The Magadan region is located in the Far East. In relation to the region, the toponym Kolyma is also used, after the upper reaches of the gold-bearing river located here.
The Magadan Region includes one city of regional significance (Magadan) and 8 districts, within the boundaries of which 9 urban districts are formed. In fact, there is Magadan with its surroundings and the rest of the region, where life is concentrated along the highways.
Magadan
Kadykchan
Magadansky Nature Reserve
Ola
Susuman
Talaya Resort
Ust-Omchug
Yagodnoye
By plane
Magadan International Airport "Sokol" (IATA:GDX) is the
largest in northeast Russia. The airport serves regular flights from
Moscow, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Yakutsk, Khabarovsk and Vladivostok.
Communication within the northeastern region is carried out to Anadyr,
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, as well as to several other settlements.
By car
The federal highway M56 “Kolyma” passes through the
region, which connects the Magadan region with Yakutia. It's mostly a
two-lane road. The track in the vicinity of Magadan is paved, but
outside it is a good grader. The road is mainly laid through valleys
with access to hills, and even mountain serpentines along passes. The
road is steep, unfenced and looks quite dangerous. Particular attention
and preparation should be given to driving in winter, including periods
of extremely low temperatures. Local cars even have a second windshield
to prevent freezing.
Due to the nature of supply, gasoline in the
region is quite expensive. If in Magadan the cost of A-92 can be about
45 rubles per liter (2017), then in the periphery it rises to 60 rubles.
Diesel fuel may cost more than gasoline. Another feature is the complete
absence of gasolines above A-92, which is why even new foreign cars are
downgraded at local official car services. Throughout the region, gas
stations are rare and are mainly associated with large settlements by
local standards. There are no branded gas stations from well-known
companies.
By train
There is no railway connection with the
region.
In recent years, the Magadan region has attracted extreme tourists. There is also organized hunting, however, this pleasure is not cheap.
Along the Kolyma highway, and just in the taiga, there are a lot of
bears, and there are cases of attacks on people. It is not recommended
to spend the night outside of populated areas, at least if you do not
have a weapon, and even just to walk into the forest on your own. At the
same time, the cold climate completely eliminates the tick threat.
Along the road 44 OP MZ 44N-4, better known as the “Tenkinskaya
highway”, there are beautiful landscapes. However, there, in the area of
Butugychag, during the Soviet years there were 5 camp points, a mining
and processing plant was operating and there were a bunch of abandoned
adits. The hands of prisoners mined tin and then uranium. In the area of
the ruins of the camp sites, drinking water from streams is not
recommended due to the increased radiation background (signs are
hanging), and in general it is better not to stay in the ruins of a
factory for a long time - the background is much higher than normal (up
to one and a half thousand microroentgen/hour, while the natural
background is not exceeds 25).
The coat of arms and flag were approved by the Law of the Magadan Region of December 28, 2001 N 219-OZ “On the Flag and Coat of Arms of the Magadan Region”.
The history of the Magadan Region dates back to the Paleolithic era,
which includes the Druchak-Vetreny and Neglinka (P. 2) sites. The
Siberdik Paleolithic site was discovered in the Kolyma basin at the
mouth of the Maly Siberdik River, and the Kongo site is located at the
mouth of the river of the same name. The Siberdikovskaya culture was
identified based on the Kongo, Siberdik and Maltan sites. The Bolshoy
Elgakhchan I site belongs to the Upper Paleolithic. Bifacial throwing
points from the Bolshoy Elgakhchan and Ushki sites in Kamchatka, aged
13-14 thousand years ago, are similar to the Nenana culture points from
Walker Road in Alaska. The Aura, Lenchik I, Neglinka, Omchik-2 and
Omchik-3 sites belong to the Mesolithic. Finds in the area of Lake
Malyk indicate that people lived here 7 thousand years ago. There are
sites of the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages, and the ancient Koryak
culture. On Zavyalova Island, 8 settlements were discovered that belong
to the Tokarev culture (8th century BC - 5th century AD) and the ancient
Koryak culture (5th - 17th centuries). The most ancient sites were found
in the Rassvet and Nakhodka bays. Mitochondrial haplogroups G1b and D2a1
were identified in samples from the Olskaya Tokarev culture site on Cape
Vostochny (Olsky), 3 km from the former settlement of Staraya Vesyolaya.
