Vladivostok
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Vladivostok
Владивосток
City[1]
Top-down, left-to-right: View of Zolotoy Bridge and the Golden
Horn Bay at night, with the Russky Bridge in the distance; GUM
Department Store; Arseniev State Museum of Primorsky Region;
The campus of Far Eastern Federal University; Vladivostok Railway
Station; and Central Square
Flag
Coat of arms
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Location of Vladivostok
Vladivostok
Location of Vladivostok
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Coordinates: 43°08′N 131°54′ECoordinates: 43°08′N 131°54′E
Country Russia
Federal subject Primorsky Krai[1]
Founded 2 July 1860[2]
City status since 22 April 1880
Government
• Body City Duma
• Head Oleg Gumenyuk[3]
Area
[4]
• Total 331.16 km2 (127.86 sq mi)
Elevation 8 m (26 ft)
Population
• Estimate 604,901
(2018)[5]
• Rank 22nd in 2010
Administrative status
• Subordinated to Vladivostok City Under Krai Jurisdiction[1]
• Capital of Primorsky Krai[6], Vladivostok City Under
Krai Jurisdiction[1]
Municipal status
• Urban okrug Vladivostoksky Urban Okrug[7]
• Capital of Vladivostoksky Urban Okrug[7]
Time zone UTC+10 (MSK+7 [8]
)
Postal code(s)[9] 690xxx
Dialing code(s) +7 423[10]
OKTMO ID 05701000001
City Day First Sunday of July
Website www.vlc.ru
Vladivostok (Russian: Владивосто́к, IPA: [vlədʲɪvɐˈstok] ( listen)) is the largest city and
the administrative centre of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn
Bay on the Pacific Ocean, covering an area of 331.16 square kilometres (127.86 square miles),
with a population of 606,561 residents,[11] up to 812,319 residents in the urban agglomeration.
Vladivostok is the second-largest city in the Far Eastern Federal District, as well as the Russian
Far East, after Khabarovsk.
The city was founded in 1860 as a Russian military outpost after the Treaty of Aigun and
the Convention of Peking with the Qing dynasty. In 1872, the main Russian naval base on the
Pacific Ocean was transferred to the city, and thereafter Vladivostok began to grow. After the
outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Vladivostok was occupied in 1918 by foreign
troops, the last of whom were not withdrawn until 1922, by that time the anti-revolutionary White
Army forces in Vladivostok promptly collapsed, and Soviet power was established in the city.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Vladivostok became the administrative centre of
Primorsky Krai.
Vladivostok is the largest Russian port on the Pacific Ocean, and the chief economic, scientific
and cultural centre of the Russian Far East, as well as an important tourism centre in Russia. As
the terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the city was visited by over 3 million tourists in
2017.[12] The city is the administrative centre of the Far Eastern Federal District, and is the home
to the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy. For its unique geographical
location, and its European culture, the city is called "Europe in Asia".[13][14] Many foreign
consulates and businesses have offices in Vladivostok.
Contents
Names and etymology[edit]
See also: Names of Vladivostok in different languages
Vladivostok means "Lord of the East, or Ruler of the East. The name derives from Slavic
"владь". "to rule" and Russian "восток", "east". (See the etymology of Vladimir (name).)
It was first named in 1859 along with other features in the Peter the Great Gulf area by Nikolay
Muravyov-Amursky. The name was first applied to the bay but, following an expedition by
Alexey Shefner in 1860, was later applied to the new settlement.[15]
On Chinese maps from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), Vladivostok is called Yongmingcheng
(永明城 [Yǒngmíngchéng], "city of eternal light").[citation needed] Since the Qing dynasty, the city is
known as Haishenwai (海參崴, Hǎishēnwǎi) in Chinese, from
the Manchu Haišenwai (Manchu: ᡥᠠᡳᡧᡝᠨᠸᡝᡳ; Möllendorff: Haišenwai; Abkai: Haixenwai) or "small
seaside village".[16]
In China, Vladivostok is now officially known by the transliteration 符拉迪沃斯托
克 (Fúlādíwòsītuōkè), although the historical Chinese name 海参崴 (Hǎishēnwǎi) is still often
used in common parlance and outside Mainland China to refer to the city.[17][18] According to the
provisions of the Chinese government, all maps published in China have to bracket the city's
Chinese name.[19]
The modern-day Japanese name of the city is transliterated as Urajiosutoku (ウラジオストク).
Historically, the city's name was transliterated with Kanji as 浦塩斯徳 and shortened to Urajio ウ
ラジオ; 浦塩.[20]
History[edit]
Main articles: History of Vladivostok and Timeline of Vladivostok
Foundation[edit]
Steamship-corvette "America" on the Golden Horn Bay
For a long time, the Russian government was looking for a stronghold in the Far East; this role
was played in turn by the settlements of Okhotsk, Ayan, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky,
and Nikolaevsk-on-Amur. By the middle of the 19th century, the search for the outpost had
reached a dead end: none of the ports met the necessary requirement: to have a convenient
and protected harbor, next to trade routes.[21] The Aigun Treaty was concluded by the forces of
the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky, an active exploration of
the Amur region began, and later, as a result of the signing of the Treaty of Tientsin and
the Convention of Peking, the territory of modern Vladivostok were annexed to Russia. The very
name Vladivostok appeared in the middle of 1859, was used in newspaper articles and denoted
a bay.[21] On June 20, (July 2) 1860 the transport of the Siberian Military Flotilla "Mandzhur"
under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Alexei Karlovich Shefner delivered a military unit
to the Golden Horn Bay to establish a military post, which has now officially received the name
of Vladivostok.[22]
