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: Russias 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, contd.

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)

Stalins 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

RUSSIAS
REGIONS

RUSSIAN
CORE

SIBERIA
EASTERN FRONTIER

URALS

FAR EAST

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

potentially contested territory, usually
near an international border, confirms
the states determination to maintain its
presence in the region

CLIMATOLOGY

CLIMATE

WEATHER

AVERAGE WEATHER CONDITIONS FOR A

GIVEN AREA OVER AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF
TIME
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

Taiga

Moss, lichen, grass

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

RUSSIAS PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS

PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS

RUSSIAN PLAIN

URAL MOUNTAINS

EASTWARD CONTINUATION OF NORTH

EUROPEAN LOWLAND
CORE AREA (MOSCOW BASIN)
2,000 MILES LONG (NORTH-SOUTH)
YIELD A VARIETY OF MINERALS

WEST SIBERIAN PLAIN

WORLDS LARGEST UNBROKEN LOWLANDS

PERMAFROST

PHYSIOGRAPHIC
REGIONS
(continued)

CENTRAL SIBERIAN PLATEAU

YAKUTSK BASIN

RANGES, RIDGES, PRECIPITOUS VALLEYS,

VOLCANIC MOUNTAINS, LAKE BAYKAL

CENTRAL ASIAN RANGES

MOUNTAINOUS, HIGH RELIEF

EASTERN HIGHLANDS

SPARSELY POPULATED, TEMPERATURE

EXTREMES, PERMAFROST

RISE ABOVE THE SNOW LINE, GLACIATED

CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS

EXTENSIONS OF THE ALPINES

RUSSIAN
PLAIN

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 northsouth ridges and intervening valleys.
Ural forests and minerals have been
the basis for industrialization and

WEST SIBERIAN PLAIN

The worlds largest
unbroken lowland
Includes the Ob and
Irtysh River Basin
Permafrost
Major Cities:
Omsk
Novosibirsk

CENTRAL SIBERIAN
PLATEAU

Sparsely settled
Inaccessible
Restrictive
climate
Permafrost
Natural
resources

EASTERN HIGHLANDS

CENTRAL ASIAN
RANGES

CAUCASUS
MOUNTAINS

MACKINDERS WORLD - 1904

How geographic facts influence policies

Pivot
Area

HEARTLAND THEORY

Heartland

Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland;

who rules the Heartland commands the World Island;
who rules the World Island commands the World.

SPYKMANS RIMLAND

Rim

Heartland
Land

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)

V.I. Lenin (Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov)

Capital: Petrograd to Moscow (1918)

FEDERATION/FEDERAL STRUCTURE

The Red Army v. the White Army

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

SOVIET LEADERS
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

COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION

(Conditions in 1990 & 1991)

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

CURRENT
ORGANIZATION

RUSSIAN FEDERATION (1992)

89 POLITICAL UNITS

21 REPUBLICS
11 AUTONOMOUS REGIONS
(OKRUGS)
49 PROVINCES (OBLASTS)
6 TERRITORIES (KRAYS)
2 AUTONOMOUS FEDERAL CITIES

RUSSIAS ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS

RUSSIAN ETHNICITY

RELIGIOUS GROUPS
10%

7%

5%

18%

55%

5%

FUEL RESOURCES

TRANSPORTATION LINKS

TRANSPORTATION

Rail

Trans-Siberian Railroad (Baltic to Pacific)

Baikal-Amur Line

Inland Waterways

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.

Under-used, problematic flow and orientation

Marine Links

Baltic, Black, and Caspian

Far East and Northern Sea

MANUFACTURING REGIONS

 CENTRAL INDUSTRIAL AREA

VOLGA REGION
URAL MOUNTAINS

Russian
RUSSIAN
CORE
Core

URALS

RUSSIAS ECONOMIC/MANUFACTURING ZONES

(RUSSIAN CORE)

ST PETERSBURG

MOSCOW

 KUZNETSK BASIN (KUZBAS)

LAKE BAYKAL AREA

EASTERN FRONTIER

RUSSIAS 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

POOR ACCESSIBILITY
ASIAN FRONTIER?
FISHING PRIMARY INDUSTRY
FUTURE WITH JAPAN?

FAR EAST

RUSSIAN FAR EAST

TRANSPORTATION
LINKS

RUSSIAS ECONOMIC/MANUFACTURING ZONES

(FAR EAST)

OIL AND GAS REGIONS

TRANSCAUCASI
A

Georgia

Azerbaijan

Armenia

CONTESTED
AREAS

RUSSIAS 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

RUSSIAS PROSPECTS

ECONOMIC

INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES
TRANSPORTATION
INFRASTRUCTURE
MANUFACTURING CAPACITY

POLITICAL

INTERNAL & EXTERNAL

CHALLENGES