Kemerovo Oblast

Kemerovo Oblast Кемеровская область (Russian)
—  Oblast  —
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Anthem of Kemerovo Oblast[1]
Coordinates: 54°56′N 87°14′E / 54.933°N 87.233°E / 54.933; 87.233Coordinates: 54°56′N 87°14′E / 54.933°N 87.233°E / 54.933; 87.233
Political status
Country	Russia
Federal district	Siberian[2]
Economic region	West Siberian[3]
Established	January 26, 1943[4]
Administrative center	Kemerovo[4]
Government (as of April 2015)
- Governor[5]	Aman Tuleyev[6]
- Legislature	Council of People's Deputies[5]
Statistics
Area (as of the 2002 Census)[7]
- Total	95,500 km2 (36,900 sq mi)
Area rank	34th
Population (2010 Census)[8]
- Total	2,763,135
- Rank	15th
- Density[9]	28.93/km2 (74.9/sq mi)
- Urban	85.4%
- Rural	14.6%
Population (January 2015 est.)
- Total	2,724,990[10]
Time zone(s)	KRAT (UTC+07:00)[11]
ISO 3166-2	RU-KEM
License plates	42
Official languages	Russian[12]
Official website

Kemerovo Oblast (Russian: Ке́меровская о́бласть, Kemerovskaya oblast), also known as Kuzbass (Кузба́сс) after the Kuznetsk Basin, is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southwestern Siberia, where the West Siberian Plain meets the South Siberian mountains. The oblast, which covers an area of 95,500 square kilometers (36,900 sq mi),^[7] shares a border with Tomsk Oblast in the north, Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Republic of Khakassia in the east, the Altai Republic in the south, and with Novosibirsk Oblast and Altai Krai in the west. Kemerovo is the administrative center of the oblast, though Novokuznetsk is the largest city in the oblast, in terms of size. Kemerovo Oblast is one of Russia's most urbanized regions, with over 70% of the population living in its nine principal cities. Its ethnic composition is predominantly Russian, but Ukrainians, Tatars, and Chuvash also live in the oblast. The population recorded during the 2010 Census was 2,763,135.^[8]

History

The oblast was established on January 26, 1943,^[4] but it has considerably older antecedents. Shors are one of the native people of the region. The oldest city in Kemerovo Oblast is Novokuznetsk, founded in 1618, soon after Cossack ataman Yermak's push into Siberia.

The territory of modern Kemerovo Oblast has been inhabited for several thousand years. In 1618, Kuznetsk fort was established in the south of the future oblast to protect the land from Russian and Mongolian Dzhungarian invaders. During the 19th century, the territory of modern oblast was a part of Tomsk Governorate.

Soviet period

After the October Revolution Kuzbass becomes part of the West Siberian Krai, and then the Novosibirsk Oblast. Post revolutionary period was characterized by the transition to a planned economy, the creation of the Ural-Kuzbass industrial complex development of the coal, metallurgical and chemical industries Kuzbass Kemerovo Coke built, Kuznetsk Metallurgical Combine, a lot of new mines. Industrial enterprises are being built near the workers' settlements, which quickly became a city: Kiselevsk Osinniki Krasnobrodsky, Tashtagol Kaltan Mezhdurechensk and others.

During the Great Patriotic War, Kemerovo region became a major supplier of coal and metal. From Novokuznetsk steel produced over 50,000 tanks and 45,000 aircraft. In Kuzbass from the occupied areas were evacuated equipment 71 enterprises, most of which have remained in the Kuzbass.

In January 26, 1943, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet issued a decree, decided to allocate from the Novosibirsk Oblast of Kuzbass and the establishment on its territory of Kemerovo region with administrative center in the city of Kemerovo. In the new Oblast included 17.5% of the Novosibirsk region, 9 of the 12 cities of regional subordination, 17 of the 20 workers' settlements, 23 of the 75 districts. The population of the Kemerovo Oblast was 42% of the total population of the Novosibirsk Oblast.

