Sakha Republic

Afore the arrival o the Roushie Empire, the majority o the local population believed in Tengrianism common tae Turkic-leid fowk o Central Asie, or in Paleoasie indigenous shamanism wi baith 'licht' (community leadin) an 'daurk' (healin through spirit journey) shamans. Unner the Roushies, the local population wis convertit tae the Roushie Orthodox Kirk an required tae tak Orthodox Christian names, but in practice generally continued tae follae traditional releegions. Durin the Soviet era, maist or aw o the shamen dee'd athoot successors.

Currently, while Orthodox Christianity maintains a follaein (housomeivver, wi vera few priests willin tae be stationed ootside o Yakutsk), there is interest an activity toward renewin the traditional releegions. As o 2008, Orthodox leaders describit the warld view o the republic's indigenous population (or, rather, those amang the population who are no completely indifferent tae releegion) as dvoyeverie (dual belief seestem), or a "tendency toward syncretism", as evidencit bi the locals sometimes first invitin a shaman, an then an Orthodox priest tae carry oot their rites in connection wi some event in their life.^[12]

Religion

Accordin tae the Information Center unner the Preses o Sakha Republic (Информационный центр при Президенте РС(Я)), the releegious demography o the republic wis as follaes:^[13]

• Orthodoxy: 44.9%
• Shamanism: 26.2%
• Non-releegious: 23.0%
• New Releegious Movements: 2.4%
• Islam: 1.2%
• Buddhism: 1.0%
• Protestantism: 0.9%
• Catholicism: 0.4%

• Borders:
  • internal: Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (E), Magadan Oblast (E/SE), Khabarovsk Krai (SE), Amur Oblast (S), zabaykalsky Krai (S), Irkutsk Oblast (S/SW), Krasnoyarsk Krai (W).
  • watter: Airctic Ocean (includin Laptev Sea an Eastren Siberie Sea) (N).
• Heichest point: Peak Pobeda (3,003 m), Peak Mus-Khaya (2959 m or 3,011 m)
• Maximum N->S distance: 2,500 km (1,600 mi)
• Maximum E->W distance: 2,000 km (1,200 mi)

Sakha stretches tae the Henrietta Islands in the far north an is washed bi the Laptev an Eastren Siberie Seas o the Airctic Ocean. These watters, the cauldest an iciest o aw seas in the northren hemisphere, are covered bi ice for 9–10 months o the year. New Siberie Islands are a pairt o the republic's territory. Efter Nunavut wis separatit frae Canadae's Northwast Territories, Sakha became the lairgest subnaitional entity (statoid) in the warld, wi an aurie o 3,103,200 square kilometre (1,198,200 sq mi), slichtly smawer than the territory o Indie (3.3 million km²).

Sakha can be dividit intae three great vegetation belts. Aboot 40% o Sakha lees abuin the Airctic circle an aw o it is covered bi permafrost which greatly influences the region's ecology an limits forests in the soothren region. Airctic an subairctic tundra define the middle region, where lichen an moss grow as great green carpets an are favorite pasturs for reindeer. In the soothren pairt o the tundra belt, scattered staunds o dwarf Siberie pine an larch grow alang the rivers. Belaw the tundra is the vast taiga forest region. Larch trees dominate in the north an staunds o fir an pine begin tae appear in the sooth. Taiga forests cover aboot 47% o Sakha an amaist 90% o the cover is larch.

The Sakha Republic is the steid o Pleistocene Pairk, a project directit at recreatin pleistocene tundra grasslands bi stimulatin the growth o grass wi the introduction o animals which thrivit in the region durin the late Pleistocene — early Holocene period.

Time zones

Sakha spans three different time zones:

1. 

   Yakutsk Time Zone (YAKT, UTC+10). Covers the republic's territory tae the wast o the Lena River as well as the territories o uluses locatit on the baith sides o the Lena River.

2. 

   Vladivostok Time Zone (VLAT, UTC+11). Covers maist o the republic's territory locatit atween 127°E an 140°E langitude.

3. 

   Magadan Time Zone (MAGT, UTC+12). Covers maist o the republic's territory locatit east o 140°E longitude.

Rivers

Navigable Lena River (4,310 km), as it muives northward, includes hunders o sma tributaries locatit in the Verkhoyansk Range. Ither major rivers include:

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

Lakes

There are ower 800,000 lakes in the republic.^[14] Major lakes an reservoirs include:

• Mogotoyevo Lake
• Nedzheli Lake
• Nerpichye Lake
• Vilyuyskoye Reservoir

Mountains

Sakha's greatest muntain range, the Verkhoyansk Range, runs across the Lena River, forming a great arc that begins the Sea o Okhotsk an ends in the Laptev Sea.

