Where? Some Geographic and Bioclimatic Indicators
Yakutia is an immense region of the north-east of Siberia. The region is about 3.1 million sq. km., about 18.2% of Russia and about the size of India. Yakutia is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, extends to the south to about 250 km from China and covers, from east to west, the basins of five great rivers, the Oleniok, the Lena, the Yana, the Indigirka, and the Kolyma, being equivalent of two time zones.The capital of the republic, Yakutsk, is located about 6,000 km east of Moscow, about 2,000 km to the north-west of Japan and about 3,000 km to the south-west of Alaska.
Located in the arctic and subarctic, Yakutia is covered over 60% of its area within the Arctic Circle by taiga, and by taiga, wooded tundra, tundra and mountainous zones elsewhere. Permafrost (permanently frozen ground) is found over 95% of its extent.
The climate is extremely continental: the annual temperature range may attain, in certain central and eastern areas, almost 100°C (-60°C in winter, +40°C in summer). The coldest point in the northern hemisphere is located at Oïmiakon in the east of Yakutia: -72°C.
The subsurface of the region is extremely rich in precious and semi-precious mineral resources, in particular diamonds: Yakutia's annual diamond production is about 12 million carats, which represents about 99% of the total Russian production and about 12% of that of the world. Yakutia also produces about a quarter of the gold and all of the antimony produced in the Russian Federation and also tin, tungsten, coal, gas, etc.
Who? When? A Brief History of the Peopling of Yakutia
Originally peopled by communities of Palaeoasiatic hunters and reindeer herders (Koryaks, Chukchi, Yukagir) and Tungus-Manchu peoples (Evenk, Even), it is, from the 15th century, dominated by the Yakut (Sakha), horse breeders and herders of Turkic-Mongol cattle, who became the majority in the region up to the 1930s.From the 17th century, Yakutia was overrun and colonized by the Russians. Many waves of deportations, which began in the tsarist period, then the massive colonization for the extraction of its mineral riches (diamonds, gold, etc.) took place beginning in the second half of the 20th century, causing massive growth and diversification in the population.
In 1989, date of the last decadal census, the population of Yakutia was estimated at a bit more than a million inhabitants, of which 50% were Russian, 33% Yakut, 7% Ukrainian, and 2.3% various aboriginal minorities, etc., about a hundred nationalities in all.
What is its Status? A Short Political History of Yakutia
1922: The Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Yakutia is created within the Russian Federation. Its creation plays a role in the administration of the policy of nationalities put in place by the Soviet leadership, which consisted of granting to all ethnic groups with sufficient numbers, a sort of nation-state status, in which autonomy was purely formal.1990: Yakutia proclaims itself "sovereign within the Russian Federation," following the example of all the other autonomous republics of Russia. Yakutia did not claim independence but a real economic, cultural and why not, political, within Russia, which required the institution of contractual arrangements with Russia.
1992: Yakutia renames itself the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Sakha being the autonym of the Yakut, the name given them by the Russians and the Evenk. The Republic, with its state-like structure (or rather sub-state-like), grants itself symbolic attributes: a flag and coat of arms.
1995: Following the example of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) claims and obtains the institution of bilateral relations, based on accords and treaties, with the Russian Federation.
