Dudinka

Dudinka lies on the lower Yenisei near the mouth of the Dudinka River, beyond the Arctic Circle. The great river carries the waters of central Siberia north toward the Kara Sea, passing through forest-tundra and tundra. The settlement grew from a small wintering post associated with Mangazeya and the collection of fur tribute.

In 1667 Ivan Sorokin led a party from Mangazeya that built the Dudino winter quarters on the Yenisei as a base for gathering tribute. The post served the Russian administration in a region inhabited by Indigenous peoples whose furs were collected as tribute. It remained a small settlement on a vast northern waterway, where navigation and travel were governed by long winters and the seasonal opening of the river.