Vorkuta in the context of Northernmost settlements

The Research Range (Russian: Исследовательский хребет) is a mountain range at the northern end of the Ural Mountains. It extends north of the Arctic Circle, and forms the border between the Komi Republic and the Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug. The Research Range is 175 km long and the highest point is Mount Narodnaya (Гора Народная) or People's Mountain, at 1,894 m.

The Research Range starts approximately at Mount Narodnaya and runs northeastward past Vorkuta almost to the Kara Sea and the Arctic Ocean. The primary rocks are metamorphic, mostly quartzites and slate. There are numerous glaciers near the tops and on the upper slopes of the mountains, the rest is mostly arctic desert and tundra. In the foothills and steep river valleys, there is some taiga forest.

The Vorkuta Corrective Labor Camp (Russian: Воркутинский исправительно-трудовой лагерь, romanized: Vorkutinsky ispravitel'no-trudovoy lager'), commonly known as Vorkutlag (Воркутлаг), was a major Gulag labor camp in the Soviet Union located in Vorkuta, Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. It was in operation from 1932 until 1962.

Vorkutlag was one of the largest camps in the Gulag system. The camp housed 73,000 prisoners at its peak in 1951, containing Soviet and foreign prisoners including prisoners of war, dissidents, political prisoners ("enemies of the state") and common criminals who were used as forced labor in the exploitation of coal mines, coal mining works, and forestry. The camp was administered by the Joint State Political Directorate from 1932 to 1934, the NKVD from 1934 to 1946 and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Soviet Union) from 1946 until its closure in 1962. The Vorkuta Gulag was the site of the Vorkuta Uprising in July 1953.

The Vorkuta uprising was a major uprising of forced labor camp inmates at the Rechlag Gulag special labor camp in Vorkuta, Russian SFSR, USSR from 19 July (or 22 July) to 1 August 1953, shortly after the arrest of Lavrentiy Beria on 26 June 1953. The uprising was violently suppressed by the camp administration after two weeks of bloodless standoff.