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Krasnoyarsk Territory
// GENERAL INFORMATION
Krasnoyarsk Territory is an extraordinary Siberian region that occupies one-tenth of Russia's total area. The territory is located in the central Asian part of Russia and extends from the shores of the Arctic Ocean to the mountains of Southern Siberia between 51° and 81° north latitude and 78° and 113° east longitude. The Taimyr (Dolgan-Nenets) and Evenk autonomous districts and Turukhansky, Yeniseisky, and Severo-Yeniseisky districts are included in the territory. The territory has an area of 2.34 million km2, which is ten times the size of Great Britain or four and a half times the size of France, and extends nearly 3000 km from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Sayan Mountains in the south. Its length from west to east is 1250 km, including 650 km along the Trans-Siberian Railway. Its northernmost point is Chelyuskin Cape, which is also the most northerly point of both Russia and the Asian continent.
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Krasnoyarsk Territory borders on the Republic of Tuva; Altai Territory; Kemerovo, Tomsk, Tyumen, and Irkutsk regions; and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
The topography varies from lowlands, plains, and plateaus to mountains of varying elevations and origins. The Sayan Mountains rise up in the south, the vast Central Siberian Plateau is situated in the central part of the territory on the right bank of the Yenisei River, and a lowland belt stretches along the Taimyr Peninsula and the left bank of the Yenisei.
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The territory is located within the Arctic, tundra, taiga (most of the territory), forest steppe, and steppe zones. Forests cover nearly 150 million hectares, or one-fifth of the country's forested area. Tree species such as pine, larch, Siberian pine, spruce, fir, and birch predominate.
There are thousands of crystal clear, mineral-rich mountain, taiga, and tundra rivers and tens of thousands of lakes, including Lakes Taimyr, Dyupkin, and Khantaika, which are some of the largest and deepest lakes in Russia after Lake Baikal. The largest waterfalls in Russia are found on the Kureika and Yadun rivers.
Krasnoyarsk Territory has a severe continental climate characterized by large temperature differences during the year. Due to the territory's great extent, the climate is extremely varied. The central and southern regions, where most of the population lives, has a continental climate with long winters and short, hot summers. Fall is often dry with early frosts. Average annual precipitation is 316 mm, falling mainly in summer. Average January temperatures range from -36 °C in the north to -18 °C in the south; average July temperatures are 10 °C and 20 °C, respectively.
The territory's animal life is rich and varied. There are fur-bearing animals like the sable, fox, and Arctic fox, as well bears, wolves, wolverines, argali (mountain sheep), taiga and tundra reindeer, and seals. Huge numbers of forest birds, waterfowl, and birds of prey inhabit the territory, including rare species like Ross's gull, peregrine falcon, and red-breasted goose.
The Yenisei and its tributaries abound in many species of both rare and common fish like taimen [a large member of the salmon family prized as a game fish], brown trout, Arctic and lake char, white salmon, Russian sturgeon, sterlet, pike, and grayling.
There are large reserves of gold and precious metals and stones, but the geology of the region, like the plant and animal life, has not been studied and remains a mystery to scientists. The territory has barely been touched by industrial development; local industry is based mainly on reindeer herding, fishing, and hunting. Scientists consider Krasnoyarsk Territory to be the cleanest region of Russia and possibly of the world.
The territory is home to a number of small ethnic groups like the Kets (718 people), Nganasans (809 people), and Enets (209 people) with unique languages, cultures, and religions. These peoples still preserve the ancient taiga and tundra culture in their practice of shamanism, rites, ancient medicine, way of life, and occupations.
The population of Krasnoyarsk Territory is about 3 million. The average population density of 1.3 people per km2 is four times less than the Russian average, although it ranges from 0.03 to 1.28 people per km2 in northern regions to 9.4 people per km2 in the south. About 85% of the population is concentrated in two relatively small areas, i.e., the Minusinsk Basin in the south and along the Trans-Siberian Railway line. Another 6.7% live in the Norilsk mining complex. Urban dwellers make up 74% of the population, and 42.2% of these live in four cities with populations of more than 100 000 each, i.e., Krasnoyarsk, Norilsk, Achinsk, and Kansk. Krasnoyarsk, with a population of 875 500, is the largest city.
Although the population is multiethnic and represents more than 100 nationalities and ethnic groups, the overwhelming majority are Russians (87.6% of the population). The remaining groups include Ukrainians (3.5%), Tatars (1.68%), Germans (1.4%), Belarussians (0.9%), Chuvashes (0.7%), Mordvins (0.48%), northern peoples (0.4%), Khakas (0.2%), and others (3.3%).
Working-age residents make up 59% of the population; pensioners, 14% (men over 60 and women over 55); and children under 18 years of age, 27%.
The demographic situation in the territory is continuing to deteriorate as a result of a low birth rate and high death rate. Since January 1, 1998, the population has decreased by slightly more than 2.5%. Moreover, the rates of decline in individual years have exceeded both average Russian rates and East Siberian rates. At the same time, certain indicators of population change have been better than in Russia as a whole. For example, in 1997, the territory's birth rate was 9.1 per 1000 (8.6 for Russia) and the death rate was 12.7 per 1000 (13.8 for Russia); the natural increase coefficient was -4.2 (-5.2 for Russia). The number of refugees and migrants from former Soviet republics is estimated at about 2000 people. A flow of migrants from war zones in Chechnya was observed in 1994-1995 and even earlier, but these migrations are still relatively localized.
One significant feature is that the urban population has not only increased, but has also increased faster than in other Siberian regions. Thus, during the period of economic reform, the territory's urban growth rate was about 1.5% as opposed to 0.4% for Siberia as a whole.
