Kemerovo Region

Description

Kemerovo Oblast , also known as Kuzbass (Кузба́сс) after the Kuznetsk Basin, is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southwestern Siberia, where the West Siberian Plain meets the South Siberian mountains. The oblast, which covers an area of 95,500 square km, shares a border with Tomsk Oblast in the north, Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Republic of Khakassia in the east, the Altai Republic in the south, and with Novosibirsk Oblast and Altai Krai in the west. Kemerovo is the administrative center of the oblast, though Novokuznetsk is the largest city in the oblast, in terms of size. Kemerovo Oblast is one of Russia's most urbanized regions, with over 70% of the population living in its nine principal cities. Its ethnic composition is predominantly Russian, but Ukrainians, Tatars, and Chuvash also live in the oblast. The population recorded during the 2010 Census was 2,763,135.

History

The oblast was established on January 26, 1943, but it has considerably older antecedents. Shors, Teleuts and Siberian Tatars are native peoples of the region. The oldest city in Kemerovo Oblast is Novokuznetsk, founded in 1618, soon after Cossack ataman Yermak's push into Siberia.

The territory of modern Kemerovo Oblast has been inhabited for several thousand years. In 1618, Kuznetsk fort was established in the south of the future oblast to protect the land from Russian and Mongolian Dzhungarian invaders. During the 19th century, the territory of the modern oblast was a part of Tomsk Governorate.

Soviet period

After the October Revolution Kuzbass becomes part of the West Siberian Krai, and then the Novosibirsk Oblast. Post revolutionary period was characterized by the transition to a planned economy, the creation of the Ural-Kuzbass industrial complex development of the coal, metallurgical and chemical industries Kuzbass Kemerovo Coke built, Kuznetsk Metallurgical Combine, a lot of new mines. Industrial enterprises are being built near the workers' settlements, which quickly became a city: Kiselevsk Osinniki Krasnobrodsky, Tashtagol Kaltan Mezhdurechensk and others.

During the Great Patriotic War, Kemerovo region became a major supplier of coal and metal. From Novokuznetsk steel produced over 50,000 tanks and 45,000 aircraft. In Kuzbass from the occupied areas were evacuated equipment 71 enterprises, most of which have remained in the Kuzbass.

In January 26, 1943, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet issued a decree, decided to allocate from the Novosibirsk Oblast of Kuzbass and the establishment on its territory of Kemerovo region with administrative center in the city of Kemerovo. In the new Oblast included 17.5% of the Novosibirsk region, 9 of the 12 cities of regional subordination, 17 of the 20 workers' settlements, 23 of the 75 districts. The population of the Kemerovo Oblast was 42% of the total population of the Novosibirsk Oblast.