Siberia

The Siberia (Сибирь, of the Russian Sibir ) is an immense area of a surface of 13,1 million km ² (approximately 24 times the surface of France) very little populated (39 million inhabitants is approximately 3 inhabitants with the km ²). Located at the east of the Russia it extends from the the Ural until the Pacific Ocean towards the west and from the Arctic Ocean in north to the mounts located at the north of the Kazakhstan and the Mongolian and Chinese borders. Siberia constitutes the Asian part of Russia and the northern part of Asia. This area, which accounts for 77% of the surface of Russia but only 27% of its population, is characterized by a cold and extremely continental climate, and a landscape with the moderate relief furrowed by enormous rivers. Inhabited a long time by pastoral populations, it was gradually colonized by the Russian Empire. Siberia experienced a formidable development during the 20th century thanks to a voluntarist policy of investment of the Soviet mode seeking to emphasize the immense mining and energy resources of this area. Siberia holds its name of the small town of Sibir. The etymology of the word is dubious but the term could come from turco-Mongolian to sibir indicating a very dispersed settlement.

Geography

One generally subdivides Siberia in three great units, geologically distinct and separated by the rivers Ienisseï and Lena:

  • Western Siberia (2 427.000 km ²), in the east of the Ural, vast plain 2000 km broad, consisted of grounds of low altitude and badly drained, truffées of lakes and marshes
  • the plate of central Siberia (4 122.000 km ²), in the east of the river Ienisseï, which culminates between 300 and 1200 meters of altitude, is intersected with canyons or deep lakes like the Lac Baïkal. In the south, rises a high mountainous chain made up of the Altaï and Saïan mounts with tops of 3000 with more than 4000 meters.
  • Eastern Siberia , also called the Russian Far East (more than 6 million km ²), in the east of the river Lena, made up of various solid masses mountainous and finishing in the east by the peninsula of the Kamchatka and its chain of active volcanos.

Certain areas of Siberia (in particular the lower valley of the Ob) are rich in natural resources (oil, natural gas). The Iakoutie accounts for 25% of the worldwide production of diamonds. Their exploitation causes low registers Pollution S and environmental Nuisance S and disturbs considerably the traditional lifestyle of the populations autochtones, of which the most elementary rights are often ridiculed by the large oil companies.

From its distance, the need for clearing it, in the Russian Empire, then in the Soviet Union, Siberia was a traditional area of deportation and imprisonment. Most of the camps of internment of the Gulag of the Soviet era were in Siberia, in particular in the area of the Kolyma.

An area with variable contour

The Western limit of Siberia is traditionally fixed at the watershed between the basins of the rivers being thrown in the Caspian Sea (Kama, the Volga, the Ural) and those belonging to the basin of the Ob (the watershed of the the Ural is thus not retained). However Russian administrative cuttings tend to exclude from Siberia in their statistics the provinces of Sverdlosk and Tchéliabinsk attached to a Ural area, whereas these areas are essentially in the east of the watershed. In the same way Russian distinguishes an area qualigiée from the Russian Far East in which they gather the republic of Sakha, the Oblast d' Amour and other areas located more at the east.

History

Prehistory

The banks of all the Siberian lakes are strewn with many artefacts dating from the Neolithic . Many a tumulus, furnaces and other archaeological artefacts testify to a dense occupation. During the great migrations which had place in Asia of is in west, of many people were brought to the limits north of the large central plate of Siberia then regained Siberia.

According to Vassili Radlov, the first inhabitants of Siberia were the Ienisseïen S which speak a language which does not belong to the family of the altaïques Langues; they remain some traces of these populations in the area of the Monts Saïan like Enets, Saïan-Ostiaks and Kettes.

Ienisseïens were followed of Ougro-Samoyedes, which came like the preceding people from the high plateaus and which were also obliged to settle in Siberia after having crossed the mountains of the Altaï and the Saïans mounts by the great migration of the Hun S at the 3rd century after J. - C. One credits them with the many remainders of the Bronze Age which are scattered in the south of Siberia. The Fer was unknown for them, but they excelled in the work of the Bronze, the Argent and the Or. The jewels and the objects, often polished, show a great artistic direction, and their irrigated fields covered great zones.

