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Chapter 5 Lecture

World Regional

Geography

A Developmental Approach

11th Edition

Northern

Eurasia

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Chapter Learning Outcomes

• Outline how the opportunities and constraints of Northern Eurasia’s resources

and environment affect development.

• Describe how the history of Russia and the Soviet Union has shaped the

context of development today.

• Explain how the “transition” from Communism diverged from expectations and

led to the current situation.

• Account for the significance of “the power vertical” and “crony capitalism” in

Northern Eurasian development.

• Characterize Russia’s relationships with its neighbors and the rest of the world.

• Understand Ukraine’s predicament, located between Europe and Russia and

divided internally between east and west.

• Identify the significance of oil and gas, both for the “haves” and the “have-nots.”

• Explore the reasons why development is a spatially uneven process in which

some areas excel, while others flounder.

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The Map

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The Countries of Northern Eurasia

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The Countries of Northern Eurasia

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Countries of Northern Eurasia

• Russia

• Belarus

• Ukraine

• Georgia

• Armenia

• Azerbaijan

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Landforms

• West– Immense Eurasian landmass

– No obstacles to movement of air masses or intrusion of cold air from Arctic or Siberia

– Ural Mountains• Up to a maximum of 6,250 feet in remote north

• Rarely exceeds 5,000 feet in settled areas.

– As a result, fairly uniform climatic conditions

• South– Caucasus Mountains

– Between Black and Caspian Seas and Transcaucasian lands to the South

– Highly diverse

• East– Rugged, eroded plateaus

– River valleys

– Most of the area east of the Yenisey River is isolated and inhospitable.

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Natural Regions of Northern Eurasia

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Natural Regions

• Exceptionally large bands of essentially uniform

vegetation and natural regions

• Tundra

• Taiga

• Mixed forest

• Deciduous broadleaf forest

• Forest steppe

• Steppe

• Semidesert

• Desert

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Tundra, Permafrost, Taiga

• Tundra– Region stretches across Russia’s Arctic shore.

– In places, extends southward to hundreds of miles in Siberia

– No trees grow in the tundra because of the short growing season, infertile soil, and shallow active layer insufficient for tree roots.

• Permafrost—Permanently frozen Earth

• Taiga– Russian word for boreal forest

– Northern forest dominated by conifers, which Russia has more than any other country.

– Covers much of Northern Russia west of Urals

– Most of Siberia

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Steppe and Chernozem

• Steppe

– Areas below Baltic states

– Bordering Central Asia (dominates much of

Kazakhstan)

– South of mixed forest region

– Low levels of variability of precipitation makes

agriculture difficult.

• Chernozem—“black earth”

– Soil rich with organic matter

– Appears as dark as compost

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Climate

• Formidable mountain systems

– Rise to the South in Central Asia and in the East

– Blocks Pacific’s influence from all but a small area of the

Russian Far East

• High-latitude location

– Little isolation in winter

– Long days in summer

• Great size of landmass

– Stretches 6,200 miles (10,000 km) west to east

– 1200 miles (2000 km) north to south

• Region marked by long, relatively dry, and very cold

winters and short, but surprisingly warm, summers.

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Agricultural Zones

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Environmental Challenges

• General pollution

• Disasters such as Chernobyl and

Chelyabinsk

• Oil pipelines and production

• Natural gas production

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Chernobyl

• Major nuclear disaster

• A 30-km radius of Chernobyl, Ukraine was

abandoned.

• U.S.S.R. took 20 days to formally

acknowledge the disaster.

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Natural Resources of Northern Eurasia

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Major Language Groups of Northern Eurasia

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Industrial Regions and Selected Cities

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Russian Empire

• Big in landmass, but backward in trade, technology, and modern culture

• Tsar—“Caesar”

• Tsar Peter

– Introduced new ideas and technology from the West

– Retained fundamental principle of service to the state

– Modernized the army

– Created the navy

– Canals and St. Petersburg

• Catherine “the Great”

– Nurtured arts and education

– Did not allow ideas and technology from West to affect governance

– Acquired land through conquest

• Defeated in Crimean War in 1853

• Rural population more than doubled in 50 years.

• Industrial work and living conditions were harsh.

• 1860s—Embarked on Trans-Siberian Railway

• 1905 revolution

– Tsar allowed a Duma as a representative body.

