Minusinsk

Minusinsk (Russian: Минуси́нск) is a historical town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. Population: 71,170 (2010 Census);72,561 (2002 Census);72,942 (1989 Census); 44,500 (1973).

Geography

Minusinsk marks the center of the Minusinsk Hollow, one of the most important archaeological areas north of Pazyryk. It is associated with the Afanasevo, Tashtyk, and Tagar cultures—all of them named after settlements in the vicinity of Minusinsk.

History

"About 330-200 B.C. the iron age triumphed at Minusinsk, producing spiked axes, partly bronze and partly iron, and a group of large collective burial places." Greco-Roman funerary masks, like those found at Pazyryk, make up the "Minusinsk group: at Trifonova, Bateni, Beya, Kali, Znamenka, etc." "The Indo-European aristocracy with its Sarmatian connections was succeeded at Minusinsk by the Kirghiz after the third century A.D."

The Russian settlement of Minyusinskoye (Минюсинское) was founded in 1739-1740 at the confluence of the Minusa River with the Yenisei. The Turkic Min Usa means "my brook", or "thousand rivers". The name transformed to Minusinskoye (Минусинское) in 1810.