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Primorye (Maritime) Territory
// GENERAL INFORMATION
Primorye Territory is located in far southeastern Russia on the shore of the Sea of Japan. It has an area of 165 900 km2, which is 1% of the total area of the Russian Federation, and is among the medium-sized regions of the country. The territory extends 900 km from north to south and 430 km from west to east; the total length of its borders is 3000 km, including 1500 km of coastline.
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Primorye is a fairly moist zone, since it receives from 500 to 900 mm of precipitation annually. Seventy percent of the annual precipitation falls in summer and autumn and only 10% in winter. Summer is the cloudiest season. The amount of precipitation increases as you go from west to east.
The cold season in Primorye lasts two to three months; April is the most typical month, with average temperatures of +3 to +5 °C. The snow cover disappears rapidly forming very little meltwater. Summers in Primorye are cloudy but warm and even hot in areas far from the sea. Thick fogs changing to drizzle are characteristic of the coast. Autumn is the best time of year; it is warm, dry, clear, and quiet. The temperature falls slowly, and the warm weather lasts into October. The leaves begin to fall in the brightly colored autumn woods in early October; but by the end of October and early November, there is abrupt cooling and winter arrives with low temperatures. Winter lasts for 3-3.5 months in the southwest and 4-5 months in northern districts. In mountainous areas, the snow cover is 85-100 cm thick, but is intermittent in the south.
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The cities of Primorye serve as industrial, transportation, cultural, and administrative centers. They are not only industrial centers specializing in engineering, mining, and woodworking, but are also the sites of some 2000 different historical and cultural monuments. The largest cities are Vladivostok, Nakhodka, Arsenev, Artem, Bolshoi Kamen, Dalnegorsk, and Ussuriisk.
The population of Primorye Territory is about 2 200 000 people, or 1.5% of the total Russian population. This figure derives from two sources: natural growth and migration. The population density is 13.6 people per km2. The difficult socioeconomic situation in Russia has led to worsening of demographic indicators like death rate, birth rate, average life expectancy, etc. Between 1991 and 1994, the population decreased by more than 40 000 people; and between 1992 and 1997, the decline was 1 to 2% per year. Since 1993, the death rate has exceeded the birth rate, resulting in negative natural population growth. In the last three years, the death rate has increased 40%, whereas the birth rate has decreased 26%. All of this is an indication of the difficult economic situation and unfavorable ecological state of the territory and the need to take measures to improve them. Despite these figures, Primorye Territory is the most stable region in the Far East.
At present, 77% of the population of Primorye lives in cities and other urban communities, and the remaining 23% (526 000 people) live in villages, although the number of rural communities has clearly been decreasing in recent years. As in other Far Eastern territories and regions, the population of Primorye Territory is very unevenly distributed, with densely populated districts alternating with sparsely populated ones. One-third of the territory, mainly in mountainous areas, has no resident population at all.
The average age of Primorye residents is 35.5 years, which means a large working-age population. The proportion of pensioners is nearly 7% less than in Russia as a whole. However, the deteriorating demographic situation is leading to gradual aging of the population. In the last 20 years, the number of pensioners in Primorye has increased 2.4 times. This trend is especially noticeable in rural areas, where along with a low birth rate there is a migration of young people to the cities. In some villages today, pensioners make up nearly 15% of the population.
There are more than 90 registered nationalities in Primorye Territory. Russians predominate, but there are large numbers of Ukrainians and Belorussians in rural areas and Germans, Tatars, Jews, and Koreans in the cities. The number of Kazakhs, Tajiks, Georgians, and Azerbaijanis has increased in recent years due to migration from CIS countries. In spite of measures to support the native people of the Far East, their populations are increasing very slowly. Native peoples such as Nanais, Udeges, Oroks, Evens, and Orochis make up less than 1% of the territory's population.
People with secondary and higher education predominate among the population. Out of every 1000 people working in social production, 170 have higher education and 260 have special vocational education. Thirty percent of the people with secondary education have additional professional training. The highest educational levels are found among the population of Vladivostok, where 90% of residents have secondary or higher education. This is explained by the fact that a large number of higher educational institutions, technical colleges, research and design institutes, computer centers, and science-intensive industries are located here. The number of graduates from schools of higher education has increased by 40% in the last ten years. Men in the territory generally have a higher educational level than women, but over the past few years, the educational level of women in Primorye has noticeably increased. As a result, women under 40 have higher educational qualifications than men.
