Sakha,^[a] officially theRepublic of Sakha (Yakutia),^[b] is thelargestrepublic ofRussia, located in theRussian Far East, along theArctic Ocean, with a population of one million.^[11] Sakha comprises half of the area of its governingFar Eastern Federal District, and is the world'slargest country subdivision, covering over 3,083,523 square kilometers (1,190,555 sq mi).^[12]Yakutsk, which is the world's coldest major city,^[13] is its capital and largest city.

Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
Republic
Республика Саха
Other transcription(s)
• Yakut	Саха Өрөспүүбүлүкэтэ
• Romanization	Saxa Öröspüübülükete
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem:State Anthem of the Sakha Republic[3]
Coordinates:66°24′N129°10′E / 66.400°N 129.167°E /66.400; 129.167
Country	Russia
Federal district	Far Eastern[1]
Economic region	Far Eastern[2]
Capital	Yakutsk[4]
Government
• Body	State Assembly (Il Tumen)[5]
• Head[5]	Aysen Nikolayev
Area [6]
• Total	3,083,523 km2 (1,190,555 sq mi)
• Rank	1st
Population  (2021 census)[7]
• Total	995,686
• Estimate  (2018)[8]	964,330
• Rank	50th
• Density	0.32/km2 (0.84/sq mi)
• Urban	66.8%
• Rural	33.2%
Time zones
most(excluding districts in UTC+10:00 and UTC+11:00 time zones)	UTC+09:00 (Yakutsk Time)
Oymyakonsky,Ust-Yansky andVerkhoyansky districts	UTC+10:00 (Vladivostok Time)
Abyysky,Allaikhovsky,Momsky,Nizhnekolymsky,Srednekolymsky andVerkhnekolymsky districts	UTC+11:00 (Magadan Time)
ISO 3166 code	RU-SA
License plates	14
OKTMO ID	98000000
Official languages	Russian;[9] Yakut[10]
Website	sakha.gov.ru

Interactive map of the Sakha Republic

The republic has a reputation for an extreme and severe climate, with the second lowest temperatures in theNorthern Hemisphere being recorded inVerkhoyansk andOymyakon (second only toSummit Camp,Greenland), and regular winter averages commonly dipping below −35 °C (−31 °F) in Yakutsk. The hypercontinental tendencies also result in warm summers for much of the republic.

Sakha was first home tohunting-gathering andreindeer herdingTungusic andPaleosiberian peoples such as theEvenks andYukaghir. Migrating from the area aroundLake Baikal, theTurkicSakha people first settled along the middleLena river sometime between the 9th and 16th centuries, likely in several waves, bringing thepastoral economic system ofCentral Asia with them.

TheRussians colonised and incorporated the area as theYakutsk Oblast into theTsardom of Russia in the early-mid 17th century, obliging the indigenous peoples of the area to payfur tribute. While the initial period following the Russian conquest saw the Sakha population drop by 70%, theImperial period also saw the expansion of the nativeYakuts from the middle Lena along theVilyuy River to the north and the east displacing other indigenous groups. Yakutia saw some of the last battles of theRussian Civil War, and the Bolshevik authorities re-organized Yakutsk Oblast into the autonomousYakut ASSR in 1922. The Soviet era saw the migration of manySlavs, specificallyRussians andUkrainians, into the area.

On 27 September 1990, the area became the Yakutskaya-Sakha Soviet Socialist Republic, and on 27 December 1991, it became the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

TheexonymYakut comes from theEvenk termYako (alsoyoqo,ñoqa, orñoka), which was the term the Evenks used to describe the Sakha. This was in turn picked up by the Russians.^[14] TheYukaghirs, another neighboring people inSiberia, use the exonymyoqol ~yoqod- ~yoqon- (Tundra Yukaghir) oryaqal ~ yaqad- ~ yaqan- (Kolyma Yukaghir).^{[citation needed]}

