Central Asia/ Russia
Physical and Human Geography
Major Landforms
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Northern European Plain
Ural Mountains
Caucasus Mountains
Turan Plain
Northern European Plain
Chernozem: black earth
• Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev
• 75% live here
Ural Mountains
–the divider between Asia
and Europe.
–Tilts north = rivers flow to
Arctic Ocean
Caucasus Mountains
-Separates Black
and Caspian Seas
-Transcaucasia
Turan Plain
Includes 2 large deserts
•Kara Kum Desert
•Kyzyl Kum Desert
–Aral Sea
Bodies of Water
• Volga River – Europe’s longest
• Caspian Sea – saltwater lake,
largest inland sea
• Aral Sea-has lost 80% of water
content
Caspian Sea
• saltwater lake, largest
inland sea
• Oil and natural gas
• sturgeon live in its
waters, and the caviar
produced from their
eggs is a valuable
commodity
Lake Bailak
–Deepest lake in the world
–About 1 mile deep
–Holds 20% of world’s
freshwater
–Tourist attraction
Human Geography
Russia and the Western Republics
• Russian state began in region
between Baltic and Black Seas
–9th Century, Vikings settled and
adopted the customs of the local
Slavic population
•Settlements began to expand
•
th
13
Century, Mongolian invaders
entered
–Controlled this region until the
1500s when Ivan the Great,
Prince of Moscow, put an end
to their rule
• Russia began to expand to the
Pacific Ocean
• Russia’s growth was rapid, but it
lagged behind in science and
technology
–Peter the Great, tried to change this
• He moved the capital to St.
Petersburg
–Russia did not begin to industrialize
until the end of the 1800s
Trans- Siberian Railroad
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Czar Alexander III.
5,700 miles
10 years to build
This was the first
major step towards
connecting all of
Russia together
physically and
economically.
Rise and Fall of the
Soviet Union
• Russian
Revolution
(1917): ended
rule of the czars
–Communist
Party, led by
Lenin, took
control
• By 1922, the
Union of Soviet
Socialist
Republics (USSR)
was formed
• Stalin had taken
over by WWII
Building a Command Economy
• Inspired by Karl
Marx
• Soviet leaders
adopted a
command economy.
• Soviet government
created collective
farms
–After the war, Stalin installed
pro-Soviet governments in
parts of Eastern Europe
–The Cold War soon began
between the U.S. and USSR
and continued until the 1980s.
• By the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev
began to give more freedom to
the Soviet people
–This led to the collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1991
• The region was divided into 15
independent republics
Area of Conflicts After the Fall of USSR
• Chechnya
– Remained part of Russia
– Russia invaded in 1994 and 1999
– 2009 Russia pulled out
• Georgia
– In a conflict with the Ossetian people
• Armenia and Azerbaijan
– Fought of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Transcaucasia
• Consists of Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Georgia
• Used as a migration route
between Europe and Asia
–This has led to a variety of
cultures
• Transcaucasia has a history of
outside control
–The czars of Russia entered in the
1700s
–Transcaucasian countries enjoyed
some independence during the
Russian Revolution until the Soviet
Red Army retuned in the 1920s
Central Asia
• Consists of
Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan
History of Central Asia
• The Great Game
– Competition between Great Britain and
Russia over Central Asia
– By the end of the 19th century, Russia won
control of Central Asia
– In 1920s the USSR took control and
governed until 1991
– 4,000 mile journey from China
to the Mediterranean Sea
• Gold, Silver, Ivory
• Wine, Spices, Porcelain
– Spreading of ideas, technology,
and religion
Silk Road
Steps Toward Capitalism
• Privatization
– Government-owned businesses to individuals and
private companies
– Economic crash in 1998
– 40% of Russians live below the poverty line
• Distance Decay
– Long distances between places is an obstacle
facing economic reformers.
• Russia covers 11
time zones
Environmental Concerns
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Nuclear testing
Lack of federal regulations
Nuclear testing
Nuclear power plants
Chernobyl
Ukraine
April 26, 1986
everyone living within the 30
kilometer radius was evacuated.
The last reactor was not shut down
until December 2000.