Viljujsk
Asia / Russia
Vilyuysk (Russian: Вилю́йск; IPA: [vʲɪˈlʲʉjsk]; Sakha: Бүлүү) is a town and the administrative center of Vilyuysky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located about 600 kilometers (370 mi) from Yakutsk on the Vilyuy River (left tributary of the Lena). Population: 10,233
The first permanent settlement on the site of the present town was a Cossack winter settlement founded in 1634 as Tyukanskoye or Verkhnevilyuyskoye.
Members of the peasant rebellion led by Yemelyan Pugachev were exiled to the area in the 1770s, building the new town of Olensk in 1783. The town's name was derived from the Russian word olen, meaning stag, as still seen in the town's symbols. The town was renamed Vilyuysk after the river on which it stands in 1821.