Taymyr Autonomous Okrug

Coordinates: 69°24′N 86°11′E / 69.400°N 86.183°E / 69.400; 86.183

Map of Taymyria

Flag of Taymyr Autonomous Okrug

Taymyr Dolgano-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (Russian: Таймы́рский Долга́но-Не́нецкий автоно́мный о́круг, Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky avtonomny okrug), or Taymyria, was a federal subject of Russia (an autonomous okrug of Krasnoyarsk Krai), the northernmost in mainland Russia (and thus Asia). It is named after the Taymyr Peninsula. It is also called Dolgan-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (Долгано-Ненецкий автономный округ), by the name of the indigenous people, Dolgans and Nenetses.

With an area of 862,100 km² (ranked 4th) and a population of 39,786 (2002 Census), the autonomous okrug was one of the least densely populated areas of Russia as of 2006. Dudinka, with more than half of Taymyria's inhabitants, is the administrative center.

Following a referendum on the issue held on April 17, 2005, Taymyr Dolgano-Nenets and Evenk Autonomous Okrugs were merged into Krasnoyarsk Krai effective January 1, 2007. Taymyria was given a special status within Krasnoyarsk Krai and incorporated as Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District.

Administrative divisions

Landscape of Taymyr

Indigenous people of Taymyr

The city of Norilsk, even though it is geographically located within Taymyr Autonomous Okrug, was administratively subordinated directly to Krasnoyarsk Krai prior to the merger. This also applied to the urban-type settlement of Snezhnogorsk, which was administratively subrodinated to Norilsk. Therefore, the okrug's population reported by the Census authorities does not include the populations of Norilsk and Snezhnogorsk.

Trivia

Although not actually having been filmed in Taymyr, it is depicted in the 1985 film White Nights, starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines. During the opening moments of the film, Baryshnikov's character Nikolai Rodchenko-a Soviet defector-is on a passenger plane that crash lands at "Norilsk Air Base." He inevitably is taken into the home of Hines' character-a US defector-and his wife (played by Isabella Rossellini), where they advise him that he is in Taymyr upon regaining consciousness.

Demographics

Population

(2002): 39,786.

Vital statistics

Source: Russian Federal State Statistics Service

Ethnic groups

Of the 39,786 residents (as of the 2002 census) 1,018 (2.6%) chose not to specify their ethnic background. A quarter of the population identified themselves as indigenous Siberians (Dolgans, Nenets, Nganasans, Evenks, or Enets). 58.6% of the population were ethnic Russians. Other nationalities included 2,423 Ukrainians (6.1%), 587 Volga Germans (1.5%), 425 Tatars (1.1%), 294 Belarusians (0.7%) and 239 Azeris (0.6%)