Theself-designationSakha is probably of the same origin (*jaqa >Sakha following regular sound changes in the course of development of the Yakut language) as the Evenk and Yukaghir exonyms for the Yakuts.^[15] It is pronounced asHaka by theDolgans,whose language is a close relative of theYakut language.^[16][17]

• Borders:
  • internal:Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (660 km) (East and Northeast),Magadan Oblast (1520 km) (East),Khabarovsk Krai (2130 km) (Southeast),Amur Oblast (South),Zabaykalsky Krai (South),Irkutsk Oblast (South and Southwest),Krasnoyarsk Krai (West).
  • water:Arctic Ocean (includingLaptev Sea andEastern Siberian Sea) (North).
• Highest point:Peak Pobeda (3,003 m)
• Maximum N–S distance: 2,500 km (1,600 mi)
• Maximum E–W distance: 2,000 km (1,200 mi)

Sakha stretches to theHenrietta Island in the far north and is washed by theLaptev andEastern Siberian Seas of the Arctic Ocean. These waters, the coldest and iciest of all seas in the Northern Hemisphere, are covered by ice for 9–10 months of the year.New Siberian Islands are a part of the republic's territory. AfterNunavut was separated from Canada'sNorthwest Territories in 1999, Sakha became thelargest subnational entity (statoid) in the world, with an area of 3,083,523 square kilometers (1,190,555 sq mi),^[12] slightly smaller than the territory ofIndia (3.3 million km²), but still slightly larger thanArgentina.

Sakha can be divided into three great vegetation belts. About 40% of Sakha lies above theArctic Circle and all of it is covered bypermafrost which greatly influences the region's ecology and limits forests in the southern region. Arctic and subarctictundra define the middle region, wherelichen andmoss grow as great green carpets and are favorite pastures forreindeer. In the southern part of the tundra belt, scattered stands of dwarfSiberian pine andlarch grow along the rivers. Below the tundra is the vasttaiga forest region. Larch trees dominate in the north and stands offir andpine begin to appear in the south. Taiga forests cover about 47% of Sakha and almost 90% of the cover is larch.

The Sakha Republic is the site ofPleistocene Park, a project directed at recreating Pleistocene tundra grasslands by stimulating the growth of grass with the introduction of animals which thrived in the region during the latePleistocene – earlyHolocene period.

Sakha is the onlyfederal subject of Russia which uses more than one time zone. Sakha spans three time zones.^[18] Like the rest of Russia, it does not usedaylight saving time.

The largest river is the navigableLena River (4,400 km). As it moves northward, it includes hundreds of smalltributaries located in theVerkhoyansk Range.

• Lena River
  • Vilyuy River (2,650 km) Lena River tributary
    • Markha River (1,181 km) Vilyuy River tributary
      • Morkoka River (812 km) Markha River tributary
    • Tyung River (1,092 km) Vilyuy River tributary
  • Aldan River (2,273 km) Lena River tributary
    • Amga River (1,462 km) Aldan River tributary
    • Maya River (1,053 km) Aldan River tributary
    • Uchur River (812 km) Aldan River tributary
  • Olyokma River (1,320 km) Lena River tributary
  • Linde River (804 km) Lena River tributary
  • Nyuya River (798 km) Lena River tributary
• Olenyok River (2,292 km)
• Kolyma River (2,129 km)
• Indigirka River (1,726 km)
  • Selennyakh River (796 km) Indigirka River tributary
• Alazeya River (1,590 km)
• Anabar River (939 km)
• Yana River (872 km)
  • Adycha River (715 km) Yana River tributary
  • Oldzho River (330 km) Yana River tributary
  • Bytantay River (620 km) Yana River tributary

There are over 800,000 lakes in the republic.^[19] Major lakes and reservoirs include:

• Lake Bolshoye Morskoye
• Lake Bustakh
• Emanda
• Lake Mogotoyevo
• Nedzheli
• Lake Nerpichye
• Lake Ozhogino
• Lake Suturuokha
• Tabanda
• Ulakhan-Kyuel
• Vilyuy Reservoir

Sakha's greatest mountain range, theVerkhoyansk Range, runs parallel and east of the Lena River, forming a great arc that begins in theSea of Okhotsk and ends in the Laptev Sea.