Christianity is the predominant religion, but there are also some Muslim communities.
Most of the native population of Central Siberia became part of the Russian state between the 17th and 19th centuries. The people living here were of various origins, the most numerous being Turkic peoples such as the Kyrgyz, Kachins, and Shors. Slavs began settling in Central Siberia during the 17th century, mainly in the taiga and forest steppe regions north of Krasnoyarsk. Colonization of the areas south of Krasnoyarsk began in the second half of the 18th century as a result of large-scale agrarian expansion. By the end of the century, fairly large numbers of Slavs had settled in all areas suitable for agriculture, e.g., on the left bank of the Yenisei to the edge of the dry steppes and on the moister right bank as far as the Western Sayan Range in the south.
The close proximity of the Slavic and native populations led to fairly intensive ethnic mixing, with the greatest mixing occurring in areas with large peasant populations. Until Slavs began settling here in the 17th century, the central Angara region had been the home of the Tungus, whose main occupation was hunting. The land was suitable for agriculture, and by the end of the 18th century, large numbers of Russian peasants were living along the Angara, Kova, Chuna, Usolka, and other rivers. As a result of close contact and intensive cultural interchanges, the Tungus adopted new means of livelihood, including farming, converted to Christianity, and intermarried with Slavs. Thus, by the end of the 19th century, these areas were considered to be pure Russian peasant settlements, and no native population was recorded at all. Given the absence of any accounts of mass migration of Tungus out of the region or death from famine or epidemics (the last smallpox epidemic was recorded in the early 18th century), we can only assume that the total disappearance of this native group was the result of full assimilation.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Krasnoyarsk forest steppe region had a fairly large (by Siberian standards) native population of Ket-speaking Arins and Turkic-speaking Kachins. The last mentions of these groups date to the mid-19th century. No Kachins or Arins at all were counted in the census of 1897. It is known that many Kachins and Arins migrated to the steppes of the Khakass-Minusinsk Valley in the early 18th century; nevertheless, relatively large numbers of both groups remained in their former homelands. By the mid-19th century, the remaining Kachins and Arins had almost entirely turned to farming and lived in close contact with Slavic peasants, gradually merging with them. Some of the present-day long-time Russian residents living in a number of old villages near Krasnoyarsk (e.g., Emelyanovo, Maganskoe, Shalo, Shivera, Yukseevo, and others) are direct descendants of the Kachins and Arins. The Kachins and Arins who moved south became the main component of a new ethnic group that began to form at that time and took the name "Khakas" in the early 19th century.
Before the arrival of Slavs in the first half of the 17th century, the territory of the middle Chulym was sparsely inhabited by small numbers of native people. The Slavic population along the Bolshoi and Maly Kemchug and Chulym rivers was already quite large by the first half of the 18th century owing to fact that the Moscow road passed through here in the 1730s, resulting in intensive settlement in the region along the road. The native Kachins, Kyzyls, and Chulym Turks were also attracted by the food supply and services along the road and thus came in close contact with the settlers. The result was rapid ethnic mixing, so that by the end of the 18th century there were no reports of native people living in this area, apparently because they had assimilated with the Russian population. The absence of information on migration of local inhabitants out of the area is additional confirmation of this. On the lower reaches of the Chulym, where agriculture was considerably less developed, ethnic contacts were not as intensive and the native Chulym Turks preserved their ethnic identity into the 20th century.
The steppe and forest steppe zones of the southern part of the right bank of the Yenisei had a relatively sparse native population. In addition, most of them (including nearly all of the Tubins) perished in military operations at the end of the 17th century. Therefore, there were few native people left in the area when Russian settlers arrived and ethnic mixing was less intensive than in other parts of the region. Nevertheless, a small group known as the Kansk Tatars (Kotts) living in the Kansk forest steppe area completely assimilated into the Russian population in the course of the 18th century; and by the end of the 19th century, the southern Samoyedes (Kamasins) living in the mountain taiga of the Sayan Ranges had also nearly completely assimilated.
This process of assimilation of the native population into the Russian population went on in other parts of Central Siberia between the 17th and 19th centuries but less intensively for various reasons. Thus, the Yenisei Ostyaks (akin to the Arins) living south of the Krasnoyarsk forest steppe, although not very numerous, preserved their ethnic identity longer and began assimilating noticeably only towards the end of the 19th century.
Assimilation of the Tungus living along the Podkamennaya and Nizhnyaya Tunguska rivers and the northern Samoyedes of the lower Yenisei was also negligible, mainly because the Russian population was small and agriculture was either undeveloped or limited by the severe climate. As a result, there were few opportunities for cultural contacts with the native inhabitants; moreover, the Russians living here also lived mainly by hunting and fishing and could not have any real influence on the native culture.
Overall, close contact between the influx of Slavic settlers and native inhabitants between the 17th and 19th centuries led to extensive mutual assimilation. Agricultural development in the region had a major impact on the process of ethnic development and the fate of the native population.
HISTORY
Yenisei governor Yakov Ignatevich Khripunov was the first to bring the matter of building a new stockaded town in the central Yenisei region to the attention of the government. In 1623, he sent out Andrei Anufrievich Dubensky, who chose a site a four-day horseback ride from Yeniseisk on a high point of land between the mouth of the Izyr-su (Kacha) River and the Yenisei. The point was bounded on the southwest by pine-covered Black Hill. The high left bank of the Kacha River rose up steeply in a scenic ridge; and the forested Kuisumskie Mountains extended along the right bank of the Yenisei across from the chosen townsite, which was called "Red Hill (Krasny Yar)" from the color of the steep riverbank.
