Evolution of Rural Settlement Pattern in Kamchatka: From Colonization to Modern Adaptation

The process and results of Russian colonization have traditionally attracted the attention of specialists from various scientific fields. The development of the settlement system is both an important part and indicator of this process. Based on various static, cartographic, and literary sources, genetic types of rural settlements of Kamchatka krai are identified. Although most of the more than 320 rural settlements in Kamchatka have now disappeared or have no population, their composition and geography are of interest for analyzing the logic of development and prospects for further transformation of the settlement pattern. In recent decades, this has largely been associated with adaptation of the original functions of rural settlements to modern conditions. During the Soviet period, the most important period from the viewpoint of development of the settlement pattern, multidirectional processes took place in Kamchatka: extensive quantitative growth associated with the development of local fisheries resources and agricultural areas was replaced by several stages of “optimization” of the settlement network. Compared to other regions of Asian Russia, centers related to mining development were relatively poorly represented here. In the northern part of the region, after liquidation of most of the seasonally inhabited settlements of indigenous peoples, a rare and not very stable network of permanent settlements formed. In total, all these processes led to the formation on the peninsula of a fairly wide set of genetic types of rural settlements for territories with a focal settlement pattern—from commercial and forestry-based to agricultural, associated with agricultural development, and suburban. The further evolution of the rural settlement pattern in the region will depend on the preservation of viable elements of the original functions of settlements, the social core of residents, and maintenance of the housing stock and infrastructure created at the previous stages.