Eight centuries later of the Turkish populations like the Khakasse S and the Ouïghour S, also constrained to migrate towards the North-West subjected Ougro-Samoyedes. These new invaders left many objects and one can distinguish two distinct periods. They controlled the manufacture of the objects out of iron and learned from the subjected people the work of the bronze which they used at only artistic ends. Their potteries are sophisticated and indicate an artistic direction more advanced than those of the Bronze Age. Some of these objects are exposed to the Musée of the Hermitage to Saint-Pétersbourg.

The empire of Khakasses lasted until, to the 13th century, the Mongolian S ordered by Genghis Khan subject them and destroy their civilization. A Net decline, perceptible in the tombs which were discovered, reduced the population to the low number noted by Russian on their arrival in Siberia at the 16th century.

The khanat of Siberia

At the beginning of the 16th century, refugees Tatar S originating in the Turkestan subjected the tribes which lived in the east of the the Ural. Farmers, tanners, merchants and mollahs came then from Turkestan and of the small principalities were created along the Irtych and of the Ob. They were joined together by Khan Yadegar and entered in conflict with Russian who was colonizing the the Ural what brought a confrontation with the Moscovie. The envoys of Khan came to Moscow in 1555 and agree to pay an annual tribute of 1000 furs of Zibeline.

The republic of Novogorod and the Moscovie

As of the 11th century the inhabitants of Novgorod started to penetrate in Siberia. At the 14th century (1364) Novgorodiens explored the Mer of Kara and the river Ob. After the fall of the republic of Novgorod, Moscow inherited the exchanges which existed between Russia of north and Siberia. May 9th, 1483 the Muscovite troops of prince Feodor Kourbski-Cherny and Ivan Saltyk-Travin travelled towards Western Siberia. Troops moving along the rivers Tavda, Toura, Irtych until Ob. 1499 Muscovites and novgorodiens after having skied until Ob, subjected the local tribes. In 1570 the Stroganov contractor engaged with Perm many Cosaque S to protect the establishments from the Ural of the attacks of the Siberian tatars. Stroganov suggested with their chief Yermak conquering the Khanat of Siberia, promising to help it by providing him weapons and food.

Yermak and cossacks

Yermak penetrated in Siberia with a troop of 1636 men while following the course of the rivers Tagil and Toura. The following year it reached the river Tobol and 500 men seized Isker the residence of Khan Koutchoum, located near the modern city of Tobolsk. Kutchum flees in the steppes by giving up its territory with Yermark, which according to the tradition, required its thanks to the tsar Ivan IV by offering the possession of Siberia to him.

In 1584 following an offensive of Koutchoum, the cossacks had to give up Siberia and Yermak drowned in Irtych at the time of the loss of Isker. The cossacks, to avoid the zones densément populated south of Siberia, progressed thereafter towards the east of Siberia while passing by the Scandinavian latitudes. Moscow started to build Fort S by installing farmers to supply the garrisons in food. In less than 80 years, Russian reached the Amour and the coast of the Pacific Ocean. This fast conquest is due to the fact that the populations tatares as Turkish were not able to oppose a serious resistance.

The expansion of the Russian Empire

The main resource which attracted the cossacks in Siberia was the furs of Zibeline, Renard and Hermine. The explorers brought back a great number of furs of their forwardings. The populations autochtones which subjected to the authority Russian, were protected by the cossacks from the wandering people living more in the south in exchange of a tax, the Yasak, payable in the form of furs. Ways known as yasachnaya were traced to bring back the products of the yasak to Moscow.

A certain number of people were opposed openly to Russia. Others were subjected and even required to be placed under Russian protection even if sometimes they refused to discharge the yasak thereafter or to accept the Russian authority. The more Russian advanced towards the east, the less they met developed people able to oppose a serious resistance to them. The groups which were defended most vigorously were Koryaks and Chouchkis (in the peninsula of Chouchki), the latter having a civilization of the level of the Stone Age.

