Berdsk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Berdsk | |||
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Oblast | Novosibirsk | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor | Alexander Terepa | ||
| Area | |||
| - City | 70 km² (27 sq mi) | ||
| - Land | 70 km² (27 sq mi) | ||
| - Water | 0 km² (0 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | +200 m (656.2 ft) | ||
| Population (2005) | |||
| - City | 90,700 | ||
| - Density | 1,300/km² (3,367/sq mi) | ||
| Website: http://berdsk.nso.ru/ | |||
Berdsk (Russian: Бердск) is a town in Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia, a satellite of Novosibirsk. It is situated on a bank of the Berd river. It was founded in 1716 as a fortress. Town status granted in 1944. Its original territory was flooded by the water reservoir of the Novosibirsk hydroelectric powerstation (Ob sea) in 1957. Population: 90,700 (2005 est.); 88,445 (2002 Census).
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[edit] History
The migration of Russians in the territory of modern Novosibirsk Oblast began in the end of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century. The people were usual for all the Siberia colonization: fugitive peasants who escaped from excessive pressure of Peter I regime, fugitive criminals (raskolniki), people free for various reasons (volnitsa) like hunters for furs attracted by the richness of Siberian woods and others, searching for freedom (volya) and wishing to settle in these places (see History of Siberia).
By 1715 the Berd river basin was populated significantly for those ages. The risk of incursions of nomads from the south made them demand building a fortress for defence from the Tomsk district authorities.
In 1716 an expedition left Tomsk and came to the place between Ob river and its confluent Berd. The construction was lead by Ivan Butkeyev, a captive Pole, who settled in Russia, became a serviceman and went to Siberia. The Berd ostróg (in Russian Бердский острог, Berd fortress) was built in the angle between the two rivers. It was protected by the rivers and precipitous banks from two sides and by a dense forest on the third side. The Ob river valley was observed well too from the height of the banks.
The very date of 1716 is discussed though. Some researches point to earlier mentions of this fortress. Besides, in this place there was a duty road (ясачная дорога, yasáchnaya doróga) that led to Kuznetsk (nowadays Novokuznetsk) town yet in the middle of the XVII century. This place could be ideal for a settlement, and some proofs are given by this version supporters. According to them, the fact that in maps of 1710 there was no settlement in place of Berdsk ostrog could mean that it had been destroyed by nomads.
A description of 1734 reads: "There is one wall in arc between Ob and Berd, of cleaned logs with sharp tops, 3 sazhen high (6.39 m/21'). In front of the wall there is a ditch with water and some defensive devices. By the ends of the wall there are observation towers. All the buildings are inside of the ostrog: living houses, the church, the chief's house, the court house, barns and the garrison. The troop consists of local cossacs having guns, there is one small cannon."
Besides the settled Russians who had to farm to live, the state encouraged the servicemen to farm too. They cultivated the land not far from the fortress, constructing temporary houses and farmsteads (in Russian called заи́мки zaímkas).
In 1730 the Siberia trakt (road) passed here, giving an impulse to the development of trade and crafts.
In the beginning of the nineteenth century in Berdsk area were found grains of gold washed there from the upper course of Berd, in particular from some sourses at Salair range, in 200 km from there. The discovery lead to searches and mining of gold in those places.
By the beginning of twentieth century Berdsk became a major center of grain processing, refining grain from the upper Ob basin, which nowadays is south of Novosibirsk Oblast and Altai Krai. The industry was highly developed and possessed advanced technologies.
As an example, a mill of a merchant V. A. Gorokhov was a real factory of grain processing, one of the most advanced enterprises in Tomsk Guberniya: given an advanced equipment as in the Western Europe, it could operate 90 tonnes of grain in a day, producing flour of several sorts. The flour was packed into special labelled bags and sold in all the Siberia, exported into the European Russia and even to the Western Europe. Gorokhov undertook expeditions to trade flour via Kara Sea where his barge met English merchants. In 1909 Gorokhov's mill won a minor gold medal at the World Fair in Paris. His enterprise was highly developed not only technically and economically, but also socially: the community of the mill personnel lived in a quarter of good and clean houses. They were not only paid well and given gifts for holidays, but also Gorokhov kept a house of culture with stage and professional actors, a library and a well-equipped technical school, to teach all the skills needed to work at the mill, including towboat navigation.
In 1915 Altai railway passed near Berdsk, it connected Novo-Nikolaevsk, Barnaul and Biysk.
The full mobilization during the World War I and the civil war after the revolution heavily struck the town: its population diminished by 1/3. During the civil was it was a place of military command and administrative centre of White movement and also a place of strong resistance of underground communists. The following collectivisation was another serious strike, given that the only kind of farmers in Siberia were private independend owners. Even if not many were subjected to repression, the radical change of the relationships ended the role of Siberia as an agricultural exporter.