Administrative divisions

Climate

The climate of the oblast is continental: winters are cold and long, summers are warm, but short. The average January temperature is −17 – −20 °C (1 – −4 °F), the average in July is +17–+18 °C (63–64 °F). Average annual precipitation ranges from 300 millimeters (12 in) on the plains and the foothills of up to 1,000 millimeters (39 in) or more in mountainous areas. The duration of the frost-free period lasts 100 days in the north area up to 120 days in the south of the Kuznetsk Basin.

Economy

Kemerovo Oblast is one of Russia's most important industrial regions, with some of the world's largest deposits of coal. The south of the region is dominated by metallurgy and the mining industry, as well as mechanical engineering and chemical production. The Evraz Group and an ore subsidiary Evrazruda operate iron ore mining and processing facilities along with the Raspadskaya, Yuzhkuzbassugol, the Siberian holding company SIBPLAZ, coal and coking coal mines there. The northern area of the region is more agricultural. The region has a dense railway network, including the Trans-Siberian Railway, which passes through the oblast. Prokopevsk, Kiselevsk, and Andzhero-Sudzhensk are coal-producing centers, and Novokuznetsk is the center of the engineering industry.

Politics

During the Soviet period, the high authority in the oblast was shared between three persons: The first secretary of the Kemerovo CPSU Committee (who in reality had the biggest authority), the chairman of the oblast Soviet (legislative power), and the Chairman of the oblast Executive Committee (executive power). Since 1991, CPSU lost all the power, and the head of the Oblast administration, and eventually the governor was appointed/elected alongside elected regional parliament.

The Charter of Kemerovo Oblast is the fundamental law of the region. The Legislative Assembly of Kemerovo Oblast is the province's standing legislative (representative) body. The Legislative Assembly exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it. The highest executive body is the Oblast Government, which includes territorial executive bodies such as district administrations, committees, and commissions that facilitate development and run the day to day matters of the province. The Oblast administration supports the activities of the Governor who is the highest official and acts as guarantor of the observance of the oblast Charter in accordance with the Constitution of Russia.

Honors

A minor planet 2140 Kemerovo discovered in 1970 by Soviet astronomer Tamara Mikhailovna Smirnova is named after Kemerovo Oblast.^[13]

Demographics

Population: 2,763,135 (2010 Census);^[8] 2,899,142 (2002 Census);^[14] 3,176,335 (1989 Census).^[15]

Vital statistics for 2012

• Births: 37 624 (13.7 per 1000)
• Deaths: 41 417 (15.1 per 1000) ^[16]

• Total fertility rate:^[17]

2009 - 1.67 | 2010 - 1.62 | 2011 - 1.59 | 2012 - 1.76 | 2013 - 1.79 | 2014 - 1.78(e)

Ethnic composition (2010):^[8]

• Russians - 93.7%
• Tatars - 1.5%
• Ukrainians - 0.8%
• Germans - 0.9%
• others - 1.5%
• 55,899 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.^[18]

Religion

As of a 2012 official survey^[19] 34.1% of the population of Kemerovo Oblast adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church, 7% declares to be generically Christian (excluding Catholic and Protestant), 3% follows Rodnovery (Slavic Paganism), 1% follows other Orthodox Churches, 1% is Muslim, 5.9% follows other religion or did not give an answer to the survey. In addition, 31% of the population declares to be "spiritual but not religious" and 17% to be atheist.^[19]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kemerovo Oblast.

Notes

Sources

• Законодательное Собрание Кемеровской области. №10-ОЗ 5 июня 1997 г. «Устав Кемеровской области», в ред. Закона №4-ОЗ от 4 февраля 2014 г. «О внесении поправок в Устав Кемеровской области». Вступил в силу по истечении 10 дней после официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Кузбасс", №102, 11 июня 1997 г. (Legislative Assembly of Kemerovo Oblast. #10-OZ June 5, 1997 Charter of Kemerovo Oblast, as amended by the Law #4-OZ of February 4, 2014 On Amending the Charter of Kemerovo Oblast. Effective as of the day which is 10 days after the official publication.).

See also

• Geography of South-Central Siberia
• List of Chairmen of the Council of People's Deputies of Kemerovo

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