At the end of the Ice Age primitive men inhabited the basins of the mighty full northern rivers – Lena, Yana, Indigirka, Kolyma, Anabar, Olenyok, and their tributaries – Aldan, Amga, Vilyui, Olyokma, and others; they laid the basis for the development of human civilization on the vast territories of the north-east Asia, Alaska, Canada, Central and South America. Archeologists determined the presence of all archeological cultures on this vast territory; the carriers of these cultures created original culture adapted to the extreme living conditions.
By the moment when the Lena area entered the Russian state, its indigenous population consisted of the northernmost settled cattle-breeders – Turkic language-speaking Yakuts, who herded cattle and horses, hunted, fished, and did blacksmith’s work; they also created a wonderful heroic epos – Olonkho, and a unique material and spiritual culture.
Culture of other indigenous peoples – Evens, Evenks, Yukagirs, Dolgans, and Chukchis – is also diverse. Living in the extreme natural-climatic conditions of the North, the aboriginals had the corresponding extensive economy; they had poor political organization and lived in clans; only Yakuts were partially joined in larger tribal and clan communities.
The year 1632 is traditionally considered the date of Yakutia’s entering the Russian state; it was the year when Yakut Fortress was built on the right bank of the Lena River, which started the future Yakutsk, the present capital of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). Yakutsky Uyezd (Yakut district) was formed in 1638; it was later transformed into Yakutskaya Province (1755), and Yakutsk Oblast of Irkutsk Province.
From the moment of its foundation, Yakutsk became not only administrative, military, trade, cultural, and religious center of Yakutsky Uyezd, but also a starting point for exploration and investigation of the new Far Eastern and north-east Asian territories. In the second half of the 17th century famous Semen Dezhnev discovered a strait between Asia and America; Ivan Moskvitin reached the Pacific coast, and a native of Yakutsk Vladimir Atlasov discovered Kamchatka…
Mass baptizing of the region’s indigenous peoples occurred in the 18th century. Orthodox clergy’s activity favored the development of public education of Yakutia’s peoples, as well as appearance of national literatures and enhancement of inter-civilization interactions.
Migrated Russian peasants started northern farming, accustoming northern peoples to it.
From the moment of Yakutia’s joining the Russian state, the region’s peoples have always aspired to establish relations based on statutes and compacts, and to get their rights for self-governance. However, the interests of central authorities have always prevailed in the Russian Empire’s policy towards Yakutia. Animal breeding, hunting, and small-scale arable farming made the basis of the Republic’s economy until the 20th century. Yakutia entered the new 20th century, being economically retarded and politically powerless outlying district.
A breakthrough occurred in the 1920s, when on April 27, 1922, Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialistic Republic (YASSR) was formed within RSFSR. This political decision provided legal and constitutional base for the formation of statehood within the autonomous republic. The Republic has gone through a difficult historical way of economic, social, and spiritual development.
Soviet period of Yakutia’s history witnessed a large-scale industrial exploration of its natural resources, which was started in the 1920s with the development of Aldan gold-bearing deposits. Exploitation of the Northern Sea Route began in the 1930s; Tiksi Sea Port was built in the Lena River’s estuary; shipping and air routes connected the previously hard-to-reach regions of the Republic. Powerful diamond-mining industrial infrastructure was created, when diamond-bearing deposits were discovered in the west of the Republic in the 1950s.
A new stage of Yakutia’s history began on September 27, 1990, when the Declaration of State Sovereignty was proclaimed, actively supported by the Republic’s population. A post of the Republic’s President was introduced in October of 1991. Mikhail Nikolayev became the first President of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in December of 1991. The Republic’s name was also changed to the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). Since early 1990s the Republic witnessed a transition to market economy in the course of the all-Russian processes. At the same time, the Republic’s authorities were trying to find its own way, where the state would play an active role at the reforms’ initial stages, because northern regions’ social and economic systems turned out to be the most vulnerable and unadjusted to market relations. The Republic’s transition to market economy was more restrained; it was implemented through the state support of the population’s living standards by way of keeping down prices and tariffs, introducing additional social payments, and regulating social and labor processes.
Economic reforms implemented by the Republic’s new leadership headed by the President Vyacheslav Shtyrov are aimed at the restructuring of economy. New strategy of development, implemented in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), is directed at a more intensive use of oil and gas, forest, and other natural resources; creation of new processing industries and additional specialization in production of finished goods, meeting the internal market’s demand.
Similar Posts:
- 2010 Yakutia Photo Exhibition in New York
- A Lost World in Siberia
- Map of GULAGs on the Road of Bones, Oymyakonsky region/Yakutia
- Why do people live in Yakutia?
- Documentary: Kolyma, GULAG, the Road of Bones
