Naryan-Mar (russian: Нарья́н-Мар; Nenets: Няръянa марˮ, ''Njarjana marꜧ'', literally "red town") is a sea and river port

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and the

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 ...

of the

Nenets Autonomous Okrug The Nenets Autonomous Okrug (russian: Не́нецкий автоно́мный о́круг; Nenets languages, Nenets: Ненёцие автономной ӈокрук, ''Nenjocije awtonomnoj ŋokruk'') is a federal subjects of Russia, federal su ...

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 ...

. The town is situated on the right bank of the

Pechora River ; Komi: Печӧра; Nenets: Санэроˮ яха , name_etymology = The Russian name of the river is a combination of two words in an old local Nenets dialect, "pe" & "chora". Literally it means "forest dweller". , image ...

, upstream from the river's mouth, on the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...

. Naryan-Mar lies north of the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...

. Population: 17,000 (1973). About half of the population of Nenetsia lives in the city.

History

Industrial development in the area around Naryan-Mar began in 1930, in the course of the

first five-year plan The first five-year plan (russian: I пятилетний план, ) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a list of economic goals, created by Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin, based on his policy of socialism in ...

of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. The growth of the region was the direct result of the development of the Pechora coalfield and the construction of related industrial infrastructure. Naryan-Mar was for many years a center of the lumber industry, and possesses several large, and currently defunct, lumber mills. At present, the biggest employer in the town is the petroleum company

LUKoil The PJSC Lukoil Oil Company ( stylized as LUKOIL or ЛУКОЙЛ in Cyrillic script) is a Russian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Moscow, specializing in the business of extraction, production, transport, and sale of petrol ...

. The town's importance derives from being the only developed commercial port in an area of several thousand square miles. As a result, Naryan-Mar has a reasonably well developed tourist and hospitality services, with several saunas and hotels. The town also hosts a local museum, a large

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

memorial, an Orthodox church, and a historic district which predates the foundation of the modern city. Sports fishing is also possible in the area.

Administrative and municipal status

Naryan-Mar is the

of the

autonomous okrug Autonomous okrugs ( rus, автономный округ, ''avtonomnyy okrug''; more correctly referred to as "autonomous districts" or "autonomous areas") are a type of federal subject of the Russian Federation and simultaneously an administrati ...

.Law #557-OZ Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as the town of okrug significance of Naryan-Mar—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

. As a municipal division, the town of okrug significance of Naryan-Mar is incorporated as Naryan-Mar Urban Okrug.

Transportation

The town is served by the

Naryan-Mar Airport Naryan-Mar Airport () is an airport in Russia located 3 km east of Naryan-Mar. It is a mixed civilian-military field, and is the only major facility airfield on the Barents Sea coast between Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ; rus, Арха� ...

, which is connected to the town by the -long A-381.

Climate

Naryan-Mar has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Dfc'') with short, mild summers that may exceed and very cold winters. Precipitation is somewhat greater in summer than in winter.

References

Notes

Sources

* {{Use mdy dates, date=December 2012 Barents Sea Port cities and towns in Russia Cities and towns built in the Soviet Union Populated places established in 1935 Populated places of Arctic Russia Cities and towns in Nenets Autonomous Okrug 1935 establishments in Russia