Turukhansk is a rural locality (a selo) and the administrative center of Turukhansky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located 1474 km north of Krasnoyarsk, at the confluence of the Yenisey and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers. Until 1924, the town was known as Monastyrskoye, and from 1924 to 1930 as Novo-Turukhansk. It is not to be confused with Staroturukhansk, known as Turukhansk until 1920.

History

One of the first Russian settlements in Siberia, Turukhansk was founded in 1607 as a winter camp (зимовье) for Cossacks and merchants. After the disastrous fires of Mangazeya in 1619, 1642, and 1662, Turukhansk welcomed a large portion of the older colony's population and became known as New Mangazeya. A timber fort with cannons was built there in 1677. The settlement hosted one of the largest fairs in Siberia and was incorporated as an uyezd town of Turukhansk in 1785. The town declined after 1822. During the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, Turukhansk was often used as a destination for political exile. Among people exiled there were Julius Martov, Yakov Sverdlov, Joseph Stalin, Lev Kamenev, Alexander Ulanovsky, Marina Tsvetaeva's daughter Ariadna Èfron, Yuz Aleshkovsky and Archbishop Luka Voyno-Yasenetsky.

Demographics

Transportation

The town is served by the Turukhansk Airport.

Climate

The climate of Turukhansk is classified as continental subarctic (Dfc) in the Köppen climate classification system and as continental sub-arctic (taiga) with mild summers and severely cold winters (ECld) in the Trewartha climate classification system.