Balagansky District () is an administrative district, one of the thirty-three in

Irkutsk Oblast Irkutsk Oblast (; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara River, Angara, Lena River, Lena, and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers. The administrative center is ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

.Charter of Irkutsk Oblast Municipally, it is incorporated as Balagansky Municipal District.Law #64-oz The area of the district is . Its

administrative center An administrative centre 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 the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

is the urban locality (a work settlement) of Balagansk.Law #49-OZ Population: 9,973 ( 2002 Census). The population of Balagansk accounts for 44.7% of the district's total population.

History

Balagansk was founded in 1654 by the Kazak detachment led by Dmitry Firsov on the left bank of the

Angara River The Angara (; ) or Angar ( мүрэн) is a major river in Siberia, which traces a course through Russia's Irkutsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai. It drains out of Lake Baikal and is the headwater tributary of the Yenisey. It is long, and has a ...

opposite to the mouth of the

Unga River The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its 79th session, its powers, ...

, in the course of Russian colonization of

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. The name Balagansk originates from the Bulagat, literally ''

sable The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaz ...

hunters'', a Buryat tribe. From 1655, mass settlement started in the area; eventually, a colony was built and iron mining developed. Balagansk Fortress ('' ostrog'') was built in Balagansk, to which the Buryats were attached to and they paid tributes to the Russians. Buryats grew to dominate the area and on April 1, 1818, seventeen clans of the Balagansk Buryats met and adopted a memorandum to submit to the Russian authorities. In their memorandum they raised six issues and also provided action to be taken on each of them which related to courts, private law, criminal law, the rights and duties of the chief Taisha and heads of clans. In the course of the administrative reform carried out in 1708 by

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

, the territory was included into

Siberia Governorate Siberia Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, which existed from 1708 until 1782. Its seat was in Tobolsk (initially spelt as ''Tobolesk''). The governorate was ...

. In 1764,

Irkutsk Governorate Irkutsk Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, located in Siberia. It existed from 1764 to 1926; its seat was in the city of Irkutsk. Demographics References

Irkutsk Governorate, ...

split off, and in 1775, Balagansk was granted town status and became the seat of Balagansky Uyezd of Irkutsk Governorate. In 1924, the uyezds was abolished, the governorate split into districts, and Balagansk was moved to Ziminsky District. In 1925, it lost town status and was downgraded to a '' selo''. In 1926, Balagansky District was established, and Balagansk became the district's administrative center. During the construction of

Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station The Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station (also referred to as The ''50 years of Great October'' Dam) is a concrete gravity dam on the Angara River and adjacent hydroelectric power station. It is the second level of the Angara River hydroelectric sta ...

Balagansk disappeared under water. The name was inherited by a new settlement, which was previously known as Novobalagansk. It was founded in 1957 several dozens kilometers south of the original location of Balagansk, and on June 5, 1962 it was renamed Balagansk and granted urban-type settlement status. In 1962, Balagansky District was abolished and split between Zalarinsky and Ust-Udinsky Districts. Balagansk was transferred to

Zalarinsky District Zalarinsky District () is an administrative district, one of the thirty-three in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia.Charter of Irkutsk Oblast Municipally, it is incorporated as Zalarinsky Municipal District.Law #75-oz Its administrative center An administ ...

, and in 1965 it was moved to Ust-Udinsky District In 1989, Balagansky District was re-established, with the administrative center in Balagansk.

References

Notes

Sources

* * * {{Use mdy dates, date=February 2013 __NOTOC__ Districts of Irkutsk Oblast