Russia  World’s largest country  Part of 2 continents – Europe & Asia  Spans 11 time zones, 9 mountain ranges, borders 3 oceans and 14 countries  European & Asian Russia are divided by the Ural Mountains

The Plains  Almost ½ of Russia is covered in Plains  This is where the majority of people live  Contains many swamps and marshes due to poor draining

Coastlines  Most of Russia lies in the high latitudes  Many of the coasts are frozen for most of the year  Black Sea is very important because it’s ice free and connects Russia to the Aegean and Mediterranean which is important for trade

Lakes & Rivers  Caspian Sea – inland salt water lake  Lake Baikal – 3 rd largest in Asia and deepest freshwater lake in the world  Rivers provide: irrigation, transportation, drainage, hydroelectricity, freshwater  Volga River – important for drainage & hydroelectricity, frozen for about 6 months/year

Resources  Large amounts of petroleum deposits, natural gas, and coal  Nickel, aluminum, gemstones, platinum, sulfur are also abundant

Agriculture  Permafrost – permanently frozen layer of soil beneath the surface – covers most of Russia  Black Earth Belt, good farmland and provides much of the food for Russia  Russia’s forest are very important to oxygen replacement and are being destroyed faster than the Amazon

Climate  Most of Russia is in the Subarctic climate  Long, cold winters and short, cool summers  Southern part of Russia has a humid continental climate and this is where most people live. Milder winters and longer, warmer summers  Climate has played a role in military expeditions - WWII

Culture  100+ ethnic groups  80%+ are ethnic Russian  The rest has become part of Russia through wars/conquest  How might this impact nationalism?

Ethnic Groups  Slavs: Russians, Poles, Serbs, Ukrainians… Eastern Orthodox, speak Russian  Turks: 2 nd largest ethnic group; Tatars, Chuvash, Bashkirs, and Sakha Primarily Muslim  Caucasian: Chechens, Dagestanis, Ingushetians Live in the Caucasus region, mainly Muslim

History  Prior to 1911 Russia was a monarchy Leaders were called Tsars or Czars  USSR  USSR was communist and the economy was really bad which lead to it’s downfall  Today Russia is a “kinda sorta” democracy, Chief of State = Vladimir Putin

USSR/Communism Since the fall of communism many eastern Europeans have had difficulty adjusting to a free market system. Eastern European countries look for financial aid and technology from western European and other countries to help develop their countries and move toward a free market economy

Religion  Communist are against religion – Atheism = most people are nonreligious  Christian = 17.2% (mostly Eastern Orthodox)  Islam = 10% (Mostly Sunni)  Judaism =.4%