1. RUSSIA: LAND/CLIMATE/ CULTURE - PGS. 356-375

2. CHERNOZEM  A rich, black soil that supports the production of wheat, barley, rye, oats, and other crops; found in the southern part of Russia that is located in Europe.

3. CONTINENTALITY  An effect that occurs in the interior portion of a landmass, it results in weather that is more extreme in temperature variation and reduced amounts of precipitation.

4. TAIGA  A boreal forest belt that covers 2/5ths of western Russia and extends into much of Siberia; about the size of the United States, the Russian taiga is the world’s largest coniferous forest, containing about half of the world’s softwood timber.

5. STEPPE  A climate region in southern Russia, it is made up of temperate grasslands that have dry summers and long, cold, dry winters (with swirling winds and blowing snow!)

6. SOVIET ERA  The period between 1922 and 1991 when Russia was part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and dominated many non-Russian regions.

7. NATIONALITY  Regional political boundaries that often reflect the location of major ethnic groups.

8. SOVEREIGNTY  When a country or region in a country has self-rule.

9. ATHEISM  The lack of belief in a God or other supreme being.

10. POGROM  Organized persecution and massacres of Jews

11. SOCIALIST REALISM  During the Soviet Era, The government limited individual artistic expression and believed that it was an artist’s duty to glorify the government’s achievements in their work.