HISTORY
Humans began settling Primorye approximately 30 000 years ago. These were mammoth hunters from continental Asia who knew how to make tools from large stone flakes. Stone Age artifacts show how the hunters and gatherers adapted to their surroundings while still preserving their traditions. There are nearly 30 sites in the Zerkalnaya River valley that clearly show the evolution of the hunters' culture as they made the transition to fishing and a more settled way of life.
Significant warming of the climate and a rise in sea level began 8000-6000 years ago, resulting in the appearance of many convenient bays and lagoons on the Primorye coast. These natural events stimulated the development of the Boisman and Rudnaya cultures, which were distinguished from their predecessors by greater skill in exploiting marine resources. During this period, people gathered mollusks, collected plants in the fall, and hunted deer, wild boar, sea lions, seals, dolphins, and even gray whales in winter and spring. Collective hunting prevailed on the sea and individual hunting on land. Warrior-hunters had high social status and were buried with special honors.
Between 5000 and 4500 years ago, sudden cooling of the climate and a drop in sea level set in, resulting in the disappearance of Middle Neolithic cultural traditions and a transformation to the Zaisanovka culture. The people of this culture had a specialized subsistence system that already included farming, which allowed them to live both on the coast and far inland. Therefore, they settled in areas favorable for farming along the middle reaches of rivers flowing into the sea and in all potentially productive and convenient locations on the coast, making use of all available ecological niches. The evolution of this culture is clearly shown by an increase in the number of settlements along with increases in their size and population.
The second half of the second millennium B.C. marked the beginning of the Bronze Age in Primorye, which has been little studied by scientists. All that is known is the existence of the Senii Gei, Lidovka, and Margarita archeological cultures. The people of the Senii Gei culture in the continental area around Lake Khanka engaged in farming, livestock breeding, hunting, and gathering of plants. People of the Lidovka culture, who settled on the east coast of Primorye engaged in farming and also made use of coastal and marine resources. The southeastern coastal region of Primorye was the site of the Margarita culture, whose people hunted, fished, and gathered mollusks and had also begun to cultivate millet.
About 3000 years ago, as the climate warmed and sea level rose 1.5 m above present-day levels, the Iron Age arrived in Primorye. During this time, people of the Yankovskaya culture occupied southern Primorye and developed a subsistence system based on marine resources. Nearly 120 year-round settlements of this culture are known at present. The people of this culture made long voyages, fished, hunted, gathered mollusks and plants, raised pigs and dogs, and cultivated millet and barley. Starting in about 200-100 B.C., people of the Krounovka culture from the continental western regions of Primorye began settling here. They occupied most of the lands of the Yankovskaya culture and mainly engaged in farming, cattle breeding, and hunting. According to archeological evidence, southward expansion of the Poltsevskaya culture of northern Primorye and its offshoot, the Olgin culture, began early in the first millennium A.D. As a result, people of the Olgin culture occupied most of the lands settled by late Krounovka groups.
There are many links in the long chain of human existence in Primorye in prehistoric times that still have to be reconstructed, but some mysteries will never be solved. Even evidence from later periods, e.g., the Middle Ages, is often scanty and unbelievable; nevertheless, scientists have determined at least some things.
The Middle Ages, which span the period from the 4th-5th to the 15th-16th centuries, coincided with the rise, prosperity, and fall of the Bohai (698-926), Jin (115-1234), and Eastern Xia (1215-1233) empires in the southern territory of the Russian Far East. This was a very important stage that was marked by fundamental changes in all spheres of human activity. The transformations affected agriculture, crafts, and trade; cities, inequality, classes, and authorities whose power was based on legalized violence appeared; and world religions began to spread.
