Vladivostok

 

(vlă'dĭvŏ'stŏk, –vəstŏk', Rus. vlä'dyēvəstôk') , city (1989 pop. 634,000), capital of Maritime Territory (Primorsky Kray), Russian Far East, on a peninsula that extends between two bays of the Sea of Japan. It is the chief Russian port on the Pacific (kept open in winter by icebreakers), the terminus of the Trans-Siberian RR and the Northern Sea Route, the chief base of the Russian navy in the Pacific, and a base for fishing and whaling fleets. The city has large shipyards, railyards, chemical and engineering factories, fish canneries, and food plants. The Russians founded a military post on the site in 1860, and it became an important outpost for Russian expansion in E Asia. Vladivostok became capital of the Maritime Territory in 1888 and grew rapidly after the completion (1903) of the Trans-Siberian RR. It developed as a naval base after the loss (1905) of Port Arthur to Japan. In World War I the Allies used the city as a major supply depot, and after the Russian Revolution of 1917 they occupied it. Most of the occupying forces were Japanese, but there were also about 7,500 Americans and contingents of British, Italian, and French troops. By 1920, when Vladivostok was included in the newly proclaimed Far Eastern Republic, the Japanese continued to occupy the region and installed a counterrevolutionary Russian puppet government. By 1922 all the interventionist forces had withdrawn and the city came under Soviet control. In World War II, Vladivostok was a major port for lend-lease supplies. After World War II, the port was closed to Western ships, forcing foreign traffic for the Trans-Siberian RR to off-load at Nakhodka. In 1990 it was reopened to foreign shipping. The city is the chief cultural center in the Russian Far East. Among its many educational institutions are the Far Eastern branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Far Eastern Univ. (reopened 1956). Russians and Ukrainians comprise most of the city's population.

Vladivostok (English) Владивосток (Russian)
View of Vladivostok and the Golden Horn Bay
Location of Vladivostok on the map of Russia
Coordinates 43°8′N 131°54′E / 43.133, 131.9Coordinates: 43°8′N 131°54′E / 43.133, 131.9
Coat of Arms
City Day: First Sunday of July
Administrative status
Federal subject In jurisdiction of Administrative center of	Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai
Local self-government
Charter	Charter of Vladivostok
Municipal status	Urban okrug
Head	Vladimir Nikolayev
Legislative body	Duma
Area
Area	km² ( sq mi)
Population (as of the 2002 Census)
Population - Rank - Density	inhabitants 23rd /km² (/sq mi)
Events
Founded	July 2, 1860
Town status	April 22, 1880
Other information
Postal code	690xxx
Dialing code	+7 4232
Official website
http://www.vlc.ru/

Vladivostok (Russian: Владивосто́к (help·info), Chinese: 海参崴,'Haishenwai',Japanese: 浦塩, Urashio) is Russia's largest port city on the Pacific Ocean and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai. It is situated at the head of the Golden Horn Bay not far from the Russo-Chinese border and North Korea. It is the home port of the Russian Pacific Fleet. The city's name loosely translates from Russian as "rule the East".

History

Main article: History of Vladivostok

Before Russia acquired the Maritime Province by the Treaty of Aigun (1858), the Pacific coast near Vladivostok had been settled by the Jurchen and Manchu. The Chinese name of Vladivostok translates as "Sea Cucumber Cliffs". A French whaler visiting the Zolotoy Rog in 1852 discovered several huts of Chinese or Manchu fishermen on the shore of the bay.

The naval outpost was founded in 1859 by Count Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky, who named it after the model of Vladikavkaz, a Russian fortress in the Caucasus. The first child was born in Vladivostok in 1863. An elaborate system of fortifications was erected between the 1870s and 1890s. A telegraph line from Vladivostok to Shanghai and Nagasaki was opened in 1871, the year when a commercial port was relocated to this town from Nikolayevsk-on-Amur. The municipal coat of arms, representing the Siberian tiger, was adopted in March 1883.

The city's economy was given a boost in 1903, with the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway which connected Vladivostok to Moscow and Europe. The first high school was opened in 1899. In the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution, Vladivostok was of great military importance for the Far Eastern Republic, the Provisional Priamurye Government, and the Japanese interventionists. The taking of the city by Ieronim Uborevich's Red Army on 25 October 1922 marked the end of the Russian Civil War.

