Download Russia and the Eurasian Republics: Geography and

Russia and the Eurasian Republics Geography and History
Geography
Physical Geography
Russia and the Eurasian republics take up about 1/6 of the land surface of the entire earth.
Russia is the largest country in the world in total area.
Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are located in the Caucasus Mountains.
The Ural Mountains separate the Northern European Plain from the West Siberian Plain.
Russia has an ice-blocked coastline, so there are few ports.
The steppes (very large plains) are mostly used for agriculture and grazing.
The mountains and deserts of Central Asia keep Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan isolated from other countries.
Land of Extreme Climates
About half the land in Russia is so cold that is has permafrost, ground that is always frozen. Yet parts of Russia reach
100⁰F in summer. The climate of much of Central Asia is dry.
The high latitudes and arctic winds in northern Russia cause it to have such a cold climate.
Climate affects the types of vegetation that grow in different areas. Trees don’t grow in the far northern part of Russia
because the permafrost also prevents the trees’ roots from pushing deep.
A taiga is a forested area south of the tundra (the flat land found in arctic and subarctic regions).
Natural Resources
This region is among the world’s richest in natural resources. Russia and the Eurasian republics have plentiful energy
resources, especially oil and natural gas, as well as a leading coal producer.
A peat is the name for very old decayed plant material burned as fuel.
Russia’s hydroelectric plants use water power to generate electricity.
Permafrost makes it difficult to drill and build mines, which challenges Russia from obtaining some of its minerals.
Siberian Lakes
Scientists think climate change might be causing Siberia’s permafrost to thaw.
They believe that because of global warming, the permafrost below its lakes is thawing, releasing carbon that was locked
inside the frozen ground, which is then turned into methane.
Scientists are also concerned about the possible release of methane, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere of Siberia is
contributing to global warming.
Central Asian Landscapes
Central Asia includes landforms such as deserts, mountains, forests, and steppes.
Central Asia’s temperatures vary widely partly because it is not protected by a large body of water, which would help
keep temperatures moderate. Climates in large parts of Central Asia are semiarid or arid, with little or no rainfall.
Livestock grazing and growing cotton are best suited to the arid regions of Central Asia.
The Aral Sea, which was once the 4th largest lake in the world, has shrank to a fraction of its former size since 1960
because of irrigation.
Pollution, including fertilizer and pesticides, have contributed to problems in the Aral Sea, damaging the once-thriving
fishing industry.
In 2005, a dam was built to save the North Aral Sea and fishing has returned. However, the southern part of the lake is
almost completely gone.
History
Early History
The people whose culture had the most lasting influence on early Russia were the Slavs. The Slavs built towns in early
Russia. In 862, Vikings from Scandinavia called the Varangian Russes took control of the Slavic town of Novgorod. About
20 years later, one of their princes captured Kiev and formed its own government known as the Kievan Rus.
The countries of Central Asia are named from their largest ethnic group.
Kiev’s power declined making way for the Mongol Empire. The empire isolated Russia from European influence for more
than 200 years. Mongol rule kept Russia and Central Asia open to the East.
The Silk Roads, ancient trade routes, carried goods and new ideas throughout the Mongol Empire, connecting Southwest
Asia and Central Asia with China. Goods traded included gold, jade, and silk.
Around 1330, the Mongols destroyed the city of Kiev. Grand Prince Ivan I of Moscow expanded his territory by
purchasing land with some of the money from tributes, or taxes, that he collected for the Mongols. Moscow gained
power as Mongol rule weakened. In 1480, Ivan III, aka Ivan the Great, refused to pay the tribute to the Mongols, ending
the Mongol rule in Russia.
Ivan IV expanded Russia, making it into an empire. He became Russia’s first czar, or emperor. (The Russian monarch is
the czar.)
European or Asian?
Russia extends across the landmass of Europe and Asia, which is often called Eurasia. The Ural Mountains separate the
continents. Most people in Russia live in Europe, west of the mountains.
The main religion of Central Asia is Islam. Christianity became the main religion of European Russia in the 900s.
The Russian people came to distrust western European ideas and culture.
Peter the Great, ruled from 1682-1725, recognized that Western Europe had surpassed Russia both economically and
militarily and decided to modernize Russia in regards to government, businesses, and architecture.
Catherine the Great, ruled from 1762-1796, focused on the European ideas of arts and education. Opera became
popular during her reign. She also founded many new schools and supported educating women. She built hospitals and
promoted smallpox vaccines. The empress attempted to create a more secular country where the church was less
powerful; although her reform was unsuccessful.
Defending Against Invaders
After conquering the Mongols, Russia’s territory continued to expand across Siberia to the Pacific Ocean. Enemies from
Europe tried to invade but had to cope with Russia’s vast expanse and harsh climate.
Napoleon I, French emperor, invaded Russia in the summer of 1812. The Russians followed a scorched earth policy,
where troops retreat in front of the advancing army and destroy crops and other resources that might supply the
enemy. Knowing harsh winter was coming, Napoleon started his retreat by mid-October. The snow and extreme cold
weakened the French troops, allowing the Russian troops to attack as the French fled. Only about 10,000 of the 420,000
troops survived.
Germany repeated Napoleon’s mistake by invading Russia in the winter during World War II. Frigid winter weather
resulted in the deaths of many of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi soldiers. Of the 300,000 soldiers, only about 5,000 came home.
Serfdom to Industrialization
Ivan IV, or Ivan the Terrible, passed laws in the 1500s that tied the peasants to the land as serfs. Serfs had their own
houses and a small plot of land to farm, but had to pay the landlord rent. They could not leave the estate without
permission and had few rights.
Czar Alexander II freed the serfs in 1861, in order to work in industry.
Peter the Great tried to make Russia more Western. However, the change from rural work to factory work was difficult
and most industrial workers and peasants were very poor.
With the Industrial Revolution, many peasants starved and city factory workers, unhappy with the working conditions,
held strikes. The Bolsheviks, led by V.L. Lenin, were a political group that began the Russian Revolution.
The Soviet Union
Because of the Russian Revolution, the czar was overthrown, and a Communist government was formed. Communism is
when one political party controls the government and economy. Socialism is a system in which the government controls
economic resources.
In 1922, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, & the Transcaucasian republics formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
Joseph Stalin was the Communist leader who ruled as a total dictator of the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953.
The Cold War was a period of tension and conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States, in which the two
nations did not fight each other directly. The Cold War led the US and Soviet Union to develop nuclear weapons, as well
as the “space race.”
The government decided which crops to grow on the collective farms of the Soviet Union.
Mikhail Gorbachev tried to reform the Soviet Union economy and government. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.