Krasnoyarsk Krai

Infobox Russian federal subject
EnglishName=Krasnoyarsk Krai
RussianName=Красноярский край
Locator

---

LocatorMap

---

CoatOfArmsLink=Coat of arms of Krasnoyarsk Krai

---

FlagLink=Flag of Krasnoyarsk Krai
AnthemLink="none"
AdmCtrOrCapital=Administrative center
AdmCtrName=Krasnoyarsk
FoundationDate=July 12, 1934
PoliticalStatus=Krai
PoliticalStatusLink=Krais of Russia
FederalDistrict=Siberian
EconomicRegion= East Siberian
CodeNumber=24
Area=2339700
AreaRank=2nd
Population=2966042
PopulationRank=13th
UrbanPopulation=75.7%
RuralPopulation=24.3%
LangLangs
LangList=Russian
HeadTitle=Governor
HeadName=Alexander Khloponin
PrimeTitle=Chairman of the Administration Council
PrimeName=Alexander Khloponin
Legislature=Legislative Assembly
ConstitutionType=Charter
ConstitutionName=Charter of Krasnoyarsk Krai
Website=http://www.krskstate.ru/

Krasnoyarsk Krai ( _ru. Красноя́рский край, "Krasnoyarsky kray"; not to be confused with Krasnodar Krai) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai). It is the second largest Russian region after the Sakha Republic, occupying an area of km2 to mi2|2339700|precision=-2, which is 13% of the country's total territory (about the size of Algeria). The administrative center of the krai is the city of Krasnoyarsk.

Geography

The krai lies in the middle of Siberia, and belongs to Siberian Federal District, stretching 3,000 km from Sayan Mountains on the south along the Yenisei river to Taymyr Peninsula in the north. It shares borders with Tyumen, Tomsk, Irkutsk, and Kemerovo Oblasts, the Khakass, Tyva, and Sakha Republics, and Kara Sea and Laptev Sea of the Arctic Ocean on the north.

The krai is located in the basin of the Arctic Ocean. The main rivers of the krai are the Yenisei, and its tributaries (from South to North): the Kan, the Angara, the Podkamennaya Tunguska, and Nizhnyaya Tunguska. Some rivers of Taymyr Peninsula (the Khatanga, the Taymyr) run directly into the Arctic Ocean.

The climate is strongly continental with big variations of temperature during one year. For the central and southern regions where most of the krai's population lives long winters and short, hot summers are characteristic. The territory of Krasnoyarsk krai experiences conditions of three climate belts: Arctic, Sub-Arctic, and moderate. While on the north there are less than 40 days with temperature higher than 10 °C (50 °F), on the south there are about 110–120 such days.

The average temperature of January is C to F|-36 in the north and C to F|-18 in the south. The average temperature of July is C to F|10 in the north and C to F|20 in the south. The annual precipitation is mm to in|316 (up to mm to in|1200|precision=0 in foothills of Sayan Mountains). Snow covers the central regions of the krai since early November till late March. The mountains of Sayans that higher than 2,400–2,600 m and ones of Putorana Plateau that are higher than 1,000–1,300 m are covered with snow permanently. Permafrost is widespread, especially in the north.

The highest point of the krai is Grandiozny Peak in East Sayan Mountains that rises up to m to ft|2922.

Time zone

Krasnoyarsk Krai is located in the Krasnoyarsk Time Zone (KRAT/KRAST). UTC offset is +0700 (KRAT)/+0800 (KRAST).

History

According to archeologists the territory of Siberia was settled about 200,000 years ago.Fact|date=May 2008 The grave-mounds and monuments of the Scythian culture in Krasnoyarsk Kray belong to the 7th century BCE and are ones of the oldest in Eurasia. Among other things a prince's grave Kurgan Arshan exposed in 2001 is known.

The Russian settlement of the area (by Cossacks mostly) began in the 17th century. After the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railroad the Russian colonisation of the area strongly increased.

During both the Tsarist and the Bolsheviks' regimes the territory of Krasnoyarsk Krai was used as a place of exile of political enemies of current government. The first leaders of the Soviet state Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin were in exile on the territory of the nowadays krai in 1897–1900 and in 1903 respectively. In Stalin's era numerous Gulag camps were in the region.

In 1822, the Yenisei Governorate ("Yeniseyskaya guberniya") was created with Krasnoyarsk as its administrative centre that covered the territory very close to the one of the current krai.

On June 30, 1908, in the basin of the Podkamennaya Tunguska river admittedly took place crashing down of a meteoroid or a comet. The force of explosion is estimated to be about 10–15 megatons. It flattened more than 2,000 square kilometres (500,000 acres) of pine forest and killed thousands of reindeer.

Kransnoyark Krai was created in 1934 after disaggregation of West Siberian and East Siberian Krais and then included Taymyr and Evenk Autonomous Okrugs and Khakasiya Autonomous Oblast. In 1991, Khakassia separated from the krai and became a republic within the Russian Federation.

On January 1, 2007, following a referendum on the issue held on April 17, 2005, territories of Evenk and Taymyr Autonomous Okrugs were merged into the krai.

Politics

In 1993, president Boris Yeltsin appointed Valery Zubov the first governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai. In 1994, Zubov was elected in a universal election for a four-year term. The Legislative Assembly of Krasnoyarsk Krai was created as well.

In 1998, Zubov lost in the gubernatorial election to General Aleksandr Lebed, a politician well-known in all Russia. The term of governor's service was extended up to five years. But in 2002 Lebed died in a helicopter accident.

