Useful Information
Bratsk City Info
The name of Bratsk means a place where Buryats live (Bratsi in the 17th century Russian). The first Europeans came to this place in 1623. It was a unit of 40 soldiers sent there to find out whether one could impose a tax on the Buryats living there.In 1636, the first fort was built there at the confluence of the Oka and Angara rivers to enforce the tax collection from natives. In 1640's there were already some peasants at the fort growing crops. In 1690, a monastery was built at the fort. In 1702, there were 15 communities in the Bratsk area with 128 homesteads. In 1805, the newly established Bratsk komissarstvo (administrative unit) had 5210 inhabitants. In 1910, there were 60 communities with 14,006 people (including 5596 political exilees!). In 1948, the regional centre, the old village of Bratsk, had 2247 inhabitants.