Sakha can be divided into three great vegetation belts. About 40% of Sakha lies above the Arctic circle and all of it is covered by permafrost which greatly influences the region's ecology and limits forests in the southern region. Arctic and subarctic tundra define the middle region, where lichen and moss grow as great green carpets and are favorite pastures for reindeer. In the southern part of the tundra belt, scattered stands of dwarf Siberian pine and larch grow along the rivers. Below the tundra is the vast taiga forest region. Larch trees dominate in the north and, in the south, stands of fir and pine begin to appear. Taiga forests cover about 47% of Sakha and almost 90% of this cover is larch.
Time zones
Sakha spans three different time zones:
Yakutsk Time Zone (YAKT/YAKST). UTC offset is +0900 (YAKT)/+1000 (YAKST). Covers the republic's territory to the west of the Lena River as well as the territories of uluses located on the both sides of the Lena River.
Vladivostok Time Zone (VLAT/VLAST). UTC offset is +1000 (VLAT)/+1100 (VLAST). Covers most of the republic's territory located between 127°E and 140°E longitude.
Magadan Time Zone (MAGT/MAGST). UTC offset is +1100 (MAGT)/+1200 (MAGST). Covers most of the republic's territory located east of 140°E longitude.
Navigable Lena River (4,310 km), as it moves northward, includes hundreds of small tributaries located in the Verkhoyansk Range. Other major rivers include:
Sakha's greatest mountain range, the Verkhoyansk Range, runs parallel and east of the Lena River, forming a great arc that begins the Sea of Okhotsk and ends in the Laptev Sea.
The Chersky Range runs east of the Verkhoyansk Range and has the highest peak in Sakha, Peak Pobeda (3,003 m). Recent satellite photos, however, revealed that Peak Mus-Khaya may in fact be a higher point, reaching 3,011 m.
Sakha is well endowed with raw materials. The soil contains large reserves of oil, gas, coal, diamonds, gold, silver, tin, wolfram and many others. 99% of all Russian diamonds are mined in Sakha, accounting for over 25% of the world's diamond production.[citation needed]
Climate
Sakha is known for its climate extremes, with the Verkhoyansk Range being the coldest area in the northern hemisphere. The Northern Hemisphere's Pole of Cold is at Verkhoyansk, where the temperatures reached as low as −67.8°C in 1892, and at Oymyakon, where the temperatures reached as low as −67.7°C in 1933.
Average January temperature: −28°C (coast) to −47°C (Pole of Cold).
Average July temperature: +2°C (coast) to +19°C (central parts).
Average annual precipitation: 200 mm (central parts) to 700 mm (mountains of Eastern Sakha).
The official languages are both Russian and Sakha, also known as Yakut, which is spoken by approximately 25% of the population. The Yakut language is Turkic with Mongolian influence and some borrowings from Sakha's Paleosiberian indigenous peoples.
Population: 949,280 (2002)
Urban: 609,999 (64.3%)
Rural: 339,281 (35.7%)
Male: 464,217 (48.9%)
Female: 485,063 (51.1%)
Females per 1000 males: 1,045
Average age: 30.0 years
Urban: 31.0 years
Rural: 27.4 years
Male: 30.0 years
Female: 26.6 years
Number of households: 305,017 (with 937,954 people)
Urban: 212,593 (with 600,696 people)
Rural: 92,424 (with 337,258 people)
Vital statistics: (2005)
Births: 13,591 (birth rate 14.3)
Deaths: 9,696 (death rate 10.2)
Ethnic groups: According to the 2002 Census the national composition is • 432,290 Yakuts (45.54%), • 390,617 Russians(41.15%), • 34,633 Ukrainians (3.65%), • 18,232 Evenks (1.92%), • 11,657 Evens (1.23%), • 10,755 Tatars (1.13%), • 7,266 Buriats (0.77%), • 4,236 Belarusians (0.45%), • 2,764 Armenians (0.29%), • 2,355 Bashkirs (0.25%), • 2,293 Azeris (0.24%), • 2,283 ethnic Germans (0.24%), • 2,255 Moldovans (0.24%), • 2,072 Mordovians (0.22%), • 1,815 Koreans (0.19%), • 1,700 Chuvash (0.18%), • 1,454 Kyrgyz (0.15%), • 1,272 Dolgans (0.13%), • 1,272 Uzbeks (0.13%), • 1,105 Tajiks (0.12%), • 1,097 Yukagirs (0.12%), • 1,000 Ingush (0.11%), and other groups of less than one thousand persons each. (0.28% of the inhabitants declined to state their nationality on the census questionnaire.)[7] Historical population figures are shown below:
The Sakha arrived relatively recently in 13th century to their current geographical area from Central Asia. They are heterogeneous of Turkic origin. They conquered the indigenous hunter-gatherer tribes and began to call themselves "Sakha", the origin of which is not clear, therefore much debated.[8]
The Evenki referred to the Sakha as "Yako" and this term was adopted by the Russians when they began arriving in the region in the early 17th century. Tygyn, a king of the Khangalassky Yakuts, granted territory for Russian settlement in return for military pact that included war against indigenous rebels of all North Eastern Asia (Magadan, Chukotka, Kamchatka and Sakhalin). King of Megino-Khangalassky Yakuts, Kull began a Sakha conspiracy by allowing the first stockade construction. In August of 1638, the Moscow Government formed a new administrative unit with the administrative center of Lensky Ostrog, which cemented the town's his relative Tygyn to enter into tricky pact with Russians in plan to conquer all of North Eastern Asia in centuries to come. The Lensky Ostrog (Fort Lensky), the future city of Yakutsk, was founded by Pyotr Beketov, a Cossack, on September 25, 1632 (the date of ascendancy in the territory.
