History of Arkhangelsk Oblast

Arkhangelsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It includes the Arctic archipelagos of Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya, as well as the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea. Arkhangelsk Oblast also has administrative jurisdiction over the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Including Nenetsia, Arkhangelsk Oblast has an area of 587,400 km2. Its population (including Nenetsia) was 1,227,626 as of the 2010 Census.[10]

The city of Arkhangelsk, with a population of 348,716 as of the 2010 Census,[10] is the administrative center of the oblast.[5] The second largest city is the nearby Severodvinsk, home to Sevmash, the main shipyard for the Russian Navy. Among the oldest populated places of the oblast are Kholmogory, Kargopol, and Solvychegodsk; there are a number of Russian Orthodox monasteries, including the Antoniev Siysky Monastery and the World Heritage Site of the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea.

Plesetsk Cosmodrome is one of three spaceports in Russia (the other two are Kapustin Yar in Astrakhan Oblast and Yasny in Orenburg Oblast).