Tiksi ( rus, Ти́кси, , ˈtʲiksʲɪ; , ''Tiksii'' – lit. ''a moorage place'') is an urban locality (an

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...

) 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 ...

Bulunsky District Bulunsky District (; , ''Buluŋ uluuha'') is an administrativeConstitution of the Sakha Republic, Article 45 and municipalLaw #172-Z #351-III district (raion, or ''ulus''), one of the thirty-four in the Sakha Republic, Russia. It is the mos ...

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 shore of the Buor-Khaya Gulf of the Laptev Sea, southeast of the

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

of the Lena River. As of the 2010 census, its population was 5,063.

History

In August 1901, Russian Arctic ship '' Zarya'' headed across the Laptev Sea, searching for the legendary Sannikov Land but was soon blocked by floating drift ice in the New Siberian Islands. During 1902, the attempts to reach Sannikov Land continued while ''Zarya'' was trapped in fast ice. Leaving the ship, Russian Arctic explorer Baron Eduard Toll and three companions vanished forever in November 1902 while traveling away from Bennett Island towards the south on loose ice floes. ''Zarya'' was finally moored close to Brusneva Island in the Tiksi Bay, never to leave the place again. The remaining members of the expedition returned to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, while Captain Fyodor Matisen went to Yakutsk. Modern Tiksi was founded in 1933;

status was granted to it in 1939.''Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Divisions of the Sakha Republic'' During the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, Tiksi saw military construction projects at Tiksi North and Tiksi West airfields. Since the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, Tiksi's population has declined markedly and many of its apartment blocks have been abandoned. Despite its rapid population decline, it remains the world's most northerly settlement with a population of over 4,000.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, the

of TiksiAccording to Article 7 of the Law #77-I, lower-level administrative divisions with the status of a settlement have their administrative centers in an inhabited locality with the status of an urban-type settlement. According to the ''Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Divisions of the Sakha Republic'', Tiksi is the administrative center of the Settlement of Tiksi. serves as the

. As an administrative division, it is incorporated within Bulunsky District as the Settlement of Tiksi. As a municipal division, the Settlement of Tiksi is incorporated within Bulunsky Municipal District as Tiksi Urban Settlement.Law #173-Z #353-III

Economy

Transportation

Tiksi serves as one of the principal ports for accessing the Laptev Sea. It is served by the Tiksi Airport, which was shut down by the Defense Ministry on October 1, 2012 except for helicopters. Tiksi was connected only by helicopter flights and winter roads. The closure was harshly criticized by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Following an agreement between the Defense Ministry and the Government of the Sakha Republic in April 2013, the airfield re-opened to passenger traffic in June 2013. In December 2013, President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

announced that the Tiksi airport would be "rehabilitated" along with others beyond the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...

. Since June 2023, the port of Tiksi has been opened to foreign ships. The Lena River is navigable in the summer months. There is infrequent passenger navigation from Yakutsk.

Climate

Tiksi has a tundra climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''ET''). Winter averages and extremes are less severe than the subarctic region further south, but the winter length is longer courtesy of the higher latitude. The very short summers are generally cooler than inland regions (although in 1991 a temperature as high as was reported) and see rainfall on most days. 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 ...

lasts from November 19 to January 24, and the period with continuous daylight, 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 ...

, lasts a bit longer, from May 11 to August 3. The growing season in Tiksi lasts for 74 days usually from around June 23 to September 5.

References

Notes

Sources

*Official website of the Sakha Republic. ''Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Divisions of the Sakha Republic''
Bulunsky District
. * *