RUSSIA

MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC QUALITIES

WORLD’S LARGEST TERRITORIAL STATE NORTHERNMOST LARGE AND POPULOUS

COUNTRY IN THE WORLD A FORMER WORLD COLONIAL POWER A COMPARATIVELY SMALL (142 MILLION)

AND CONCENTRATED POPULATION CLUSTERED DEVELOPMENT MULTICULTURAL STATE MINIMAL PORTS

SIZE, LOCATION, AND SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS

LATITUDINAL EXTENT NORTHERNMOST POINT: RUDOLF ISLAND IN

FRANZ JOSEF LAND (82O) SOUTHERNMOST POINT: GROZNYY IN WEST

AND VLADIVOSTOK IN EAST (44O) LONGITUDINAL EXTENT

MORE THAN TWICE ITS MAXIMUM NORTH-SOUTH EXTENT AND EXTENDS ACROSS 11 TIME ZONES

RUSSIA MAKES UP 76.6% OF THE TOTAL TERRITORY OF THE FORMER USSR (ALMOST TWICE THE SIZE OF THE US OR CHINA).

20º

40º

60º

80º

LOCATIONAL IMPACT ON

RUSSIA’S CLIMATE?

CLIMATOLOGY CLIMATE

AVERAGE WEATHER CONDITIONS FOR A GIVEN AREA OVER AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME, USUALLY 30 YEARS.

WEATHER REFERS TO THE ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS AT A

SPECIFIC PLACE AND TIME (TEMPORARY CONDITIONS) CLIMATOLOGY

A BRANCH OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY CONCERNED WITH:

SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT OF CLIMATES OVER THE SURFACE OF THE EARH

PROCESSES WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF CLIMATES

RUSSIAN CLIMATE

AFFECTED BY 3 NATURAL CONDITIONS:-- LATITUDINAL POSITION-- CONTINENTAL POSITION-- LOCATION OF MAJOR MOUNTAINS

CLIMATE

CLIMATE AS A RESTRICTIVE ELEMENT

AGRICULTURE SHORT GROWING SEASONS DROUGHT PRONE EROSION (ACCELERATED BY SNOW MELT)

SETTLEMENT PATTERNS & TRANSPORTATION, see map on pg 126

INDUSTRY HIGH ENERGY CONSUMPTION EXTRACTIVE

PERMAFROST IN FAR NORTH SPRING AND FALL MUD SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES - $$$

EARLY 16TH CENTURY(IVAN THE TERRIBLE- 1547-1584)

EVOLUTION OF THE CURRENT STATE

END OF THE 17TH CENTURY(PETER THE GREAT- 1682-1725)

EVOLUTION OF THE CURRENT STATE

EARLY 20TH CENTURY

EVOLUTION OF THE CURRENT STATE

GROWTH OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE

REGIONS OF THE RUSSIAN REALM

PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS

RUSSIAN PLAIN EASTWARD CONTINUATION OF NORTH

EUROPEAN LOWLAND CORE AREA (MOSCOW BASIN)

URAL MOUNTAINS 2,000 MILES LONG (NORTH-SOUTH) YIELD A VARIETY OF MINERALS

WEST SIBERIAN PLAIN WORLD’S LARGEST UNBROKEN LOWLAND PERMAFROST IN THE FAR NORTH

RUSSIA’S PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS

PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS(continued)

CENTRAL SIBERIAN PLATEAU SPARSELY POPULATED, TEMPERATURE

EXTREMES, PERMAFROST YAKUTSK BASIN

MOUNTAINOUS, HIGH RELIEF EASTERN HIGHLANDS

RANGES, RIDGES, PRECIPITOUS VALLEYS, VOLCANIC MOUNTAINS, LAKE BAYKAL

CENTRAL ASIAN RANGES RISE ABOVE THE SNOW LINE, GLACIATED

CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS EXTENSION OF THE ALPINE SYSTEM

POLITICAL FRAMEWORK

SOVIET LEGACY REVOLUTION (1905-1917); Read caption, pg 119

and pg 111. BOLSHEVIKS VERSUS MENSHEVIKS V.I. LENIN CAPITAL: PETROGRAD TO MOSCOW (1918) USSR (UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS)

1924 -1991; consisting of 15 states. RUSSIFICATION – spread of Russian culture and

population. Including the replacement of ethnic peoples with Russians, esp. in non-Russian republics.

