Ariel view of Chukotka's tundra and mountains
The Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Some Basic Facts
2004 pop. 55,245 (urban 37,084; rural 18,161)
Area 737,700 square kilometers
The Chukotka Autonomous Okrug ("okrug" is the Russian word for region or area) is located in the far northeast of the Russian Federation. This area is most commonly referred to as the "Far North," although Chukotka is also technically located in an administrative region of Russia known as the Far East (which includes all of the territories along the Pacific coast of Russia down to the border with China and North Korea, as well as the Sakha Republic just west of Chukotka).  However, Chukotka is often lumped in with the vast region known as Siberia, especially when one is discussing the history or ethnography of the region, although technically the region of Siberia is located in the center of Russia, east of the Ural Mountains but west of the Sakha Republic and other far eastern regions. However, if you were standing in Chukotka and having a conversation with a local and you said you really liked it "here in Siberia," they would look at you a bit strangely, because to them, Siberia is a place located further to the west.
Siberian cranes take flight over the autumn tundra  The landscape of Chukotka is dominated by tundra interspersed with low mountains, with some areas of taiga in the south and west. The wildlife found in Chukotka includes caribou (this is in addition to the domestic reindeer that are maintained in herds - see other pages on this site), wolves, bears (grizzly bear and polar bear), Arctic fox, walrus, seals, whales, cranes (seen at left), and a variety of Arctic birds. Summer temperatures (in degrees Farenheit) can reach the mid-seventies in July (less in the north), and can dip below -40 in the winter.  It is not the coldest region in Russia; in neighboring Sakha, to the west, the lows drop below -70 Farenheit.
Chukotka was colonized by the Russian Empire beginning in the seventeenth century, and over time American traders also became active there (until the Cold War closed the border). It was originally home to several indigenous groups, including Chukchi (the largest group), Chuvantsy, Siberian Yup'ik (Eskimos), Evens, Yukagirs, Koryaks and Kereks. Their lives changed the most after 1917, when the Soviet Union was formed. Many people not native to Chukotka -- Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Armenians, and other nationalities -- migrated to Chukotka throughout the 20th century, until the indigenous population was reduced to less than 10% of the total by the 1980s.
 By 1989, the population of Chukotka was up to about 160,000 people. Many of the non-natives came to work there because they could make so much more money than they could back in what they call the "mainland," that is, in the more temperate zones of Russia. You might compare this to the time when the Alaska oil pipeline was booming, and lots of people went there to work. In Chukotka, they could work in construction (building the socialist cities of the future), mining, administration, teaching, and in other support services. At right, you see 5 Ukrainian gold miners (sitting on the left end of the table) taking a break to chat with some indigenous reindeer herders. Many of these "Incomers" fell in love with Chukotka and its people - often marrying one of them - and became "locals" who adopted Chukotka as their permanent home.
Ukrainian Goldminers at a tundra mining camp
An urbanite Chukotkan on her way to work In the 1990s, the collapse of the Soviet Union brought just as many changes to Chukotka as it did to the rest of Russia. It became no longer profitable to live and work there, and since life is felt by non-natives to be so much harder in the North, many of them began to abandon the region. The population has dropped by more than half since 1989 -- the 2002 Russian census showed the population to be down to about 58,000, and it has continued to drop since then (see below). Many more non-natives wanted to leave Chukotka, but they either could not get the money together to move, or they had no place to settle back in the "mainland," or both. The federal government has been developing programs to help people migrate out of Chukotka, and there are discussions of converting Chukotka -- and other regions of the Russian North -- into non-residential work zones. Meanwhile, new people continue to arrive, mainly miners, construction engineers and entrepreneurs who stay temporarily to take advantage of new opportunities. While much of the population (especially those in the rural areas, who are mainly indigenous) are struggling to get by or falling into poverty, there are signs of wealth being flashed in Chukotka's cities. Recent arrivals from Moscow sport fur coats, drive new cars, and have apartments stocked with coveted Western electronics, such as VCRs and washing machines.
A great deal has changed in Chukotka since the election of a new governor, Roman Abramovich, in 2001. See the "Humanitrian Aid" page for an update.

