RUSSIA

MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC QUALITIES  WORLD’S LARGEST TERRITORIAL STATE  NORTHERNMOST LARGE AND POPULOUS COUNTRY IN THE WORLD  A FORMER WORLD COLONIAL POWER  A COMPARATIVELY SMALL (142 MILLION) AND CONCENTRATED POPULATION  CLUSTERED DEVELOPMENT  MULTICULTURAL STATE  MINIMAL PORTS

SIZE, LOCATION, AND SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS  LATITUDINAL EXTENT NORTHERNMOST POINT: RUDOLF ISLAND IN FRANZ JOSEF LAND (82 O ) SOUTHERNMOST POINT: GROZNYY IN WEST AND VLADIVOSTOK IN EAST (44 O )  LONGITUDINAL EXTENT MORE THAN TWICE ITS MAXIMUM NORTH-SOUTH EXTENT AND EXTENDS ACROSS 11 TIME ZONES  RUSSIA MAKES UP 76.6% OF THE TOTAL TERRITORY OF THE FORMER USSR (ALMOST TWICE THE SIZE OF THE US OR CHINA).

20º 40º 60º 80º LOCATIONAL IMPACT ON RUSSIA’S CLIMATE?

CLIMATOLOGY  CLIMATE AVERAGE WEATHER CONDITIONS FOR A GIVEN AREA OVER AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME, USUALLY 30 YEARS.  WEATHER REFERS TO THE ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS AT A SPECIFIC PLACE AND TIME (TEMPORARY CONDITIONS)  CLIMATOLOGY A BRANCH OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY CONCERNED WITH:  SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT OF CLIMATES OVER THE SURFACE OF THE EARH  PROCESSES WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF CLIMATES

RUSSIAN CLIMATE  AFFECTED BY 3 NATURAL CONDITIONS: -- LATITUDINAL POSITION -- CONTINENTAL POSITION -- LOCATION OF MAJOR MOUNTAINS

CLIMATE

CLIMATE AS A RESTRICTIVE ELEMENT  AGRICULTURE SHORT GROWING SEASONS DROUGHT PRONE EROSION (ACCELERATED BY SNOW MELT)  SETTLEMENT PATTERNS & TRANSPORTATION, see map on pg 126  INDUSTRY HIGH ENERGY CONSUMPTION EXTRACTIVE  PERMAFROST IN FAR NORTH  SPRING AND FALL MUD  SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES - $$$

EARLY 16 TH CENTURY (IVAN THE TERRIBLE ) EVOLUTION OF THE CURRENT STATE

END OF THE 17 TH CENTURY (PETER THE GREAT ) EVOLUTION OF THE CURRENT STATE

EARLY 20 TH CENTURY EVOLUTION OF THE CURRENT STATE

GROWTH OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE

REGIONS OF THE RUSSIAN REALM

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 LOWLAND PERMAFROST IN THE FAR NORTH

RUSSIA’S PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS

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 EXTENSION OF THE ALPINE SYSTEM

POLITICAL FRAMEWORK  SOVIET LEGACY REVOLUTION ( ); Read caption, pg 119 and pg 111. BOLSHEVIKS VERSUS MENSHEVIKS V.I. LENIN CAPITAL: PETROGRAD TO MOSCOW (1918) USSR (UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS) ; consisting of 15 states.  RUSSIFICATION – spread of Russian culture and population. Including the replacement of ethnic peoples with Russians, esp. in non-Russian republics.

FORMER SOVIET UNION

ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK  CENTRALLY PLANNED (EARLY 1920s) MAJOR OBJECTIVES  COLLECTIVIZE AGRICULTURE  SPEED INDUSTRIALIZATION  A COMMAND ECONOMY IS ONE 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 IN PARTICULAR PLACES ECONOMIC INTERDEPENDENCE OF THE REPUBLICS

 CZARIST MONARCHY (<1917)  LENIN  STALIN  KRUSHCHEV  BREZHNEV  GORBACHEV SOVIET LEADERS

LENIN ( )  INTRODUCED MARXIST PHILOSOPHY  REPLACED PRIVATE WITH PUBLIC OWNERSHIP  DEVELOPED NATIONAL ECONOMIC PLANS SOVIET LEADERS

STALIN ( )  ALL ASSETS NATIONALIZED  CREATION OF HUGE CENTRALIZED STATE TO CONTROL ALL ASPECTS OF SOVIET LIFE  PURGES OF DISSIDENTS  COLLECTIVIZED FARMING – took land away from farmers  CONCENTRATION ON HEAVY INDUSTRY AT EXPENSE OF AGRICULTURE SOVIET LEADERS

KRUSHCHEV ( )  GREATER EMPHASIS ON AGRICULTURE  VIRGIN LANDS PROGRAM – SEMIARID PASTURES INTO IRRIGATED WHEAT FIELDS  ULTIMATELY LED TO ARAL SEA ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER (pg 394 & next slide). SOVIET LEADERS

Aral Sea Disaster  See pg 373

SOVIET LEADERS BREZHNEV ( )  HEIGHT OF THE COLD WAR  MILITARY/INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY  ECONOMIC STAGNATION (esp. AGRICULTURE)

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV ( )  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, WHICH THREATENED THE UNITY OF THE SOVIET UNION.  STEADY EROSION OF COMMUNIST PARTY MONOPOLY ON POWER COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION (CONDITIONS IN 1990 & 1991)

 LEAD TO 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)

RUSSIA’S CURRENT ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS

RUSSIAN ETHNICITY

CHECHNYA  WHY CHECHNYA DESERVES INDEPENDENCE SEE REGION ON pg 128 and pg 141 FOUGHT AGAINST THE RUSSIAN IMPERIALISTS TWO CENTURIES AGO MASSIVE PERSECUTION DURING STALIN’S REIGN 1991 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE  POINTS IN SUPPORT OF RUSSIAN CONTROL FIGHTING AFTER INDEPENDENCE WAS DECLARED IN 1991 CHECHENS ILLEGALLY INSTALLED A SEPARATIST LEADER ATTACKS ON RUSSIANS & CHECHEN TERRORISM

RUSSIA’S PROSPECTS  SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ISSUES INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES/ MANUFACTURING CAPACITY TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE DECLINING POPULATION INTERNAL FRICTION

RUSSIA’S MANUFACTURING REGIONS (RUSSIAN CORE)

OIL AND GAS REGIONS

SIBERIA  LARGER THAN THE CONTINENTAL U.S., BUT LESS THAN 15 MILLION PEOPLE  VAST, CHALLENGING, UNTAPPED  CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENT VAST DISTANCES COLD TEMPERATURES, ARCTIC WINDS POOR SOILS  RESOURCE POTENTIAL OIL AND NATURAL GAS METALLIC ORES TIMBER

ST PETERSBURG (LENINGRAD)