TheChersky Range runs east of the Verkhoyansk Range and has the highest peak in Sakha,Peak Pobeda (3,003 m - 9,852 ft). The second highest peak isPeak Mus-Khaya reaching 2,959 m (9,708 ft).

TheStanovoy Range borders Sakha in the south.

The Republic's extensive coastline contains a number of peninsulas; from west to east the most prominent are:

• Uryung-Tumus Peninsula
• Nordvik Peninsula
• Terpyay-Tumsa Peninsula
• Bykovsky Peninsula
• Buor-Khaya Peninsula
• Manyko Peninsula
• Shirokostan Peninsula
• Merkushina Strelka Peninsula
• Lopatka Peninsula
• Dogukan Peninsula

From west to east, the main islands of Sakha are:

• Preobrazheniya Island
• Bolshoy Begichev Island
• Maliy Begichev Island
• Peschany Island
• Salkay Island
• Orto Ary
• Daldalakh
• Dyangylakh Island
• Dunay Islands
• Leykina Island
• Islands of the Lena Delta
• Brusneva Island
• Muostakh Island
• Ulakhan Ary Island
• Yarok Island
• Shelonsky Islands
• Makar Island
• Stolbovoy Island
• New Siberian Islands (by far the largest group)
• De Long Islands
• Medvezhyi Islands
• Kolesovsky Island
• Kolesovskaya Otmel
• Gabyshevskiy Island
• Kamenka Island
• Markhayanovskiy Island
• Gusmp Island
• Sukhanyy Island

Sakha is well endowed with raw materials. The soil contains large reserves ofoil, gas,coal,diamonds,gold,silver,tin,tungsten and many others. Sakha produces 99% of all Russian diamonds and over 25% of the diamonds mined in the world.^[20][21]

Sakha is known for itsclimate extremes, with theVerkhoyansk Range being the coldest area in the Northern Hemisphere. Some of the lowest natural temperatures ever recorded have been here. TheNorthern Hemisphere'sPole of Cold is atVerkhoyansk, where the temperatures reached as low as −67.8 °C (−90.0 °F) in 1892 and 1885, and atOymyakon, where the temperatures reached as low as −67.8 °C (−90.0 °F) in February 1934.

Average annualprecipitation: 200 mm (central parts) to 700 mm (mountains of Eastern Sakha).

Siberia, and particularly Sakha, is ofpaleontological significance, as it contains bodies ofprehistoric animals from thePleistoceneEpoch, preserved in ice orpermafrost. In 2015, the frozen bodies ofDina and Uyan the cave lion cubs were found. Bodies ofYuka and anotherwoolly mammoth fromOymyakon, awoolly rhinoceros from theKolyma River, andbison andhorses fromYukagir have also been found.^[26] In June 2019, the severed yet preserved head of alarge wolf from the Pleistocene, dated to over 40,000 years ago, was found close to the Tirekhtyakh River.^[27][28][29]

Ymyakhtakh culture (c. 2200–1300 BC) was a Late Neolithic culture of Siberia, with a very large archaeological horizon. Its origins were in Sakha, in theLena river basin. From there it spread both to the east and to the west.^[30]

TheTurkicSakha people orYakuts may have settled the area as early as the 9th century or as late as the 16th century, though most likely there were several migrations. They migrated up north from aroundLake Baikal to themiddle Lena due to pressure by the Buryats, a Mongolic group.^[31]

The Sakha displaced earlier, much smaller populations who lived on hunting and reindeer herding, introducing thepastoralist economy of Central Asia. The indigenous populations ofPaleosiberian andTungusic stockwere mostlyassimilated to the Sakha by the 17th century.^[32]

TheTsardom of Russia began its conquest of the region in the 17th century, moving east after the defeat of theKhanate of Sibir.Tygyn, a king of theKhangalassky Sakha, granted territory for Russian settlement in return for a military pact that included war against indigenous rebels of all North Eastern Asia (Magadan,Chukotka,Kamchatka andSakhalin). Kull, a king of theMegino-Khangalassky Sakha, began a Sakha conspiracy by allowing the first stockade construction.^{[citation needed]}

In August 1638, the Moscow Government formed a new administrative unit with the administrative center of Lensky Ostrog (Fort Lensky), the future city ofYakutsk, which had been founded byPyotr Beketov in 1632.