Between 1607 and the 1610 Tongouses fought vigorously to preserve their independence but they were subjected about 1623. In 1628 the Russians reached the Lena river then founded the fort of Iakoutsk in 1637; two years later they reached the shores of the sea of Oskhotsk and the mouth of the Oulya river. The Buriat S opposed a certain resistance but the cossacks set up between 1631 and 1641 several forts on their territory like in 1648 the fort on the higher course of the Ouda river behind the lake Baïkal. In 1643 the boats of Vassili Poyarkov descended the Amour and returned in Iakoutsk by the sea of Okhotsk and the Aldan river; in 1650 Yerofey Khabarov created the fort of Albazin on bank of the Love.

The resistance of the Manchu empire obliged the cossacks to leave Albazin and by the treaty of Nertchinsl (1689) Russia gave up its projection on the basin of the river and concentrated on the colonization of the vast zones of Siberia and the trade with China by the road of Siberia. In 1852 a Russian military forwarding under the command of Nikolay Muravyov explored the Love and as from 1857 of the peasants and the cossacks were installed throughout the course of the river. This occupation in fact was recognized by China in 1860 by the Traité of Aigun.

The year or Khabarov explored the Love (1648), the cossack Semyon Dezhnev left since the river Kolyma made the turn of the north-eastern end of Asia whose strait was redécouvert and described 80 years later by Bering. James Cook in 1778, and Perugia after him, completed to recognize the coast of the Northern Pacific.

Although the Arctic Ocean was reached as of first half of the 17th century, the exploration of its coasts started only at the 18th century; it was the work of a series of forwardings carried out by Dmitry Ovtsyn, Fyodor Minin, Vasili Pronchishchev, Lasinius, and Laptev whose work constitutes a brilliant page of annals of the geographical discovery.

Scientists in Siberia

The scientific exploration of Siberia starts between 1733 and 1742 with forwardings of Messerschmidt, Gmelin, and Of the isle of Croyere which are followed by those of Müller, Fischer, and Georgi. Pallas, assity of several students, poses the first stones of a complete inventory of topography, fauna, flora and inhabitants of the area. Forwardings of Christopher Hansteen and Georg Adolf Erman constitute the most important stage of the exploration of the territory. Humboldt, Ehrenberg, and Gustav Pink also makes short stays in Siberia, which gives fresh impulse to the accumulation of scientific knowledge on the area, while Ritter works out in its Asies (1832 – 1859) foundations of a rational knowledge of Siberia. The exploration of the North-East of Siberia by T von Middendorff (1843 – 1845) contemporary of the voyage of Castrén devoted to the study of the languages ouro-altaïques draws the attention to extreme north and wakes up the interest for the Amour river whose basin constitutes the target of forwardings of Akhte and Schwarz (1852).

The Siberian branch of the Russian geographical Company is created at the same time with Irkoutsk and organizes thereafter in a regular way of forwardings of exploration in Siberia. At the same time the opening of the Love and Sakhaline attract Maack, Schmidt, Glehn, Radde, and Schrenck which publishes works on the flora, the fauna and the inhabitants of Siberia.

First establishments

With the S, the Russians who emigrated in Siberia were hunters and people fleeing central Russia: fugitive peasants in the search of a life without serfdom, escaped prisoners of prisons and Old Believers. The new establishments of Russian and the indigenous populations needed to be denied the nomads, it for what the forts were founded. Thus the forts of Tomsk and Berdk were created.

At the beginning of the 18th century the threat of the nomads weakens; also the area became populated more and more; the lifestyle was standardized in the cities.

Life in Siberia

At the 18th century, a news Guberniya (area) administrative is created in Irkoutsk, then at the 19th century the territory is subdivided several times by the creation of news guberniyas: Tomsk, Ienisseï and later Krasnoïarsk.

In 1730, the first great industrial plant of metallurgical manufacture is rested by the Demidov family and gives rise to the town of Barnaoul. Later, the company finances the creation of cultural equipment such as library, club, theater. Pyotr Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, which remains in Barnaoul in 1856-1857 wrote: “the richness of the mining engineers of Barnaoul is not visible only through their properties and their clothing but more still through their level of education, their knowledge of sciences and the literature. Barnaoul was, without any doubt, the most cultivated place of Siberia and I had called it Athens of Siberia leaving the role of Sparte with Omsk”.

The same phenomenon reproduces in other cities: bookstores, museums, colleges and theaters are built, but the first university will be created only in 1880 in Tomsk.

