Location: Vladivostok 🌎

Vladivostok ( VLAD-iv-OST-ok; Russian: Владивосто́к, IPA: [vlədʲɪvɐˈstok] ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area of 331.16 square kilometers (127.86 square miles), with a population of 600,871 residents as of 2021. Vladivostok is the second-largest city in the Far Eastern Federal District, as well as the Russian Far East, after Khabarovsk. Established as a Chinese settlement around 600 AD, Vladivostok was known as Yongmingcheng (永明城 [Yǒngmíngchéng], “city of eternal light”) during the Yuan dynasty and remained part of China until the Second Opium War when Russia seized it for its Pacific naval base along with 1,500,000 square kilometres (580,000 sq mi) of territory of Outer Manchuria. Shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Aigun on July 2, 1860, the city became a Russian military outpost. In 1872, the main Russian naval base on the Pacific Ocean was transferred to the city, stimulating its growth. After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Vladivostok was occupied in 1918 by White Russian and Allied forces, the last of whom from Japan were not withdrawn until 1922; by that time the antirevolutionary White Army forces in Vladivostok promptly collapsed, and Soviet power was established in the city. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Vladivostok became the administrative center of Primorsky Krai. Vladivostok is the largest Russian port on the Pacific Ocean, and the chief cultural, economic, scientific, and tourism heart of the Russian Far East. As the terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the city was visited by over three million tourists in 2017. The city is the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District, and is the home to the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy. Due to its geographical position, and its Russian culture, the city has been referred to as “Europe in the Far East”. Many foreign consulates and businesses have offices in Vladivostok, and the city hosts the annual Eastern Economic Forum. With a yearly mean temperature of around 5 °C (41 °F) Vladivostok has a cold climate for its mid-latitude coastal setting. This is due to winds from the vast Eurasian landmass in winter, also cooling the ocean temperatures.