Unit 7: Russia and the

Republics

Countries of: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania,

Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan

Vocabulary1. Cultural diffusion–the process of knowledge,

skills, and technology being spread from one culture to another

2. Demographics–the study of, or information about, people's lifestyles, habits, population

movements, spending, age, social grade, employment, etc.

3. Dictatorship–a country, government, or the form of government in which absolute power is

held by an individual or party

Political Map

Physical Map

Climates

Population Density

Religions

Languages

Ethnic Groups

Russia

Ethnic Make-upRussia: 80% Russian,

70 other ethnic groupsMostly Orthodox Christians, some Muslims & Jews also

Physical Characteristics• 1/6 of Earth’s land

surface

• 12 Time Zones

• Northern European Plain

• West Siberian Plain

• Central Siberian Plateau

• Russian Far East

Northern European Plain• 1,000 miles

wide

• Chernozem

• 75% of population lives here

• Moscow, Kiev, and St. Petersburg located here

West Siberian Plain• Ural Mountains:

divides Europe and Asia

• Eurasia

• Area b/w Ural Mts. And Yenisey River

Central Siberian Plateau and Russian Far East

• HIGH plateaus

• Lena River

• Kamchatka Peninsula: 120 volcanoes- 20 still active

• Sakhalin and Kuril Islands

• Japan still claims Kuril Islands even though they were lost to Russia after WWII

Southern Landforms

Transcaucasia: Caucasus Mts.

Central Asia: Stans, very arid b/c of high mts to the south

Turan Plain• B/w Caspian Sea

and Central Asia

• Syr Darya and Amu Darya Rivers

• Kara Kum and Kyzyl Kum Deserts

Rivers

Ob River Volga River: 60% of Russia’s river traffic

Lakes

Caspian Sea: largest inland sea, saltwater lake, tourism

Aral Sea: since 1960 – lost 80% volume, irrigation

Lake Baikal: deepest lake in the world (1 mile), 20% of world’s freshwater, 1,200 species unique to the

lake, rather clean

Siberia

1. 32 million ppl live here

2. -90 degrees to 94 degrees depending on the season

3. Permafrost to HUGE swamps

4. See Russian Winter ppt

Abundant Resources• Natural Gas, Oil, Coal, Iron Ore, 1/5 of world’s

timber, top producer of hydroelectricity

• Problem: they’re in Siberia

Climate Factors• Continentality

• Tundra- arctic region

• Taiga- south of the tundra

• Steppe – chernozem- Ukraine through Kazakhstan

• Desert- Turkmenistan & Western Uzbekistan

Shrinking Aral Sea• Between

1960 & today, 80% lost

• Syr Darya and Amu Darya diverted for irrigation

• Pollution – 24 species of fish originally, all gone now

Chernobyl• April 28, 1986

• Nuclear reactor exploded killing 31 people

• Contaminated 100,000 sq. miles

• Evacuated and resettled 250,000 ppl

• Costs related to the disaster are over $300 billion

• Millions exposed to nuclear radiation

Trans-Siberian Railroad

Russian Expansion

Emergence of Russia

• Russia Under the Czars:• Social Structure

was feudalism until the 1800s

• Serfdom was abolished in 1861 (start of American Civil War)

• Czar: variant of Caesar – oversaw expansion

Peter the Great• Famous czar

who expanded from the Baltic Nations to the Pacific

• Founded St. Petersburg as the new capital

• Reading from book

Catherine the Great

• Famous czarina

• Expanded into Poland, Belarus, and the Ukraine

• Reading from book

Russian Revolution• 1917 Vladimir Lenin led

a revolt against Czar Nicholas II

• Nicholas and his entire family were murdered (Anastasia story)

• Lenin and the communists took over

• New country is called USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)

Rise of Communism

• Russian Revolution: 1917 – Czars were abdicated: gave up their crowns

• Karl Marx - Marxism

• Set up a Republics Soviet: governing council

• Supreme Soviet: Moscow – national laws

• Command Economy: all businesses are govt. owned

• Collective Farms: under Stalin, group farming

Soviet System

• Lenin and Stalin: Communist Dictatorship

• Millions resisted and sent to forced labor camps & prisons in Siberia

• Red Army: Soviet military

• Cold War: nukes, tanks, jets, subs- world power

Sputnik and the Space Race

• October 4, 1957

• world's first artificial satellite

• marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.

End of Communism

• Mikhail Gorbachev: glasnost – openness in media

• Perestroika: economic restructuring – gradual change to capitalism

• Privatization: selling govt. owned businesses to private indv.

