Salekhard
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Salekhard Coat of Arms |
Salekhard () is a
town in and the administrative center of
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug,
Russia. It is believed to be the only town in the world that is located right on the
Polar circle. Its population as of the
2002 Census was 36,827.
A settlement of
Obdorsk () was founded in
1595 in the place of a
khant settlement Polnovat-Vozh () by
Russian settlers who followed the conquering of
Siberia by
Yermak Timofeyevich. It was situated by the
Ob River, and its name supposedly derives from that.
The land around Obdorsk was referred to as Obdorsky
krai, or Obdoriya in the full address of
Russian tsars.
On
December 10,
1930, it became the administrative center of the new Yamal (Nenets) National
Okrug ().
It was renamed Salekhard in
1933 and granted a town status in
1938.
