Sakha (Yakutia).

History

Yakutia's incorporation into Russia dates from 1632, when the Cossack officer Pyotr Beketov built the Yakutsk stockade on the Lena, the seed of today's city. The Yakut ASSR was formed on 27 April 1922, a date still marked as Republic Day. In 1991 the region took its present name, the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic. Today it produces about 99 percent of Russia's diamonds, and the diamond pit at Mirny is one of the sights of the republic's north.

Culture & traditions

More than half of the population are Sakha (Yakuts), alongside Russians, Evenks, Evens, Yukaghirs and Dolgans. UNESCO has recognised the Yakut heroic epic olonkho as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity. The main festival is Ysyakh, a midsummer celebration with horse racing, folk dancing and traditional contests. Yakutsk has a museum devoted to the khomus, the jaw harp at the heart of Yakut music, as well as the Sakha Theatre, the Russian Drama Theatre and an opera and ballet house.

Nature

The entire republic is underlain by permafrost, and the annual temperature swing reaches 70–75 degrees. Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon are known as the poles of cold; Verkhoyansk has recorded −67.8 °C. The main river is the Lena, about 4,400 km long, joined by the Vilyuy, Aldan and Kolyma among others. Some 180 km from Yakutsk the Lena Pillars rise 150–300 metres above the river, carved from Cambrian rock and listed by UNESCO since 2012. Pleistocene Park is an attempt to recreate the grasslands of the Ice Age.

Sport

Traditional sports are a core part of Ysyakh: on the last weekend of June the festival brings horse racing and traditional Yakut contests. Watching them is the best way to get to know Sakha sporting traditions.

Food & drink

Sakha cooking grew out of the northern climate, relying on boiling, fermenting and freezing. The best-known dish is stroganina, thin shavings of frozen fish, sometimes made from foal meat or liver. Milk was long the heart of the diet, turned into butter, curds and the thick soured suorat, while mare's milk becomes kumis. For dessert there is kierchekh, whipped cream with berries, and among meat dishes the blood sausage khaan stands out.

Practical information

Most visitors fly into Yakutsk International Airport; the Amur–Yakutsk railway ends at Nizhny Bestyakh on the right bank of the Lena, from where a ferry runs to Yakutsk in summer and an ice road in winter. The republic spans three time zones, from Moscow plus 6 hours in Yakutsk to Moscow plus 8 in the east. The climate is sharply continental, with Yakutsk averaging about −41 °C in January and +19 °C in July. The short warm summer suits river trips, while those chasing real frost come in December to February.

What to see

• Lena Pillars — UNESCO-listed rock towers above the Lena
• Permafrost Kingdom in Yakutsk — icy halls carved into frozen ground
• Khomus Museum — the story of the Yakut jaw harp
• Ysyakh — the midsummer festival of folk dancing and horse racing
• Oymyakon and Verkhoyansk — the Northern Hemisphere's poles of cold
• Mirny diamond mine — a vast open pit where diamonds are mined

Cities on the map

• Yakutsk 372,801
• Mirny 34,013
• Tiksi 4,173