TEACHER NOTES
Russia’s Physical Geography (pp 336- 337 in the book)
Location
- Have students describe Russia’s relative location
o (north of China, east of Europe, northeast of Southwest Asia)
o What countries border Russia in the East? (China and Mongolia)
o What barriers separate these nations? (Mountain Ranges)
- Have students describe region’s absolute location
o Q: what is most of region within? (70N on north, 40N on South, 20 E on west, 180 E on east)
- Russia’s southern border is in the middle latitudes while the north reaches past the Artic circle. It covers
eleven time zones. (Time zone map pg. 357)
Size
- Landmass - Russia is the world’s largest country. It lies on two continents – Europe and Asia. (highlight)
o Q: How does the size of Russia compare to U.S. (almost three times bigger)
o Q: How many time zones the Unites States has. (4 not including Hawaii)
o If Russia covers 11 time zones, how could this effect communications between Western and
Eastern Russia? (Do their workdays overlap?)
- Population
o Q: How compare to the U.S.? (bigger)
Landforms and Climate
The North
- The part of Russia that lies in Europe is warmer than Asian Russia.
o Q: Why? (continentality; proximity to water in W. Europe)
- North has four main physical regions
o Northern European Plain

The plains of this area have a mild climate. (Highlight)
 Q: If climate is mild, what kind of economic activity is common to plains (compare to
U.S.) Southern part has rich black soil called chernozem that supports production of
grains.
 Q: What would be the effect on where people live? (About 75 percent of Russia’s
population lives in this region of European Russia.)
o Western Siberian Plain
 Siberia is the name of the large expanse of northern and central Russia that crosses Asia.
 What is the dominant climate region in Siberia? (Sub-artic, pg 340)
 Q: How does the cold climate impact population distribution? economic activity?
Transportation?
 Because the distances in Siberia are great and the land is usually covered in ice and
snow, people may use helicopters to travel between villages.
o The Ural Mountains separate the two plains. They also form the geographical boundary between
the continents of Europe and Asia.
o Central Siberian Plateau
 uplands (low hills)
o Russian Far East Uplands
The South
- To the south of European Russia are the high rugged Caucasus Mountains. This is a fertile region of
valleys, where many non-Russian people live.
o Q: What nations are located in this region? (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan)
- Steppes and deserts in Central Asia and along Russia’s Southern border with China.
o Steppe = semiarid grassland. Includes fertile chernozem soil
 Q: In the U.S. what is grown in the plains? Here, source of grain for Russia and the
Republics
Bodies of Water
Rivers
- Q: What would be the effect of Russia’s climate and size on transportation?
(Russia’s gigantic size and harsh climates make transportation difficult within the country. Railroads, rivers
and canals are important for transport in Russia.)
o Have students view railroad map on p. 355
- Ask students to locate the Volga, Ob or Don Rivers. Where do these rivers start and stop? In what
direction do each of them flow? (Volga and Don flow south, Ob flows north)
o The Volga River is often called “Mother Volga.” Why?
 It carries almost one-half of Russia’s river traffic and provides water for irrigation and
hydroelectric power.
Seas and Oceans
- Longest coast in world, but many of Russia’s ports on the Baltic Sea, the Artic Ocean and Pacific Ocean
are closed by ice part of the year.
o What would a country like Russia do when its ships could not reach ports during the winter?
o (Over Russia’s history leaders struggled to gain control of territory that would give Russia access
to warm water ports. Black Sea ports and some Baltic ports have solved this problem for the
current government)
- Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg are two important northwestern ports. Kaliningrad is Russia’s only Baltic
port that remains free of ice year round.
Lakes
- Russia touches many inland bodies of water, such as the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, and Lake Baikal.
o Lake Baikal is the world’s deepest freshwater lake and it holds almost 20 percent of the world’s
supply of unfrozen freshwater.
o Many of Russia’s lakes and waterways are suffering from great levels of pollution and misuse
-
Natural Resources
Minerals and energy
- Russia has large deposits of coal, oil and natural gas.
- Many minerals, including nickel, iron ore, tin and gold. Produces more natural gas than any other
country.
- Siberia has the largest supply of minerals in Russia, as well as timber and huge deposits of oil and natural
gas. The Ural Mountains contain copper, gold, lead, nickel, and bauxite, plus energy sources of coal, oil
and natural gas.
- Many rivers make it a leading producer of hydroelectric power.
Agriculture, Forests, and Fishing
- Because of Russia’s generally cold climate, only about 10% of its land can support agriculture.
- The southwestern area can produce rich yields of grains.
- The vast forests of Siberia provide plenty of timber.
- Russia’s fishing industry is among the largest in the world.