Magadan

Magadan (Магадан) is a port town and the administrative centre of Magadan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the isthmus of the Staritsky Peninsula by the Nagaev Bay; it serves as a gateway to the Kolyma region.

Magadan, founded in 1929, was a major transit centre for political prisoners during the Stalin era and the administrative centre of the Dalstroy forced-labor gold-mining operation. The town later served as a port for exporting gold and other metals and was visited by U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace in 1944. Magadan plays a significant role in transportation with the Port of Magadan and Sokol Airport.

The local economy relies on gold mining and fisheries, although gold production has declined. The town has various cultural institutions and religious establishments, such as the Orthodox Holy Trinity Cathedral (Magadan) and the Roman Catholic Church of the Nativity. The Mask of Sorrow memorial commemorates Stalin's victims. Magadan experiences a subarctic climate with prolonged and cold winters, causing the soil to remain permanently frozen.

History
Magadan was founded in 1930 in the Ola (river) valley, near the settlement of Nagayevo. During the Stalin era, Magadan was a major transit centre for political prisoners sent to forced labour camps. From 1932 to 1953, it was the administrative centre of the Dalstroy organisation—a vast forced-labour gold-mining operation and forced-labour camp system. The first director of Dalstroy was Eduard Berzin, who between 1932 and 1937 established the infrastructure of the forced labour camps in Magadan. Berzin was executed in 1938 by Stalin, towards the end of the Great Purge.

The town later served as a port for exporting gold and other metals mined in the Kolyma region. Its size and population grew quickly as facilities were rapidly developed for the expanding mining activities in the area. Town status was granted to it on July 14, 1939.

Magadan was visited by U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace in May 1944. He took an instant liking to his NKVD host, admired handiwork done by the enslaved political prisoners, and later glowingly called the town a combination of Tennessee Valley Authority and Hudson's Bay Company.

Administrative and municipal status
Magadan is the administrative centre of the oblast. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with the urban-type settlements of Sokol and Uptar, incorporated as the "town of oblast significance of Magadan"—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the town of oblast significance of Magadan is incorporated as Magadan Urban Okrug.

Transport
The Port of Magadan is the second largest seaport in the North-East of Russia after Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky located on Nagaev Bay and Sea of Okhotsk. It operates all year round with the help of icebreakers. There is currently no operating railway in Magadan. However, the Magadan-Palatka line was operational between 1941 and 1956. Russian Railways are considering the possibility of building a railway from the Nizhny Bestyakh of the Amur-Yakutsk railway to Magadan by 2035, which will contribute to the development of an area with huge mineral deposits. Magadan is the final destination of the federal highway R504 Kolyma Highway, which connects the region with Yakutia and other parts of Russia. Anadyr Highway, currently under construction, will provide access to Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Sokol Airport and Magadan-13 airport provide access to air transport for numerous destinations in Russia with the former being for big aircraft and the latter is mainly for small aircraft.

Magadan is also the home of the Magadan/Sokol Flight Information Region (FIR) and Magadan Oceanic FIR, which controls the Northeastern part of the Russia and its Arctic airspace. Most of the westbound transpacific flights from North America to Asia will use those FIRs.

Economy
The principal sources of income for the local economy are gold mining and fisheries. Recently, gold production has declined. Fishing production, although improving from year to year, is still well below the allocated quotas, apparently as a result of an aging fleet. Other local industries include pasta and sausage plants, and a distillery. Although farming is difficult owing to the harsh climate, there are many public and private farming enterprises.

Other
The Central Intelligence Agency wrote a report on Ship Repair Yard No. 2 near Magadan in June 1965. Magadan was repeatedly reported as a base for the Soviet Navy during the Cold War.

Culture
It has a number of cultural institutions, including the Regional Museum of Anthropology, a geological museum, a regional library and a university. Magadanskaya Pravda is the main newspaper.

The town figures prominently in the gulag literature of Varlam Shalamov and in the eponymous song by Mikhail Krug. Actor of film and stage Georgiy Zhzhonov worked at Magadan Theatre for two years after being released from a gulag in May 1945.

Magadan was home to a famous Soviet and Russian rock group founded there in 1986.

The town was a focal point of the Long Way Round TV series of a motorcycle journey made by Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman and their team in 2004.

Religion
The town features the recent Orthodox Cathedral of the Life-Giving Trinity (completed in 2008), and the Roman Catholic Church of the Nativity (completed in 2002 ), among others.

Memorials
The Mask of Sorrow memorial, a large sculpture in memory of Stalin's victims, was designed by Ernst Neizvestny. The Church of the Nativity ministers to survivors of the labor camps. It is staffed by several priests and nuns.

Geography
The Magadanka River, a 192 km long river flowing to the Sea of Okhotsk, passes the city. The city is located on the isthmus of the Staritsky Peninsula by the Nagaev Bay.

Ecologically situated in the Northeast Siberian taiga, the town's arboreal flora is made up of conifer trees, such as firs and larches, and silver birches. The city is surrounded by mountains to the west and northeast. Permafrost and tundra cover most of the region. The growing season is only one hundred days long.

The city of Magadan is on the same longitude as the suburbs of Greater Western Sydney, Australia, which lie on the eastern end of the 150th meridian east line, bordering the 151st meridian and is on the same latitude as Southern Scandinavia, and the far north of Scotland.

Climate
The climate of Magadan is subarctic (Köppen climate classification Dfc). Winters are prolonged and very cold, with up to six months of sub-zero high temperatures, so that the soil remains permanently frozen; although they are still much milder than those of interior eastern Siberia. Average temperatures on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk range from −22 C in January to +12 C in July. Average temperatures in the interior range from −38 C in January to +16 C in July. Due to the wet nature of October and November, a snowpack is built up early, which then lasts throughout the winter even while the influence from the Siberian High lowers precipitation throughout those months.


 * Highest temperature: 27.8 C on July 15, 2021
 * Lowest temperature: -37 C on December 20, 1995
 * Warmest month: 14.1 C in July, 2009
 * Coldest month: -25.0 C in January, 1933
 * Warmest year: -1.3 C in 2017
 * Coldest year: -5.0 C in 1967
 * Highest daily Precipitation: 108 mm in July, 2014
 * Wettest month: 306 mm in July, 2014
 * Wettest year: 1004 mm in 1950
 * Driest year: 226 mm in 1947

Education

 * North-Eastern State University (СВГУ, formerly Northern International University)

Notable people

 * Anton Belyaev (b. 1979), musician, lead singer of Therr Maitz
 * Anya Garnis (b. 1982), professional dancer, raised in Magadan, but not born there.
 * Nikolai Getman (1917–2004), artist
 * Dimitry Ipatov (b. 1984), ski jumper
 * Inna Korobkina (b. 1981), actress
 * Vadim Kozin (1903–1994), tenor
 * Nina Lugovskaya (1918–1993), artist
 * Sasha Luss (b. 1992), fashion model
 * Gena Marvin (b. 2000s), performance artist
 * Viktor Rybakov (b. 1956), former European amateur boxing champion
 * Pavel Vinogradov (b. 1953), cosmonaut
 * Yelena Vyalbe (b. 1968), Olympic cross-country skier

Twin towns and sister cities
Magadan is twinned with:
 * 🇺🇸 Anchorage, United States (1991)
 * 🇨🇳 Tonghua, Jilin, China (1992)
 * 🇧🇬 Zlatitsa, Bulgaria (2012)
 * 🇨🇳 Shuangyashan, China (2013)
 * In 2022 Jelgava, Latvia (2006) suspended the cooperation agreements with Magadan due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.