In 2002, Alexander Khloponin, the governor of Taymyr Autonomous Okrug and an influential businessman was elected new governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai. In 2007, he was nominated by president Vladimir Putin for re-election, and Khloponin was elected by the legislative assembly for the second term.

The legislative assembly consists of 52 deputies. 22 of them are elected in 22 one-mandate electoral districts by plurality system, 2 in Taymyr, 2 in Evenkia, and 26 are elected by proportional system from the lists offered by political parties.

Krasnoyarsk Krai is represented in the Federation Council of Russia by two senators. In 2007, eight deputies were elected to Duma from Krasnoyarsk regional lists of different political parties.

Economics

Over 95% of the cities, a majority of the industrial enterprises, and all of the agriculture are concentrated in the south of the krai.

Natural resources

The krai is among the richest of Russia's regions in natural resources. Eighty percent of the country's nickel, 75% of its cobalt, 70% of its copper, 16% of its coal, and 10% of its gold are extracted here. Krasnoyarsk also produces 20% of the country's timber. More than 95% of Russian resources of platinum and platinoids are concentrated in the krai.

Industry

The krai's major industries are: non-ferrous metallurgy, energy, forestry, chemicals, and oil refining. The major financial industrial groups of Krasnoyarsk Krai are:
*Basic Element (Krasnoyarsk Aluminium Plant, Achinsk Alumina Complex, Krasnoyarsk Pulp and Paper Plant)
*Interros, (Norilsk Nickel)
*Evraz Group (iron mines, timber)
*MDM Group (SUEK, "Siberian Coal and Energy Company")
*Unified Energy System (generation and transit of electric power)
*RZhD (railroads)

Power generation

The two most powerful hydroelectric plants in Russia are built on the Yenisei River, one is being built on the Angara, and several are being planned. It makes Krasnoyarsk Krai one of the most important producers of electric energy in Russia, and a desirable location for energy-intensive industries, such as aluminium plants.

Transportation

*Trans-Siberian Railroad (650 km (400 mi) within Krasnoyarsk Krai), Norilsk Railroad (the most northern railroad in the world); North Siberian Railroad is planned.
*Highways: M53 Baikal (Novosibirsk-Krasnoyarsk-Irkutsk) and M54 Yenisei (Krasnoyarsk-Kyzyl-Mongolia).
*Northern Sea Route and shipping on Yenisei. The main ports are: Dudinka, Igarka, Turukhansk, Yeniseysk, Maklakovo, Strelka, Krasnoyarsk
*26 airports, including large international one (Yemelyanovo near Krasnoyarsk).
*Two pipes of Irkutsk-Anzhero-Sudzhensk petroleum pipeline.
*Major power transmission lines.

Administrative divisions

Krasnoyarsk Krai consists of 44 raions, and 14 cities of raion-level. Two of the raions (Evenkia, and Taymyr, the former autonomous okrugs) have special status.

Demographics

"Population" (2002 Census): 3,023,525 (including Taymyr and Evenk Autonomous Okrugs)

"Ethnic groups": The population of the krai mostly consists of Russians, and some other peoples of the former Soviet Union. The indigenous Siberian peoples make up no more than 1% of the population.

The 2002 Census reported the national composition as • Russian 88.38% • Ukrainian 2.37% • Tatar 1.49% • German 1.24% • Azeri 0.65% • Belarusians 0.61% • Chuvash 0.57% • Dolgan 0.38% • Armenian 0.36% • Evenk 0.29% • Mordvin 0.25% • Nenets 0.21% • Mari 0.17% • Khakas 0.16% • Estonian 0.14% • Kyrgyz 0.13% • Bashkir 0.13% • Moldovan 0.13% • Tajik 0.12% • Udmurt 0.11% • Latvian 0.10% • Uzbek 0.09% • Kazakh 0.09% • Polish 0.08% • Yakut 0.08% • Lezgin 0.07% • Lithuanian 0.07% • Roma 0.07% • Georgian 0.06% • Jewish 0.06% • Ossetian 0.06% • Nganasan 0.05% • Tuvan 0.05% • Ket 0.05% • Korean 0.04% • Buriat 0.04% • Chechen 0.03% • Greek 0.03% • Latgalian 0.03%, and many other groups of less than eight hundred persons each.
An additional 0.56% of residents declined to state their nationality on the census questionnaire. [cite paper|url=http://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/doc/English/4-2.xls |title=National Composition of Population for Regions of the Russian Federation |accessdate=2006-07-20 |format=XLS |publisher=2002 Russian All-Population Census |date=2002]

Places of interest

In the krai there are 45 museums, with total number of about one million objects stored there.

The Kranoyrask dam is pictured on Russian ten-ruble note and is a popular attraction for tourists.

The National Park Stolby with its famous rocks neighbors the city of Krasnoyarsk is a popular travelling area and one of the main centres of rock-climbing in Russia.

Education

Krasnoyarsk is the site of the Siberian Federal University, one of the four largest educational institutions of Russia.

Nature and ecology

Many important industrial cities of Krasnoyarsk krai, such as Krasnoyarsk, Norilsk, Achinsk, Kansk, Zheleznogorsk, and Minusinsk, suffer from environmental pollution.

References

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwCyM84HCcA Video of Free Soloing in Stolby]
* [http://www.nhpfund.org/nominations/putorana.html Putorana Plateau] at [http://www.nhpfund.org/ Natural Heritage Protection Fund]

ee also

*List of cities and towns of Krasnoyarsk Krai