Khakassia or Khakasiya (Russian: Хака́сия or Хака́ссия) is a republic in the Russian Federation located in south central Siberia.
It has an area of 61,900 km² (ranked 49th) and a population of about 575,400. Abakan is the administrative centre of Khakassia, and with a population of around 160,000 making it the largest city.
Khakas is a Turkic language with co-official status in the republic.
See also: Subdivisions of Russia
Administrative division
- Main article: Administrative division of Khakassia
Demographics
Population (2002): 546,072
Ethnic groups:
As per the 2002 census, ethnic Russians at 438,395 (80.27%) constitute by far the largest group of the population, followed by the Khakas at 65,421 (11.98%), Volga Germans at 9,161 (1.68%), Ukrainians at 8,360 (1.53%) and so on. All in all, 117 distinct ethnic groups are listed for the republic.
History
The Khakas are a Turkic-speaking people related to the Kyrgyz (they may be descendents of Kyrgyz who remained behind when the bulk of that nation began migrating southwest). Traditionally they lived in the middle reaches of the Yenisei river in Siberia and were nomadic herders. In the last two centuries they have become Christianized (converts to Russian Orthodoxy) and forced to become sedentary by the Russian government. The region was established on 10 October 1930. It was given republic status in 1991.
Economy
The main industries in the republic are coal mining, ore mining and timber.
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