Russia and the Near Abroad
Physical
Geography
Cultural
Geography
Special Issues
Size, Shape, and
Regions
Political
Territories
Nuclear Weapons
Topography
Population and
Cities
The Russian Cross
Climate and
Biomes
Language
and Ethnicities
The Oligarchs,
Crime, and Mafia
Rivers and Ports
Religion
Chechnya and
Terrorism
Agriculture
Historical
Geography
Aral Sea Disaster
Economic
Geography
Caspian Oil
Geopolitics
The “Stans”
Geographic Factoids…
• With a land area of 6.5 million sq. miles,
Russia is the largest country in the world!
• Population estimates – 150 million people
• Russia is one of the most sparsely populated
countries in the world
• The population is predominantly urban
• Russia is so large, that the climate varies
greatly throughout the country
• Russia makes up 76.6% of the total territory
of the former USSR
• Russia has 11 time zones!
Fig. 6-3, p. 143
MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC
QUALITIES
• IMMENSE TERRITORIAL STATE
• NORTHERNMOST LARGE AND POPULOUS
COUNTRY IN THE WORLD
• A FORMER WORLD COLONIAL POWER
• A COMPARITIVELY SMALL (<150 MILLION) AND
CONCENTRATED POPULATION
• CONCENTRATED DEVELOPMENT
• MULTICULTURAL STATE
• MINIMAL PORTS
RUSSIA’S
REGIONS
RUSSIAN
CORE
SIBERIA
EASTERN FRONTIER
URALS
FAR EAST
Europe / Asia Division
•
•
•
•
Black Sea
Caucasus Mtns.
Caspian Sea
Ural Mtns.
Caucasus Mtns.
&
• Highest Mountains of Europe
– Mt. Elbrus, 18,500’
Ural Mtns.
• ~2000’
CAUCASUS MTNS - GEORGIA
North European Plain
• W of Urals
• Volga River
– Canals connect Volga
to Baltic Sea
Siberia
• E. Russia
• E. of Urals
Siberia
• Extreme
Temperatures
– Summer…
– Winter…
– Coldest…
Siberia
• Mostly “Taiga” Forest
– Largest…
• Tundra Grasses
– Arctic Coast
– Permafrost…
Central Siberia
• Lake Baikal
– Deepest Lake…
– 20% of World’s…
Kamchatka
• On Pacific
Ring of Fire
– Volcanoes
Fig. 6-1, p. 142
Fig. 6-20, p. 162
Central Asia
•
•
•
•
•
Kazakstan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
• Islam (Muslims)
• Russian minorities in
each
• Russian control at issue
Fig. 6-19, p. 160
Fig. 6-2a, p. 142
Fig. 6-4a, p. 145
Fig. 6-4b, p. 145
Volga River
• Most important Russian River; drains to Caspian
• 20th Century dredging and control allows heavy shipping
• Closed by ice each winter
Fig. 6-6, p. 145
Fig. 6-15, p. 157
SETTLEMENT / TRANSPORTATION PATTERNS
Fig. 6-2b, p. 143
THE RUSSIAN CROSS
1,294,629,555
China
•
1,065,070,607
India
•
Population loss of 700,000/year is world’s
highest and rarely seen in history
Russia is the world’s 7th largest country
293,027,571
United
States
238,452,952
Indonesia
184,101,109
Brazil
153,705,278
Pakistan
144,112,353
Russia
141,340,476
Banglade
sh
137,253,133
Nigeria
Figure 6-B, p. 144
Russian Cities
• Moscow
– Capital
– Largest city
St. Petersburg
• Capital, 1700s-1917
St. Petersburg
• “Venice of the North”
Languages in
the Former
Soviet Union
• Extreme
linguistic
complexity
• More than
100
languages
spoken in
Russia alone
• About 50 in
Caucasus
region
• Soviet policy
“Russification”
made Russian
only official
language
Paleo-Asian
Russian
(Slavic)
Uralic
Russian
(Slavic)
Turkic
(Altaic)
Yakut
(Turkic )
Evenki
Mongolian
(Altaic)
RELIGIOUS GROUPS
10%
7%
5%
18%
55%
5%
Orthodox
Muslim
Protestant
Roman Catholic
Jewish
Other
RELIGION
Growth of the Russian Empire
Modern History Summary
• October 1917 – Bolsheviks seized control (led
by Lenin)
• 1922 – USSR established
• 1941-1945 – WWII (Great Patriotic War), Russia
loses 1/6 of its population (~ 30 mln)
• Stalin’s purges – an additional 20 to 40 mln
• 1985 – Gorbachev introduced political and
economical reforms
• 1991 – USSR is formally dissolved, Yeltsin
became the new president; CIS is formed
• 2000 – Putin is elected president of Russia
SOVIET LEADERS
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
COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION
(Conditions in 1990 & 1991)
• The emergence of a “commonwealth” of Slavic
countries to replace the Soviet Union
• Commonwealth of Independent States
• The resignation of President Gorbachev
COMMAND ECONOMY
• An economy 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 to particular places
– Economic interdependence of the republics
COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION
(Conditions in 1990 & 1991)
• 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
– Unity of the Soviet Union (macro) & unity of
republics (micro) threatened
Russia’s Economy
• Major Oil (#2 in world) and Natural Gas
Producer (#1 in world)
– With minerals accounts for 80% of Russian exports
• Large mineral reserves, including second
largest concentration diamonds on earth
• Large amount of conifer forest (taiga)
• Aging, but valuable industrial infrastructure
• 12% in agriculture, 23% in industry, 65% in
services
• Complex economy likely to rebound eventually
(currently experiencing six straight years of
healthy growth since 1998 finance crisis)
COMMAND ECONOMY
• An economy 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 to particular places
– Economic interdependence of the republics
– Focus on heavy industry
MISDEVELOPED
ECONOMY?
• Legacy of inefficient state-owned businesses
– Outdated equipment
– Environmental damage and pollution
• Boris Yeltsin’s economic shock therapy
removed price controls and encourage
private ownership
• Very difficult transition for most Russians
• Rise of the Oligarchs
– Small number of very wealthy business men took control of
largest state owned businesses
– They wield enormous power
• Increase in underground economy and Russian mafia
Figure 6-G, p. 168
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS
There are three important realms of geopolitical concern in
the region:
1. Ethnic Tensions - within Russia, the aspirations of non-Russian people
like the Chechens and Tatars appear to pose a danger to the unity of
the Russian Federation.
2. Energy Issues - between Russia and the Near Abroad countries, there
are challenging issues including energy shortages and Russia’s
control of natural gas and oil.
3. Nuclear Materials - between this region and the rest of the world— the
“Far Abroad”—there are concerns about the fate of Soviet era nuclear
materials, whether the oil-rich Central Asian countries are more
sympathetic to Russia or Turkey, and what should be done to stem the
tide of narcotics and terrorism.
Aral Sea Disaster
• Used to be 4th largest sea
in world; 75% loss since
1960
• Rivers (Amu Darya and
others) diverted for cotton
irrigation
• Health problems
Chechnya
•
•
•
•
•
Declared independence 1991
1st Chechen War, 1991
1994, Russians gain control
1996, Chechens regain Grozny
1999, Russians successfully retake
Chechnya
• Muslims allied with Al-Qaeda
• Russian atrocities