Provideniya, Russia

History

After discovery in 1660 of Providence Bay by the Russian expedition led by Kurbata Ivanov, the surrounding waters became a regular site for wintering fishing, whaling, and merchant ships. In the early 20th century, with the beginning of the development of the Northern Sea Route along the coast of the bay, a coal depot was constructed for refueling ships heading west back across the Arctic and in 1933 the first buildings of the future seaport were constructed in what would later become the settlement of Provideniya (lit. "of Providence"). In 1937, with the arrival of a convoy with building materials for the construction company Providenstroy, active construction of the port and the settlement began. On May 10, 1946, the settlement of Provideniya was officially established by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR. The settlement continued to grow quickly and military units began to be deployed here. On April 25, 1957, it was granted work settlement status. In 1975, it was planned to grow the settlement into a town with a population of twelve thousand and to rename it "Dezhnyov". However, social and economic upheavals in the post-Soviet period left these plans unfulfilled and in the period from 1994 to 2002 no construction was undertaken at all.

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