The peasants of Siberia more than those of Russia d' Europe were to count on their own forces and faculties. They were to fight against a hard climate without outside assistance. The absence of constraint and Masters contributed to give them a spirit of independence. Contrary to the peasants of Russia d' Europe, the Siberian ones were not confronted with the lack of grounds available; the weak density of the population gave them the possibility of intensively cultivating a piece of ground during several years of continuation, then to leave it in fallow for one long period to cultivate other pieces. The Siberian peasants had an abundant food while the farming community of European Russia was to moderate the appetite of their family. Leonid Blummer foot-note that the mode of consumption of alcohol differed significantly. The Siberian peasants often drank but moderately “For Siberian, vodka is not a wonder while a Russian peasant (nonSiberian), when there was access, was ready to drown inside”. The houses of Siberian, according to the travellers, differed from the typical Russian houses: the houses were large, often with two stages, a high ceiling and the walls were covered with a oil-base paint.

Exiled Decembrists and others

Siberia was regarded as an ideal place to exile political opponents because it was far from any foreign country. A citizen of Saint-Pétersbourg did not seek to escape in the Siberian vast campaign as could have done it a peasant or a criminal. Even the big cities like Irkoutsk, Omsk or Krasnoïarsk did not have the intense social life and the standard of living high of the capital

Approximately 80 people implied in the revolt of the decembrists were condemned to sorrows of forced labors in Siberia and to reside at it for always. Eleven their women followed them and settled close to the bagnes. In their memories, they noted the kindness and the prosperity of Siberian of the campaigns and the severe treatments inflicted by the soldiers and the officers.

While travelling through Siberia, I admired and I was fascinated with each stage by cordiality and the hospitality which I met everywhere. I was fascinated by the richness and the abundance, in which people lived then (1861). Hospitality was particularly developed in Siberia. We were received everywhere as in friendly countries, everywhere we were well nourished, and when we ask what we owe, they wanted nothing to receive, only saying to burn a candle for God.

“… Siberia is an extremely rich country, the ground is generally generous and little work is required to have rich person verify. ”

Notes of Polina Annenkova woman of decembrist.

A certain number of decembrists died of disease, suffered from psychological shocks or even became insane.

After having purged their sorrow of forced labors, they were assigned to reside in small towns or villages. There, some started a trade, which was well seen. Only several years later, in the years 1840, they were authorized to move in big cities or to settle where they wished it in Siberia. It was only in 1856,31 years later, that Alexandre II forgave them at the time of its crowning.

While living in the towns of Omsk, Krasnoïarsk and Irkoutsk, the decembrists strongly contributed to the development of the social life and the culture. In Irkoutsk, their houses are from now on museums. In many places, commemorative plaques with their names were installed.

There was despite everything the exceptions: Vladimir Raevskiy stopped for his participation in the circles decembrists in 1822 and 1828 was exiled in the village of Onlok close to Irkoutsk. It Maria and have 9 children, was made baker and founded a school for children and adults to teach grammar and the arithmetic one to them. Forgiven by Alexandre II, it returned to visit its birthplace then turned over to Olonki.

Contrary to the wishes of the authorities, the exiled revolutionists did not feel not rejected in Siberia. On the contrary, the Siberian ones which had to survive without assistance of the authorities, did not feel any tenderness for those. In many cases, exiled were accepted cordially and obtained remunerated situations.

Fedor Dostoïevski was exiled in a Katorga close to Omsk and had to make its military service with Semipalatinsk. During its service, it had to go on journeys to Barnaoul and Kouznetsk where it Maria.

Anton Tchekov was not exiled but carried out a voyage into 1890 of its clean iniative with Sakhaline while crossing Siberia and visited a Katorga over there. During its voyage, he visited Tomsk which displeased then Krasnoïarsk to him that he called “most beautiful from the towns of Siberia”. It foot-note that although it was a place where more criminals of common right found than of exiled political, the moral atmosphere was much better: he did not see any vol. Tchekhov observed that beside obvious signs of prosperity, there was a pressing request for cultural development.