The arrival of Russian settlers at the remoteRusskoye Ustye in theIndigirka delta is also believed to date from the 17th century.^[33] TheSiberian Governorate was established as part of the Russian Empire in 1708.

Russian settlers began to form a community in the 18th century, which adopted certain Sakha customs and was often calledYakutyane (Якутя́не) or Lena Early Settlers (ленские старожилы). However, the influx of later settlers had assimilated themselves into the Russian mainstream by the 20th century.

In an administrative reform of 1782,Irkutsk Governorate was created. In 1805,Yakutsk Oblast was split from Irkutsk Governorate.^[34]

Yakutsk Oblast in the early 19th century marked the easternmost territory of the Russian Empire, including suchFar Eastern (Pacific) territories as were acquired, known as Okhotsk Okrug within Yakutsk Oblast. With the formation ofPrimorskaya Oblast in 1856, the Russian territories of the Pacific were detached from Sakha.

The Russians established agriculture in theLena River basin. The members of religious groups who were exiled to Sakha in the second half of the 19th century began to growwheat,oats, andpotatoes. Thefur trade established a cash economy. Industry and transport began to develop at the end of the 19th century and in the beginning of theSoviet period. This was also the beginning ofgeological prospecting,mining, and locallead production. The first steam-powered ships and barges arrived.

Sakha's remoteness, compared to the rest of Siberia, made it a place of exile of choice for both Tsarist and Communist governments of Russia. Among the famous Tsarist-era exiles were the democratic writerNikolay Chernyshevsky;Doukhobors,conscientious objectors whose story was told toLeo Tolstoy byVasily Pozdnyakov; theSocialist Revolutionary Party member and writerVladimir Zenzinov, who left an account of his Arctic experiences; and Polish socialist activistWacław Sieroszewski, who pioneered in ethnographic research on the Sakha people.

A Sakha national movement first emerged during the1905 Revolution. A Yakut Union was formed under the leadership of a Sakha lawyer and city councilor by the name of Vasily Nikiforov, which criticized the policies and effects of Russian colonialism, and demanded representation in theState Duma. The Yakut Union acted to make the city council of Yakutsk stand down and was joined by thousands of Sakha from the countryside, but the leaders were arrested and the movement fizzled out by April 1906. Their demand for a Sakha representative in the Duma, however, was granted.^[35]

Sakha was home to the last stage of the Russian Civil War, theYakut Revolt. On April 27, 1922, former Yakutsk Oblast was proclaimed theYakut ASSR, although in fact the eastern part of the territory, including the city of Yakutsk, was controlled by theWhite Russians.

The early Soviet period saw a flourishing of Sakha literature as men such asPlaton Oyunsky wrote down in writing the traditionally oral and improvisedolonkho, in addition to composing their own works. Many early Sakha leaders, including Oyunsky, died in theGreat Purge.

Sakha experienced significant collectivizationbetween 1929 and 1934, with the number of households experiencing collectivization rising from 3.6% in 1929 to 41.7% in 1932. Policies by which the Sakha were harshly affected resulted in the population dropping from 240,500 in 1926 down to 236,700 at the 1959 census.^[36]

Sakha's demographics shifted wildly during the Soviet period as ethnic Russians and Ukrainians, among other groups, settled the area en masse, primarily in Yakutsk and the industrial south. Previously, even Yakutsk had been primarily Sakha and Sakha-speaking. With the end ofkorenizatsiya, usage of the Sakha language was restricted in urban areas such as Yakutsk, which became primarily Russian-speaking.

