History and population of the Kaliningrad region. The main cities of the Amber Region

The Kaliningrad region is unique in many ways. This is the westernmost subject of the Russian Federation and the only exclave in its composition. The population of the Kaliningrad region is characterized by ethnic diversity, and its cities - special architecture with an East Prussian hue.

Kaliningrad region - a unique and interesting region

At the end of World War II, on April 7, 1946, the Konigsberg Region was formed. A few months later she got her modern name. This is an amazing and very colorful region of Russia, which is unique in many ways.

First of all, the region does not have common land borders with the rest of Russia. In the south, it borders with Poland, in the north and east - with Lithuania. From the west, its territory is washed by the waters of the cool Baltic Sea. The total area of ​​the Kaliningrad region is just over 15 thousand square kilometers. This is one of the smallest constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

The population of the Kaliningrad region is 976 thousand people (as of 2016). This region of Russia is located closest to Europe, and not only geographically, but also mentally. The architectural appearance of the region is no less interesting. Old German architecture is combined with the massive buildings of the Soviet era and modern Russian architecture.

The Kaliningrad region is also striking in its natural resources. First of all, we are talking, of course, about amber. The Russian region accounts for about 90% of the global production of “fossil tar”.

But amber's natural uniqueness of the region is not limited. So, in the Kaliningrad region there is the only non-freezing port on the Baltic Sea, the longest sand spit in the world (protected by UNESCO), the phenomenal pine grove “Dancing Forest” with fancifully curved tree trunks and much more interesting and unusual.

History of the region

For a long time this territory was an important cultural center of East Prussia. This fact explains a lot of “German” tracks in the cities and villages of the modern Kaliningrad region: brick churches, fortifications, forts, old pavers on the streets, etc.

For several centuries, these lands were divided among themselves by Poles and Lithuanians, Germans and Russians. In the post-war 1945, according to the decisions adopted at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, the Amber Region was transferred to the USSR. On July 4, 1946, ancient Koenigsberg was renamed Kaliningrad, and the region became known as Kaliningrad.

The war caused enormous damage to the region. Half of its industrial complex was destroyed. About 80% of the housing estate of the former Koenigsberg was destroyed. All the hardships of restoring cities and the economy of the region fell on the shoulders of a bloodless, protracted war of Soviet power.

The population of the Kaliningrad region

Post-war settlement of the Kaliningrad region is called the largest migration process in the history of the Soviet Union. At the end of the 40s people from different parts of the empire came here in large numbers - from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Uzbekistan. At the same time, native German residents were deported from the region.

In the first three post-war decades (from 1950 to 1979), the population of the Kaliningrad region grew exactly twofold. In recent years, the number of residents in this region of the country, although slowly, has been growing. According to the forecasts of demographers, by 2030 the population of the region will overcome the milestone of 1 million people.

Today, representatives of many nations and nationalities live within the Kaliningrad region. The most numerous of them:

• Russians (82%);
• Ukrainians (3.5%);
• Belarusians (3.4%);
• Lithuanians (1%);
• Armenians (1%);
• Germans (less than 1%);
• Tatars (less than 1%).

The modern administrative-territorial division of the region

How many administrative units does Kaliningrad Oblast consist of? The areas of the westernmost subject of the Russian Federation are very different from each other in area and population. There are 15 of them. The largest region in the region is Slavsky (with the administrative center of the same name), and the smallest is Svetlogorsk.

The administrative and territorial structure of the region also provides for the division into cities of regional significance (there are only 6 of them) and urban-type settlements (one).

Cities of the Kaliningrad region

The level of urbanization in this region is quite high. It is about 77%. In total, there are 22 cities within the region. The administrative center of the region is Kaliningrad, which is home to almost 60% of the total population of the region.

The largest cities in the Kaliningrad region are listed in the table (with old names and number of inhabitants):

In terms of tourism, the most interesting cities are: Kaliningrad, Baltiysk, Chernyakhovsk, Pravdinsk, Neman, Zelenogradsk.

Kaliningrad is world famous for its Amber Museum, the tomb of the philosopher Kant, as well as several dozen fortifications. Pravdinsk, Zheleznodorozhny, Chernyakhovsk and Sovetsk attract tourists with decrepit German architecture, Neman and Baltiysk - with their many historical monuments. The cities of Svetlogorsk and Zelenogradsk are the main resorts of the Kaliningrad region.