| Amguema (English) Амгуэма (Russian) |
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| - Rural locality[1] - Selo[1] |
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Location of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in Russia |
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Amguema
Location of Amguema in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
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| Coordinates: | |
| Administrative status (as of June 2009) | |
| Country | Russia |
| Federal subject | Chukotka Autonomous Okrug[1] |
| Administrative district | Iultinsky District[2] |
| Municipal status (as of June 2009) | |
| Municipal district | Iultinsky Municipal District[3] |
| Rural settlement | Amguema Rural Settlement[3] |
| Administrative center of | Amguema Rural Settlement[3] |
| Statistics | |
| Population (2006 est.) | 570 inhabitants[4] |
| Time zone | MAGST (UTC+12:00)[5] |
| Postal code(s) | 689210[6] |
| Dialing code(s) | +7 42734[7] |
Amguema (Russian: Амгуэма) is a village (selo) in Iultinsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, in the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. Population as of 2006: 570,[4] 2003: 548,[8] of whom 387 were indigenous peoples and of those 379 of them were Chukchi.[8] The village is based on the Iultin-Egvekinot road, one of the few significant roads in the Okrug. Reindeer herding is the most significant economic activity in the village. Municipally, Amguema is subordinated to Iultinsky Municipal District and incorporated as Amguema Rural Settlement.[3]
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The village is a traditional Chukchi settlement,[9] in which most of the citizens are reindeer herders,[4] taking advantage of the pasture present around the Amguema River (Chukchi: Omvaam[8]). It is the only native settlement in the district to have a stable economy, thanks in part to the available land.[8]
In August, the village is the host of the Vylgynkoranymat festival (lit. young reindeer festival), during which time, a slaughter occurs so that the residents may have sufficient skins for clothing for the forthcoming winter.[4] At the end of the festival, the women of the village produce a dish called kivlet, boiled reindeer stomachs, complete with their undigested final meal to which venison, blood and onions are added and is said to resemble goulash when cooked.[4]
As with many of the settlements in Chukotka, there are neolithic remains to be found in the area surrounding the village.[4]
The inhabitants of Amguema survive almost entirely through reindeer husbandry[10] and the Sovkhoz, with 11,166 head, is thought to have the second-largest number of reindeer in the whole Okrug, looked after by six brigades, the structure a remnant of the Soviet era.[10] Each brigad is responsible for between 760 and 3710 reindeer.[10]
In an area where land-based transport is scarce, the village is fortunate to be connected to one of the few roads, being situated about half way along the paved road that runs from Egvekinot in the south, to the former mining village of Iultin, on the 91st kilometer.[8] The majority of the population are reindeer herders,[8] with 84 people working on the tundra in 2003.[8]
Beyond the comparative ease with which inhabitants of Amguema can reach the outside world, the village has also been a major beneficiary of the money spent on the region by the former governor, Roman Abramovich. The village has a boarding school for all ages, which is a rarity in the region, and the village serves as an educational hub for the surrounding villages whose schools do not cover all age groups.[11] As well as the school, Abramovich funded the construction of 46 new homes, at a cost of nearly $2.5 million, with hot water and indoor facilities, as well as a guesthouse, barbers and banya.[12] There is also a food store, a post-office, a daycare center and a bakery.[8] The school in Amguema is a boarding school and is used to educate not only the children from village but also other children from Nutepelmen and Vankarem, who are sent there when they are seven or eight.[10]
A class of polar cargo ships was first developed in 1962 and named Anguema after the village.[13] This was the first new class of ULA (the Russian abbreviation for "strengthened for arctic ice"[14]) a continuation of the Lena class of icebreaker to all intents and purposaes, and was felt to have a hull shape far superior to any type of ice breaker constructed to date.[14]
The first of this class of ship named after the village, a polar cargo ship, was among a number of Russian cargo ships and ice-breakers stuck in ice at Kosa Dvukh Pilotov in 1983 on a journey from Magadan to Mys Shmidta, when the winter sea ice formed significantly earlier than usual.[15]
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