Ust-Maya

Ust-Maya (Усть-Ма́я; Уус Маайа, Uus Maaya) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Ust-Maysky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, southeast of Yakutsk, the capital of the republic. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 2,293.

Geography
Ust-Maya is located on the north bank of the Aldan River opposite the mouth of the Maya River. The Sette-Daban mountain range rises to the east of the town.

History
Ust-Maya was founded in 1930 as a base for gold mining activities on the Allakh-Yun and Yudoma Rivers to the east. It became the administrative center of the newly created Ust-Maysky District in 1931. During World War II, an airfield was built here for the Alaska-Siberian air route used to ferry American Lend-Lease aircraft to the Eastern Front. In 1957, Ust-Maya was granted urban-type settlement status. In 1972, the administrative center of the district was moved to Solnechny, where it remained until 1992, when it was moved back to Ust-Maya.

Administrative and municipal status
Within the framework of administrative divisions, the urban-type settlement of Ust-Maya serves as the administrative center of Ust-Maysky District. As an administrative division, it is, together with one rural locality (the selo of Ust-Yudoma), incorporated within Ust-Maysky District as the Settlement of Ust-Maya. As a municipal division, the Settlement of Ust-Maya is incorporated within Ust-Maysky Municipal District as Ust-Maya Urban Settlement.

Transportation
There are no year-round roads connecting Ust-Maya with outside world; however, winter roads connect it to Eldikan and Amga.

The Ust-Maya Airport is located in the selo of Petropavlovsk, 8 km to the southeast.

Climate
Ust-Maya has an extreme subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification Dfd). Winters are extremely cold with average temperatures from -43.0 to -35.3 C in January, while summers are warm with average temperatures from +12.1 to +25.4 C. Precipitation is quite low and is somewhat higher in summer than at other times of the year.