Russkoye Ustye

The locality's name is probably based on the name of the river channel on which it is located, and which, too, has been known historically as the Russkoye Ustye. These days the channel is also known under the name Russko-Ustyinskaya Protoka that is formed from the locality's name. The original name of the channel, Russkoye Ustye, can be loosely translated as "the westernmost arm" [of the river delta], or the "westernmost river mouth". The noun ustye means "the river mouth" and the adjective Russkoye ("Russian") apparently refers to this channel's being the one located the farthest to the west (i.e., the one closest to [European] Russia). Similarly, the easternmost channel of the delta has been known as the Kolymskoye Ustye, i.e., the river mouth closest to the Kolyma (the Indigirka's neighbor to the east).

Russkoye Ustye is located in the delta of the Indigirka River, about {{convert|80|km|sp=us}} from the fall of the main western channel of the Indigirka's delta into the East Siberian Sea of the Arctic Ocean.

Russkoye Ustye was settled several centuries ago by ethnic Russians, who mixed to some extent with the indigenous Even people. As no agriculture is possible at this Arctic location, they developed an economy based on hunting, fishing, and trapping. Since the place is north of the Arctic tree line, driftwood brought by the Indigirka was used for construction and for firewood.

Due to the remarkable geographic isolation of the settlement, its residents preserved much of their ancestors' beliefs, customs, and folklore into the 19th and 20th century, which made Russkoye Ustye a favorite destination for Russian ethnographers and cultural anthropologists, such as Gerhard von Maydell.[http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/LiLab/Landeskunde/russ/ruskul_e.htm Russkoye Ustye: Culture] Linguists visited the place to study the local dialect of Russian, strongly influenced by the Even language.[http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/lilab/krasovitsky/krasovitsky-eng/archive.htm Russian dialects in East Siberia and Kamchatka]. Reviews such publications as "The Isolated Russian Dialectal System in Contact with Tungus Languages in Siberia and Far East" by A. Krasovitsky and Ch. Sappok; and "Prosody of Statements in the Speech of Old Settlers in the Polar Region" by A. Krasovitsky.

It is speculated that the original settlers, possibly of Pomor origin, arrived to the delta of the Indigirka as early as the first half of the 17th century. More skeptical researchers believe that the second half of the 17th century would be a more likely time for the initial settlement.А. И. Гоголев. "История Якутии: обзор исторических событий до начала ХХ в." (A. I. Gogolev. [http://www.ysu.ru/facultet/kfi/books/HistoryOfYakutiya.htm History of Yakutia: Review of Historical Events to the beginning of the 20th century] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050527010736/http://www.ysu.ru/facultet/kfi/books/HistoryOfYakutiya.htm |date=May 27, 2005 }}) Yakutsk, 1999. {{in lang|ru}} According to a locally recorded legend, the villagers' ancestors originally left European Russia during Ivan the Terrible's persecution campaigns in the late 16th century, although, as Rasputin suggests, reaching the Indigirka may have taken them a long time.Rasputin, p. 293

File:Станчиковая церковь.jpg

The first known record of the community of Russkoye Ustye is in the reports of the explorer Dmitry Laptev, who had to spend a winter there in 1739 when his boat was stuck in the ice. A Socialist Revolutionary Vladimir Zenzinov gave an account of his visit in the early 1900s during his Siberian exile.Tatyana Bratkova [http://magazines.russ.ru/novyi_mi/1998/4/brat.html Russkoye Ustye]. Novy Mir, 1998, no. 4 {{in lang|ru}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20121026033000/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,741987-1,00.html The Road to Oblivion—Vladimir Zenzinov & Isaac Don Levine—McBride] Time Magazine, Monday, Jul. 06, 1931. (The review of the book by Zenzinov)

It was only between 1928 (when a schoolhouse was built and a schoolteacher arrived from the outside world) and the 1960s (the arrival of helicopters) that Russkoye Ustye became reconnected, to an extent, with the "mainland" culture and integrated into the national economy. The pelts of Arctic fox became the principal product sold by the residents to the outside world.

