Sakha Republic

Sakha, a federal Russian republic, is also known as Yakutia or Yakutiya (Russian: Якутия, tr. Yakutiya, IPA: [jɪˈkutʲɪjə]; Yakut: Саха Сирэ), and officially known as the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) (Russian: Республика Саха (Якутия), tr. Respublika Sakha (Yakutiya), IPA: [rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə sɐˈxa jɪˈkutʲɪjə]; Yakut: Саха Өрөспүүбүлүкэтэ, romanized: Sakha Öröspüübülükete, IPA: [saˈxa øɾøsˈpyːbylykete]). The 2010 Census recorded a population of 958,528, mainly ethnic Sakha (also known as Yakuts) and Russians. Comprising half the area of the Far Eastern Federal District, Sakha is the largest subnational governing body by area in the world at 3,083,523 square kilometers (1,190,555 sq mi). Its capital is the city of Yakutsk. The republic has a reputation for an extreme and severe climate, with the lowest temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere being recorded in Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon, and regular winter averages commonly dipping below −35 °C (−31 °F) in Yakutsk. The hypercontinental tendencies also result in warm summers for much of the republic. Sakha was first home to hunting-gathering and reindeer herding Tungusic and Paleosiberian peoples such as the Evenks and Yukaghir. Migrating from the area around Lake Baikal, the Turkic Sakha people first settled along the middle Lena river sometime between the 9th and 16th centuries, likely in several waves, bringing the pastoral economic system of Central Asia with them. Moscow incorporated the area as Yakutsk Oblast into the Tsardom of Russia in the early-mid 17th century, obliging the indigenous peoples of the area to pay yasak (fur tribute). While the initial period following the Russian conquest saw the Sakha population drop by 70%, the Tsarist period (up to 1917) also saw the expansion of the Sakha people from the middle Lena along the Vilyuy River to the north and the east displacing other indigenous groups. Yakutia saw some of the last fightings in the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922, and the Bolshevik authorities re-organized Yakutsk Oblast into the autonomous Yakut ASSR in 1922. The Soviet period (1917–1991) saw the migration of many ethnic Russians and Ukrainians into the area. The modern Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) was established in 1991 at the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Wikipedia ->