Zhigansk (russian: Жига́нск; sah, Эдьигээн, ''Ecigeen'') is a

rural locality In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

(a '' selo'') and the

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

Zhigansky District Zhigansky District (russian: Жига́нский улу́с; sah, Эдьигээн улууһа) is an administrativeConstitution of the Sakha Republic and municipalLaw #172-Z #351-III district (raion, or ''ulus''), one of the thirty-four in the ...

in the Sakha Republic,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, located on the left bank of the Lena River near where it is joined by its

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

the Nuora (Strekalovka), approximately northwest of

Yakutsk Yakutsk (russian: Якутск, p=jɪˈkutsk; sah, Дьокуускай, translit=Djokuuskay, ) is the capital city of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one ...

, the capital of the republic. Population:

History

It was founded in 1632 as an '' ostrog'' by Cossacks led by

Pyotr Beketov Pyotr Beketov (russian: link=no, Пётр Иванович Бекетов, c. 1600 – c. 1661) was a Cossack explorer of Siberia and founder of various fortified settlements in the region, which later developed into modern cities such as Yakutsk, ...

. In 1783, Zhigansk was granted town status and made the seat of a newly created

uyezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd; rus, уе́зд, p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context ( uk, повіт), or Kreis in Baltic-German context, was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian Empire, and the ea ...

within Yakutsk Oblast. It lost this function in 1805 with the dissolution of the

, but remained the most northerly town on the Lena until 1917, when it was demoted to rural status. In 1930, Zhigansk became the administrative center of the newly created Zhigansky District, which was declared an "Evenk National District" due to its large population of

Evenks The Evenks (also spelled Ewenki or Evenki based on their endonym )Autonym: (); russian: Эвенки (); (); formerly known as Tungus or Tunguz; mn, Хамниган () or Aiwenji () are a Tungusic people of North Asia. In Russia, the Eve ...

. In 2002, Evenks represented around 47% of the local population and Yakuts a further 34%.

Transportation

Zhigansk is served by the Zhigansk Airport. There is no year-round road access to Zhigansk, but during the summer months, Yakutsk is reachable via boat on the Lena. In the months when the river is frozen, a

winter road A winter road is a seasonal road only usable during the winter, i.e. it has to be re-built every year. This road typically runs over land and over frozen lakes, rivers, swamps, and sea ice.Proskin et al, 2011. Guidelines for the Construction an ...

also leads to Yakutsk.

Climate

Zhigansk has an extreme subarctic climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

: ''Dfd''), though despite its extreme subarctic climate classification, the town is not quite as cold in winter as some towns with a similar climate, such as

Verkhoyansk Verkhoyansk ( rus, Верхоянск, p=vʲɪrxɐˈjansk; sah, Верхоянскай, ''Verkhoyanskay'') is a town in Verkhoyansky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located on the Yana River in the Arctic Circle, from Batagay, the ad ...

Oymyakon Oymyakon, ; sah, Өймөкөөн, ''Öymököön'', is a rural locality (a '' selo'') in Oymyakonsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located in the Yana-Oymyakon Highlands, along the Indigirka River, northwest of Tomtor on the Koly ...

, both of which are located further east in deep valleys where perpetual

temperature inversion In meteorology, an inversion is a deviation from the normal change of an atmospheric property with altitude. It almost always refers to an inversion of the air temperature lapse rate, in which case it is called a temperature inversion. Nor ...

s occur during the winter. Despite its ''Dfd'' classification,

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

is somewhat higher in summer than at other times of the year, but like other extreme subarctic climates, its precipitation remains rather low year-round.

References

Notes

Sources

*Official website of the Sakha Republic. ''Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Divisions of the Sakha Republic''
Zhigansky District
* {{Authority control Rural localities in Zhigansky District Road-inaccessible communities of the Sakha Republic Populated places on the Lena River