RUSSIA

Facts… With a land area of 6.5 million sq. miles,

Russia is the largest country in the world

Population estimates – 148 million people

Russia is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world

The population is predominantly urban Russia is so large, that the climate

varies greatly throughout the country Russia has 11 time zones

Location Russia is bounded by the Arctic and Pacific Oceans Ural mountains divide Eurasian continent – and

Russia - to Europe and Asia (78% live west of Urals) Boundaries with 13 countries

Weather Central Russia has a continental climate

Summers are hot and short, while the winters are cold and long.

A Russian winter is famous for its frigid temperatures. Much of Russia is covered by snow six

months of year. It has to be lived through to be really

appreciated. Winter starts in October and continues through March (November-January are the darkest months)

- Interesting fact: Russia’s most southern port, Novorossiysk is on the same latitude as Minneapolis.

(very) Brief History Summary

862 – founding of Kievan Rus by Viking Rurik, the birth of what became the Russian state

Mid-13th century – Mongol Horde invasion 1480 – Moscow liberated from Tatar

(Mongol) yoke 1613 – Rurik dynasty ended, Romanov

dynasty begins (ends 1917) 1812 – Napoleon failed in his attempt to

conquer Russia (after occupying Moscow)

History Summary, cont’d. October 1917 – Bolsheviks seized control (led

by Lenin) 1922 – USSR established 1941-1945 – WWII (Great Patriotic War), Russia

loses 1/6 of its population (~ 30 mln) Stalin’s purges – an additional 20 to 40 mln 1985 – Gorbachev introduced political and

economical reforms 1991 – USSR is formally dissolved, Yeltsin

became the new president; CIS is formed 2000 – Putin is elected president of Russia

Kazan Kazan is the capital of a republic that occupies

the area between the Volga and the Ural Mountains

The recent findings showed that Kazan is no younger than 1000 years old!

The population of Kazan is ~1.2 million (~50% are Russian Orthodox, 50% are Muslim)

MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC QUALITIES

IMMENSE TERRITORIAL STATE NORTHERNMOST LARGE AND POPULOUS

COUNTRY IN THE WORLD A FORMER WORLD COLONIAL POWER A COMPARITIVELY SMALL (<150 MILLION)

AND CONCENTRATED POPULATION CONCENTRATED DEVELOPMENT MULTICULTURAL STATE MINIMAL PORTS

RUSSIA-US SIZE COMPARISON

SIZE, LOCATION AND SPACE RELATIONSHIPS

LATITUDINAL EXTENT Northernmost point: Rudolf Island in Franz

Joseph Land (82o) Southernmost point: Grozny in west and

Vladivostok in east (44o) Monmouth is 44.7727oN

LONGITUDINAL EXTENT More than twice its maximum north-south

extent and extends through 11 time zones Russia makes up 76.6% of the total territory

of the former USSR

REGIONS OF THE RUSSIAN REALM

RUSSIANCORE

URALS

RUSSIA’SREGIONS

RUSSIANCORE SIBERIA FAR EAST

EASTERN FRONTIER

EARLY 16TH CENTURY(IVAN THE TERRIBLE- 1547-1584)

END OF THE 17TH CENTURY(PETER THE GREAT- 1682-1725)

EARLY 20TH CENTURY

GROWTH OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE

GROWTH OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE

FORWARD CAPITAL

Capital city positioned in actually or Capital city positioned in actually or potentially contested territory, usually potentially contested territory, usually near an international border, confirms near an international border, confirms the state’s determination to maintain its the state’s determination to maintain its presence in the regionpresence in the region

CLIMATOLOGY CLIMATE

AVERAGE WEATHER CONDITIONS FOR A GIVEN AREA OVER AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME

WEATHER REFERS TO THE ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS

AT A SPECIFIC PLACE AND TIME CLIMATOLOGY

A BRANCH OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY CONCERNED WITH:

SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT OF CLIMATE OVER THE SURFACE OF THE EARH

PROCESSES WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO THE DISTRIBUTION

RUSSIAN CLIMATE

Affected by 3 natural conditions:-- Latitudinal Position-- Continental Position-- Location of major mountains