As the main naval base of the Soviet Pacific Fleet, the city was closed to foreigners during the Soviet years. Nevertheless, it was at Vladivostok that Leonid Brezhnev and Gerald Ford conducted the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks in 1974.

Geography

The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.

The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m. Eagle's Nest Mount is often called the highest point of the city; however, with the height of only 199 m (214 m according to other sources), it is the highest point of the downtown area, but not of the whole city.

Vladivostok shares the latitude with Sapporo, Sukhumi, Almaty, Florence, Marseille, A Coruña, Boston, and Toronto.

Railroad distance to Moscow is 9,302 km. The direct distance to Moscow is 6,430 km. Direct distance to Bangkok is 5,600 km, to San Francisco—8,400 km, to Seoul—750 km, to Tokyo—1,050 km, to Beijing—1,331 km.

Climate

Mean annual temperature: + °C ( °F)

Average temperature in January: − °C ( °F)

Average temperature in August: + °C ( °F)

Average annual precipitation: 722 mm (strong summer maximum)

Köppen climate classification: Dwb (warm summer continental)

Weather averages for Vladivostok
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	5.0 (41)	9.9 (50)	15.2 (59)	22.7 (73)	29.5 (85)	31.8 (89)	33.6 (92)	33.0 (91)	30.0 (86)	23.4 (74)	17.5 (64)	19.3 (67)	()
Average high °C (°F)	-9.3 (15)	-5.9 (21)	1.2 (34)	8.8 (48)	14.2 (58)	17.0 (63)	21.1 (70)	23.3 (74)	19.6 (67)	12.9 (55)	2.9 (37)	-5.9 (21)	()
Average low °C (°F)	-17.1 (1)	-14.0 (7)	-6.1 (21)	1.2 (34)	6.2 (43)	10.6 (51)	15.6 (60)	17.8 (64)	13.0 (55)	5.7 (42)	-4.1 (25)	-13.0 (9)	()
Record low °C (°F)	-31.4 (-25)	-28.9 (-20)	-22.0 (-8)	-8.1 (17)	-0.8 (31)	3.7 (39)	8.8 (48)	10.1 (50)	2.2 (36)	-9.7 (15)	-23.0 (-9)	-28.1 (-19)	()
Precipitation mm (inch)	15 (0.6)	19 (0.7)	25 (1)	54 (2.1)	61 (2.4)	100 (3.9)	124 (4.9)	153 (6)	126 (5)	66 (2.6)	38 (1.5)	18 (0.7)	()
Source: Pogoda.ru.net[1] 8.09.2007

Demographics

The city's population was 594,701 as of the 2002 Census; down from 633,838 recorded in the 1989 Census). Ethnic Russians and Ukrainians make up majority of population.

From 1958 to 1991, only Soviet citizens were allowed to live in or even visit Vladivostok (and even Soviet citizens had to obtain official permission in order to enter the city). Before this closure, the city had large Korean^[2] and Chinese populations.^[3] Some Koreans who were deported during Stalin's rule from the Russian Far East have since come back, particularly to Vladivostok.^[4] In recent times, North Korean refugees have also begun settling in the city.^[5]

Recently many Chinese illegal immigrants have moved to this city. They tend to work in the retail trading, catering and farming industries. This is considered such a serious social and economic problem to some that the government is actively legislating against them.^[6]

Vladivostok has one of the largest Armenian communities in eastern Russia. There are a number of Armenian bakeries and restaurants in the city. There are also sizable communities of Chechens, Azeris and Tajiks in the city.^[7] According to the latest statistics, there are currently about 100,000 Muslims living in the Russian Far East.^[8]

Economy

The city's main industries are shipping, commercial fishing, and the naval base. Fishing accounts for almost four-fifths of Vladivostok's commercial production. Other food production totals 11%.

In 1995, Vladivostok's annual international trade totalled 725 million USD, including 206 million USD of exported goods, and 519 million USD of imported goods. The main export items were fish, timber products, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, and ships. The main import items were food products, medicine, clothing, footwear, automobiles, household technical items, and ships.

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many businesses have opened offices in Vladivostok, taking advantage of its location.

