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Yakutia (Russia)

Âkutiâ / Saqa

Last modified: 2007-06-16 by antónio martins
Keywords: caxa | saqa | sakha | yakutia | sun: disc | sun (white) | disc (white) | purity | snow | hope | wisdom | kindness | strength | courage | honour | sovereignty | health | joy | president | petroglyph | tongues: 3 | urunwkun |
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Якутия | Саха

Yakutian flag
image by António Martins, 31 Aug 1999
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Presentation of Yakutia

(Note: You need an Unicode-aware software and font to correctely view the cyrillic text on this page. See here transliteration details).

  • Name (english): Yakutia • (russian, short form): Якутия | Âkutiâ • (russian, long form): Республика Саха | Respublika Saqa • (local, long form): Саха Республиката | Saqa Respublikata
  • Local official language: Yakut
  • Capital (russian): Якутск | Âkutsk • (english): Yakutsk
  • Area: 3 103 200 km² (≅1 197 800 sq.mi.) • Population: 973 800 inhabitants in 2000
  • Status: Republic (Республика | Respublika) within the Russian Federation
  • Federal District: Far-East • Economic region: Far East
  • License plate code: 14 • Ham radio code: YA • ISO 3166-2 code: SA
  • Flag adopted on 1992.10.14 • Coat of arms adopted on 1992.12.16

Yakutia is located on north-eastern Siberia. Its area is 3 103 200 km2, that is 18,2% of the total area of the Russian Federation and nearly the area of India. Yakutia is bordered in the north by the Arctic ocean and its southern limit lies some 250 km north of China. From west to east, Yakutia includes the basins of five big rivers, Oleniok, Lena, Yana, Indiguirka and Kolyma, spreading over two time zones.

The capital city of Yakutia is Yakutsk , one of the most isolated cities in the world — 6000 km from Moscow, 2000 km from Japan and 3000 km from Alaska.

The climate of Yakutia is extremely harsh with big temperature variations (from −60  °C in winter to +40 °C in summer); the lowest temperature ever recorded in the northern hemisphere is −72 °C in Oimiakon, in eastern Yakutia.

Yakutia is mostly covered by taiga, tundra and mountains. Permafrost (that is soil constantly and deeply frozen) covers 95% of the country. Yakutia produces 99% of the Russian production of diamonds, that is 12% of the world production, as well as 25% of gold and 100% of antimony in Russia, tin, wolfram, coal, natural gas etc..

Yakutia was originally settled by communities of Paleoasiatic (Koriaks, Chukchs, Yukaguirs) and Tungunso-Manchu (Evenks, Evens) hunters and reindeer breeders. The Yakuts (Sakhas), horse and cattle breeders of Turco-Mongol origin, colonized the country in the XVth century and remained numerically dominant until the 1930s. The Russian colonization started in the XVIIth century.

Ivan Sache, 15 Apr 2006, quoting from Marine Le Berre-Semenov’s website

An ASSR for the Sakha people was created in 1922. In 1991, this republic unilaterally upgraded its status to a full Union Republic.
Stuart Notholt, 13 Oct 1995

The ASSR of Yakutia was created in 1922 by the Soviet rule. The successive waves of political deportations and the massive colonization triggered by the mineral resources caused in the second half of the XXth century a strong increase and diversification of the population.

In 1989, the population of Yakutia was estimated at 1 000 000, including 50% of Russians, 33% of Yakuts, 7% of Ukrainians and 2,3% of autochtons. Some 100 nationalities were recorded.

In 1990, Yakutia proclaimed itself «sovereign within the Russian Federation», claiming a real economical, cultural and political autonomy. Two years later, Yakutia was renamed Sakha and adopted national symbols: a flag, a coat of arms and an anthem. In 1995, following the example of Tatarstan and Bashkotorstan, Sakha set up bilateral relations with Russia, based on treaties and agreements.

Ivan Sache, 15 Apr 2006, quoting from Marine Le Berre-Semenov’s website


Description of the flag

The flag of the Republic of Sakha is light blue, with a white disc and, at the bottom of the flag, three narrow stripes of white, red and green.
Stuart Notholt, 13 Oct 1995

At www.yakutia.ru/~pages/koi7/win/koi7/koi7/minvs/Russian-Guide/Text/1GeneralSurvey/11-2.htm, there’s an unusually clear and concise construction prescription (in russian but spelt in latin letters); I’ll summarize it:

The flag has a ratio 1:2, and is made up of four rectangles, placed horizontally: from top to bottom: light blue, white, red and green. The light blue stripe has a height of 3/4ths of the flag height, white 1/16th, red 1/16th, and green 1/8th. In the middle of the light blue rectangle, a white disc whose diameter is ²/5 of the flag height.
(The placing of the disc is further and redoundantly defined as being the disc’s center in the same point as the intersection of the diagonals of the light blue rectangle.)
António Martins, 31 Aug 1999

It was adopted by Law #1158/XII (14.10.1992).
Victor Lomantsov, 30 Apr 2000

The flag of the Republic of Sakha has certain semantic meaning:
sun - sky - snow - flowers - ground
Oliver Apper, 02 Apr 1998