FORMER SOVIET UNION

ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK

CENTRALLY PLANNED (EARLY 1920s) MAJOR OBJECTIVES

COLLECTIVIZE AGRICULTURE SPEED INDUSTRIALIZATION

A COMMAND ECONOMY IS ONE IN WHICH THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION ARE OWNED AND CONTROLLED BY THE STATE AND IN WHICH CENTRAL PLANNING OF THE STRUCTURE AND THE OUTPUT PREVAILS

FEATURES OF THE SOVIET ECONOMY PRODUCTION OF PARTICULAR MANUFACTURED GOODS IN

PARTICULAR PLACES ECONOMIC INTERDEPENDENCE OF THE REPUBLICS

CZARIST MONARCHY (<1917)

LENIN STALIN KRUSHCHEV BREZHNEV GORBACHEV

SOVIET LEADERS

LENIN (1917 - 1924)

INTRODUCED MARXIST PHILOSOPHY

REPLACED PRIVATE WITH PUBLIC OWNERSHIP

DEVELOPED NATIONAL ECONOMIC PLANS

SOVIET LEADERS

STALIN (1924 - 1953)

ALL ASSETS NATIONALIZED

CREATION OF HUGE CENTRALIZED STATE TO CONTROL ALL ASPECTS OF SOVIET LIFE

PURGES OF DISSIDENTS

COLLECTIVIZED FARMING – took land away from farmers

CONCENTRATION ON HEAVY INDUSTRY AT EXPENSE OF AGRICULTURE

SOVIET LEADERS

KRUSHCHEV (1953 - 1964)

GREATER EMPHASIS ON AGRICULTURE

VIRGIN LANDS PROGRAM – SEMIARID PASTURES INTO IRRIGATED WHEAT FIELDS

ULTIMATELY LED TO ARAL SEA ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER (pg 394 & next slide).

SOVIET LEADERS

Aral Sea Disaster See pg 373

SOVIET LEADERS

BREZHNEV (1964 - 1982)

HEIGHT OF THE COLD WAR MILITARY/INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY ECONOMIC STAGNATION (esp.

AGRICULTURE)

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV (1985 - 1991) INITIATED ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL REFORM PERESTROIKA

RESTRUCTURING INTENDED TO PRODUCE MAJOR CHANGES TO BOTH

THE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SYSTEM ECONOMIC AIM: TO CATCH UP WITH WESTERN

ECONOMIES POLITICAL AIM: REFORM OF THE COMMUNIST

PARTY GLASNOST

POLICY OF ENCOURAGING GREATER OPENNESS IN BOTH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

SOVIET LEADERS

A SHARP DECLINE IN AGRICULTURAL & INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION

ECONOMIC OUTPUT DOWN BY 4% IN 1990 & 10-15% IN FIRST HALF OF 1991

INTENSIFICATION OF ETHNO-CULTURAL NATIONALISM & SEPARATISM, WHICH THREATENED THE UNITY OF THE SOVIET UNION.

STEADY EROSION OF COMMUNIST PARTY MONOPOLY ON POWER

COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION(CONDITIONS IN 1990 & 1991)

LEAD TO THE EMERGENCE OF A “COMMONWEALTH” OF SLAVIC COUNTRIES TO REPLACE THE SOVIET UNION

COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES

THE RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT GORBACHEV

COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION(CONDITIONS IN 1990 & 1991)

RUSSIA’S CURRENT ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS

RUSSIAN ETHNICITY

CHECHNYA

WHY CHECHNYA DESERVES INDEPENDENCE SEE REGION ON pg 128 and pg 141 FOUGHT AGAINST THE RUSSIAN IMPERIALISTS TWO

CENTURIES AGO MASSIVE PERSECUTION DURING STALIN’S REIGN 1991 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

POINTS IN SUPPORT OF RUSSIAN CONTROL FIGHTING AFTER INDEPENDENCE WAS DECLARED IN

1991 CHECHENS ILLEGALLY INSTALLED A SEPARATIST

LEADER ATTACKS ON RUSSIANS & CHECHEN TERRORISM

RUSSIA’S PROSPECTS

SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ISSUES INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES/

MANUFACTURING CAPACITY TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE DECLINING POPULATION INTERNAL FRICTION

RUSSIA’S MANUFACTURING REGIONS(RUSSIAN CORE)

OIL AND GAS REGIONS

SIBERIA LARGER THAN THE CONTINENTAL U.S., BUT

LESS THAN 15 MILLION PEOPLE

VAST, CHALLENGING, UNTAPPED

CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENT VAST DISTANCES COLD TEMPERATURES, ARCTIC WINDS POOR SOILS

RESOURCE POTENTIAL OIL AND NATURAL GAS METALLIC ORES TIMBER

ST PETERSBURG (LENINGRAD)