Russia is
an independent country
officially known as
the Russian Federation.
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the Pacific Ocean
the Arctic Ocean
the Atlantic Ocean
the Baltic Sea
the Mediterranean
the Black Sea
Europe (European Russia)
Asia
the Far East
the Ural Mountains
the Caucasus Mountains
Mount Elbrus
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the Russian (Eastern-European)
Lowland
the Central Siberian Plateau
the Volga
the Dnieper
the Dvina
the Ob
the Irtysh
the Amur
the Lena
the Yenisey
Lake Baikal
The Russian Federation covers one-eighth of the world’s land
area.
It is the world’s largest country, stretching for more than 5,600
miles from east to west, and 2,500 miles from north to south.
Russia is almost twice the size of the next largest country,
Canada.
Russian land boundaries stretch for 20,017 km neighboring
more countries than any other country on the planet.
The sun literally never sets on Russia: when it is evening in St.
Petersburg, it is already a next day on Russia's Pacific shores.
Russia occupies most of eastern Europe and almost all of
northern Asia.
Russia covers 11 time zones.
Russia Fast Facts
Official name
Russian Federation
Capital and population
Moscow; 10,672,000
Official language
Russian, many minority languages
Population
143,000,000
Rank among countries in population
8th
Religion
Russian Orthodox, Islam, Catholic, other
Life Expectancy
65
Literacy Percent
100
Major cities
Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod
Area
Land-6,590,000 square miles (17,100,000 sq
kilometers)
Water - 30,657 sq miles (79,400 sq km)
Rank among countries in area
1st
Highest Point
Mt. Elbrus - 18,481 ft. (5,633 m)
Lowest Point
Caspian Sea - (-92 ft.) (-28 m)
Currency
Russian ruble
• The country is washed by 12 seas of 3 oceans:
the Pacific, the Arctic and the Atlantic Oceans.
In the south Russia borders on China,
Mongolia, Korea, Kazakhstan, Georgia and
Azerbaijan.
In the west it borders on Norway, Finland, the
Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania),
Belarus, (the)Ukraine.
It also has maritime borders with Japan (by
the Sea of Okhotsk), the Republic of Korea (by
the East Sea), Sweden (by the Baltic Sea),
Turkey (by the Black Sea), and
the United States (by the Bering Strait).
The low Ural Mountains divide Russia in two parts: the
smaller European (referred to as European Russia) and
the larger Asian regions (referred to as Siberia) .
• The broad European Plain, or
Volga River Plain extends from
the Ural Mountains to its western
borders with Europe. These huge
plains stretching thousands of
miles are called the Russian
(Eastern-European) Lowland.
• In the far southwest
the Caucasus Mountains slice
across the land.
• The country's and Europe’s highest
peak, Mt. Elbrus (18,465 ft), is
located there.
Siberia makes
up roughly 77%
of the total area
of Russia.
Siberia covers
almost 10% of
Earth's land
surface.
The Ural Mountains separate this area from another huge
lowland- the West Siberian Plain.
And the Central Siberian Plateau extends to the east and
reaches the mountainous regions of southern and northeastern Siberia and the Far East.
A few on the Kamchatka Peninsula contain active volcanoes.
Russia’s landscape is as varied as the world itself: it
includes almost every geographical feature
imaginable(except tropical climate zones ).
Most of the country’s territory consists of great
plains, but there is a large tundra in the extreme
north and much of western Russia is covered by
forests. Parts of eastern Russia are desert.
polar desert
tundra
taiga
march
fertile area
temperate broadleaf forest
mixed forest
temperate steppe
dry steppe
desert
semi-desert
Russia is a great marine
power. In the north it is
washed by the Arctic Ocean
and in the east by the
Pacific Ocean. Through St.
Petersburg it has outlet to
the Baltic Sea, and thus also
to the Atlantic Ocean.
Russia’s ships can reach the
Mediterranean through the
Black Sea.
Russia includes
the world's deepest lake and
Europe's highest mountain
and
Europe’s longest river.
Of its 100,000 rivers, Russia
contains some of the world's
longest.
Significant rivers
include
the Dnieper and
Dvina in
European Russia.
Of these five, the Volga is
the most famous—not only
because it is the longest
river in Europe but also
because of its major role in
Russian history.
