12 May 2011 Due Page. 683 Reviewing the main ideas # 5 Reviewing chapter themes # 3 and 4 Thinking critically # 2 Applying your skills # 2 Written response: If you were President Truman would you have dropped the bombs, why or why not 5-8 sentences.

The Commonwealth of Independent States: Geography Pages

Republics and Capitals Georgia Tbilisi Armenia Yerevan Russia Moscow Kyrgyzstan Bishkek Turkmenistan Ashkhabad Moldova Kishinev Ukraine Kiev

Republics and Capitals Belarus Minsk Estonia Tallinn Kazakhstan Alma-Ata Uzbekistan Tashkent Latvia Riga Lithuania Vilnius Azerbaijan Baku Tajikistan Dushanbe

Basic Information More than 2 X size of U.S 15 republics ruled by a central government before 1991… Now all republics are independent (collapse of the Soviet Union)

Landforms Huge Plain Area- Middle of Europe to Central Asia. In Europe it is the European Plain In Asia it is the West Siberian Plain Ural Mountains- Marks division btwn. Europe and Asia.

Seas, Lakes, Rivers Caspian Sea- World’s largest inland sea Aral sea- Shrinking due to irrigation. Lake Baikal- Siberia

Climate Cold Continental Climate -long, bitter winters -short, hot summers Permafrost: Layer of soil below the surface that remains permanently frozen.

Resources Huge forests Fertile soil Oil, Coal, natural gas

6 Vegetation Zones #1 Arctic North- Frozen tundra

# 2 Taiga Evergreen forests Larger than the 48 continental U.S. States

#3 Forest Zone Broad-leaved trees

#4 Steppe Rich, black soil Very fertile “Bread basket” Stretches from Ukraine to Kazakhstan

#5 Desert Region Central Asia-South and East of steppe

#6 Caucus Region Subtropical crops (tea, fruit, nuts)

People and Nationalities Republics- Russian, Ukrainians, Belorussians Caucasus- Armenian, Georgian, Azeri Central Asian Republics- Kazakhs, Kyrgzis, Mongols, Turkmen, and Uzbeks

Religions Christians:Russian & Armenian Orthodox, Protestant, Roman Catholic Judaism Muslims- Central Asian Republics

To sum things up… Each republic has a dominant ethnic group, BUT diversity remains. Ex: Russian Federation -80% Russian -20% Other ethnic groups

Republic of Chechnya 96 percent Sunni Muslim Want independence from Russian Socialist Federation Will commit acts of “terror” on soft targets within the Federation and the Federation responses with brutal military repression. Theater siege of 2002 (goal was to end the second Chechen war)