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Central Yakutian Lowland

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The Central Yakutian Lowland or the Central Yakutian Lowlands ( Russian : Центральноякутская равнина , romanized :  Tsentralnoyakutskaya ravnina ; Yakut : Саха сирин ортоку намтала ), also known as the Central Yakut Plain or the Vilyuy Lowland , is a low alluvial plain in Siberia , Russia .

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49-533: Administratively the territory of the lowland is part of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). It is an extensive plain located in the transition zone between Central and Eastern Siberia and is one of the Great Russian Regions . The main city is Yakutsk , with a number of settlements near it, but the area of the lowland is largely uninhabited elsewhere. The Central Yakutian Lowlands extend along

98-672: A "tendency toward syncretism ", as evidenced by the locals sometimes first inviting a shaman, and then an Orthodox priest to carry out their rites in connection with some event in their life. According to the Information Center under the President of Sakha Republic (Информационный центр при Президенте РС(Я)), the religious demography of the republic was as follows: Orthodoxy: 44.9%, Shamanism: 26.2%, Non-religious: 23.0%, New religious movements: 2.4%, Islam: 1.2%, Buddhism: 1.0%, Protestantism: 0.9%, Catholicism: 0.4%. According to

147-477: A 2012 survey, 37.8% of the population of Sakha adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church , 13% to Tengrism or Sakha shamanism , 2% to Islam , 1% are unaffiliated Christians , 1% to forms of Protestantism , and 0.4% to Tibetan Buddhism . In addition, 26% of the population deems itself atheist , 17% is "spiritual but not religious", and 1.8% follows other religions or did not give an answer to

196-458: A Sakha lawyer and city councilor by the name of Vasily Nikiforov, which criticized the policies and effects of Russian colonialism, and demanded representation in the State Duma . The Yakut Union acted to make the city council of Yakutsk stand down and was joined by thousands of Sakha from the countryside, but the leaders were arrested and the movement fizzled out by April 1906. Their demand for

245-754: A Sakha representative in the Duma, however, was granted. Sakha was home to the last stage of the Russian Civil War, the Yakut Revolt . On April 27, 1922, former Yakutsk Oblast was proclaimed the Yakut ASSR , although in fact the eastern part of the territory, including the city of Yakutsk, was controlled by the White Russians . The early Soviet period saw a flourishing of Sakha literature as men such as Platon Oyunsky wrote down in writing

294-622: A king of the Megino-Khangalassky Sakha, began a Sakha conspiracy by allowing the first stockade construction. In August 1638, the Moscow Government formed a new administrative unit with the administrative center of Lensky Ostrog (Fort Lensky), the future city of Yakutsk , which had been founded by Pyotr Beketov in 1632. The arrival of Russian settlers at the remote Russkoye Ustye in the Indigirka delta

343-482: A shaman temple in downtown Yakutsk in 2002. Currently, while Orthodox Christianity maintains a following (however, with very few priests willing to be stationed outside of Yakutsk), there is interest and activity toward renewing the traditional religions. As of 2008, Orthodox leaders described the worldview of the republic's indigenous population (or, rather, those among the population who are not completely indifferent to religion) as dvoyeverie (dual belief system), or

392-415: Is 0.31 per km (2019), which is one of the lowest among Russian districts. Urban population: 65,45% (2018). Source: Russian Federal State Statistics Service According to the 2021 Census , the ethnic composition was: Historical population figures are shown below: The official languages are both Russian and Sakha , also known as Yakut, which is spoken by roughly half of the republic's population. In

441-587: Is also believed to date from the 17th century. The Siberian Governorate was established as part of the Russian Empire in 1708. Russian settlers began to form a community in the 18th century, which adopted certain Sakha customs and was often called Yakutyane (Якутя́не) or Lena Early Settlers (ленские старожилы). However, the influx of later settlers had assimilated themselves into the Russian mainstream by

