3. Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine

4.  Russia’s growth had lasting effect on nearby lands and peoples.  The republics in the west are: Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, the Baltic Republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which are located on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea.  The Russian state began in the region between the Baltic and the Black Seas.  Established a settlement near Kiev, a city near the Dnieper River.  Expansion was hauled in the 13 th century with the arrival of invaders from Mongolia called Tatars.  Mongols controlled the region until 1500s when Ivan the Great, prince of Moscow, put an end to their rule.  As Russia tried to expand east, many of its people belonged to different ethnic groups, spoke different languages, and practiced different religions.

5.  During World War 1 (1914-1918) the Russians anger exploded.  In 1917 the Russian Revolution occurred, which ended the ruled of the czars.  The Russian Communist Party led by V.I Lenin, took control of the government.  Took charge of the regions economy, which gave the Communist Leaders to take control of the regions economic decisions.  The new nation took the name of the USSR, the Union of Soviet Socialists Union.  By World War 2 Joseph Stalin, took leadership of the USSR.  The Soviet Union took control and started to fight with Nazi, Germany.  In the 1940s a conflict grew between U.S, and the Soviet Union  This conflict became known as the Cold War.

6.  The Communists, had strong ideas about the future, as they started to transform their ideas, they changed the world economic region.  An Economic Dream – The communists had been inspired by Karl Marx, a German philosopher who examined the history of the economic systems.  Marx believed in a capitalist system was doomed, due to the concentration of the wealth in hand.  A Harsh Reality – The Soviet Union adapted the Command Economy, to move their society towards communism.  Farming became an industry under Stalin, the government started to create collective farms, in which large teams gathered to work together.  Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, leaders in Russia and the Republics have tried to reduce the state’s monopoly on economic power, and return some control to private individuals and businesses.

8. Transcaucasia has been effected by many different people and cultures. − Today more that 50 different people live in regions. There are followers of many different religions mostly Christian or Islamic. Tension among the groups broke into a civil war between Georgia and Armenia over territory.

9.  In the 18 th centenary, the troops of the Russian empire joined invaders.  In 1917 they enjoyed independence after the Russian Revolution. − The red army took control of the region. The fall of the Soviet Union had regions leaders struggle to rebuild economics.

10.  Transcaucasia was mostly mountains with agricultural outputs.  The humid subtropical lowlands are for valuable crops.  The oil industry has an impact not only on oil- rich.  It affected Armenian and Georgia they had wanted to build pipe lines across them.  The oil industry gave hope for a better life but many people continue to live in poverty.

11.  The education programs of the Soviet Union impacted people.  Communist trained a new generation of skilled workers.  It worked, as literacy rates rose nearly 99%  The most important are the regions meat line celebrations.  The Georgian supra a dinner party is a gathering.  The supra is breath taking food and drinks and is accompanied by a huge number of toast and short speeches.  They take toast seriously because it shows respect of traditions and the bringing of people together for future region.

13.  Central Asia has inspired the dreams of many adventures and presented them with many dangers.  Till this day Central Asia consist of five independents republics ; Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

14.  Travelers have begun to make their way across the region in large number around 100 B.C. many if them joined caravans making the 4,00 mile journey between china and Mediterranean sea.  Traders also called this route the silk road after the costly silk they bought in china. Silk traders carried many other goods on their horses and camels. These included gold, silver, ivory, jade, wine, spices, amber, linen, porcelain, grapes, perfumes seven ostriches, and acrobats.

15.  Central Asia exploded again in the 19 th century when great Britain and the Russian Empire began to struggle for control of the region.  These officers worked to create maps of Central Asia and to win local leaders to their side.  By the end of the 19 th century, the Russian Empire had won control of Central Asia

16.  Until late the late 1980s, the soviet nuclear industry was the economic mainstay of semey (renamed semipabtinsk), a city in northern Kazakhstan.  The nuclear tests were so close to semey that citizens could see the mushroom clouds of the above-ground explosions.  Later underground explosions cracked walls in towns 50 miles away. The testing caused widespread health problems.  Winds spread nuclear fallout after a 180,00 square mile area, exposing over a million people to dangerous levels of radiation.

17.  The potential for oil to bring wealth to Central Asia, regional leaders see great promise on the oil and gas reserves of the Caspian sea.  In addition, engineers have recently discovered oil fields in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.  For Central Asia’s resources to benefit it’s people however, leaders must first establish stable political and legal institutions. The cultural geography of Central Asia, though, will make this goal especially difficult to achieve.

18.  Although the people of Central Asia are divided by a number of ethnic and political byalties, there are unifying forces in the region as well.  The expansive grasslands of Central Asia are ideal for nomadic people.  Nomads are people who have no permanent home.