Upon reaching the site in August 1628, Dubensky's landing party immediately set up a "board town" made of dissembled boats fortified with posts dug into the earth and joined at the top and bottom with thick poles. They then dug a ditch 3 m deep and 10 m wide around the walls and placed a wooden paling made of long pointed stakes in the bottom. A log guard tower on the highest point of Kum-Tigei Hill (now Pokrovskaya) on the left bank of the Kacha River supplemented the town's outer fortifications. The governor's house was located beside the eastern wall. The jail was an ordinary 6-m2 hut built in the northwestern corner of the town. A fur storehouse and powder magazine were located under one roof by the northern wall. Inside the town were 30 huts housing ten Cossacks each. The town's walls were partially replaced more than once in succeeding years, but its area remained almost unchanged.
The inhabitants of Krasny Yar had to fight for their existence from the very first, as devastating Kyrgyz incursions into Krasnoyarsk continued up to the early 18th century. When the struggle between Jungaria and the Altai khans intensified in the 1660s, Krasnoyarsk was nearly destroyed more than once.
In mid-1667, the combined forces of Jungar (western Mongol) and Kyrgyz feudal lords besieged Krasnoyarsk from both sides of the Yenisei. The people of Krasny Yar repulsed the attack with great difficulty, losing 194 men or more than a third of the entire garrison in the defense. Krasny Yar also barely held out in September 1679 when the Kyrgyz sacked and burned 16 villages in the district.
As a result of measures taken and retaliatory campaigns into Kyrgyz regions, the Yenisei Territory as a whole was annexed to Russia by the end of the 17th century.
Peace finally came to the bank of the Yenisei in the 1720s, although the near total absence of Russian settlers in the fertile southern districts and strong competition from Tomsk, Yeniseisk, and Irkutsk prevented Krasnoyarsk from developing into an important commercial and industrial center, which affected the town's growth. Thus, in 1720, the town had 369 houses and a population of 1250 male residents; but in 1784, these figures were down to 337 houses and 1046 male residents. Outflow from the town appears even greater if the high natural population growth rate is taken into account.
With the construction of the Moscow-Siberia road, the town found itself at the crossroads of important land and water routes. However, there was only a small influx of people from outside. As a whole, the town's population in the 18th century depended on the natural growth rate and the substance of economic life, which also changed. Many city residents took up farming, and Krasnoyarsk became an important agricultural district supplying grain and livestock to Yeniseisk, Turukhansk, Altai, and the lower Ob region. The most conspicuous businesses were those involved in providing services related to crop cultivation and processing its products. Up to ten mills operated on the Kacha, Panyukovka, and Bazaikha rivers. The village of Esaulovo became a center of riverboat building.
Life in the town revived with the coming of the road, so that by the end of the 18th century, soapmakers, tanners, tailors, cabinetmakers, carpenters, and other craftsmen had established themselves there.
Krasnoyarsk's cultural development made real progress when home education became widespread in the second century of the town's existence. In 1759, a Latin school was opened for children of the clergy, with nearly 30 students attending. Thirty years later, the first small public school opened in the refectory of Voskresensky Cathedral, which was attended by 100 boys and girls in its first year. For the first two years, it was the largest general education school in Siberia.
In June 1784, the first district public library in Russia was founded in Krasnoyarsk at the initiative of doctor and teacher Stepan Mikhailovich Kashkarev.
In 1782, Yenisei Province, which had been formed in the time of Peter the Great and included nearly the entire territory, was abolished. The territory of the former Krasnoyarsk District became part of different governorships: Tobolsk, Kolyvan, and Irkutsk. Krasnoyarsk was administered from Kolyvan (Berdsk), the center of the new Kolyvan governorship, rather than from Tobolsk. The question also arose of whether the regional center should be moved to Abakan stockade; nevertheless, Krasnoyarsk retained its previous administrative importance.
In 1797, Krasnoyarsk District became part of Tobolsk Province, which also included Achinsk District. Starting in 1804, Krasnoyarsk was administered from Tomsk, which had become a provincial city. Overall, Siberia was unlucky in its rulers right up to the Revolution. In the 17th century, the government ordered local governors "to do everything as they see fit and as God commands." Siberians were unlucky in the 18th century as well. The first governor of Siberia, Prince Matvei Petrovich Gagarin, was hanged in 1721 by decree of Peter the Great "for unprecedented thievery."
The only means of fighting back available to urban and rural residents worn out by the despotism of "Siberian evildoers and bloodsuckers" were complaints and denunciations. However, the verifications drowned in the bureaucratic swamp and the accused could always explain and justify everything. Finally, people stopped having any faith in complaints, and in the reign of Catherine the Great, Siberians who dared to tell the truth about the state of affairs were called slanderers.
Complaints against local authorities reached the capital from all parts of Siberia. They were often sent surreptitiously, for example, baked in a loaf of bread. In 1818, an Irkutsk resident named Salomatov managed to make his way to St. Petersburg via China and deliver his letter personally to the tsar. He begged Alexander I at all costs to rid Siberia of the tyranny of Governor-General I. Pestel. The tsar took action, and on March 1819, Count Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky was appointed the new governor-general of Siberia.
Speransky always evaluated his actions from a practical standpoint. He understood that harsh measures could only halt, but not eliminate, abuses by local authorities. The only way out was through urgent administrative reform. The Count believed that as many residents as possible should take part in the reforms, since they would be personally interested in establishing an honest, respectable government. The basis of the Siberian reforms was a document entitled "An Institution for Governing the Siberian Provinces" (Irkutsk, 1822), which included a series of regulations, interpretations, and statutes. In accordance with this document, Siberia was divided into Western and Eastern Siberia.