– But overcame through further repression and violence

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Russia Through the Ages

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The U.S.S.R.

• Created as a result of 1917 revolution

• Bolsheviks, led by Lenin

• Initially led to chaos

• Leadership to be exercised by a hierarchy of “Soviets,”

but was dominated by the Communist Party.

• 1920s—New Economic Plan (NEP)

• Stalin

– Emphasized heavy industrial production

– Control from the center by Great Russians (white Russians)

– Fomented discontent amongst non-Russian ethnicities

– Led U.S.S.R. through World War II

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Cold War U.S.S.R.

• East/West global divide

• Soviet “client states”

– Eastern Europe

– Cuba

– Parts of Africa

• Major production of “arms race”—Essentially made the

U.S.S.R. go broke.

• 1980s—Veneer begins to break.

– Gorbachev brings new attitude.

– Glasnost

– Perestroika

– A desire to preserve, not destroy, the U.S.S.R.

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Gorbachev Reforms

• Attempts at “reform” within the Communist

system spurred by Gorbachev.

– Glasnost (openness)

– Demokratia (democracy)

– Perestroika (restructuring)

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Disintegration of the U.S.S.R.

• Attempt to retain some measure of union

through the creation of the Commonwealth

of Independent States (CIS)

• Loose confederation

• U.S.S.R. breaks up into over two dozen

countries broken down along ethnic lines.

• Some countries form unions with Russia

afterward.

• Some areas resist (Chechnya).

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Breakup into Separate Countries

• The Russian Federation

• Ukraine

• Armenia

• Azerbaijan

• Belarus

• Georgia

• Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,

and Kyrgyzstan

• Baltic states—Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania

• Moldova

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Russia Today

• Created in 1991

• Wide swath of territory, ethnicities, cultures, and

languages

• Strong support from International Monetary Fund (IMF)– Slow recovery in mid-1990s

– Crash in 1998

– Ruble devalued

• Yeltsin is the first president.

• Vladimir Putin is successor.– Not party affiliated; a party formulated around him.

– There is some suggestion that he is moving Russia back toward autocratic rule.

– Appointment of governors to maintain local control

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North Caucasus / Problems

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Ukraine

• Almost as big as Texas and larger than any country

in Europe

• Mostly consists of rolling steppe land with extremely

fertile chernozem soil.

• Continental climate similar to the upper Midwest of

United States.

• A century ago, called the “breadbasket of Europe”

• Better suited to grow wheat than Russia due to

sufficiently mild climate to permit fall planting.

• Industry was world-renowned before breakup of

U.S.S.R.

• Coal, iron ore, and manganese—All essential for steel

production

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Russia Influence in Ukraine

• Russians are the largest minority.

• Russian language is the most common

language.

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Belarus

• Two-thirds as large as neighboring Poland

• About the size of Kansas

• Soviets systematically developed Belarus for industry.

• Country remained dependent—especially for industry.

• Lukashenko election in 1994– Hostile to West

– Deals with countries deemed rogue states by United States

• 1999—Russia and Belarus agreed in principle to a union of the two, but Russia has neither repudiated the agreement nor moved to implement it.

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Armenia

• Nearly as large as Maryland

• Population of 3 million

• On a plateau with a dry, continental climate

• Armenian ancestral homeland lies in

Turkey, so there is a strong connection

there.

• Much of Armenia relies on investments

from abroad.

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Azerbaijan

• Close in size to Armenia

• Population is predominantly Turkic

Muslim.

• Karabakh War has taken a great toll.

• Current economic growth is because of

petroleum.

• Even as far back as 1900, it accounted for

half of the world’s oil production.

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Georgia

• Approximately the same size as Belarus

and Armenia

• 2003 “Rose Revolution” ousted former

Russian ally.

• Economy growing at acceptable rate

• Ossetia has been a problem region, where

a separatist movement is occurring. Mass

violence is occurring.

• Many bitter feelings across country

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Summary of Chapter

• The formidable physical conditions found in

Northern Eurasia and the remoteness of most

locations inevitably add to the costs of development.

• Northern Eurasian countries have yet to complete

the dual transition that has been expected of them—

to become democracies with market economies.

• Georgia and Armenia still have a long, hard climb to

attain prosperity, and both must avoid future violent

conflicts if they hope to succeed.

• Russia’s course will be crucial for the whole region.