Historically, the peoples of Russkoye Ustye were spread out over tens of kilometers, living in solitary houses or tiny hamlets of three to four houses (there were six houses in the hamlet where Zenzinov stayed). Around 1940–1942, the authorities arranged for them to move into a single localion, which was given the name Polyarnoye. However, the inhabitants continued to refer to it colloquially as Russkoye Ustye,Valentin Rasputin. "Siberia, Siberia". Translated by Margaret Winchell, Gerald Mikkelson. Northwestern University Press, 1996. {{ISBN|0-8101-1575-1}}. Chapter 7, "Russkoe Ustye". [https://books.google.com/books?id=ViPE-u1oRVAC On Google Books]. and this name was officially restored in 1988.

A Siberian writer, Valentin Rasputin, dedicated a chapter of his non-fiction book, "Siberia, Siberia" (originally published in 1991) to the people of this isolated traditional community. Even though the locals "seemed to be fashioned entirely out of prejudice", he favorably compares their ability to pass moral judgments with the moral relativism of the modern people.

Russkoye Ustye has a tundra climate (ET) with short, chilly summers and long, bitterly cold winters.

{{Weather box|width=auto

|metric first=yes

|single line=yes

|location=Russkoye Ustye

|Jan record high C=-8.0

|Feb record high C=-13.3

|Mar record high C=-7.1

|Apr record high C=-2.0

|May record high C=12.0

|Jun record high C=24.0

|Jul record high C=28.9

|Aug record high C=27.4

|Sep record high C=18.0

|Oct record high C=5.0

|Nov record high C=-3.8

|Dec record high C=-7.8

|year record high C=28.9

|Jan high C=-29.2

|Feb high C=-30.8

|Mar high C=-27.0

|Apr high C=-17.3

|May high C=-5.3

|Jun high C=6.7

|Jul high C=11.7

|Aug high C=8.9

|Sep high C=2.9

|Oct high C=-10.3

|Nov high C=-22.5

|Dec high C=-28.5

|year high C=-13.1

|Jan mean C=-32.8

|Feb mean C=-34.5

|Mar mean C=-31.2

|Apr mean C=-22.1

|May mean C=-8.5

|Jun mean C=3.7

|Jul mean C=7.9

|Aug mean C=5.7

|Sep mean C=0.6

|Oct mean C=-13.4

|Nov mean C=-26.2

|Dec mean C=-32.0

|year mean C=-16.6

|Jan low C=-36.6

|Feb low C=-38.3

|Mar low C=-35.7

|Apr low C=-27.8

|May low C=-12.7

|Jun low C=0.6

|Jul low C=4.2

|Aug low C=2.9

|Sep low C=-1.5

|Oct low C=-16.7

|Nov low C=-29.9

|Dec low C=-35.6

|year low C=-20.4

|Jan record low C=-48.4

|Feb record low C=-51.0

|Mar record low C=-47.4

|Apr record low C=-42.2

|May record low C=-29.0

|Jun record low C=-25.0

|Jul record low C=-3.9

|Aug record low C=-5.1

|Sep record low C=-17.0

|Oct record low C=-35.8

|Nov record low C=-42.2

|Dec record low C=-48.6

|year record low C=-51.0

|Jan precipitation mm=11.3

|Feb precipitation mm=6.4

|Mar precipitation mm=5.1

|Apr precipitation mm=7.5

|May precipitation mm=32.8

|Jun precipitation mm=21.9

|Jul precipitation mm=27.9

|Aug precipitation mm=31.2

|Sep precipitation mm=28.8

|Oct precipitation mm=13.1

|Nov precipitation mm=14.1

|Dec precipitation mm=5.8

|year precipitation mm=205.9

|source 1= {{Cite web |url=http://climatebase.ru/station/21849/ |title=Weather Averages for Russkoye Ustye (1955-1991) |publisher=climatebase.ru |access-date=16 November 2014}}

}}

{{Reflist}}

• Official website of the Sakha Republic. Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Divisions of the Sakha Republic. [https://www.sakha.gov.ru/allaihovskiy-ulus-rayon Allaikhovsky District]. {{in lang|ru}}
• {{RussiaAdmMunRef|sa|mun|list1}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2014}}

{{Rural localities in Allaikhovsky District}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Rural localities in Allaikhovsky District

Category:Pomors

Category:Populated places of Arctic Russia