brynner was born in the city; his childhood home is now preserved as a museum.
It is the nearest city to the massive
Sikhote-Alin Meteorite, which fell on February 12, 1947, in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, approximately 440 km northeast of Vladivostok.
References
- Trofimov, Vladimir et al, 1992, Old Vladivostok. Utro Rossii Vladivostok, ISBN 5-87080-004-8
External links