List of Chukotka districts and their towns and villages

You can look for these villages on the map below -- almost all of the villages listed are there. Other place names appear on the map, but most of these are either historical villages that no longer exist, or industrial cities, towns and camps.  In some cases, they may be small family camps where a few Native inhabitants live on a seasonal basis.  The population figures given are from the website of the Chukotka Duma (its legislature) and are claimed to be preliminary results from the 2002 census. When they are significantly different from the 2001 figures, I list those as well - you will see that big changes are afoot in Chukotka. The city of Anadyr', Chukotka's capital, is not subsumed within any district. Its  population is 11,753. Starting from the western border of Chukotka:
 
Bilibinskii District (on the northwest border)
(pop. 8860)
District Center: Bilibino (pop. 6221)
Aniusk (pop. 542)
Ilirnei (pop. 295)
Keperveem (pop. 467)
Kaiettyn (not shown on the map; located northeast of Omolon) (pop. included with Omolon, about 120)
Omolon (pop. 946)
Ostrovnoe (pop. 360)
Aliskerovo (industrial) (pop. 423)
Dal'nii (industrial) (pop. 5 - was 475 in 2001)
Mandrikovo (industrial) (pop.? - was 229 in 2001)
Vesenii (industrial) (pop. 4 - was 120 in 2001)

Towns no longer listed:
Stadukhino (industrial) (pop. was 83)
Vstrechnyi (industrial) (pop. was 379)		 Chaunskii District (on the north coast, around the bay) (pop. 7030)
District Center: Pevek (pop. 5215)
Aion (pop. 360)
Apapel'gino (pop. 16 - was 816)
Rytkuchi (pop. 509)
Yanranai (pop. 241)
Barankhina (industrial) (pop. 57 - was 454)
Komsomol'skii (industrial) (pop. 632 - was 1416)

Towns no longer listed:
Bystryi (industrial) (pop. was 558)
Iuzhnyi (industrial) (pop. was 371)
Val'kumai (industrial) (pop. was 500)
Zapadnyi (industrial) (pop. was 41)
Anadyrskii District (in the center) (pop. 8271 - was 12,081)
(The capital of Chukotka, Anadyr', is physically located within this territory, but is administratively separate)
District Center: Ugolnye Kop'i (pop. 4025 - was 6475)
Chuvanskoe (pop. 226)
Kanchalan (pop. 670)
Krasneno (pop. 120)
Lamutskoe (pop. 210)
Markovo (pop. 957 - was 1201)
Snezhnoe (pop. 313)
Tavaivaam (annexed by Anadyr' - pop. figure incl. in that city)
Ust' Belaia (pop. 922)
Vaegi  (pop. 468)
Shakhterskii (industrial) (pop. 360 - was 1175)

Towns no longer listed:
Otrozhnyi (industrial) (pop. 175)
Zolotogor'e (industrial) (pop. 102)
 Beringovskii District (to the southeast) (pop. 3245)
District Center: Beringovskii (pop. 2081)
Al'katvaam (pop. 347)
Khatyrka (pop. 356)
Meinepilgyno (pop. 461)
Shmidtovskii District (along the NE coast) (pop. 2749 - was 4270)
District Center: Mys Shmidta (pop. 717 - was 1319)
Billings (pop. 274 - was 172)
Ryrkaipi (pop. 915 - was 654)
Ushakovskoe (On Wrangell Island) (pop. 8 - was 52)
Leningradskii (industrial) (pop. 835 - was 2073)		 Iul'tinskii District (just north of Anadyr') (pop. 4065 - was 5569)
District Center: Egvekinot (pop. 2428 - was 3226)
Amguema (pop. 597)
Konergino (pop. 456)
Nutepel'men (pop. 155)
Uelkal'  (pop. 243)
Vankarem (pop. 186)

Towns no longer listed:
Vostochnyi (industrial) (pop. 290)
Svetlyi (industrial) (pop. 128)
Chukotskii District (northern half of the peninsula)
(pop. 4541)
District Center: Lavrentiia (pop. 1333)
Enurmino (pop. 304)
Inchoun (pop. 362)
Lorino (pop. 1236)
Neshkan (pop. 628)
Uelen (pop.678)		 Providenskii District (southern half of the peninsula) (pop. 4737)
District Center: Provideniia (pop. 2740)
Enmelen (pop. 355)
New Chaplino (pop. 448)
Nunligran (pop. 331)
Sireniki (pop.505)
Yanrakinnot (pop. 358)

Map of Chukotka

mountains of ChukotkaReturn to the Main Page A winter mountainscape in Chukotka

All text and photographs © 1997 Patty A. Gray.
Do not reproduce or use without permission from the author.