The history of medieval civilization in the Far East is divided into two great periods. The first began with China's Han Dynasty and the powerful Huns of the steppes, who appeared even before the Common Era and confronted one another with varying success. The nomads kept a close eye on their neighbors, especially on the cattle herders of Manchuria, and invariably collected tribute from them. The process of political integration of the people and cultures of the Russian Far East, Manchuria, Japan, and the Korean peninsula accelerated after interaction with the developed centers of the region, which stimulated the rise of distinct early states or the development of already existing ones.
The second great period in the history of the civilization of the Far East began with the downfall of the Tang Empire and the appearance of a number of competing dynasties in China. The bipolar structure in Inner Asia was destroyed, which freed the people of Manchuria from pressure from the Huns and the Chinese. They began forming their own societies and taking over farmland in the south. The Kidans and Churchens subjugated the whole of northern China, and thus the warlike northerners imposed their own "barbaric" institutions on the civilized ways of the conquered settled population. The northerners were unable to govern the complex economy of an agricultural society with a large number of cities, but they had to find a way, or there would be a crisis of the administrative system and then of the entire empire.
As a solution to this problem, the conquerors either "simplified" the subject population by destroying cities and turning fields into pastures for cattle or "complicated" their own administrative institutions, i.e., by establishing an imperial court in the cities, creating a bureaucratic apparatus, and introducing Chinese styles of writing and record keeping. Nevertheless, civilization gradually won over barbarism, and the conquerors adopted the clothing, manners, and writing of the conquered or created their own writing and built large cities, sumptuous palaces, and temples. Thus, the agricultural and cattle-herding cultures of the Far East blended with the advanced urban and agricultural civilization of the Chinese.
Wars and the rise and fall of states went on in Primorye in the Middle Ages without interference from Russians. Active eastward migration of Russians from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean began only with Ermak's [Ermak Timofeevich, a Cossack leader] campaign in 1581-1582. Over a period of 50 years, ordinary Russians like soldiers, Cossacks, and peasants accomplished the move to the Pacific.
The discovery of the remote, wild, and unpopulated territory by courageous 17th-century explorers such as Vasily Poyarkov, Erofei Khabarov, Onufrii Stepanov, and Nikifor Chernigorsky came at the cost of sweat and blood. The present-day villages of Primorye are a monument to the persistence and courage of the discoverers and defenders. The first settlers were Russian peasants in search of arable land, and they played an important role in the later colonization of the far eastern reaches of the country.
On March 26, 1861, the government declared the Amur and Primorye regions of Eastern Siberia open for settlement by "landless peasants and enterprising people of all classes wishing to resettle at their own expense." Settlement proceeded by land between 1861 and 1881, by sea between 1882 and 1901, and then by rail between 1902 and 1917. The 245 476 peasants who arrived between 1861 and 1917 founded 342 villages. The peasant colonists brought more advanced farming methods to Primorye, such as the use of iron ploughs and harrows and the three-field system of agriculture. The Russian migrants and local residents shared their skills and experiences with one another.
In the early years of settlement, industry in Primorye developed mainly through exploitation of its rich natural resources. Forestry and fishing were the most important industries from 1860 to 1880. The first settlers quickly discovered various economic minerals such as coal and iron and silver-lead ores, and gold ore was discovered at Lake Askold in 1867. The emerging manufacturing industry was oriented toward satisfying the most pressing needs, mainly through the growth of mills, forges, and brickyards.
Construction of the Ussuri Railway was an important factor in speeding up the industrial development of Primorye. A geological study of the territory was undertaken; private business activity intensified; the inflow of capital, settlers, and workers increased; ocean and river shipping and trading activity increased; and development of the coal industry was stimulated. The first electric power stations appeared in Primorye in the 1890s.
In the early 20th century, developed countries, including Russia, were hit by an overproduction crisis, which was intensified by political events like the Russo-Japanese War and the Revolution of 1905.
On March 3, 1917, news of the abdication of Nicholas II reached Vladivostok, and resolutions in support of the revolution in Petrograd were passed at impromptu meetings. The regional commissar appointed by the Provisional Government had the real power in the territory. The first Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies headed by Bolshevik S.M. Goldbreikh was elected on March 4, 1917.