490-602: Is its capital and largest city. The republic has a reputation for an extreme and severe climate, with the second lowest temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere being recorded in Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon (second only to Summit Camp , Greenland ), and regular winter averages commonly dipping below −35 °C (−31 °F) in Yakutsk. The hypercontinental tendencies also result in warm summers for much of

539-541: Is of paleontological significance, as it contains bodies of prehistoric animals from the Pleistocene Epoch , preserved in ice or permafrost . In 2015, the frozen bodies of Dina and Uyan the cave lion cubs were found. Bodies of Yuka and another woolly mammoth from Oymyakon , a woolly rhinoceros from the Kolyma River , and bison and horses from Yukagir have also been found. In June 2019,

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588-584: Is one of the smallest centres of a federal subject (it has only 13,045 inhabitants). Only Magas , the centre of Ingushetia , is smaller than Anadyr. Artyom is a large suburb of the Vladivostok metropolitan area. Populations are given as of the 2021 census : According to a 2012 survey 27.4% of the population of the current federal subjects of the Far Eastern Federal District (including Buryatia and Zabaykalsky Krai) adheres to

637-469: The 2021 Census . The federal district lies entirely within the easternmost part of Asia and is coextensive with the Russian Far East . The Far Eastern Federal District was established on 13 May 2000 by President Vladimir Putin . It is currently governed by presidential envoy Yury Trutnev . In November 2018, Buryatia and Zabaykalsky Krai were added to the federal district. The seat of

686-469: The Arctic Circle and all of it is covered by permafrost which greatly influences the region's ecology and limits forests in the southern region. Arctic and subarctic tundra define the middle region, where lichen and moss grow as great green carpets and are favorite pastures for reindeer . In the southern part of the tundra belt, scattered stands of dwarf Siberian pine and larch grow along

735-670: The Evenk term Yako (also yoqo , ñoqa , or ñoka ), which was the term the Evenks used to describe the Sakha. This was in turn picked up by the Russians. The Yukaghirs , another neighboring people in Siberia , use the exonym yoqol ~ yoqod- ~ yoqon- ( Tundra Yukaghir ) or yaqal ~ yaqad- ~ yaqan- ( Kolyma Yukaghir ). The self-designation Sakha is probably of the same origin (* jaqa > Sakha following regular sound changes in

784-533: The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) , is the largest republic of Russia , located in the Russian Far East , along the Arctic Ocean , with a population of one million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far Eastern Federal District , and is the world's largest country subdivision , covering over 3,083,523 square kilometers (1,190,555 sq mi). Yakutsk , which is the world's coldest major city,

833-481: The Russian Orthodox Church and required to take Orthodox Christian names, but in practice generally continued to follow traditional religions. During the Soviet era, most or all of the shamans died without successors. In the 1990s, a neopagan shamanist movement called aiyy yeurekhé was founded by the controversial journalist Ivan Ukhkhan and a philologist calling himself Téris. This group and others cooperated to build

882-456: The Russian Orthodox Church , 5.0% are unaffiliated generic Christians, 1.4% is an Orthodox believer without belonging to any church or adheres to other (non-Russian) Orthodox churches , 3.3% is an adherent of Buddhism , 0.7% is an adherent of Islam , and 2.2% adhere to some native faith such as Rodnovery , Tengrism , Yellow shamanism , or Black shamanism . In addition, 27.0% of the population declares to be "spiritual but not religious", 23.5%

931-502: The Soviet period. This was also the beginning of geological prospecting, mining , and local lead production. The first steam-powered ships and barges arrived. Sakha's remoteness, compared to the rest of Siberia, made it a place of exile of choice for both Tsarist and Communist governments of Russia. Among the famous Tsarist-era exiles were the democratic writer Nikolay Chernyshevsky ; Doukhobors , conscientious objectors whose story

980-618: The 2021 census, 95% of Yakuts, 72% of Evenks and 60% of Evens declared Sakha as their native language. The Sakha language is a member of the Turkic language family, belonging to the Siberian branch. It is closely related to the Dolgan language of the former Taymyr Dolgano-Nenets Autonomous Okrug . The Sakha Republic is also home to many of the world's speakers of Tungusic languages , primarily of Evenki and Even . Additionally, Chukchi and

