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Russia Cities with Hotels
 Russia, independent republic in eastern Europe and Asia, which was established on December 25, 1991, and includes 21 ethnically based republics, 6 krays (territories), 10 okrugs (national areas), 49 oblasts (districts), 1 autonomous region, and 2 cities with federal status. Officially named the Russian Federation (Russian Rossiyskaya Federatsiya), Russia was once the largest and most prominent republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In 1991 the USSR collapsed, and Russia became an independent country. It then coordinated the formation of a political alliance with many of the former republics of the USSR called the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). This article covers the history of Russia through World War I (1914-1918) and the developments in independent Russia since the breakup of the USSR.
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Russia
In geographic extent Russia is the largest country in the world, with an area of 17,075,200 sq km (about 6,592,800 sq mi), more than one-ninth of the world's land area and nearly twice that of the United States or China. From north to south the country extends more than 4000 km (more than 2400 mi) from the southern border along the Caucasus Mountains to Arctic islands in the Barents Sea. From east to west the maximum extent is almost 10,000 km (almost 6200 mi) from the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea to Ratmanov (also known as Big Diomede) Island in the Bering Strait. The country also spans parts of two continents, Europe and Asia, with the Ural Mountains marking the boundary between them. The capital and largest city of Russia is Moscow.
Russia's borders measure more than 20,100 km (more than 12,500 mi). On the north it is bounded by a number of arms of the Arctic Ocean: the Barents, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, and Chukchi seas. On the east it is bounded by several arms of the Pacific Ocean: the Bering Strait (which separates Russia from Alaska), the Bering Sea, and the seas of Okhotsk and Japan. In the extreme southeast Russia abuts on the northeastern tip of North Korea. On the south it is bounded by China, Mongolia, Kazakstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and the Black Sea. On the southwest it is bounded by Ukraine, and on the west by Belarus, Latvia, Estonia, the Gulf of Finland, Finland, and Norway. The exclave of Kaliningrad, on the Baltic Sea, is bounded by Lithuania and Poland.
The principal island possessions of Russia lie in the Arctic and Pacific oceans. Farthest north, in the Arctic Ocean, is Franz Josef Land, an archipelago consisting of about 100 islands. The other Arctic islands, from west to east, include the two islands that constitute Novaya Zemlya, Vaygach Island, the group of islands called Severnaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands, and Wrangel Island. Between the islands mentioned above are numerous small islands and island chains. In the Pacific Ocean are the Kuril Islands, which extend in an arc southwest from the southern extremity of the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka to Japan, and are the subject of a long-running dispute with Japan over ownership and fishing rights. The Pacific also includes the large island of Sakhalin, which separates the seas of Okhotsk and Japan.
Russia can be divided into three broad geographic regions: European Russia, consisting of the territory lying west of the Ural Mountains; Siberia, stretching east from the Urals almost to the Pacific Ocean; and far eastern Russia, including the extreme southeast and the Pacific coastal fringe.
Land and Resources
Much of Russia lies north of the 50th parallel and thus has a climate more comparable to Canada than to the United States. Most of its land also is far from the moderating influences of ocean currents, producing a more continental climate than that enjoyed by most European countries. The agricultural resource base is limited by climate and, to a lesser degree, soils. The vastness of Russia's territory and its varied geologic formations, however, provide a rich mineral resource base unmatched by any other country in the world.
"Russia," Microsoft® Encarta® 97 Encyclopedia.
© 1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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December 03, 2008 01:01 PM. |
