Primorsky Krai (Russian: Приморский край, tr. Primorsky kray,) is a
federal subject (a krai) of Russia, located in the Far East region of the country and is a part of the Far Eastern Federal District.
The city
of Vladivostok is the administrative center of
the krai, as well as the largest city in the Russian Far East. The krai has the
largest economy among the federal subjects in the Russian Far East, and a population of 1,956,497 as of the 2010 Census. The name of
the krai is derived from the Russian words "приморский"
(primorsky), meaning "littoral" or "coastal", and "край (kray),
meaning "region" or "area". It is informally known as Primorye
(Приморье) in
Russian, and is occasionally translated as Coastal Territory in English. The
krai shares Russia's only border with North Korea,
along the Tumen River in Khasansky District in the
southwestern corner of the krai. Peter the Great Gulf, the
largest gulf in the Sea of Japan, is located along the south coast.
Historically part of Manchuria, Primorsky Krai was ceded to the Russian Empire by Qing China in 1860 as part of a region known as Outer Manchuria, forming most of the territory of Primorskaya Oblast. During
the Russian Civil War it
became part of the Far Eastern Republic
before joining the Soviet Union, going through numerous
changes until reaching its current form in 1938. Primorsky Krai is home to the Russian Navy's Russian Pacific Fleet. Primorsky
Krai, bordered by China (Jilin and Heilongjiang), North Korea (Rason),
and the relatively warm—although freezing in winter—waters of the Sea of Japan, is the southeasternmost region of Russia,
located between the 42° and 48° north latitude and 130° and 139° east longitude. It is
stretched in the meridianal direction, the
distance from its extreme northern point to its most southerly point being
about 900 kilometers (560 mi).
The geographic location of
Primorye accounts for the variety of its flora. The territory of Primorye has not been subjected to the
ice cover in the past in contrast to the rest of Siberia during the ice ages.
This circumstance, as well as the specifics of the geographical situation and
the specific features of climate, determine the unique, diversity of the plant
world at species and cenotic levels and the richness of plant resources. In the
flora of Primorye there are more than two thousand species of higher plants, of
which are about 250 species of trees, bushes and ligneous lianas. Flora of
mosses and lichens are very diverse. As part of the coastal flora, there are
many valuable medicinal, technical and food plants, many relict and endemic species.
About 200 species are listed in the IUCN Red List as rare and threatened
extermination.
The fauna of Primorye is also diverse. The following animals are
found in the Krai: Ussuri black bear (Ursus
thibetanus), Amur tiger, Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), wild boar (Sus scrofa), Manchurian deer (Cervus elaphus xanthopygos), Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus), musk deer (Moschus moschiferus), long-tailed goral (Naemorhedus caudatus), sika deer (Cervus nippon), sable
(Martes zibellina), Blakiston's fish owl (Bubo
blakistoni), mandarinka duck (Aix
galericulata), black stork (Ciconia nigra), scaly goosander (Mergus squamatus), chestnut-cheeked starling
(Sturnia philippensis), black griffon (Aegypius monachus),
large-winged cuckoo (family Cuculidae), and others. Among 690 species
of birds inhabiting the territory of the former USSR, 350 are found in Primorye. Rich fisheries of salmon, Hucho taimen, lenok
and marine fisheries of crab, pollock and other species make the aquatic and
maritime environment a valuable resource for the region. However, the rich
diversity of wildlife in Primorye is threatened by poaching and the illegal wildlife trade. Wildlife Conservation Society,
World Wildlife Fund, Wild Salmon Center, and
Russian NGOs including Phoenix Fund are active in the region's
wildlife and habitat conservation.
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