Murmansk region
Geography and ClimateMurmansk region is located in the North-West of European Russia; its area is 144.9 thousand sq. km. It stretches 550 km. from east to west, and 400 km from north to south. Almost the whole region is situated to the north of the Polar Circle, on the Kola Peninsula. Only the western and south-western parts are situated in the mainland. It borders with Karelia in the south-west, with Norway in Finland in the west.
The northern coast is washed by the Barents Sea, its water area being 1424 thousand sq. km. The Ainovy, Litskie and Harlovskie Islands are also located there. The eastern and south-eastern border is formed by the White Sea (90 thousand sq. km.), which is, unlike the Barents, which is warmed up by the Gulf Stream, freezes in winter. Some White Sea islands belong to the region.
The Kola Peninsula occupies the north-western part of the ancient Scandinavian craton. There are two geographic zones on the territory of the region: taiga and tundra. The tundra zone is situated along the Murmansk cost, envelops the peninsula from the east and fades away near Chavanga. The rest of the territory is taiga or forest tundra.
The soils - podzol, sand podzol and peat-land - are thin and have a high degree of acidity. There is almost no pergelisol - only a few lumps of ever-frost in the western part.
The relief is mountains, concaves and terraces. The Khibins, Lovozero Tundra, Monchetundra and other mountains are as high as 800-1200 metres above the sea level. More or less large plain are swamps. Kovdozerskaya, the biggest one, is in the south of the region. There are also relatively plain raised surfaces - plateaus. The relief goes down to the Barents Sea with almost unaltered steps - terraces. There are more mountains in the west of the region than in the east
The climate is arctic moderate, marine, influenced by the warm current.
In the northern part of the peninsula where there is almost no sunlight during two months, the average winter temperature is-14 Centigrade; in summer, when the sun shines all day long the average temperature is 14 Centigrade. In the central and southern parts of the peninsula winter temperature can drop as low as -40-50 Centigrade. But there is less rainfall here and the summer is warmer. The warmest part of the region is the southern White Sea coast.
The climate is more severe in the west, there are more stormy days. The average annual rainfall is about 400 mm. It snows more often, the stays for 250 days or much more in cold years
The polar night at the altitude of Murmansk lasts from 2 December till 11 January.
The period of the polar day varies from 17 day in the South to72 days in the North. In Murmansk, the sun does not go down from 22 May till 22 July. In Kandalaksha this period lasts from 2 June till 11 July.
Murmansk region has almost the largest quantity of lakes and river compared to other regions in Russia. There are about 130 thousand of them. The density of the rivers is considerable. Some rivers are longer than 200 km.: Ponoi (more than 400 km.), Tuloma, Strelna, Iokanga. The duration of ice cover on rivers lasts up to seven months. The ice-out is usually in May. The biggest lakes are Umbozero, Lovozero, Kolvitskoe, Kanozero, Vyalozero, Yenozero.
The biggest fresh water lake in the region is turned into reservoir storage. Kovdorskoye, Serebryanskoye, Nizhnetulomskoye and Verkhnetulomskoe reservoir storages are also created. All the fresh water lakes are very little mineralised (this is particularly true for calcium, sulphates, fluorine). Short history
The history of the Murmansk region is closely connected with the development of the northern part of Russia. There are a number of historic events which greatly influenced the economy and culture of the region.
From time immemorial people settled at the Kola Peninsula. Their activities were fishing, slaughtering of marine animals, reindeer herding. They settled mainly along the coast of the Barents and White seas.
About the 10th century B.C. the Kola Peninsula was inhabited by Saami. They were nomads and lived in big clans.
In the 12th century A.D. the White Sea coast was visited by Russian Pomors. They called this part of the peninsula Tersky Coast or Tersky Land (this comes from an ancient Scandinavian name for the Kola Peninsula "Tren-nes", which Tersky Cape, if translated into Russian).
At the end of the 12th century Russian Pomors travelled along the northern coast of the peninsula, which was called "Murman" (from "norman" i. e. a Norwegian)
It was scat collectors from Novgorod who came after the Pomors. The Kola and Tersky districts were mentioned in the Novgorod chronicles of the 13th-15th centuries.
In the 15th century Russians settle in the peninsula as permanent residents. Russian settlements appear on the Tersky coast. The first mention about Umba and Varzuga in the chronicles refers to the same time. (1466)
In the end of 15th and 16th centuries ïðîöåññ îñâîåíèÿ ðóññêèìè Êîëüñêîãî ïîëóîñòðîâà ïðîäîëæàåòñÿ. New settlements (Kandalaksha. Kovda, Knyazhaya Bay, Porya Bay) appear. In 1565 Kola was first mentioned in the chronicles.
In the sixties of the 19th century an intensive colonisation of the Murman coast began. During this period the west coast was colonised by the Finnish and Norwegians. Russians settled along the east coast.