In 1992, after thefall of the Soviet Union, Sakha was recognized in Moscow as the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. Sakha is historically part of Russian Siberia, but since the formation of theFar Eastern Federal District in 2000, it is administratively part of theRussian Far East.

Population:995,686 (2021 Census);^[37]958,528 (2010 Census);^[38]949,280 (2002 Census);^[39]1,081,408 (1989 Soviet census).^[40] Population density is 0.31 per km² (2019), which is one of the lowest among Russian districts. Urban population: 65,45% (2018).^[41]

Source:Russian Federal State Statistics Service

According to the2021 Census, the ethnic composition was:^[42]

• 469,348Sakha (55.3%)
• 276,986Russians (32.6%)
• 24,334Evenks (2.9%)
• 13,233Evens (1.6%)
• 11,203Kyrgyz (1.3%)
• 7,169Ukrainians (0.8%)
• 6,572Buryats (0.8%)
• 5,620Tajiks (0.7%)

Historical population figures are shown below:

The official languages are both Russian andSakha, also known as Yakut, which is spoken by roughly half of the republic's population. In the 2021 census, 95% of Yakuts, 72% of Evenks and 60% of Evens declared Sakha as their native language.^[44] The Sakha language is a member of theTurkic language family, belonging to the Siberian branch. It is closely related to theDolgan language of the formerTaymyr Dolgano-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

The Sakha Republic is also home to many of the world's speakers ofTungusic languages, primarily ofEvenki andEven. Additionally,Chukchi and the lects of theYukaghir language family are spoken in the northeast.

Before the arrival of the Russian Empire, the majority of the local population wasTengrist, similar to the other Turkic people of Central Asia, or in Paleoasian indigenousshamanism with both 'light' (community leading) and 'dark' (healing through spirit journey) shamans. Under the Russians, the local population was converted to theRussian Orthodox Church and required to take Orthodox Christian names, but in practice generally continued to follow traditional religions. During the Soviet era, most or all of the shamans died without successors.In the 1990s, a neopagan shamanist movement calledaiyy yeurekhé was founded by the controversial journalist Ivan Ukhkhan and a philologist calling himself Téris.^[47] This group and others cooperated to build a shaman temple in downtown Yakutsk in 2002.^[48]

Currently,^[when?] while Orthodox Christianity maintains a following (however, with very few priests willing to be stationed outside of Yakutsk), there is interest and activity toward renewing the traditional religions. As of 2008, Orthodox leaders described the worldview of the republic's indigenous population (or, rather, those among the population who are not completely indifferent to religion) asdvoyeverie (dual belief system), or a "tendency towardsyncretism", as evidenced by the locals sometimes first inviting a shaman, and then an Orthodox priest to carry out their rites in connection with some event in their life.^[49]

According to the Information Center under the President of Sakha Republic (Информационный центр при Президенте РС(Я)), the religious demography of the republic was as follows:^[50] Orthodoxy: 44.9%, Shamanism: 26.2%, Non-religious: 23.0%, New religious movements: 2.4%, Islam: 1.2%, Buddhism: 1.0%, Protestantism: 0.9%, Catholicism: 0.4%.

According to a 2012 survey,^[45] 37.8% of the population of Sakha adheres to theRussian Orthodox Church, 13% toTengrism or Sakhashamanism, 2% toIslam, 1% are unaffiliatedChristians, 1% to forms ofProtestantism, and 0.4% toTibetan Buddhism. In addition, 26% of the population deems itselfatheist, 17% is "spiritual but not religious", and 1.8% follows other religions or did not give an answer to the question.^[45]

The most important facilities of higher education includeNorth-Eastern Federal University (previously Yakutsk State University) andYakutsk State Agricultural Academy.

The head of government in Sakha is the Head (previously President). The firstHead of the Sakha Republic wasMikhail Yefimovich Nikolayev.^[51] As of 2021, the head isAysen Nikolayev, who took office on May 28, 2018.

