• Size - 6.5 million miles
• Northern Most largest (area) and populated country in the World
• Formal Colonial Super Power - USSR
• Concentrated Population - 142 million (westernmost 1/5 of country)
• Multicultural State: 21 internal republics - based on ethnic clusters
• Minimal Ports
• Relative Locations

• Little Access to water (hindrance to trade)
• St. Petersburg (forward capital) - West
• Vladivostok - East

• 11 time Zones
• Gulf of Finland (W) to Alaska (E)
• Artic Circle (N) to Southeastern Europe (S)

• West of Ural Mountains
• Population, industry, transportation, agriculture, history
• 2 Sub-Regions
  •    1. Central Industrial
  •    2. Internal Southern Periphery

• Moscow to Nizhniy/Novgorod
• Major population corridor of country (industry)

• Black Sea to Caspian Sea with Caucasus Moutains in the Center
• Cultural Mosiac

• Soviets Stopped advance of Islam
• Chechnya: Muslim Population - accused of siding with the Nazi's
• Georgia: Orthodox Christian
• Armenia: Christianity
• Azerbaijan: Muslim
• Oil Pipeline: Geogia, Armenia, Azerbaijan

• Ural Mountains to Amur River
• Southern Section of Siberia
• More developed in Western Portion
• Continentality
• Two Sub-regions
  • Kuznetsk Basin
  • Lake Baykal

• Coal, Iron, Ore = steel (manufactoring)
• Originally, supplier of Steel - Iron Ore discovered
• Steel Plants - Kuznetsk

• Deepest Lake in the world
• Dams and hydroelectric projects
• Railroad convergence

• "Sleeping Land"
• North of Eastern Frontier
• Larger than USA in area (15 million miles)
• Vast distances, extreme cold, poor soil, resource rich (gas, oil, rivers, diamonds, coal)
• Rivers flow to the north (population in south)
• Lots of potential - need a way to harvest it
• Hydroelectric projects leading industry to extract natural resources

• 5,000 miles of coastline
• Huge reserves of resources (oil, coal, fish)
• Port City: Vkdivostok
• Should be but isn't an economic powerhouse

• Outdated Factories
• 7 million people
• Soviets: used to reward people (force) - no incentives

• Relative Location
• No trade with neighbors (Japan, Koreas, China)
• Climate: ice jams adjacent to Port

• Tunda
• Taiga
• Encircled by Mountains and Deserts
• Rivers flow from south to north
• Ural Mountains seperate West v. East
• Lake Baykal
• Volga River

• Southwest: Caucasus
• South Central: Central Asian Ranges
• East: Eastern Highlands

• Russia
• Most important in realm
• Adjacent to major populations

• Eastward continuation of Northern European Lowlands
• Core area of Moscow
• Majority of Russian population, agriculture, development

• Kara Sea to Kazakhstan
• 2,000 miles long (North to South)
• Ancient, heavily eroded
• Border between West and East
• Mineral Rich

• Mineral Rich: Coal, Stones

• World's largest unbroken lowlands
• Marshes in central (poorly drained)
• Somewhat developed in the South

• Elevations rising from Western Siberian Plains
• Higher and Drier
• Sparsely populated, extreme temperatures, permafrost

• Named for city of Yakutsk
• Mountainous, high relief surrounding a basin

• Ranges, Ridges, Precipitious valleys, volcanic mountains
• Volcanic Activity: Pacific ring of Fire
• Lake Baykal

• Kazakhstan - Mongolia
• Glaciated, huge mountains (20,000 ft+)
• Adjacent to the ranges are deserts

• Between Black and Caspian Seas
• Extension of Alpine physiographic system
• High Relief (18,000 ft+)
• Regional Transition Zone

• pre 16th century
• Movement of Asians broadly (Huns, Goths, Slovs, Mongols)
• Slavs emerged as dominant group in Ukraine and W. Russia

• 1547-1917
• Ivan the Terrible (local ruler of Moscow) took control of territories east
• Peter the Great (1682-1725) expanded empire to the north

• 1917-1991
• Expanding Russian empires subject to internal weaknesses
  • led by serfs (lenin)
• USSR: Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (15)
• Guided by command economy, communist reconstruction, major buildings