Much Polish was also exiled in Siberia (see Sybiraks)

The Trans-Siberian one

The development of Siberia east handicapped by the absence of means of transport in the area like between Siberia and the remainder of the country. Except the Siberian Road, the roads of quality usable by vehicles with wheels are very few and the network is not very dense. During approximately 5 months of the year, circulation passes essentially by the rivers; during the 6 most cold months of the year, goods and passengers travel on sledges drawn by horses on the roads available in winter which are often consisted the cold rivers.

The first Steamer on the Ob - the Osnova of Nikita Myasnikov - is launched in 1844; but the beginnings will be difficult and it is not before 1857 that transport by steamer develops in a serious way. The steamers are introduced on the Ienissei in 1863 then on the Léna and the Amour into the years 1870.

Whereas Western Siberia relatively punt is rather well served by the gigantic river system consisted the Ob-Irtych-Tobol-Choulyl unit, the large rivers of Eastern Siberia - Ienisseï, lower course of the Angara (Angara before Bratsk is not easily navigable because of the fast ), Léna - makes it possible to circulate only according to one North-South axis. One at the time tries to cure this handicap by building the Ob-Ienisseï channel but the result was not a success. Only a line of Railroad could bring a true answer to the problems of transport.

The first projects of railroad in Siberia go back to the creation of the line Moscow - Saint-Pétersbourg. One of the first projects relates to the line Irkoutsk - Tchita intended to connect Irkoutsk to the Love and consequently to the Pacific Ocean.

Before 1880, the central government is not very receptive with this kind of this project, because of low size of the companies established in Siberia and fear that a better integration of the Siberian territories to the Pacifique area makes them fall under the influence from the the United States and of the the United Kingdom. The heavy and ineffective bureaucracy as well as the fear of the financial risks also contribute to paralyze the project: the financial ones underestimate the domino effect of the railroad, by establishing forecasts of traffic based on the volume of the existing exchanges.

Finally fear of losing Siberia convainquit, in 1889, Alexandre II of launching the construction of the railroad. This one started in 1891.

The Trans-Siberian one gives a great dash to Siberian agriculture, while making it possible to increase its exports towards central Russia and the European countries. Not only the railroad instigates the territories close to the railroad but also the southernmost regions linked to the line by the rivers like Altaï (Ob) and the areas of Abakan and Minusinsl (Ienisseï).

Tomsk was at the end of the 19th century more the big city of Siberia, but was not connected to the Trans-Siberian one. Siberian agriculture exported many cheap cereals in the west. The agriculture of central Russia was still dependant on the system of serfdom however theoretically abandoned in 1861. Also in 1896 (whereas the Western parts and Eastern of Trans-Siberian were not completed yet) to protect agriculture from the areas of central Russia of a possible social destabilization, the government introduces the tariff barrier of Tcheliabinsk for cereals and a similar barrier in Mandchourie. This measurement modified the nature of cereal exports: the millet is cultivated in Altaï, around Novossibirsk and Tomsk while many farms are put at the manufacture of Beurre. Between 1896 and 1913, Siberia exports each year on average 500.000 tons of cereal products (grains or flour).

The programme of colonization of Stolypine

The only significant attempt at settlement of Siberia take place under Nicolas II under the impulse of the Prime Minister Stolypine (1906-1911) within the framework of a vaster program of land reform. The rural areas of central Russia were over-populated, while Is of Russia was very slightly populated in spite of the existence of vast fertile zones. In 1906, a decree of the tsar authorized the peasants to settle in Russia of Asia all in their providing free grounds or at a price relatively low. The Russian state agreed of the loans to the colonists for the establishment of their exploitation.

A large publicity campaign is carried out: 6 million booklets and folders entitled what colonization brings to the peasants and How the peasants live in Siberia is distributed in the rural areas. Trains of propaganda traverse the countryside while the trains intended for the transport of the volunteers for colonization are placed at the disposal.

All the colonists did not remain (17,8% of the migrants returned) but 3 million people will settle officially in Siberia and 750.000 are established there apart from the program. Between 1897 and 1914, the population of Siberia will increase by 73% and the surface cultivated to double.

The civil war

At the time of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Siberia is an agricultural area almost deprived of having class and working class. The Intelligentsia has rather vague political ideas. Only 13% of the population live in the cities and have certain concepts of policy. The absence of differences in class, the small proportion of the urban population and the low number of intellectuals lead to the unit of the various parties in the name of regionalism.

