Abakan, Regional capital in southern Siberia, Russia.
Abakan lies where the Abakan River joins the Yenisei in the Minusinsk Basin south of the Western Sayan Mountains. The settlement spreads across both riverbanks and connects residential districts through bridges and wide roads.
The site began in 1675 as the fortress settlement Abakansky ostrog and was designated capital of the autonomous Khakas region in 1931. That year the settlement gained city status and adopted its present name.
The Khakas National Museum displays artifacts from ancient civilizations, including remnants of a Chinese-style palace discovered during road construction in 1940.
The city can be reached through Abakan International Airport and the railway junction with connections toward Moscow and Mongolia. Buses and marshrutkas run between districts and to nearby settlements across the valley.
Archaeologists have uncovered burial mounds and megalithic structures around the region, earning it the nickname Valley of Kings of Russia. Workers discovered remains of a structure in Chinese style beneath a roadway in 1940.
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