| En Name: | Billings |
| Ru Name: | Биллингс |
| Other Name: | Валӄаран |
| Other Lang: | Chukchi |
| Map Label Position: | right |
| Coordinates: | 69.8667°N 220°W |
| Federal Subject: | Chukotka Autonomous Okrug |
| Federal Subject Ref: | [1] |
| Adm District Jur: | Iultinsky District |
| Inhabloc Cat: | Rural locality |
| Inhabloc Type: | Selo |
| Mun District Jur: | Chaunsky Municipal District |
| Mun District Jur Ref: | [2] |
| Rural Settlement Jur: | Billings Rural Settlement |
| Mun Admctr Of: | Billings Rural Settlement |
| Pop 2010Census: | 211 |
| Pop 2010Census Ref: | [3] |
| Pop Latest: | 193 |
| Pop Latest Date: | January 2016 |
| Pop Latest Ref: | [4] |
| Postal Codes: | 689380 |
| Dialing Codes: | 42737 |
| Dialing Codes Ref: | [5] |
Billings (Russian: Би́ллингс; Валӄаран, Valḳaran) is a rural locality (a selo) in Iultinsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Population: Municipally, it is incorporated as Billings Rural Settlement in Chaunsky Municipal District.
Like the neighbouring village of Mys Shmidta, Billings is named after a nearby cape, which in turn was named after British Captain Joseph Billings (1758—1806) who was at the service of the Russian Imperial Navy during Catherine the Great's reign. The cape itself marks the point of separation between the Chukchi Sea and the East Siberian Sea. Joseph Billings was an English-born member of the Russian navy who in 1785, together with C. G. Sarychevym, was part of the expedition that mapped and researched the coast of North-Eastern Siberia.[6] Using reindeer, he crossed Chukotka as far as Kolyuchinskaya Guba and mapped the area.
The local Chukchi people originally called the place "Valkyran", meaning a dugout of whale jaws.[7] This is in reference to the remains of an ancient Inuit camp consisting of a number of homes dug into the soil and constructed of wood and the bones of the Greenland whale.
In 1935, a polar station was established on the site of the village for the first time, and two years later the first national council was established in the area named Valkyran after their traditional name for the area. In 1948, the local Chukchi herders were collectivised and named their new Sovkhoz after Lenin.
Billings is located on the coast of the East Siberian Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean, just east of Cape Billings. Other than the mining settlements of Leningradsky and Mys Shmidta, Billings is one of the few populated areas in this part of Russia between Cape Shelag and Cape Dezhnyov. Billings is situated near the former Chukchi settlement of Gytkhelen.
The population of the village according to the most recent census data is 211, of whom 109 are male and 102 female, a significant decrease on a 2006 estimate of 324.[8]
Billings was part of Shmidtovsky Municipal District of Chukotka until that district was merged into Iultinsky Municipal District in 2008. On December 15, 2009, Billings was transferred to Chaunsky Municipal District. Administratively, however, Billings remained under the jurisdiction of Shmidtovsky Administrative District until the latter was merged into Iultinsky Administrative District in 2011 and ceased to exist.
Billings has an arctic tundra climate (Köppen climate classification ET)[9] with extremely long, bitterly cold winters and very short, cold summers. Precipitation is low throughout the year, with summers being somewhat wetter than winters.