RUSSIA

1. RUSSIA CHAPTER 2 Topics • Geopolitics of the “heartland” • Global warming in the Arctic • From Czars to Soviets to 21st-century Russians • Post-Soviet Russia and the Near Abroad • Russia’s natural riches • DEFINING THE REALM

2. RUSSIA MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC QUALITIES • Largest territorial state in the world • Northernmost large and populous country • Stretches west to east some 10,000 km (6,000 mi) and covers 9 time zones • Major colonial power—Czars and Soviets to central government disarray • Comparatively small population, concentrated in the west • Development concentrated west of Ural Mountains, major cities, leading industrial regions, transport network, productive farming areas • Landlocked multicultural state with few ports • Emerging economy highly dependent on exports of oil and gas

3. Main Physiographic Regions (4) RUSSIAPHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY The Russian Plain • Continuation of the North European Lowland • Core Area • Moscow • Volga River • Drains into Caspian Sea • Heartland—deep within Eurasian landmass • Major influence throughout history on the shaping of adjacent societies Siberia • West Siberian Plain • World’s largest unbroken lowland • Ob River—flows north to Arctic Ocean • Central Siberian Plateau • High relief, sparsely populated • Yenisey River, Lena River • Eastern Highlands

4. RUSSIAPHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY Kamchatka and Sakhalin • Contact with Pacific Ring of Fire • volcanoes/earthquakes • Sakhalin Island—Battleground between Russia and Japan • Major oil and natural gas reserves The Southern Perimeter • Central Asian Ranges • Lake Baykal—More than 1,500 m (5,000 ft) deep • Caucasus Mountains—between Black and Caspian Seas

5. RUSSIACLIMATES Harsh Environments • Moscow farther north than most major cities • St. Petersburg lies at the same latitude as the southern tip of Greenland • Seasons: • Winters—long, dark, bitterly cold • Summers—short and growing season limited • Continentality—Remote inland environment without moderating and moistening maritime influence • Permafrost—permanently frozen groundwater • Dfb and Dfc Climates • Taiga—”Snowforest”—boreal forest dominated by coniferous trees • E Climates—Arctic latitudes • Tundra—mosses, lichens, patches of low grass and hardy shrubs

6. Climate and Peoples • Climate—long-term average • Weather—atmospheric conditions at a given place and time • Majority of population concentrated in the west and southwest • Population in east sparse and clustered along southern margin

7. Ecologies at Risk • Polar bear depends on ample floating ice to hunt and raise cubs • Seal, bird, fish and other Arctic wildlife will be further endangered • Inuit communities still pursuing traditional lives in the Arctic domain losing habitat/food supply • Oil and gas exploration and exploitation, occurring in already-fragile offshore environments, will likely increase Climate Change and Arctic Prospects • Long-term melting of large sections of Arctic Ocean ice cover • Shrinking areas of permafrost • May improve agriculture • Possibility of Arctic ports open year-round—Russian maritime passage between Bering Strait and North Sea • Russian government placed a metal Russian flag at the North Pole on the seafloor under permanent ice of the Arctic Ocean (2007)

8. RUSSIANATURAL RICHES Vast and Varied • Oil and natural gas • From North Caucasus to Sakhalin Island • From western Siberia to Caspian Basin • Coalfields • Ural Mountains and Siberia • Iron ore • From Kursk Magnetic Anomaly at Ukraine border to Siberia’s Arctic north • Gold, lead, platinum, zinc, nonferrous (non-iron) metals • In and around the Ural Mountains • Large Forests and Timber industry • Animal Trapping for fur • Example: Amur Leopard (rarest big cat in the world because of hunting and trapping)

9. RUSSIARUSSIAN ROOTS Rus—Slav settlements in the area of Ukraine • Kiev and Novgorod combined to form a large state • Northern taiga forest to southern steppe (semiarid grassland) The Mongol Invasion • Warfare for power/resources • Turkic-speaking Tatars • Around Slavic/Russian core in the Volga River Basin and Crimean Peninsula • Tensions between Christian Slavs and Islamic Tatars Grand Duchy of Muscovy • 14th Century • Extended Moscow’s trade links from Baltic to Black Sea • Religious ties with Eastern Orthodox Church, Constantinople • 16th Century • Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) • Transformed into major military power and imperial state

10. RUSSIABUILDING THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE Czarist Russia Peter the Great (1682-1725) • Consolidated Russia’s gains • Endeavored to make a modern European-style state • Built St. Petersburg • Forward capital • Founder of modern Russia Catherine the Great (1760-1796) • Pushed Russia’s border to Black Sea • Penetrated corridor between Black and Caspian Seas • Cossacks advanced from east, crossed Bering Strait, entered Alaska • U.S. purchase of Alaska in 1867 • $7.2 million

11. RUSSIABUILDING THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE Nineteenth-Century Expansion • Poland • Finland • Central Asia • Beyond Amur River • Vladivostok City • Trans-Siberian Railroad (1892) • Russo-Japanese War • 1904-1905 • Defeated by Japan • Forced out of Manchuria Multinational Empire • Annexed and incorporated many nationalities and cultures • More than 100 nationalities

12. RUSSIATHE SOVIET UNION Political Framework • Revolution of 1917 - social movement by the multi-ethnic peoples • Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) • Vladimir Lenin—communist leader and chief architect • Divided into 15 Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs) • Russian Republic—largest SSR • Broadly corresponded to a major nationality’s territory • Minorities in areas designated as Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics (ASSRs) • Lots of boundary disputes • Phantom Federation • Moscow maintained absolute control over the SSRs • Russification • Moved minority peoples eastward and replaced with Russians • Substantial ethnic Russian minorities in all non-Russian republics • Forced relocations

