The Kola Peninsula (from ; , Kolsky poluostrov) is a peninsula in the far northwest of Russia which comprises most of the territory of Murmansk Oblast.

Geography

Location and overview

The peninsula is located in the far northwest of Russia, almost completely to the north of the Arctic Circle and is washed by the Barents Sea in the north and the White Sea in the east and southeast. Geologically, the peninsula occupies the northeastern edge of the Baltic Shield. The western border of the peninsula stretches along the meridian from the Kola Gulf through the valley of the Kola River, Lake Imandra, and the Niva River to the Kandalaksha Gulf. The peninsula covers an area of about . The northern coast is steep and high, while the southern coast is flat. The western part of the peninsula is covered by two mountain ranges: the Khibiny Massif and the Lovozero Massif,; the former contains the highest point of the peninsula—Mount Chasnachorr, the height of which is . The Keyvy drainage divide lies in the central part. The mountainous reliefs of the Murman and Kandalaksha coasts stretch from southeast to northwest, mirroring the peninsula's main orographic features.

Administratively, the territory of the peninsula comprises Lovozersky Pechengsky, and a small part of Kolsky District, as well as the territories subordinated to the cities and towns of Murmansk, Severomorsk, Kirovsk, and parts of the territories subordinated to Monchegorsk, Apatity, and Kandalaksha.

Natural resources

Because the last ice age removed the top sediment layer of the soil, the Kola Peninsula is on the surface extremely rich in various ores and minerals, including apatites and nephelines; copper, nickel, and iron ores; mica; kyanites; ceramic materials, as well as rare earth elements and non-ferrous ores. Deposits of construction materials such as granite, quartzite, and limestone are also abundant. Diatomaceous earth deposits are common near the lakes and are used to produce insulation.

Climate

Closeness of the peninsula to the Gulf Stream leads to unusually high temperatures in winter, resulting in significant temperature variations between land and the Barents Sea and in fluctuating temperatures during high winds. Cyclones are typical during the cold seasons, while the warm seasons are characterized by anticyclones. Monsoon winds are common in most areas, with southern and southwestern winds typical in winter months and with somewhat more pronounced eastern winds in summer. Strong storm winds blow for 80–120 days a year.

Precipitation levels on the peninsula are rather high: in the mountains, on the Murman coast, and in other areas. The wettest months are August through October, while March and April are the driest.

The average temperature in January is about , with more cold temperatures typical in the central parts of the peninsula. The average temperature in July is about . Record lows reach in the central parts and on the coasts. Record highs exceed almost on all the territory of the peninsula. First frosts can strike as early as August and may last through May and even June.

Flora and fauna

The peninsula is covered by taiga in the south and tundra in the north. In tundra, the cold and windy conditions and permafrost limit the growth of the trees, resulting in landscape dominated by grasses, wildflowers, and shrubs such as dwarf birch and cloudberry. In northern coastal areas, stony and shrub lichens are common. The taiga in the southern areas is composed mostly of pine trees and firs.

Reindeer herds visit the grasslands in summer. Other animals include polar bears, red and Arctic foxes, wolverines, moose, otters, and lynx in the southern areas. American Minks, which were released near the Olenitsa River in 1935–1936, are now common throughout the peninsula and are commercially hunted. Beavers, which became endangered by 1880, were re-introduced in 1934–1957. All in all, thirty-two species of mammals and up to two hundred bird species inhabit the peninsula.

Twenty-nine species of fresh water fish are recognized on the territory of peninsula, including trout, stickleback, Northern pike, and European perch. The rivers are an important habitat for the Atlantic salmon, which return from Greenland and the Faroe Islands to spawn in fresh water. As a result of this a recreational fishery has been developed, with a number of remote lodges and camps available to host sport-fishermen. The Kandalaksha Nature Reserve, established in 1932 to protect the population of Common Eider, is located in the Kandalaksha Gulf of the Kola Peninsula.

Hydrology

The Kola Peninsula has many small but fast-moving rivers with rapids. The most important of them are the Ponoy, Varzuga, Umba, Teriberka, Voronya, and the Yokanga. Most rivers originate from lakes and swamps and collect their waters from melting snow. The rivers become icebound during the winter, although the areas with strong rapids freeze later or not at all.

