Komi

I

Introduction

Komi, autonomous republic, north-eastern Russia, located on the eastern margins of European Russia, and bordered on the north by the republic of Nenets, on the east by the autonomous okrugs (districts) of Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi, on the south-east by Sverdlovsk Oblast (province), on the south by Perm Kray (territory), Komi-Permyak Okrug, and Kirov Oblast, and on the west by Arkhangel’ Oblast. Komi has an area of 415,900 sq km (160,580 sq mi). The capital of the republic is Syktyvkar.

II

Land and Resources

Largely covered with plains, Komi's highlands are the Timan mountain range that cuts through the republic from the north-east and the mountains of the Northern Polar Region and the Polar Ural Mountains. The highest peak in the Urals as a whole is Mount Narodnaya (1,894 m/6,214 ft) of the Polar Urals, just 0.5 km (0.3 mi) to the east of the republic’s border with Khanty-Mansi. Major rivers are the Pechora and its tributaries the Usa and Izhma; the Vychegda with the Sysola and the Vym; and the Mezen with the Vaska. The Pechora is the largest river in northern European Russia and is navigable for more than 1,500 km (932 mi).

A severe climate is marked by winter temperatures that average as low as -20.4° C (-5° F) at Vorkuta and -17.1° C (1.4° F) at Syktyvkar. Summer temperatures range from 11.7° C (53° F) at Vorkuta to 16.6° C (62° F) at Syktyvkar. Permafrost covers 13 per cent of the territory. Almost 70 per cent of the republic is covered by boreal forest, or taiga, made up mainly of spruce and pine trees. In 1995 large areas of the forest were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Designated conservation areas include the Yugyd Va National Park and the adjoining Pechoro-Ilych Nature Reserve. Yugyd-Va is the largest national park in Russia, with an area of 18,917 sq km (7,304 sq mi); it was created in 1994 to preserve the virgin forests and provide a protected habitat for a number of wildlife species, including elks, bears, arctic foxes, and wolverines. The neighbouring Pechoro-Ilych Nature Reserve was created in 1930, and became a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1986. The reserve’s forests and swamps support brown bears, elks, sables, beavers, and wolves.

III

Population

Komi has a population of 1,117,200 (2002 estimate), some 75 per cent of whom live in the main urban areas. The average population density is 2.5 people per sq km (6.5 per sq mi). The capital, Syktyvkar, has a population of 230,000 (1997 estimate). Other major settlements include Vorkuta, Ukhta, Inta, Pechora, Troitsko-Pechorsk, and Izhma.

According to the 2002 census, Russians are the largest ethnic group with almost 60 per cent of the population. The indigenous Komi account for about 25 per cent, and Ukrainians about 6 per cent. The Komi, who call themselves Komi Mort (Komi person) or Komi Voityr (Komi people), speak Komi or Zyrian, a language with several dialects that belongs to the Permian group of the Finnic division of the Ural-Altaic languages.

During the Soviet era some Komi traditions were lost, but literary culture developed. Komi literature had been published in the 19th century, but alphabet reforms and mass education generated a literary renaissance in the Soviet period. The first alphabet, which had been a Cyrillic alphabet, was replaced by the Roman alphabet (1932-1935), and with another Cyrillic script in the late 1930s. Institutions of higher education in Komi include Komi State Pedagogical Institute (1931) and Syktyvkar State University (1972), in Syktyvkar, an industrial institute in Ukhta, and a forestry institute in Vorkuta.

IV

Economy

Komi has logging, coal-mining, oil and gas, asphalt, and woodworking industries; the light industrial sector is expanding. Agriculture is limited largely to livestock-breeding, dairy-farming, fodder crops, vegetables, and potatoes. Water transport is very important, but rail and road links also connect Komi with other parts of Russia. There are airports at Syktyvkar, Ukhta, and Vorkuta.