13. RUSSIATHE SOVIET UNION Soviet Economic Framework • Centrally Planned Economy • Two Objectives • Accelerate industrialization • Collectivize agriculture • Sovkhoz—grain-and-meat factory with agricultural efficiency through maximum mechanization and minimum labor requirements • Command Economy—assigned the production of particular manufactures to particular places • Government controlled

14. RUSSIATHE NEW RUSSIA • Soviet Union imploded (December 25, 1991) • Mikhail Gorbachev resigned • SSRs declared their independence, depriving Russia of crucial agricultural and mineral resources Complex Cultural Mosaic • Russians form the majority • Non-Russian • Caucasus Mountains • Georgians • Armenians • Azeris • Central Asia • Turkic peoples

15. RUSSIATHE NEW RUSSIA Cities Near and Far • 73% urbanization • Transcaucasus region less urbanized • Tbilisi • Baki (Baku) • Yerevan • Russian Core • Moscow • St. Petersburg • Historic urban cities • Novgorod • Kazan • Yekaterinburg • Industrial cities • Omsk • Krasnoyarsk • Novosibirsk • Far East • Vladivostok

16. RUSSIATHE NEW RUSSIA Near Abroad Countries • Satellite States • Former eastern Europe and Soviet republics • Near Abroad • Newly formed countries that surround Russia • Former Soviet republics from Baltic states to Kazakhstan • Russia will intervene if threatened by surrounding states • Power with UN • Military might Realm in Flux • Russian Federation – “managed democracy” • Improvements in freedom and opportunity • False-capitalism, corruption, and major income inequality • 2011—antiregime street protests in Moscow and other cities

17. RUSSIA: REGIONS OF THE REALM IN THIS CHAPTER • Running a country with nine time zones • Moscow: From Soviet capital to global city • Where Russia meets China, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula • The cold beauty of Siberia • Moscow’s explosive growth

18. RUSSIARussia’s Changing Political Geography Russia’s New Federal Structure • 1992—Russian Federation Treaty • Republics committed to cooperation in new federal system • Some units refused to sign, Chechnya and Tatarstan • 2000—Putin created new geographic framework • Enhanced the power of Moscow over its regions • Combined 83 units into 8 new administrative units • Regional governors to be appointed rather than elected A Shrinking Population • Population implosion • Population declines as death rate exceeds birth or immigration rates • Male life expectancy dropped • Out-migration Volatile Economy - Emerging markets • Private property, upstart companies, trade, foreign investments, stock exchange • - BRICs • World’s biggest emerging markets (Brazil, Russia, India, China)

19. RUSSIANREGIONS • The Russian Core • The Southeastern Frontier • Siberia • The Russian Far East

20. RUSSIATHE RUSSIAN CORE • Core Area • Population concentration, biggest cities, leading industries, densest transportation networks, most intensively cultivated lands • Extends from western border to the Ural Mountains Central Industrial Region • Oriented toward Moscow • Centrality—roads and railroads converge in Moscow from all directions The Urals Region • Eastern edge • Not particularly high • Metallic mineral resources Povolzhye—Volga Region • Canal links Volga River with the lower Don River and the Black Sea • Significant oil and gas reserves

21. Moscow • Urban, political, economic and transportation systems focus • Population of 13 million • Megacity hub of an area comprising some 50 million inhabitants (more than one-third of country’s population) St. Petersburg • Formerly Leningrad • Russia’s second city • Population 4.6 million • Outside Central Industrial Region

22. RUSSIATHE SOUTHEASTERN FRONTIER • Southeastern flank of the Ural Mountains to the headwaters of the Amur River • Kuznetsk Basin (Kuzbas) • Raw Materials, Iron, Coal • Novosibirsk: Intersection of Trans-Siberian Railroad and the Ob River • Lake Baykal Area • Mining, lumbering, and farming • Surrounded by rugged, remote, and forbidding country • Irkutsk: Principal service center for Siberian region SIBERIA • Ural Mountains to the Kamchatka Peninsula • Larger than United States, population only 15 million • Russia’s freezer • Resources - Oil, natural gas, gold, diamonds, precious minerals, metallic ores including iron ore and bauxite • Major rivers - Ob, Yenisey, Lena • Flow northward/ Hydroelectric power in river basins

23. RUSSIATHE RUSSIAN FAR EAST • Largest Federal District • Area beyond the Southeastern Frontier to the Pacific coast, the island of Sakhalin, the Kamchatka Peninsula • Significant reserves of oil and natural gas • Potential trade with Japan and China

24. RUSSIATHE SOUTHERN PERIPHERY 8 Ethnic Republics • Kalmykiya • Buddhism • Adygeya • Orthodox Christian • Chechnya • Refused to sign the Russian Federation Treaty • Ingushetiya • Dagestan • North Ossetia • Karachayevo-Cherkessiya • Kabardino-Balkarita

25. RUSSIATRANSCAUCASIA: RUSSIA’S EXTERNAL PERIPHERY • Georgia • Orthodox Christian • Conflicts with Russia • Azerbaijan • Islam • Oil • Exclave—Naxcivan on Iranian border • Territorial Conflict with Armenia—Nagorno-Karabakh • Armenia • Christian • Landlocked

26. Homework Read Textbook Chapter 2a/b Homework: Choose one “@from the Field Notes” subsection topic in Ch.2 textbook; research and summarize (1 page). OR Choose a realm/region within or adjacent to Russia to review in detail (1 page). Use Chapter 2b for ideas and information, research and summarize.