Verkhoyansk

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Verkhoyansk (vyĕrkhəyänsk´), town, Sakha Republic, NE Siberian Russia, on the Yana River, near the Arctic Circle. A river port, a fur-collecting depot, and the center of a reindeer-raising area, it lies in the coldest area of the earth outside Antarctica. The lowest temperature recorded there was -90°F (-68°C). Founded in 1638, it was a place of political exile until 1917.