Magadan


Magadan is a port town and the administrative center of Magadan Oblast, Russia, located on the Sea of Okhotsk in Nagayev Bay and serving as a gateway to the Kolyma region. Population:

History

Magadan was founded in 1930 in the Magadanka River valley, near the settlement of Nagayevo. During the Stalin era, Magadan was a major transit center for prisoners sent to labor camps. From 1932 to 1953, it was the administrative center of the Dalstroy organization—a vast and brutal forced-labor gold-mining operation and forced-labor camp system. The first director of Dalstroy was Eduard Berzin, who between 1932 and 1937 established the infrastructure of the forced labour camps in Magadan. Berzin was executed in 1938 by Stalin, towards the end of the Great Purge.
The town later served as a port for exporting gold and other metals mined in the Kolyma region. Its size and population grew quickly as facilities were rapidly developed for the expanding mining activities in the area. Town status was granted to it on July 14, 1939.
Magadan was visited by U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace in May 1944. He took an instant liking to his secret policeman host, admired handiwork done by prisoners, and later glowingly called the town a combination of Tennessee Valley Authority and Hudson's Bay Company. Wallace's collaborative stance towards the Soviet Union discouraged the Democratic Party of the United States from renominating him as vice president later in the summer of 1944, helping lead to the selection of Harry Truman in his place.

Administrative and municipal status

Magadan is the administrative center of the oblast. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with the urban-type settlements of Sokol and Uptar, incorporated as the town of oblast significance of Magadan—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the town of oblast significance of Magadan is incorporated as Magadan Urban Okrug.

Economy and infrastructure

Shipbuilding and fishing are the major industries. The town has a seaport and a small international airport, the Sokol Airport. There is also a small domestic airport nearby, Magadan 13. The unpaved Kolyma Highway leads from Magadan to the rich gold-mining region of the upper Kolyma River and then on to Yakutsk.
Magadan is very isolated. The nearest major city accessible by road is Yakutsk, away via an unpaved road which is best used in the winter, especially since there is no bridge over the Lena River at Yakutsk..
The principal sources of income for the local economy are gold mining and fisheries. Recently, gold production has declined. Fishing production, although improving from year to year, is still well below the allocated quotas, apparently as a result of an aging fleet. Other local industries include pasta and sausage plants, and a distillery. Although farming is difficult owing to the harsh climate, there are many public and private farming enterprises.

Culture and religion

The town has a number of cultural institutions including the Regional Museum of Anthropology, a geological museum, a regional library and a university. The town has the new Orthodox Cathedral Church of the Trinity, a recently completed Roman Catholic Church of the Nativity and the Mask of Sorrow memorial, a large sculpture in memory of Stalin's victims, designed by Ernst Neizvestny. The is actually a part of the diocese of Anchorage, Alaska and ministers to the survivors of the labor camps. It is staffed by several priests and nuns.
The town figures prominently in the labour camp literature of Varlam Shalamov and in the eponymous song by Mikhail Krug, and was a focal point of the Long Way Round motorcycle journey made by Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman and their team in 2004.

Geography

situated in the Northeast Siberian taiga, the town's flora is made up of conifer trees, such as firs and larches, and silver birches. The city sits besides the Sea of Okhotsk in Nagayev Bay on both sides, and it is surrounded by mountains to the west and northeast. Permafrost and tundra cover most of the region. The growing season is only one hundred days long.
The city of Magadan is on the same longitude of the greater western suburbs of Sydney, Australia, which lie on the eastern end of the 150th meridian east line, bordering the 151st meridian and is on the same latitude as Southern Scandinavia, and the far north of Scotland.

Climate

The climate of Magadan is subarctic. Winters are prolonged and very cold, with up to six months of sub-zero high temperatures, so that the soil remains permanently frozen. Average temperatures on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk range from in January to in July. Average temperatures in the interior range from in January to in July.
Magadan is twinned with: