Magadan (Russian: Магадан, IPA: [məɡɐˈdan]) is a port town and the administrative center of Magadan Oblast, Russia, located on the Sea of Okhotsk in Nagayev Bay (within Taui Bay) and serving as a gateway to the Kolyma region.
This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (June 2022) |
Magadan
Магадан | |
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Town[1] | |
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Anthem: none[2] | |
Location of Magadan | |
Magadan Location of Magadan Show map of RussiaMagadan Magadan (Magadan Oblast) Show map of Magadan Oblast | |
Coordinates: 59°34′N 150°48′E | |
Country | Russia |
Federal subject | Magadan Oblast[1] |
Founded | 1929[3] |
Town status since | July 14,[citation needed] 1939[3] |
Government | |
• Body | Town Duma[4] |
• Head/Mayor[5] | Andrey Popov (Head),[6] Yuri Fyodorovich Grishan (Mayor)[7] |
Area | |
• Total | 295 km2 (114 sq mi) |
Elevation | 70 m (230 ft) |
Population | |
• Total | 95,982 |
• Estimate (2018)[10] | 92,782 (−3.3%) |
• Rank | 178th in 2010 |
• Density | 330/km2 (840/sq mi) |
Administrative status | |
• Subordinated to | town of oblast significance of Magadan[1] |
• Capital of | Magadan Oblast[11], town of oblast significance of Magadan[1] |
Municipal status | |
• Urban okrug | Magadan Urban Okrug[12] |
• Capital of | Magadan Urban Okrug[12] |
Time zone | UTC+11 (MSK+8 [13]) |
Postal code(s)[14] | 685000–685005, 685007, 685017, 685021, 685024, 685030–685031, 685098–685099, 685700, 685960–685961 |
Dialing code(s) | +7 4132 |
OKTMO ID | 44701000001 |
Town Day | July 14; observed on the third Saturday of July[15] |
Website | www |
Magadan was founded in 1930 in the Ola (river) valley,[3] near the settlement of Nagayevo. During the Stalin era, Magadan was a major transit center for political prisoners sent to slave camps. From 1932 to 1953, it was the administrative center of the Dalstroy organization—a vast slave-labor gold-mining operation and forced-labor camp system. The first director of Dalstroy was Eduard Berzin, who between 1932 and 1937 established the infrastructure of the forced labour camps in Magadan. Berzin was executed in 1938 by Stalin, towards the end of the Great Purge.[16]
The town later served as a port for exporting gold and other metals mined in the Kolyma region.[17] Its size and population grew quickly as facilities were rapidly developed for the expanding mining activities in the area. Town status was granted to it on July 14, 1939.[citation needed]
Magadan was visited by U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace in May 1944. He took an instant liking to his NKVD host, admired handiwork done by the enslaved political prisoners, and later glowingly called the town a combination of Tennessee Valley Authority and Hudson's Bay Company.[18] Wallace's collaborative stance towards the Soviet Union discouraged the Democratic Party of the United States from renominating him as vice president later in the summer of 1944, helping lead to the selection of Harry Truman in his place.
Magadan is the administrative center of the oblast.[1] Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with the urban-type settlements of Sokol and Uptar, incorporated as the town of oblast significance of Magadan—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.[1] As a municipal division, the town of oblast significance of Magadan is incorporated as Magadan Urban Okrug.[12]
The Port of Magadan is second largest seaport in the North-East of the Russia after Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky located on Nagaev Bay and Sea of Okhotsk.[19] It operates all year round with the help of icebreakers. There is currently no operating railway in Magadan. However, the Magadan-Palatka line was operational between 1941 and 1956. Russian Railways are considering the possibility of building a railway from the Nizhny Bestyakh of the Amur-Yakutsk railway to Magadan by 2035, which will contribute to the development of an area with huge mineral deposits.[20] Magadan is the final destination of the federal highway R504 Kolyma Highway, which connects the region with Yakutia and other parts of Russia. Anadyr Highway, currently under construction, will provide access to Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.[21] Sokol Airport and Magadan-13 airport provide access to air transport for numerous destinations in Russia. The former is for big aircraft and the latter is mainly for small aircraft.
Magadan is also the home of the Magadan/Sokol Flight Information Region (FIR) and Magadan Oceanic FIR, which controls the Northeastern part of the Russia and its Arctic airspace.[22][23] Most of the westbound transpacific flights from North America to Asia will use those FIRs.[24]
The principal sources of income for the local economy are gold mining and fisheries. Recently, gold production has declined.[25] Fishing production, although improving from year to year, is still well below the allocated quotas, apparently as a result of an aging fleet.[26] Other local industries include pasta and sausage plants, and a distillery.[27] Although farming is difficult owing to the harsh climate, there are many public and private farming enterprises.