The territory of the region in the 18th century, before the first
campaigns of Russian Cossacks (Mikhail Vasilyevich Stadukhin and others)
in the Kolyma region, was populated mainly by Lamuts (Evens), the most
ancient population was the Yukaghirs. The sparse indigenous population
was mainly engaged in hunting and fishing.
In 1653, the Cossacks of Mikhail Stadukhin built the Tauysky fortress
to collect yasak in furs from the local population. In 1739, the major
of the Yakut regiment Vasily Merlin founded the Yamsky fortress. Built
in 1753 to protect the land communication between Okhotsk and Kamchatka
from attacks by the "unpeaceful Koryaks" and to collect yasak from them,
the Gizhiginskaya fortress was declared the city of Gizhiginsk in 1783,
the center of the Gizhiginsky region, stretching from Okhotsk to
Kamchatka. Since 1822, the Gizhiginskaya team of the Yakut city Cossack
regiment was located there. The Cossacks collected yasak from the local
population in the form of furs, mammoth ivory, and walrus tusks. In the
18th century, Russian peasants from Ilimsk, sometimes exiled, were sent
there to populate the Okhotsk coast and Kamchatka. Thus, in 1846, 111
Russian peasants — men — lived in Takhtoyamsk.
The administrative
subordination of the Kolyma and Chukotka lands repeatedly changed. Thus,
at the beginning of the 20th century, almost the entire territory of the
future Magadan Region, including Chukotka, was part of the Primorsky
Region; since 1909 — part of the revived Kamchatka Region.
On March 24, 1918, elections were held to the Gizhiginsky District
Council of Workers, Peasants, and Foreigners Deputies. This marked the
beginning of the creation of the first body of Soviet power on the
territory of the modern Magadan Region, whose activities reflected the
regional specifics of that time. Due to the circumstances, the
Gizhiginsky Council existed for only about four months and was able to
do only what history had allotted it for this period. However, even
today, through the prism of the changes that took place in the country,
we can say that it acted as a general democratic authority and, through
the measures it took, managed to quickly gain the authority of the
majority of the local population, who had previously supported the
previously existing public safety committee.
With the formation
of the buffer Far Eastern Republic (FER) in January 1921, with
provincial and district divisions, the Kamchatka Region, transformed
into the Kamchatka Governorate, was included in its composition.
In November 1922, the Far Eastern Republic, with all its
administrative-territorial units, became part of the RSFSR as the Far
Eastern Region. In January 1926, the Far Eastern Territory was formed
with the transition from provincial and district divisions to the
district and regional system. In the 1920s, with the gradual decline of
Gizhiginsk, the city's population moved to Kushka, which was renamed
Gizhiga in 1926.
The counties reorganized into districts — Anadyrsky, Chukotsky and Gizhiginsky (Penzhinsky) — became part of the Kamchatka Okrug, and Olsky — of the Nikolaevsky-on-Amur Okrug. By October 1932, that is, by the time the Kamchatka Oblast was recreated as part of the Khabarovsk Krai, the state trust "Dalstroy" began its activities on the Kolyma — a unique and constantly expanding administrative-territorial entity, the forerunner of the Magadan Oblast. And if the Chukotka National Okrug, formed on Chukotka lands in December 1930, formally remained part of the Kamchatka Oblast until May 1951, when it was subordinated directly to the Khabarovsk Krai, then, in fact, since 1939-1940 the district came under the jurisdiction of "Dalstroy". From the moment of the formation of the Magadan Region by separating it from the Khabarovsk Territory in December 1953 until June 1992, the Chukotka National Okrug was part of the Magadan Region.
The history of the future Magadan Region essentially began in the
1920s, with the arrival of scientific geological exploration expeditions
(Valentin Aleksandrovich Tsaregradsky, Yuri Aleksandrovich Bilibin and
others) to Kolyma, which began exploring gold placers.
