| Iultinsky District (English) Иультинский район (Russian) |
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Map of Chukotka showing Iultinsky Municipal District; the black dot represents the town of Anadyr |
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| Administrative status (as of 2011) | |
| Country | Russia |
| Federal subject | Chukotka Autonomous Okrug[1] |
| Administrative center | urban-type settlement of Egvekinot[2] |
| # of urban-type settlements | 3[3] |
| # of rural localities | 7[3] |
| Municipal status (as of October 2010) | |
| Municipally incorporated as | Iultinsky Municipal District[4] |
| - Head of Administration[5] | Alexander Maximov[5] |
| - # of urban settlements | 2[4] |
| - # of rural settlements | 5[4] |
| Statistics | |
| Population (2010 Census, preliminary) |
4,326 inhabitants[6] |
| Population (2002 Census) | 3,974 inhabitants[7] |
| - Urban population | 60.7% |
| - Rural population | 39.3% |
| Time zone | MAGST (UTC+12:00)[8] |
| Established | 1953[5] |
| Official website | |
Iultinsky District (Russian: Иу́льтинский райо́н) is an administrative and municipal district (raion), one of the six in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia.[1] It is located on the eastern shore of the autonomous okrug and borders with the Chukchi Sea in the north, Providensky District in the east, Gulf of Anadyr in the southeast, and Anadyrsky District in the southwest. Its administrative center is the urban locality (an urban-type settlement) of Egvekinot.[2] District's population: 4,326 (2010 Census preliminary results);[6] 3,974 (2002 Census);[7] 15,689 (1989 Census).[9] Population of Egvekinot accounts for 64.4% of the district's population.[6]
The district has been populated since the Paleolithic age, though indigenous people are outnumbered by ethnic Russians by over three to one.[5] The district was once a major center for mining tin and tungsten at Iultin, with the infrastructure built by gulag prisoners, but these mines have proved uneconomical in recent years and closed with their associated settlements abandoned.
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Iultinsky District covers the northeastern part of the Chukchi Peninsula except for the Chukchi Peninsula in the east. It touches two oceans. In the north, the district borders the Chukchi Sea, a bleak environment that is ice-bound for nine months of the year and where storms can produce waves several meters high that lash the coast.[10] To the south is the administrative center and small port of Egvekinot, located on Kresta Bay. South of Kresta Bay it reaches almost to the Anadyrsky Liman.
The central part of the district is quite mountainous. The northwest is drained by the Amguyema River. This valley is a key resource for the part of the population that does not live by the sea and contains the only significant stretch of road in the district, running from Egvekinot, through the indigenous village of Amguyema, to the now defunct mining settlement of Iultin near the Arctic.[11] Transport to all other populated places in the district must be done either by sea or by helicopter.
The population consists mainly of Russians, although Chukchi, the dominant native people in the district[11] and other indigenous peoples such as Inuit[10] make up about 24% of the total population of the district.[5] The district is bisected by both the Arctic Circle and the line of the 180° longitude.