In 1822, Krasnoyarsk became a provincial center, since its location was considered most suitable for the provincial government. Overnight, a district town that more closely resembled a village became known as a provincial city with all the ensuing privileges. The first hospital, fire brigade, and beautiful gardens appeared at this time.
Starting in 1858, a Trade Council that oversaw the quality of the work of stove makers, metalworkers, and carpenters operated in Krasnoyarsk. There was also a Public Council that had the right to expel negligent residents from Krasnoyarsk, collect taxes, and supervise hiring. The Council was headed by an elected elder, who took an oath before the townspeople.
Owing to a sensible taxation system, the city was able to make ends meet. Taxes were levied on real estate, land leasing, and water. There was even a tax on dogs, with all funds going to catching stray animals.
Head of the city Nikolai Shepetkovsky, who was also in charge of the city's public library, began publishing the newspaper Review of the Krasnoyarsk City Economy (Obzop gorodskogo khozyaistva goroda Krasnoyarska) with a circulation of 500 copies. Journalists of the time understood that running a business required broad publicity and a summary of any positive experience.
The Yenisei diocese was established in 1861, and by the end of the 19th century, Krasnoyarsk had ten Orthodox churches, two cathedrals (Kafedralny and Blagoveshchensky), a synagogue, a mosque, and Catholic churches.
Krasnoyarsk also became a city of exiles starting in the mid-18th century; among the most famous were writers Aleksandr Radishchev and Nikolai Chernyshevsky, Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky's son S.L. Sedov, poet Osip Mandelshtam, poet Marina Tsevtaeva's daughter Ariadna Efron, and Prof. I.Ya. Bashilov, who obtained the first platinum, radium, and gold from Norilsk ores.
In 1934, Krasnoyarsk was an administrative center with rapidly developing industries, which employed 38 824 people by early 1941. During the war, the number of industrial enterprises increased from 44 to 62. The Voroshilov Factory of Kolomensk (Kolomensky zavod im. Voroshilova) alone evacuated nearly 10 000 people to the Krasnoyarsk Engineering Plant (Krasmash), along with 537 carloads of machinery and 627 carloads of materials.
In the postwar years, Krasnoyarsk became the industrial center of Siberia. New factories were built one after another; they included tire, rubber, silk, biochemical, and pharmaceutical plants, aluminum smelters, metallurgical plants; and power machinery plants. Today, the city has more than 150 companies that send their products to countries around the world.
The Evenk Riddle
To this day, the Evenk taiga preserves the secret of one of the wonders of our age, the Tunguska meteorite. The mystery has still not been solved. What exactly happened? On June 30, 1908 (June 17 by the old calendar), at 7:17 local time, an explosion at an altitude of about 6 km with a force of 12.5 to 40 megatons rocked the taiga at 60î5'055'' north latitude and 101î5'057'' east longitude in the Podkamennaya Tunguska River basin 64 km from the village of Vanavara. The shock wave toppled trees over an area of 1885 km2 and was audible to people a thousand kilometers from the epicenter. Instruments showed that the waves had circled the earth at least twice. An enormous force literally shook the Eurasian continent. The shock waves from the Tunguska meteorite were recorded at observatories around the world, and earthquakes triggered by them were registered as far away as Berlin. In addition, a magnetic storm recorded in Irkutsk that began about 5 minutes after the explosion strongly resembled the disturbances of the earth's magnetic field observed after high-altitude nuclear explosions. It lasted more than 3 hours.
The repercussions of the Tunguska meteorite were felt all over the world. For three days, from June 30 to July 2, 1908, the nights were so bright that it was possible to read. Most of the light emanated from clouds at an altitude of about 80 km, which hung over an enormous area of Western Siberia and Europe. Other optical phenomena were also observed in the area, for example, bright, multicolored dawns, haloes around the sun, and in some places decreased atmospheric transparency, which reached California in August. This was presumably the result of dust from the explosion being flung into the atmosphere. There is evidence that the fall of the Tunguska meteorite even affected the southern hemisphere. In any event, auroras of unusual form and intensity were observed in the Antarctic on that day and described by members of Shackleton's British Antarctic expedition.
Numerous expeditions were sent to the area where the meteorite had supposedly fallen. Each one of them collected new facts, which only added to the mystery.
About 120 hypotheses have been advanced so far to explain the nature of the phenomenon, which has sometimes been very popular and sometimes been forgotten for a long time. And there was no end of hypotheses. Immediately after the explosion, there was speculation about a descent of the god Agda, the flight of a fiery serpent, a repeat of the tragedy of Sodom and Gomorra, and the start of the second Russo-Japanese war. When it appeared that no new war had started, people spoke "merely" of astronomical phenomena, and even later, of the detonation of several spheres of ball lightning, the explosion of a stony meteorite, an unusual earthquake, a volcanic eruption, and so on.
