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Siberia (Russian
Сиби́рь, Sibir') is a vast region of Russia and northern Kazakhstan, constituting all of northern Asia, and extending eastward from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and southward
from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan and the
borders of Mongolia and China. All but the extreme southwestern area of Siberia lies in Russia, and it makes up about 75
per cent of that country's territory.
Administration
Siberia consists of Urals Federal District, Siberian Federal District and the Russian Far East.
Further political subdivisions of Siberia include:
- Buryat Republic, capital Ulan Ude
- Chita Oblast, capital Chita
- Irkutsk Oblast, capital Irkutsk
- Khakassia, capital Abakan
- Kemerovo Oblast, capital Kemerovo
- Krasnoyarsk Krai, capital Krasnoyarsk
- Novosibirsk Oblast, capital Novosibirsk
- Omsk Oblast, capital Omsk
- Sakha Republic, capital Yakutsk
- Tomsk Oblast, capital Tomsk, Russia
- Tuva Republic, capital Kyzyl
Other cities include:
History
Main article: History of Siberia
Siberia was occupied by differing groups of nomads such as the Yenets, the Nenets, the Huns, and the Uighurs. The Khan of Sibir in the vicinity of modern Tobolsk was known as a prominent figure who enorsed Kubrat as Khagan in Avaria in 630CE. The area was
conquerd by the Mongols in the 13th
century and eventually became the autonomous Siberian Khanate.
The growing power of Russia to the east began to undermine the Khanate in the 16th century. First groups of traders and Cossacks began to enter
the area, and finally the imperial army began to set up forts further and further east. By the mid-17th century the
Russian-controlled areas had been extended to the Pacific.
Siberia remained a mostly unexplored and uninhabited area. During the next few centuries, only a few exploratory missions and
traders inhabited Siberia. The other group that were sent to Siberia were prisoners, who were exiled from western Russia.
The first great change to Siberia was the Trans-Siberian
railway, constructed from 1891 - 1905. It linked
Siberia more closely into the rapidly-industrialising Russia of Nicholas II. Siberia is filled with natural resources and during the twentieth century these were
developed, and industrial towns cropped up throughout the area.
Geography
Siberia makes up roughly three-quarters of the total area of Russia. Much of it is swampland ill-suited to agriculture; other large areas (the taiga) are
forested. The northernmost parts comprise extremely cold tundra.
Lakes and rivers include:
Economy
A harsh climate has limited Siberia's development and population growth. The
region has an abundance of natural resources, including many minerals, vast oil fields, rich forests, and grasslands in the extreme southwest that are good for farming. But the winters are long and bitter. Ice and snow cover most of the region about six months of the year. The
temperature can drop below -90 °F (-68 °C). Most of the coastal waters, lakes, and rivers freeze for much of the year.
Demographics
Siberia has a population density of only 3 persons per square kilometer. Most Siberians are Russians and Russified Ukrainians. Ethnic Russians are descended from Slavs who lived in
Eastern Europe several thousand years ago. Such Mongol and Turkic groups as Buryats, Tuvinians, and Yakuts lived in Siberia originally, and descendants of these peoples still live there. Other ethnic groups include: Evenks, Chukchis, Koryaks, Yukaghirs. See Northern indigenous peoples of Russia article for more.
About 70 percent of Siberia's people live in cities. Most city people are crowded into small apartments. Many people in rural
areas live in simple, but more spacious, log houses. Novosibirsk is the
largest city in Siberia. It has a population of about 1 1/2 million.
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