Updated: 01.10.2003

Also known as Chukchi Peninsula, north-eastern extremity of Asia, terminating in Cape Dezhnev, Russian Far East. Washed by the East Siberian and Chukchi seas in the Northeast, the peninsula is the eastern extension of the Anadyr mountain range.

The capital of the Chukotka Autonomous Area (1990 est. pop. 155,000) is the city of Anadyr. A large portion of the inhabitants are Russian; the rest are Chukchi, Yakut, Eveny, Koryak, and Inuit.

The Chukchi language is of the Paleosiberian family. The people are of two groups, seminomadic hunters and coast-dwelling fishermen.

The area's coastline lies along the North Sea shipping route. There is mining (tin, lead, zinc, gold, and coal), hunting and trapping, reindeer raising, and fishing.

The area, presently governed by Roman Abramovich, was separated from the Magadan region in 1992 and put under the direct jurisdiction of Russia, the only autonomous area to be so constituted.