In summer 1918, the powers of the Entente [England, France, and the United States] agreed to organize a united intervention in the Far East. They decided to use former prisoners of war of a Czechoslovakian corps, nearly 15 000 of whom were gathered in Vladivostok by June, to overthrow the Soviet regime. The White Guard coup took place in Vladivostok on June 29, 1918, and the Social Revolutionary-Menshevik Provisional Government of Autonomous Siberia came to power. The Entente's intervention in the Far East began in August under the pretence of aiding the evacuation of the Czechoslovakian corps. On September 4, the Far Eastern Council of People's Commissars (Dalsovnarkom) and its forces abandoned Khabarovsk after retreating from Amur Region. Fierce battles raged in the territory, but an exhausted Soviet Russia could not wage war on two fronts, and thus Russia's outlets to the Pacific Ocean in southern Primorye and the Amur lowlands fell to the Japanese. The US government did not want to see this territory under Japanese control and demanded the withdrawal of Japanese forces from Primorye.
In December 1920, the Primorye regional office of the Far Eastern Republic headed by Bolshevik V.G. Antonov was set up in Vladivostok. The first counterrevolutionary coup against the republic took place on May 26 and 27 1921, and the Amur Provisional Government was formed with factory owner S.D. Merkulov as its head. As a result of the Far Eastern Republic's diplomatic contacts with the RSFSR and Japan during international conferences in Derchen and Changchung and with Washington in Genoa, Japan announced the withdrawal of its forces from Primorye beginning in August 1922. The Whites [anti-Bolshevik counterrevolutionaries] were defeated in Spassk on October 9 and voluntarily left Vladivostok, taking nearly all the ships of the Siberian naval fleet. Guided by the wish of the republic's workers to join with Soviet Russia, the People's Assembly of the Far Eastern Republic decided on November 14, 1992, to abolish the republic and asked the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) to accept the Far East as part of Russia. The Civil War and intervention ended in the Far East with the capture of Vladivostok. Losses on both sides during the war came to nearly 80 000 people, and hundreds of thousands more emigrated abroad.
After the Civil War and intervention, the Soviet regime was firmly established in Primorye. From 1922 to 1926, Primorye Province was part of the Far Eastern Region formed in the territory of the former Far Eastern Republic. The new region was transformed into the Far Eastern Territory in 1926, while Primorye Province was first part of Vladivostok District and then became part of Primorye and Ussuri regions in 1932. These regions became territories and only came under Moscow's direct jurisdiction in 1938.
Once they were solidly established in the region, the Soviet authorities set about restoring the economy that had been ruined in the war and introducing socialist reforms. The nationalization of factories, food-industry companies, and property, the reactivation of the Suchan coal mines, the startup of Dalzavod shipyards that had survived the war, and expansion of the operations of Vladivostok's commercial port all began in 1923-1924. In the near-total absence of Soviet-made goods in the region, private trade dominated in Primorye in the 1920s. During this time, private commercial capital was 59% Chinese-owned, 8% owned by other foreigners, and only 33% Russian-owned. Mixed joint-stock companies that included both private and state enterprises were set up in the fishing, mining, forest, and gold-producing sectors. However, by the 1930s, private and foreign capital had already been forced out of the economy of Primorye Region, concession business was curtailed, and border controls were tightened. The "iron curtain" closed along the entire boundary of the Soviet state.
The territory began receiving substantial capital investments in the 1930s to promote forced industrialization. There was not enough manpower to implement it; therefore, the government made extensive use of the labor of prisoners from Stalinist corrective labor camps, whose numbers had reached 70 000 people by 1937.
Despite the peaceful relations between the Soviet Union and its neighbors in the 1930s, the ruling circles in Japan stirred up a conflict that in 1938 turned into an armed confrontation near Lake Khasan, in which 1500 people from both sides were killed and more than 4000 wounded.
