Pevek (Chuk. Peekin, Peek) is a city in the Chukotka Autonomous Region of Russia. The administrative center of the urban district of Pevek.
The name comes from the Chukchi word peekinei, which
means "thick, swollen mountain" - this is the name of the hill at
the foot of which the city is located.
The city got its name
from the Chukchi word "pagyt-kenay", which means "fragrant
mountain". According to legend, at the foot of the mountain near the
modern city, a battle took place between the Chukchi and Yukaghirs,
and the smell of the bodies of the dead remained for a long time in
these places, because the aborigines did not bury the dead.
Therefore, the Chukchi did not settle in this territory for a long
time, but only temporarily brought their herds here in the summer.
It is located on the eastern coast of the strait of the same name, connecting the Chaunskaya Bay and the East Siberian Sea, opposite the Routan Islands, 640 km from Anadyr.
At the origins of the founding of the settlement was the Soviet
statesman Naum Filippovich Pugachev, who arrived on the coast of
Chaunskaya Bay on August 10, 1933. The first party meeting was held
right on the seashore, at which the establishment of the Chaunsky
district and the first settlements were announced, Pevek was
appointed the main one.
In just a few years, Pevek has become
an important regional port, thanks to its natural harbor (Chaunskaya
Bay), the development of the Northern Sea Route and the discovery of
the largest stockwork tin deposit in Russia in terms of stockworks -
"Pyrkakayskie stockwork", which is about 85 km east of Pevek. Later,
other deposits of tin, gold, mercury, uranium, and coal were
discovered.
In 1936-1937, geological expeditions were carried
out in the region, which discovered a rich alluvial tin deposit 80
km from Pevek.
1941, the entire tin mining industry was
created, which existed until the 90s.
In 1942, the first
highway was built connecting Pevek and the Krasnoarmeisky mine.
In 1942 the first two-story building was built. From 1938 to
1957, the Office of the Chaunlag and Chaunchukotlag forced labor
camps, which were part of the Main Directorate of Construction in
the Far North (abbreviated as Dalstroy), was located here.
In
1948, the Chaunsky District Geological Prospecting Department was
formed.
In 1950, the settlement numbered about 1500 people.
On March 21, 1951, the settlement was transformed into an
urban-type settlement, and the decree on this was issued under the
heading "secret". For some time after that, Pevek was not indicated
on geographical maps.
On April 6, 1967, it became a city.
By 1967, more than 10 thousand people live in Pevek.
In
1968, an automatic telephone exchange was installed in Pevek, and a
new secondary school was built.
On October 8, 1974, with the
launch of the Orbit-2 long-range space radio communication complex,
television appeared in the city.
In 1976, the city of Pevek
was awarded the Challenging Red Banner of the Central Committee of
the CPSU, the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the All-Union
Central Council of Trade Unions and the Central Committee of the
Komsomol; Pevek entered the top 100 cities of the country.
Secondary school No. 2 was commissioned in 1982.
The city
acquired two large microdistricts, its population in the early 1980s
increased to 13 thousand people.
In May 1985, the Glory
Monument was opened.
In the spring of 1994, the Orthodox
Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Anadyr
and Chukotka dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church was opened in
the old building of the local history museum.