Kemerovo Oblast
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kemerovo Oblast (Russian: Ке́меровская о́бласть, Kemerovskaya oblast) (pop. 2,899,142 as of the 2002 Census), often called Kuzbass (Кузба́сс) after the Kuznetsk Basin, is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), is located in southwestern Siberia, where the West-Siberian Plain meets the South Siberian mountains. The oblast, which covers an area of 95,500 km², shares a border with Tomsk Oblast in the north, Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Republic of Khakassia in the east, Altai Krai in the south, and Novosibirsk Oblast, and Altai Republic in the west. Its population is predominantly ethnic Russian, but Ukrainians, Tatars, and Chuvash also live in the region.
The oblast was established on January 26, 1943, but it has considerably older antecedents. The oldest city in Kemerovo Oblast is Kuznetsk (after 1961, Novokuznetsk), founded in 1618, soon after Cossack ataman Yermak's push into Siberia. Kuznetsk is also the largest city in the oblast, exceeding even the regional capital, Kemerovo, 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.
Kemerovo Oblast is one of Russia's most important industrial regions, with some of the world's biggest 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 and the Raspadskaya and Yuzhkuzbassugol coal and coking coal mines there. in The north is more agricultural. The region has a dense railway network, including the Trans-Siberian Railway, which passes through the oblast.
The current governor of Kemerovo Oblast is Aman Tuleyev.
[edit] Time zone
Kemerovo Oblast is located in the Krasnoyarsk Time Zone (KRAT/KRAST). UTC offset is +0700 (KRAT)/+0800 (KRAST).
[edit] Administrative divisions
[edit] External link
- (Russian) Official website of Kemerovo Oblast
