Russia.

Russia | History, Flag, Population, Map, etc.

  Russia, a country that spans the vast expanses of Eastern Europe and North Asia. Once the principal republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR; commonly known as the Soviet Union), Russia became an independent country following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.

  Western Greater Caucasus Range

  The Western Greater Caucasus Mountains are near Dombe-Ulgen, Stavropol Krai (region), Russia.

  B. Loginov and A. Markelov/© Novosti Information Agency

  Russia is a country of exaggeration. By far the largest country in the world, it is almost twice the area of ​​Canada's second largest. It is widespread throughout northern Asia and the eastern third of Europe, spanning 11 time zones and includes a large range of environments and landforms ranging from desert to semi-arid plains to deep forests and arctic tundra. Is. Russia includes Europe's longest river, the Volga, and its largest lake, Ladoga. Russia is also home to the world's deepest lake, Baikal, and the country recorded the world's lowest temperatures outside the North and South Poles.

  Russia Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.

  The inhabitants of Russia are quite diverse. The majority are ethnic Russians, but more than 120 other ethnic groups also exist, who speak several languages ​​and follow distinct religious and cultural traditions. Most of the Russian population is concentrated in the European part of the country, particularly in the fertile region around the capital, Moscow. Moscow and Saint Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) are the two most important cultural and financial centers in Russia and among the most beautiful cities in the world. However, Russians are also populated in Asia; Beginning in the 17th century, and particularly throughout much of the 20th century, a steady flow of ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking peoples moved eastward into Siberia, where cities such as Vladivostok and Irkutsk now flourish.

  St. Petersburg

  St. Petersburg, Russia.

  © Digital Vision/Getty ImagesCathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, St. Petersburg, Russia

  The Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ (commonly known as the Church of the Savior on the Fallen Blood) is illuminated at night in St. Petersburg, Russia.

  Geoff Tompkinson/GTImage.com (Britannica Publishing Partner)

  Russia's climate is extreme, with winter forbidding, which has at times protected the country from foreign invaders. Although the climate adds a layer of difficulty to daily life, the land is a generous source of crops and materials, including vast reserves of oil, gas and precious metals. However, the richness of resources has not translated into an easy life for most of the people of the country; In fact, much of Russia's history has been a grim tale of something very rich and powerful ruling over a large group of its poor and powerless compatriots. Slavery persisted well into the modern era; The years of Soviet communist rule (1917–91), especially under Joseph Stalin's long dictatorship, saw a different and more precise type of subjugation.

  Russia: Administrative Division

  Administrative Department of Russia.

  Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.

  The Russian Republic was established soon after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and became a union republic in 1922. During the post-World War II era, Russia was a central player in international affairs, locked in a Cold War conflict with the United States. In 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia joined with several other former Soviet republics to form a loose alliance, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Although the death of Soviet-style communism and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union brought about profound political and economic changes, including the beginning of the formation of a large middle class, Russians had to endure a generally weak economy for much of the post-communist era. High inflation, and a set of social evils that significantly reduced life expectancy. Despite such dire problems, Russia once again showed promise of achieving its potential as a world power, as to exemplify a favorite proverb, 19th by Austrian statesman Clemens, Fürst (Prince) von Metternich. It was said in the centenary: "Russia is never as strong as it appears, and never as weak as it appears."

  Russia can boast of a long tradition of excellence in every aspect of the arts and sciences. Pre-revolutionary Russian society produced the writings and music of such stalwarts of world culture as Anton Chekhov, Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, Nikolay Gogol, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The Revolution of 1917 and the changes it brought were reflected in the works of such famous figures as novelists Maxim Gorky, Boris Pasternak, and Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and composers Dmitry Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev. And the late Soviet and post-communist eras saw a revival of interest in once forbidden artists such as poets Vladimir Mayakovsky and Anna Akhmatova, while new talents such as novelist Viktor Pelevin and writer and journalist Tatyana Tolstaya were introduced, whose arrival was celebrated . A lovely winter event in St. Petersburg suggests the resilience and perseverance of its people:

  Snow starts falling in October. People watch it impatiently, turning again and again to look outside. I wish it was! Everyone is tired of the cold rain dripping unnecessarily on the windows and roofs. The houses are so drenched as if they have started to crumble in the sand. But then, as the gloomy sky sinks even further down, there comes the hope that the boring drum of water from the clouds will at last give way to a flurry... and there it goes: first small dry grains, then an exquisitely carved crust, Two, three ornate stars, followed by thick showers of snow, then more, more, more—a great stock of cotton is falling down.

  Land

  Russia is bordered by the Arctic and Pacific Oceans to the north and east, and has smaller fronts on the Baltic Sea in Saint Petersburg to its northwest and the separate Russian oblast (region) of Kaliningrad (a part of what was once the former) in 1945 Prussia was annexed), which also annexed Poland and Lithuania. South Russia is bordered by North Korea, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia. To the southwest and west it borders Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia and Estonia, as well as Finland and Norway.

  Western Russia Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc. Typical Russian Rural Buildings

  Typical wooden buildings in a village in the Middle Ural Mountains near Kungur, Russia.

  © Wolfgang Kehler

  Spanning approximately halfway through the Northern Hemisphere and covering eastern and northeastern Europe and all of northern Asia, Russia has a maximum east–west range of about 5,600 miles (9,000 km) and a north–south width of 1,500 to 2,500 miles (2,500). . 4,000 km). There is a great diversity of landforms and landscapes, occurring mainly in a range of broad latitudinal belts. Arctic deserts are located in the extreme north, giving the tundra and then forest areas to the south, which cover almost half of the country and give it much of its character. In the south of the forest zone are the forested steppe and steppe, beyond which there are small sections of semi-desert along the northern edge of the Caspian Sea. Much of Russia is located in latitudes where it is cold and where evaporation can hardly keep pace with the accumulation of moisture, creating abundant rivers, lakes and swamps. Permafrost covers about 4 million square miles (10 million sq km)—an area seven times larger than the drainage basin of the Volga River, Europe's longest river-forming settlement, and vast areas that make road construction difficult. In the European regions of Russia, permafrost occurs in the tundra and forest-tundra zone. Permafrost in Western Siberia occurs along the Yenisei River, and it covers almost all areas east of the river except South Kamchatka Province, Sakhalin Island and Primorsky Krai (marine region).

  relief

  Based on the geologic structure and relief, Russia can be divided into two main parts—western and eastern—roughly along the line of the Yenisei River. In the western section, which occupies about two-fifths of the total area of ​​Russia, the lowlands are dominated by vast areas broken only by low hills and plateaus. Most of the terrain in the eastern part is mountainous, although there are some wide lowlands. Given these topological factors, Russia can be divided into six main relief zones: the Kola-Karelian region, the Russian Plain, the Ural Mountains, the West Siberian Plain, the Central Siberian Plateau, and the mountains of the south and east.