1029-484: The 20th century. In an administrative reform of 1782, Irkutsk Governorate was created. In 1805, Yakutsk Oblast was split from Irkutsk Governorate. Yakutsk Oblast in the early 19th century marked the easternmost territory of the Russian Empire, including such Far Eastern (Pacific) territories as were acquired, known as Okhotsk Okrug within Yakutsk Oblast. With the formation of Primorskaya Oblast in 1856,

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1078-479: The Far Eastern Federal District was moved from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok in December 2018. On 15 July 2022, the first high-speed highway was opened in the Far Eastern Federal District. It united three federal highways  – Ussuri (Khabarovsk–Vladivostok), Amur ( Chita –Khabarovsk) and Vostok (Khabarovsk –Nakhodka ), and connect the regional capital with Komsomolsk-on-Amur , as well as sites of

1127-768: The Lena and Olenyok River basins. To the northeast and east the Central Yakutian Lowland reaches the foothills of the Verkhoyansk Range , westernmost part of the East Siberian Mountains . The Central Yakutian Lowlands are a flat plain, slightly higher in its peripheral parts. Permafrost is continuous throughout the region. Owing to poor drainage, swamps and thermokarst lakes ( alases ), are common, as well as low bulges or bumps known as " bulgunnyakh " ( Yakut : Булгунньах ). In

1176-468: The Lena, such as the Lungkha , Tyugyuene , Sitte , Khanchaly and Kenkeme , falls wholly within the lowland area. These rivers are subject to spring floods during the thaw period and occasional rain floods in the summer. During the winter small rivers and rivulets freeze to the bottom. The largest lakes of the lowland are Nedzheli and Ulakhan-Kyuel . Geologically the lowland roughly corresponds to

1225-637: The Northern Hemisphere, are covered by ice for 9–10 months of the year. New Siberian Islands are a part of the republic's territory. After Nunavut was separated from Canada's Northwest Territories in 1999, Sakha became the largest subnational entity ( statoid ) in the world, with an area of 3,083,523 square kilometers (1,190,555 sq mi), slightly smaller than the territory of India (3.3 million km ), but still slightly larger than Argentina . Sakha can be divided into three great vegetation belts. About 40% of Sakha lies above

1274-525: The Russian territories of the Pacific were detached from Sakha. The Russians established agriculture in the Lena River basin. The members of religious groups who were exiled to Sakha in the second half of the 19th century began to grow wheat , oats , and potatoes . The fur trade established a cash economy. Industry and transport began to develop at the end of the 19th century and in the beginning of

1323-534: The Sakha by the 17th century. The Tsardom of Russia began its conquest of the region in the 17th century, moving east after the defeat of the Khanate of Sibir . Tygyn , a king of the Khangalassky Sakha, granted territory for Russian settlement in return for a military pact that included war against indigenous rebels of all North Eastern Asia ( Magadan , Chukotka , Kamchatka and Sakhalin ). Kull,

1372-544: The area as early as the 9th century or as late as the 16th century, though most likely there were several migrations. They migrated up north from around Lake Baikal to the middle Lena due to pressure by the Buryats, a Mongolic group. The Sakha displaced earlier, much smaller populations who lived on hunting and reindeer herding, introducing the pastoralist economy of Central Asia. The indigenous populations of Paleosiberian and Tungusic stock were mostly assimilated to

1421-680: The area as the Yakutsk Oblast into the Tsardom of Russia in the early-mid 17th century, obliging the indigenous peoples of the area to pay fur tribute . While the initial period following the Russian conquest saw the Sakha population drop by 70%, the Imperial period also saw the expansion of the native Yakuts from the middle Lena along the Vilyuy River to the north and the east displacing other indigenous groups. Yakutia saw some of