Some new settlements were formed during this period: Ura Bay, Tsyp-Navolok, Vaida Bay, Zapadnaya Litsa, Titovka (the western part), Teriberka, Gavrilovo, Kildin (the eastern part).
The colonisation of the peninsula and its industrial development required proximity of the government authorities.
On 8 February 1883 Kola County with its Kola as its centre was formed.
In late 19th century apart from fisheries, hunting and cattle-farming, forest exploitation started. A timber-mill belonging to a Russian industrialist Belyaev was built in 1898 and started operation in 1899 in Umba. This laid foundation to the development of the forestry on the Kola Peninsula.
In 1899 a new settlement and port, which was called Aleksandrovsk (now Polyarnyi), was founded in the Ekateriniskaya harbour. Aleksandrovsk became the county centre that very year. Kola County becomes Aleksandrovsk County.
The further intensive development of the region is connected with the building of the Petrozavodsk-Murman railroad. The decision to build it was taken in December 1914 and influenced by a necessity to get military freights from allies during the WW I. The future port was initially called Semyonovskii, named after of the harbour where piers were constructed and the nearby lake.
The workers from the railway, the port and the naval military base, the sailors from the Actic Ocean Fleet that was in the stage of creation, and the soldiers of the coastal units lived in the settlement.
21 September (4 October) 1916 the settlement was called a town Romamov-na-Murmane. After the February Revolution starting from 3 April 1917 the town acquired a new name - Murmansk. Starting from that moment and up to now Murmansk has been centre of political, economical and cultural life of the Kola Peninsula.
On 13 June 1921 Aleksandrovsk County of the Archangelsk district become Murmansk district with Murmansk as its centre, and on 1 August 1927 it become Murmansk district included in the Leningrad region. Investigation and reclamation of the mineral resources led to an intensive development of chemical feed-stock mining industry, metallurgy and power engineering. Development of rich apatite deposits in the Khibins led to appearing and fast growth of new settlements. One of them reached the population number of 10 thousand inhabitants. Besides a feed-stock mining combine was being built there. In 1931 a name Khibinogorsk was proposed (it was renamed in Kirovsk in 1934). In 1930 the mines got the first ore. In the following year a mining-and-processing integrated works (ANOF-1) started operating. The construction of the first hydroelectric power plant at Niva (Niva-1) provided a sustainable energy supply.
The period is also marked by introducing basic science research at the Kola Peninsula. In winter 1930 a mountain station of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the middle of the Khibins was established. Then the Kola Research base was founded, later transformed into the Kola Branch of the Academy of Sciences, which is now the RAS Kola Science Centre.
In the region of the Khibins copper and nickel deposit new settlement continued to appear.
In 1935 a decision was taken to build a combine in Monchetundra. That year a settlement Moncha Bay was transformed into Monchegorsk industrial community (and into a town in 1937) due to industrial development of nickel and copper deposits. The first nickel was produced in 1939 at the "Severonikel" combine.
A rapid industrial, economical and cultural growth contributed to a former district becoming an independent region in 1938.
After the Soviet-Finnish war, according to the peace treaty, signed on 12 March 1940 in Moscow, the western parts of the Rybachii Peninsula and the Srednii Peninsula became Soviet territories, and the decision of the Murmansk Regional executive Committee the territories were adjoined to the Polyarnyi district.
In accordance with the Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union and the UK, signed by Finland in 1944 the Petsamo (Pechenga) territory which had been given to Finland in 1920 by a peace treaty was returned to the Soviet Union.
In 1945 at the territory of Pechenga the Pechenga district was formed, Nikel being its centre.
Right after the liberation of the Pechenga district a restoration of a combine, which had been built before the war by the International Nickel Company of Canada (INCO) at the discovered copper and nickel deposits began. (The Finnish Government had granted a mining concession to INCO).
In 1946 the first melting was already done, the first lot of nickel matte was produced; Nickel industrial community was connected to the electricity network, the electricity started to be used at the combine site.In 1951 the settlement called Vayenga (built in1896-1897) became a city of regional subordination Severomorsk, the main city of the Northern Fleet.
Development of iron ore deposits made an industrial community Olenie a town called Olenegorsk in 1957. Kovdor community became a town, too.
 1955 ãîäó â ñòðîé äåéñòâóþùèõ âñòóïèë Îëåíåãîðñêèé ÃÎÊ, â 1962 - Êîâäîðñêèé ÃÎÊ. In 1966 the settlements Apatity and Molodezhnyi acquired a township status.
Construction of the city was done together with construction of the Kirovsk GRES power plant and ANOF-2, which commenced operation in 1963
In the seventies a settlement of the Kola NPP builders and power engineers called Polyarnye Zori appeared on the map of the region. On 22 April 1991 it became a town of regional subordination.
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