Khabarovsk Territory
The Khabarovsk Territory has a history dating back to the first explorers of the Amur River basin and the Sea of Okhotsk coastline. The first Russian settlements appeared on the coastline of the Sea of Okhotsk back in the first half of the 17th century. The expeditions made by Vasily Poyarkov (1643-1646) and Yerofei Khabarov (1649-1653) started Russia's expansion onto the left bank of the Amur River and the populating of these vast and virtually uninhabited areas. The region's exploration and settlement encountered serious difficulties, however, when the Empire of the Great Qing launched military actions there. Unable to transport large military forces to the Amur River basin at that time, Russia had to sign the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689), under which Russians vacated the left bank of the Amur River for almost 150 years.
In the middle of the 19th century, Russia made energetic efforts to recover the Amur River area. Governor General of the Eastern Siberia Nikolai Muravyov and Gennady Nevelskoi, who founded a military post at the Amur River estuary (Nikolayevsk-on-Amur) in 1850, played an important role in this campaign. According to the Treaty of Aigun, signed in 1858, the whole left bank of the Amur River became part of Russia.
Established in 1856, the Primorye Region was the first independent political subdivision that included this area. The city of Nikolayevsk-on-Amur became the administrative centre of the region. The city of Khabarovsk was founded in 1858 (originally it was the village of Khabarovka, which was designated a city in 1893).
In the following years - during the Russian Empire and the USSR - the administrative and territorial division of the Far East changed many times, but Khabarovsk remained one of the region's economic and administrative centres.
Today, the Khabarovsk Territory comprises 236 municipal entities: 29 towns, 188 villages, 2 urban districts (Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur) and 17 municipal districts.
The Khabarovsk Territory is one of Russia's largest administrative divisions. Located in the Far Eastern Federal District, the territory occupies an area of 787,000 sq km, which is 4.5% of Russia's total area and 12.7% of the Far Eastern Economic Region, and covers almost 1,800 km from north to south and 125-750 km from west to east. The distance from its centre to Moscow is 8,533 km by railway and 6,075 km by air.
The territory's coastal borders lie on the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan (the Tatar Strait). The coastline (including Shantar and other islands) is 3,390 km long.
The Khabarovsk Territory has rich land, water, forest and other natural resources, as well as numerous mineral resources. Its natural resources (forest, fish and fur animal species, ferrous metal ores, non-ferrous metal ores, precious metal ores, water resources, etc.) make it one of the most important regions in the Far East and in the whole country.
There are 29 game animal species and about 70 bird species in the region. The main game animals are ungulates (moose, Manchurian wapiti, roe deer, etc.), fur animals (the sable, squirrel, Siberian weasel, etc.) and the brown bear. Gathering fern, berries, mushrooms and medical plants is a common activity in remote villages and a traditional craft for small Northern ethnic groups.
Most of the land in the Khabarovsk Territory produces organic products. Agriculture occupies 665,500 ha, or 0.8% of the territory's area, of which tilled fields occupy 98,200 ha, or 0.1% of the territory's area, perennial fields 16,800 ha, hayfields 402,100 ha, or 0.5%, pastures 123,400 ha, or 0.2%, and reindeer pastures over 17 million ha, or 21.6% of the territory's area.
The Khabarovsk Territory contains significant reserves of coal and lignite: the recoverable reserves of coal are over 1 billion metric tonnes, forecast resources of coke are 4 billion tonnes and forecast resources of lignite 7 billion tonnes.
The preliminary estimate of oil and gas resources is 500 million tonnes. The Khabarovsk Territory is one of the largest tin producers. Complex tin fields contain mineable tin, copper, silver, wolframite, bismuth and indium.
Geological surveys have revealed the possibility of titaniferous ore deposits.
Beryllium was discovered in the Bureya and Ingili ore districts. The Ayan-Maya district contains large deposits of zirconium. The Uda-Shantar ore district contains 90 million tonnes of phosphoric anhydrides.
Large deposits of apatite ore, along with titanium, vanadium, iron, and feldspar are found in the Dzhugda and Baladek ore districts. The forecast resources of complex ores total about 100-130 billion tonnes.
Iron ore is found in two districts: Dzhugda (resources estimated at 6.6 billion tonnes) and Uda-Selemdzha (1.6 billion tonnes). Manganese ore is widespread in the Uda-Shantar district; its estimated resources are 30 mullion tonnes. Chromite ore is found in the rocks of the Konder platinum field.
The Khabarovsk Territory produces placer gold. The forecast resources of vein gold are five to six times more than prospected gold reserves. Complex gold-and-silver, polymetallic and other ores found here contain silver.
Apart from the minerals listed above, zeolite, kaolinite, cement, basalt, etc. can be found in the Khabarovsk Territory. The region also has large deposits of minerals used in construction and gemstones (agate, jasper, chalcedony, etc). Bogs and lakes also contain considerable deposits of peat and sapropel.
Hot and mineral springs have been explored and are on stream now.
The territory has a population of 1.4 million people, or 1% of Russia's total. It grew for many years, but started to decrease in 1992 due to lower birth rates and migration.
About 80% of the population lives in cities and towns. Khabarovsk, which is the second largest Far Eastern city after Vladivostok, and Komsomolsk-on-Amur are the most populated cities in the territory.
Population density is 1.8 people per square kilometre, which is 75% lower than the average in Russia. The average age here is 37 years.
Industry. In January-June 2010, the industrial production index ("Minerals production", "Manufacturing", "Production and distribution of electricity, gas and water") was up 29.1% compared to the first half of 2009.
Agriculture. By July 1, 2010, cattle stock in the Khabarovsk Territory decreased 7.2% from the same period in 2009, pig stock increased 0.1%, and the sheep and goat stock increased 1.4%. Production of slaughter cattle and poultry (live weight) increased 10.2%, egg production increased 10.2% and milk production decreased 0.5% in January-June 2010 year-on-year.
Agricultural enterprises allocated 6,500 ha (43.3% year-on-year) for grains and legumes, 17,700 ha (100.4%) for potatoes and 3,900 ha (98.9%) for other vegetables in 2010, according to preliminary data.
Construction. In the first six months of 2010, the construction sector built 98,800 square metres of housing, which is 83.2% year-on-year.
Trade. In January-June 2010, the retail sales revenues grew by 2.8% year-on-year to 60.7 billion roubles.
Consumer prices for goods and services increased by 5.7% in the first half of 2010, in particular prices for food products rose by 4.2%, for non-food products by 1.7% and for paid services by 11.5%.
As of June 1, 2010, the accounts payable in many of the territory's organisations stood at 220 billion roubles, including 10.6 billion roubles of past-due accounts payable, or 4.8% (as of May 1, 203.2 billion roubles, 10.4 billion roubles and 5.1% accordingly). As of June 1 2010, the accounts receivable stood at 180 billion roubles, including 15.5 billion roubles of past-due accounts receivable, or 8.6% (as of May 1, 2010, 170.6 billion roubles, 14.4 billion roubles, 8.5% accordingly).
In May 2010, the average monthly nominal salary grew 15.1% to 22,243 roubles year-on-year.
As of July 1, 2010, the total wage arrears grew by 26.5% to 179.6 million roubles year-on-year.
