KHABAROVSK KRAI

'Khabarovsk Krai' (, ''Khabarovsky kray'') is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the Russian Far East. It lies mostly in the basin of the lower Amur River, but also occupies a vast mountainous area along the coastline of the Sea of Okhotsk, an arm of the Pacific Ocean. The administrative center of the krai is the city of Khabarovsk.

Contents

History

400s–900

1600s–1850

Geography

Time zone

Economy

Demographics

External Links

Administrative divisions

History

400s–900

According to various Chinese and Korean records, the southern part of Khabarovsk Krai was originally occupied one of the five semi-nomadic Shiwei, the Bo Shiwei tribes(Chinese : 钵室韋) and the Black Water Mohe tribes living respectively on the west and the east of the Bureinsky and the Malyi Khingan ranges.

1600s–1850

In 1643, Vassili Poyarkov's boats descended the Amur, returning to Yakutsk by the Sea of Okhotsk and the Aldan River, and in 1649–1650 Yerofey Khabarov occupied the banks of the Amur. The resistance of the Chinese, however, obliged the Cossacks to quit their forts, and by the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689) Russia abandoned her advance into the basin of the river.
Although losing the rights to navigate the Amur River, the Chinese Qing Empire, however, never claimed the lower courses of the river. Nikolay Muravyov insisted on conducting an aggressive policy with China by claiming that the lower reaches of the Amur River belong to Russians.
Later in 1852, a Russian military expedition under Muravyov explored the Amur, and by 1857 a chain of Russian Cossacks and peasants were settled along the whole course of the river. The accomplished fact was recognized by China in 1860 by the Treaty of Aigun, recognized the Amur River as the boundary between Russia and Qing Empire, and granted Russia free access to the Pacific Ocean.

Geography

Khabarovsk Krai shares its borders with Magadan Oblast in the north, with the Sakha Republic and Amur Oblast in the west, with the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, People's Republic of China, and Primorsky Krai in the south, and is limited by the Sea of Okhotsk in the east.
Taiga and tundra in the north, swampy forest in the central depression, and deciduous forest in the south are the natural vegetation in the area.

Time zone

Khabarovsk Krai is located in the Vladivostok Time Zone (VLAT/VLAST). UTC offset is +1000 (VLAT)/+1100 (VLAST).

Economy

Major industries include timberworking and fishing, along with metallurgy in the main cities, although the krai's own mineral resources are poorly developed. Komsomolsk-on-Amur is the iron and steel center of the Far East; a pipeline from northern Sakhalin supplies the petroleum-refining industry in the city of Khabarovsk. In the Amur basin, there is also some cultivation of wheat and soybeans. The capital city, Khabarovsk, is at the junction of the Amur River and the Trans-Siberian railway.

Demographics

According to the 2002 census, 89.8% of the population are Russians, 3.4% Ukrainians, 0.77% Nanais, 0.76% Tatars 0.66% Koreans and 0.62% Belarusians.
In addition to the Nanai, other indigenous groups include the Evenks and Evens to the north and some Ulchs to the south of the lower Amur river. Some Nivkhs (Gilyak), an indigenous fishing people with an isolated language, still live around the Amur river delta.

External Links

★ Informations concerning the Shiwei tribes and their relationship with the Khitans

★ Brief history of Khabaovsk Krai

Administrative divisions