It is believed that the city was founded in 1586 as a settlement
Ust-Sysola. It was granted city status by
Catherine the Great in 1780, and in 1992, it became the capital of the Komi Republic. It has remained the capital since then, although a large influx of ethnic Russians in the 20th century has actually left the Komi a minority there. When
Kandinsky stayed there in 1889 to record the culture and beliefs of the locals, the town had a group of administrative buildings along with more numerous log-built peasant huts. The majority of the population were merchants and peasants. The main occupations of the inhabitants were agriculture, cattle-breeding, hunting, fishing, and trade. By the beginning of the 20th century, the population had grown to 6,000 people. The Tsarist government made the Komi region a place of
political exile. In 1921, Ust-Sysolsk was given the status of administrative center of the newly formed
Komi-Zyryan Autonomous Oblast. It was renamed as Syktyvkar, which is Komi for "a town on the Sysola" in 1930, to mark the 150th anniversary of its receipt of city privileges. In 1936, Syktyvkar became the capital of the
Komi ASSR. There is a monument near the Nizhny Chov suburb to those shot outside the city in the 1930s, but the remains of others executed earlier lie beneath the airfield. ==Administrative and municipal status==