Salekhard
Encyclopedia : S : SA : SAL : Salekhard
Salekhard (Russian: ) is the administrative center of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, Russia. It is believed to be the only city in the world that is located right on the Polar circle. Its population as of the 2002 census was 36,827.
History
A settlement of Obdorsk (Обдорск) was founded in 1595 in the place of a khant settlement Polnovat-Vozh (Полноват-вож) by Russian settlers that followed the conquering of Siberia by Yermak Timofeyevich. It was situated by the Ob River, and its name supposedly derives from that.The land around Obdorsk was referred to as Obdorski krai, or Obdoria in the full address of Russian tsars.
On December 10, 1930, it became a capital of the new Yamal (Nenets) National Okrug (Ямальский (Ненецкий) национальный округ).
It was renamed Salekhard in 1933 and granted a town status in 1938.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.