On
November 11, 1931, the Resolution of the Central Committee of the
All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) "On Kolyma" was issued under the
signature of I. V. Stalin, which ordered the formation of a "special
trust directly subordinate to the Central Committee of the All-Union
Communist Party (Bolsheviks)" in Kolyma. The Dalstroy Trust was created,
which was engaged in road construction and gold mining. Forced labor of
prisoners was used for this. The management of Dalstroy was ordered to
increase gold production to 2 tons in 1931, to 10 tons in 1932, and to
25 tons in 1933.
On February 4, 1932, the Sakhalin steamship,
which was not adapted for navigation in ice, arrived in Nagayev Bay. The
ice did not let it go any further. A group of trust managers headed by
the first director of Dalstroy, Eduard Petrovich Berzin, arrived on the
Sakhalin. The steamship also delivered the first group of prisoners. In
1932, the North-Eastern Correctional Labor Camp was created.
The
miners and geologists needed food and equipment, and the cargo took an
endless time to get there, along the Olskaya pack trail and by rafting
along the Maltan and Bakhapcha. Order No. 1 of the trust director was
about building a road from Magadan to Ust-Nera. In December 1931, an
unsuccessful attempt was made to break through to Elekchan through snow
and taiga wilderness on four one-and-a-half-ton trucks. Only on the
fifth time were the heroic efforts crowned with success, and the tractor
column reached Elekchan - the beginning of the rafting.
In 1932,
Sergei Vladimirovich Obruchev wrote: "In the valley of the Magadan
River, on a spacious and free site, the town of Magadan was built ... -
the modern capital of the coast."
In the summer of the following
year, a 50-meter pier was put into operation, and on December 29, 1934,
Magadan residents received the steamship "Uelen". Four domestic aircraft
were lowered from its deck. Pilots D. N. Tarasov, M. S. Sergeev, N. S.
Snezhkov carried out truly heroic flights on them - from ice
reconnaissance to long thousand-kilometer flights without maps.
In the same year, a technical school was opened to train mining,
agricultural and teaching staff. Its own permanent newspaper, Sovetskaya
Kolyma, a publishing house, and a museum appeared.
In 1936, radio
communication with the "mainland" was established. Magadan residents
heard the voice of a Moscow announcer. "In the sixth year of work,"
wrote E. P. Berzin in the magazine "Kolyma", "Dalstroy" again doubled
its production and in terms of its specific gravity will take a place
equal to several large gold mining trusts of the Union."
By the
end of the 1930s, the Kolyma region became the location of the GULAG
camps, the living and working conditions in which were unbearable. Tens
of thousands of prisoners, a significant portion of whom were innocent
victims of the "Great Terror" of 1937-38, were engaged in gold mining
and died en masse from hunger, cold, and backbreaking labor. In
addition, thousands of prisoners in 1937-38 were shot by decision of the
NKVD troika. Also repressed on fabricated charges were the first
director of "Dalstroy" Berzin, the initiator of all publishing endeavors
in Magadan Robert Avgustovich Apin, journalist Alexei Evgrafovich
Kosterin, writer Isaak Efimovich Gekhtman, and heads of factories and
departments. The sinister reputation of Kolyma prompted Alexander
Solzhenitsyn to call it in his book "The Gulag Archipelago" "the pole of
cold and cruelty" in the Gulag system. On July 14, 1939, the workers'
settlement of Magadan was transformed into a city. This date is
considered to be the year of Magadan's birth, although it was founded
ten years earlier.
The outbreak of the Great Patriotic War disrupted the northerners'
peace plans. However, remaining a city deep in the rear, Magadan, the
capital of Kolyma, successfully coped with all the tasks set before it,
and its entire life during the almost four years of the fight against
fascism passed under the slogan "Everything for the front, everything
for victory", which was put forward at a rally already on the evening of
June 22, 1941.
During the years of the Great Patriotic War,
intensive industrial development of the region continued, industrial
plants prepared many products for the front, more than 60 Kolyma
residents fought in combat vehicles purchased with their own funds,
collected warm clothes for the front, organized Sundays, the proceeds
from which were contributed to the defense fund.