The antibolchevic forces do not manage to link their forces. While the admiral Koltchak supported by the allies, fights the Bolsheviks, the Socialist-revolutionists and the Menchevik S sign an agreement with the Bolchévik S in exchange of a certain autonomy. The allies, although having the capacity to intervene in a decisive way in the area, prefer to remain neutral; Koltchak itself disallows a proposal for an assistance of the Japan.

After a series of defeats in central Russia, the forces of Koltchak make retirement in Siberia. The allies evacuate Omsk for Irkoutsk and finally Koltchak, which was made more unpopular than the Bolsheviks, is carried out by the revolutionary Socialists.

The years 1920 and 1930

During the years 1920, agriculture in Siberia declines. The great number of immigrants made in the last decades exhausted the ground and bad harvests become frequent. Agriculture is not destroyed by the civil war, but the disorganization of exports ruins agribusiness industry and reduces the incomes of the peasants. Moreover the Prodrazvyorstka (requisition of the farm surpluses) instituted during the civil war then the tax on the agricultural produce which replaces it during NEP feed a dissatisfaction growing with the farmers. Between 1920 and 1924, there are many riots anticommunists in the rural areas which gather to 40.000 people. Old white (cossacks) and of old red partisans who had fought Koltchak before take share with the riots. According to a ratio of 1927 on the Oblast d' Irkoutsk, the peasants said openly that they took part in an anti-Soviet rebellion and that they wished the support of the foreign countries.

The generation which arrived at the old adult during the war is highly militarized and the Soviet government the embrigade through organizations like the Komsomol. There exist many documents testifying to a red banditism in the countryside: profanation of the tombs and the churches, murder of priests and believers. With many occasions, an activist of Komsomol or a representative of the State, during an exchange with an opponent with the Soviets, puts themselves in anger and kills his interlocutor.

In the years 1930, the party applies in Siberia the plan of collectivization of the grounds which succeeds the NEP. The peasants installed of long time in Siberia are regarded as Koulak S. Of many families of central Russia are off-set in the forest or marshy zones of Siberia slightly populated. The peasants of Siberia are try to escape, are off-set towards the territories of north (like the districts of the Evenks or Khanty-Mansi or the septentrional part of the Oblast de Tomsk). Collectivization destroys the existing social class of the peasants of Siberia and, with it, one of the engines of a natural economic development of the area with consequences which are prolonged until the contemporary period.

During NEP, the new authorities, led by romantic socialist ideas, try to build new socialist cities in agreement with the principles of the movement constructivist, but he in result primarily a great number of buildings to the square forms. For example the theater of Novossibirsk is conceived initially in the purest style constructivist. It is the ambitious project of Architecte S exiled. In the middle of the years 1930, with the arrival of the neo-classicism, the plans of the theater are re-examined in a substantial way.

The second world war

In 1941, many companies as well as the populations are evacuated towards the towns of Siberia by the railroad to escape the progression from the German troops. To mitigate the urgent need of Ammunition S and equipment soldiers, of the factories are rebuilt in urgency in the towns of reception and the new arrivals are immediately put at work.

The majority of the companies thus delocalized will remain in their new establishments once the completed war. This phenomenon involves a very important increase in the industrial production in Siberia at the origin of the creation of many cities like Roubtsovsk. The cities located at the east of Oulan-Oudé, like Tchita, did not profit from this delocalization because they were regarded as dangerously close to the China and the Japan.

August 28th, 1941, the Supreme Soviet ordered the displacement of the German of the Volga, decree which involved their deportation in the rural areas of Siberia and the Kazakhstan.

At the end of the war, thousands of German and Japanese prisoners are condemned to several years of forced labor in the camps which are located in all the areas of Siberia. These camps are managed by an administration different from Gulag. But, although the Soviet camps did not aim to exterminate the prisoners, the rate of death is particularly in particular high in winter. Work went from the market gardening to the construction of the line Baïkal Amour Masterly (BAM).

The industrial expansion

During second half of the 20th century, the prospection and the introduction of the mining and hydro-electric resources continue. Many projects are planned but pushed back with the liking of the wars and the changes of orientation of the Russian leaders.

