Magadan (Магада́н), city (1989 pop. 152,000), capital of Magadan region, Russian Far East, a port on the Sea of Okhotsk. Ship building and fishing are the major industries. The city has a seaport (navigable from May to December) and a major airport. A highway leads from Magadan to the gold-mining region on the upper Kolyma River. This is known as the 'Road of Bones' because of the number of prisoners who died during its construction.
During the Stalin era, Magadan was a major transit center for prisoners being sent to labor camps. The operations of Dal'stroi , a vast and brutal forced-labor gold-mining concern, were the main economic driver of the city for many decades during Soviet times.
Magadan is very isolated. There is only one road in and out, and the nearest city is Yakutsk, 2200km away down a road that is only half paved.
Magadan has an enormous Cathedral under construction, and the Mask of Sorrow memorial - a huge sculpture in memory of Stalin's victims.
Magadan is the only modern Russian city to have the same name as a city mentioned in the Bible (Matthew 15:39).
