Iakoutsk

Yakoutsk or Iakoutsk (in Russian, Якутск, in Yakoute: Дьокуускай) (196.800 inhabitants at the time of the census of 2001), is a town of Siberia Centrale. It is the capital of the Republic of Sakha (in the past the Autonomous Soviet Socialist République of Iakoutes ), in Russia, and a large port on the river Lena.

It is also a highway center which has tanneries, sawmills and factories of bricks. Yakoutsk was founded in 1632, and was then a fort Cosaque, but it became a city only when important reserves of Or were discovered and other minerals in the years 1880 and 1890. Three reserves were developed actively during industrialization under Stalin and the rapid growth of the camps of work in Siberia also supported the development of Yakoutsk.

The city has a university founded in 1956, a branch of the Academy of Science of Russia, and contains, inter alia, the Research institute Cosmophysique , famous for its installation of detection of the cosmic rays, one of most important of the world, like for the Research institute of Permafrost , developed with an aim of solving the expensive problems associated with construction with buildings on cold grounds.

Yakoutsk also shelters the Sakha theater and the Museum of the Mammoth. One finds there moreover the offices of many mining companies, of which ALROSA, whose diamond mines in Yakoutie extract approximately 20% from the worldwide production.

The river Lena crosses the city, and in summer, of the boats connect the city to the Transsibérien. Very expensive cruisings are also offered downstream by what remains of Intourist, and make it possible to visit spectacular landscapes in extremely moved back areas of the Arctic Ocean.

Yakoutsk is one of the coldest cities of the world, with temperatures in January regularly lower than −40 °C. The coldest temperatures ever recorded apart from the Antarctide were it in the basin of the river IANA in the North-East of Yakoutsk, and more particularly with Verkhoiansk (- 67,8°C). On the other hand, the temperatures in July often exceed the 30°C, creating a record of variation in temperatures. Yakoutsk is more the big city built on continuous Pergélisol . The majority of the houses are built on concrete piles.

External bonds

photographs of Yakoutsk
Official site of the university of State de Yakoutsk

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