The other four are in Asia: Ob-Irtysh, Amur, Lena, and
Yenisey. All but the Amur flow northward into the
Arctic Ocean.
The Yenisei is the greatest river system
flowing to the Arctic Ocean, and at
5,539 km (3,445 mi) is the fifth longest
river in the world.
Lake Baikal means "the rich
lake”. It is located in the south
of the Russian region of Siberia.
It is the world's greatest lake,
containing more water than all
of the North American Great
Lakes combined, a total of
roughly 20 percent of the
world's surface fresh water.
Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in
the world, at 5,310 ft. (1,620m).
Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake
located in northwestern Russia,
not far from Saint Petesburg. It is
the largest lake in Europe, and the
14th largest lake by area in the
world.
Lake Onega is
the second
largest lake in
Europe, and the
18th largest lake
by area in the
world.
Mount Elbrus
The Ural Mountains are a mountain range
that runs roughly north and south through
western Russia. They are usually considered
the natural boundary between Europe and
Asia.
The Caucasus Mountains
The Ural Mountains
Mountain ranges are found along the southern
borders, such as the Caucasus (containing
Mount Elbrus, Russia's and Europe's highest
point at 5,642 m (18,510 ft))
and the Altai, and in the eastern parts, such as
the Verkhoyansk Range or the volcanoes on
Kamchatka.
The country's and Europe’s highest point,
Mt. Elbrus, is located in the Caucasus
Mountains, at 5642m.
The vast Russian Federation has a wide variety of
weather conditions:
the changes in climate reflect the changes in
vegetation.
In general terms, winters are
somewhat mild along the Black Sea
coastal areas, much colder inland and
northwest, and frigid in Siberia.
Summers vary from mild to warm in
the west and central, with cooler
conditions in the north, and along
the Arctic coast.
Russia has over 1,000 major cities, with 16 having a metro population of more
than one million.
The most populated city is Moscow with 11 million residents.
Other large cities: St. Petersburg, 4,582,300; Novosibirsk, 1,395,500; Nizhny
Novgorod, 1,340,900; Yekaterinburg, 1,256,600; Samara, 1,146,800; Kazan,
1,113,600; Ufa, 1,096,600; Chelyabinsk, 1,080,000; Perm, 998,800; Volgograd,
984,200.
Moscow, the capital is the country's major
economic and political center - the seat of the
President, the government and
the State Duma .
St. Petersburg
Moscow
Nizhniy Novgorod
The population of Russia is about 149.6 million and is growing
annually at only 0.2 percent. There are some 120 different ethnic
groups, but most are small. Ethnic Russians form 82 percent of the
entire population.
Russian 79.8%, Tatar 3.8%,
Ukrainian 2%, Bashkir 1.2%,
Chuvash 1.1%,
other or unspecified 12.1% (2002)
Of all the 15 former Soviet
Union republics, Russia has
the greatest ethnic diversity,
with more than 70 distinct
nationalities.
Russians make up about four
fifths of the total, and only
two other groups—Tatars
and Ukrainians—constitute
more than 2 percent each.
Other notable ethnic groups
include Chuvash, Bashkir,
Chechen, Mordovian, and
Belorussian.
Russia’s natural resources give it great potential for economic
growth and development. Natural gas, coal, gold, oil,
diamond, cooper, silver, and lead are all abundant.
Russia, especially the Urals and Siberia, contains perhaps the
world's largest iron-ore deposit, the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly.
The Urals contain almost every mineral but are short of coal.
Coal is mined in the Pechora, Kuznetsk, and Kansk-Achinsk
basins. Petroleum and natural gas are extracted in western
Siberia and also in the Volga-Urals.
Natural resources: major deposits of oil,
natural gas, coal, and many strategic
minerals, timber.
1. Where is Russia situated?
2. What world place does Russia
take according to its size?
3.What countries border on
Russia in land?
4. What are the two main parts
which make up Russia?
5. What are the greatest rivers of
Russia?
6. What is the highest point of
Russia?
7. What ethnic groups make up
the population of Russia?
8. What are the natural
resources of Russia?
1. What is Russia washed by?
2. What countries are next after
Russia in size?
3. What countries border on
Russia by sea?
4. What makes up the landscape
of Russia?
5. What are the chief mountains
of Russia?
6. What is the name of the
famous fresh water lake?
7.What is the population of
Russia?
8. What are the largest cities of
the country?