The Chersky Range runs east of the Verkhoyansk Range an has the highest peak in Sakha, Peak Pobeda (3,003 m). Recent satellite photos, revealed that Peak Mus-Khaya may in fact be a higher point, reaching 3,011 m.

The Stanovoi Range borders Sakha in the south.

Natural resources

Sakha has a lot of natural materials. The soil contains muckle reserves of oil, gas, coal, diamonds, gold, siller, tin, tungsten an mony ithers. 99% o aw Roushie diamonds are mined in Sakha, accoontin for ower 25% o the warld's diamond production.

Climate

Sakha is kent for its climate extremes, wi the Verkhoyansk Range being the cauldest aurie in the northren hemisphere. Winters here are extremely cauld. Some o the lawest natural temperaturs iver recordit hae been here. The Northren Hemisphere's Pole o Cauld is at Verkhoyansk, whaur the temperaturs reached as law as −67.8 °C (−90.0 °F) in 1892, an at Oymyakon, whaur the temperaturs reached as law as −71.2 °C (−96.2 °F) in 1926.

• Average Januar temperatur: −28 °C (−18 °F) (coast) tae −47 °C (−53 °F) (Pole o Cauld).
• Average Julie temperatur: +2 °C (36 °F) (coast) tae +19 °C (66 °F) (central pairts). Housomeivver, it gets vera hot durin the day in Yakutsk in Julie (record = +38.3 °C (100.9 °F)).
• Average annual precipitation: 200 mm (central pairts) tae 700 mm (muntains o Eastren Sakha).

The offeecial leids are baith Roushie an Sakha, kent as Yakut an aw, which is spoken bi approximately 25% o the population. The Yakut leid is Turkic wi Mongolie influence an some borraeins frae Sakha's Paleosiberie indigenous fowks.

• Population: 958,291 (2010 Census)^[7]
• Population: 949,280 (2002 Census)^[15]
  • Urban: 609,999 (64.3%)
  • Rural: 339,281 (35.7%)
  • Male: 464,217 (48.9%)
  • Female: 485,063 (51.1%)
• Females per 1000 males: 1,045
• Average age: 30.0 year
  • Urban: 31.0 year
  • Rural: 27.4 year
  • Male: 30.0 year
  • Female: 26.6 year
• Number o hoosehaulds: 305,017 (wi 937,954 fowk)
  • Urban: 212,593 (wi 600,696 fowk)
  • Rural: 92,424 (wi 337,258 fowk)
• Vital statistics:

Source: Roushie Federal State Statistics Service

• Ethnic groups: Accordin tae the 2002 Census the ethnic composition is:

•432,290 Yakuts (45.54%), •390,617 Roushies (41.15%), •34,633 Ukrainians (3.65%), •18,232 Evenks (1.92%), •11,657 Evens (1.23%), •10,755 Tatars (1.13%), •7,266 Buriats (0.77%), •4,236 Belaroushies (0.45%), •2,764 Armenies (0.29%), •2,355 Bashkirs (0.25%), •2,293 Azeris (0.24%), •2,283 ethnic Germans (0.24%), •2,255 Moldovans (0.24%), •2,072 Mordovies (0.22%), •1,815 Koreans (0.19%), •1,700 Chuvash (0.18%), •1,454 Kyrgyz (0.15%), •1,272 Dolgans (0.13%), •1,272 Uzbeks (0.13%), •1,105 Tajiks (0.12%), •1,097 Yukagirs (0.12%), •1,000 Ingush (0.11%), an ither groups o less nor ane thoosan persons each. (0.28% o the inhabitants declined tae state their naitionality on the census questionnaire.)^[16]
Historical population figures are shown belaw:

• Верховный Совет Республики Саха (Якутия). 4 апреля 1992 г. «Конституция (основной закон) Республики Саха (Якутия)», в ред. Конституционного закона №581-З 53-IV от 22 июля 2008 г. (Supreme Council of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic. April 4, 1992 Constitution (Basic Law) of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, as amended by the Constitutional Law #581-Z 53-IV of July 22, 2008. ).

• (in Roushie) Offeecial wabsteid o the govrenment o the Sakha Republic Archived 2011-02-22 at the Wayback Machine

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