Transport

The Trans-Siberian Railway was built to connect European Russia with Vladivostok, Russia's most important Pacific Ocean port. Finished in 1905, the rail line ran from Moscow to Vladivostok via several of Russia's main cities. Part of the railroad, known as the Chinese Eastern Line, crossed over into Manchuria, China, passing through Harbin, a major city in Manchuria.

Air routes connect Vladivostok International Airport with Japan (Tokyo Narita Airport, Niigata, Toyama, Osaka Kansai Airport); People's Republic of China (Beijing, Harbin, Dalian, Mudanjiang); North Korea (Pyongyang-Sunan) (irregular); South Korea (Seoul-Incheon, Busan); Vietnam (Hanoi). It is possible to get to Vladivostok from several of the larger cities in Russia. Regular flights to Anchorage, Alaska and Seattle, Washington were available in the 1990s but have been cancelled since. However, starting in April 2008, Vladivostok Air will resume flying to both Seattle and Anchorage.

Urban Transport

On 28 June 1908, Vladivostok's first tram line was started along Svetlanskaya Street from the railway station in Lugovaya Street. On 9 October 1912, the first wooden cars manufactured in Belgium entered service. Today, Vladivostok's means of public transportation include trolleybus, bus, tram, train, funicular, ferryboat and cutter. The main urban traffic lines are City Center—Vtoraya Rechka, City Center—Balyayeva, and City Center—Lugovaya Street.

Education

Vladivostok is home to numerous educational institutions, including six universities:

• the Far Eastern National University (Дальневосточный государственный университет, or ДВГУ),
• the Far Eastern State Technical University (Дальневосточный государственный технический университет имени Куйбышева or ДВГТУ),
• the Marine State University (Морской государственный университет имени адмирала Г.И. Невельского),
• the Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service (Владивостокский государственный университет экономики и сервиса or ВГУЭС),
• Vladivostok State Medical University (Владивостокский государственный медицинский университет), and
• Pacific State University of Economics (Тихоокеанский государственный экономический университет).

The Presidium of the Far Eastern Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ДВО РАН) as well as ten of its research institutes are also located in Vladivostok, as is the Pacific Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (Тихоокеанский научно-исследовательский рыбохозяйственный центр or ТИНРО).

Media

Over fifty newspapers and regional additions to Moscow publications are issued in Vladivostok. The largest newspaper of the Primorsky Krai and the whole Russian Far East is Vladivostok with a circulation of 124,000 copies at the beginning of 1996. Its founder, joint-stock company Vladivostok-News, also issues a weekly English-language newspaper Vladivostok News. Another source of information on the city is the online daily Vladivostok Times. The subjects of the publications issued in these newspapers vary from information around Vladivostok and Primorye to major international events. Newspaper Zolotoy Rog (Golden Horn) gives every detail of economic news. Entertainment materials and cultural news constitute a larger part of Novosti (News) newspaper which is the most popular among Primorye's young people.

As of 2006, there are fourteen channels broadcasting. They are Channel One, RTR, OTV-Prim, Rambler, STS, TNT, MTV Russia, Muz-TV, Kultura, Ren-TV, NTV, DTV Viasat.

As of 1999, there are also seven radio stations, the most popular being 24-hour VBC (612 kHz, 101.7 MHz) and Europa+ (738 kHz, 104.2 MHz). Europa+ normally broadcasts popular modern British-American music, while the ratio of Russian and foreign songs over VBC is fifty-fifty. Every hour one can hear local news over these radio stations. Radio Vladivostok (1098 kHz) operates from 06:00 till 01:00. It broadcasts several special programs which are devoted to the music of the 1950s-1980s as well as New Age.

Arguably Russia's most famous rock band, Mumiy Troll (Мумий Тролль), hails from Vladivostok and frequently puts on shows there. In addition, the city played host to the now-legendary "VladiROCKstok '96" International Music Festival in September 1996. Hosted by the Mayor and Governor, and organized by two young American expatriates, the festival drew nearly 10,000 people and top-tier musical acts from St. Petersburg (Akvarium and DDT (band)) and Seattle (Supersuckers), as well as several leading local bands.

