Markovo, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Encyclopedia
Markovo is a village
Types of settlements in Russia
The classification system of the types of inhabited localities in Russia, the former Soviet Union, and some other post-Soviet states has certain peculiarities compared to the classification systems in other countries.-Modern classification in Russia:...

 (selo) situated near the head of small-boat navigation of the Anadyr River
Anadyr River
Anadyr is a river in the far northeast Siberia which flows into Anadyr Bay of the Bering Sea and drains much of the interior of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Its basin corresponds to the Anadyrsky District of Chukotka....

, near the center of the Anadyrsky District
Anadyrsky District
Anadyrsky District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the six in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is located in the interior portion of the autonomous okrug and in terms of administrative divisions borders with Chaunsky District in the northwest, Iultinsky District in the...

 (Raion
Raion
A raion is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet countries. The term, which is from French rayon 'honeycomb, department,' describes both a type of a subnational entity and a division of a city, and is commonly translated in English as "district"...

) of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug , or Chukotka , is a federal subject of Russia located in the Russian Far East.Chukotka has a population of 53,824 according to the 2002 Census, and a surface area of . The principal town and the administrative center is Anadyr...

, part of the Far Eastern
Far Eastern Federal District
The Far Eastern Federal District is the largest of the eight federal districts of Russia, while being also the least populated, with a population of 6,291,900 . The Far Eastern Federal District was established in 2000 by then-President Vladimir Putin and is currently being governed by presidential...

 Federal District
Federal districts of Russia
The federal districts are a level of administration for the convenience of the federal government of the Russian Federation. They are not the constituent units of Russia . Each district includes several federal subjects and each federal district has a presidential envoy...

 of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. The population in June 2005, according to an evnvironmental impact report prepared for the Kupol Gold Project, was 865,Municipally, Markovo is incorporated as Markovo Rural Settlement. Although now a small village, but still quite large by chukotkan standards, the village has historically been an important settlement in the region and was a hub for trade during the early period of Cossack exploration.

History

The village is comparatively large for the region, with a population of 865 as of 2005 down from 1170, reported in 2003 and around 2,000 reported for 1993, making it one of the more important small settlements in Chukotka. Having formerly been a Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...

 settlement, it was one of the first Russian speaking settlements in the Okrug
Okrug
Okrug is an administrative division of some Slavic states. The word "okrug" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "district", or "region"....

.
The date of founding of the settlement is not known, though it is considered to be one of the first settlements in Chukotka. It is known that crew from Semyon Dezhnev's
Semyon Dezhnev
Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnyov was a Russian explorer of Siberia and the first European to sail through the Bering Strait. In 1648 he sailed from the Kolyma River on the Arctic Ocean to the Anadyr River on the Pacific...

 expedition wintered close to the site of the current settlement and that Anadyrsk
Anadyrsk
thumb|Anadyrsk was on the east-west part of the Anadyr River at the point where it swings northAnadyrsk was an important Russian ostrog in far northeastern Siberia from 1649 to 1764...

 was founded on the site at a later date as a base for exploring Chukotka and potential routes to Kamchatka. The Cossacks were followed by others looking for business opportunities and those who did not wish to continue being serfs
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...

. It is thought that the settlement as it is today evolved in the middle of the 18th century and was named either after an early settler called Markov or that it was consecrated by the local Saint Mark.

A century ago, Markovo was the cultural centre of the Markovsky District (which was later split into Anadyrsky District
Anadyrsky District
Anadyrsky District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the six in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is located in the interior portion of the autonomous okrug and in terms of administrative divisions borders with Chaunsky District in the northwest, Iultinsky District in the...

 and Bilibinsky District
Bilibinsky District
Bilibinsky District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the six in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is located in the western portion of the autonomous okrug and in terms of non-municipal divisions borders with Chaunsky District in the northeast, Anadyrsky District in the...

 in 1958) and was the location of the first parochial school in Chukotka, construction of which began in 1862. The cultural significance of the village continues today, as it is the home town of the Markovskiye Vechiorki Chorus, who specialise in old Cossack songs. The historical cultural significance of the town means that it also plays an important role in the general day to day life of the region as a whole, as it is the location of a boarding High School and cultural centre, with a new hospital also under construction.

In 1998, Markovo was reclassified as a village (selo).

Demographics

The population was recorded in 2000 as being 1072, consisting of 447 people of indigenous origin, made up of 299 Chuvans, 62 Chukchi
Chukchi people
The Chukchi, or Chukchee , ) are an indigenous people inhabiting the Chukchi Peninsula and the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea region of the Arctic Ocean within the Russian Federation. They speak the Chukchi language...

, 60 Evens
Evens
The Evens or Eveny are a people in Siberia and the Russian Far East. They live in some of the regions of the Magadan Oblast and Kamchatka Krai and northern parts of Sakha east of the Lena River. According to the 2002 census, there were 19,071 Evens in Russia...

 and 26 Yukaghir
Yukaghir
The Yukaghir, or Yukagirs , деткиль ) are a people in East Siberia, living in the basin of the Kolyma River.-Region:The Tundra Yukaghirs live in the Lower Kolyma region in the Sakha Republic; the Taiga Yukaghirs in the Upper Kolyma region in the Sakha Republic and in Srednekansky District of...

. The remainder of the village population are Russian. Of all the families in the village, regardless of ethnicity, only 5% had a regular monthly income, with most families living below the poverty line. In 2000, the monthly living salary in Chukotka was 3800 rubles, in Markovo the minimum salary was 350-80 rubles per month with an additional pension of between 700 and 1100 rubles plus welfare payments of around 160 rubles. There were however, salaries of several managers reported at around 15,000 rubles. By 2005, the population of 865 contained 476 people of indigenous origin.

Climate

Markovo's climate is quite varied. Although it can be below freezing from September through to the end of the following May, and regularly below -200C from November through to the end of the following April, the short summer running from June to august are usually quite temperate, with record temperatures achieved during these months which are some of the warmest for the Okrug.

Economics

The economy is driven mainly by subsistence reindeer herding, and fishing a result of the large proportion of indigenous people, living in the village.

In 2000, 531 of the reported 1072 population were employed in Markovo village. Of these, 276 were employed either in Housing and communal services or in various federal organisations However, many of the employment opportunities in the village were staffed by incoming Russians, leaving the indigenous people with a level of responsibility that did not reflect their proportion of the population. The indigenous population made up just under half of the population, but it was only in the federal organisations, education and agriculture sectors that they held just under half the positions. Many other sections were dominated by immigrant Russians including Communications, Trading, Police, Fire Department, Forestry, Meteorology, Fisheries and Airport sectors, as well as Construction and Banking, where the indigenous people held no influence at all.

People from Markovo were the founders of the village of Ust-Belaya
Ust-Belaya
Ust-Belaya is a rural locality in Anadyrsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located at the confluence of the Anadyr and the Belaya Rivers. Population as of 2005, according to an environmental impact report prepared for the Kupol gold project, 869, down from 936, in 2003...

around the beginning of the twentieth century, also located along the banks of the Anadyr River.

External links

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