city and capital of Komi republic, northwestern Russia. It lies at the confluence of the Vychegda and Sysola rivers. It was founded in 1586 as Ust-Sysolsk and was made a city in 1780, but its remoteness hindered growth, and in fact it was used as a place of exile. In the 1960s a large timber-processing plant was built on Syktyvkar's northern outskirts, producing paper, pulp, hardboard, and plywood. The modern city has major shipbuilding, ship repair, sawmilling, and paper-pulp industries as well as a teacher-training institute and a branch of the Academy of Sciences. Pop. (1993 est.) 226,300.