Vorkuta gets its names from the river it is situated on, which in turn means 'bear river' in the Nenets language, due to the number of bears found here. It is only possible to reach the city by train or plane. There are no roads connecting the city to the rest of Russia. Vorkuta is located above the Arctic Circle near the Pechora Coal Basin, which still had massive reserves of high-quality, energy-rich coal. The city became a major centre of the Gulag system of force labour camps under Stalin and the prisoners at Vorkutlag were forced to build infrastructure and mine coal.