Expeditions began searching for meteorite debris in 1927, when there were suggestions that the meteorite had been transformed into plumes of debris and gas. There have been many other versions over the years, including the following:
- A meteorite flying by at a tangent (1929);
- The explosion of a cometary nucleus (1930);
- Collision of the earth with a dense cosmic dust cloud (1932);
- A collision with the tail of a comet (1934);
- An atomic explosion of a spaceship (1945);
- The crash of a Martian spaceship (1946);
- The annihilation of an antimatter meteorite (1947);
- An ice meteorite (1958);
- The fall of a core fragment of the planet Phaethon (1959);
- The detonation of a swarm of midges more than 5 km3 in volume (1960);
- The disintegration of a flying saucer (1961);
- An electrical breakdown of the ionosphere on earth (1962);
- Destruction of the taiga by the electrostatic discharge of a meteorite (1963);
- A laser beam from space (1964);
- The invasion of earth by a spaceship with a snowman on board (1965);
- The fall of a superdense fragment of a white dwarf star (1966);
- A swamp gas explosion caused by a lightning strike (1967);
- Dissociation of water and an explosion of detonating gas (1968);
- The fall of an antimatter comet (1969).
This theme has been extremely popular in science fiction. It is hard to say if we will ever know the truth about what really happened.
RESOURCES
Krasnoyarsk Territory has some of the richest natural resources in Russia. Thanks to its resources, the territory is an attractive region for investments. The most important natural resources include hydropower, coniferous forests, coal, gold and rare metals, oil, gas, iron and polymetallic ores, and non-ore minerals.
The territory's plant life is rich and varied. A large area and diverse landscapes at elevations from 100 to 3000 m above sea level determine the latitudinal and vertical distribution of the region's plant life. Underdeveloped tundra with primitive soils occupies an enormous area of the northern part of the territory. Forests cover 45% of the territory and include the northern taiga (swampy, flooded forests), the central taiga (dark coniferous forests consisting mainly of pine, larch, and fir), and southern deciduous forests. Total timber reserves are about 14.4 billion m3 or 29% of total Russian reserves. Yearly logging volumes amount to 16.3 million m3, or 25.2% of the calculated cutting area.
The Angara-Yenisei (Lower Angara) region is the most important logging area, where 58% of current logging activity is concentrated. The southern part of the territory is in the steppe and forest steppe zones, where birch and pine forests alternate with grass-covered steppes. The soils of Krasnodar Territory are relatively thin. The northern tundra lies in the permafrost zone, while podzolic, peaty-podzolic, and light chestnut soils are characteristic of the central and southern regions. High-productivity chernozems (black earths) are found only in the Minusinsk Basin. There are more than 450 plant species in the territory, including some with commercial value. About 60 species are under government protection. Large quantities of mushrooms, berries, medicinal plants, pine nuts, and ferns are prepared in the territory every year.
The territory is the habitat of 342 bird and 89 mammal species; wild reindeer, with a population of 600 000 head, are among the most abundant mammals. Polar bears, walrus, and seals inhabit the coast and ice of the Arctic Ocean. The tundra is home to Arctic and other foxes, wolves, wolverines, and weasels; many bird species also nest there. Brown bears, moose, Siberian deer, sable, lynx, squirrels, and hares are also found on the tundra. The animal life of the steppe and forest steppe is relatively sparse. More than 30 commercial fish species are inhabit the territory's rivers, including sturgeon, sterlet, taiman, grayling, whitefish, and peled.
Cheap hydroelectric power is one of the most important factors in the region's rapid industrial development. The territory has an extensive river system, particularly the system including the Yenisei River and its tributaries, which is the largest system in Russia, as well as the Pyasina, Taimyra, and Khatanga rivers that flow into the Kara and Lapta seas and the Chulym and Kesh-Ket rivers in the southwest. The rivers form a natural transportation system in the territory. Annual river drainage reaches 700 km3 or more than 20% of the drainage of all Russian rivers. The Yenisei and Angara have the greatest energy potential. There are two hydroelectric power plants on the Yenisei and a system of three plant on the Angara, with a fourth under construction. The total output of Krasnoyarsk's power plants is 44.8 billion kW-h. One of the world's largest rivers, the Yenisei, flows from south to north through the territory. It has its source in the Sayan Mountains in the geographic center of Asia from the confluence of the Bolshoi and Maly Yenisei rivers. It is 4092 km long, up to 12 km wide in its lower reaches, and 40-50 km wide at its mouth where it flows into the Kara Sea.
The territory's rivers have many rapids, as well as waterfalls. Current velocities range from 3-5 m/s to 10-12 m/s. The channels of mountain rivers have steep gradients falling anywhere from 5 to 100 m per km. The ports of Igarka and Dudinka in the lower Yenisei are equipped to receive seagoing vessels, and nearly all timber exports from Krasnoyarsk Territory pass through them. Navigation is normally possible only in summer, although the use of icebreakers allows shipping year round. Ships classed as river- and sea-going vessels with a capacity of up to 5000 tons can navigate as far as the ports of Krasnoyarsk and Lesosibirsk on the middle Yenisei.
There are more than 323 000 thousand lakes in the territory, or 11% of the total number of lakes in the country. However, there are few large lakes: 99% of the lakes have a surface area of less than 1 km2. Most of the lakes (86%) are found in the north; a system of lakes with mineral waters and therapeutic muds, e.g., Tagarskoe, Shira, and Uchum, is located in the south. More than 80 000 people per year receive treatment at the resorts here. The northern part of the territory borders on the Arctic Ocean and the Kara and Laptev seas. The seas are covered with a solid mass of ice for nine months of the year, but a powerful icebreaker fleet allows ship convoys to sail the Arctic Ocean route year round.
The territory has 25 developed oil and gas fields with estimated commercial reserves of 1011.3 million tons of oil, 1.126 trillion m3 of gas, and more than 50 million tons of gas condensate. Gas is produced at the Yuzhno-Soleninskoe and Severo-Soleninskoe fields to meet the needs of the Norilsk Nickel Metallurgical Combine (GMK Norilsky nikel). Yurubcheno-Takhomskoe, Kuyumbinskoe, and Tersko-Komovskoe are the largest developed fields.
