Krasnoyarsk

Krai (territory) in the Russian Federation, in central Siberia; area 2,401,600 sq km/927,258 sq mi (including Arctic Ocean Islands); population (1996) 3,106,000 (74% urban). The capital is Krasnoyarsk and Kansk and Norilsk are other cities. The territory stretches some 3,000 km/1,870 mi north–south along the River Yenisey valley from the Arctic Ocean to the Sayan Mountains. There is lowland to the west of the Yenisey, and plateau to the east. The climate is severe, with permafrost in the north, within the Arctic Circle. The area is largely covered with coniferous forests, but with tundra in the north and fertile steppe in the south. There are huge coal, graphite, iron-ore, gold, non-ferrous metals, and uranium deposits.

Industries include coal and mineral mining, engineering, lumbering, textile manufacture, and food processing; hydroelectric power generation; agricultural activities are grain growing (spring wheat), cattle raising, and reindeer breeding; and some fur trapping.

History Krasnoyarsk krai was formerly an area of banishment and forced labour camps for criminal and political dissidents (see Norilsk), but is now one of the most rapidly developing regions of Siberia.

Krasnoyarsk

Capital, economic and cultural centre of Krasnoyarsk krai (territory), in central Siberia, Russian Federation; population (2002) 909,300. Situated on the Yenisey River and the Trans-Siberian Railway, Krasnoyarsk played a key role in the opening up and industrial development of Siberia. Heavy-engineering works, chemical plants, and a number of light industries (including food processing) are sited within the city. Upstream from Krasnoyarsk lies a large hydroelectric power facility.

Krasnoyarsk was founded in 1628 as a Cossack fort, became the provincial capital in 1822 and grew rapidly as administrative centre of a gold-mining area. Its industrial development dates from the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and was boosted by the relocation of industry here from the west during World War II.

See also Novosibirsk.

The Stolby Nature Reserve is located to the southwest of the city. Krasnoyarsk was a ‘closed city’ during the Soviet period, due to the presence of secret nuclear weapons facilities in the vicinity (there is an early-warning and space-tracking radar phased array at nearby Abalakova).