The settlement of Obdorsk was founded in 1595, in the place of a Khanty settlement called Polnovat-Vozh, by Russian settlers after the conquest of Siberia. It was situated on the Ob River, and its name supposedly derives from that. The land around Obdorsk was referred to as Obdorsky krai, or Obdoriya. The town was often used as a place of exile during the Tsarist and Soviet periods. Among notable people who spent time here were the Doukhoborspiritual leaderPyotr Verigin and Leon Trotsky. The town and nearby area contained three Soviet camps where approximately 6,500 prisoners were held, arrested for their belief in God. At the port of Salekhard, approximately 1,500 prisoners loaded and unloaded goods at the dock, or mined metal ores. About 5,000 prisoners in two camps near Salekhard were assigned to polish diamonds mined from Mir mine. On December 10, 1930, Obdorsk became the administrative centre of the new Yamal National Okrug. The settlement was renamed Salekhard in 1933, and granted town status in 1938. The nearest railway station is at Labytnangi on the opposite side of the riverOb. From 1949 to 1953, the Salekhard-Igarka Railway project made an unsuccessful attempt to extend the line to Igarka, claiming the lives of thousands of Gulag prisoners. The section of railway from Salekhard to Nadym was completed and remained in use for some time in the Soviet era, although it was later abandoned. It is currently being rebuilt, along with a long-awaited bridge across the Ob between Labytnangi and Salekhard. Salekhard was the host city for the 2006 Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in October 2006. In April 2014, Rostelecom, a Russian Internet service provider, completed the final stretch of the Nadym-Salekhard optical internet line. That same line stretches for almost 3,500 km. In summer 2016, after temperatures as high as thawed anthrax infected corpses frozen since 1941 near Salekhard, anthrax spores infected reindeer herds and herders.
has its head office in Salekhard. By 2015, about from the airport, near the Arctic circle, authorities plan to build a large polar resort "Center of the Arctic tourism."
Transportation
Salekhard is located in the Ob river valley and is an important river port of the Russian Far North. The unfinished Salekhard–Igarka Railway was set to provide a rail connection between the Ob river port of Salekhard and the Yenisei river port of Igarka. Currently, the nearest railway is at Labytnangi, 20 kilometres north-west on the opposite side of the river Ob. The projectNorthern Latitudinal Railway will provide Salekhard access to railway and a long-awaited bridge across the Ob between Labytnangi and Salekhard, and will further connect Salekhard to the Konosha-Vorkuta railway and other parts of European Russia. For 9–10 months of year, the river is frozen and cars and trucks can cross via the river ice. In the summer a ferry operates, however during the floating of ice, generally shortly before the start and shortly after the end of summer, Salekhard is effectively cut off from the outside world, regarding freight. During these periods, only helicopters are able to reach Salekhard in case of emergency. Native people, mainly the Nenets and Khanty people, always build up stocks of food at home, in the shops, and in the markets during this period, but they still suffer from seasonal price increasing. The city is also served by the Salekhard Airport which is located 7 kilometres north of the main city.
Climate
Salekhard has a subarctic climate with short, mild summers and severely cold winters. Precipitation is moderate, and is significantly greater in summer than in winter.
