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Primorsky Krai

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BASIC INFORMATION

Primorsky Krai (Примо́рский кра́й), also known as "Primorie" (Примо́рье), is one of Russia's 89 administrative divisions (also referred to as "members of the Federation").

  • Area - 165,900 km&sup2.
  • Population - 2,301,700.
  • Administrative center - Vladivostok.
  • Governor - Sergey M. Darkin.
  • Borders length - over 3,000 km (1,860 miles), including 1350 km (837 miles) of the sea borders.
  • Highest peak - Anik Mountain (1,933 m - 6,340 feet).
  • Average annual temperature - -10°C (14°F) in the North of the Province, +5°C (41°F) on the Southern Coast.
  • Average annual precipitation - 720 mm (28 in).
  • Largest cities - Vladivostok (pop. 659,000), Nakhodka (pop. 192,000), Ussuriysk (pop. 162,000), Artyom (pop. 115,000).
  • Average life expectancy in 1994 - 62.5 years (male - 56.8, female - 69.4).
  • Railroads length - 1,628 km (1,009 miles) (of which 345 km (214 miles) are electrified).
  • Automobile roads length - 12,633 km (7,832 miles).

Primorsky Krai is located at the southern extreme of Russian Far East, bordering with China, North Korea, and Khabarovsk Krai, and separated from Japan by the Sea of Japan.

Krai is a term used to refer to several of Russia's administrative units. Primorsky means maritime in Russian, hence the region is sometimes referred to as Maritime Province.

HISTORY

See also History of Primorsky Krai

According to archaeological data, the first inhabitants of Primorsky Krai were the Palaeasiatic and Tungus ancestors. They probably appeared in this area 50-60 thousand years ago in the Paleolithic period. The descendants of the Tungus-speaking tribes are still inhabiting Primorye and Priamurye. These are the Nanaians, the Udeges, and the Evenks. In 698 AD, the State of P'o-hai appeared in the territory, and existed as long as 936 AD, and originated the ancestry of the above-mentioned peoples. The State of P'o-hai was an early feudal medieval state of Eastern Asia, which developed its industry, agriculture, animal husbandry, and had its own cultural traditions and art. People of P'o-hai maintained political, economic and cultural contacts with China, Korea, and Japan. From 1115 to 1234 the southern area of the modern Russian Far East was occupied by a more powerful state - The Empire of Jurchengs (Anchungurun) or, otherwise called The Golden Empire, a name given by its neighbours. The Jurchengs were the descendants of the P'o-hai people. Nomadic stock raising and common agriculture formed their economic basis. They also developed a metallurgical industry, shipbuilding, and the manufacture of luxury articles. The Golden Empire conducted independent foreign and domestic policies. As well as the P'o-hai people, the Jurchengs estalished close contacts with Japan, China, and Korea. Having conquered China, the Jurchengs dominated the territory for a long time. The Golden Empire crumbled as a result of the Gengis Khan invasion. The Mongolians destroyed all cities, ports, and the fleet of the Jurchengs. They killed, or turned into slaves most of the country's population. The survivors hid themselves from the Mongolians in the forests, river valleys, and the remote reas of the Amur and Zabaykalye, the Okhotsky coast and parts of Sakhalin island.

As time went on, the people forgot the trades developed by the P'o-haians and the Jurchengs. They got used to collecting the taiga gifts, fishing and hunting wild animals.

For many centuries these rich lands, unique in the structure of flora and fauna, had not been cultivated. In the beginning of the 17th century, when the Russians first appeared in this land, the forefathers of today's small ethnic groups of the Far East were a primitive society. It should be noted that the Mongolians, the invaders of the Golden Empire, did not settle in Primorye, but left for China and the Central Asian steppes.

In the 18th and the first half of 19th century no state actually owned the lands of Primorye and Priamurye. According to the Nerchinsky Treaty of 1689, between Russia and China, these lands were declared neutral. In the second half of the 19th century the exploration of this territory by the Russians began. In 1858 the towns of Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk were founded. The natives of the territory were hospitable to the Russians, but showed no kindness to the Manchus, who would raid the lands. In 1858 Russia and China concluded the Aigun Treaty, and in 1860 - the Beijing Treaty, which granted Russia possession of Primorye. In the period from 1859 to 1882 ninety five settlements had been established in Primorye, including Vladivostok, Ussuriysk, Razdolnoye, Vladimiro-Aleksandrovskoye, Shkotovo, Pokrovka, Tury Rog, and Kamen-Rybolov. The major occupations of the population were the agricultural, hunting and fishing trades, involving more than two-thirds of the territory's inhabitants. At the end of the 19th century, the coal-mining industry started developing. The territory also exported sea-kale, antlers of young Siberian stag, timber, crabs, dried fish, and trepangs. Thus, it took Primorye about half a century to enter into the all-Russian economic and cultural process, and to establish close contacts with the countries of the Asian Pacific region. This was accomplished through the efforts of the territory's population, and the Russian and foreign capital inflow to the area.

From 1922, after the Civil War in Primorye ended, economic, scientific, and cultural development of the territory followed the plans of the Bolsheviks who had won in Russia. During the first 10 years of Soviet Power, the cultural sphere struggled against the "bourgeois ideology". As a result music, theater, fine arts, and literature in Primorye had to begin almost at the beginning, on the ruins of the pre-Revolutionary culture. The priority in economy was set on the primary industries - mining and fishing in particular. Railroad and sea transport was also being developed at the time, accompanied with the intensive ports construction works. By the early 1990s the once small enterprises had developed into large companies. These are Far Eastern Shipping Company (FESCO or DVMP), Dalmoreprodukt, Vladivostok base of Trawling and Refrigerating Fleet (VBTRF), Active Marine Fisheries Base of Nakhodka, Vostok Mining Company, Progress Arsenyev Aircraft Works, etc. The Fishing and Marine Transport Fleet of Primorye had worked in all regions of the world's oceans. Numerous enterprises of the Military Industrial Complex were established in Primorye. In the 1970s Primorye witnessed an intensive development of science. Today Vladivostok boasts such worldwide known scientific-research institutions as Biology and Soil Institute, The Pacific Institute of Biorganic Chemistry, Institute of Marine Biology, The Pacific Institute of Geography, The Pacific Oceanological Institute, a total of more than 10 Institutes of Far Eastern Division of Russian Academy of Sciences (DVO RAN). Vladivostok is also the home of the DVO RAN presidium.


ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION

DISTRICTS

Primorsky Krai consists of the following districts (районов):

MAJOR SETTLEMENTS

Primorsky Krai Add topic