Murmansk Oblast (Russian: Му́рманская о́бласть, Murmanskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the northwestern part of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Murmansk. Population: 795,409 (2010 Census).

Geographically it is located mainly on the Kola Peninsula, and it is a part of the larger Lapland region that spans over four countries. It lies almost completely north of the Arctic Circle. Murmansk Oblast borders Karelia, Finnmark County in Norway and Lapland Province in Finland and, by water, the Barents Sea and the White Sea. Norrbotten County in Sweden is also located nearby (300 km). Most of the Murmansk Oblast is hilly, the Khibiny Mountains being the highest point of the region. The climate is mildered by the proximity of the sea and the gulf stream. The Oblast is mostly covered by tundra in the north and taiga in the south.

The Saami, even if they represent now a very small minority, are the indigenous people of the region. However, the Russian people started to explore the shores of the White Sea as early as the 12th century. Despite of these early settlements, the area remained backward and undeveloped for a very long time, with the city of Murmansk being founded only in 1916.

Murmansk (Russian: Му́рманск; Kildin Sami: Мурман ланнҍ; Northern Sami: Murmánska; Skolt Sami: Muurman) is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland. Population: 307,664 (2010 Census preliminary results); 336,137 (2002 Census); 468,039 (1989 Census). Despite its rapidly declining population, Murmansk remains the largest city north of the Arctic Circle.

Murmansk was the last city founded in the Russian Empire.^{[citation needed]} In 1915, World War I needs led to the construction of the railroad from Petrozavodsk to an ice-free location on the Murman Coast in the Russian Arctic, to which Russia's allies shipped military supplies. The terminus became known as the Murman station, and soon boasted a port, a naval base, and an adjacent settlement with a population which quickly grew in size and soon surpassed the nearby towns of Alexandrovsk and Kola.