After the war, the Kolyma residents restored their economy, created
research institutes (for the study of flora and fauna, fish resources,
ore resources), opened new cultural centers, libraries, a theater, and a
cinema. It was then that the city center took shape with beautiful
buildings along Lenin, Portovaya, Gorky, and Pushkin streets, reflecting
the influence of the Leningrad school.
In 1947, the first state
nature reserve was established in the Magadan Oblast.
After
Stalin's death in 1953, prisoners in Kolyma began to be gradually
replaced by workers and specialists from other regions of the country,
attracted by economic rather than repressive methods (higher wages,
benefits).
On December 3, 1953, the Presidium of the Supreme
Soviet of the USSR issued a decree "On the formation of the Magadan
Oblast." The region included: the city of Magadan, Srednekansky, Olsky,
Severo-Evensky, Susumansky, Tenkinsky, Yagodninsky districts and the
Chukotka National Okrug. On April 26, 1954, the Supreme Soviet of the
USSR approved the creation of the Magadan Region. Magadan became the
administrative, economic, scientific and cultural center. The appearance
of the city-camp was changing rapidly. Transit towns could not
accommodate the thousands of released prisoners returning to the
mainland. Camp points were liquidated, barracks were torn down. In 1953,
the Mining and Geological College accepted students in a beautiful
building (architect P.N. Andrikamns, designer V.A. Illarionov). In 1954,
regular air service Magadan-Moscow began (on an Il-12 aircraft, the
flight lasted 48 hours). A wonderful gift for the city residents was the
Sports Palace (designed by A. V. Mashinsky, S. M. Kurdubov, G. P.
Malschkin) — a unique structure that harmoniously fit into the park
ensemble. Its opening took place on July 15, 1954. Three years later,
television screens lit up in the region, receiving signals from an
amateur television studio.
In 1955, a regional hospital was
opened (based on the city hospital).
On December 12, 1964, by the
Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, the workers'
settlement of Susuman, Susuman rural district, Magadan region, was
transformed into a city of district subordination.
On March 20,
1971, the construction of the hydroelectric construction settlement of
Sinegorye was officially launched. The Kolyma Hydroelectric Power
Station was built from the 1970s to 1980s. Its construction was
officially completed on October 25, 2007.
On July 16, 1992, the
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug left the Magadan Region.
Located in the northeastern part of Russia. The southern borders of
the region run along the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk. The territory,
with an area of 462,000 square kilometers, stretches 930 kilometers from
north to south and 960 kilometers from west to east.
The
territory is roughly comparable to Papua New Guinea and Cameroon,
Uzbekistan and Sweden. Slightly smaller than the Kamchatka Territory
bordering it.
The Magadan region is located in the MSC+8 time
zone. The applied time offset relative to UTC is +11:00.
The extreme points, except for the southern one - Cape Alevin on the
Koni Peninsula, are not clearly defined. The northern point is located
in the upper reaches of the Mostakh River in the Srednekansky region.
The western extreme point is located in the Susumansky district in the
upper reaches of the Khinike River, and the eastern extreme point is in
the North-Evensky district in the upper reaches of one of the
tributaries of the Kegali River.
The highest point is an unnamed
peak in the Ohandya ridge in the north of the Susuman urban district
(2337 meters).
In the west it borders with the Khabarovsk Territory. In the northwest and north, the border passes with the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). At the sources of the Moustakh River the border with the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug begins, and at the sources of the Molongda River - with the Kamchatka Territory.
In the relief of the Magadan region, the main place is occupied by
mountain ranges, and only on the coasts of the Sea of Okhotsk, in the
lower reaches of the rivers, are small plains located.
The region
lies within the Chersky and Okhotsk-Anadyr seismic belts. The strength
of earthquakes can reach up to 8 points on the Chersky ridge, and up to
7 points along the coast.
The leading place in the region's
relief belongs to medium-altitude highlands. Most of the region is
located within the Yana-Kolyma fold system. In the west of the region,
the chains of the Chersky ridge stretch for more than 1,500 kilometers.
