On June 30, 1908 in the Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai a powerful explosion occurred.
The region, known as the Primorsky Krai, has a population of about 2 million and includes the port of Vladivostok, which is home to the Soviet navy's Pacific fleet.
At the age of only 39, a mere stripling by the standards of the age, he was appointed Communist Party first secretary for the Stavropol krai, or territory.