CLIMATE

VEGETATION

Vegetation ... terms Tundra

Treeless plain along the Arctic Moss, lichen, grass

Taiga Coniferous forests south of the Tundra,

extending over Siberia (“sleeping land”) Steppe

Like our Prairie semi-arid grasslands with short grasses that

are found in dry areas that have hot summers and cold winters

CLIMATE AS A RESTRICTIVE ELEMENT

AGRICULTURE Short growing seasons Drought prone Erosion (accelerated via snow melt)

SETTLEMENT PATTERNS & TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY

High energy consumption Specialized equipment and facilities Extractive

permafrost spring and fall mud special equipment and facilities - $$$

AGRICULTURAL PATTERNS

SETTLEMENT / TRANSPORTATION PATTERNS

RUSSIA’S PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS

PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS

RUSSIAN PLAIN EASTWARD CONTINUATION OF NORTH

EUROPEAN LOWLAND CORE AREA (MOSCOW BASIN)

URAL MOUNTAINS 2,000 MILES LONG (NORTH-SOUTH) YIELD A VARIETY OF MINERALS

WEST SIBERIAN PLAIN WORLD’S LARGEST UNBROKEN LOWLANDS PERMAFROST

PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS(continued)

CENTRAL SIBERIAN PLATEAU SPARSELY POPULATED, TEMPERATURE

EXTREMES, PERMAFROST YAKUTSK BASIN

MOUNTAINOUS, HIGH RELIEF EASTERN HIGHLANDS

RANGES, RIDGES, PRECIPITOUS VALLEYS, VOLCANIC MOUNTAINS, LAKE BAYKAL

CENTRAL ASIAN RANGES RISE ABOVE THE SNOW LINE, GLACIATED

CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS EXTENSIONS OF THE ALPINES

RUSSIANPLAIN

THE URAL MOUNTAINS

•The north-south length covers 2500 kms.•The highest points are in the Northern Urals-2000 meters in places.•The Central Urals are the lowest section and include several key crossing places.•The Southern Urals are wider and consist of a number of parallel north-south ridges and intervening valleys.•Ural forests and minerals have been the basis for industrialization and boast at least twenty different commercially usable minerals.

WEST SIBERIAN PLAIN

•The world’s largest unbroken lowland

•Includes the Ob and Irtysh River Basin

•Permafrost

•Major Cities:•Omsk•Novosibirsk

CENTRAL SIBERIANPLATEAU

•Sparsely settled

•Inaccessible

•Restrictive

climate

•Permafrost

•Natural

resources

EASTERN HIGHLANDS

CENTRAL ASIAN RANGES

CAUCASUSMOUNTAINS

How geographic facts influence policies

PivotArea

MACKINDER’S WORLD - 1904

Heartland

Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland;who rules the Heartland commands the World Island;who rules the World Island commands the World.

HEARTLAND THEORY

Heartland

Land

Rim

SPYKMAN’S RIMLAND

Who controls the Rimland rules Eurasia;who rules Eurasia controls the destinies of the world.

POLITICAL FRAMEWORK SOVIET LEGACY

Revolution (1905-1917) Bolsheviks (majority) versus Mensheviks

(minority) The Red Army v. the White Army

V.I. Lenin (Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov) Capital: Petrograd to Moscow (1918)

FEDERATION/FEDERAL STRUCTURE USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) -

1924 SSRs, ASSRs, Autonomous Regions

RUSSIFICATION

SOVIET UNION

COMMAND ECONOMY

An economy in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state and in which central planning of the structure and the output prevails

Features of the Soviet economy Production of particular manufactured

goods to particular places Economic interdependence of the

republics

ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK

CENTRALLY PLANNED (early 1920s) MAJOR OBJECTIVES

Speed industrialization Collectivize agriculture

Czarism (<1917)

Lenin Stalin Kruschev Breshnev Gorbachev

SOVIET LEADERS

Lenin (1918 - 1927)

Introduced Marxist philosophy

Replaced private with public ownership

Developed national economic plans

Established Soviet political structure based on ethnic identities

SOVIET LEADERS

Stalin (1927 - 1953) All assets nationalized

Creation of huge centralized state machine over all aspects of Soviet life

Purges of dissidents (30-60 million)

Collectivized farming (sovkhoz)

Concentration on heavy industry at expense of agriculture

SOVIET LEADERS

Kruschev (1953 - 1964) Greater emphasis on agriculture

Virgin Lands Program - pastures into irrigated wheat fields

Ultimately led to Aral Sea environmental disaster

Breshnev (1964 - 1982) Height of the Cold War Military/industrial economy Economic stagnation (agriculture)

