First allusions to Yamal

The first data of Yamal lands and native-born people living here at all tames - the Nenets and the Khantys - refer to XIth century. However, Novgorod merchants reached as far as The Ends of the Earth (this is the exact translation of 'Yamal' from the Nenets language) long ago. Originally, Novgorod residents' ideas of the riches of the northern land and its people were full of fiction. Travelers said that squirrels and deers there fall down onto the ground like rain from clouds. 'Natural wild beast show', 'treasury of soft stuff' attracted traders and Novgorod warriors. Since 1187 the downstream Ob has been a part of 'regions submitting to' Velikiy Novgorod; later, after its fall, it was passed into hands of Moscow princes whose titles has taken 'Obdorskiye and Yugorskiye' starting with 1502.

In 1592 czar Fyodor fit up a crusade for a definitive conquest of 'the great Ob' lands. In 1595 one of Cossac troops built up a fortress named Obdorsk (today it is the capital of Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District - Salekhard). In 1601 on the river Taz there appeared Mangazey burg, which later turned into the main base for Yasaks offensives, shooting as far as the Lena and the Yenissey. Joining the northern lands into a strong Russian state was a great achievement. Establishment of firm economic relations with the people of north Ob region was a great impact on the increase of Russia power. The afflux of furs brought additional income to the state treasury and expanded the trade turnover with overseas. In 1660 Siberian treasury gave over 600,000 rubles benefit, which was equal to around one third of all revenues of the state budget. For quite a long time Obdorsk was the only Russian settlement in the north Ob area.

Gradually, as the population was growing, administrative division changed. In the region there unfolded a mass trade of furs, north inconnu, fossil ivory, isinglass, quill, birch shelf fungus, boats, fur clothes, and many other goods. The famous Obdorskaya fair greatly contributed to this process. In January and February we could see gathered here Nentsy, Khanty, merchants of Tobolskaya, Yenisseyskaya, Arkhangelskaya provinces. The monetary unit was a white fox. By its capital turnover the fair was one of the biggest in Tobolskaya province.

By the early twentieth century Obdorsk annually supplied different markets with up to 200,000 poods of fish and around 50,000 fur skins (white fox, fox, squirrel, ermine, etc.).

Recent past

Despite the increasing economic development, the region of north Ob was the area of complete cultural backwardness. Age-long gap here was worsened by consequences of mobilization and open stealing during the civil war. First actions of the new authorities was establishing of food supplies, trade, north industry. There opened factories in Yar-Sal, Schuchye, Shuryshki, etc. Social and cultural targets included increasing general level of education - war against illiteracy, organization of school system, first centers of culture - reading rooms, recreation centers; creation of first hospitals and dispensaries.

On December 10, 1930, presidium of Russian General Executive Committee adopted a resolution 'To organize national unions in the regions housing thin peoples of the North'. Yamal (Nenets) district joined eight new national districts of RSFSR. It was included into Ural region and the village of Obdorsk became its center. On June 20, 1933, Obdorsk village was renamed into Salekhard township and its village Soviet was restructured into a township one.

According to All-union population census in 1939 in the area there lived 45,734 people including 15,348 nomads.

The basic economic industries of the district in the pre-war years were fish industry and deer-raising; fur processing skyrocketed ten times between 1931 and 1940. After the district was formed, a completely new branch started to develop - plant cultivation. In polar region and nearby areas they took up cultivating potatoes, vegetables, forage crops.

In 1931-1932 the first planes showed up in Yamal; 1937 was the year when direct air connection with Omsk was established.

A particular attention was paid to public education. In 1940 46 schools of the district were educating 4500 students, there opened 28 boarding schools for children of native population. By 1940 10 libraries of the district possessed 53,000 books, 5 Houses of Nenets were functioning, as well as 8 educational-healthcare centers 'Krasny Tchum', 2 cultural bases. The problems of implementing secondary education, first incomplete and later complete, have been gradually solved.

During World War II, thousands of Yamal men set off for the front to protect their native land. Women, old people, children who stayed in rear were working selflessly. On fishing and hunting camping grounds, deer pasture fields, Yamalians were helping their country forge the Great Victory.

After World War II, the state took urgent measures to overcome economic and social difficulties in the North. First, fish industry and hunting trade were provided with better technique. Fur-farming, another new branch, was also advancing rapidly. On the farms they bred black foxes, blue foxes, minks. Deer farming came to be a more profitable industry as its production and technical facilities were enhanced and scientific and technical achievements were widely introduced.

In the post-war years transport and communications were leaping. In 1949 a railway reached Labytnangi. Rivers were plied along by passenger ships, cargo carriers' fleet was extended, automated berths were being built. Since 1964, a regular service of fast in those years planes AN-24 has been introduced taking passengers to Tyumen, Тazovsky, Tarko-Sale, and finally to Moscow - starting from summer 1968.

Means of communication - electrical, telephone, mail - were dramatically re-equipped. In 1964 district radio call signs were broadcasted for the first time; in 1968 TV screens were on.

