© T. M. Whitmore

Today•Russia & neighbors

Region definedSite, situation, & scale Physical geography Agriculture Natural ResourcesHistorical development of Russian Empire

The USSR and beyond

© T. M. Whitmore

Last Time•Europe

Economic geographiesCultural geographiesPolitical geographies

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Russia & neighbors•Region defined•Site, situation, & scale

© T. M. Whitmore

Climate & Vegetation

•Köppen zone “E”Tundra

•Köppen zone “D” Role of westerliesContinentalityPermafrostTaiga or boreal forest

•Köppen zone “B” Steppe lands

Forest cover

Degree of Human Influence on the biosphere© CIESIN

© T. M. Whitmore

Landforms

•E Russian Plain

•Ural Mountains

•W Siberian lowlands

•C Siberian plateau

•E Siberian highlands

•C Asian mountains

•Caucasus mountains

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Environmental problems

•Industrial pollution

•Soil depletion

•Radioactive pollution

•Acid rain

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Agriculture

•Spatially limited by climate

•Environmental problems

•USSR solution

•“Virgin” lands program in 1950s

•Realities of post-Soviet Union agriculture

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Collectivization•Only freed from serfdom in 1861,

Russia’s peasants (80% of the population) were forcibly collectivized in the 1930s to allow the introduction of mechanization and state extraction of grain to feed industrial workers.

•Millions died in subsequent famines before grain production began to rise with improved technology.

© T. M. Whitmore

"Virgin Lands" by Fedor Malaev, painted in 1958

Atlas of the biosphere

Permafrost

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Natural Resources

•Fossil fuelsCoal & Iron

Donbas (Donetz in Ukraine)UralsKuzbas (Kuznetsk Basin Siberia)

Oil and GasCaucasus (and Caspian)Volga-UralsWestern Siberia

Coaliron

OilGas

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Natural Resources II

•Mineral ResourcesCopper, aluminum, nickelDiamonds, gold, titanium

•ProblemsMuch is in SiberiaSoviet-style central planningMuch is in new states not in Russia

Coaliron

OilGas

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Historical development of the Russian Empire

•Early Slavic state – 800 AD•Invasion of Genghis Kahn and

Tartars 1240 AD•Rise of Muscovy and the Ivans •Great Russian imperial expansion

1500 – 1815 (out of “European Russia”)

•Additions 1815 – 1917Trans-Siberian RR

1300-1450

1450-15001500-1800

1500-1800

1800s

Trans-Siberian Railway1861-1916

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Outcomes of Russian imperialism/colonialism

•400+ yrs of territorial expansion/conquest/colonialism!

•Coincides with W European age of colonization

•By 1900 Russia largest contiguous empire on earth But,

•Huge pop ~ 130 m, but only 50% Russian

•Static and backward economy•Held together by force, the RR, and

thin wedge of Russian settlement

Russian Peasant Girls

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/

Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944)

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/Church of the Resurrection in Kostroma in the northern part of European Russia

The Emir of Bukharahttp://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/A merchant at the Samarkand market

Nomadic Kazakhs on the Steppe

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/

Dagestani Couple

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/

Russian Settlers in the Borderlands

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/

Turkmen Camel Driver

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/

Hay Harvesthttp://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/

© T. M. Whitmore

Break of Czarist Empire leading to Creation of USSR

•Began with the 1905 Bolshevik Revolution Urged reform along a Communist model: a state and class-based ideology, single-party rule, and a command economy

Urged overthrow of Tsar Uprising failed, Tsar made minor reforms

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The Soviet Union 1921 - 1989

•Russian Revolution and fall of Tsarist Empire (1917-1920)

•Creation of 15 so-called “independent” Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs)

•Russian SSR has 21 internal “Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics”

•Most SSRs and ASSRs are different “nations” (ethnicities)

•Centripetal forces within USSR

© T. M. Whitmore

Key Soviet Policies•Suppression of dissent, Russification

and displacement of minorities

•Core-periphery relationships between Moscow and other regions

•Prices, wages and production set by the state

•Collectivization of agriculture and promotion of heavy industry, WWII

•Supported allied communist and other nations in the Cold War

The Gulag where >1 million died. These included a majority of the Volga Germans, the Buddhist Kalmyks, and Muslim groups such as the Chechens, Ingush, Karachai, Balkars, Crimean Tatars and Meskhetians.

A policy of Russification designed to promote integration encouraged Russians to settle in areas populated by other ethnicities. One legacy is the presence of large Russian minorities in several post-Soviet states.

Rapid Soviet industrialization was focused in the center of the country (far from Nazi Germany) and relied on Russia’s rich mineral resources. Many resources are remote from populations and markets, primarily in the west.

© T. M. Whitmore

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Soviet System

•Permitted rapid industrialization and the rise of living standards, but still lower than the West

• Inefficient relative to capitalist economies and overly focused on heavy industry

•An enormous area with a relatively small population

•Unable to suppress ethnic nationalism

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USSR (1921 - 1989)

•Forces of devolutionPoor economyPoor agricultureEthnic & civil divisionsCold war and Afghanistan

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Collapse of USSR 1989

•Margins pull out

•Russian minorities in former SSRS

•New demands for ethnic autonomy

•Futures of Russia and its Neighbors