The harsh northern region is beautiful and far away. These definitions fully apply to the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. On this land, surrounded by pristine nature, indigenous peoples live according to the customs of their ancestors, and rich subsoil is developed using modern technologies. Yamal has always attracted travelers with its unique appearance. Here, in the most amazing way, the stinginess of the sun and the originality of nature, the severity of the climate and the hospitality of the locals, the fantastic palette of autumn and the silent whiteness of winter are combined in the most amazing way. Scientists love Yamal for its cultural richness and unique nature. Therefore, be sure to come to the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (the capital of Salekhard) in order to enjoy the cleanest air and see the beauties of the remote corners of our large country.
Geography
Russia is beautiful and rich: the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug is the black pearl of the northern part of our country. And it occupies neither more nor less - 770 thousand square kilometers of the West Siberian Plain. The district includes: Gydanskypeninsula, the Tazovsky peninsula and, of course, the Yamal peninsula. Most of the district is located beyond the Arctic Circle. From the north, the YNAO is washed by the Kara Sea, from the south it adjoins the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug, its eastern neighbors are the Taimyr and Evenk Autonomous Regions, and from the west it borders on the Arkhangelsk Region and the Komi Republic. The relief of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug can be divided into flat and mountainous. All three peninsulas are dotted with small rivers, hollows, ravines and swamps. The mountain range stretches for two hundred kilometers in a narrow strip along the Polar Urals. The climate of the YaNAO is sharply continental, severe, divided into three zones: the northern strip of the West Siberian lowland, subarctic and arctic. The population is approximately 500 thousand people with a density of less than one person per square kilometer.
Flora
Vegetation cover in the YNAO has a pronounced latitudinal zonality. Five landscape zones can be distinguished: northern taiga, forest tundra, shrub, moss-lichen and arctic tundra. In the northernmost, arctic zone, vegetation is very sparse. Here you can find only mosses, lichens and sedges. Small bushes and herbs are already growing in the moss-lichen tundra. In the next zone (shrub tundra), dwarf birches and willows grow, along the rivers - berries and mushrooms. There are many swamps and small rivers in the forest-tundra. Here grow dwarf birch, larch, small spruce. In the southernmost zone of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug - taiga, there are many lakes, swamps, rivers. The entire territory is covered with dense light and dark coniferous forests.
Fauna
If the flora of the YNAO is quite poor, then the animal world is rich and diverse. Thirty-eight species of mammals live in the county's five climate zones. Most of all there are predators and rodents - fourteen species each. Five names of pinnipeds, three - insectivores, two - ungulates. Twenty species of fur animals are of great commercial importance.
Mineral natural resources
The Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (the capital of Salekhard) is famous for its hydrocarbon reserves. About 78% of the total reserves of Russian oil and gas are concentrated here. YNAO is the world's largest hydrocarbon resource base. Developments for the extraction of valuable raw materials are being carried out at the Nakhodka and Urengoy gas, Ety-Purovskoye, Yuzhno-Russkoye, and Yamburgskoye oil fields. About 8% of the total production of "black" gold and about 80% of "blue gold" are mined annually in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Chromium, molybdenum, tin, iron, lead, phosphorites, barites and other minerals are mined in the Polar Urals.
Indigenous peoples of the Yamal-Nenets Okrug
Twenty peoples live in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. But the true indigenous people are the Khanty, Nenets, Selkups and Komi-Izhemtsy, who have lived in this territory since time immemorial. The rest settled only in the second half of the twentieth century. This is due to the development of the territories of the Far North in the era of the Soviet Union.
Khanty: since ancient times, this people lived in the territories of the Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The culture, language and customs of this people are very heterogeneous. This is due to the fact that the Khanty settled on a rather vast territory and therefore became somewhat scattered.
The Nenets inhabit the vast territory of Russia - from the Taimyr Peninsula to the coast of the Arctic Ocean. This people migrated from Southern Siberia in the first millennium of our era. He belongs to the Samoyedic group.
It is known that the Komi people have been living in this territory since the 1st millennium BC. This people is divided into northern and southern Komi. The first from time immemorial were engaged in reindeer herding, fishing and hunting. The latter were hunters and fishermen.
Selkups are the most numerous people of the North. The Selkups were traditionally engaged in fishing and hunting. Those representatives of the people who lived at higher latitudes still bred deer.
Administrative Center
The capital of the YaNAO is the city of Salekhard. It is located on the banks of the Ob (on the right side). The city is located on the Arctic Circle (the only one in the world). The population is about 40 thousand people. The city was founded in 1595. At first it was a small prison called Obdorsky. Half a century after its foundation, permanent residents appear here. Since 1923, the village of Obdorsk has become the center of the Obdorsky district of the Ural region. And already in 1930, the village was given the status of the administrative center of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Three years later, Obdorsk was renamed Salekhard. Today, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the capital of the AO in particular,is developing at a fairly fast pace. There are many enterprises operating in the city: Yamalzoloto, a river port, a fish cannery, Yamalflot and others. The city has opened the Yamalo-Nenets District Museum and Exhibition Complex, which houses an exhibition center, a local history museum and a scientific library. Still in Salekhard is the District House of Crafts - the state budgetary cultural institution of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. There are many branches of various universities in the capital of the YaNAO. It should be noted that the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (the capital of Salekhard) is experiencing big problems with access to the Internet. The fact is that there is no fiber optic network in the region yet.
Cities and districts of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug
YNAO includes seven districts, eight cities, five urban-type settlements and forty-one rural administrations. Districts of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug: Yamalsky, Shuryshkarsky, Tazovsky, Purovsky, Priuralsky, Nadymsky and Krasnoselkupsky. As mentioned above, the population density is very low. Despite the vast territory, there are very few cities in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Cities: Noyabrsk (97 thousand), Novy Urengoy (89.8 thousand), Nadym (45.2 thousand), Muravlenko (36.4 thousand), Salekhard (32.9 thousand), Labytnangi (26, 7 thousand), Gubkinsky (21.1 thousand inhabitants). Below, some cities of the YaNAO will be described in more detail.
Gubkinsky
The city of Gubkinsky (Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug) in 1996 became a city of district significance and was named after the Soviet geologistGubkin Ivan Mikhailovich It is located on the left bank of the Pyakupur River, two hundred kilometers from the Arctic Circle. This city was formed as a base center for the development of oil deposits. Because Gubkinsky (Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug), mainly specializes in the oil and gas production and processing industry. Work with youth is well established in the city: sports and cultural centers, a dance school, and a recording studio are open. Young people have the opportunity to get an education in their hometown.
Muravlenko. Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug
The city was founded in 1984. It received the status of a district in 1990. It was named after the oil engineer Viktor Ivanovich Muravlenko. Basically, the city budget is replenished at the expense of oil industry enterprises. Muravlenko (Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug) has its own radio and television companies. Newspapers are published: "Our City", "Kopeyka", "The Word of an Oilman".
Noyabrsk. Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug
After Novy Urengoy, Noyabrsk is the second largest population in the YaNAO. The date of foundation of the city can be considered 1973, when the first oil well was drilled on the site of today's Noyabrsk. Two years later, the first settlers arrived here, who mainly consisted of workers. Back in 1976, the village of Noyabrsk could only be found on the maps of oil workers, and already in 1982, the village was given the status of a district city. The oil and gas and fuel industries are very well developed. More than thirty companies work in this field.
