Sakha Republic

Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), is a <a href="/facts/Republics_of_Russia/zywDa6Uo">republic</a> of <a href="/facts/Russia/jfkCwyxn">Russia</a>, and the largest <a href="/facts/Federal_subject_of_Russia/f2oIKgbo">federal subject of Russia</a> by area. It is located in the <a href="/facts/Russian_Far_East/BT7sYGTP">Russian Far East</a>, along the <a href="/facts/Arctic_Ocean/l6HS3QyV">Arctic Ocean</a>, with a population of one million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing <a href="/facts/Far_Eastern_Federal_District/MfuAKxfR">Far Eastern Federal District</a>, and is the world's <a href="/facts/List_of_country_subdivisions_by_area/F2p4BCtW">largest country subdivision</a>, covering over 3,083,523 square kilometers (1,190,555 sq mi). <a href="/facts/Yakutsk/QnDgGCwX">Yakutsk</a>, which is the world's coldest major city, is its capital and largest city.
The republic has a reputation for an extreme and severe climate, with the second lowest temperatures in the <a href="/facts/Northern_Hemisphere/EFwyqL25">Northern Hemisphere</a> being recorded in <a href="/facts/Verkhoyansk/FCDEbTno">Verkhoyansk</a> and <a href="/facts/Oymyakon/hypksADo">Oymyakon</a> (second only to <a href="/facts/Summit_Camp/FeRchTyp">Summit Camp</a>, <a href="/facts/Greenland/aagXRTB7">Greenland</a>), 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 <a href="/facts/Hunting-gathering/ghnjoNbJ">hunting-gathering</a> and <a href="/facts/Reindeer_herding/VnI11lCU">reindeer herding</a> <a href="/facts/Tungusic_peoples/C6CcnGM2">Tungusic</a> and <a href="/facts/Paleosiberian_peoples/YxT6TT5Y">Paleosiberian peoples</a> such as the <a href="/facts/Evenks/TdjHc0zA">Evenks</a> and <a href="/facts/Yukaghir/GuKouaxd">Yukaghir</a>. Migrating from the area around <a href="/facts/Lake_Baikal/ndjtNeJ7">Lake Baikal</a>, the <a href="/facts/Turkic_peoples/ocd7rpI3">Turkic</a> <a href="/facts/Sakha_people/8lJRPNWb">Sakha people</a> first migrated to the middle <a href="/facts/Lena_River/cwhNd1bK">Lena River</a> sometime between the 9th and 16th centuries, likely in several waves, bringing the <a href="/facts/Pastoralism/J9m2S95h">pastoral</a> economic system of <a href="/facts/Central_Asia/rB8k0CyT">Central Asia</a> with them.
The <a href="/facts/Russians/RBG9H1Rj">Russians</a> colonised and incorporated the area as the <a href="/facts/Yakutsk_Oblast/vlM5gM10">Yakutsk Oblast</a> into the <a href="/facts/Tsardom_of_Russia/m0scLsSq">Tsardom of Russia</a> in the early-mid 17th century, obliging the indigenous peoples of the area to pay <a href="/facts/Yasak/YBKpQ8NG">fur tribute</a>. While the initial period following the Russian conquest saw the Sakha population drop by 70%, the <a href="/facts/Russian_Empire/hg1g5SpV">Imperial period</a> also saw the expansion of the native <a href="/facts/Yakuts/8lJRPNWb">Yakuts</a> from the middle Lena along the <a href="/facts/Vilyuy_River/nVYHzjGe">Vilyuy River</a> to the north and the east displacing other indigenous groups. Yakutia saw some of the last battles of the <a href="/facts/Russian_Civil_War/MLfkI67n">Russian Civil War</a>, and the Bolshevik authorities re-organized Yakutsk Oblast into the autonomous <a href="/facts/Yakut_ASSR/wxjvq6PG">Yakut ASSR</a> in 1922. The Soviet era saw the migration of many <a href="/facts/Slavs/mphU6hzm">Slavs</a>, specifically <a href="/facts/Russians/RBG9H1Rj">Russians</a> and <a href="/facts/Ukrainians/393lUkjj">Ukrainians</a>, into the area.
On 27 September 1990, the area became the Yakutskaya-Sakha Soviet Socialist Republic, and on 27 December 1991, it became the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

Sakha Republic open-in-new

Sakha Republic