Srednekolymsk (; , ''Orto Xalıma'') is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and the

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 ...

Srednekolymsky District Srednekolymsky District (; , ''Orto Xalıma uluuha'', ) is an administrativeConstitution of the Sakha Republic and municipalLaw #172-Z #351-III district (raion, or ''ulus''), one of the thirty-four in the Sakha Republic, Russia. It is located in t ...

in the

Sakha Republic Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, and the largest federal subject of Russia by area. It is located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of one million ...

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 ...

, located on the left bank of the

Kolyma River The Kolyma (, ; ) is a river in northeastern Siberia, whose basin covers parts of the Sakha Republic, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, and Magadan Oblast of Russia. The Kolyma is frozen to depths of several metres for about 250 days each year, b ...

, northeast of

Yakutsk Yakutsk ( ) is the capital and largest city of Sakha, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one of Russia's most rapidly growing regional cities, with a population of 355,443 at the ...

, the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

of the republic. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 3,525.

History

When the Russians arrived in the 1640s, they built three forts on the Kolyma:

Nizhnekolymsk Nizhnekolymsk () is a rural locality (a '' selo'') in Pokhodsky Rural Okrug of Nizhnekolymsky District in the Sakha Republic, Russia, located within the Arctic Circle near the East Siberian Sea on the left bank of the Kolyma River near its con ...

, Srednekolymsk, and Verkhnekolymsk (i.e., lower, middle, and upper Kolymsk). They were about three days sled journey apart. Nizhnekolymsk was on the delta near the route to

Anadyrsk Anadyrsk was an important Russian ostrog (fortified settlement) in far northeastern Siberia from 1649 to 1764. It was on the Anadyr River, near the head of small-boat navigation, about 300 miles upstream, 12 miles northeast of the present Marko ...

. Srednekolymsk was at the head of navigation by seagoing koches, in forested country for good fur trapping and on the overland route to the

Indigirka River The Indigirka (; ) is a river in the Sakha Republic in Russia between the Yana to the west and the Kolyma to the east. It is long. The area of its basin is . History The isolated village of Russkoye Ustye, located on the delta of the Indigi ...

. Verkhnekolymsk was smaller and upriver. The first fort ('' ostrog'') was founded in 1644''Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Divisions of the Sakha Republic'' by

Mikhail Stadukhin Mikhail Vasilyevich Stadukhin () (died 1666) was a Russian explorer of far northeast Siberia, one of the first to reach the Kolyma, Anadyr, Penzhina and Gizhiga Rivers and the northern Sea of Okhotsk. He was a Pomor, probably born in the village o ...

. Some say that this was Nizhnekolymsk, but FisherRaymond H. Fisher. ''The Voyage of Semon Dezhnev'', 1981 thinks that the original fort was Srednekolymsk and that the main Russian center was moved to Nizhnekolymsk by 1655 when the Anadyrsk route became important. At some point the name was changed to Yarmanka, from the Russian word for "fair", referring to the annual gatherings of indigenous inhabitants of the area here in spring. The settlement grew over the next century, and was granted town status and its present name in 1775. In Imperial times, it was a destination for political exiles.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Srendekolymsk serves as the

. As an inhabited locality, Srednekolymsk is classified as a town under district jurisdiction. As an administrative division, it is, together with one rural locality (the '' selo'' of Lobuya), incorporated within Srednekolymsky District as the

Town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

of Srednekolymsk. As a municipal division, the Town of Srednekolymsk is incorporated within Srednekolymsky Municipal District as Srednekolymsk Urban Settlement.Law #173-Z #353-III

Economy and infrastructure

The town is largely reliant on farming of

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

, hunting for pelts, and fishing. A ice free port in the summer allows for goods to be shipped up river

Transportation

The town is served by the Srednekolymsk Airport . In the summer, river transport takes place, and in the winter, land transport can be performed on the ice.

Climate

Srednekolymsk has a dry and very cold

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

Dfc), bordering on an extreme

(

Dfd), featuring with mild, sometimes hot, even very hot, but short summers and extremely brutal winters with almost no snowfall. The winter lasts from October until May and temperatures rise rapidly enough for Dahurian larch trees to be able to grow during the fleeting summer, before falling rapidly again in August and September. Temperatures often do not exceed between late September and early May. The

midnight sun Midnight sun, also known as polar day, is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When midnight sun is see ...

is above the horizon from 30 May to 13 July, the

polar night Polar night is a phenomenon that occurs in the polar regions of Earth, northernmost and southernmost regions of Earth when the Sun remains below the horizon for more than 24 hours. This only occurs inside the polar circles. The opposite phen ...

last from 19 December to 24 December (6 days).

References

Notes

Sources

*Official website of the Sakha Republic. ''Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Divisions of the Sakha Republic''
Srednekolymsky District
* * {{Use mdy dates, date=February 2024 Cities and towns in the Sakha Republic Populated places of Arctic Russia Populated places established in 1644 Kolyma basin Yakutsk Oblast