Uelen
Uelen
Уэлен | |
|---|---|
| Uelen. Winter, 1934. Uelen. Winter, 1934. | |
Location of Uelen  | |
  Uelen Location of Uelen  Uelen Uelen (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug) | |
| Coordinates: 66°10′0″N 169°49′0″W / 66.16667°N 169.81667°W | |
| Country | Russia |
| Federal subject | Chukotka Autonomous Okrug[1] |
| Administrative district | Chukotsky District |
| Elevation | 3 m (10 ft) |
| Population | |
| • Estimate (2003)[2] | 776 |
| • Municipal district | Chukotsky Municipal District[3] |
| • Rural settlement | Uelen Rural Settlement[3] |
| • Capital of | Uelen Rural Settlement[3] |
| Time zone | UTC+12 (MSK+9  [4]) |
| Postal code(s)[5] | 689310 |
| Dialing code(s) | +7 42736[6] |
| OKTMO ID | 77633440101 |
Uelen (Russian: Уэ́лен; Whalen in older English-language sources; Ugelen on USCGS charts) is a rural locality (a selo) in the Chukotsky District, just south of the Arctic Circle in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the Russian Far East. Population: 776 in 2003, with 595 Chukchi and 72 Yupik.[2] Located near Cape Dezhnev where the Bering Sea meets the Chukchi Sea, it is the easternmost settlement in Russia and the whole of Eurasia. Uelen is also the closest Russian settlement to the United States. It is on the northeast corner of the Uelen Lagoon, a roughly 15 by 3 km east-west lagoon separated from the ocean by a sandspit. Municipally, Uelen is subordinated to Chukotsky Municipal District and is incorporated as Uelen Rural Settlement.[3]
History
Origins of name
The name Uelen is thought to derive from the Chukchi "uvelen" meaning "black, thawed patch", since the village is found at the foot of a hill surrounded by black mounds which are visible throughout the year and were often used as a navigation aid in the region.
There is a local legend which offers a second explanation for the origin of the name. It describes the life of a strong local man called Uvelel'yn (literally translated as "slob"), so named because he was an orphan who was dressed solely in tattered rags. As he grew older, so he used his strength to gain his revenge over the local people for perceived slights received during his childhood because of his background. In fear for their lives, the villagers killed Uvelel'yn. However they realised that in order to prevent these events repeating themselves in the future, they should take better care of their orphans and the village soon got its name to remind the villagers of their duty to those less fortunate than themselves.[7]
Prehistory
Archeological investigation has revealed the existence of a settlement in and around the present day site of the village about 30 km from the village for at least 2000 years,[7] based on fishing and the hunting of marine mammals. The main site of archeological investigation is at the Ekven site, a site of importance comparable to that of the Ipiutak Site across the Bering Strait on Point Hope.[8]
Pre-Soviet
Prior to the Russian Revolution, Uelen was, in 1912, a settlement of around 300 individuals divided into four communes and the headquarters of the Russian administration in the Chukotka Region ("Uyezd") and was an important trading port with both local Russian peoples and America.[7]
Soviet
Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Uelen became one of the first trade co-operatives in Chukotka[7] and a dedicated American trading post was established.
In the first half of the twentieth century, Uelen was the site of one of the first Russian arctic research stations.[7]
In the 1950s, Uelen absorbed the population from the nearby village of Dezhnevo (named, like the neighbouring cape, after the explorer Semyon Dezhnev). This village, to the west of Cape Peek[9] and called Keniskun by the local Chukchi was an important regional costal trading centre in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but was deemed unviable by the Soviet government and the villagers were moved to Uelen. The addition of Dezhnevo carvers to the existing artistic school in Uelen served to strengthen Uelen's cultural reputation, not just in the region, but across Russia with notable carvers such as Pyotor Penkok and Stepan Ettugi working in Uelen.[7]
Post-Soviet
Although Dezhnevo was officially abolished, the villagers in Uelen still use it as a base for their fishing and a handful of houses are still maintained for this purpose. As well as a fishing base, the site of the village is still used as an occasional port by Uelen. At the end of summer, storms in the Chukchi Sea can make it impossible for ships to dock at Uelen to unload their supplies. When this occurs, the ships dock at Dezhnevo and the cargo is carried across land to Uelen.[7]
In more recent history, Uelen is where Dimitri Kieffer and Karl Bushby entered Russia during their Goliath Expedition after crossing the Bering Strait. The two were then arrested because they had failed to enter the country at a proper port of entry, but their journey was allowed to continue.[10]
Climate
Uelen has a high rate of changeable weather as at night, temperatures drop below -23°C all year with ground frosts while at the daytime, temperatures reach as high up to 45°C with snow falling all year but in the mornings and late afternoons.
