Zhigalovo

Zhigalovo lies on the upper Lena, a river route through the forested Siberian interior. According to the Russian-language encyclopedia account, Yakov Zhigalov established two homesteads on the riverbank in 1723, beginning the village associated with his name.

Its location on the Lena placed the settlement within a larger network of river travel. Before Russian settlement, Indigenous peoples already lived and moved across the wider region; the later village's history should not be confused with the much older history of its surroundings.