Zhigansk (; ) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') 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 ...

Zhigansky District Zhigansky District (; ) 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 the northern central part of the ...

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

Lena River The Lena is a river in the Russian Far East and is the easternmost river of the three great rivers of Siberia which flow into the Arctic Ocean, the others being Ob (river), Ob and Yenisey. The Lena River is long and has a capacious drainage basi ...

near where it is joined by its

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''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 into which they ...

the

Nuora The Nuora (; ) is a river in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia, a right tributary of the Tumara, of the Aldan (river), Aldan basin, part of the Lena (river), Lena basin. It has a length of and a drainage basin area of . The Nuora flows across ...

(Strekalovka), approximately northwest 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. Population:

History

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

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

led by

Pyotr Beketov Pyotr Beketov (, 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, Chita, and Nerchinsk. Beketov started his military ser ...

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

uyezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd or uiezd; rus, уе́зд ( pre-1918: уѣздъ), p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context () was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, the R ...

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 Evenki, also known as the Evenks and formerly as the Tungus, are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic people of North Asia. In Russia, the Evenki are recognised as one of the Indigenous peoples of the Russian North, indigenous peoples of the Russi ...

. 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. Segments of a winter road that cross an expanse of flo ...

also leads to Yakutsk.

Climate

Zhigansk is located in a border of continental

subarctic climates 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 ...

''Dfc'', ''Dsc'' and ''Dfd'', ''Dsd'' under the

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 ...

with extremely cold and long winters and short mild summers. Despite having an extreme subarctic climate, the town is not quite as cold in winter as some towns with a similar climate, such as

Verkhoyansk Verkhoyansk ( rus, Верхоянск, p=vʲɪrxɐˈjansk; ) is a town in Verkhoyansky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located on the Yana River in the Arctic Circle, from Batagay, the administrative center of the district, and nor ...

Oymyakon Oymyakon is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a ''village#Russia, selo'') in Oymyakonsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located in the Yana-Oymyakon Highlands, along the Indigirka River, northwest of Tomtor, Oy ...

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

temperature inversion In meteorology, an inversion (or temperature inversion) is a phenomenon in which a layer of warmer air overlies cooler air. Normally, air temperature gradually decreases as altitude increases, but this relationship is reversed in an inver ...

s occur during the winter.

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