| Climate data for Uelen | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 28.1 (82.6) |
27.1 (80.8) |
32.8 (91.0) |
36.1 (97.0) |
37.8 (100.0) |
40.8 (105.4) |
45.0 (113.0) |
38.9 (102.0) |
33.9 (93.0) |
30.0 (86.0) |
29.8 (85.6) |
25.0 (77.0) |
45.0 (113.0) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 16.7 (62.1) |
17.8 (64.0) |
16.7 (62.1) |
19.4 (66.9) |
22.2 (72.0) |
24.4 (75.9) |
29.4 (84.9) |
28.3 (82.9) |
24.4 (75.9) |
20.6 (69.1) |
18.7 (65.7) |
17.7 (63.9) |
21.6 (70.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −33.9 (−29.0) |
−35 (−31) |
−33.9 (−29.0) |
−26.1 (−15.0) |
−27.2 (−17.0) |
−25.0 (−13.0) |
−23.3 (−9.9) |
−23.3 (−9.9) |
−27.1 (−16.8) |
−30.4 (−22.7) |
−32.2 (−26.0) |
−33.1 (−27.6) |
−29.5 (−21.1) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −69 (−92) |
−65 (−85) |
−62.2 (−80.0) |
−57.2 (−71.0) |
−57.8 (−72.0) |
−50 (−58) |
−48.2 (−54.8) |
−52.8 (−63.0) |
−57.2 (−71.0) |
−63 (−81) |
−66.8 (−88.2) |
−68 (−90) |
−69 (−92) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 46.5 (1.83) |
32.0 (1.26) |
27.9 (1.10) |
39.9 (1.57) |
22.1 (0.87) |
26.9 (1.06) |
54.6 (2.15) |
78.7 (3.10) |
71.6 (2.82) |
70.4 (2.77) |
40.6 (1.60) |
26.9 (1.06) |
538.1 (21.19) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 8.1 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 5.5 | 5.1 | 5.3 | 5.7 | 9.2 | 10.0 | 10.3 | 10.3 | 6.0 | 86 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 3.1 | 62.1 | 161.2 | 186.0 | 148.8 | 204.0 | 201.5 | 117.8 | 66.0 | 24.8 | 15.0 | 0.0 | 1,190.3 |
| Source 1: Sistema de Clasificación Bioclimática Mundial[11] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: allmetsat.com (sunshine hours and precipitation days)[12] | |||||||||||||
Demographics
Uelen has a population of about 776 individuals, with 667 of them being either Chukchi or Siberian Yupik, though the Chukchi are the most numerous people in the village. Other villagers are Russian.[2]
Culture
The village is famous for its walrus ivory carvings. It has long been a major artistic centre in the region, with Several of the leading exponents of the craft, such as Vukvutagin, Vukvol, Tukkai and Khukhutan working out of Uelen.[2] It is also home to an indigenous choir which has a history of cultural collaboration with Inuit across the Bering Strait in Alaska.[2]
The writer Yuri Rytkheu was born in Uelen on March 8, 1930 to a family of trappers and hunters and was the first Chukchi author to achieve national prominence. His book A Dream in Polar Fog deals with the Chukchi people's efforts to adapt when a foreigner is shipwrecked on their shores.[13]
The village also serves as a base for archaeological expeditions to the area, which have uncovered a burial ground containing more than 300 burials of Early Whale Hunter cultures, covering a time span from 500 BCE to 1000 CE. These excavations have shown that Uelen was a major settlement in the area in the first few centuries A.D. As well as revealing the existence of a culture dependant on whale and walrus hunting, archeologists have also unearthed early examples of the indigenous peoples ivory carvings, a number of which are now held at the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography in St. Petersburg.[7]
See also
References
Notes
- ^ a b c Law #33-OZ, Article 13.2
- ^ a b c d e Red Cross Chukotka - Chukotsky District (Archived)
- ^ a b c d Law #47-OZ, Article 6
- ^ "Об исчислении времени". Официальный интернет-портал правовой информации (in Russian). 3 June 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- ^ Pochtovik Mail Delivery Service Chukotsky District
- ^ Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation Chukotsky District
- ^ a b c d e f g h Petit Fute, Chukotka, p.119
- ^ Arctic Studies Center: Ekven Burial
- ^ NOAA Office of Coast Survey Website
- ^ [1] Dmitri Kieffer's Blog as part of the Goliath Expedition
- ^ "RUSSIA - UELEN/MYS WELLEN" (in eng). Centro de Investigaciones Fitosociológicas. Retrieved November 2, 2010.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ "Uelen, Russia" (in eng). allmetsat.com. Retrieved November 2, 2010.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ A Dream in Polar Fog Yuri Rytkheu, trans. by Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse (Archipelago Books, 2006). ISBN 978-0977857616
Sources
- Дума Чукотского автономного округа. Закон №33-ОЗ от 30 июня 1998 г. «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Чукотского автономного округа», в ред. Закона №55-ОЗ от 9 июня 2012 г. «О внесении изменений в Закон Чукотского автономного округа "Об административно-территориальном устройстве Чукотского автономного округа"». Вступил в силу по истечении десяти дней со дня его официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Ведомости", №7 (28), 14 мая 1999 г. (Duma of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Law #33-OZ of June 30, 1998 On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, as amended by the Law #55-OZ of June 9, 2012 On Amending the Law of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug "On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug". Effective as of after ten days from the day of the official publication.).
- Дума Чукотского автономного округа. Закон №47-ОЗ от 29 ноября 2004 г. «О статусе, границах и административных центрах муниципальных образований на территории Чукотского района Чукотского автономного округа». Вступил в силу через десять дней со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Ведомости", №31/1 (178/1), 10 декабря 2004 г. (Duma of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Law #47-OZ of November 29, 2004 On the Status, Borders, and Administrative Centers of the Municipal Formations on the Territory of Chukotsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Effective as of the day which is ten days after the official publication date.).
- Petit Fute, Chukotka
External links
- Krupnik, Igor and Mikhail Chlenov (2007). The end of “Eskimo land”: Yupik relocation in Chukotka, 1958-1959 Études/Inuit/Studies 31 (1-2) pp 59–81. Includes some material on Dezhnevo relocation.
- Aerial photo of Uelen
- Photo gallery of Uelen