Only 60% of Russian demand for this metal is satisfied. The Tatarskoe and Chuktukonskoe rare metal deposits discovered in the territory have better metal-extraction factors than other well-known tantalum-niobium ore deposits.
Antimony deposits now being worked in Yakutia will exhaust their reserves by 2005. The Udereiskoe gold-antimony deposit located in a promising antimony-bearing region is the only explored reserve deposit in Russia.
Krasnoyarsk Territory is Russia's leading gold producer, and the country's second-largest gold deposit in terms of reserves, the Olimipiadinskoe deposit, is located here. Large-scale gold production will be possible from it for at least 30 years. There are also 11 other smaller deposits. Alluvial gold reserves and resources are sufficient to maintain production at 4.5-5.0 tons per year. Total probable reserves amount to 10 tons of alluvial gold and 5 tons of native gold (gold ore). Native gold deposits are the only possible basis for future gold production increases.
The territory has 86.3 billion tons of known coal reserves, but only 7% are commercially developed. The Krasnoyarsk Coal Company (Krasnoyarskugol) produces about 61 million tons of coal per year. The Kansk-Achinsk brown coal basin has reserves suitable for open-pit mining; total reserves are 65.8 billion tons, of which 62.2 billion tons are earmarked for open-pit production. Another advantage of this basin is its location along the Trans-Siberian railway. The large but little-known Taimyr basin is located in the northern part of the territory; reserves in two of its deposits total 89 billion tons. The Tungus basin is considered to be the world's largest in terms of potential coal resources, with estimated reserves of 2.3 trillion tons. However, most of it is located in remote northern regions of the territory.
The territory's iron ore reserves amount to 2270.2 million tons, 56% of which is classed as easily concentratable. Probable reserves are estimated at 4.5 billion tons. Most of the reserves are concentrated in three regions: Khakassko-Sayansky, Angaro-Pitsky, and Sredne-Angarsky.
The Gorevskoe lead-zinc deposit located in Krasnoyarsk Territory is the world's largest such deposit in terms of reserves. The Gorevsky Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise (Gorevsky GOK) annually produces 16 000-18 000 tons of lead concentrate with a 50-60% lead content and a silver content of up to 450 g/t. Germanium, tellurium, gallium, and indium are produced from this deposit as secondary constituents along with lead and silver. There are also prospects for developing new polymetal reserves in the region between the Angara and Tunguska rivers.
Other important reserves include deposits of apatite and nepheline (the main raw material for producing aluminum). The Anabarskaya apatite province in the northern part of the territory contains 21% of all Russian reserves. The prospects of discovering large deposits in this area are considered to be good.
The main Russian reserves of platinum and platinoids (e.g., platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, osmium, and ruthenium) and copper-nickel ores are concentrated in the territory; the deposits are located primarily in the north, including the Taimyr Peninsula, which also has deposits of Iceland spar. More than ten polymetallic ore deposits have been developed in the Norilsk copper ore district in the north. Mining operations are carried out by both open-pit and shaft methods. The ore is processed by the Norilsk Nickel Metallurgical Combine, which produces most of Russia's copper, nickel, cobalt, and platinoids.
The Angara group of magnesite deposits (the raw material for obtaining magnesium) is one of Russia's best in terms of reserves (estimated at 500 million tons) and attributes. The very clean Talskie magnesites can be used to obtain metallic magnesium. There are six known deposits at present.
Bauxite reserves discovered in the region between the Angara and Podkamennaya Tunguska rivers amount to more than 100 million tons. The bauxites of the Tsentralnoe deposit are unique for their high content of rare and rare earth elements. Reserves in this deposit are estimated at 50 million tons, which is enough for a medium-capacity bauxite plant. Associated elements may also be extracted with the right technology.
Finally, Krasnoyarsk Territory has significant reserves of cobalt, zinc, cadmium, chrome, molybdenum, tungsten, mercury, tin, antimony, alkali metals (sodium, potassium), rare and rare earth metals, phosphates, graphite, manganese ores, talc, helium, and building stone. The territory's main advantage is that these minerals are usually deposited side by side and can be mined simultaneously.
ECONOMY
During the first years of reform, the territory's economic situation was nearly the same as the situation in the rest of Russia. Starting in 1994, the territory made the first attempts to halt the industrial decline. Thus, as the crisis continued in the rest of the country, the territory's industries began to emerge from it and production increased significantly.
The territory has one of the best developed banking systems in the East Siberian economic district, and absolute budget revenues and expenditures have increased. The territory is among the top 10 Russian regions in terms of investments and among the 20 best Russian regions overall.
The territory's economic advantages are connected with the use of cheap local power and raw materials, the relatively up-to-date technological level of its mining companies, and a strong export component. Krasnoyarsk Territory is consistently among the top ten Russian regions in terms of output volumes. Among Siberian regions, the territory is second only to Tyumen Region in terms of per capita industrial output.
Industry accounts for slightly more than 50% of the territory's gross regional product and agriculture, for about 7%. The leading industrial sectors are ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, the fuel and energy complex, engineering and metalworking, mining, forestry and woodworking, pulp and paper, and the chemical, light, and food industries. Regional industry is trying to become more diversified.
Eleven enterprises of the military-industrial complex are located in the cities of Zheleznogorsk and Zelenogorsk, although defense production makes up an insignificant part of the territory's total production volumes and civilian production at these companies is negligible (0.1% of their production).
