Irkutsk Oblast

Irkutsk Oblast (Russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть, romanized: Irkutskaja oblastʹ; Buryat: Эрхүү можо, romanized: Erhüü možo) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara, Lena, and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers. The administrative center is the city of Irkutsk. It had a population of 2,370,102 at the 2021 Census.

Irkutsk Oblast borders the Republic of Buryatia and the Tuva Republic in the south and southwest, which separate it from Khövsgöl Province, Mongolia; Krasnoyarsk Krai in the west; the Sakha Republic in the northeast; and Zabaykalsky Krai in the east.

Lake Baikal, the oldest and deepest lake in the world (containing over a fifth of Earth's fresh liquid surface water), is located in the southeast of the region. It is drained by the Angara, which flows north across the province; the outflow rate is controlled by the Irkutsk Dam. The two other major dams on the Irkutsk Oblast's section of the Angara are at Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk; both forming large reservoirs. The Lena has its source in Irkutsk Oblast as well, and flows north-east into the neighboring Sakha Republic.

Irkutsk Oblast consists mostly of the hills and broad valleys of the Central Siberian Plateau, with the Lena-Angara Plateau. The Primorsky Range and the Baikal Mountains stretch along Lake Baikal, and in the northeast rise the North Baikal Highlands and the Patom Plateau. Pik Tofalariya is the highest point of the oblast.

The climate varies from warm summer continental in the south to continental-subarctic in the northern part (Köppen climate classification: Dwc). For almost half the year, from mid-October until the beginning of April, the average temperature is below 0 °C (32 °F). Winters are very cold, with average high temperatures in Irkutsk of −14.9 °C (5.2 °F) and average lows of −25.3 °C (−13.5 °F) in January. Summers are warm but short: the average high in July is +24.5 °C (76.1 °F) and the average low is +11.2 °C (52.2 °F). However, by September, the weather cools down significantly to an average daily high of +15.3 °C (59.5 °F) and an average daily low of +2.5 °C (36.5 °F). More than half of all precipitation falls in the summer months, with the wettest month being July, with 96.2 millimeters (3.79 in) of rain. January is the driest month, with only 11 millimeters (0.43 in) of precipitation. Annual precipitation averages 419.8 millimeters (16.53 in).

Mongolic-related Slab Grave cultural monuments survive in Baikal territory.^{[need quotation to verify]} The territory of Buryatia came under the control of the Xiongnu Empire (209 BC – 93 CE), of the Mongolian Xianbei state (93–234), of the Rouran Khaganate (330–555), of the Göktürk Khaganate (555-603), of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate (603-744), of the Uyghur Khaganate (744-847), of the Yenisei Kyrgyz (847-1219), of the Mongol Empire (1206–1368) and of the Northern Yuan (1368–1691). Medieval Mongol tribes like the Merkit, Bayads, Barga Mongols and Tümeds inhabited Buryatia. Today Buryat-Mongols remain in the territory of the oblast.

Russian presence in the area dates from the 17th century: the Russian Tsardom expanded eastward following the conquest of the Khanate of Sibir in 1582. By the end of the 17th century, Irkutsk had become a small town, monasteries were being built, and suburbs and agricultural settlements had started to form.

From the 18th century trades and crafts began to develop, and gold- and silver-smiths appeared. As the Russian state expanded to the east of Irkutsk, the city became the capital of enormous territories from the Yenisey River to the Pacific Ocean, and played an important role in the exploration and securing of vast Eastern-Siberian and Far-Eastern territories for Russia. Gradually, Irkutsk gained more importance as the main transportation- and trade-center of Eastern Siberia; it became a center of trade routes from Kamchatka, Chukotka, Yakutia to Mongolia, and China. The administrative importance of the city also increased, and it became a center of a fifth of the provinces of Siberia; in 1764 it became the center of an independent province, the Irkutsk Governorate.