Magadan vicinity from the US Defense Mapping Agency (1978) Magadan (Магада́н), city (1989 pop. 152,000), capital of Magadan region, Russian Far East, a port on the Sea of Okhotsk. Ship building and fishing are the major industries. The city has a seaport (navigable from May to December) and a major airport. A highway leads from Magadan to the gold-mining region on the upper Kolyma River.
During the Stalin era, Magadan was a major transit center for prisoners being sent to labor camps. The operations of Dal'stroi, a vast and brutal forced-labor gold-mining concern, were the main economic driver of the city for many decades during Soviet times.
Magadan is the only modern Russian city to have the same name as a city mentioned in the Bible (Matthew 15:39).
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