Краснодарский край: География, история и современность

First level administrative division of Russia

Krasnodar Krai (Краснода́рский край, ) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and administratively a part of the Southern Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Krasnodar. The third most populous federal subject, the krai had a population of 5,838,273 as of the 2021 Census. Krasnodar Krai is formally and informally referred to as Kuban (Кубань), a term denoting the historical region of Kuban situated between the Sea of Azov and the Kuban River which is mostly composed of the krai's territory. It is bordered by Rostov Oblast to the north, Stavropol Krai to the east, Karachay Cherkessia to the south east, and Adygea is an enclave entirely within the krai. Krasnodar Krai shares an international border with Georgia and the partially recognized republic of Abkhazia to the south, and borders annexed Crimea to the west, across the Kerch Strait. The northern part of the krai belongs to the Don Steppe, while the southern region's Mediterranean climate has made it a popular tourist location. Novorossiysk is Russia's main port on the Black Sea, one of the few cities awarded the title of the Hero City,
and Sochi was the host of the XXII Olympic Winter Games in 2014. Krasnodar Krai is home to significant infrastructure of the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet.

Krasnodar Krai is located in the southwestern part of the North Caucasus and borders Rostov Oblast in the northeast, Stavropol Krai and Karachay Cherkessia in the east, and with the Abkhazia region (internationally recognized as part of Georgia) in the south. The Republic of Adygea is completely encircled by the krai territory. The krai's Taman Peninsula is situated between the Sea of Azov in the north and the Black Sea in the south. In the west, the Kerch Strait separates the krai from the contested Crimean Peninsula, internationally recognised as part of Ukraine but under de facto Russian control. the climate is Mediterranean or, in the southeast, subtropical. (after the Greek name for the Sea of Azov). During the 6th century BC, Pontic Greeks founded the area's first cities, such as Phanagoria (near modern Sennoy) and Hermonassa (on the Taman Peninsula), who traded with nomadic tribes including the Skuthai (Scythians) and Sindi. From the 8th to the 10th centuries, the area was dominated by the Khazars, a Turkic people who had earlier migrated from the east onto the Pontic Caspian Steppe, where a hypothesis claims that they converted to Judaism. After the defeat of the Khazar Khanate in 965 Kievan Prince Svyatoslav conquered the area, it came under the rule of Kievan Rus', and it then formed the Tmutarakan principality. Later, due to the increasing claims of the Eastern Roman Empire at the end of the 11th century, the Tmutarakan principality came under the authority of the Eastern Roman Emperors (until 1204). In that period of history, the Circassians were first mentioned, under the ethnonym Kassogs. For example, the Kassog Prince Rededya was mentioned in The Tale of Igor's Campaign. In 1243–1438, the current territory of the Kuban was part of the Golden Horde. After the latter's collapse, parts of Kuban were held under the Crimean Khanate, Circassia, and the Ottoman Empire, which dominated the region. The Tsardom of Russia began to challenge the protectorate of the Ottoman Empire in the area during the Russo Turkish wars. In April 1783, after the liquidation of the Crimean Khanate, right bank Kuban and Taman Peninsula were annexed to the Russian Empire by decree of Catherine II. In 1792–1794, the Cossacks moved there from Zaporizhzhia, now located in Ukraine, and formed the Black Sea Area troops, with the creation of a solid cordon line for the Kuban River and the marginalization of the neighboring Circassians. The administrative region was accorded the status of "Land of Black Sea Cossack Army", with its center in the city of Yekaterinodar (renamed Krasnodar by the Bolsheviks in 1920). In 1900, the region's population numbered around two million people. In 1913, the gross grain harvest Kuban region entered second place in Russia, for the production of marketable grain – in first place. During the Russian Civil War, the anti communist Kuban People's Republic was established on 28 January 1918. It sought union with the Ukrainian People's Republic during its brief independence until Soviet forces occupied the latter in May 1920. Krasnodar Krai was founded on 13 September 1937, when Azov Black Sea Krai of the Russian SFSR was split up in Krasnodar Krai and Rostov Oblast. On 30 January 1996 Krasnodar Krai signed a power sharing agreement with the federal government, granting it autonomy. This agreement would be abolished on 12 April 2002.

On July 7, 2012, at least 171 people died in Krasnodar Krai, after torrential rains overnight caused the worst flooding and landslides in more than seventy years. Over of rain – the typical amount for a four or five month period – was reported to have fallen within forty eight hours. Ten more deaths occurred in Gelendzhik, including five electrocuted when a transformer fell into the floodwater, and two in Novorossiysk. Russia's President Vladimir Putin flew to the area to hold emergency talks with officials in Krymsk, while authorities in Perm Krai dispatched a rescue team to evacuate dozens of children from the region, who had been staying at summer camps on the Black Sea coast. Over $50 billion has been spent on various infrastructure projects including a bullet train. Large companies in the region include Tander, Novorossmetal, Autonomous Heat Energy Company, Gazprom gas distribution Krasnodar, and Evrokhim Chemical Fertilizers.

Several lines of Russian Railways cross the region and link it with Abkhazia, Ukraine, and neighboring Russian regions. There are direct trains from resort cities like Sochi and Anapa to Moscow, via Krasnodar, which become very popular during the summer vacation season. There are also suburb train connections. The Apsheronsk narrow gauge railway, the longest mountain narrow gauge railway in Russia, runs through Krasnodar Krai. There are several airports in the region, including Krasnodar International Airport, Sochi International Airport, Anapa Airport, and Gelendzhik Airport. The biggest ports are Novorossiysk and Tuapse. Others are Eisk and Temryuk on the Azov Sea, and Port Kavkaz, Taman, Anapa, Gelendzhik, and Sochi on the Black Sea. The Crimean Bridge connects Krasnodar Krai and Crimea.

The population of Krasnodar Krai is concentrated in the Kuban River drainage basin, which was traditionally Cossack land (see History of Cossacks). The Kuban Cossacks are now generally considered to be ethnic Russians, even though they are still an important minority in their own right in the area. Historically, they were considered to be ethnic Ukrainian, and reported their language as Ukrainian in censuses well into the 20th century (see National Identity of Kuban Cossacks). This change in identity is due to assimilation and historical persecution of the Kuban Cossacks, which was particularly prominent due to questions of their loyalty to Moscow and the Communist state during the Russian Revolution and First World War. Other notable ethnic groups include the Adyghe, who are the regions indigenous population and were nearly completely annihilated following the Circassian genocide, and the Armenians (including Christian Hamsheni and Cherkesogai), who have lived in the region since at least the 18th century.

According to a 2012 survey 52.2% of the population of Krasnodar Krai adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church, 3% are unaffiliated generic Christians, 1% are either Orthodox Christian believers who do not belong to church or members of non Russian Orthodox churches, and 1% are Muslims. In addition, 22% of the population declares to be "spiritual but not religious", 13% is atheist, and 7.8% follows other religions or did not give an answer to the question.