Polar Dawns (Russ. Полярные Зори, Finn. Napa-Aamunkoitot) is a small Uralican city located in Sapmi county, roughly 20 kilometres north of Käddluhtt along Highway UH-7.
It was founded near the construction site of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant (presently unoperational) which was its main source of employment up to the Cataclysm in late 2005. After the Cataclysm, though, the town's population plummeted so far that many expected it to disappear off the map by the end of 2006. Strangely enough, it was the Uralic Purges that started to rectify the situation, as Karelians and Finns fled to "safer" areas when Russian extremists went on the rampage during Great War III. Still, it took a good three years before the city recovered to its pre-Cataclysm population.
Sponsored by Uralica, an economic diversification project began in the city in early 2009, during which a few small deposits of non-metallic minerals were found in the area. The nuclear plant was not dismantled, with expectations that Uralican scientists will have some of the plants in the country back up and running by the end of 2010, but there has been more emphasis on small-scale hydro power in the area. On top of this, with the amount of iron ore that is being found further north, the smelters further north can't keep up with it all, so metallurgy has become very important. There are also machine-building and recycling sectors in the city.
Culture[]
The city celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2008, but in spite of its relative youth, it does have a historical museum, which is mainly ethnographic in nature. Given the fact that most of the world's Saami live in Sapmi County, it is no real surprise that their culture is heavily documented in this.
That said, with many of the Sami speakers living in Käddluhtt, there are few speakers in Polar Dawns. Instead, the population is very heavily Karelian, even though most Karelians have returned to their ancestral homeland further south. There are also a good number of Finns and Russians, and Polar Dawns is one of the very few large Uralican settlements where 100% of the population speaks English. (For most cities, the percentage is in the high 90s.)
However, the city's main appeal to tourists is the many sport and "outdoorsy" opportunities one has while in the city. Just outside the city is a small alpine/cross-country ski resort. Also, the city is in an area that is dotted with lakes, most notably the large Imandra Lake, which is renowned for its large fish stocks even today. There are numerous other indoor and outdoor sports facilities within the city itself as well.
Sport[]
Neighbourhoods and Suburbs[]
- Nivsky
- Pinjärvi (Russ. Пинозеро)
- Zasheyek
- Yläpinostroi
- Vostochnaya Guba
- Lesozavod
- Niva (subordinate hamlet)
- Afrikanda (subordinate village)
Note: Niva and Afrikanda are holding a referendum on 1 December 2010 to vote on whether or not to split off from Polar Dawns and form a town, since the two settlements together would have the population and infrastructure to do so.