Major lakes include Imandra, Umbozero, and Lovozero. There are no lakes with an area smaller than .

Ecology

The Kola Peninsula as a whole suffered major ecological damage, mostly as a result of pollution from the military (particularly naval) production, industrial mining of apatite, and military nuclear waste. About 137 active and 140 decommissioned or idle naval nuclear reactors, produced by the Soviet military, remain on the peninsula. For thirty years, nuclear waste had been dumped into the sea by the Northern Fleet and Murmansk Shipping Company. There is also evidence of contamination from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, with contaminants being found in the flesh of reindeer and other animals. Additionally, several nuclear weapons test ranges and radioactive waste storage facilities exist on the peninsula.

The main industrial pollution sources are Pechenganikel in Zapolyarny and MMC Norilsk Nickel in Monchegorsk—the large smelters responsible for over 80% of the sulfur dioxide emissions and for nearly all nickel and copper emissions.

History

Early history

In the 3rd millennium B.C.E., the peninsula was settled by the peoples who arrived here from the south (the territory of modern Karelia). By the end of the 1st millennium C.E., the peninsula was settled only by the Sami people, who did not have their own state, lived in clans ruled by elders, and were engaged mostly in deer herding and fishing. In the 12th century, Russian Pomors from the shores of Onega Bay and in the lower reaches of the Northern Dvina River discovered the peninsula and its game and fish riches. The Pomors organized regular hunting and fishing visits and started barter trade with the Sami. They also called the White Sea coast of the peninsula Tersky Coast (), or Terskaya Land ().

By the end of the 12th century, the Pomors explored all northern coast of the peninsula and reached Finnmark (area in the north of Norway), necessitating the Norwegians to support a naval guard in that area. The name Pomors gave to the northern coast was "Murman"—a distorted form of "Norman".

Novgorodians

Pomors were soon followed by the tribute collectors from the Novgorod Republic, and the Kola Peninsula gradually became a part of the Novgorodian lands. A 1265 treaty of Yaroslav Yaroslavich with Novgorod mentions Tre Volost (), which is later also mentioned in other documents dated as late as 1471.

In addition to Tre, the Novgorodian documents of the 13th–15th centuries also mention Kolo Volost, which bordered Tre approximately along the line between Kildin Island and Turiy Headland of the Turiy Peninsula. Kolo Volost laid to the west of that line, while Tre was situated to the east of it.

By the 13th century, the need for a formal border between the Novgorod Republic and the Scandinavian countries became evident. The Novgorodians, along with the Karelians who came from the south, reached the coast of what is now Pechengsky District and the portion of the coast of Varangerfjord near the Voryema River, which is now a part of Norway. The Sami population was forced to pay tribute. The Norwegians, however, were also attempting to take control of these lands, which often resulted in armed conflicts. In 1251, a conflict between the Karelians, Novgorodians, and the servants of the king of Norway lead to the establishment of a Novgorodian mission in Norway. Also in 1251, the first treaty with Norway was signed in Novgorod regarding the Sami lands and the system of tribute collections, making the Sami people pay tribute to both Novgorod and Norway. By the terms of the treaty, the Novgorodians could collect tribute from the Sami as far as Lyngenfjord in the west, while Norwegians could collect tribute on the territory of the whole Kola Peninsula except for the eastern part of Tersky Coast. No state borders were established by the 1251 treaty.

The treaty lead to a short period of peace, but the armed conflicts resumed soon thereafter. Chronicles document attacks by the Novgorodians and the Karelians on Finnmark and northern Norway as early as 1271, and continuing well into the 14th century.

The official border between the Novgorod lands and the lands of Sweden and Norway was established by the Treaty of Nöteborg on August 12, 1323. The treaty primarily focused on the Karelian Isthmus border and the border north of Lake Ladoga.

Another treaty dealing the matters of the northern borders was the Treaty of Novgorod signed with Norway in 1326, which ended the decades of the Norwegian-Novgorodian border skirmishes in Finnmark. Per the terms of the treaty, Norway relinquished all claims to the Kola Peninsula. However, the treaty did not address the situation with the Sami people paying tribute to both Norway and Novgorod, and the practice continued until 1602.

While the 1326 treaty did not define the border in detail, it confirmed the 1323 border demarcation, which remained more or less unchanged for the next six hundred years, until 1920.

