Gomel region is an administrative unit in the south-east of the Republic of Belarus. It was formed in 1938. Its administrative center is the city of Gomel.
Geographic features
The area of the unit in question is 40.4 thousand square kilometers. As the map of the Gomel region notes, the border regions are the Mogilev, Minsk, Brest regions of the Republic of Belarus, the Bryansk Russian Federation, as well as the Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Kiev and Rivne Ukraine.
The region has a temperate continental climate. Winters are mild, in summer it is usually warm. In January, an average of five to six degrees of frost, and in July - eighteen to nineteen heat. In the cold season, a predominance of southerly winds is noted, and in the warm season - the west and northwest. The average wind speed is three meters per second. From 550 to 650 millimeters of precipitation falls during the year.
On the territory of the Gomel region, one of the longest growing periods in the republic. It is 191-209 days. The favorable climate allows the cultivation of sugar beets, early grape varieties, corn, potatoes and other crops.
Among the largest navigable rivers in the region, the following are distinguished: Sozh, Berezina, Dnieper and Pripyat. There are many lakes in the region, and the largest of them is Chervonoye. Its area is 43.6 square kilometers. Forests cover over forty percent of the territory.
The Gomel region is characterized by favorable natural conditions for the development of most areas of human activity. Due to the flat nature of the relief, there are no difficulties with the formation of settlements, agricultural land development, the functioning of industrial enterprises and the construction of roads.
In 2013, 1,427,200 people lived in the region under consideration.
Features of administrative division
We list the districts of the Gomel region. There are 21 of them: Chechersky, Braginsky, Khoyniksky, Buda-Koshelevsky, Vetkovsky, Gomelsky, Svetlogorsk, Rogachevsky, Dobrushsky, Yelsky, Rechitsky, Petrikovsky, Zhitkovichsky, Oktyabrsky, Zhlobinsky, Narovlyansky, Kalinkovichsky, Mozyrsky, Lelchitsky and Lelchitsky.
Population
The cities of the Gomel region are mostly populated by Belarusians. In addition, on their territory you can meet Russians, Ukrainians, Gypsies, Jews, Poles, Armenians, Moldavians, Tatars, Azerbaijanis, Germans, Turkmens, Georgians and Uzbeks, Lithuanians, Kazakhs, Chuvashs. The smallest ethnic group is Arabs. According to the 2009 census, there are 138 in total.
What else is noteworthy in the Gomel region? The villages, of which there are 133, cannot be called empty. They live up to thirty percent of the population.
Minerals
Gomel region has an area of forest land equal to 1653 thousand hectares. At the same time, 1472.9 thousand ha are covered with forest.
Of particular importance for the national economy is the fuel and energy raw materials. Currently, there is information about one and a half thousand explored peat deposits. In 1964, the first industrial oil was produced near Rechitsa. Since then, more than one hundred million tons of a valuable product has been raised to the surface. A chemical plant and oil refinery are operating in Mozyr.
Coal deposits were found in the southeastern territories of the Pripyat Depression, and oil shales were found in the Zhitkovichi region. According to experts, in the Brinevsky and Zhitkovichsky deposits there are 100 million tons of brown coal deposits.
At present, 22 billion tons of rock salt reserves have already been explored. Careful preparations are being made for the development of such new types of raw materials as gypsum, mineral sorbents, basalt fibers, iodine-bromine brines.
Industry
Gomel region has a wide industrial potential. It is considered one of the most developed industrial regions of the Republic of Belarus. On the territory of this administrative unit, more than three hundred medium and large industrial enterprises operate. The leading industries are called the fuel and chemical industries, ferrous metallurgy, and mechanical engineering. An equally important role is played by the oil, forestry, food, pulp and paper and woodworking industries. All these areas bring significant profit to the Republic of Belarus.
Gomel region is the only one in the country where gas and oil are produced, production of linoleum and window glass, forage harvesters is established. In addition, 24% of paper, 25% of plywood, 93% of automobile fuel, 85% of steel, 31% of chipboard and 46% of cardboard from the total volume of the country are produced on its territory.
Cultural and scientific life
There are 789 club institutions in the region. There are 23 museums, four theaters, one philharmonic and 782 libraries. Of particular interest to specialists is 1,040 archaeological sites, including burial grounds, ancient settlements, the remains of ancient settlements and sites. Gomel region has serious scientific and technical potential. At present, it takes the second place in the republic in the number of organizations involved in scientific research and development.
Yelsky District
This territorial unit is located in the southwestern part of the Gomel region. Its total area is 1.36 thousand square kilometers. In the south, it borders with Ukraine, in the north - with the Mozyr region, in the west - with Lelchitsky, in the east - with Narovlyansky.
The cultural, economic and administrative center of the district is the city of Yelsk (Gomel region). It was first mentioned in written sources of the sixteenth century. At first it was a town, then a town, and in 1971 Yelsk was given the honorary status of a city. Today, a furniture factory, a fruit and vegetable and dairy plants operate on its territory.
The origin of the name of the city is traditionally associated with the word "spruce", but this opinion is erroneous. The area of distribution of this tree is the northern outskirts of Polesye. In addition, the suffix -sk is not typical to form geographical names from the designations of representatives of the flora. As a rule, settlements with a similar ending were named by analogy with nearby rivers and lakes. From this we can conclude that the toponym "Yelsk" is formed from the name of the previously existing rivulet Yela, Yolki.
Oktyabrsky District
As for this territorial unit, it is located in the northwestern part of the Gomel region and covers an area of 1386.19 km square.
Oktyabrsky district was formed in 1939. Initially, it was part of the Polesie region. In 1962 it was reduced, and in 1966 it was restored as an independent territorial unit.
