Soviet Russia Following the rise of communism in the
Soviet Union in the first part of the twentieth century, the native herds were collectivised in 1933 into a group called "Enmitagino". A polar station was established on the site of the village in 1941 and the
icebreaker Krasin brought
Pyotr Sidersky and a crew of seven people to man the new station. This was the first time that the village site had been inhabited permanently, with indigenous people living there only during the summer when the reindeer were taken to pasture, with the exception of a few individuals who would over-winter in order to hunt. By 1944, the settlement had become increasingly permanent and there were 103 people living in 23 houses.
Post-Soviet Following the collapse of the
Soviet Union, state support was withdrawn and the herders, were no longer supplied with new technology by the state, and were not guaranteed to receive money they were owed for the meat they provided to the state. The result of this was the herds shrinking from nearly 22,000 to only around 4,000, gradually growing into a considerably high level of unemployment in the town. This led to a spike in alcohol abuse, specifically vodka drinking, which fuels sociological problems and public intoxication, and causes sanitation issues associated with public urination and defecation. This, combined with public dumps, littered vodka bottles, and general trash can breed pathogens leading to disease. Some deadly infections can spread to reindeer, as they may come into contact with these waste areas, further reducing the size of the herd. ==Adjacent islands==