Taiga and tundra in the north, swampy forest in the central depression, and deciduous forest in the south are the natural vegetation in the area. The main rivers are the Amur, Amgun, Uda, and Tugur, among others. There are also lakes such as Bokon, Bolon, Chukchagir, Evoron, Kizi, Khummi, Orel, and Udyl, among others.[12]
Khabarovsk Krai has a severely continental climate with its northern areas being subarctic with stronger maritime summer moderation in the north. In its southerly areas, especially inland, annual swings are extremely strong, with Khabarovsk itself having hot, wet, and humid summers which rapidly transform into severely cold and long winters, where temperatures hardly ever go above freezing. This is because of the influence of the East Asian monsoon in summer and the bitterly cold Siberian High in winter. The second-largest city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur has even more violent temperature swings than Khabarovsk, with winter average lows below −30 °C (−22 °F), but in spite of this, avoiding being subarctic because of the significant heat in summer.
The charts below detail climate averages from various locations in the krai. Khabarovsk is set near the Chinese border at a lower latitude far inland, while Komsomolsk-on-Amur being further downstream on the Amur river at a higher latitude. Sovetskaya Gavan and Okhotsk are coastal settlements in the deep south and far north, respectively.
Climate data for Khabarovsk (1991–2020, extremes 1878–2023)
According to various Chinese and Korean records, the southern part of Khabarovsk Krai was originally occupied by one of the five semi-nomadic Shiwei, the Bo Shiwei tribes, and the Black Water Mohe tribes living, respectively, on the west and the east of the Bureya and the Lesser Khingan ranges.
Although the Russians were thus deprived of the right to navigate the Amur River, the territorial claim over the lower courses of the river was not settled in the Treaty of Nerchinsk of 1689. The area between the Uda River and the Greater Khingan mountain range (i.e. most of Lower Amuria) was left undemarcated and the Sino-Russian border was allowed to fluctuate.[21][22]
Later in the nineteenth century, Nikolay Muravyov conducted an aggressive policy with China by claiming that the lower reaches of the Amur River belonged to Russia. In 1852, a Russian military expedition under Muravyov explored the Amur, and by 1857, a chain of Russian Cossacks and peasants had been settled along the whole course of the river. In 1858, in the Treaty of Aigun, China recognized the Amur River downstream as far as the Ussuri River as the boundary between Russia and the Qing Empire, and granted Russia free access to the Pacific Ocean.[23] The Sino-Russian border was later further delineated in the Treaty of Peking of 1860 when the Ussuri Territory (the Maritime Territory), which was previously a joint possession, became Russian.[24]
Khabarovsk Krai was established on 20 October 1938, when the Far Eastern Krai was split into the Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais.[9]Kamchatka Oblast, which was originally subordinated to the Far Eastern Krai, fell under the Jurisdiction of Khabarovsk Krai, along with its two National Okrugs, Chukotka and Koryak. In 1947, the northern part of Sakhalin was removed from the Krai to join the southern part and form Sakhalin Oblast. In 1948, parts of its southwestern territories were removed from the Krai to form Amur Oblast. In 1953, Magadan Oblast was established from the northern parts of the Krai and was given jurisdiction over Chukotka National Okrug, which was originally under the jurisdiction of Kamchatka oblast. In 1956, Kamchatka Oblast became its own region and took Koryak National Okrug with it. The Krai took its modern form in 1991, just before the USSR's collapse when the Jewish Autonomous Oblast was separated from its jurisdiction and made into a direct federal subject of Russia. On 24 April 1996, Khabarovsk signed a power-sharing agreement with the federal government, granting it autonomy.[25] This agreement would be abolished on 12 August 2002.[26]
During the Soviet period, the high authority in the oblast was shared between three persons: The first secretary of the Khabarovsk CPSU Committee (who, in reality, had the biggest authority), the chairman of the oblast Soviet (legislative power), and the Chairman of the oblast Executive Committee (executive power). Since 1991, CPSU lost all the power, and the head of the Oblast administration, and eventually the governor, was appointed/elected alongside elected regional parliament.
The Charter of Khabarovsk Krai is the fundamental law of the krai. The Legislative Duma of Khabarovsk Krai is the regional standing legislative (representative) body. The Legislative Duma exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it. The highest executive body is the Krai Government, which includes territorial executive bodies, such as district administrations, committees, and commissions that facilitate development and run the day to day matters of the province. The Krai Administration supports the activities of the Governor, who is the highest official and acts as guarantor of the observance of the Charter in accordance with the Constitution of Russia.
Khabarovsk Krai is the most industrialized territory of the Far East of Russia, producing 30% of the total industrial products in the Far Eastern Economic Region.
The region's mineral resources are relatively underdeveloped. Khabarovsk Krai contains large gold mining operations (Highland Gold, Polus Gold), a major but low-grade copper deposit being explored by IG Integro Group, and a world-class tin district which was a major contributor to the Soviet industrial complex and is currently being revitalised by Far Eastern Tin (Festivalnoye mine) and by Sable Tin ResourcesArchived March 13, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, which is developing the Sable Tin Deposit (Sobolinoye), a large high-grade deposit, 25 km from Solnechny town.
According to a 2012 survey,[37] 26.2% of the population of Khabarovsk Krai adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church, 4% are unaffiliated generic Christians, 1% adhere to other Orthodox churches or are believers in Orthodox Christianity who do not belong to any church, while 1% are adherents of Islam. In addition, 28% of the population declared to be "spiritual but not religious", 23% are atheist, and 16.8% follow other religions or did not give an answer to the question.[37]
Education
There are the following institutions of higher education in Khabarovsk Krai.[39][40]
^Президент Российской Федерации. Указ №849 от 13 мая 2000 г. «О полномочном представителе Президента Российской Федерации в федеральном округе». Вступил в силу 13 мая 2000 г. Опубликован: "Собрание законодательства РФ", No. 20, ст. 2112, 15 мая 2000 г. (President of the Russian Federation. Decree #849 of May 13, 2000 On the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in a Federal District. Effective as of May 13, 2000.).
^Госстандарт Российской Федерации. №ОК 024-95 27 декабря 1995 г. «Общероссийский классификатор экономических регионов. 2. Экономические районы», в ред. Изменения №5/2001 ОКЭР. (Gosstandart of the Russian Federation. #OK 024-95 December 27, 1995 Russian Classification of Economic Regions. 2. Economic Regions, as amended by the Amendment #5/2001 OKER. ).
Хабаровская краевая Дума. Постановление №150 от 30 ноября 1995 г. «Устав Хабаровского края», в ред. Закона №152 от 23 декабря 2015 г. «О внесении изменений в статьи 26 и 34 Устава Хабаровского края». Вступил в силу 16 января 1996 г. Опубликован: "Тихоокеанская звезда", №№7–8, 13 и 16 января 1996 г. (Khabarovsk Krai Duma. Resolution #150 of November 30, 1995 Charter of Khabarovsk Krai, as amended by the Law #152 of December 23, 2015 On Amending Articles 26 and 34 of the Charter of Khabarovsk Krai. Effective as of January 16, 1996.).
Президиум Верховного Совета СССР. Указ от 20 октября 1938 г. «О разделении Дальневосточного края на Приморский и Хабаровский края». (Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Decree of October 20, 1938 On Splitting Far Eastern Krai into Primorsky and Khabarovsk Krais. ).
Chaussonnet, Valerie (1995) Native Cultures of Alaska and Siberia. Arctic Studies Center. Washington, D.C. 112p. ISBN1-56098-661-1
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