[Music] welcome to one of the most remote and wild regions on the planet the kamchatka peninsula it's big it's got volcanoes earthquakes harsh winters plenty of wildlife and not a lot of people this part of russia is not for the faint-hearted so today let's explore this absolutely stunning corner of our planet hello and welcome to seven facts [Music] first let's look at the history people belonging to various groups have made kamchatka their home long before the russians ever came here the oldest remains that have been uncovered are about 17 000 years old that's in the stone age in case you didn't know it was much much later that the russians reached kamchatka obviously in 1651 and they didn't just find an uninhabited land the italians ainu koryaks and chuvans were already present and are considered to be the natives of kamchatka collectively they're known as the kamchathas although this name refers to the natives who are simulated with the russians and it comes from the koryak language meaning men of the far east or it could mean something else as there are about 20 versions of the origin of kamchatka but anyway starting from 1651 russian explorers started to come here and established forts however their exploration of the land wasn't easy several expeditions failed and their members killed attacked by the local koreaks the russian response was almost always the same find attack and destroy local villages this is pretty much how the first 50 years of kanchatkan exploration went explore build settlements be attacked attack back this somewhat of a routine changed in 1705 when there was a general breakdown of order there were numerous mutinies and native wars all over the peninsula the chaos extended all the way to the north of kamchatka and the hard lives of the people just got harder these troubled times lasted for decades and taking back control and settling down the natives was a very slow process during this time countless natives were murdered in the most cruel ways and countless russians were speared and burned to death in traps the last mention of resistance in kamchatka was in 1756 so for a period of 51 years the russian empire had basically no control over these lands this wasn't the end of troubles though twelve years later a major small box epidemic swept through the native population decimating their numbers those who survived were few less than ten thousand and most of them were now easily assimilated into russian culture the next chapter in kamchatka's history was much leaner although not completely eventless but let's fast forward to 1945. this is the year world war ii ended and from an outside perspective at least kamchatka when dark by that i mean that the region became a military zone and access to this place was restricted even to soviet citizens during the second half of the 20th century there were about 400 000 people living in kanchatka and each and every one of them had a special military clearance if you're wondering why kamchatka was closed off well there are many reasons but the main one is that for russia this was the closest they could get to u.s territory in these times there were secretive nuclear submarine bases and military bases and ballistic missile launch sites and many of them are still in operation by the way the soviets guarded this land so much that in 1983 they shot down a korean jumbo jet that veered of course fearing it was an american reconnaissance airplane it was only in 1990 that regular soviet citizens were allowed to enter kamchatka and in 1991 the first foreign citizens arrived but this secretive dangerous game of military might had its upsides kamchatka remained an untouched unpolluted natural haven the floor and fauna of the peninsula flourished all those decades and that's what we'll discuss next [Music] the grasses throughout kamchatka are so tall and succulent without exception that it is difficult to find the likes of them in the entire russian empire stephan krashenikov a russian explorer wrote that in the 18th century during the second kamchatka expedition and he wasn't wrong there are thousands of plant species that to this day thrive in the peninsula and many of them are nowhere to be found on earth but here because kamchatka was closed off for half a century and there was no forced industrialization here much of the land remained in its natural state the absolute beauty of kamchatka is hard to be equaled what about the wildlife well if you venture to the seashores you'll most definitely encounter seals sea lions sea otters and you have a good chance to spot some killer whales not to mention the 600 or so fish species found in the seas that surround the peninsula look up to the sky and start counting the 220 or so bird species that live in kamchatka but probably the most famous inhabitants of kamchatka are the brown bears and there are about 14 000 of them you simply cannot go into this wilderness without proper protection pretty much anywhere you can come face to face with brown bears here and there are not at all friendly so know what these guys are doing in this picture that's a no-no for you the next thing we have to talk about when it comes to kamchatka are the volcanoes and oh my there are plenty of those this is the most volcanically active area of the entire eurasian continent as of right now there are 29 active volcanoes in a peninsula the size of new zealand count the dormant volcanoes too and you get to 160. add the extinct ones and you surpass 400 this impressive and let's face it frightening collection of volcanoes caught the attention of unesco 2 who designated these volcanoes a world heritage site if you're wondering why there are so many volcanoes in kamchatka the reason is actually quite simple the peninsula is a very active part of the infamous pacific ring of fire a nearly continuous series of subduction zones where earthquakes and volcanoes are pretty much the norm speaking of earthquakes kamchatka is no stranger to these events right off the east coast lies the subduction zone where two tectonic plates meet and the sea floor drops to nearly ten thousand meters what this means is that you get a lot of earthquakes here the vast majority of them are weak enough to not be felt by humans but some are legendarily powerful for instance in 1737 1923 and 1952 so-called megathrust earthquakes shook kamchatka with magnitudes of 8 8.5 and 9 respectively all of them also caused tsunamis more recently a chain of more shallow earthquakes were recorded in april 2006. the 7.7 magnitude quake was followed by powerful aftershocks with magnitudes of 4 5 6 and 6.6 these aftershocks occurred over a period of more than two weeks so kamchatka is one of the most geologically active places on earth and living here takes a bit of courage thankfully the place is sparsely populated so most of the time there are no human casualties most of the time ok so kamchatka is beautiful and wild but it also seems to want to kill you at every step but what about the climate what's the weather like here well it depends the coastal areas have relatively mild winters and cool summers but inland it gets colder but no matter where you are you can pretty much expect five months of winter or 6 or 7 as you get closer to the north once winter arrived get ready to chill with temperatures as low as -40 degrees celsius if that's too cold for you get to the coast you'll only have to bear a balmy minus 10 degrees oh and snowfalls and blizzards are frequent so you better know your way around during summer it rains quite a lot and temperatures range between 15 and 30 degrees celsius if all of this sounds extreme well it is but people have been living here since times immemorial and tourism in kamchatka is booming despite these harsh conditions so it seems that kamchatka is indeed a place of contrast and remains one of the masterpieces of mother nature on earth i hope this video was interesting enough to have inspired you to look into it further on your own if you liked it leave a like and subscribe you can leave your comments downstairs and you can also check out my patreon page if you want to support me the link is in the description i hope to see you next time bye