It has a number of cultural institutions, including the Regional Museum of Anthropology, a geological museum, a regional library and a university. Magadanskaya Pravda is the main newspaper.[citation needed]
The town figures prominently in the gulag literature of Varlam Shalamov and in the eponymous song by Mikhail Krug.[citation needed] Actor of film and stage Georgiy Zhzhonov worked at Magadan Theatre for two years after being released from a gulag in May 1945.[28]
Magadan was home to Eastern Syndrome [ru] a famous Soviet and Russian rock group founded there in 1986.[citation needed]
The town was a focal point of the Long Way Round TV series of a motorcycle journey made by Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman and their team in 2004.[citation needed]
The town has the new[when?] Orthodox Cathedral Church of the Trinity, Roman Catholic Church of the Nativity (completed in 2002 [29])
The Mask of Sorrow memorial, a large sculpture in memory of Stalin's victims, designed by Ernst Neizvestny. The Church of the Nativity ministers to survivors of the labor camps. It is staffed by several priests and nuns.
The Magadanka river, a 192km long river flowing to the Sea of Okhotsk passes the city. The city is located on Staritsky Peninsula on Gertner Bay and Nagaev Bay
Ecologically situated in the Northeast Siberian taiga, the town's arboreal flora is made up of conifer trees, such as firs and larches, and silver birches.[30] The city sits besides the Sea of Okhotsk in Nagayev Bay on both sides, and it is surrounded by mountains to the west and northeast. Permafrost and tundra cover most of the region. The growing season is only one hundred days long.[31]
The city of Magadan is on the same longitude as the suburbs of Greater Western Sydney, Australia, which lie on the eastern end of the 150th meridian east line, bordering the 151st meridian and is on the same latitude as Southern Scandinavia, and the far north of Scotland.
The climate of Magadan is subarctic (Köppen climate classification Dfc). Winters are prolonged and very cold, with up to six months of sub-zero high temperatures, so that the soil remains permanently frozen. Average temperatures on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk range from −22 °C (−8 °F) in January to +12 °C (54 °F) in July. Average temperatures in the interior range from −38 °C (−36 °F) in January to +16 °C (61 °F) in July. Due to the wet nature of October and November, a snow pack is built up early, which then lasts throughout the winter even while the influence from the Siberian High lowers precipitation throughout those months.
Climate data for Magadan (1991–2020, extremes 1930–present) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 2.4 (36.3) |
3.2 (37.8) |
5.8 (42.4) |
9.7 (49.5) |
22.3 (72.1) |
24.5 (76.1) |
27.8 (82.0) |
26.1 (79.0) |
20.2 (68.4) |
13.8 (56.8) |
6.6 (43.9) |
3.6 (38.5) |
27.8 (82.0) |
Average high °C (°F) | −13.3 (8.1) |
−12.5 (9.5) |
−7.5 (18.5) |
−1.1 (30.0) |
5.4 (41.7) |
11.5 (52.7) |
15.1 (59.2) |
15.1 (59.2) |
10.8 (51.4) |
2.1 (35.8) |
−7 (19) |
−12.3 (9.9) |
0.5 (32.9) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | −15.6 (3.9) |
−15.4 (4.3) |
−10.9 (12.4) |
−4.1 (24.6) |
2.2 (36.0) |
8.0 (46.4) |
12.1 (53.8) |
12.2 (54.0) |
7.8 (46.0) |
−0.7 (30.7) |
−9.5 (14.9) |
−14.5 (5.9) |
−2.4 (27.7) |
Average low °C (°F) | −17.8 (0.0) |
−17.8 (0.0) |
−13.9 (7.0) |
−6.9 (19.6) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
5.5 (41.9) |
9.9 (49.8) |
9.9 (49.8) |
5.3 (41.5) |
−3 (27) |
−11.7 (10.9) |
−16.6 (2.1) |
−4.8 (23.4) |
Record low °C (°F) | −34.6 (−30.3) |
−33.3 (−27.9) |
−30.8 (−23.4) |
−23.5 (−10.3) |
−10.8 (12.6) |
−3 (27) |
2.0 (35.6) |
−1 (30) |
−6.3 (20.7) |
−21.1 (−6.0) |
−26.9 (−16.4) |
−37 (−35) |
−37 (−35) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 18 (0.7) |
14 (0.6) |
21 (0.8) |
24 (0.9) |
40 (1.6) |
52 (2.0) |
67 (2.6) |
102 (4.0) |
85 (3.3) |
75 (3.0) |
61 (2.4) |
27 (1.1) |
586 (23.1) |
Average extreme snow depth cm (inches) | 26 (10) |
24 (9.4) |
25 (9.8) |
24 (9.4) |
9 (3.5) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
5 (2.0) |
23 (9.1) |
31 (12) |
31 (12) |
Average rainy days | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 2 | 11 | 17 | 21 | 20 | 19 | 10 | 2 | 0.1 | 103 |
Average snowy days | 16 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 19 | 16 | 127 |
Average relative humidity (%) | 65 | 64 | 65 | 71 | 78 | 82 | 86 | 83 | 78 | 69 | 66 | 64 | 73 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 74 | 127 | 225 | 228 | 199 | 217 | 184 | 169 | 148 | 131 | 82 | 41 | 1,825 |
Source 1: Погода и Климат[32] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: NOAA (sun, 1961–1990)[33] |
Magadan is twinned with:
Administrative divisions of Magadan Oblast | |
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Administrative center: Magadan • Rural localities | |
Districts | |
Cities and towns | |
Urban-type settlements |
Russian Far East | |
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