Bolshiye Koty is a rural locality in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia situated on the western shore of Lake Baikal, 18 kilometers to the northeast of Listvyanka. The history of the settlement is closely tied to the beginning of gold mining near Baikal in 1842. There are several versions of the origin of the name Bolshiye Koty. According to the dictionary by Vladimir Dal, koty means a trap for fish installed at the mouth of a river. Alternatively, the name of the settlement comes from the word Kotky, or Koty, a word used to call wooden shoes worn by katorzhnik - a forced laborer in katorga camps. The settlement belongs to Pribaikalsky National Park. The Bolshiye ...
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