Balagansky District (russian: Балаганский райо́н) is an administrative district, one of the thirty-three in

Irkutsk Oblast Irkutsk Oblast (russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть, Irkutskaya oblast; bua, Эрхүү можо, Erkhüü mojo) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara, Lena, and Nizh ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

.Charter of Irkutsk Oblast Municipally, it is incorporated as Balagansky Municipal District.Law #64-oz The area of the district is . Its

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or ...

is the urban locality (a work settlement) of

Balagansk Balagansk (russian: Балага́нск) is an urban locality (a work settlement) and the administrative center of Balagansky District, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia.Law #49-OZ It is located on the left bank of the Angara River, downstream from Svirsk ...

.Law #49-OZ Population: 9,973 ( 2002 Census). The population of Balagansk accounts for 44.7% of the district's total population.

History

Balagansk was founded in 1654 by the Kazak detachment led by Dmitry Firsov on the left bank of the

Angara River The Angara ( Buryat and mn, Ангар, ''Angar'', "Cleft"; russian: Ангара́, ''Angará'') is a major river in Siberia, which traces a course through Russia's Irkutsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai. It drains out of Lake Baikal and is ...

opposite to the mouth of the

Unga River The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

, in the course of Russian colonization of

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

. The name Balagansk originates from the Bulagat, literally ''

sable The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaza ...

hunters'', a Buryat tribe. From 1655, mass settlement started in the area; eventually, a colony was built and iron mining developed.

Balagansk Fortress Balagansk (russian: Балага́нск) is an types of inhabited localities in Russia, urban locality (a urban-type settlement, work settlement) and the administrative center of Balagansky District, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia.Law #49-OZ It is located ...

('' ostrog'') was built in Balagansk, to which the Buryats were attached to and they paid tributes to the Russians. Buryats grew to dominate the area and on April 1, 1818, seventeen clans of the Balagansk Buryats met and adopted a memorandum to submit to the Russian authorities. In their memorandum they raised six issues and also provided action to be taken on each of them which related to courts, private law, criminal law, the rights and duties of the chief Taisha and heads of clans. In the course of the administrative reform carried out in 1708 by

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

, the territory was included into

Siberia Governorate Siberia Governorate (russian: Сибирская губерния) was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Tsardom of Russia and then the Russian Empire, which existed from 1708 until 1782. Its seat was in Tobolsk (initially sp ...

. In 1764,

Irkutsk Governorate Irkutsk Governorate (russian: Иркутская губерния) was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, located in Siberia. It existed from 1764 to 1926; its seat was in the city of Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus ...

split off, and in 1775, Balagansk was granted town status and became the seat of

Balagansky Uyezd Balagansky District (russian: Балаганский райо́н) is an administrative district, one of the administrative divisions of Irkutsk Oblast, thirty-three in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia.Charter of Irkutsk Oblast Subdivisions of Russia#Municip ...

of Irkutsk Governorate. In 1924, the uyezds was abolished, the governorate split into districts, and Balagansk was moved to

Ziminsky District Ziminsky District (russian: Зими́нский райо́н) is an administrative district, one of the thirty-three in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia.Charter of Irkutsk Oblast Municipally, it is incorporated as Ziminsky Municipal District.Law #102-oz T ...

. In 1925, it lost town status and was downgraded to a '' selo''. In 1926, Balagansky District was established, and Balagansk became the district's administrative center. During the construction of

Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station The Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station (also referred to as The ''50 years of Great October'' Dam) is a concrete gravity dam on the Angara River and adjacent hydroelectric power station. It is the second level of the Angara River hydroelectric st ...

Balagansk disappeared under water. The name was inherited by a new settlement, which was previously known as Novobalagansk. It was founded in 1957 several dozens kilometers south of the original location of Balagansk, and on June 5, 1962 it was renamed Balagansk and granted urban-type settlement status. In 1962, Balagansky District was abolished and split between Zalarinsky and

Ust-Udinsky District Ust-Udinsky District (russian: Усть-Удинский райо́н) is an administrative district, one of the thirty-three in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia.Charter of Irkutsk Oblast Municipally, it is incorporated as Ust-Udinsky Municipal District.La ...

s. Balagansk was transferred to

Zalarinsky District Zalarinsky District (russian: Залари́нский райо́н) is an administrative district, one of the thirty-three in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia.Charter of Irkutsk Oblast Municipally, it is incorporated as Zalarinsky Municipal District.Law # ...

, and in 1965 it was moved to

In 1989, Balagansky District was re-established, with the administrative center in Balagansk.

References

Notes

Sources

* * * {{Use mdy dates, date=February 2013 __NOTOC__ Districts of Irkutsk Oblast