Three years later, the country was engulfed in the Second World War [called the Great Patriotic War in Russia]. Although Primorye was not the scene of military operations, the Soviet-Chinese border, where Japanese forces allied with Germany were concentrated, passed through its territory. Despite the fact that the Soviet Union had concluded a neutrality pact with Japan in April 1941, the threat of attack remained real and at various times during the war between 15 and 30% of the country's armed forces had to be kept on the border. Upon hearing of the German attack, thousands of Primorye residents voluntarily went to the defense of their country and fought on all fronts during the war. More than 200 000 people were called from Primorye Territory and were awarded 230 000 medals, including 104 awards of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and 16 awards of full Cavalier of the Order of Glory. One-third of those who went to the front never returned from the war; their names are inscribed in the territorial Memorial Book of Defenders of the Fatherland.
After the war ended, Primorye Territory continued to develop as the major industrial and agricultural region of the Far East, mainly in the area of primary industry. Ore processing plants and electric power stations were built; new coal deposits were worked; the fishing industry flourished; rail and ocean transport strengthened their positions in the economy; and the large port of Nakhodka was constructed, which became one of the most important ports in the Russian Federation in the 1970s and 1980s. Companies of the military-industrial complex were also set up, many of them of All-Union significance. New industries, including the chemical, electrical, instrument-making, toolmaking, porcelain, furniture, and other industries, were established in the territory in the mid-1960s.
Agriculture in Primorye was important only within the territory and did not meet the demand for food products, which were supplemented with supplies from other regions of the country or from abroad.
The cities of Nakhodka, Spassk, Lesozavodsk, and Arsenev developed rapidly along with Vladivostok and Ussuriisk; the communities of Dalnegorsk and Kavalerovo became important industrial centers.
Higher education developed in the territory in addition to industry, transport, and trade. The Higher Naval Engineering School opened in 1944, the Technical Institute of the Fishing Industry and the Economy in 1950, a medical institute in 1958, the Teacher's College of the Arts in 1962, and the Institute of Soviet Trade and the Institute of Consumer Service in 1968. In addition, Far Eastern State University, which had closed in 1939, resumed operations in 1956. Science also advanced in Primorye: a large number of scientific institutes were established, which carried out extensive research and made a great many discoveries.
The perestroika years of the 1980s brought about changes in the economic, political, demographic, and social life of Primorye Territory that will have long-term consequences for the prosperity and well-being of both the territory and the country as a whole.
RESOURCES
The region's particular geological development predetermined the presence of fuel, energy, and mineral resources, just as its geographical location, topographical features, and climate have determined the presence of land, water, hydropower, forest and recreational resources.
The subsurface resources of Primorye Territory are extremely diverse. They contain large quantities of chemical compounds, salts, metals, and raw mineral resources.
Close to 100 coal deposits with total reserves of about 2.4 billion tons have been identified in the territory; the main deposits consist of brown coal (Bikinskoe, Pavlovskoe, Shkotovskoe, and Artemovskoe) and hard coal (Partizanskoe and Razdolnenskoe). Many deposits are located deep underground, which makes production difficult and expensive; however, about 70% of the coal reserves are suitable for open-pit mining. The coal of Primorye is used exclusively as boiler fuel.
There are also 30 known tin deposits in the territory. The main ore deposits are located in mountainous districts of the Sikhote Alin Range (Kavalerovsky, Dalnegorsky, and Krasnoarmeisky districts). Fifteen deposits of polymetallic ores containing lead, zinc, and small quantities of copper, silver, bismuth, and a few other rare metals are concentrated here. The tin and polymetallic ores lie deep underground in the bedrock and crop out on the surface as placer deposits in only a few small areas in river valleys. Therefore, tin, zinc, and other associated metals are produced from mines.
A number of tungsten deposits also lie in the bedrock in Krasnoarmeisky and Pozharsky districts; besides tungsten, these ores contain copper, silver, gold, bismuth, and other precious metals. Several silver deposits are found in the northeastern districts of Sikhote-Alin.
More than 50 gold deposits have been explored in both the northern and southern parts of the territory. About 60% of all gold reserves are found in alluvial deposits along the Pogranichnaya, Fadeevka, Maly Nesterovka, Sobolinaya Pada, and Izyubrinaya rivers.
The largest boron deposit in Russia is located near Dalnegorsk. It is worked by strip mining and has enough reserves to keep a processing plant operating for at least 50 years.