Pollution

Two thirds of Vladivostok's suburbs are so polluted that living in them is classified as a health hazard, according to the local ecological specialists, Ecocenter. Some areas, such as those near the printing works in Pokrovsky Park and the Far Eastern National University campus, are so polluted that they are defined as ecological disaster zones. Only a few areas have permissible levels of contamination. Professor Boris Preobrazhensky, a top ecologist at the Pacific Institute of Geography said that there was nowhere in the area that was really healthy to live in.

The Ecocenter report has taken ten years to compile and is believed to be the most comprehensive of its kind. It was based on analysis of over 30,000 samples of water, snow, soil, air and human tissues taken between 1985 and 1993. Samples showed significant rises over that period in the levels of heavy metals, such as cadmium, zirconium, cobalt, arsenic, and mercury, which severely affect the respiratory and nervous systems.

The pollution has a number of causes, according to Ecocenter geo-chemical expert Sergey Shlykov. Vladivostok has about 80 industrial sites, which may not be many compared to Russia's most industrialized areas, but those around the city are particularly environmentally unfriendly, such as shipbuilding and repairing, power stations, printing, fur farming and mining. In addition, Vladivostok has a particularly vulnerable geography which compounds the effect of the pollution. Winds cannot clear pollution from some of the most densely populated areas around the Pervaya and Vtoraya Rechka as they sit in basins which the winds blow over. In addition there is little snow in winter and no leaves or grass to catch the dust to make it settle down.^[9]

Sport

Vladivostok is home to the football club FC Luch-Energia Vladivostok, who play in the Russian Premier League, and basketball club Spartak-Primorye.

Miscellaneous

Vladivostok is a sister-city of:

• Niigata (Japan)
• Akita (Japan)
• Hakodate (Japan)
• Busan (South Korea)
• Dalian (China)
• San Diego (USA)
• San Francisco (USA)
• Tacoma (USA)

It is the nearest city to the massive Sikhote-Alin Meteorite, which fell on February 12, 1947, in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, approximately 440 km northeast of Vladivostok.

Notable people

• Igor Ansoff, mathematician
• Vladimir Arsenyev, explorer
• Feliks Gromov, admiral
• Boris Gryzlov, politician
• Eugene Kozlovsky, writer
• Igor Kunitsyn, tennis player
• Elmar Lohk, architect
• Yul Brynner film actor
• Mary Losseff, singer and film actress
• Igor Tamm, physicist
• Alexey Volkonsky, canoer
• Victor Dmitrievich Zotov, botanist

• Mumiy Troll, Russian rock group:
  • Ilia Lagutenko
  • Oleg Pungin
  • Eugene "Sdwig" Zvidionny

See also

• 32nd Rifle Division
• Russian Far East

References

• Trofimov, Vladimir et al, 1992, Old Vladivostok. Utro Rossii Vladivostok, ISBN 5-87080-004-8

External links

• Flickr photos tagged vladivostok
• Travel guide to Vladivostok
• Vladivostok Map (IE 5.0+)

	Administrative divisions of Primorsky Krai
	Administrative center: Vladivostok Cities and towns: Arsenyev | Artyom | Bolshoy Kamen | Dalnegorsk | Dalnerechensk | Fokino | Lesozavodsk | Nakhodka | Partizansk | Spassk-Dalny | Ussuriysk Urban-type settlements: Dunay | Gornorechensky | Gorny | Gornye Klyuchi | Kavalerovo | Khasan | Khrustalny | Kirovsky | Kraskino | Lipovtsy | Luchegorsk | Novoshakhtinsky | Olga | Plastun | Pogranichny | Posyet | Preobrazheniye | Primorsky | Putyatin | Rudny | Shkotovo | Sibirtsevo | Slavyanka | Smolyaninovo | Svetlaya | Terney | Vostok | Vysokogorsk | Yaroslavsky | Zarubino Districts (administrative and municipal): Anuchinsky | Chernigovsky | Chuguyevsky | Dalnerechensky | Kavalerovsky | Khankaysky | Khasansky | Khorolsky | Kirovsky | Krasnoarmeysky | Lazovsky | Mikhaylovsky | Nadezhdinsky | Oktyabrsky | Olginsky | Partizansky | Pogranichny | Pozharsky | Shkotovsky | Spassky | Terneysky | Yakovlevsky

be-x-old:Уладзівасток

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