It is thought that the area of what is now Iultinsky District was where the first people settled in Chukotka during the Paleolithic Age. Archaeological excavations have uncovered stone age camps and tools along the banks of both the Kymynanonvyaam and Maravaam Rivers.[10]
A greater number of camps have been unearthed dating from the Neolithic Period along almost all the significant rivers in the district.[10] Further excavations around Vankarem, Nutepelmen, and Uelkal indicate that there was a change in hunting practices during the third millennium BCE as the native people began not only to follow migrating animals in the tundra, but also to hunt animals at sea. The locations of the archeological discoveries have established that the sea-fishing communities have been in existence in their current locations for a considerable period of time.[10]
After Semyon Dezhnyov and his Cossack companions had established Anadyrsk in the 17th century, they began to explore the surrounding area and discovered Kresta Bay in 1660, although it was not mapped properly until it was visited by Vitus Bering seventy years later.[10]
The district was founded in 1953.[5] The economy on this territory received a major boost following the discovery in the 1930s of significant deposits of tin and tungsten in Mount Iultin. This discovery resulted in the creation of the settlement of Iultin. Initially the settlement was kept supplied by a convoy of tractors, but it was difficult to make significant progress and so to ensure the settlement could continue to be kept supplied, a road was built linking Egvekinot, Amguema, and Iultin.[10]
During World War II, the territory played an important role in the Soviet supply chain, providing the eastern end of the Uelkal-Krasnoyarsk air route, used by Russia for the delivery of the Lend-Lease planes provide by the United States.[10]
Following the end of World War II, Dalstroy used forced labor to build a port to help supply the mine, and in 1946, the MV Sovetskaya Latviya, one of a fleet of ships used by Dalstroy to transport prisoners to the Kolyma gulag,[12] landed in Kresta Bay to begin construction. Extreme conditions meant that, as in the construction of the Road of Bones, many prisoners died working and were buried where they fell and incorporated into the foundations of the port. Such bodies are still discovered during the spring thaw each year.[10]
In order to provide the necessary power to the mines at Iultin, two power stations—one diesel, one steam-powered—were constructed in the village of Ozerny;[10] however, in recent years, mining in the region has proved impractical and the mines at Iultin were closed and the settlement abandoned, with the population moving to Egvekinot.[10]
The main center of economic activity is around Egvekinot and the neighboring rural locality of Ozerny. These settlements contain the main sea port, a hydroelectric power plant, and the main airport of the district, with Chukotavia providing air service to all major airports within the autonomous okrug.
Outside of the main urban area of Egvekinot, the economy is driven mainly by either mineral extraction (the area is rich in pewter and wolframite as well as coal[5]), traditional indigenous reindeer herding or sea-based hunting, with Chukchi farming centers such as Amguema, Vankarem, and Konergino holding nearly 25,000 head of reindeer in 2005.[5] One of the settlements where marine hunting is the main economic driver, Uelkal, is the most westerly Eskimo settlement in the world.[5]
In addition to the airports, Iultinsky District also contains the longest road in Chukotka, which goes from Egvekinot to Iultin through indigenous settlements such as Amguema. There are also a number of winter and tractor roads which branch off from the main Iultinskaya Road serving settlements such as Svetly and Vostochny, as well as some of the geological and mining camps in the district.[5]
Before May 2008, Iultinsky Administrative District was municipally incorporated as Iultinsky Municipal District. In May 2008, Iultinsky and Shmidtovsky Municipal Districts were merged, forming an enlarged Vostochny Municipal District.[13] This change, however, did not affect the administrative aspect of these districts. Both Iultinsky and Shmidtovsky Administrative Districts continued to exist separately.
In October 2008, the law mandating the change was amended and the name Vostochny was discarded with the combined municipal district being renamed Iultinsky Municipal District.
Shmidtovsky Administrative District was merged into Iultinsky Administrative District effective June 13, 2011.[14]
Iultinsky Administrative District has administrative jurisdiction over three urban-type settlements and seven rural localities, consisting of all the inhabited localities listed below in the "Municipal divisions" section and the rural locality of Billings (which is municipally a part of Chaunsky Municipal District.
Iultinsky Municipal District is divided into two urban settlements and five rural settlements.
| Urban settlements | Inhabited localities in jurisdiction |
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| Egvekinot (Эгвекинот) |
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| Mys Shmidta (Мыс Шмидта) |
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| Rural settlements | Rural localities in jurisdiction* |
| Amguema (Амгуэма) |
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| Konergino (Конергино) |
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| Ryrkaypiy (Рыркайпий) |
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| Uelkal (Уэлькаль) |
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| Vankarem (Ванкарем) |
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| Inhabited localities in the inter-settlement territory | |
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| Inhabited localities being liquidated | |
Source:[4]
*Administrative centers are shown in bold
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