Fluorite, which is used in metallurgy, is produced from the Voznesenskoe and Porgranichnoe deposits in Khorolsky District; the ores also contain rare metals like lithium, beryllium, tantalum, and niobium.
Marine geologists have discovered a number of phosphorite deposits on the continental slope of the Sea of Japan; however, the technology for producing and developing the deposits is a matter for the future.
More than 100 deposits of building materials and raw materials for producing them have been identified in all districts of the territory. Large limestone deposits are being worked near Spassk. Many of them have sizable reserves and are of high quality and close to transport, but production is destructive to the environment; therefore, it is necessary to use modern production methods and reclaim the quarry after the deposit is worked out.
Special nature preserves in Primorye Territory
Primorye Territory is noted for its diverse plant and animal life due to its geographical location and the absence of glaciation during the ice ages. As a result, the flora and fauna here are a mixture of cold- and heat-loving species. Primorye is the only part of Russia were leopards are found; it is also the habitat of the main tiger population, and more than 400 bird species have been recorded.
Nature preserves play a major role in conservation. Dozens of rare species of plants are either found nowhere else or are found in numbers too small to ensure their preservation without protection. There are currently 214 identified natural sites with various functions and environmental conditions in the territory. All of them have regional status, although nine have been recommended for federal status. Another 94 sites have been recommended for confirmation as natural monuments.
The most important natural sites are those where rare plant species grow. These include the lotus habitats of the lakes of Khankaisky District, the Ussuri basin, and Putyatin Island; Brazenievoe Lake, the habitat of the rare aquatic plant Brasenia schreberi (common name: water shield); and the mulberry and apricot groves of Oktyabrsky District.
Preservation of the territory's unique biodiversity requires a system of conservation measures, the main element of which is nature preserves, i.e., state nature and game preserves, national and other parks, natural monuments, and arboretums and botanical gardens.
People like to spend their free time in different ways, and Primorye Territory has some special places for everyone, including waterfalls, caves, cliffs, and lakes.
Cliffs and crags are not an unusual sight in Primorye, especially in Vladivostok, but they are all different. For example, the jagged canyons and cliff walls ornamented with remnant rocks of the Lozovy Range reach heights of 500 m. There is one place in the southern part of the range where you can ascend to the summit through a chute. It is a rather dangerous climb for an untrained person, so you can also simply follow a narrow ridge. However, once on top, you will see that it is a sloping, forested plateau with many rare plant species.
The remnant rocks are equally interesting. Wind action over a period of many centuries has carved them into fantastic shapes. The most impressive ones, known as the Dragon's Teeth, are located on the crest of Mt. Sestra. Some of the granite columns even have holes worn through right them as a result of erosion. All this is at an altitude of about 1500 m above sea level in an alpine tundra zone.
Uniquely shaped remnant pinnacle rocks [kekurs] were formed by the action of ocean waves. In the vicinity of Rudnaya Pristan, there is a small (about 20 m high) islet consisting of a through arch. If you look at the islet from the seaward side, it resembles a mammoth wandering through the water. Within Vladivostok itself, south of Shamora Bay, there is a cliff that when viewed from a certain angle looks just like a seal lying in the shallows.
Lakes hardly surprise anyone, except when they are located right on the very mountaintops. There are a number of such places in Primorye Territory. On Mt. Olkhovaya in Partizansky District, there are two small lakes (several tens of meters in diameter) together at an altitude of more than 1600 in the alpine tundra zone.
Then in Terneisky District right in the watershed of the Sikhote Alin Range at an altitude of 1500 m there is the basalt Ozernoe Plateau with numerous lakes, some of them mover 100 m long. On the mountain slopes to the side of the plateau, you will find beautiful Saturn Lake (diameter 150 m) with a splendid view of the Kema River basin from its shores.
The Kema River also happens to be the most popular river in Primorye for river sports because of its numerous rapids, among which the Beitsevsky, Trekhkaskadny, Kemskaya Truba, and Takunzha rapids are especially popular. There are also waterfalls in the upper reaches of the Kema River and its tributaries.