Krasnoyarsk Territory is among the relatively small number of Russian regions that conducts more than 70% of its total commodities exchange with foreign partners. The territorial economy is regulated at both the federal and local levels; this includes licensing individual forms of economic activity, setting prices and rates for various kinds of goods, labor, and services, antimonopoly regulation, etc.
The territory has a well-developed industrial base and is an active participant on both Russian and international markets. In the international system of specialization, the territory is notable for its powerful fuel, energy complex with power-consuming nonferrous metallurgy, chemical, and engineering industries, production of valuable minerals, and the forest industry. It has 3% of all Russian industry and 40% of all industry in the East Siberian economic district. In terms of export potential, the territory is among the five leading Russian regions and holds the leading position in Siberia.
Main industrial sectors:
- Nonferrous metallurgy: Norilsk Mining and Smelting Enterprise (copper, nickel, cobalt), Sayansk Aluminum Smelter (SaAZ), Sorsk Molybdenum Works (Sorsky molibdenovy kombinat);
- Power;
- Engineering and metalworking: equipment for the forest and pulp and paper industries, combine harvesters, heavy overhead cranes, ships, household refrigerators, TV sets, earth-moving machinery, containers, electronic goods, trailers, instruments;
- Mining: production of coal, iron ore, nonferrous and rare metals, gold, graphite, Iceland spar;
- Chemical industry: chemical fiber, synthetic rubber, tires, pharmaceuticals, rubber goods.
- Forestry and woodworking;
- Light industry: textiles, leather footwear;
- Food industry.
The territory's main industrial centers are Krasnoyarsk, Norilsk, Abakan, Chernogorsk, Achinsk, and Minusinsk.
Leading industrial enterprises: the Siberian Heavy Engineering Plant (Sibtyazhmash) of Krasnoyarsk is the only Russian producer of heavy overhead cranes with a lifting capacity of more than 200 tons. Kraslesmash, also located in Krasnoyarsk, produces logging and wood-processing equipment, including half of the country's timber loading and handling equipment. The Krasnoyarsk Combine-Building Factory (Krasnoyarskoe kombainostroitelnoe obedinenie) produces 15.5% of Russia's combine harvesters. Russia's largest factory for the production of Biryusa household refrigerators exported to 40 countries around the world is located in Krasnoyarsk. The Scientific Production Association for Applied Mechanics (NPO prikladnoi mekhaniki) is Russia's main developer and producer of space communication systems.
River ships, car trailers and coolers, TV sets, and electronic equipment are also produced. Leading companies in Krasnoyarsk include Krasmash (satellites and rockets, oil-refinery equipment), the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Smelter (KrAZ), and Krasnoyarsk Kombainprom Production Association (Krasnoyarskoe PO Kombainprom).
The power industry is the territory's core sector. In recent years, the region's contribution to total Russian power production has been growing steadily, so that Krasnoyarsk Territory now generates about 6% of all electric power in the country. Large power plants located in in the territory include the Krasnoyarsk Hydroelectric Power Plant (Krasnoyarskaya GES), the Krasnoyarsk State Regional Power Plant-2 (Krasnoyarskaya GRES-2), the Nazarovo GRES, the Boguchany GES, and the Berezovka GRES-1.
The territory is in second place in Russia in terms of electric power generated per person. The rivers have great power-generating potential, and thus it is not by chance that two of Eurasia's largest hydroelectric power plants (Krasnoyarsk and Sayano-Shushensk) have been built on the Yenisei River. The Kansk-Achinsk coal basin is the resource base for the Kansk-Achinsk Fuel and Energy Complex (KATEK), which also includes the Berezovka GRES-1 and GRES-2, the world's most powerful hydroelectric plants. The operating open-pit mines annually supply about 55 million tons of coal to the power industry. Large amounts of coal are delivered to heating plants in neighboring Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, and other regions.
The use of hydroelectric power, amounting to over 41 percent of all power production, allows the government to keep power prices lower compared to many other regions in Russia.
The Norilsk industrial region's power supply system operates independently of the Krasnoyarsk system using about 5.6 million m3 of natural gas per year as the raw material. The territory's centralized power supply system includes 99% of all users.
Nonferrous and ferrous metallurgy have traditionally been the territory's base industrial sector. More than 30 heavy, light, alloy, and rare earth metals and elements are produced here, the most important being aluminum, nickel, cobalt, copper, platinum, and gold. The nonferrous and ferrous metallurgy industries produce more than 50% of the territory's industrial products and play a leading role in its foreign economic activity. Large metallurgical plants located in the territory include an aluminum smelter (KrAZ), metallurgical works, and nonferrous metal plants in Krasnoyarsk, the Achinsk Alumina Complex (Achinsky glinozemny kombinat) in Achinsk, and the Gorevsky Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise. The Norilsk Nickel Metallurgical Combine is not only the leading nonferrous metallurgical enterprise in both the territory (one-sixth of the territory's industrial output) and Russia, but is also the most northerly enterprise of its kind in the world. Production of ultrapure metals for the electronics industry, e.g., tellurium, germanium, silicon, and aluminum, has also been developed.
In contrast to nonferrous metallurgy, output of products of ferrous metallurgy has decreased somewhat compared to previous years.
The territory's chemical complex includes companies of the chemical, petrochemical, microbiological, and pharmaceutical industries. The most important products are refined petroleum products, synthetic rubber, and synthetic rubber products (about 300 types). Companies in the territory produce 10% of the high-quality synthetic rubber in Russia, 15% of the car tires, 12% of the artificial fiber, and significant shares of domestically produced antibiotics and blood substitutes.