The date of arrival and the origin of the Russian settlers at the extremely remote Russkoye Ustye in the Indigirkadelta, whose later residents were known for their archaic culture, remains somewhat enigmatic. Most historians speculate that it took place some time in the 17th century as well.[9]
Russians established agriculture in the Lena River basin. The members of religious groups who were exiled to Sakha in the second half of the 19th century began to grow wheat, oats, and potatoes. The fur trade established a cash economy. Industry and transport began to develop at the end of the 19th century and in the beginning of the Soviet period. This was also the beginning of geological prospecting, mining, and local lead production. The first steam-powered ships and barges arrived.
On April 27, 1922 the former "Yakutskaya land" was proclaimed the Yakut ASSR, although in fact the eastern part of the territory, including the city of Yakutsk, was controlled by the White Russians (see Yakut Revolt). In 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Yakutia was recognized in Moscow as the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation.
The supreme legislative body of state authority in Sakha is a unicameral State Assembly known as the Il Tumen. The government of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic is the executive body of state authority.
Economy
Industry generates slightly above 50%[citation needed] of the gross national product of Sakha, stemming primarily from mineral exploitation. Industrial enterprises are concentrated in the capital Yakutsk, as well as in Aldan, Mirny, Neryungri, Pokrovsk, and Udachny. The diamond, gold and tin ore mining industries are the major focus of the economy. Uranium ore is beginning to be mined. Turkic-language Sakha are in politics, government, finance, economy and cattle-breeding (horses and cows for milk and meat). The Paleoasian indigenous peoples are hunters, fishermen, and reindeer herders.
Transportation
Water transport ranks first for cargo turnover. There are six river ports, two sea ports (Tiksi and Zelyony Mys). Four shipping companies, including the Arctic Sea Shipping Company, operate in the republic. The republic's main waterway is the Lena River, which links Yakutsk with the rail station of Ust-Kut in Irkutsk Oblast.
Air transport is the most important for transporting people. Airlines connect the republic with most regions of Russia. Yakutsk Airport has an international terminal.
Two federal roads pass the republic. They are Yakutsk–Bolshoy Never and Yakutsk–Magadan.
However, due to the presence of permafrost, use of asphalt is not practical, and therefore the roads are made of clay. When heavy rains blow over the region, the roads often turn to mud, sometimes stranding hundreds of travellers in the process.[10]
Before the arrival of the Russian Empire, the majority of the population believed in Tengrianism common to Turkic-language people of Central Asia, or in Paleoasian indigenous shamanism with both 'light' (community leading) and 'dark' (healing through spirit journey) shamans. Under the Russians, the population was putatively converted to the Russian Orthodox Church and required to take Orthodox Christian names, but in practice generally continued to follow traditional religions. During the Soviet era, most or all of the shamans died without successors. Currently there is interest and activity toward renewing the traditional religions.
References
^Президент Российской Федерации. Указ №849 от 13 мая 2000 г. «О полномочном представителе Президента Российской Федерации в федеральном округе». Вступил в силу 13 мая 2000 г. Опубликован: "Собрание законодательства РФ", No. 20, ст. 2112, 15 мая 2000 г. (President of the Russian Federation. Decree #849 of May 13, 2000 On the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in a Federal District. Effective as of May 13, 2000.).
^Госстандарт Российской Федерации. №ОК 024-95 27 декабря 1995 г. «Общероссийский классификатор экономических регионов. 2. Экономические районы», в ред. Изменения №5/2001 ОКЭР. (Gosstandart of the Russian Federation. #OK 024-95 December 27, 1995 Russian Classification of Economic Regions. 2. Economic Regions, as amended by the Amendment #5/2001 OKER. ).
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