The Amginsky waterfall in Terneisky District near the village of Amgu is considered to be one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Primorye, perhaps even in Russia. Here the water has cut a deep, narrow canyon in which a 35-m-high stream of water roars unceasingly.
In winter, the waterfall turns into a giant icicle and the canyon walls form a corridor of solid ice. Avalanches are common in the waterfall basin in winter. A spa with stone baths overflowing with mineral water is located below the falls.
The Rekordny waterfall is also located on the same river. Here, the water falls into the canyon in a foamy pillar from a 30-m-high ledge.
The Milogradovsky waterfall (named after the river; also known as the Vanchinsky waterfall) located in Olginsky District is the territory's largest. The entire river falls here from a 7-m-high vertical ledge in an unending stream. Alongside the falls are multicolored rock outcrops of rose, green, and other colors, which have given their names to the rapids.
Further up the river and along its tributaries there are several other waterfalls, including the nearly 5-m-high Divny waterfall.
Another unusual place is located at the source of the Milogradovka River. Here the Sikhote Alin, the territory's main mountain range, is an ordinary bog with larch and bilberry thickets. This is the territory's highest bog. Its northern end passes smoothly into the Ussuri River valley, but its southern edge ends abruptly in cliff walls cut by the canyons of the source of the Milogradovka River and its tributaries, as if nature had decided to be a little eccentric.
Other well-known waterfalls in Primorye include the Elamovsky waterfall near the village of Benevskoe in Lazovsky District and the Tigrovye waterfalls on the Steklyanukha River.
The most accessible waterfalls to Vladivostok residents are the Kravtsovskie falls near the boundary between Khasansky and Nadezhdinsky districts near the village of Kravtsovka. Here there is a cascade of five waterfalls up to 7 m high cut through a basalt plateau in a canyon-like valley. The falls have been given the vividly descriptive names of Rocky Chaos (Kammeny Khaos), Rocky Bowl (Kamennaya Chasha), Jaws (Past), Step-by-Step (Stypenchaty), and Crystal (Khrustalny).
The caves of Dalnegorsky and Spassky districts are notable among other natural monuments for their uniqueness and beauty.
The caves of Ekaterininsky massif and Chandalas Ridge in southern Primorye are classed as natural historical monuments. They were once a winter shelter for Paleolithic tribes of southern Primorye.
Wall paintings of an ancient artist have been preserved in Sleeping Beauty (Spyashchaya Krasavitsa) Cave.
Spasskaya Cave, the largest cave in Primorye, is located mainly on the northern slopes of Mt. Malaya Sopka. Its passages are more than a kilometer long. The interior of the cave is strikingly beautiful, with crystalline lakes, stalactites, and stalagmites.
Mokrushinskaya Cave located on the southwestern slope of Mt. Zarod is one of the best known caves in the Far East and the most interesting one in Primorye for its number and variety of rooms, corridors, and galleries. The cave is also unique by Far Eastern standards for its wealth and diversity of chemical deposits of various ages in the form of stalactites, stalagmites, stalagnates, cascade deposits, curtains, and dripstone incrustations. The cave has the largest cavities of any in Primorye. The fourth room of the upper tier is the most beautiful, with eight small lakes and a labyrinth of passages between stalactite columns ranging in color from light blue to greenish to reddish brown in the northwest corner. One of the largest cave lakes in Europe, with an area of 300 m2, is located in this cave.
AUTHORITIES
Vladivostok is the historic administrative center of Primorye Territory.
Executive authority is exercised by the governor, executive bodies formed by him, and his appointed officials. The governor represents Primorye Territory in relations with the Russian Federation, other Russian regions, local governments, and other entities. The following come under the jurisdiction of the executive authorities:
- drafting of the territorial budget and presenting it to the Duma of Primorye Territory;
- budget implementation;
- management of the state property of Primorye Territory and administration in the areas of culture, science, education, health, social services, the environment, and natural resources in Primorye Territory;
- maintenance of law and order in Primorye Territory.
The Administration of Primorye Territory takes a direct interest in the territory's agricultural development so that it can meet the population's needs for food products.
Work is underway in the territory to attract foreign investment, and a Russian-Korean industrial complex has been set up to provide an additional 1500 jobs with an annual output of $2 billion.
