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World Regional Geography

World Regional Geography. Chapter 5: A Geographic Profile of Russia & The Near Abroad. Introduction to the Region. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) Cold War versus Western bloc led by the U.S. Split in 1991 into 15 independent nations Russian Federation

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World Regional Geography

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  1. World Regional Geography Chapter 5:A Geographic Profile of Russia & The Near Abroad

  2. Introduction to the Region • Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) • Cold War versus Western bloc led by the U.S. • Split in 1991 into 15 independent nations • Russian Federation • 14 other countries comprising “The Near Abroad” • Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) • Economic Association • Russia and 11 of the former Soviet states • Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania joined the EU in 2004 • Fluidity in Delineating Region • Trends Toward Political Fragmentationand Decentralization

  3. 5.1 Area & Population • Largest World Region • Area of 8.5 Million Square Miles • Region Spans 11 Time Zones • Regional Population of 278 Million (2007) • Russia 142.0 Million • Ukraine 46.5 Million • Uzbekistan 26.5 Million • Vast Region but Sparsely Populated • Average Population Density of 32 per square mile • Rates of Population Change • 1.5% growth among Central Asian countries • 0.5% loss in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus

  4. Russia and the Near Abroad

  5. Population Distribution of Russia and the Near Abroad

  6. Population Cartogram of Russia and the Near Abroad

  7. 5.2Physical Geography & Human Adaptations • Factors affecting this immense region • Cold Temperatures • Infertile Soils • Marshy Terrain • Aridity • Ruggedness

  8. 5.2.1 Roles of Climates and Vegetation • Extreme Continental Climate • Severe winter cold but warm/hot summers • Lowest official temperature ever recorded in Northern Hemisphere at Siberian settlement of Verkhoyansk (-90 degrees F) • Short Growing Seasons (average 150-day frost-free season) • Aridity and Drought (less than 20 inches avg annual precipitation) • Permafrost • Frozen ground that makes construction difficult • Buildings and Pipelines must be elevated and insulated • Land Use / Agriculture • Russian taiga is the largest continuous area of forest on earth • Wheat, Sugar Beets, Sunflowers, Livestock in the steppes • Cotton in Irrigated Areas of Central Asia

  9. Comparison in Latitude and Area with North America 80% of thisregion’s area isfarther norththan anypoint in theconterminousUnited States

  10. Climates of Russia and the Near Abroad

  11. Biomes of Russia and the Near Abroad

  12. High Arctic Building Erected on Pilings

  13. Land Use in Russia and the Near Abroad

  14. Milled Conifers from the Russian Taiga

  15. Grazier on the Southern Russian Steppe

  16. 5.2.2 Role of Rivers • Rivers formed natural passageways • Used for Trade, Conquest, and Colonization • Helped Russians advance from the Urals to the Pacificin less than a century • Rivers drain into numerous oceans and seas • Volga-Don Canal (Opened in 1952) • Major link in the inland waterway system • Connected the White Sea & Baltic Sea in the northwith the Black Sea & Caspian Sea in the south • Series of 13 Locks

  17. Physical Geography of Russia and the Near Abroad

  18. Lock in the Volga-Don Canal

  19. 5.2.3 Role of Topography • Plains typify the region west of the Yenisey River • Ural Mountains • Low, Narrow Range separating Europe from Asia • Average Elevation of Less Than 2,000 Feet • West Siberian Plain • One of the flattest areas on earth • Waterlogged country underlain by permafrost • Tremendous flooding • Central Siberian Uplands • Between Yenisey and Lena Rivers (1,000 to 1,500 ft) • Mountainous Southern Rim of Region • Cacucasus, Pamir, Tien Shan, and Altai Mountains

  20. 5.3.1 A Babel of Languages • Complex cultural and linguistic mosaic • 30 Major Ethnic Groups • More than 100 Languages Spoken • Main Language Families • Indo-European • Slavic Russian, Belarusian & Ukrainian • Romance Moldovan (Romanian) • Armenian • Altaic (Turkic) Kazakh, Kyrghyz, Turkmenian, Uzbek • Caucasian (Kartvelian) • Uralic (Finno-Ugric) • Proto-Asiatic (Chukotko-Kamchatkan)

  21. Ethnolinguistic Distributions

  22. 5.3.2 Vikings, Byzantines, and Tatars • Vikings • Slavic tribes came under the influence of Viking adventurers known as Rus or Varangians • Rise of Kiev in 9th Century • Byzantines • Kievan Russia had close contact with Constantinople • Accepted Christian faith from Byzantines • Orthodox Christianity became a fixture of Russian life • Moscow becomes the “Third Rome” • Tatars • In 1237, Batu Khan brought all Russian principalitiesexcept Novgorod under Tatar rule • Decline of Tatar power in the 15th century

  23. Religions of Russia and the Near Abroad Today, Russia has 4 official religions:Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism

  24. Russian Orthodox Church in Vyborg

  25. 5.3.3 The Empire of the Russians • The Russian Empire • Lasted from the 15th Century until the 20th Century • Immense land empire built around the core of Moscow • Expansion under the Tsars • Ivan the Great (reigned 1462-1505) • Northward thrust; Annexed Novgorod • Ivan the Terrible (1533-1584) • Eastward conquest giving Russia control over the Volga • Peter the Great (1682-1725) • Defeated the Swedes to gain a foothold on the Baltic Sea • St. Petersburg established as Russia’s “Window on the West” • Catherine the Great (1762-1796) • Secured a frontage on the Black Sea