• 1991+
• Federations of 89 states
• 49 regions and 10 sub-regions
• 6 territories
• 21 autonomous republics
• 1 autonomous oblast
• 2 federal cities

• Dominated by China (largest country in world)
• Physiographically bounded, cold climate
• Population focus: East, West, Rivers
  • similiar to N. America
• Restrictive population policies
• Major political/social issues

• Dominated by India (2nd largest country)
• Physiographically bounded, climate problems
  • North - Peninsula effect
• second most impoverished area in the world
• over 1/2 of population involved with subsistence farming
• India was a british colony until 1947
• Religious Issues: Hinduism (India), Islam (Pakistan), Buddhism (Sri Lanka)

• Ethnic heterogenity (tribal) issues dominate the realm
• Rich in raw materials but poor access to world
• Most impoverished area in the world
• largest refugee population in the world
• over 1/2 population involved with subsistence farming
• Major Health Crisis: Aids, Malaria, Dietary concerns
• Colonial impacts: arbitrary border drawing

• Population: 573 million people
• Area: 7.5 million Miles

1. Pivotal Location
2. Pivotal History
3. Naming of Realm
4. Fragmented
5. Major Features

• Western Sahara to Afghanistan and Kazakhstan (W-E)
• Horn of Africa - Russia (S-N)
• Between Europe, Russia, Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa

• Cultural Hearths: Nile River Valley, Mesopotamia
• Birthplace of Islam, Judaism, Christianity
• Oil (key natural resource)

• "Dry World" - Sahara and Arabian Desert
• "Arab World" - Cultural Signifigance
• "Islamic World" - Religion
• "Middle East" - Relative Location (strictly western idea)
• Eurasian Africa Transition Zone - ETZ

• North Africa
• Arabian Peninsula
• Eastern Mediterranean
• SW Asia

• Sahara Desert - largest hot desert in world
• Nile River - Longest river in world
• Arabian Desert - entire Arabian Peninsula
• Persian Gulf - most diverse habitat (h/w coral reefs deteriorating)

• Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kygstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan
• Region in Transition

• Pivotal Location (Russa, Asia, Europe)
• Influence of Islam
• Break-up of USSR
• Problems with democratization

• Turkey = secular
• Iran = Muslim
• Cyrpus = divided between Turks and Greeks

• Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen
• Source of Oil and Islam
• Inhospitable h/w oil is changing this

• "isle of west"
• north african countries (minus sudan, egypt)
• desert areas that are heavily colonized on coast
• crop production

• Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia
• Pivotal Location
• Contains
  • Nile River basin
  • Aswan High Dam

• predictable floods
• agricultural focus

• 1968
• increase irrigable land by 50%
• supplies power for 40%
• created lake nassar

• Most Pivotal
• Religous history
• relative location
• natural resources
• ethnic/language differences
• multiple cultural factors

• All of N. Africa
• Cut only by Atlas Mountains
• Uniform, dry, arid areas with some soil
• Formal Region

• Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf
• Vast arabian desert
• massive oil reserves

• Turkey, Middle East, to Iran and Turkmenistan
• diversified: plains, coastal areas, mountains, plateaus
• some oil

• Afghanistan, uzbekistan to Kygyzstan, tajikistan, kazakhstan
• Extremely high mountains, plateaus, rugged terrain
• little oil

• W. Turkmenistan to kazakhstan
• desert and steppe

• "land among rivers"
• fertile soil with ample water, plants and animals between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
• contributions: irrigation
• hydraulic civilization
• babylon (cultural hearth for world)

• Cyclical ebb and flow of the nile that was predictable and allowed inhabitants to plain harvests around the floods
• surrounded by inhospitable deserts

• Indonesia: largest population of Muslims
• Shiites: only blood relatives, 15% of muslims, Iran
• Sunnis: any devote follower, 85%, Arabian Peninsula

• mesopotamia: worlds first civilization
• british colony
• saddam hussein - persian gulf war

• buffer state between indian empire and USSR
• successively dominated by foreign powers (no cultural hearth)
• arbitrary border creation
• cold war - Us supplied weapons to mujahadeen
• Bin Laden - taliban

russian plains (n. european lowlands)

caucasus mountains (alpine systems)