Foundation Some modern Chinese historians claim that the city was the site of a Chinese settlement around 600 AD, where it was known as Yongmingcheng (永明城 [
Yǒngmíngchéng], "city of eternal light") during the
Yuan dynasty. After China was threatened with war on a second front by Governor-General of the Far East
Nikolay Muraviev when China was suppressing the
Taiping Rebellion,
Early history On October 31, 1861, the first civilian settler, a merchant, Yakov Lazarevich Semyonov, arrived in Vladivostok with his family. On March 15, 1862, the first act of his purchase of land was registered, and in 1870 Semyonov was elected the first head of the post, and a local self-government emerged. In 1871, the main naval base of the Siberian Military Flotilla, the headquarters of the military governor and other naval departments were transferred from Nikolaevsk-on-Amur to Vladivostok. In the 1870s, the government encouraged resettlement to the South Ussuri region, which contributed to an increase in the population of the post: according to the first census of 1878, there were 4,163 inhabitants. The city status was adopted and the city Duma was established, the post of the city head, the coat of arms was adopted, although Vladivostok was not officially recognized as a city. The first decade of the 20th-century was characterized by a protracted crisis caused by the political situation: the government's attention was shifted to
Lüshunkou and the Port of
Dalian (Talien). As well as the
Boxer uprising in North China in 1900–1901, the
Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, and finally the first Russian revolution led to stagnation in the economic activity of Vladivostok. Since 1907, a new stage in the development of the city began: the losses of Lüshunkou and Dalian (Talien) again made Vladivostok the main port of Russia on the
Pacific Ocean. A free port regime was introduced, and until 1914 the city experienced rapid growth, becoming an important economic hub in the
Asia-Pacific, as well as an ethnically diverse city with a population exceeding over 100,000 inhabitants: during the time ethnic Russians made up less than half of the population, However, Vladivostok was an important staging post for the import of military-technical equipment for troops from allied and neutral countries, as well as raw materials and equipment for industry. Immediately after the
October Revolution in 1917, during which the
Bolsheviks came to power, the
Decree on Peace was announced, and as a result of the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk concluded between the Bolshevik government of Russia and the
Central Powers, led to the end of
Soviet Russia's participation in World War I. On October 30, the sailors of the Siberian Military Flotilla decided to "rally around the united power of the Soviets", and the power of Vladivostok, as well as all of the Trans-Siberian Railway passed to the Bolsheviks. they lost control of the city to the
White Army-allied
Czechoslovak Legion, who declared the city to be an Allied protectorate. Vladivostok became the staging point for the Allies'
Siberian intervention, a multi-national force including Japan, the United States and China; China sent forces to protect the local Chinese community after appeals from Chinese merchants. The intervention ended in the wake of the collapse of the White Army and regime in 1919; all Allied forces except the Japanese withdrew by the end of 1920. In October 1922, the troops of the
Red Army of the Far Eastern Republic under the command of
Ieronim Uborevich occupied Vladivostok, displacing the
White Army formations from it. In November, the Far Eastern Republic liquidated and became a part of Soviet Russia. Between 1923 and 1925, the government adopted a "three-year restoration" plan, during which operations at the commercial port were resumed, and it became the most profitable in the country (from 1924 to 1925). The "restoration" period was distinguished by a number of peculiarities: the
Russian Far East did not adopt '
war communism', but was, immediately, inducted to the
New Economic Policy. Vladivostok was not a place of hostilities during the
Great Patriotic War, although there was a constant threat of attack from Japan. In the city, a "Defense Fund" was created (the first in the country), to which the residents of Vladivostok contributed personal wealth. During the war years Vladivostok handled imported cargo (
lend-lease) of a volume almost four times more than
Murmansk and almost five times more than
Arkhangelsk. By the decree of the
Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union "Issues of the Fifth Navy" dated August 11, 1951, a special regime was introduced in Vladivostok (it began to operate on January 1, 1952); the city was
closed to foreigners. It was planned to remove from Vladivostok not only foreign consulates, but also the merchant and fish fleet and transfer all regional authorities to Voroshilov (now
Ussuriysk). However, these plans were not implemented. It was noted that at that time the urban infrastructure was in a deplorable state. On September 20, 1991,
Boris Yeltsin signed decree No. 123 "On the opening of Vladivostok for visiting by foreign citizens", which entered into force on January 1, 1992, ending Vladivostok's status as a
closed city.
Modern period On 3 November 2010, the remains of the executed uncovered during construction of the Sedanka-Patrokl Highway were reburied in the northern part of the Lesnoe cemetery and an Orthodox cross was raised over the mass grave. In 2012, Vladivostok hosted the
24th APEC summit. Leaders from the
APEC member countries met at
Russky Island, off the coast of Vladivostok. With the summit on Russky Island, the government and private businesses inaugurated
resorts, dinner and entertainment facilities, in addition to the renovation and upgrading of
Vladivostok International Airport. Two giant
cable-stayed bridges were built in preparation for the summit, the
Zolotoy Rog bridge over the
Zolotoy Rog Bay in the center of the city, and the
Russky Island Bridge from the mainland to Russky Island (the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world). The new campus of
Far Eastern Federal University was completed on Russky Island in 2012. In December 2018, the seat of the
Far Eastern Federal District, established in May 2000, was moved from
Khabarovsk to Vladivostok. In November 2020, the city and region had experienced a rare weather phenomenon in the face of
freezing rain caused by collision of warm and cold air masses. The result was wires and trees encrusted in ice up to thick. More than 1,500 homes were left without electricity, 900 without heating, 870 without hot water, 500 without cold water. Between 60% and 70% of Vladivostok's forests were damaged. ==Politics==