1. The Country and its People
Russia
The Country and its People

2. The land Russia is the largest country, by land area, in the world
6.3 million square miles
Covers parts of two separate continents
Russia is home to many large mountain ranges
The Ural Mountains mark the traditional boundary between European Russia and Asian Russia
The Caucasus Mountains lie between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, a large saltwater lake
Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus is Russia’s highest elevation
The land

3. The Ural Mountains

4. The Ural Mountains

5. Mt. Elbrus in the Caucasus

6. The Caucasus Mountains

7. Man, is it cold! Most of Russia has a very cold climate
Only about 10% of its land can be commercially farmed
Permafrost – permanently frozen soil that cannot be used for farming
Taiga – sub-arctic far northern coniferous forest that covers 2/5 of western Russia; largest coniferous forest in the world
Tundra – vast frozen treeless plain north of the Arctic Circle; average annual temperature is below freezing
Due to the climate most of the people in Russia live in western Russia on the Northern European Plain, where the climate is more moderate
Man, is it cold!

8. Taiga

9. Tundra

10. Population History Russia is home to more than 120 ethnic groups
Ethnic Group – people who share a common language, history, and place of origins
One of the largest varieties in the world
Ethnic Russians are part of a larger group that includes Poles, Serbians, and Ukrainians called Slavs
Other ethnic groups include the Caucasian people and the Turkic people
Population History

11. Political History Early civilization included the Kievan Rus
Slavs who settled near present day Moscow
Slavs were conquered by the Mongols around 1200 AD
Imperial Period
Russia was ruled by a czar (supreme ruler)
Russia was an autocracy
Autocracy – Rule by one person alone
Rule by the czars lasted from 1547 until 1917
Czar Nicholas II and his entire family were murdered by the Bolsheviks during the communist Revolution
Russia became part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) in 1922
Political History

12. As the U.S.S.R, the country was controlled by the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, who believed in communism
Communism – Based on the ideas of Karl Marx, it calls for the creation of society led by the working class
Communism promotes equity by having everyone share equally in the society
Under communism, people purchase homes directly from the government for a fixed price
The Soviet Union existed from 1922 until 1991
Political History

13. Industrialization was a huge priority in the U.S.S.R.
Industry grew without regard to environmental impact
Nuclear Weapons testing for the Cold War had devastation environmental impacts
Russia’s air, water, and soil were badly damaged by Soviet disregard for the effects of industrialization
Lack of sustainable development – technological and economic growth that does not deplete the human and natural resources of a given area
Serious environmental problems in Eastern Europe have resulted from industrialization during communism
Pollution of ground water
The Aral Sea
Human Impact in Russia

14. The Aral Sea

15. The Aral Sea

16. Soil in Russia has been badly damaged by pesticide use and poor farming techniques
Air pollution from Soviet factories has led to very poor air quality and acid rain in the area
The area is just now starting to recover
Air and Soil

17. Between 1949 and 1987, the Soviet Union set off more that 600 nuclear explosions
Each explosion causes a by product known as nuclear waste
Nuclear waste can remain dangerously radioactive for thousands of years
Some of this waste was dumped directly into the Barents Sea, the Baltic Sea, Lake Baikal, and the Bering Sea
The Chernobyl Explosion in 1986
Power plant explosion that released tons of radioactive particles into the local environment
Released 400 times more radiation into the environment that the Hiroshima Explosion
350,000 people displaced from their homes
The area is unsafe for human habitation for the next 20,000 years
The City of Chernobyl
Pripyat Ukraine
Nuclear Waste

18.
The Mayak Disaster

19. Pripyat, Ukraine Right – Abandoned apartment buildings in Pripyat
Left – Bumper cars at an abandoned amusement park in Pripyat
Pripyat, Ukraine