Abakan is the capital of the Kahakasia Rebuplic in the Krasnoyarsk territory of the Russian Federation with a population of approximately 163,000 in 1996. It is a coal-mining city and lies where the Abakan and Yenisey rivers meet at approximately 275 kilometers in Southwest Krasnoyarsk. Abakan is the point-of-origin of the Abakan Taishet Railway which is a branch of the Trans-Siberia Railway line. A transportation centre, Abakan also has timber, textile, metal works and food producing industries. The region also contains many marble quarries. Founded in 1929, Abakan is a relatively modern town and had previously served as the Ust-Abakanskoye village. Previous centuries’ burial graves, caves and prehistoric drawings make Abakan a significant archaeological centre in Russia.

The history of Abakan is available at The Abakan Museum of Regional Studies which contain totem poles dating back about three thousand years. The Siberian baroque Spassky Cathedral in Abakan was build in the early nineteenth century. The Kransnoyarsk Reservoir in Abakan is a result of having dammed the north Yenisay River.