The Administration has set aside funds to pay the tuition of gold medallist school graduates attending higher educational institutions, thus increasing the prestige of education in the territory.
With the help of the territorial administration, a functioning free economic zone has become a reality in Nakhodka, where joint Russian-Chinese companies make up nearly 40% of the total number of all enterprises.
Legislative authority is exercised by the Duma of Primorye Territory, which has jurisdiction in the following areas:
- adoption of the Charter of Primorye Territory and introduction of amendments to it;
- enactment of the laws of Primorye Territory, introduction of amendments and additions to them, and control over their fulfillment;
- interpretation of the laws of Primorye Territory;
- decisions on questions of the territory's political structure;
- approval of the territorial budget at the Governor's proposal, as well as approval of the Governor's budget implementation report;
- approval of territorial development programs in individual areas that are the responsibility of the territorial executive system;
- establishment of the procedure and conditions for investing funds, for disposing of and managing other property belonging to Primorye Territory, and for Primorye Territory's participation in investments;
- determination of the procedure and conditions for assessing and collecting taxes in accordance with the general principles of taxation and dues of the Russian Federation;
- decisions on questions of transferring ownership of state property of Primorye Territory to municipalities;
- establishment of the procedure and conditions for acquiring, owning, using, and disposing of natural resources under the jurisdiction of Primorye Territory.
Judicial authority in Primorye Territory is exercised by courts in the territory belonging to the unified judicial system of the Russian Federation. The manner of the formation and activities of the courts in the territory is regulated by federal law.
Local self-government in Primorye Territory is exercised on the basis of the following principles:
- observance of the rights and freedoms of the person and the citizen;
- the security of local self-government;
- guarantee of broad participation of citizens in local self-government;
- independence in deciding matters of local importance and recognition of the powers of local governments;
- openness and consideration of public opinion;
- economic and financial independence of local governments;
- organizational independence of local governments and cooperation with territorial authorities in achieving common government objectives;
- diversity of the organizational forms of local government and independent determination of the structure of local government bodies by the population with consideration of historical, national, and other particular features of the lives of local residents;
- accountability of local government bodies for their decisions.
ECONOMY
Primorye Territory is one of the most developed regions of the Far East, with more than 30% of all its socioeconomic potential.
Today, the territory has a diversified economy that includes more than 50 industrial sectors, transport and communications, trade and services, agriculture, forestry, mining, and fishing.
The most important industrial sectors, which form the basis of the economy and support all other economic sectors, are built around domestic coal (Luchegorskie and Pavlovskie open-pit mines) and imported liquid fuel delivered from Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and Angarsk.
The territory produces nearly 10 million tons of coal per year, and another 3-4 million tons of coal are brought from southern Yakutia and Irkutsk and Kemerovo regions. The coal is used as fuel for the Primorye State Regional Power Plant (Primorskaya GRES) in the town of Luchegorsk, and thermoelectric power plants in the cities of Artem, Partizansk, and Vladivostok. Power plants are under construction in Ussuriisk and Nakhodka, and construction of an oil refinery is planned in the southern part of the territory.
The fishing industry, which is the most important food industry sector, produces about 1 million tons of fish and seafood annually. The main products are frozen, refrigerated, and canned fish; caviar; and seafood.
The forest and woodworking industries account for a significant proportion of total Russian timber exports and production of lumber, cellulose (pulp), paper, and fiberboard. Production of plywood, matches, and furniture has also been established. The logging and furniture industries have increased production in recent years.
Overall production at large and medium mining companies has increased in recent years, although production of tin, zinc, lead, and tungsten concentrate has dcreased.
Light industry in Primorye is represented by the textile, clothing, knitting, leather and footwear, and similar industries.
Along with the fishing industry, other food industry sectors have been established in the territory, including baking, fruit and vegetable processing, confectionery, sugar refining, fat and oil processing, cheese making, dairy products, and meat.
Production of grain, soybeans, potatoes, and vegetables is the leading agricultural sector.
The breeding of livestock, especially sheep, is well developed in Primorye; a fur farming industry is also being developed through the establishment of fur farms and animal nurseries.
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