Because of the construction of the Novosibirsk hydroelectric powerstation, the main part of the town turned out to be in the zone of flood of the water reservoir (called Ob sea). In several years before the filling of the water reservoir in 1957–1958, the town was evacuated and rebuilt around that part near the railroad station. The state provided financial aid to inhabitants. There are no historic buildings left in Berdsk, the oldest were built by 1915 for the station, the town streets form straight rectangles. Though, they are wider than were before, and also the rebuilding dobuled the average living space per capita.
[edit] Geography
The town is situated on the left bank of Berdsk gulf, the flooded valley of Berd river, the land is plain. There are fields to the south of the town and a pine forest of about 20 km² to the West, between Berdsk and the Ob sea.
The list of the cities closes to Berdsk (name of the region if outside of Novosibirsk Oblast; distance to the center directly/by automobile road; direction)
- Iskitim (18/18, SE)
- Novosibirsk (33/32, N)
- Ob (37/49, NW)
- Cherepanovo (61/71, S)
- Toguchin (97/154, NE)
- Bolotnoye (131/164, NE)
- Chulym (141/178, W)
- Kamen-na-Obi (Altai Krai, 155/233, SW)
- Yurga (Kemerovo Oblast, 158/205, NE)
- Novoaltaysk (Altai Krai, 159/193, S)
- Barnaul (Altai Krai, 159/207, S)
- Zarinsk (Altai Krai, 166/264, SE)
- Topki (Kemerovo Oblast, 171/266, E)
- Salair (Kemerovo Oblast, 183/? E)
(Source)
[edit] Structure and population
The town is subdivided into seven microdistricts:
- Centre (Центр)
- Mikrorayon (Микрорайон)
- Voyenny Gorodok (Военный городок)
- Krasny Sokol (Красный сокол)
- Dom Otdykha (Дом отдыха)
- Novy Posyolok (Новый посёлок; at the right bank of Berd, borders on Akademgorodok)
- Agroles (Агролес)
About one third of the town square are private one-floor small houses. They have only cold water, electricity and wired radio. Another third consists of quarters of municipal houses or recently built commercial. Some quarters possess cable TV networks and computer LANs.
History of population:
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[edit] Transportation
The road M52 passes through Berdsk connecting Novosibirsk with Altai Krai, Altai Republic and Mongolia. Thanks to it, 15-20 minutes are enough to reach Akademgorodok and about 1 hour to main part of Novosibirsk. The daily commuter traffic to workplaces in the latter two places is significant.
Inside of the town there is a network of municipal and private buses routes, including intercity routes to Novosibirsk and Iskitim. In the central part of Berdsk is situated the railway station with branch lines connecting some local enterprises. The station serves local elektrichkas and transit long distance trains to Altai and Kazakhstan.
River passenger or cargo traffic is only private and negligible, though there is a yacht-club and a pier for sand carrying barges.
[edit] Economy
The vicinity of the Ob sea and highly-populated city of Novosibirsk and clean environment make Berdsk a good place for recreation and resort. In its territory there are some hotels called dom otdykha (дом отдыха, literally rest house) and health centres (called sanatorium, санаторий). Also there are constructed some high-standard livign houses.
There is also a developed industrial zone: Berdsk Electromechanical Plant, Biological Medcines Plant, Bread-baking Plant, industrial wrapping producer “Notis”, clothes factory.
In the center of the town there were facilities of "Vega", a plant of domestic radioelectronic equipment. It possessed a network of brand stores across the USSR, but failed to compete with imported electronics in 1990s, and declared bankruptcy in 1996.
In the southern part of the town there is a military camp of airborne troops, with an airdrome that is also used by local aviaclub for commercial and sportive parachute jumps, aerobatic and gliders flights.
[edit] Education and culture
There are about 15 high-schools in Berdsk, the last one was rebuilt in 1990s, 4 trade schools, electromechanical secondary school, lyceum, management college, medical secondary school. There is a network of libraries in urban districts.
Berdsk has 2 palaces of culture: one in the central district and one in Mirkoraion. There are 3 stadiums, 5 sports schools, a musical school, a museum of history and culture, a park, a yacht club.
[edit] Bibliography
- “Moy Gorod” Encyclopedia
- Historic review at the town administration site
- Historical review at Berdsk.ru
- “Berd Ostrog” at the Novosibirsk Oblast portal
[edit] Links
- Municipality website
- Berdsk.ru
- Berdsk in the electronic map “Dubl-GIS Novosibirsk”
- “Berd Ostrog”
- Портал “Berdsk Virtualnyi”
- Berdsk.biz
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Cities and towns in Novosibirsk Oblast |  |
| Administrative center: Novosibirsk Barabinsk | Berdsk | Bolotnoye | Cherepanovo | Chulym | Iskitim | Karasuk | Kargat | Kupino | Kuybyshev | Novosibirsk | Ob | Tatarsk | Toguchin |
