Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

History

Since ancient times the Nenets and Khanty have lived here by hunting, fishing and reindeer herding. In 1595 Russians founded Obdorsk, today's Salekhard, on the site of the Khanty settlement of Polnovat-Vozh. Under the tsars and the Soviets the area was a place of exile. The okrug was formed on 10 December 1930, and the discovery of the Urengoy gas field led to the founding of Novy Urengoy in 1975.

Culture & traditions

Besides Russian, the Nenets, Selkup and Khanty languages are recognised in the okrug. The Nenets keep up nomadic reindeer herding, migrating each year across Yamal and taking their herds to the coast for salty pastures and relief from insects. Their traditional home is a conical tent, and their worldview rests on respect for the land. The Shemanovsky Museum in Salekhard holds Lyuba, a baby mammoth around 42,000 years old found on Yamal by reindeer herder Yuri Khudi in 2007.

Nature

The okrug covers the Yamal, Taz and Gydan peninsulas, and the Polar Urals reach into it from the west. The Ob meets the Kara Sea through the Gulf of Ob, and there are almost 300,000 lakes. Salekhard is Russia's only city sitting on the Arctic Circle; the midnight sun shines there from 7 June to 6 July.

Sport

Novy Urengoy is home to the men's volleyball club Fakel. In winter, skiing and snowmobile racing are popular.

Food & drink

Northern cooking rests on what the tundra and rivers provide: reindeer meat and fish. Reindeer herding and fishing still support many people in Salekhard today.

Practical information

Salekhard Airport is 7 km from the city, with flights to Moscow and other major cities; Novy Urengoy also has an airport and a railway line from Tyumen. The nearest station to Salekhard is Labytnangi across the Ob: in winter vehicles cross on the ice, but during the ice break-up the city is cut off. Local time is Moscow plus two hours. The climate is subarctic, with January at −22 to −30°C in Novy Urengoy and summers at +10 to +18°C; June and July, with the midnight sun, are the best time to come.

What to see

• Salekhard — Russia's only city right on the Arctic Circle
• Lyuba the baby mammoth at the Shemanovsky Museum — a find some 42,000 years old
• Polar Urals — mountains on the okrug's western edge
• Yamal Peninsula — tundra and the migration routes of Nenets herders
• Gulf of Ob — the gulf through which the Ob reaches the Kara Sea

Cities on the map

• Salekhard 51,972