Geography[edit]

Fauna of the Sakha Republic: Ross's gull, the Siberian crane, polar bear, horse and
reindeer. Russian post miniature sheet, 2006.
Borders:
internal: Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (660 km)(E), Magadan Oblast (1520 km)(E/SE),
Khabarovsk Krai (2130 km)(SE), Amur Oblast (S), Zabaykalsky Krai (S), Irkutsk
Oblast (S/SW), Krasnoyarsk Krai (W).
water: Arctic Ocean (including Laptev Sea and Eastern Siberian Sea) (N).
Highest point: Peak Pobeda (3,003 m), Mus-Khaya Mountain Peak (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 to the Henrietta Island in the far north and is washed by the
Laptev and Eastern Siberian Seas of the Arctic Ocean. These waters, the coldest and
iciest of all seas in the Northern Hemisphere, are covered by ice for 910 months
of the year. New Siberian Islands are a part of the republic's territory. After
Nunavut was separated from Canada's Northwest Territories, Sakha became the largest
subnational entity (statoid) in the world, with an area of 3,083,523 square
kilometers (1,190,555 sq mi),[6] slightly smaller than the territory of India (3.3
million km2).

Sakha can be divided into three great vegetation belts. About 40% of Sakha lies
above the Arctic circle and all of it is covered by permafrost which greatly
influences the region's ecology and limits forests in the southern region. Arctic
and subarctic tundra define the middle region, where lichen and moss grow as great
green carpets and are favorite pastures for reindeer. In the southern part of the
tundra belt, scattered stands of dwarf Siberian pine and larch grow along the
rivers. Below the tundra is the vast taiga forest region. Larch trees dominate in
the north and stands of fir and pine begin to appear in the south. Taiga forests
cover about 47% of Sakha and almost 90% of the cover is larch.

The Sakha Republic is the site of Pleistocene Park, a project directed at

recreating pleistocene tundra grasslands by stimulating the growth of grass with
the introduction of animals which thrived in the region during the late Pleistocene
early Holocene period.

Time zones[edit]

Map of Sakha (Yakutia)

Sakha spans three time zones (no Daylight Saving Time in summer):

Map of Russia - Yakutsk time zone.svgYakutsk Time Zone (YAKT, UTC+9). Covers the
republic's territory to the west of the Lena River as well as the territories of
the districts located on the both sides of the Lena River.
Map of Russia - Vladivostok time zone.svgVladivostok Time Zone (VLAT, UTC+10).
Covers most of the republic's territory located between 127E and 140E longitude.
Districts: Oymyakonsky, Ust-Yansky, Verkhoyansky.[13]
Srednekolymsk Time Zone (SRET, UTC+11). Covers most of the republic's territory
located east of 140E longitude. Districts: Abyysky, Allaikhovsky, Momsky,
Nizhnekolymsky, Srednekolymsky, Verkhnekolymsky. This time zone name was introduced
in 2014 when Magadan left the Magadan Time Zone[13]

Detailed map of the three timezones in the Sakha Republic (as of September 2011)
Rivers[edit]

Ura River

Olyokma River
Lena Pillars
Navigable Lena River (4,400 km), as it moves northward, includes hundreds of small
tributaries located in the Verkhoyansk Range. Other 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[edit]
There are over 800,000 lakes in the republic.[14] Major lakes and reservoirs
include:

Lake Mogotoyevo
Lake Nedzheli
Lake Nerpichye
Vilyuyskoye Reservoir
Mountains[edit]
Sakha's greatest mountain range, the Verkhoyansk Range, runs parallel and east of
the Lena River, forming a great arc that begins in the Sea of Okhotsk and ends in
the Laptev Sea.

The Chersky Range runs east of the Verkhoyansk Range and has the highest peak in
Sakha, Peak Pobeda (3,147 m). The second highest peak is Peak Mus-Khaya reaching
3,011 m.

The Stanovoi Range borders Sakha in the south.

Udachnaya pipe diamond mine

Natural resources[edit]
Sakha is well endowed with raw materials. The soil contains large reserves of oil,
gas, coal, diamonds, gold, silver, tin, tungsten and many others. Sakha produces
99% of all Russian diamonds and over 25% of the diamonds mined in the world.
[citation needed]

Climate[edit]
Sakha is known for its climate extremes, with the Verkhoyansk Range being the
coldest area in the Northern Hemisphere. Some of the lowest natural temperatures
ever recorded have been here. The Northern Hemisphere's Pole of Cold is at
Verkhoyansk, where the temperatures reached as low as -67.8 C (-90.0 F) in 1892,
and at Oymyakon, where the temperatures reached as low as -71.2 C (-96.2 F) in
1926.

Average daily maximum and minimum temperatures for selected locations in Yakutiya
Russia[15][16][17][18][19]
City July (C) July (F) January (C) January (F)
Aldan 22.6/10.9 72.7/51.6 21.9/30.6 7.4/23.1
Olyokminsk 24.8/12 75.2/53.6 26.2/34.6 15.2/30.28
Oymyakon 22.7/6.1 72.9/43 42.5/50 44.5/58
Verkhoyansk 23.5/9.7 74.3/49.5 42.4/48.3 44.3/54.9
Yakutsk 25.5/12.7 78/54.9 35.1/41.5 31.2/42.7
Average annual precipitation: 200 mm (central parts) to 700 mm (mountains of
Eastern Sakha).

Administrative divisions[edit]
Main article: Administrative divisions of the Sakha Republic
History[edit]

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Further information: History of Siberia
Pre-history[edit]
Siberia, in particular Yakutia, is of paleontological significance, as it contains
bodies of prehistoric animals from the Pleistocene Epoch, preserved in ice or
permafrost. In 2015, the frozen bodies of Dina and Uyan the cave lion cubs were
found. The region was also host to the bodies of Yuka and another Woolly mammoth
from Oymyakon, a Woolly rhinoceros from the Kolyma River, and bison and horses from
Yukagir.[20]

Early history[edit]
The Turkic Sakha people or Yakuts probably settled in the area in the 13th and 14th
centuries, migrating north from the Lake Baikal area to the middle Lena. From their
new center along the middle Lena they gradually expanded northeast and west beyond
the Lena basin towards the Arctic Ocean.

The name Sakha is of Turkic origin, "saqa-saha" meaning "cue" or "bat". The term
yakut is a Turkic word, a corruption of zhaqut - yakut "precious stone", referring
to the ruby. The Sakha displaced earlier, much smaller populations who lived on
hunting and reindeer herding, introducing the pastoralist economy of Central Asia.
The indigenous populations of Paleosiberian and Tungusic stock were mostly
assimilated to the Sakha by the 17th century.[21]