Murmansk

Murmansk is a city in Russia with a sea port on the Kola Gulf, 20 miles from Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula[?], not far from Russia's border with Norway. It has some 400,000 inhabitants and is an important navy base.

History

The city was founded in 1915 when the railroad to Kola was built. After the October Revolution, from 1918 to 1920, the city was occupied by western allies and white (czarist) forces. During World War II, Murmansk was Russia's vital link with the western world and vast quantities of military supplies arrived there. During the cold war it was a centre of Soviet submarine activity.