1470-841: The course of development of the Yakut language) as the Evenk and Yukaghir exonyms for the Yakuts. It is pronounced as Haka by the Dolgans , whose language is a close relative of the Yakut language . Sakha stretches to the Henrietta Island in the far north and is washed by the Laptev and Eastern Siberian Seas of the Arctic Ocean. These waters, the coldest and iciest of all seas in

1519-478: The eastern, lowest parts of the Vilyuy Syneclise . It is filled with Mesozoic deposits and Quaternary sands and loams, both of alluvial and eolian origin. The climate prevailing in the lowland is an extreme subarctic climate ( Köppen Dfd ), continental and harsh, characterized by a very low annual rainfall of barely 300 millimetres (12 in) per year. 70% to 80% of the precipitation falls in

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1568-722: The last battles of the Russian Civil War , and the Bolshevik authorities re-organized Yakutsk Oblast into the autonomous Yakut ASSR in 1922. The Soviet era saw the migration of many Slavs , specifically Russians and Ukrainians , into the area. On 27 September 1990, the area became the Yakutskaya-Sakha Soviet Socialist Republic, and on 27 December 1991, it became the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The exonym Yakut comes from

1617-524: The lects of the Yukaghir language family are spoken in the northeast. Before the arrival of the Russian Empire, the majority of the local population was Tengrist , similar to the other Turkic people of Central Asia, or in Paleoasian indigenous shamanism with both 'light' (community leading) and 'dark' (healing through spirit journey) shamans. Under the Russians, the local population was converted to

1666-612: The middle basin of the Lena River and partly further downstream and are about 900 kilometres (560 mi) in length and 350 kilometres (220 mi) wide. They drop gradually from the Central Siberian Plateau to the west and the Lena Plateau to the south and southwest. To the northwest the lowland merges with the North Siberian Lowland and to the north it is bound by the watershed fringing

1715-538: The northwest the Tukulan (Тукуланы) sand dunes are relief forms shaped by aeolian processes along the valley of the Lena River. There are also some areas of high soil salinity . There are hundreds of river valleys all across the lowlands, which, besides the Lena, include the lower reaches of the Lena tributaries Vilyuy , Amga and Aldan . The entire length of the course of some of the large left tributaries of

1764-404: The population dropping from 240,500 in 1926 down to 236,700 at the 1959 census. Sakha's demographics shifted wildly during the Soviet period as ethnic Russians and Ukrainians, among other groups, settled the area en masse, primarily in Yakutsk and the industrial south. Previously, even Yakutsk had been primarily Sakha and Sakha-speaking. With the end of korenizatsiya , usage of the Sakha language

1813-407: The question. Far Eastern Federal District The Far Eastern Federal District (Russian: Дальневосточный федеральный округ , IPA: [dəlʲnʲɪvɐˈstot͡ɕnɨj fʲɪdʲɪˈralʲnɨj ˈokrʊk] , Latinized: Dal'nevostochnyy federal'nyy okrug) is the largest of the eight federal districts of Russia , but the least populated, with a population of around 8 million (73.6% urban) according to

1862-461: The region during the late Pleistocene  – early Holocene period. Sakha is the only federal subject of Russia which uses more than one time zone. Sakha spans three time zones. Like the rest of Russia, it does not use daylight saving time . The largest river is the navigable Lena River (4,400 km). As it moves northward, it includes hundreds of small tributaries located in the Verkhoyansk Range . There are over 800,000 lakes in

1911-572: The republic. Sakha was first home to hunting-gathering and reindeer herding Tungusic and Paleosiberian peoples such as the Evenks and Yukaghir . Migrating from the area around Lake Baikal , the Turkic Sakha people first settled along the middle Lena river sometime between the 9th and 16th centuries, likely in several waves, bringing the pastoral economic system of Central Asia with them. The Russians colonised and incorporated

1960-641: The republic. Major lakes and reservoirs include: Sakha's greatest mountain range, the Verkhoyansk Range , runs parallel and east of the Lena River, forming a great arc that begins in the Sea of Okhotsk and ends in the Laptev Sea. The Chersky Range runs east of the Verkhoyansk Range and has the highest peak in Sakha, Peak Pobeda (3,003 m). The second highest peak is Peak Mus-Khaya reaching 2,959 m. The Stanovoy Range borders Sakha in