The territory of the Magadan region is covered with a dense and
branched river network. The Arctic Ocean basin includes the Kolyma River
and its tributaries - Detrin, Tenka, Bakhapcha, Buyunda, Balygychan,
Sugoi, Korkodon, Omolon, Taskan, Debin, Seymchan and others. The Pacific
Ocean basin includes rivers that are significantly inferior in length to
the tributaries of the Kolyma: Tauy, Yana, Arman, Ola, Yama, Gizhiga and
others.
The main sources of river nutrition are snow, rain and
groundwater. Naledi is a characteristic phenomenon for the Magadan
region. They form in places where the riverbed becomes clogged with
slush and freezes to the bottom.
The largest river in the region
is the Kolyma. The entire territory of the Magadan region belongs to the
regions of the Far North.
In the region, permafrost is widespread; Its power and temperature vary greatly. The permafrost reaches its greatest thickness in the mountains of the northern and northwestern parts of the region; in the southern coastal regions its thickness is much less, and sometimes it is completely absent.
Deposits of gold, silver, tin, and tungsten have been discovered in
the region. There are also deposits of copper, molybdenum, coal, oil and
gas condensate.
In 2015, gold mining in the region was carried
out by 183 companies, of which 130 specialized in placer gold mining. In
2015, Magadan subsoil users produced 24.5 tons of gold and 1,128 tons of
silver.
A special feature of the energy sector of the Magadan Region is its isolation from the Unified Energy System of Russia. As of 2019, 4 large power plants were operating in the Magadan region - two hydroelectric power plants and two thermal power plants, as well as several small diesel power plants, with a total capacity of 1549.4 MW. In 2018, they produced 2,546 million kWh of electricity (excluding the production of diesel power plants).
Fisheries are the second most important industry in the region. Its products are exported. The share of the fishing industry in the region's production volume is 18%.
In 2020, agricultural products amounted to 3,150.2 million rubles, of which crop production — 1,854.4 million rubles, livestock — 1,295.8 million rubles. The agricultural production index is 103.5%, including crop production - 107.1%.
As of January 1, 2021, on farms of all categories there were 3,920 heads of cattle, of which 1,680 heads were cows, 2,760 pigs, 106 thousand poultry, 601 sheep and goats, 176 horses and 6,933 reindeer.
In 1990, the region (excluding the Chukotka District) had a huge reindeer herd of 128 thousand heads, but in 2000 there were only 24 thousand deer in the region, and in 2010 - 19 thousand deer.
In 2020, gross yields of main agricultural crops in farms of all
categories:
potatoes - 7777 tons,
vegetables - 4393 tons, of
which: cucumbers - 834 tons, tomatoes - 401 tons, cabbage - 2107 tons,
carrots - 256 tons, beets - 185 tons, onions - 3 tons.
In 2015,
the Magadan region provided itself with potatoes by 90%, vegetables -
more than 40%, and chicken eggs - by 70%. In 2015, about 10 thousand
tons of potatoes, 1.7 thousand tons of cabbage, as well as 100 tons of
carrots and beets were harvested.
On November 13, 2023, a cooperation agreement was signed in Moscow between the Magadan and Gomel regions.
According to Dmitry Anuchin in 1912, “In the summer of 1911,
successful flights from Vladivostok to the mouth of the river began.
Kolyma, and what is meant (which was already started by the late Admiral
Makarov) is to use icebreakers to navigate the Arctic Ocean.”
The
main transport gateway of the region is the Magadan sea trade port.
The only specialized river transport enterprise in the Kolyma River
basin is the Kolyma Shipping Company, officially founded in 1992.
The main air port is Magadan International Airport named after V.S.
Vysotsky (Sokol Airport).
The length of paved roads is 2,323
kilometers. Including with an improved coating, that is, with asphalt
concrete and cement concrete pavement, crushed stone and gravel treated
with binders, 330 kilometers.
There are no railways in the
Magadan region. There are plans to extend the Amur-Yakutsk railway to
Magadan.
Magadan regional hospital - regional hospital of the Magadan region. On October 20, 1955, by order of the Ministry of Health of the RSFSR, the Magadan city hospital was reorganized into a regional hospital while simultaneously performing the functions of a city hospital, and it acquired regional status in January 1956.
As of 2021, the only higher education institution operating in the Magadan region is the North-Eastern State University.