Иркутск облысы: географиясы, климаты, тарихы мен экономикасы

First level administrative division of Russia

Irkutsk Oblast borders with the Republic of Buryatia and the Tuva Republic in the south and southwest, with Krasnoyarsk Krai in the west, with the Sakha Republic in the northeast, and with Zabaykalsky Krai in the east. The unique and world famous Lake Baikal is located in the southeast of the region. It is drained by the Angara, which flows north across the province; the outflow rate is controlled by the Irkutsk Dam. The two other major dams on the Irkutsk Oblast's section of the Angara are at Bratsk and Ust Ilimsk; both forming large reservoirs. The Lena has its source in Irkutsk Oblast as well, and flows north east into the neighboring Sakha Republic. Irkutsk Oblast consists mostly of the hills and broad valleys of the Central Siberian Plateau, with the Lena Angara Plateau. The Primorsky Range and the Baikal Mountains stretch along Lake Baikal, and in the northeast rise the North Baikal Highlands and the Patom Plateau. Pik Tofalariya is the highest point of the oblast.

The climate varies from warm summer continental in the south to continental subarctic in the northern part (Köppen climate classification: Dwc). For almost half the year, from mid October until the beginning of April, the average temperature is below Winters are very cold, with average high temperatures in Irkutsk of and average lows of in January. Summers are warm but short: the average high in July is and the average low is However, by September, the weather cools down significantly to an average daily high of and an average daily low of More than half of all precipitation falls in the summer months, with the wettest month being July, with of rain. January is the driest month, with only of precipitation. Annual precipitation averages .

Mongolic related Slab Grave cultural monuments survive in Baikal territory. The territory of Buryatia came under the control of the Xiongnu Empire (209 BC – 93 CE), of the Mongolian Xianbei state (93–234), of the Rouran Khaganate (330–555), of the Göktürk Khaganate (555 603), of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate (603 744), of the Uyghur Khaganate (744 847), of the Yenisei Kyrgyz (847 1219), of the Mongol Empire (1206–1368) and of the Northern Yuan (1368–1691). Medieval Mongol tribes like the Merkit, Bayads, Barga Mongols and Tümeds inhabited Buryatia.

The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine negatively affected the Irkutskian conscript class of February 2023 who all perished near Donetsk by early March 2023. Irkutsk regional governor Igor Kobzev, a general and a former deputy head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations who has four children himself, had said the previous November that the sons of Irkutsk belonged to the state rather than to their families.

The main industries of Irkutsk Oblast are metals, energy, logging, oil and fuels, machine building, chemicals, food industry, and hydroelectricity. The average wages in Irkutsk Oblast are 10% higher than in Russia overall.

During the Soviet period, the high authority in the oblast was shared between three persons: The first secretary of the Irkutsk CPSU Committee (who in reality had the biggest authority), the chairman of the oblast Soviet (legislative power), and the Chairman of the oblast Executive Committee (executive power). After the abolition of Article 6 of the Constitution of the USSR in March 1990, the CPSU lost its monopoly on power. The head of the Oblast administration, and eventually the governor was appointed/elected alongside elected regional parliament.

The Charter of Irkutsk Oblast is the fundamental law of the region. The Legislative Assembly of Irkutsk Oblast is the province's standing legislative (representative) body. The Legislative Assembly exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it. The highest executive body is the Oblast Government, which includes territorial executive bodies such as district administrations, committees, and commissions that facilitate development and run the day to day matters of the province. The Oblast administration supports the activities of the Governor who is the highest official and acts as guarantor of the observance of the oblast Charter in accordance with the Constitution of Russia.

The oblast is very thinly populated, with a population density of 3 people per square kilometer, compared to a national average of 8.4. Irkutsk is the administrative center and largest city, with 612,973 residents. Other large cities are Bratsk (238,825 people), Angarsk (229,592 people), Ust Ilimsk (83,635 people), and Usolye Sibirskoye (80,331 people). Most of the population are ethnic Russians. A minority group, the Buryats, have a special Ust Orda Buryat Okrug inside the oblast. Russians and other Slavic/Germanic groups make up 92.9% of the population, according to the 2021 Census, while Buryats are 3.6%. Tofalars number 659, a decrease from 722 in 1989. Ethnic groupPopulationPercentageRussians1,917,26592.2%Buryats74,7463.6%Tatars12,1300.6%Ukrainians9,5060.5%Other65,6403.2%

One small ethnic group, concentrated in three villages (Pikhtinsk, Sredne Pikhtinsk, and Dagnik) in Zalarinsky District is the so called "Bug Hollanders": descendants of Polish speaking Lutheran farmers who had moved to Siberia from the then Russian Volhynia in 1911–1912 in search of affordable land. Although they had long lost German (or Dutch) language of their ancestors (even in the early twentieth century they spoke Ukrainian and read Polish), they were still considered ethnic Germans, and during World War II were usually drafted for work in labor camps, instead of front line military service.