Map of Tyumen'

History

The Cossack ataman Yermak Timofeyevich conquered the Tyumen area, originally part of the Siberia Khanate, for the Tsardom of Russia in 1585. The fighting completely destroyed both capitals of the Siberia Khanate, Sibir/Qashliq and Tyumen/Chimgi-Tura (the capital in the 15th century). Sibir was never rebuilt - though it gave its name to all concurrent and future lands in North Asia annexed by Russia - but Tyumen was later re-founded. On July 29, 1586, Tsar Feodor I ordered two regional commanders, Vasily Borisov-Sukin and Ivan Myasnoy, to construct a fortress on the site of the former Siberian Tatar town of Chingi-Tura ("city of Chingis"), also known as Tyumen, from the Turkic and Mongol word for "ten thousand" – tumen.

Geography

Tyumen is located in Western Siberia, 1,700 km (1,100 mi) east of Moscow, 300 km (190 mi) east of Yekaterinburg, and 1,100 km (680 mi) west of Siberia's largest city, Novosibirsk. The city covers an area of 235 square kilometers (91 sq mi). Its primary geographical feature is the Tura River, which crosses the city from northwest to southeast. The river is navigable downstream of the city. The left bank of the Tura is a floodplain surrounded by gently rolling hills. The Tura is a shallow river with extensive marshlands.

The river floods during the snow melting season in the spring. The spring flood usually peaks in the second half of May, when the river becomes 8–10 times wider than during the late-summer low water season.

Economy

Tyumen is an important service center for the gas and oil industries in Russia. Due to its advantageous location at the crossing of the motor, rail, water and air ways and its moderate climate Tyumen was an ideal base town for servicing the oil and gas industry of the West Siberia. As a result, today Tyumen is a center of industry, science, culture, education and medicine. Many large oil and gas companies such as Gazprom, LUKoil, Gazpromneft and Shell have their representative offices in Tyumen.

There are numerous factories, engineering companies, oil industry service companies (KCA DEUTAG and Schlumberger), design institutes, shipyard and other oil servicing companies located in Tyumen.

Demographics

Tyumen's population grew steadily from the 16th century through the 19th century. However, when the Trans-Siberian Railway arrived at the end of the 19th century, the town's rate of population growth was greatly boosted. Tyumen rapidly became the largest town in the region, with about 30,000 inhabitants by the beginning of the 20th century. Tyumen again experienced rapid population growth with the coming of World War II. The evacuation of workers from factories in central Russia in 1941 more than doubled Tyumen's population to 150,000.