The flag of Sakha Republic was adopted in 1992. Its symbolics is explained by Uliana Vinokurova, Yakut ideologist and politician, in her book Skaz o narode sakha (The story of the Sakha people), published in 1994. The flag of Yakutia-Sakha reflects the national traditions of the Sakhas: a white sun (урунъкун), symbol of eternal life, on a blue field, caracterizing the polar climate, cold and hard, of the Sakha country. In the bottom of the flag, three coloured stripes, white for purity, snow, hope, wisdom and kindness; red for strength, courage, honour and aspiration to sovereignty; green for health, joy, and hope put into the active forces of the nation.
Ivan Sache, 15 Apr 2006, quoting from Marine Le Berre-Semenov’s website


Variation of the flag

Yakutian dark blue flag
image by António Martins, 23 Sep 1999

Law of flag of Sakha say light blue, but in fact in the manufactured flags is used the blue of the russian flag (a bit dark).
Jaume Ollé, 11 Sep 1999


Previous flag design

Yakutian flag
image by Ivan Sache, 23 Apr 2000

Note that the illustrations of the referred page show a flag with the three lower stripes of equel height and the white disc shifted to the top of the flag.
Ivan Sache, 23 Apr 2000

This flag was adopted in 23-9-92. In 14 october 1992 (Law 1158/XII) the flag was slighty modified. The green stripe was a bit more wide (1/8) the red and white 1/16 and the blue c. 3/4. White disk 2/5 (Source Vexilologie [vex] 87).
Jaume Ollé, 19 Apr 2000

What were the specifications in that first law? And (probably more difficult to find out) were any flags produced according to the old specs during those three weeks?
António Martins, 01 May 2000


Incorrect variations reported

Yakutian flag in [eba94]
image by Rick Wyatt, 28 Apr 2000

This flag (in light blue and with incorrect stripes) is listed under number 128 at the chart Flags of Aspirant Peoples [eba94] as: «Sakha Omuk [Sakha Respubli Kalar] (Sakhas [Yakuts]) - North Siberia».
Ivan Sache, 15 Sep 1999


Presidential Standard

Yakutian pres. flag
image by António Martins, 02 Oct 2005

The Presidential flag shows the seal (playing the role of coat of arms) of Yakutia.
António Martins, 02 Oct 2005

Presidential Standarts are accepted at a legislative level in many Republics both some Oblasts and Autonomous Regions (In laws of Republic Sakha (Yakutia) such symbols are named auxiliary state symbols).
Sergey Filatov, 10 Oct 2005

The Law Of The Republic Sakha (Yakutia)
About Official Symbols In Republic Sakha (Yakutia)

Chapter 5. Auxiliary State Symbolics, Municipal And Other Symbolics

Article 26. Auxiliary state symbolic

2. Symbols of the President of Republic Sakha (Yakutia) are a ceremonial pin and standart of the President of Republic Sakha (Yakutia).

Standart of the President of Republic Sakha (Yakutia) is represented a square panel of colors of the national Flag of the Republic Sakha (Yakutia) with the image of the State Emblem of Republic Sakha (Yakutia) carrying instead of a white circle. The original standart of the President of Republic Sakha (Yakutia) is made out by a fringe, attached to a staff with figured overhead, constantly is in its study and settles down on the right (from the point of view of the observer) from the national Flag of Republic Sakha (Yakutia). Executed in identical or other engineering and the size the duplicate of the original standart of the President of Republic Sakha (Yakutia) (the square flag reproducing a composition of the original) rises or hung out above the basic president residence of Republic Sakha (Yakutia) and in other places of official stay of the President of Republic Sakha (Yakutia).

Most of these flags are squarish (about 11:12), rigid and fringed variants of the region (Governors) or Republic (Presidents) flags with the regional emblem over all.
António Martins, 02 Oct 2005


Seal/emblem of Yakutia

Yakutian pres. flag
image by António Martins, 02 Oct 2005

The coat of arms of Sakha Republic is based on a rock painting. It shows a Sakha rider bearing a standard symbolizing the unification of the tribes and charged with as many stars as the autochtonous nations in Yakutia.
Ivan Sache, 15 Apr 2006, quoting from Marine Le Berre-Semenov’s website

The Presidential flag shows the seal (playing the role of coat of arms) of Yakutia. This includes an image of a rider, taken from an ancient painting. He holds a monochrome flag with three long tongues extending from its flag.
António Martins, 02 Oct 2005

This is a reconstruction of petroglyphe of ancient tribes. To science it is not proved, that this figure on a stone (petroglyphe) has the direct relation to Nation of Sakha (Yakuts). It is obvious, that given vexilloid there is a banner.
Mikhail Revnivtsev, 03 Oct 2005

I don’t know the age of the original rock painting, but it might be one of the oldest known representations of a flag.
Ivan Sache, 15 Apr 2006

At the official website, this emblem is described in some detail. The colors given are dark red (тёмно-красний) and a curious dark “light-blue” (тёмно-голубой).
António Martins, 02 Oct 2005

Reconstructed ancient flag

Yakutian pres. flag
image by António Martins, 02 Oct 2005

The knight in the seal holds a monochrome flag with three long tongues extending from its flag. This is either a contemporary depiction of an ancient flag, an attempt of reconstructing one, or a “legitimate” artist’s impression (which would make this a flagoid, popping into existence from its representation in a recognized emblem.)
António Martins, 02 Oct 2005


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