In the 60-s last century leisure facilities network expanded: there were 17 recreation centers, 39 community clubs, 2 public theaters, 3 musical schools, a regional museum, folk arts center. 64 libraries possessed 500,000 books; there were also over 100 cinema units.

The present

Yamal-Nenets autonomous district is the backbone of Russia economy: this phrase often repeated by reporters reflects the reality in the best way possible. The industrial future of the autonomous district as of the main fuel and energy complex of the country is defined by a new industry - geology. In summer 1958 in Salekhard they created Yamal-Nenets integrated geological expedition, which gave rise to hydrocarbon deposits search. On April 14, 1962, first gas was struck in Taz tundra. From 1964 to 1966 in Yamal they found 5 more huge fields including Gubkinskoye with deposits of 350 billion cubic meters of gas and the biggest in the world - Urengoyskoye. 1967 was marked with a find of three more fields including a unique one - Medvezhye. The following year brought yet three other oil-and-gas bearing areas. In 1972 gas from Medvezhye field went to Ural. In 1978 Urengoy gas pipeline reached Nadym. Vyngapur gas flowed into Urengoy-Tyumen-Chelyabinsk main. Yamal gas and oil came to be true. The names of small settlements lost in the endless expanses of tundra and taiga - Nadym, Novyi Urengoy, Tarko-Sale, Noyabrsk - are now well-known worldwide.

Today on Yamal terrains, which area is 750,300 km², there live slightly over 516,000 people, i.e. 0.7 persons per one square kilometer. But with all this, the autonomous district is the third in Russia in the turnover of taxes going to the federal budget. Since 2000 this number has increased 5 times and in 2005 was over $7 billion. Gross regional product of Yamalia is rising by 14.5 percent a year on average. In 2004 it was $15.4 billion, in 2005 this figure increased by $3.6 billion.

In Yamal 91 percent of the country's gas is being extracted (23.7 percent of the world output), as well as 14 percent of Russia's oil and gas condensate. All in all, the district produces over 54 percent of primary energy resources of Russia. Yet, a giant part of natural resources are still waiting for their industrial developing.

Yamal today is a stable, dynamically developing area where there is a solid foundation for further social and economic improvement, which allows making large-scale plans for the future. Yamal growth strategy looking as far as 2020, developed by autonomous district administration, links the development of fuel and energy complex with springing up of new branches of regional economy necessary for modern life.

One of the significant far-reaching projects is developing gas reserves of the peninsula and the Karskoye Sea shelf. So far, 11 gas-containing and 15 oil-gas condensate fields have been opened. Taking gas on the shelf into account, a preliminary estimate of resources is 50.5 trillion cubic meters, and over 5 billion tons of liquid hydrocarbons.

Another biggest undertaking in Polar Ural is creation of a new center of mining industry, which would provide metallurgy of neighboring regions with raw materials. Today Polar Ural is the place for developing fields abundant in chromium, manganese, bauxites, and gold. According to experts' estimations, the resources' reserves in total are worth $220 billion.

In collaboration with Siberian scientific analytic center and RAO 'Russian Railroads', Yamal administration is now working on extension of rail- and auto-roads network and telecommunication systems. They are supposed to connect arctic Yamal with large industrial centers of Ural. The project also provides the upgrowth of energy economy and petroleum chemistry on the basis of associated oil-well low-pressure gas, which stocks on the peninsula are enormous.

Today Russian region number 89 is the seventh in the country in the volume of investments attracted. Since 1999 investments to the basic stock have increased by almost 5 times. In fall of 2004 Standard&Poor's rating agency announced Yamal long-term credit rating enhancement: В+/Stable at international scale, 'ru A+' - at Russian national scale. The agency has also specified the region's high credit capacity.

One of the peculiarities of Yamal is that on the district terrains two completely different types of economies are confronted: industrial development of resources and traditional for the locals of the north types of activity. The region pastures the biggest livestock of reindeer - 600,000 animal units; in Ob basin one third of the world reserves of valuable cisco fish are caught. One tenth of all the district area - about 8 million hectares - is a particularly reserved nature site. Industry and traditional northern trades get along peacefully on Yamal area; solving the problems of thin native-born peoples of the north is a priority for the governor and administration of the autonomous district.

The Russian arctic region today is a comfortable for living area, which budget items are of traditionally social nature: over 80 percent of disbursement section of the basic financial document is directed to accomplishment of social tasks of locals. The district is vastly developing house construction, building modern schools, hospitals, sports centers. Efficient social support is first of all given to those most hard up in far regions. The district can by right be proud of its achievements in the field of arranging summer recreation for children: every summer over 70 percent of young Yamalians set off for rest and treatment for the best health resorts of the country. More than 30 social programs are now being realized in the region.

The governor of the autonomous district Yuri Neyelov said, 'We want our land to be a region characterized with multi-industry high-tech economy, full-scale developed infrastructure, improved cities and towns, healthy ecology. We've got all the prerequisites for that - hard-working people, natural riches, understanding of our prospects and a great importance of our teamwork for all Russia. The focal issue is the general will to make Yamal a prosperous region of the country.'