  26. 5.3.3 The Empire of the Russians (contd.) • Eastward Expansion of Russian Empire • Cossack expeditions reached the Pacific in 1639 • Continued down west coast of North America to Fort Ross in California (1812-1841) • Russia sold Alaska to the U.S. in 1867 for 2 cents per acre and withdrew from North America • During the 19th and early 20th Centuries, Russian tsars annexed the Amur region, the Caucasus, and Turkestan • Soviet Policy of Russificiation • Effort to implant Russian culture in non-Russian regionsand to make non-Russians more like Russians • Policy was generally a failure because of strongnationalist sentiments throughout the Soviet Union

  27. 5.3.4 Russia & Soviet Union: Revolution & War • Russian Triumphs over Powerful Invaders • King Charles XII of Sweden – 1709 • Napoleon I of France – 1812 • Adolf Hitler – WWII • Keys to Success • Environmental rigors that invaders faced • Overwhelming distances • Defenders’ love of their homeland • Willing to lose great numbers of soldiers in combat • “Scorched Earth” strategy to protect the motherland

  28. 5.3.4 Russia & Soviet Union: Revolution & War • Russian Revolution of 1917 • Protest against sacrifice of Russian forces during WWI • Overthrew Nicholas II, last of the Romanov tsars • Bolshevik Revolution • Led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924) • Bolshevik faction of Communist Party seized control • Establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922 • World War II • USSR allied with France and Britain vs. Germany • Relocation of Soviet industries eastward • 20 million Soviet lives lost, considerable damage

  29. 5.4.1 The Communist Economic System • Marxism • Soviet economic system was an application of the economic and social ideas of the German philosopher Karl Marx • Command Economy • Series of five-year economic plans under Stalin • Gosplan (Committee for State Planning) in Moscow • Soviet Enterprises in Agriculture & Industry • Virgin and Idle Lands (increase the production of grain) • Hero Projects (construction of dams, railways, plants, etc)

  30. Soviet Agricultural Expansion (1954-1957)

  31. 5.4.2 Economic Roots of the 2nd Russian Revolution • Reform Policies of Gorbachev • Glasnost (openness) • Perestroika (restructuring) • Second Russian Revolution • Demands for new freedoms and greater autonomy • Rise of Boris Yeltsin, champion of reformers’ cause • Gorbachev resigned on December 25, 1991 • Soviet Union was voted out of existence the next dayand replaced by 15 independent countries

  32. Freedom of Expression in St. Petersburg

  33. 5.4.3 Russia’s Period of Misdevelopment • Russia classified as a “Misdeveloped Country” • Economic Shock Therapy • Rapid transition from command economy to capitalism • Widening gap between rich and poor • Organized crime and an Underground Economy emerged • Agricultural and industrial production fell dramatically • Economic Renewal • High oil prices improved Russia’s economic outlook • Average incomes grew 10% / yr between 2000-2007 • Overdependence on a single commodity is risky

  34. Rolex Advertisement in Russia

  35. Poverty in Post-Soviet Russia

  36. 5.5 Geopolitical Issues • “The Greatest Geopolitical Catastrophe of the Century” • Russian President Vladamir Putin, 2005 Speech • 3 Concentric Spheres of Geopolitical Concern • Within the Russian Federation • Russia and its Near Abroad • Russia and the Rest of the World

  37. 5.5.1 Within Russia • Complex Political Categories • 48 Oblasts (Regions) • 7 Krais (Territories) • 21 Republics (Varying Levels of Autonomy) • 4 Okrugs (Ethnic Subdivisions of Oblasts / Krais) • 2 Federal Cities • 1 Autonomous Oblast • Chechnya and Tatarstan pushing for independence • Geopolitical significance has to do with resources • Oil and Gas Tatarstan and Bashkhortostan • Coal Deposits Komi Republic • Diamonds Sakha

  38. Political Units of the Russian Federation

  39. 5.5.2 Russia and the Near Abroad • Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) • Energy Shortages and Supplies • Russia using fossil fuel as a political weapon • Geopolitical Issues • Desires of Russians living outside of Russia to achievetheir own rights and territories • Control of the Crimean Peninsula and Kerch Strait • GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) • Orientation toward Europe and away from Russia • Stationing of Russian Troops outside of Russia • Peacekeepers or Conquerors?

  40. Paul McCartney is “Back in the USSR”

  41. The Caucasus

  42. Russian Soldiers: Peacekeepers or Conquerors?

  43. 5.5.3 The Far Abroad • International Relations • Peaceful succession to the Cold War • Warsaw Pact has been dissolved • Russia became a member of the Group of Eight (G-8) in 1997 • Concerns about the fate of Soviet-era nuclear materials • Reduction of nuclear arsenals • Threat of “Loose Nukes” • With whom will oil-rich Central Asia align? • Russia, Turkey, or Iran? • Turkey’s dream of Pan-Turkism • Combating narcotics and terrorism

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