General information
Nature and climatic peculiarities
Economical peculiarities
Cultural and historical peculiarities.
Key lines of tourist development.
Transport connection
General information
Segezhsky region (area - 10,5 thousand square km, population - 48,8 thousand people) is located in the eastern part of Middle Karelia around one of the largest lakes – Vygozero lake, which had been remade into a storage pool after the construction of the Belomoro-Baltic channel.
The region borders with Belomorsky region in the north and northeast, with Medvezhjegorsky region in the south and southwest and with Arkhangelskaja region in the east.
The region includes 36 build-up area, the largest of which are the regional center Segezha, settlement Nadvoitsy and Valdai village.
The regional center Segezha, which was founded in 1943 at the place of a fishermen’s village, is now the place of a huge pulp and paper milk. A considerable role in the development of Segezha plays the advantages of its economical and geographical location.
Nature and climatic peculiarities
There are 4,9 thousand square km of forests, 2,0 thousand square km of water area, and 3,6 thousand square km of bogs in Segezhsky region. The territory of the region is included into East Karelian zone of great lakes and belongs to the area of glacier sediments.
Vygozero lake and Vyg rriver, which crosses it, are the main natural and historical dominants of the region. The northern branch of the trade way from Novgorod to the White Sea, a famous Tsar’s road and the largest hydrotechnical canal in the world go along them. One of the largest waterfalls in Karelia is located on the Lower Vyg. It is Voytskiy waterfall, which is divided into three parts. After the construction of hydroelectric power station the waterfall has dried. There is one of the first gold-mines in Russia near the waterfall. Both the waterfall and the gold-mine can be used for tourist shows.
On the very west of the region there is rather large (13х30 km), but shallow (maximum depth - 8 m) Ondozero lake, which is rich with fish. Onda river popular among canoeists crosses it. The lake is surrounded with pine forests and there are lots of nice beaches along the coastline. A tourist center may be organized there. Onda river flows into Lower Vyg.
There are the following nature resources on the territory: timber, nickel ore, talc, pyrites and peat. The landscape of the region is made of few eminencies. Geologically the landscape of the region is uniform. The basement rocks of the territory are granites, and slates.
The climate of the region is temperate with some features of maritime. The frosts last for 4 months, the coldest month is January, the maximum temperature is -46°C, the warmest month is July with the maximum temperature of +35°C. There are lots of bogs, lakes and rivers, so the air humidity is high, in average there are 500 mm of precipitation a year. The soils are podzol. The flora is mainly coniferous.
Economical peculiarities
Segezhsky region is the industrial center of Karelia. There are about 300 registered enterprises there. The largest enterprises of the region are Segezhsky pulp and paper mill (the largest in Europe), Nadvoitsky aluminum works and Segezha woodworking enterprise. The transport connections of the region are the delivery of mineral oils, bituminous coal, and building materials.
Cultural and historical peculiarities
On the territory of Segezhsky region the traces of few sites of the Stone Age have been found. They are in the area of Nadvoitsy, Gruzdino, Voitskoe lake and Koikinitsy. Unfortunately, the territory of the region, which takes a significant part of Vygozero area, is little studied. It is known that till XII - XIII centuries the main population here were Saami.
In the beginning of the second millenium the Karelians came here from the lands of northwest Priladozhje. At the same time migrants from Novgorod also settled in the region. Russians brought farming with them. Along with the other regions of Novgorodskaja republic in 1478 the region was included in the structure of Russian centralized state.
In 1695 escaped convicts and the participants of Solovetskoe revolt founded Vygoretskiy monastery. It is located on the river of Upper Vyg, but some of its sketes are on the shores of Vygozero lake. In 1702 Peter the Great visited this places in order to make the shortest way to the Swedish fortresses and to reconquer Russian lands. The place near Vygozero, where Peter the Great spent his vacation, is called Peter’s Jam. Later the volost got the same name.
In the beginning of XX century the volost consisted of three peasants’ societies – Maselga, Vygozero and Koikinitsa. S. Sokolov explored Povenetskiy district in 1904 on the instructions of The society of fans of anthropology and ethnography. He’s got a silver medal of Russian Geographical society for his explorations. Here is his description of Segezha: "This village, if it can be called so, consists of one house, the Karelian man named Judas and his family live. Due to advantageous location of the house and no lack of anomals and fish his family always has everything necessary. The only disadvantage of this settlement is lack of roads leading to it".
In February 1912 The Society of Olonets railroad was founded. The official opening of the construction was in July 1914. During the building more than a hundred thousand of civilians and 50 thousand prisoners of war worked at the railroad. The carrying capacity of the road is up to 90 wagons a day, the rate of movement is 12 kmh. Becouse of the construction of building ways in the lands of Vygozero lots of small stations like Segezha, Nadvoitsy, Kochkoma, Idel and others appeared. The largest and the most isolated region in Karelia got the connection with the whole country.
In August 1928 on the instruction of the Central Election Committee the administrative division of Karelia into districts was canceled. Instead of 55 volosts and 7 districts the republic was divided into 26 regions, one of which was Segezhsky. Its territory at that time was 7620 square km. In April 1930 after a new administrative division of Karelia the region was canceled and then founded again in March 1945.
However, in the 30-ies sudden changes, which put the beginning to the formation of Vygozero land, happened. In 1932 because of the construction of Belomoro-Baltic canal and evident flood of the Mailma village, the timber mill and other enterprises were moved to Segezha. In may 1933 the timber mill started functioning and in summer of this year the construction of Belomoro-Baltic Canal was completed. In 1935 the program of Soviet development of cellulose industry was approved. The program included the point about the building of Segezha pulp and paper mill. The mill started working on July 1 1939. During the war the mill produced mines and mortars. But by the end of 1943 the first cellulose was produced by the mill.
In the end of 1943 on the instruction of the Presidium of the Republic Segezha got the status of a city. In 50-60ies Segezha became a cultural and industrial center. The largest enterprise of the city – pulp and paper mill was considered to be the main cellulose production mill in the country. Segezha was also known all over Russia. The region is rather poor with cultural and historical monuments. There are only 6 architectural monuments, 3 objects of industrial heritage and a few archeological monuments registered.
Key lines of tourist development:
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organization of a municipal tourist company;
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developments of water and sports tourism on Vygozero lake;
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perfection of tourist activities on the constructions of Belomoro-Baltic canal, Voitskiy waterfall, Voitskiy copper mine;
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use of the unique cultural and historical heritage of Vygozerje in the tourism industry;
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development of cultural, fishing, water and hunting tourism.
Despite lack of places of interesr, tourist business in the region might be quite profitable if it will organize services on Belomoro-Baltic canal, Solovetskie islands and also rafting services on Onda river.
Transport connection
The transport connection of the region is based on rail road St.Petersburg – Murmansk, highway of federal significance St.Petersburg – Murmansk, Kochkoma – Reboly and the water basin of Vygozero and Belomoro-Baltic canal. Remoteness of the regional center from the border with Finland - about 260 km. Remoteness from Petrozavodsk - 300 km.