• Boris Yelstin: 1991 – 1st democratic president

• Vladimir Putin: 2000 – 2nd democratic president

Distance Decay• Size & harsh climate make transportation hard

• ¾ raw materials from Siberia

• Rivers frozen in winter

• Railroads: 93,000 mi of track,

• Federal Districts to gain more support over regional leaders (7: Central, Far-Eastern, Northwest, Siberian, Southern, Urals, and the Volga)

Economic Problems• Very polluted: oil spills; cancer

• Shortage of money

• 1998 Economic Crash: 40% of population in poverty

• Inflation: Ruble: >$0.01

• No health care

• Black Market: trade through barter, off the books

• Alcoholism, Drug Abuse, divorce, and suicide are on the rise

Russian Mafia• By 1998 the mafia

had control of 40% of private companies and 60% of govt. owned companies

• No tax revenue from those businesses

• Mother Russia’s Children

Transcaucasia: Georgia, Armenia, & Azerbaijan

Caucasian Culture• MANY

Languages (3 families)

• Most are Christian or Muslim

• Russian territory until 1991

• 50 different ethnic groups

Georgia• Tourism and wine

industry in subtropics

• Tourism slowed with Abkhazian conflict

• Supras: dinner party

• Walnuts big part of diet

• Own alphabet

• Mostly Christian

Azerbaijan• Oil industry

• Lots of underground gas and oil wells

• Many earthquakes

• Most speak Azeri or Russian and use a Latin alphabet

• 93% Muslim

• Democracy

Armenia• More Armenians

live outside Armenia than in it

• Own alphabet

• Lake Sevan is one of the world’s largest mountain lakes

• Armenian and Russian are main languages

• Mostly Christian

• Democracy

Chechnya• Was not released from

Russia at the fall of the Soviet Union

• Russian invasion from 1994-2001

• Chechens want independence

• Own language, separate ethnic group

• Russian refuses

Ossetia• Northern Ossetia is

still part of Russia

• Southern Ossetia is part of Georgia

• Want independence, both countries say no

• Resulted in 40,000 refugees

• Truce, but no independence

Nagorno-Karabakh• Azerbaijan claims

the region b/c of history

• Armenia claims the region b/c ¾ of its population is ehtnic Armenian

• Cease-fire in 1994 left 1 million refugees

• Now considered an enclave of Armenia

Central Asia: the “Stans”

The Silk Road

The Great Game• Struggle

between Russia and Great Britain for control of Central Asia

• Soviets won and held control until 1991

Nuclear Testing• Soviet nuclear

industry in Northern Kazakhstan

• Between 1949 – 1989; Soviets exploded 470 nuclear devices

• 180,000 sq. mi. effected

• 1 million ppl exposed to radiation

• Radiation still present

Oil in the Region• Turkmenistan

and Kazakhstan have lots of oil

• Oil is the reason for the Great Game

Ethnical Problems in Central Asia

• Soviets drew boundary lines according to largest ethnic groups

• Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek

• Not perfect: Uzbeks 24% of Tajikistan, many Tajiks in Uzbekistan; Uzbeks are 9% of Turkmenistan and 14% of Kyrgyzstan

• Many speak Russian and their ethnic language

• Most are Muslim

Yurt

Baltic Republics

Baltic RepublicsEstonia, Latvia, & Lithuania

• Lithuania and Latvia share a similar language, whereas Estonia’s language is more similar to Finnish

• Lithuania is Roman Catholic, whereas Latvia and Estonia are Lutheran

• In 1939 all three were annexed: formally added to the Soviet Union

• In 1991 they finally gained their independence

Trying to Diversify• Estonia: mining,

shipbuilding, manufacturing

• Lithuania: food processing, shipbuilding, manufacturing machinery

• Latvia: productions of cars, pharmaceuticals, electrical equipment

Russian Republics

Ukraine“Little Russia”

• E. Orthodox

• Kiev (capital): 1st Russian state began here over 1,000 years

• 1920s Soviets forced farmers to give up land – Result: ppl burned crops, govt tried to seize crops & 8 mil died of starvation

• Chernobyl disaster 1986: 12.3 mil acres polluted

• Used to be part of the Breadbasket of Europe

Belarus• Mainly Slavic

• Orthodox

• Economy: industry and services, oil reserves, potash – fertilizer

• 1/5 of farmland contaminated in Chernobyl disaster

Moldova• Densely populated

• Former Romanian principality

• Most people are Romanian descent

• Exports: wine, sugar beets, and seed oils

• 98% Eastern Orthodox Catholic

Effects of Communism