2009-439: The rivers. Below the tundra is the vast taiga forest region. Larch trees dominate in the north and stands of fir and pine begin to appear in the south. Taiga forests cover about 47% of Sakha and almost 90% of the cover is larch. The Sakha Republic is the site of Pleistocene Park , a project directed at recreating Pleistocene tundra grasslands by stimulating the growth of grass with the introduction of animals which thrived in

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2058-630: The severed yet preserved head of a large wolf from the Pleistocene , dated to over 40,000 years ago, was found close to the Tirekhtyakh River. Ymyakhtakh culture ( c.  2200 –1300 BC) was a Late Neolithic culture of Siberia, with a very large archaeological horizon. Its origins were in Sakha, in the Lena river basin. From there it spread both to the east and to the west. The Turkic Sakha people or Yakuts may have settled

2107-419: The south. The Republic's extensive coastline contains a number of peninsulas; from west to east the most prominent are: From west to east the main islands of Sakha are: Sakha is well endowed with raw materials. The soil contains large reserves of oil , gas, coal , diamonds , gold , silver , tin , tungsten and many others. Sakha produces 99% of all Russian diamonds and over 25% of the diamonds mined in

2156-529: The summer, mostly in the form of rain. The average air temperature in January is a chilly −45 °C (−49 °F). In July the average temperature is 17 °C (63 °F). Most of the lowland is covered by taiga in which larch predominates. There are as well areas of birch forests, marshes and grassy meadows . This Sakha Republic location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Sakha Republic Sakha , officially

2205-547: The territory of the advancing socio-economic development (SAD). There are 82 cities in the Far Eastern Federal District, and 13 cities have populations over 75,000. Only four of these 13 cities (Komsomolsk-on-Amur (7th) in Khabarovsk Krai , Ussuriysk (9th), Nakhodka (11th), Artyom (12th) in Primorsky Krai ) are not administrative centres of a federal subject. Anadyr, the centre of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug ,

2254-460: The traditionally oral and improvised olonkho , in addition to composing their own works. Many early Sakha leaders, including Oyunsky, died in the Great Purge . Sakha experienced significant collectivization between 1929 and 1934 , with the number of households experiencing collectivization rising from 3.6% in 1929 to 41.7% in 1932. Policies by which the Sakha were harshly affected resulted in

2303-670: The world. Sakha is known for its climate extremes, with the Verkhoyansk Range being the coldest area in the Northern Hemisphere. Some of the lowest natural temperatures ever recorded have been here. The Northern Hemisphere 's Pole of Cold is at Verkhoyansk , where the temperatures reached as low as −67.8 °C (−90.0 °F) in 1892 and 1885, and at Oymyakon , where the temperatures reached as low as −67.8 °C (−90.0 °F) in February 1934. Average annual precipitation : 200 mm (central parts) to 700 mm (mountains of Eastern Sakha). Siberia , and particularly Sakha,

2352-865: Was restricted in urban areas such as Yakutsk, which became primarily Russian-speaking. In 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union , Sakha was recognized in Moscow as the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. Sakha is historically part of Russian Siberia, but since the formation of the Far Eastern Federal District in 2000, it is administratively part of the Russian Far East . Population: 995,686 ( 2021 Census ) ; 958,528 ( 2010 Census ) ; 949,280 ( 2002 Census ) ; 1,081,408 ( 1989 Soviet census ) . Population density

2401-488: Was told to Leo Tolstoy by Vasily Pozdnyakov ; the Socialist Revolutionary Party member and writer Vladimir Zenzinov , who left an account of his Arctic experiences; and Polish socialist activist Wacław Sieroszewski , who pioneered in ethnographic research on the Sakha people. A Sakha national movement first emerged during the 1905 Revolution . A Yakut Union was formed under the leadership of

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