City of Surgut

Surgut today is a city under district (okrug) jurisdiction of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area - Yugra, one of the centers of oil industry in Russia. It is located on the right bank of the Ob River, in its middle course.

It was founded in the late 16th century. The year 1594 - its first written record in the order of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich - is considered to be the year of its foundation. At that time there was a small fortress, a voivode’s house, a church, and some houses in Surgut. It was inhabited by the Cossacks, and it served as an outpost for the Russians to move eastwards and northwards in the 17th century.

In 1782 Surgut was granted the status of a district center of the vicegerency of Tobolsk, and on March 17, 1785 the coat of arms of Surgut was approved. The main occupations of inhabitants of Surgut were fishing, hunting, skin dressing, gathering of pine nuts, etc. Surgut gradually became a significant trading center - by the end of the 18th century fairs were held there every year.

This town was also a place of exile. Decembrists, Narodniks and revolutionaries, war prisoners of different wars were sent there to serve their sentences.

Moreover, travellers, historians, ethnographers visited the town and described it in their memoirs. On July 20, 1891 an heir to the throne, Nicholas Romanov who travelled across Siberia and the Far East, went to the town. After the revolution of 1917, the Soviet power was established in the town only in April 1918. In the autumn of 1923 Surgut lost its status of a town and became a village.

The town enjoyed its revival after the discovery of the West-Surgut oil deposits in 1962. The development of oil fields began in 1964. On June 25, 1965 Surgut was transformed into a city under district (okrug) jurisdiction. The city began to develop dynamically and turned into the largest industrial and cultural center of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area - Yugra. It became an important transport hub, which includes a railway, a highway, an airport and a river harbour. Pipeline transport is well-developed. The system-forming enterprise of the city is Surgutneftegaz oil company, which occupies one of the leading positions among oil companies in Russia. In 2018 the population exceeded 370,000 people.

The collection, dedicated to the 425th anniversary of the foundation of Surgut, includes legal acts, research works, archival documents, statistical studies, periodicals, maps and visual materials.