The center of the district is the urban village of Oktyabrsky (Gomel region). Date of formation - August 31, 1954. Agricultural land occupies more than a third of the territory. According to the 2009 census, 7,800 people live in the village. The specialization of the local industrial complex is the processing of agricultural raw materials. After the notorious events of 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Oktyabrsky became a place of resettlement of a large number of people from contaminated territories.
Svetlogorsk, Gomel region
This city of regional subordination acquired its modern name in 1961. He was previously known as Shatilki. Svetlogorsk is located in the Gomel Polesie. The regional center is 113 kilometers.
City History
As archaeological excavations have shown, in the place of the modern city in the sixth-seventh century there was a settlement. The name Shatilki has a patronymic origin from the name Shatilo.
In 1569, Svetlogorsk became part of the Commonwealth as a result of the merger of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. And in 1793 it became part of the Russian Empire. In 1915, a railway was laid near Shatilok and formed a station.
The manufacturing sector is represented by enterprises in the food, chemical and pulp and paper industries - this is what Svetlogorsk (Gomel region) is famous for. Among the city-forming enterprises are the pulp and cardboard mill and RUE “SPO Khimvolokno”.
The city has three stadiums, a swimming pool, a tennis court and a sports complex.
The edge of the oil industry
Rechitsa (Gomel region) is an ancient Polesskiy city. It stands on the right bank of the Dnieper - a river uniting the three Slavic states. The first settlements appeared here in the Mesolithic era (9-5 millennium BC). Dregovichi is considered the direct ancestor of the Rech.
According to the first Novgorod annals, in 1213 the city was part of the Chernigov Principality. From the fourteenth century it was ruled by the ON. From 1392 to 1430 the territory was in the possession of Vytautas. On his orders, a castle was erected in the city, located on the steep Dnieper coast. He was surrounded by a deep earthen moat. In 1561, Rechitsa received the Magdeburg Law, but only partially.
Due to the Cossack-peasant war of 1648-1651. the city was almost razed to the ground. As a result of the Andrusovsky truce, Rechitsa remained part of the Commonwealth. In 1793, it was annexed to Russian lands and received the status of a district center of the Minsk province. After this, Rechitsa embarked on the path of economic and cultural development. Since 1882, steamship communication along the river Dnieper, and four years later the city paved the railway. The first industrial enterprises appeared here in 1897.
Features of local architecture
During the nineteenth century, almost all of the city's regular project plans were implemented. So, not only buildings of the administrative apparatus appeared in Rechitsa, but also shopping arcades, residential buildings, the Assumption Church, and the church.
In the territory that was previously occupied by the Dominican monastery, a park was established. It forms the most picturesque part of the city in a complex with a greened castle and a central square.
Modernity
Today Rechitsa is a well-known city in Belarus, in which the so-called black gold is mined on an industrial scale. Twelve of the eighteen divisions of the Belorusneft enterprise are located there. In addition, a gas processing plant operates near the city.
Gomel
Even a brief description of the settlements of the region cannot ignore the center of the administrative unit. Gomel is located in the southeastern part of the country. It is located on the picturesque bank of the Sozh River, three hundred kilometers from the capital. As of the beginning of 2011, the area of the city was 135 square kilometers. The population of Gomel is 522,549 people (according to data as of April 1, 2014).
Physico-geographical features
Gomel occupies the central part of the Dnieper lowland. It is an integral part of the Polessye sub-province. The northwestern territories of the city are located not far from the Checherskaya Plain - a physical and geographical area belonging to the Pre-Poless province.
City topography
The relief map of the Gomel region includes information about the plain of the city. This is due to the location of the regional center in the area of the sub-watery-glacial plain and the floodplain terrace of Sozh. The slope of the relief was revealed in the direction from north to south.
Minerals
The southwestern territories of Gomel are known for the Osovtsovsky sand deposit. In addition, the city managed to discover large reserves of mineralized sulphate-chloride-sodium and fresh bicarbonate water.
Climate features
Gomel is located in the zone of temperate continental climate. Warm sea air masses from the Atlantic cause mild winters. The average annual air temperature in the city is 7.4 degrees Celsius. Approximately 70% of precipitation falls between April and October.
Inland Water Information
Rivers, ponds and lakes represent surface waters. One of the country's largest rivers, the Sozh, flows through Gomel. Within the city, Iput falls into it, and in the suburban territories - Uza, Ut and Teryukha. In the quarries used to extract building materials, ponds formed over time. Local residents are actively using the opportunity to swim in such reservoirs. The oldest pond in the city is Swan Lake. He appeared on the site of the Gomeyuk stream, which once flowed into Sozh.
The soil
The natural soil composition has undergone significant changes. Urbozems with sand, gravel, and parent rocks replaced natural soils. In flowerbeds, in squares and parks, the soil is constantly being cultivated. Among the most undisturbed soils in the city there are podzolic, sod-podzolic, sandy-silty sandy loam, sod-carbonate, peat-bog and alluvial.
Flora
On the streets, in parks, gardens and public gardens of the city, you can see leafy oaks, pines, European spruces, horse chestnuts, willows, white aspen, common ash, black poplar, small-leaved linden and mountain ash. Cork trees, ginkgo and some other exotic species grow on the territory of Central Park.
Fauna
On the outskirts of the city there are wild boars, roe deer, European hedgehogs. In forest plantations and parks squirrels, moles and hares are very common. From birds you can see the house sparrow, jackdaw, crow, tit, storks (in the suburbs). In total, 188 species of birds, 66 - mammals, 11 - amphibians, 6 - reptiles, 25 - fish live in the regional center and its environs.
Conclusion
Gomel region, photos and information about which are presented in the article, plays a large role in the cultural and political life of the country. In addition, it is the most important industrial region of the Republic of Belarus.