Palatka (russian: Палатка, lit. ''tent'') is an urban locality (an

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlementrussian: посёлок городско́го ти́па, translit=posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: russian: п.г.т., translit=p.g.t.; ua, селище міського типу, translit=selyshche mis'koho typu, ab ...

) 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 ...

Khasynsky District Khasynsky District (russian: Хасы́нский райо́н) is an administrative district (raion), one of the eight in Magadan Oblast, Russia.Law #1292-OZ As a municipal division, it is incorporated as Khasynsky Urban Okrug.Law #1885-OZ Its ...

Magadan Oblast Magadan Oblast ( rus, Магаданская область, r=Magadanskaya oblast, p=məgɐˈdanskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. It is geographically located in the Far East region of the country, and is adminis ...

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 ...

, located on the

Kolyma Highway The R504 Kolyma Highway (russian: Федеральная автомобильная дорога «Колыма», ''Federal'naya Avtomobil'naya Doroga «Kolyma»,'' "Federal Automobile Highway 'Kolyma'"), part of the M56 route, is a road throu ...

, northwest of

Magadan Magadan ( rus, Магадан, p=məɡɐˈdan) is a port town and the administrative center of Magadan Oblast, Russia, located on the Sea of Okhotsk in Nagayev Bay (within Taui Bay) and serving as a gateway to the Kolyma region. History Maga ...

and about south of Atka. Population:

Geography

The settlement is located by the bank of the

Khasyn The Khasyn ( rus, Хасын) is a river in Magadan Oblast, Russian Far East, a tributary of the Arman. It is long, with a drainage basin of . The R504 Kolyma Highway runs by the riverside along a long stretch.Google Earth The name of the rive ...

, flowing from the

Kolyma Mountains The Kolyma Mountains or Kolyma Upland ( rus, Колымское нагорье, r=Kolymskoye Nagorye) is a system of mountain ranges in northeastern Siberia, lying mostly within the Magadan Oblast, along the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk in the Ko ...

History

The exact date of foundation of the settlement is unclear, although it began at some point in the early 1930s as the area's gold reserves were explored, and a labor camp of the

gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

was built here. The first official mention was in June 1932, when the first bridge was built over the Palatka River. In 1937, there were around 3,000 held at the prison settlement. The name ''Palatka'' is identical with the Russian word for 'tent', which has been suggested as the origin of the town's name as during the early period of the settlement's history it existed largely as a collection of tents and semi-permanent structures. It is also suggested that the name may come from the Evenk words ''Palja Atken'', meaning 'stony river'. In spite of its somewhat chaotic and unplanned nature, by 1939 Palatka was one of the largest settlements on the Kolyma Highway, and in August of that year began the construction of permanent dwellings. A

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard-gauge railway, standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum r ...

was built from Palatka to the harbor at Magadan, which remained in operation until 1950. In the 1960s, a

sovkhoz A sovkhoz ( rus, совхо́з, p=sɐfˈxos, a=ru-sovkhoz.ogg, abbreviated from ''советское хозяйство'', "sovetskoye khozyaystvo (sovkhoz)"; ) was a form of state-owned farm in the Soviet Union. It is usually contrasted wit ...

based around farming

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

was opened in the settlement. In the 1970s, mining activity began in nearby Karamken, and Palatka became a dormitory town for mine workers. After the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, the closure of the reindeer farm left a great number of local people unemployed (mainly

Evenks The Evenks (also spelled Ewenki or Evenki based on their endonym )Autonym: (); russian: Эвенки (); (); formerly known as Tungus or Tunguz; mn, Хамниган () or Aiwenji () are a Tungusic people of North Asia. In Russia, the Even ...

and

Orochs Orochs (Russian ''О́рочи''), Orochons, or Orochis (self-designation: ''Nani'') are a people of Russia that speak the Oroch (''Orochon'') language of the Southern group of Tungusic languages. According to the 2002 census there were 686 Or ...

), and the mining industry also saw a general downturn with administration moving to other localities such as

Susuman Susuman (russian: Сусума́н) is a town and the administrative center of Susumansky District in Magadan Oblast, Russia, located on the Byoryolyokh River, northwest of Magadan, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: Geograp ...

. The settlement maintains sister relations with Palatka in the US state of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. The names are only coincidentally identical, with the name of Palatka in Florida being of Native American origin. Palatka lies on the route of the proposed future rail link between the

Amur Yakutsk Mainline The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China (Inner Manchuria). The Amur proper is long, ...

and

Sister city

* Palatka,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

References

{{Use mdy dates, date=March 2013 Urban-type settlements in Magadan Oblast