In the 15th century, Novgorodians started to establish permanent settlements on the peninsula. Umba and Varzuga, the first documented permanent settlements of the Novgorodians, date back to 1466. Over time, all coastal areas to the west of the Pyalitsa River had been settled, creating a territory where the population was mostly Novgorodian. Administratively, this territory was divided into Varzuzhskaya and Umbskaya Volosts, which were governed by a posadnik from the area of the Northern Dvina.

The Novgorod Republic lost control of both of these volosts to the Grand Duchy of Moscow after the Battle of Shelon in 1471, and the republic itself ceased to exist in 1478 when Ivan III took the city of Novgorod. All Novgorod territories, including those on the Kola Peninsula, became a part of the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

Russian settlement

The Russian migration to the peninsula continued into the 16th century, when new settlements such as Kandalaksha, Kovda, Knyazhaya Guba, and Porya-Guba were established. Pechenga Monastery was established in 1533, and Kola was first mentioned in 1565.

In the end of the 15th century, the Pomors and the Sami people were forced into serfdom, mostly by the monasteries. Monastery votchinas greatly expanded during the 17th century, but were abolished in 1764, when all of the Kola Peninsula peasants became state peasants.

In the second half of the 16th century, King Frederick II of Denmark–Norway demanded the Tsardom of Russia to cede the peninsula. Russia declined, and in order to organize adequate defenses established the position of a voyevoda. The voyevoda sat in Kola, which became an administrative center of the region. Prior to that, the administrative duties were performed by the tax collectors from Kandalaksha. Newly established Kolsky Uyezd covered most of the territory of the peninsula (with the exception of Varzuzhskaya and Umbskaya Volosts, which were a part of Dvinsky Uyezd), as well as the northern part of Karelia all the way to Lendery.

Despite the economic activity, permanent settlement of the peninsula did not intensify until the 1860s and even then it remained sporadic until 1917. 1887 saw an influx of Komi and Nenets people who were migrating to the peninsula to escape a reindeer disease epidemic in their home lands and bringing their large deer herds with them, resulting in increased competition for the grazing lands, a conflict between the Komi and the Sami, and in the marginalization of the local Sami population. By the end of the 19th century, the Sami population had mostly been forced north, with ethnic Russians settling in the south of the peninsula. The village of Lovozero became the cultural center of the Sami people.

In 1896, Alexandrovsk was founded, which grew in size so quickly that it was granted town status in 1899 and Kolsky Uyezd was renamed Alexandrovsky on that occasion. In 1916, Romanov-na-Murmane (modern Murmansk) was founded,; it quickly grew to become the largest city on the peninsula.

Soviet and modern periods

Soviet power was established on the territory of the peninsula on , 1917, but the territory was occupied by the Triple Entente forces in March 1918–March 1920. Alexandrovsky Uyezd was transformed into Murmansk Governorate by the Soviet government in June 1921. On August 1, 1927, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) issued two Resolutions: "On the Establishment of Leningrad Oblast" and "On the Borders and Composition of the Okrugs of Leningrad Oblast", according to which Murmansk Governorate was transformed into Murmansk Okrug (which was divided into six districts) and included into Leningrad Oblast. This arrangement existed until May 28, 1938, when the okrug was separated from Leningrad Oblast, merged with Kandalakshsky District of the Karelian ASSR, and transformed into Murmansk Oblast.

All in all, the Soviet period saw a significant increase in population (799,000 in 1970 vs. 15,000 in 1913), although most of the population remained concentrated in the urban localities along the railroads and the sea coast. Most of the sparsely populated territories outside the urbanized areas are used for deer herding. In 1920–1940, two new towns (Kirovsk and Monchegorsk) and twelve work settlements were established on the peninsula.

The Sami peoples were subject to forced collectivization, and in 1928–1930 more than half of their reindeer herds were collectivized. In addition, the traditional Sami herding practices were phased out in favor of the more economically profitable Komi approach, which emphasized permanent settlements over free herding. Since the Sami culture is strongly tied to the herding practices, this resulted in the Sami people gradually losing their language and traditional herding knowledge. Most Sami were forced to settle in the village of Lovozero; those resisting the collectivization were subject to forced labor or death. Various forms of repression against the Sami continued until Stalin's death in 1953. In the 1990s, 40% of the Sami lived in urbanized areas, although some herd reindeer across much of the region.