The supreme legislative body of state authority in Sakha is a unicameral State Assembly known as theIl Tumen. The government of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic is the executive body of state authority.

The republic fosters close cultural, political, economic, and industrial relations with the independent Turkic states through membership in organizations such as theTurkic Council and theJoint Administration of Turkic Arts and Culture.^[52][53][54]

Social security payments tend to go to those who do not really need it despite the level of poverty among the rural population remaining high.^[55]

The largest companies in the region includeAlrosa,Yakutugol,Yakutskenergo, andYakutia Airlines.^[56]

A large source of income comes from the decades oldMirny diamond mine,^[57][58] as well as the many equally old tin^[59] and gold mining sites.^{[60][61][62][59][63]}

Water transport ranks first for cargo turnover. There are six river ports, two seaports (Tiksi and Zelyony Mys). Four shipping companies, including the Arctic Sea Shipping Company, operate in the republic. The republic's main waterway is theLena River, which linksYakutsk with the rail station ofUst-Kut inIrkutsk Oblast.

Air transport is the most important for transporting people. Airlines connect the republic with most regions of Russia.Yakutsk Airport has an international terminal.

Two federal roads pass the republic. They are Yakutsk–Skovorodino (A360 Lena highway) and Yakutsk–Magadan (M56 Kolyma Highway).However, due to the presence of permafrost, use of asphalt is not practical, and therefore the roads are made of clay. When heavy rains blow over the region, the roads often turn to mud, sometimes stranding hundreds of travelers in the process.^[64]

TheBerkakit–Tommot railroad is currently in operation. It links theBaikal-Amur Mainline with the industrial centers in South Sakha. Construction of theAmur–Yakutsk Mainline continues northward; the railway was completed toNizhny Bestyakh, across the river from Yakutsk, in 2013. Though this one-track railroad from Tommot to Nizhny Bestyakh is under temporary operation (30% of its full capacity), the federal agency for railways declared that this railroad would be in full operation in fall 2015.^{[needs update]} Also the private company is now^[when?] constructing the transport and logistics center in Nizhny Bestyakh.

NVK Sakha (national broadcaster company Sakha, Национальная вещательная компания Саха, "Саха" көрдөрөр иһитиннэрэр тэрилтэтэ), the largest media company in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The company owns dozens of TV channels in Yakutia, Russia, and other countries. The main broadcasting languages are Yakut, English, Russian and Evenk. It was founded in 1992 after the collapse of the USSR. 70% of the shares are owned by the Russian VGTRK, 25% are owned by Yakutia, and 5% are in free float. NVK Sakha owns its own animation and film production studios, and some music studios. Since 2018, it has also been streaming 24/7 on YouTube.

Points of interest in the city of Yakutsk include:

• the State Russian drama theatre named afterAlexander Pushkin
• the Sakha Theater named afterPlaton Oyunsky
• the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre named after D. K. Sivtsev
• Suorun Omoloon, the Young Spectator's Theatre

There are a number of museums as well. These include the National Fine Arts Museum of Sakha, the Museum of Local Lore and History named after E. Yaroslavsky, and the Khomus Museum and Museum of Permafrost. In September 2020, the Gagarin Center for Culture and Contemporary Art was opened in the Gagarin District of Yakutsk.^[65]

The Yakuts have fully preserved their native language, which differs significantly from other Turkic languages by the presence of a layer of unique Paleo-Asiatic vocabulary. The Yakut language has a developed literary tradition with many styles and genres, and the ancient Sakha epic Olonkho is recognized by UNESCO as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.^[66]

In the 2010s, a movie boom began in Yakutia. The local film industry was nicknamed "Sakhawood".^[67]

• April 27: Republic Day
• June 21:Yhyakh festival (also known as Sakha New Year)

• Cuisine of Sakha
• Lena Pillars
• Tukulan
• List of rural localities in the Sakha Republic
• Music in the Sakha Republic
• Tuymaada
• Yakutian knife
• Yakut language

• Official website of the government of Sakha Republic(in Russian)