Murmansk
Murmansk is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast in the far northwest part of Russia. It is the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle and sits on both slopes and banks of Kola Bay, with its bulk on the east bank of the inlet. The bay, a modest fjord, is an estuarine inlet of the Barents Sea. The city is a major port of the Arctic Ocean and is about from the border with Norway, from the border with Finland, and from Moscow.
Being a non-freezing port due to the warm North Atlantic Current, Murmansk resembles cities of its size across western Russia, with highway and railway access to the rest of Europe, and the northernmost trolleybus system on Earth. Its connectivity contrasts with the isolation of Arctic ports like the Siberian Dikson on the shores of the Kara Sea, and Iqaluit in the Canadian Arctic. Despite long, snowy winters, [|Murmansk's climate] is moderated by the generally ice-free waters around it.
Murmansk grew substantially throughout the twentieth century, particularly after WWII during the Cold War arms race. Murmansk's population has been in decline since the end of the Cold War, from to 270,384.
Etymology
The name of the city is derived from Murman, from an old name for Norwegians by Russians; it is likely a borrowing from Old Norse norðmaðr, which gave its name to the Murman Coast and the surrounding region including the Kola Peninsula.History
Murmansk was the last city founded in the Russian Empire.In 1915, World War I needs led to the construction of the northern part of the Kirov Railway: a railroad from Petrozavodsk to an ice-free location on the Murman Coast in the Russian Arctic, to which Russia's allies shipped military supplies.
The terminus became known as the Murman station and soon boasted a port, a naval base, and an adjacent settlement with a population that quickly grew in size and soon surpassed the nearby towns of Alexandrovsk and Kola.
On, 1916, Russian Transport Minister Alexander Trepov petitioned to grant urban status to the railway settlement. On, 1916, the petition was approved and the town was named Romanov-on-Murman, after the Imperial Russian dynasty, the Romanovs.
On, 1916, the official ceremony was performed, and the date is now considered the official date of the city's foundation. After the February Revolution of March 1917, on, 1917, the town was given its present name.
File:Английский крейсер Глори на Мурманском рейде.JPG|thumb|right|HMS Glory, flagship of the British North Russia Squadron in Murmansk in the First World War
In the winter of 1917 the British North Russia Squadron under Rear Admiral Thomas Kemp was based at Murmansk.
From 1918 to 1920, during the Russian Civil War, the town was occupied by the Western powers, who had been allied in World War I, and was also controlled by White Army forces.
On 13 February 1926, local self-government was organized in Murmansk for the first time, during a plenary session of the Murmansk City Soviet, which elected a Presidium.
Before this, the city was governed by the authorities of Alexandrovsky Uyezd and later of Murmansk Governorate.
On 1 August 1927, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee issued two resolutions: "On the Establishment of Leningrad Oblast" and "On the Borders and Composition of the Okrugs of Leningrad Oblast", which transformed Murmansk Governorate into Murmansk Okrug within Leningrad Oblast and made Murmansk the administrative center of Murmansk Okrug.
In 1934, the Murmansk Okrug Executive Committee developed a redistricting proposal, which included a plan to enlarge the city by merging the surrounding territories in the north, south, and west into Murmansk.
This plan was not confirmed by the Leningrad Oblast Executive Committee. In 1935–1937 several rural localities of Kolsky and Polyarny Districts were merged into Murmansk anyway.
According to the Presidium of the 'Leningrad Oblast Executive Committee resolution of 26 February 1935', the administrative center of Polyarny District was moved from Polyarnoye to Sayda-Guba. However, the provisions of the resolution were not fully implemented, and due to military construction in Polyarnoye, the administrative center was instead moved to Murmansk in the beginning of 1935.
