Igrim (Finn. Kirimaa) is a Uralican city located in northwestern Yugra on the North Sos'va River, at the northern terminus of Highway UH-34. It is still Uralica's smallest city, which it has been since gaining city status on 1 May 2010.
It was "officially" founded (Uralican documents say "incorporated") in 1902, although historical documents from the region suggest an earlier date of founding. It remained quite small until the discovery of natural gas in the area in the late 1950s, when it gained a significant population. As the gas fields diminished, though, so did the population. When Uralica finally annexed the area in late 2009, there were a mere five thousand people living there, mainly working in the old canneries, which were significantly outdated and not putting much out.
A stimulus package from the Uralican government has allowed the area to bring all its equipment up to date, plus economic diversification has taken place. While there is some other industry in the area, Igrim's number one economic sector is tourism, due to the fact that there are so many national parks and reserves in the area. The building of Highway UH-34 has allowed Igrim regular access to the rest of Uralica, allowing excess ore to be transported to Igrim to be smelted. Furthermore, a small hi-tech company has started in the city, called MansiTech, which specialises in musical technology such as VST hosts and instruments, differing levels of keyboards, and some particularly innovative electronic musical instruments such as the electronic hammer dulcimer. It has also made a variation on Dr. Karl Miller's "synthetar" at his request.
Culture[]
The name "Igrim" is Mansi in origin, although the exact meaning is still disputed even amongst the Mansi themselves.
The ethnic Mansi are few in numbers, and roughly 75% of the remaining population lives in Igrim. This said, the revival of the Mansi language started in Igrim, whose entire population speaks the language. Russian, Finnish, Hungarian, and English are universals as well, and there are some speakers of Khanty and Forest Nenets in the city as well.
The Mansi Cultural Centre is the most tourist-visited building in the city, followed by the local historical museum. In the cultural centre, book-CD combinations of Mansi-teaching resources are sold, and classes on the language are given, plus there are many exhibitions pertaining to Mansi history, traditional culture, and contemporary arts.
Also, many of the national parks accessible from Yugorsk are also accessible from Igrim, and since Igrim is actually closer to many of these, the hospitality industry in the city has purposely been favoured, with four of the city's five tallest buildings being hotels. Whitewater rafting is popular in the summer, and ice-fishing is sometimes done in the winter.
Sport[]
Neighbourhoods and Suburbs[]
- Igrimsky Ostrov
- Mansikar