russia
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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. RUSSIA. MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC QUALITIES. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
RUSSIA
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
CHAPTER 2• DEFINING
THE REALM
RUSSIA
• 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
MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC QUALITIES
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
Main Physiographic Regions (4)
RUSSIAPHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
The Southern Perimeter
• Central Asian Ranges‒ Lake Baykal—More than
1,500 m (5,000 ft) deep
• Caucasus Mountains—between Black and Caspian Seas
Kamchatka and Sakhalin
• Contact with Pacific Ring of Fire‒ volcanoes/earthquakes
• Sakhalin Island—Battleground between Russia and Japan
• Major oil and natural gas reserves
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
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
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)
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
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
o Example: Amur Leopard (rarest big cat in the world because of hunting and trapping)
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
RUSSIA: REGIONS OF THE REALM
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
- BRICsWorld’s biggest emerging markets (Brazil, Russia, India, China)
RUSSIANREGIONS
• The Russian Core
• The Southeastern Frontier
• Siberia
• The Russian Far East
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
Povolzhye—Volga Region
• Canal links Volga River with the lower Don River and the Black Sea
• Significant oil and gas reserves
The Urals Region
• Eastern edge
• Not particularly high
• Metallic mineral resources
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
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
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
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
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
Homework
1. Read Textbook Chapter 2a/b 2. 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.