Sakha

Autonomous republic of the Russian Federation, in eastern Siberia; area 3,103,000 sq km/1,198,100 sq mi; population (1997) 1,032,000 (50% Russians, 33% Yakuts). The capital is Yakutsk. Industries include fur trapping, gold and natural gas extraction, and lumbering; there is some agriculture in the south.

History
The nomadic Yakut people were conquered by Russia in the 17th century. In the 19th century, Yakutia became an area of banishment, and forced labour camps (gulags) operated here from the 1930s to mid-1950s. It became a Soviet Republic after the area was won from the Whites in 1923. It remained an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Underground and atmospheric nuclear testing, together with industrial waste from diamond and gold processing, have heavily polluted the area.