Kuzbass Some traits of its history

Geography Kemerovo Oblast is located in the southeast of Western Siberia near the centre of Eurasia at almost the same distance from the western and eastern borders of Russia. The biggest part of Kemerovo Oblast lies in the Kuznetsk Basin whose vast coal reserves explain the region's second name – Kuzbass.

 The Oblast's distinctive features are high urbanisation and concentration of the population in the narrow coal mining zones. The population density is one of the highest in Siberia - over 50 people per 1 square kilometre.

First Russian Comers  The Cossack ataman Ermak paved the way for the peoples of Muscovy Russia into Siberia.  Four centuries ago, a stockaded town of Tomsk was a starting point for the movement of Russian troops to the East. In 1610, the Cossack ataman Ivan Pavlov came to the Kuznetsk land from that town with a few dozens of Cossacks and built a fortress there. The Russians were so impressed with the development of ferrous metallurgy by Shors that they started calling the local population ‘kuznetsy’ (‘blacksmiths’). A stockaded town that they built in 1618 was called Kuznetsk.

Mikhailo Volkov’ Discovery  In February 1722, Mikhailo Volkov discovered iron ore in the Tomsk uyezd and coal on the territory of modern Kemerovo. At that time, this discovery was left without use, but later it played a crucial role in the fate of Kuzbass. The whole history of Kuzbass after that ore and coal discovery was connected with the development of metallurgy and production of coal and other mineral resources. By the beginning of the 19 th century, the Tomsk ironworks and the Gavrilov silver-refining works had been already established.

KOPIKUZ in Kuzbass  Foreign scientific journals published articles about how unbelievably rich the Kuznetsk land was. As a result, a stock colliery corporation ‘KOPIKUZ’ was established in It had a monopoly on building mines and coal mining in the whole Kuznetsk Basin until January  The KOPIKUZ Corporation’s works and mines became the property of the Soviet Republic, which meant the beginning of a new stage in the history of Kuzbass and its people.

Kemerovo Region Formed During the first days of the WWII in the USSR, the Government decides to evacuate enterprises. Chemical and electromechanical enterprises were placed in Kemerovo, iron-and-steel works found their new place in Novokuznetsk. In January 1943 Moscow decided to separate Kuzbass from Novosibirsk Oblast and established Kemerovo Oblast.

Main Bodies  Kemerovo becomes the capital city of the Kemerovo Oblast.  The main legal document in Kemerovo Oblast is its Charter. The current KO Charter is regarded as one of the best in the Russian Federation. In accordance with this basic document, the bodies of authority in Kemerovo Oblast include: the Council of People’s Deputies– a legislative body of authority, the Oblast Administration Board – the supreme executive body of authority.