Bilibino, Russia

History

As with much of the rest of Chukotka, the earliest human remains found in the region around Bilibino have been dated to the Early Neolithic, with camp sites having been excavated at Orlovka 2, a site on the banks of the Orlovka River, as well as at Lakes Tytyl and Ilirney.

Interest in the area around the present day site of the town began in the 1920s when prospectors including Soviet geologist Yuri Bilibin (1901–1952) discovered gold in the region and began to make assessments regarding the commercial viability of its extraction. In March 1955, gold mining operations commenced and the construction of a settlement started, though at this stage it was little more than a collection of geologists' and prospectors' tents, who had originally been based in Seymchan. Because of his discovery of gold in the region, particularly within the vicinity of the Bolshoy Anyuy and Maly Anyuy Rivers, the geologists named the new settlement after Yury Bilibin, and the new name was officially adopted in February 1956. On September 6, 1958, Bilibino was granted urban-type settlement status.

From the History section of Bilibino on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.