1. RUSSIA

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. (very) Brief History Summary 862 – founding of Kievan Rus by Viking Rurik, the birth of what became the Russian state Mid-13 th 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)

6. 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

7. 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)

8. 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

9. RUSSIA-US SIZE COMPARISON

10. SIZE, LOCATION AND SPACE RELATIONSHIPS LATITUDINAL EXTENT Northernmost point: Rudolf Island in Franz Joseph Land (82 o ) Southernmost point: Grozny in west and Vladivostok in east (44 o ) Monmouth is 44.7727 o N 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

11. REGIONS OF THE RUSSIAN REALM

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

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

15. EARLY 20 TH CENTURY

16. GROWTH OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE

17. GROWTH OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE

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

19. 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

20. RUSSIAN CLIMATE Affected by 3 natural conditions: -- Latitudinal Position -- Continental Position -- Location of major mountains

21. CLIMATE

22. VEGETATION

23. 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

24. 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 - $$$

25. AGRICULTURAL PATTERNS

26. SETTLEMENT / TRANSPORTATION PATTERNS

27. RUSSIA’S PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS

28. 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

29. 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

30. RUSSIAN PLAIN

31. 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.

32. WEST SIBERIAN PLAIN The world’s largest unbroken lowland Includes the Ob and Irtysh River Basin Permafrost Major Cities: Omsk Novosibirsk

33. CENTRAL SIBERIAN PLATEAU Sparsely settled Inaccessible Restrictive climate Permafrost Natural resources

34. EASTERN HIGHLANDS

35. CENTRAL ASIAN RANGES

36. CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS

37. How geographic facts influence policies Pivot Area MACKINDER’S WORLD - 1904

38. 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

39. Heartland Land Rim SPYKMAN’S RIMLAND Who controls the Rimland rules Eurasia; who rules Eurasia controls the destinies of the world.

40. 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

41. SOVIET UNION

42. 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

43. ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK CENTRALLY PLANNED (early 1920s) MAJOR OBJECTIVES Speed industrialization Collectivize agriculture

44. Czarism (<1917) Lenin Stalin Kruschev Breshnev Gorbachev SOVIET LEADERS

45. 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

46. 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

47. 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

48. 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

49. 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)

50. 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)

51. CURRENT ORGANIZATION RUSSIAN FEDERATION (1992) 89 POLITICAL UNITS 21 REPUBLICS 11 AUTONOMOUS REGIONS (OKRUGS) 49 PROVINCES (OBLASTS) 6 TERRITORIES (KRAYS) 2 AUTONOMOUS FEDERAL CITIES

52. RUSSIA’S ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS

53. RUSSIAN ETHNICITY

54. RELIGIOUS GROUPS 55% 18% 10%7% 5%

56. FUEL RESOURCES

57. TRANSPORTATION LINKS

58. 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.Trans-Siberian Railway Inland Waterways Under-used, problematic flow and orientation Marine Links Baltic, Black, and Caspian Far East and Northern Sea

59. MANUFACTURING REGIONS

61. RUSSIA’S ECONOMIC/MANUFACTURING ZONES (RUSSIAN CORE)

62. MOSCOW ST PETERSBURG

64. RUSSIA’S ECONOMIC/MANUFACTURING ZONES (EASTERN FRONTIER)

65. VAST CHALLENGING UNTAPPED

66. 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

67. FAR EAST

68. RUSSIAN FAR EAST TRANSPORTATION LINKS

69. RUSSIA’S ECONOMIC/MANUFACTURING ZONES (FAR EAST)

70. OIL AND GAS REGIONS

71. TRANSCAUCASIA Azerbaijan Armenia Georgia

72. CONTESTED AREAS

73. 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

74. RUSSIA’S PROSPECTS ECONOMIC INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE MANUFACTURING CAPACITY POLITICAL INTERNAL & EXTERNAL CHALLENGES