In addition to being the administrative center of Murmansk Okrug, Murmansk continued to serve as the administrative center of Polyarny District until 11 September 1938. On 10 February 1938, when the VTsIK adopted a Resolution changing the administrative-territorial structure of Murmansk Okrug, the city of Murmansk became a separate administrative division of the okrug, equal in status to that of the districts. This status was retained when Murmansk Okrug was transformed into Murmansk Oblast on 28 May 1938. The Germans were promised the use of the port they called for transportation of goods and raw materials from 1922 to 1941.
From March 1941 to 1945, the US government supplied Allied nations with food, oil, and through the Lend-Lease policy.
Murmansk was a link to the Western world for the Soviet Union.
Arctic convoys brought large quantities of goods: primarily military equipment, manufactured goods and raw materials.
Wehrmacht and Finnish forces in Finnish territory launched an offensive against Murmansk as part of Operation Silver Fox. Fierce Soviet resistance and harsh local weather, with the bad terrain, prevented them from capturing it. The Luftwaffe bombed Murmansk 792 times during World War II.
It suffered extensive destruction, the magnitude of which was rivaled only by the destruction in Leningrad and Stalingrad.
On 6 May 1985, the city's resistance was commemorated at the 40th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in the formal designation of Murmansk as a Hero City.
During the Cold War Murmansk was a center of Soviet submarine and icebreaker activity.
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the nearby city and naval base of Severomorsk remain the headquarters of the Russian Northern Fleet.
In 1974, a tall statue Alyosha, depicting a Soviet World War II soldier, was installed on a high foundation. The Hotel Arctic opened in 1984, becoming the tallest building above the Arctic Circle.
On 1 January 2015, the territory of Murmansk was expanded when the urban-type settlement of Roslyakovo, previously under the jurisdiction of the closed administrative-territorial formation of Severomorsk, was abolished and its territory merged into Murmansk.
Administrative and municipal status
Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as the City of Murmansk—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the City of Murmansk is incorporated as Murmansk Urban Okrug.City divisions
, the city is divided into three administrative okrugs:- Leninsky
- Oktyabrsky
- Pervomaysky
Mikoyanovsky City District was renamed Oktyabrsky on 30 October 1957, but on 30 September 1958, all three city districts were again abolished. On 10 June 1967, two city districts were created ; Pervomaysky City District was split from Oktyabrsky on 21 February 1975. In the Charter of the Hero City of Murmansk, adopted on 17 December 1995, the districts started to be referred to as administrative okrugs.
Geography
Climate
Murmansk experiences a subarctic climate, with long and cold winters and short, cool summers. In the city, freezing temperatures are routinely experienced from October to May. Average temperatures exceed 0 degrees Celsius only from May through October. The average low during the coldest part of the year in Murmansk is approximately. However, temperatures routinely plunge below during the winter.Murmansk's brief summer is mild, with average highs in July exceeding. The city is slightly wetter during the summer than the winter and receives an annual average of just under of precipitation.
The "midnight sun" is above the horizon from 22 May to 23 July, and the period with continuous darkness is somewhat shorter — the polar night lasts from 2 December to 10 January.
Extreme temperatures range from on 6 January 1985, and 27 January 1999, up to on 9 July 1972; the record cold daily maximum is, set on 6 January 1985, while, conversely, the record warm daily minimum is last set on 9 July 1972.
Murmansk has been affected by global warming in recent decades, similar to other Arctic locations. For example, December 2007 had an average high of, while a average high was measured for March 2007.
Summer has also been affected, with a average high for June 2013, and a average high during July 2018.
Demographics
The population of the city, according to the 2010 Census, was 307,257 persons, of these, 141,130 were men and 166,127 were women. Murmansk's population is down significantly from the 468,039 persons recorded in the 1989 Census. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the city has been consistently losing population, as the extensive military facilities the city is built around have declined. Ethnic Russians make up the majority of the population, but Ukrainian and Belarusian minorities also live in the city.Ethnic composition :
- Russians – 89.6%
- Ukrainians – 4.6%
- Belarusians – 1.6%
- Tatars – 0.8%
- Azerbaijanis – 0.7%
- Others – 2.6%
Politics