Kemerovo Oblast — Kuzbass, also known simply as Kemerovo Oblast () or Kuzbass (), after the Kuznetsk Basin, is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Kemerovo is the administrative center and largest city of the oblast. Kemerovo Oblast is one of Russia's most urbanized regions, with over 70% of the population living in its nine principal cities. Its ethnic composition is predominantly Russian, but Shors, Ukrainians, Tatars, and Chuvash also live in the oblast. The population recorded during the 2021 Census was 2,600,923.
Geography
Kemerovo Oblast is located in southwestern Siberia, where the West Siberian Plain meets the South Siberian Mountains. The oblast, which covers an area of , shares a border with Tomsk Oblast in the north, Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Republic of Khakassia in the east, the Altai Republic in the south, and with Novosibirsk Oblast and Altai Krai in the west. Verkhny Zub peak, the highest point of the oblast, is located in the eastern border.
Climate
The climate of the oblast is continental: winters are cold and long, summers are warm, but short. The average January temperature ranges from , the average in July is . Average annual precipitation ranges from on the plains and the foothills of up to or more in mountainous areas. The duration of the frost-free period is 100 days in the north area, and up to 120 days in the south of the Kuznetsk Basin.
Environment
The environmental conditions in Kuznetsk Basin are heavily influenced by the regional industrial activities, especially, by coal mining. The report about the environmental conditions in Kemerovo region from 2014 indicated that there are more than 20 thousand of enterprises, emitting more than 250 types of atmospheric pollutants, where most urban areas with the worst air quality are located in the Kuznetsk Basin: Novokuznetsk, Mezhdurechensk, Myski, Kaltan, Polysaevo, Belovo and Leninsk-Kuznetskiy.
Atmospheric pollution is apparent over Kuznetsk Basin as major regional long-term tropospheric NO2 anomaly was identified over the region in 2006-2020 years. The anomaly was driven primarily by coal mining and processing activities in the region, being exacerbated by the regional topography, favorable for accumulation of atmospheric pollutants and metal production in Novokuznetsk. Unlike other Siberian cities, where atmospheric concentration of NO2 has been decreasing in recent years, the concentration of NO2 is increasing in the cities of the Kuznetsk Basin due to the increasing coal production in the region.
History
The oblast was established on January 26, 1943, but it has considerably older antecedents. Shors, Teleuts and Siberian Tatars are native peoples of the region. The oldest city in Kemerovo Oblast is Novokuznetsk, founded in 1618, soon after Cossack ataman Yermak's push into Siberia.
The territory of modern Kemerovo Oblast has been inhabited for several thousand years. In 1618, Kuznetsk fort was established in the south of the future oblast to protect the land from Russian and Mongolian Dzhungarian invaders. During the 19th century, the territory of the modern oblast was a part of Tomsk Governorate.
Soviet period
After the October Revolution of 1917, Kuzbass experienced significant strife as part of the Russian Civil War. A major peasant rebellion took place in the region in early 1921, but was suppressed by the Red Army. In 1930, Kuzbass became part of the West Siberian Krai, and then the Novosibirsk Oblast. Post revolutionary period was characterized by the transition to a planned economy, the creation of the Ural-Kuzbass industrial complex development of the coal, metallurgical and chemical industries Kuzbass Kemerovo Coke built, Kuznetsk Metallurgical Combine, a lot of new mines. Industrial enterprises are being built near the workers' settlements, which quickly became a city: Kiselevsk Osinniki Krasnobrodsky, Tashtagol Kaltan Mezhdurechensk and others.
During the Great Patriotic War, Kemerovo region became a major supplier of coal and metal. From Novokuznetsk steel produced over 50,000 tanks and 45,000 aircraft. In Kuzbass from the occupied areas were evacuated equipment 71 enterprises, most of which have remained in the Kuzbass.