What comes to mind when you think of Russia? The Kremlin? Those big fuzzy fur hats? How about a vast , frozen expanse with large bears, exotic tigers, and very few people? For many people, the image that comes to mind when they hear "Russia" is the part of Russia known as Siberia.
Siberia does have large bears , Siberian tigers, and relatively few people per square mile. But it offers so much more than you've probably ever imagined. By any standard , Siberia is big. In fact, it's downright humongous.
Extending from the Ural Mountains in the west all the way to the Pacific Ocean and from the Arctic Ocean in the north down into northern Kazakhstan and the borders of Mongolia, and China, Siberia makes up all of the northern part of the continent of Asia.
In total, Siberia covers approximately 5. That's about nine percent of all the dry land on Earth! Roughly the size of Canada, Siberia constitutes the majority of Russian territory. With that much land area, it's no surprise that Siberia features many different types of geography and climates. The northern parts of Siberia closest to the Arctic Ocean consist mostly of frozen tundra and permafrost with temperatures that stay frigid year-round.
The farther south and west you travel in Siberia, though, the milder the climate gets. Much of Siberia's climate in these areas consists of long, cold winters followed by warm, mild summers. As you move away from the cold north, you'll find evergreen pine forests, black earth steppes, rugged mountains, expansive grasslands, large swamps, and even subtropical forests near the Pacific Ocean.
Siberia is also home to four of the ten longest rivers in the world: the Ob, Amur, Lena, and Yenisei. Today, Siberia is home to about 36 million people. Most people live in large cities in western and southern Siberia.
Novosibirsk, Siberia's largest city, has over 1. Many of Siberia's residents work in the many mining, industrial, and manufacturing jobs that can be found in the large cities. In fact, many of Siberia's largest cities grew up around areas that feature one or more of Siberia's enormous natural resources, which include coal , petroleum, natural gas, diamonds , iron ore, gold, and other minerals, such as manganese, lead, zinc, nickel, and cobalt.
One other interesting feature you'll find in Siberia is Lake Baikal. It's the largest, oldest, and deepest freshwater lake on Earth.
Its deepest point is 5, feet! In the first half of the 19th century a real Siberian gold rush began. After the abolition of serfdom, peasants were moved to Siberia in an attempt to resolve the acute problem of land shortage, as well as to develop new lands.
They were allowed as much land as they wanted admittedly, that land had no guarantee of quality. As a rule, people settled next to each other, as a commune. In the 20th century when industrialization came to Siberia, this also affected the number of people living there.
Finally, people would go to Siberia on instructions from Komsomol communist organizations: It was the party that decided what city could provide work for people. Sometimes the city was a long way from the place where people originally lived - for example, somewhere in Siberia.
Also, you must have heard that millions of people were exiled to Siberia. It is true that "exile to Siberia" was arguably the worst fate a person could be condemned to apart from being shot. Prisoners and dissidents were sent to Siberia to build new infrastructure, like railways or to work in mines in the harshest of conditions.
When he was young, Joseph Stalin was exiled to Siberia six times. He escaped five times. In the popular imagination Siberia has long been a symbol of an extremely cold winter, piercing winds and remote lands. This is because Siberia's geographical borders are indeed entirely notional.
Sometimes Russians generalize by describing everything to the east of the Ural Mountains as Siberia. The Arctic Circle passes through a huge part of the country, so this amazing natural phenomenon can be observed from Karelia to Chukotka, including in some cities of Siberia like Norilsk 1, miles northeast of Moscow or the Taymyr Peninsula 1, miles from Moscow, in the same direction.
You can read about the best places in Russia to see the Northern Lights in our guide. Novosibirsk 2, miles east of Moscow is the recognized administrative center of the Siberian Federal District. For this reason the city is, to a large extent, regarded as the capital of Siberia.
But the inhabitants of other Siberian cities - Tomsk, Irkutsk or, for example, Omsk - may think differently. Arguing about the capital is typical of Siberians. What is more, most Siberians believe that the capital of Russia should be moved to Siberia. After all, geographically it is the center of Russia," they believe. Here are a few facts by way of illustration…. In terms of surface area, Siberia is only comparable with Canada, which is the second largest country in the world.
Siberia contains Lake Baikal, which covers an area roughly equal to that of the Netherlands. Only one river flows from the lake — the Angara River. The water in Lake Baikal is very clear — you can see down to a depth of up to 50 m. The surrounding area experiences more than earthquakes a year.
The Tunguska meteorite fell in Siberia in At the site of the explosion, no crater was found or fragments of the meteorite. When the lake freezes during the winter, an amazing phenomenon takes place: the ice is transparent, giving the amazing appearance of turquoise ice. These are some incredible facts about the Pearl of Siberia as most of the people call Lake Baikal, but for some people, these facts are not as important as the feeling of infinite freedom, unity with the wildlife and contemplation of the eternal realm of primeval wisdom that can be found while traveling across Lake Baikal.
The longest river in Siberia, and in the whole Russia, is the Yenisei-Angara-Selenge River system , which is 5, km long. According to the legend, Angara is a daughter of Lake Baikal. One day Angara run away to her boyfriend — Yenisei. Her father became so angry that he hit her with a rock, she stumbled and fell. Angara asked for forgiveness but her father said, she would only get his tears.
Novosibirsk is also the fastest growing city in the world, and for sure one of the places to visit in Russia. Most Siberians are Russians and Russified Ukrainians. Apart from them, about one-twentieth of the population consists of aboriginal groups. The largest indigenous group in Siberia are the Buryats, mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic. Siberia is a hotspot for biodiversity and wildlife!
Numerous species live there, and unfortunately, many are endangered ones, including tigers, leopards, bears, eagles, sheep, salmon. You have probably heard all these words before — katorga, ssylka and Gulag are terms associated with exile and forced labor camps in the Soviet Russia, many located in Siberia. Gulag was the governmental agency, which administrated the Soviet forced labor camps, and was the main instrument of political repression in the USSR.
Katorga was forced labor or penal servitude, the harshest punishment, usually with a sentence of a decade or more, which often meant death. Ssylka exile involved different types of banishment, for example it required the victim to live in one of the towns in Siberia under police control.
It is the longest railway line in the world, connecting Moscow with the easternmost points of Russia and the Sea of Japan. The journey from Moscow to Vladivostok takes one week.
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