Kuzbass is my native land.

Kuzbass is my native land.

          I live in a wonderful land, which history is of interest and pride not only for the inhabitants of Kuzbass, but also for all those who just heard of its beautiful and splendid title. "Edge of the miners," "edge of the metallurgists", "edge of the chemists" is called our motherland Kuzbass.

           Kuzbass, which is formally known as the Kuznetsk Coal Basin (the Kuznetsk), lies in the south of Western Siberia, namely in the Kemerovo region. Kuzbass is situated in western Siberia. It covers the area of 100,000 square kilometers. It borders on the Altai territory the south- west, on the Novosibirsk region in the west, on the Tomsk region in the north, on the Krasnoyarsk territory in the east

       Kuzbass is one of the oldest and largest industrial complexes in Siberia. Kuzbass occupies the territory of the Kuznetskaya Lowland. It is surrounded by mountain chains on the west, on the east and on the south. These mountain chains, like walls, defend our region from dry, southwest winds. They influence the weather of this territory. The climate in Kuzbass is continental. We have four seasons of the year, but winter lasts 5 months here, it begins in November and ends in March. Summer is short and rather hot. July is the hottest month of the year. The temperature is sometimes 25°-35° above zero. It's a big contrast with low winter temperatures, which are sometimes 30-40'below zero. This contrast influences badly the people's health.

       There is hardly a territory in Siberia where so much interesting mountains arrangement can be found. It is united with the West Siberian Lowland just only on the north. Its total area is about 30.000 square kilometers.

      The biggest river on the territory is the Tom. It flows into the Ob. Its length is over 839 kilometers. The Tom and its tributaries supply fresh water practically for every city in Kuzbass. There are also some other big and little rivers in Kuzbass for example - the Kondoma, the Mras-Su, the Kia, the Aba but most of them are polluted because Kuzbass is an industrial zone and the ecological situation is poor.

           Metallurgical, coal - mining, machine - building industries are highly - developed here.

         But Kuznetsk land is known not only by labor history. It is known thanks to artists, craftsmen and artisans, poets, writers, musicians. My small motherland is known throughout the country. The fame of literary Kuzbass is great: Kuznetsk is reflected in the lives and works of more than 50 writers and poets. No wonder that V.P.Astafev called Kemerovo in Siberia the best poetry. I am proud of my small motherland!