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KAMCHATKA

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 645 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KAMCHATKA , a See also:

peninsula of N.-E. See also:Siberia, stretching from the See also:land of the Chukchis S.S.W. for 750 m., with a width of from 8o to 300 M. (51° to 62° N., and 156° to 163° E.), between the See also:Sea of See also:Okhotsk and See also:Bering Sea. It forms See also:part of the See also:Russian Maritime See also:Province. See also:Area, 104,260 sq. m. The See also:isthmus which connects the peninsula with the mainland is a See also:flat See also:tundra, sloping gently both ways. The See also:mountain See also:chain, which Ditmar calls central, seems to be interrupted under 57° N. by a deep indentation corresponding to the valley of the Tighil. There too the hydrographical network, as well as the See also:south-See also:west to See also:north-See also:east strike of the See also:clay-slates and metamorphic See also:schists on Ditmar's See also:map, seem to indicate the existence of two chains See also:running south-west to north-east, parallel to the volcanic chain of S.-E. Kamchatka. Glaciers were not known till the See also:year 1899, when they were discovered on the Byelaya and Ushkinskaya (15,400 ft.) mountains. Thick See also:Tertiary deposits, probably See also:Miocene, overlie the See also:middle portions of the west See also:coast. The See also:southern parts of the central range are composed of granites, syenites, porphyries and crystalline slates, while in the north of Ichinskaya See also:volcano, which is the highest See also:summit of the peninsula (16,920 ft.), the mountains consist chiefly of Tertiary sandstones and old volcanic rocks.

See also:

Coal-bearing See also:clays containing fresh-See also:water molluscs and dicotyledonous See also:plants, as also conglomerates, alternate with the sandstones in these Tertiary deposits. See also:Amber is found in them. Very extensive layers of melaphyre and See also:andesite, as also of conglomerates and volcanic tuffs, See also:cover the middle portions of the peninsula. The south-eastern portion is occupied by a chain of volcanoes, running along the indented coast, from Cape Lopatka to Cape Kronotskiy (540 25' N.), and separated from the See also:rest of the peninsula by the valleys of the Bystraya (an affluent of the Bolstraya, on the west coast) and Kamchatka See also:rivers. Another chain of volcanoes runs from Ichinskaya (which burst into activity several times in the 18th and 19th centuries) to Shiveluch, seemingly parallel to the above but farther north. The two chains contain twelve active and twenty-six See also:extinct volcanoes, from 7000 to more than 15,000 ft. high. The highest volcanoes are grouped under 56° N., and the highest of them, Kluchevskaya (16,990 ft.), is in a See also:state of almost incessant activity(notable outbreaks in 1729, 1737, 1841, 1853—1854, and 1896—1897), a flow of its See also:lava having reached to Kamchatka See also:river in 1853. The active Shiveluch (9900 ft.) is the last volcano of this chain. Several lakes and probably Avacha See also:Bay are old craters. See also:Copper, See also:mercury, and See also:iron ores, as also pure copper, ochre and See also:sulphur, are found in the peninsula. The See also:principal river is the Kamchatka (325 M. See also:long), which flows first north-eastwards in a fertile See also:longitudinal valley, and then, bending suddenly to the east, pierces the above-mentioned volcanic chain. The other rivers are the Tighil (135 M.) and the Bolstraya (120 m.), both flowing into the Sea of Okhotsk; and the Avacha, flowing into the Pacific.

The floating See also:

ice which accumulates in the See also:northern parts of the Sea of Okhotsk and the See also:cold current which flows along the east coast of the peninsula render its summers chilly, but the See also:winter is relatively warm, and temperatures below -400 F. are experienced only in the See also:highlands of the interior and on the Okhotsk littoral. The See also:average temperatures at See also:Petropavlovsk (53° N:) are: year 37° F., See also:January 17°, See also:July 58°; while in the valley of the Kamchatka the average temperature of the winter is 16°, and of the summer as high as 58° and 64°. See also:Rain and See also:snow are copious, and dense fogs enshroud the coast in summer; consequently the mountains are well clothed with See also:timber and the meadows with grass, except in the tundras of the north. The natives eat extensively the bulbs of the Martagon See also:lily, and weave See also:cloth out of the See also:fibres of the Kamchatka See also:nettle. Delphinopterus leucus, the sea-See also:lion (Otaria Stelleri), and See also:walrus abound off the coasts. The sea-See also:otter (Enhydris marina) has been destroyed. The See also:population (5846 in 1870) was 7270 in 1900. The southern part of the peninsula is occupied by Kamchadales, who exhibit many attributes of the Mongolian See also:race, but are more similar to the See also:aborigines of N.E. See also:Asia and N.W. See also:America. Fishing (quantities of See also:salmon enter the rivers) and See also:hunting are their See also:chief occupations. See also:Dog-sledges are principally used as means of communication.

The efforts of the See also:

government to introduce See also:cattle-breeding have failed. The Kamchadale See also:language cannot be assigned to any known See also:group; its vocabulary is extremely poor. The purity of the See also:tongue is best preserved by the See also:people of the Penzhinsk See also:district on the W. coast. North of 57° N. the peninsula is peopled with See also:Koryaks, settled and See also:nomad, and Lamuts (See also:Tunguses), who came from the W. coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. The principal Russian settlements are: Petropavlovsk, on the E. coast, on Avacha Bay, with an excellent roadstead; Verkhne-Kamchatsk and Nizhne-Kamchatsk in the valley of the Kamchatka river; Bolsheryetsk, on the Bolshaya; and Tighil, on the W. coast. The Russians made their first settlements in Kamchatka in the end of the 17th See also:century; in 1696 Atlasov founded Verkhne-Kamchatsk, and in 1704 Robelev founded Bolsheryetsk. In 1720 a survey of the peninsula was undertaken; in 1725—1730 it was visited by Bering's expedition; and in 1733—1745 it was the See also:scene of the labours of the Krasheninnikov and Steller expedition. See G. A. See also:Erman, Reise See also:urn See also:die Erde iii., (See also:Berlin, 1848) ; C. von Ditmar, Reisen and Aufenthalt in Kamchatka in den Jahren 1851-1855 (1890—1900) ; G. Kennan, See also:Tent See also:Life in Siberia (1870), and See also:paper in Jour. of See also:American Geog. See also:Soc.

(1876) ; K. Diener, in See also:

Petermann's Mitteilungen (1891, vol. See also:xxxvii.); V. A. Obruchev, in Izvestia of the East Siberian See also:Geographical Society (See also:xxiii. 4, 5; 1892) ; F. H. H. Guillemard, Cruise of the" Marchesa" (2nd ed., See also:London, 1889) ; and G. E. H. See also:Barrett-See also:Hamilton in See also:Scott. Geog.

Mag. (May, 1899), with bibliography. (P. A. K.; J. T.

End of Article: KAMCHATKA

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