Amderma - a settlement (in 1936–2004 - an
urban-type settlement) in the Nenets Autonomous District. Located in the border zone, Amderma is the
administrative-territorial unit (village) and the municipality
(rural settlement Amderma settlement as the only settlement in its
composition) in the Polar region.
The name of the settlement
in translation from Nenets means “rookery of walruses”.
Founded in 1933, the settlement of Amderma, in 1936 received the
status of an urban-type settlement. In December 2004, due to the
possibility for the village residents to have privileges granted to
rural residents, Amderma was assigned to rural settlements
(townships), and within the framework of the municipal structure, it
was given the status of a rural settlement. The administrative
center and the only settlement in the municipality is the settlement
of Amderma.
The settlement of Amderma is located on the coast
of the Kara Sea, east of the Yugorsky Shar strait on the Yugorsky
Peninsula. The distance to the district center, Naryan-Mar, is 420
km. The nearest train station is 270 km away in the city of Vorkuta.
The settlement is located beyond the Arctic Circle in the
European part of Russia. The polar day lasts from May 20 to July 30,
the polar night - from November 27 to January 16. Not far from the
village flows the river Amderma.
In July 2012, on the Yugorsky Peninsula in the area of
the Yugorsky Shar polar station, 40 km from Amderma, by the efforts of
enthusiasts with the support of Arktiktour and Paxus, the Europe-Asia
geographical sign was restored.
In the center of the village
there is a memorial complex to soldiers-compatriots who died during the
Great Patriotic War, opened in 1975. The memorial complex includes the
A-19 cannon from the war. Near the complex there is a monument to the
founder of Amderma, E.S. Livanov.
In honor of the aviation unit
based here, on May 5, 1995, a MiG-17 aircraft was installed on a
pedestal near the House of Officers, instead of the MiG-15UTI memorial
aircraft exported to Norway in 1993. On the pedestal of the monument
there is a sign "To the pilots of the Soviet Armed Forces who defeated
fascism and ensured peace and inviolability of the air borders of the
north."
Behind the memorial aircraft there is a stele dedicated
to the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite.
The climate is arctic, winter is slightly mitigated by the Kara Sea, at the same time frosts below −40 ° C are possible, often the village is reached by Atlantic air masses that bring thaws in winter. Summer is cool, heat rarely occurs, winter lasts on average from late September - early October to early - mid May.
The village was founded in July 1933 in connection with the start
of the construction of a mine for the production of fluorspar
(fluorite), the field of which was discovered in 1932 by the
geological exploration batch P. A. Shrubko. The organizer of the
construction of the settlement and mine for the production of
fluorspar was mining engineer E. S. Livanov. The extraction of
fluorite (raw materials for metallurgy, optics, and the ceramic
industry) at the Amderma mine allowed the USSR to abandon import
purchases.
In 1936, the village was given the status of a
working village. After the end of World War II, when other deposits
of fluorspar, which were more profitable in production, were
explored, the Amderma mine was closed. However, the village
continued to develop as a base for the development of the Arctic.
From 1940 to 1959, the Amderma District existed.
Since August
28, 1956, the 72nd Guards Polotsky Order of Suvorov, 3rd class,
fighter aviation regiment, which performed the tasks of air defense,
which organizationally was part of the 4th Air Defense Division of
the 10th Arkhangelsk Separate Air Defense Army, was based at the
airport located near the village. The regiment was withdrawn from
the village on October 25, 1993 to Savvatiya (Kotlas, Arkhangelsk
region).
In 1969, 2.9 thousand people lived in the village.
The maximum number of residents lived in the village in the 1980s:
according to the 1989 census, the population of the village was 5.1
thousand inhabitants.
In the 1980s, fluorite production was
resumed, but not for long. In the 1990s, the prospect of gravel
extraction was considered, which was not realized due to
unprofitability.
In 1995, a comprehensive permafrost
laboratory was closed, and in 1998, the Torgmortrans office.
Amderma's population declined sharply in the 1990s due to the
departure of residents. In 1998, 1.9 thousand inhabitants were
registered. And according to the 2002 census, only 650 people
remained in the village. In 2011, there were 556 people.
In
the future, Amderma is considered as a basis for the development of
oil and gas fields in the northern part of the Timan-Pechora oil and
gas province.
The name of the village in translation from the Nenets means "walrus rookery".
The village of Amderma is located on the coast of the Kara Sea, east
of the Yugorsky Shar Strait on the Yugorsky Peninsula. The distance to
the district center — the city of Naryan-Mar — is 420 km. The nearest
railway station is located 270 km away in the city of Vorkuta.
The village is located beyond the Arctic Circle in the European part of
Russia. The polar day lasts from May 20 to July 30, the polar night -
from November 27 to January 16. Not far from the village flows the river
Amderma.
There is an airport that receives twice a month flights of the
Nordavia airline on the An-24 aircraft on the route Arkhangelsk -
Naryan-Mar - Amderma, as well as twice a month flights from Naryan-Mar
on the An-2 aircraft or the Mi-8 helicopter of Naryan OJSC -Mar United
Air Squadron.
In summer navigation there is an opportunity to get
to the seaport of Amderma on the ship "Mikhail Somov". In winter,
all-terrain vehicles go from Vorkuta.
The village has a seaport and an airport, as well as a municipal
unitary enterprise "Amdermaservis".
In the Amderma region there
are the largest reserves of Icelandic spar in Russia with reserves of
3,000,000 tons.