The Sami were not the only people subject to repressions. Thousands of people were sent to Kola in the 1930s–1950s, and in 2007 over two thousand people—descendants of those forcibly sent here—still live on the peninsula.

Population

Historically, due to its northern location, the peninsula's population had been sparse: in 1913, for example, only about 13,000–15,000 people lived there; mostly along the shores. However, the discovery of the vast natural resources deposits and industrialization efforts led to an explosive population growth during the Soviet times. In 1930, for example, a single Sami family lived in the area of modern Monchegorsk, but by 1938 the population grew to 34,000. By 1970, the population of the peninsula was around 799,000. The trend reverted in the 1990s, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The population of the whole Murmansk Oblast went down from to

As per the 2002 Census results, the majority of the population was Russians (85.2%), Ukrainians (6.4%), and Belarusians (2.3%). Other groups of notice include Karelians (~2,200 inhabitants), Komi (~2,200), and Sami (~1,800).

Economy

Historical background

During the 15th–16th centuries, the main occupations of the Tersky coast population were Atlantic salmon fishing, seal hunting, and the extraction of salt from the sea water. The salt extraction in Kandalaksha and Kola was mostly carried out by the monasteries in Pechenga and Solovki, and for a long time remained the only "industry" on the peninsula.

By the mid-16th century, Atlantic cod fishing developed on the Murman coast in the north. The 1560s saw rapid growth of international trade, with the Russian merchants from different regions of the country arriving to the peninsula to trade with the merchants from the Western Europe. In 1585, however, the trade was moved to Archangel, although the settlement of Kola was still permitted to trade locally produced goods.

During the 17th century, the salt extraction activities gradually went into decline as the locally produced salt was uncompetitive with cheap salt produced in the Kama River regions. Extensive poaching also lead to the significantly reduced outputs from pearl hunting. However, commercial deer herding became more popular, although its share in the economy remained negligible until the 19th century. By the end of the 17th century, the practice of seasonal fishing and hunting settlements in the north of the peninsula became very common.

In 1732, large deposits of silver in native form were discovered on Medvezhy Island in the Kandalaksha Gulf and copper, silver, and gold deposits were found in the lower reaches of the Ponoy River. However, despite the efforts ongoing for the next two centuries, there was no commercial success.

At the end of the 18th century, the local population learned the practice of peat production from the Norwegians and started using peat for heating. Timber cutting industry developed in the region at the end of the 19th century; mostly in Kovda and Umba.

The Soviet era saw drastic industrialization and militarization of the peninsula. In 1925–1926, significant deposits of apatite were discovered in the Khibiny Massif, and only a few years later, in 1929, the first apatite batch was shipped. In 1930, sulfide deposits were discovered in the Moncha area; in 1932–1933 iron ore deposits were found near the upper streams of the Iona River; and in 1935, significant deposits of titanium ores were discovered in the area of modern Afrikanda.

The collectivization efforts in the 1930s lead to the concentration of the reindeer herds in kolkhozes, which, in turn, were further consolidated into a few large-scale state farms in the late 1950s–early 1970s. By the mid-1970s, the state farms were further consolidated into just two, based in Lovozero and Krasnoshchelye. The consolidations were justified by the necessity to isolate the herders from the military installation and the need to flood some territories to construct hydroelectric plants.

Modern economy

Today the Kola Peninsula is the most industrially developed and urbanized region in northern Russia. The major port of the peninsula is Murmansk, which serves as the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast and does not freeze in winter. During the Soviet period, Murmansk was a significant submarine production center, and remains home to the Russian Northern Fleet.

The peninsula has the highest concentration of nuclear weapons, reactors, and facilities in Russia, with the number of nuclear reactors alone exceeding any other region of the world.

The Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company, a division of MMC Norilsk Nickel, conducts mining operations on the peninsula.

See also

Kola Norwegians

References

Sources

Olga Rigina. GIS Analysis of Surface Water Chemistry Susceptibility and Response to Industrial Air Pollution in the Kola Peninsula, Northern Russia. Published in Biogeochemical Investigations at the Watershed, Landscape, and Regional Scales, Springer 1998.

Category:Peninsulas of Russia Category:Geography of Murmansk Oblast

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