SOVIET LEADERS

Gorbachev (1985 - 1991) Initiated economic and political reform PERESTROIKA

Restructuring Intended to produce major changes to both

the economic and political system Economic aim: to catch up with western

economies Political aim: reform of the Communist Party

GLASNOST Policy of encouraging greater openness in

both internal and external affairs

SOVIET LEADERS

A sharp decline in agricultural & industrial production Economic output down by 4% in 1990 &

10-15% in first half of 1991

Intensification of ethno-cultural nationalism & separatism Unity of the Soviet Union (macro) & unity

of republics (micro) threatened

COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION(Conditions in 1990 & 1991)

The emergence of a “commonwealth” of Slavic countries to replace the Soviet Union

Commonwealth of Independent States

The resignation of President Gorbachev

COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION(Conditions in 1990 & 1991)

CURRENT ORGANIZATION RUSSIAN FEDERATION (1992) 89 POLITICAL UNITS

21 REPUBLICS 11 AUTONOMOUS REGIONS

(OKRUGS) 49 PROVINCES (OBLASTS) 6 TERRITORIES (KRAYS) 2 AUTONOMOUS FEDERAL CITIES

RUSSIA’S ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS

RUSSIAN ETHNICITY

RELIGIOUS GROUPS

OrthodoxMuslimProtestantRoman CatholicJewishOther55%

18%

10% 7% 5% 5%

FUEL RESOURCES

TRANSPORTATION LINKS

TRANSPORTATION

Rail Trans-Siberian Railroad (Baltic to Pacific) Baikal-Amur Line

BAM railway line links central Siberian Russia with the Pacific.

The BAM parallels the Trans-Siberian Railway but passes north rather than south of Lake Baikal. It is 1,928 miles (3,102 km) long, with 1,987 bridges. Its eastern terminus is Sovetskaya Gavan on the Tatar Strait.

Inland Waterways Under-used, problematic flow and orientation

Marine Links Baltic, Black, and Caspian Far East and Northern Sea

MANUFACTURING REGIONS

R u s s ia nC o r e

U R A L S

• C E N T R A L IN D U S T R IA L A R E A

• V O L G A R E G IO N

• U R A L M O U N T A IN S

R U S S IA NC O R E

RUSSIA’S ECONOMIC/MANUFACTURING ZONES(RUSSIAN CORE)

MOSCOW

ST PETERSBURG

• K U Z N E T S K B A S IN (K U Z B A S )

• L A K E B A Y K A L A R E A

E A S T E R N F R O N T IE R

RUSSIA’S ECONOMIC/MANUFACTURING ZONES(EASTERN FRONTIER)

•VAST•CHALLENGING•UNTAPPED

SIBERIA LARGER THAN THE CONTINENTAL

US, BUT...LESS THAN 15 MILLION PEOPLE

CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENT VAST DISTANCES COLD TEMPERATURES ARCTIC WINDS POOR SOILS

RESOURCE POTENTIAL PRECIOUS MINERALS METALLIC ORES OIL AND NATURAL GAS TIMBER

• P O O R A C C E S S IB IL IT Y

• A S IA N F R O N T IE R ?

• F IS H IN G – P R IM A R Y IN D U S T R Y

• F U T U R E W IT H J A P A N ?

FAR EAST

RUSSIAN FAR EAST

TRANSPORTATIONLINKS

RUSSIA’S ECONOMIC/MANUFACTURING ZONES(FAR EAST)

OIL AND GAS REGIONS

TRANSCAUCASIA

Azerbaijan

Armenia

Georgia

CONTESTEDAREAS

RUSSIA’S EXTERNAL CHALLENGES

NATURAL RESOURCE DISTRIBUTION Many natural resources now in former Soviet

republics IRREDENTISM

Concern for Russians outside its borders NATIONAL PRIDE

Determination to remain the champion of Slavic interests

Desire to remain a power in international community

CENTRIFUGAL FORCES Separatist aims in the Caucasian periphery

RUSSIA’S PROSPECTS ECONOMIC

INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES TRANSPORTATION

INFRASTRUCTURE MANUFACTURING CAPACITY

POLITICAL INTERNAL & EXTERNAL

CHALLENGES