Geographical position

The Kuban is located in the southwestern part of the North Caucasus. In the northeast, the region borders on the Rostov Region, in the east - on the Stavropol Territory, in the south - on Abkhazia. From the northwest and southwest, the territory of the region is washed by the waters of the Azov and Black Seas.

Of the total length of the border - 1540 kilometers - 740 kilometers runs along the sea. The largest length of the region from north to south is 327 km and from west to east - 360 km. The territory of the Krasnodar Territory covers an area of ​​75.5 thousand square kilometers.

Timezone

Kuban is located in the time zone designated by the international standard as Moscow Time Zone (MSK/MSD). The offset from UTC is +3:00 (MSK, winter time) and +4:00 (MSD, summer time).

Relief

The Kuban is divided by the Kuban River into two parts: the northern one is flat (2/3 of the territory), located on the Kuban Azov lowland, and the southern one is foothill and mountainous (1/3 of the territory), located in the western highland part of the Greater Caucasus. The highest point is Mount Tsakhvoa (3345 m).

Minerals

More than 60 types of minerals have been discovered in the bowels of the region. They mainly occur in the foothills and mountainous regions. There are reserves of oil, natural gas, marl, iodine-bromine water, marble, limestone, sandstone, gravel, quartz sand, iron and apatite ores, rock salt.

Kuban is the oldest oil-producing region. Oil production began in 1864.

Climate

The climate in most of the territory is temperate continental, on the Black Sea coast from Anapa to Tuapse - semi-dry Mediterranean climate, south of Tuapse - humid subtropical. The average January temperature on the plain is −3…-5 °С, on the Black Sea coast 0+6 °С, in Sochi +5.9 °С. The average July temperature is +22....24 °С. The annual amount of precipitation is from 400 to 600 mm in the flat part, up to 3242 mm or more in the mountainous part. Every spring, the region is flooded with floods.

Hydrography

The main river is the Kuban, which receives many tributaries on the left (Urup, Laba, Belaya, etc.). The whole region is often named after her, calling it simply Kuban. The largest of the rivers of the Black Sea coast is the Mzymta.

To regulate the flow of the Kuban River, reservoirs were built - Tshikskoye, Shapsugskoye and Krasnodarskoye. On the territory of the region there are many small karst lakes, on the Taman Peninsula and the coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov - lakes-estuaries. On the territory of the Krasnodar Territory is the largest lake in the North Caucasus - Abrau. The largest in Europe Azov-Kuban basin of fresh underground waters, which has significant reserves of thermal and mineral waters, is located on the territory of the region.

Soils

The main part of the soil cover of the steppe zone of the region is Ciscaucasian carbonate and leached chernozems. The Taman Peninsula is occupied by chestnut, western Ciscaucasian and marsh soils. In the mountains there are mountain forest brown and soddy carbonate soils, in the highlands there are mountain meadow soils. The total land area of ​​the Krasnodar Territory is 7.5 million hectares, of which 3.9 million hectares are arable land. This is the main arable fund of the region, characterized by high fertility.

A narrow strip on the left bank of the Kuban, the Prikubanskaya sloping plain and part of the foothills are suitable for horticulture and the cultivation of yellow tobacco.

Vegetation

Among the wealth of the Kuban, the forest occupies an important place, as it is of great environmental importance and is the main source of valuable timber in Russia. The total forest area of ​​the Krasnodar Territory is over 1.8 million hectares. Industrially important oak and beech massifs (broad-leaved forests) occupy, respectively, 49 and 19% of the area of ​​all forests. Also, dark coniferous mountain (spruce, fir) forests, subalpine and alpine meadows grow in the region.

Population

1926 census data

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