1881 Reclus Print BAY OF VLADIVOSTOK (GOLDEN HORN BAY), RUSSIA (80)
Item History & Price
Reclus06_80 1881 Reclus print BAY OF VLADIVOSTOK (GOLDEN HORN BAY), RUSSIA (#80)Nice view titled Baie de la Corne d'Or, from wood engraving with fine detail and clear impression, nicehand coloring, approx. page size is 27 x 17.5 cm, approx. imagesize is 19 x 13 cm. From La NouvelleGéographie universelle, la terre et les hommes / The Earth andIts Inhabitants, great work of Elisee Reclus.Vladivostok, seaport and administrative centr...e of Primorskykray (region), extreme southeastern Russia. It is located aroundZolotoy Rog ("Golden Horn Bay") on the western side ofa peninsula that separates Amur and Ussuri bays on the Sea ofJapan. The town was founded in 1860 as a Russian military outpostand was named Vladivostok ("Rule the East"). Itsforward position in the extreme south of the Russian Far Eastinevitably led to a major role as a port and naval base. In 1872the main Russian naval base on the Pacific was transferred there, and thereafter Vladivostok began to grow. In 1880 city status wasconferred on it. The city also grew in importance after theconstruction of the Chinese Eastern Railway across Manchuria toChita (completed in 1903), which gave Vladivostok a more directrail connection to the rest of the Russian Empire.During World War I Vladivostok was the chiefPacific entry port for military supplies and railway equipmentsent to Russia from the United States. After the outbreak of theRussian Revolution in 1917, Vladivostok was occupied in 1918 byforeign, mostly Japanese, troops, the last of whom were notwithdrawn until 1922. The antirevolutionary forces in Vladivostokpromptly collapsed, and Soviet power was established in theregion.During the Soviet period Vladivostok remainedthe home of the Pacific Fleet, which was greatly enlarged in thedecades after World War II. Vladivostok's military importance wassuch that it was closed to foreign shipping and other contactsfrom the late 1950s until the waning days of Soviet power in 1990.Its chief role as a commercial port subsequently reemerged, bothas a link to other Russian ports of the Far East and as a port ofentry for consumer goods from China, Japan, and other countries.The port is the eastern terminus of the Northern Sea Route alongRussia's Arctic seaboard from Murmansk and is the principalsupply base for the Arctic ports east of Cape Chelyuskin.The principal exports of Vladivostok arepetroleum, coal, and grain, while clothing, consumer electronics, and automobiles are the main imports. Into the port also comesmuch of the catch or processed fish from other Russian FarEastern ports for onward transmission to the rest of the country.The industrial base of Vladivostok was muchdiversified during the Soviet period. In addition to large ship-repairyards, there are railway workshops and a plant for themanufacture of mining equipment. Light industry includesinstrument and radio factories, timber-working enterprises (notablythose producing furniture and veneer), a chinaware works, andmanufacturers of pharmaceutical products. Food industries--principallythe processing of fish and meat and flour milling--and thebuilding industry (prefabricated building panels) are important.A railroad town, Vladivostok is the eastern terminus of the Trans-SiberianRailroad. The city also has an airport.Vladivostok is the chief educational andcultural centre of the Russian Far East. It is the site of theFar Eastern Scientific Centre, the Far Eastern State University (founded1920), and medical, art education, polytechnic, trade, and marine-engineeringinstitutes. The city has amateur and professional theatres aswell as a philharmonic society and symphony orchestra. There arealso museums of local history and of the history of the PacificFleet. Pop. (1992 est.) 648, 000.
00033
00033