The mining industry produces the raw materials for metallurgy. Commercial development of gold, lead, zinc, magnesite, and other mineral deposits is ongoing in the region. At present, nearly 90% of output consists of raw materials for nonferrous metal production. Coal production is second in terms of production volumes. The Kansk-Achinsk basin is an important natural resource base for the regional electric power and heat production industries, as well as for the chemical industry. The Nazarovskoe, Berezovskoe, and Irsha-Borodinskoe deposits are currently in operation with an average annual production volume of over 50 million tons.
The forest industry complex, which includes the logging, woodworking, and pulp and paper industries, is of both Russian and international significance and forms country's forest industry and timber export base. The most widespread timber species are Siberian larch, pine, aspen, and birch. A total of 55 million m3 of high-quality coniferous timber is logged annually. The territory is Russia's third-largest raw timber producer and its largest lumber producer. Timber is transported on large rivers and by railway.
The territory is one of the leading agricultural regions of Central and Eastern Siberia and is fully capable of meeting the population's requirements for staple food products. The territory produces more than half the grain, more than 40% of the potatoes, 37% of the vegetables, 43% of the milk, 36% of the meat, and 43% of the eggs in Eastern Siberia. Due to the severe climate, agriculture is most developed in the southern regions. The leading agricultural sectors are crop cultivation, livestock breeding, and poultry farming. The breeding of fine-fleeced sheep is developed in the south; cattle, swine, and sheep breeding, in central regions; and reindeer breeding, fur farming, and fur trapping in the north. Krasnoyarsk Territory is the country's most important fur-producing region. Average yearly production is about 15 000 Arctic fox, more than 50 000 farmed sable, and 400 000 squirrel furs.
AUTHORITIES
As a subject of the Russian Federation, the territory has fairly broad areas of joint jurisdiction with the Federation, as well as its own exclusive jurisdictions. Territorial regulatory and legal acts passed within the bounds of this jurisdiction have priority over others. Matters coming within exclusive territorial jurisdiction include the following:
- territorial property and management of it;
- the territorial budget;
- territorial budgetary funds;
- territorial taxes and dues;
- territorial socioeconomic, state and political, and other territorial development programs;
- the territory's foreign economic, international, and interregional relations.
The Taimyr (Dogan-Nenets) and Evenk autonomous districts, which are subjects of the Russian Federation included in Krasnoyarsk Territory, are each represented independently in the Federation Council (the upper house of the Russian Parliament).
Government authority is separated into legislative, executive, and judicial branches, each of which is independent of the others.
Judicial authority in Krasnoyarsk Territory is exercised by the federal courts (general jurisdiction, military, and arbitration).
The organization and operating procedure of courts belonging to the judicial system of the Russian Federation are specified by federal legislation.
There is provision for the establishment of a Statutory Court of Krasnoyarsk Territory and the introduction of the institution of justice of the peace in the territory.
Within the limits of their jurisdiction, territorial and local governing bodies pass measures to implement federal legislation relating to the judicial system, court procedures, and the status of judges, as well as territorial legal acts.
Judges and courts in the territory are guaranteed independence.
The territory, including the autonomous districts within it, is divided into 42 districts. There are 16 cities under territorial jurisdiction and more than 550 population centers overall.
Krasnoyarsk is the territory's administrative center and its largest city.
CULTURE AND ART
A provincial geographical location does not mean a provincial culture. Very few people know that the first district library in Russia opened in Krasnoyarsk back in 1784; but perhaps this was the seed that 150 years later produced the outstanding Russian writer Viktor Petrovich Astafev. Millions of Russians have read his books, which have been translated into many languages in countries around the world. Another well-known writer, Valentin Rasputin, began his creative work in Krasnoyarsk in the 1960s when he was a journalist for a territorial newspaper for young people.
At the end of the 19th century, artist Vasily Ivanovich Surikov, born in 1848 into an old Cossack family, brought worldwide fame to the small provincial city. The artist became a classic even in his lifetime, and his paintings were exhibited in the world's best galleries. His memory is preserved in a memorial museum located in the house where he was born. A children's art school, an art college, and an art gallery in Krasnoyarsk all bear his name. The Surikov gallery has a collection of more than 7000 Russian and contemporary paintings, graphic art, sculptures, and crafts.
Krasnoyarsk continues to grow and improve. New districts and streets are appearing, and old ones are being modernized. Eleven professional theaters, including an opera and ballet theater, a musical comedy theater, a drama theater, a young people's theater, and a puppet theater, operate in the territory, along with numerous museums and exhibition halls, an organ hall, the beautiful Bolshoi and Maly concert halls, swimming pools, and stadiums.
The monasteries and churches of Yeniseisk and the ethnographic museum in Shushensky are among the territory's most interesting architectural and cultural monuments. Four state nature preserves have been established in different natural zones; the best known of these is the Pillars (Stolby) preserve. Scenic tourist resorts and centers for both summer and winter vacations are located near Krasnoyarsk. A ten-day cruise along the Yenisei River in a modern ship is very popular with foreign tourists.
TOURISM
Krasnoyarsk Territory is a very picturesque region with lowland and mountain rivers, lakes, and vast forests. The diversity of the landscapes cannot leave anyone indifferent, and the territory will always have something new and undiscovered for fishermen, hunters, and tourists. Numerous tourist agencies offer their services to anyone interested in a vacation. There are high-class hotels, bars, cafes, and restaurants for any taste, from discotheques to classic comfortable restaurants and cafes with quiet music. There are also opportunities for alpine skiing and mountaineering among the high peaks.
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