The most known project is that of the railway line of the Baïkal Amour Masterly (BAM). The construction of this line, planned initially with that of Trans-Siberian, begins only little time before the second world war, then is cold during this one, to be started again at the end of the conflict. After the death of Stalin, the project is again stopped then is started again under Brejenev.

The chain of hydroelectric stations on the Angara is built years 1970-1980 within the framework of a project similar to that of the Tennessee Valley in the United States. The powerplants allowed the realization and the food of great factory constructions like the manufacturing planies of aluminum of Bartsk, Oust-Ilimsk as well as the exploitation of Rare earths in the basin of Angara. But the exploitation of the hydro-electric potential of Angara remains unfinished today: the power station of Bogoutchany is on standby of completion as well as a certain number of industrial facilities.

This development was done with the detriment of enviromment, because of a regulation relatively laxist and disproportionate size of the stoppings (the most important projects had the favor of the decision makers because received more important subsidies). The increase in moisture contributed to make the climate even harder. The construction project of an hydroelectric station on the river Katoun in the mountains of the Altaï in the years 1980 has being stopped following a strong mobilization of the population.

There then exists a great number of complexes directed towards the military production like the NPO Vektor and of the cities closed like Seversk. At the end of the years 1980, most of the industrial production of Omsk and Novossibirsk (more than 40%) were devoted to military and aeronautical productions. The collapse of orders resting on the national expenditure involved an economic crisis.

The branch of the Academy of Science of Russia located in Siberia includes/understands a great number of research institutes in more the big cities: most important is the institute of nuclear physics Boudker with Akademgorodok (a scientific city) located close to Novossibirsk. Other scientific cities or districts exist in the towns of Tomsk, Krasnoïarsk and Irkoutsk. These sites are the centers of computing industry in particular Novossibirsk.

A great number of companies extend the marketing of their consumables to a perimeter transrégional and national. Moscow is not any more the exclusive center of the artistic activities and cultural.

Outlines

Until the completion of the highway Tchita - Khabarovsk, Transbaïkale was a dead end for road transport. Although this new connection profits initially with the through traffic to destination and coming from the provinces from the Pacific, it should also support the colonization and the industrialization of the areas slightly populated of Tchita and Blagovechtchensk.

The extension of the grid system continues today to define the axes of development of Siberia. In this field, the next project which must be concluded its is the completion of the railway service road of Iakoutsk. Another great project, already suggested at the 19th century as a northern option of Trans-Siberian, is the line of Siberia of the North which passes by the towns of Nijnévartovsk, Béli Iar, Lessossibirsk and Oust-Ilimsk. The Russian railroads support another ambitious project consisting in building a connection towards Magadan, the Péninsule of Tchoukche and then hypothetical a Tunnel under the Bering Strait ensuring the service road of the Alaska.

While Russian continues to emigrate since the areas of Siberia and the Far East towards Western Russia, the towns of Siberia attract the labor (legal or clandestine) originating in the Republics of Central Asia and China. Whereas the buildings evaluate with their right measurement the situation, the myth of an invasion of the zones transbaïkales and the Far East by million Chinese is largely widespread in Western Russia. The fear of an annexation by China of Siberia of South-east is indeed very widespread in the Russian company in particular in the west of the Ural.

Geology

Western Siberia, consisted overwash phases of the Cénozoïque, is characterized by an altitude so low that an increase in the sea level of 50 meters would be enough to flood the whole of the grounds of the Arctic Ocean until Novossibirsk. The alluvia deposited in the plain result essentially from the barriers created by the glaciers which at the time closed the access to the Arctic Ocean and which inflected the course of the rivers Ob and Ienisseï towards the Caspian Sea (and perhaps the Mer of Aral). Western Siberia is particularly marshy. With the south of the plain, there or the Pergélisol is practically absent, of rich person grounds, constituting an extension of the Kazakh steppe allowed the installation of an original vegetation (practically disappeared today).

The Siberian central plate is a extremely old Craton which constituted with the Permien, a separate continent. It is extremely rich in minerals such as Or, Diamant, Manganèse, Plomb, Zinc, Nickel, Cobalt and Molybdène. The area includes/understands most of the Trapps of Siberia which constitutes a Grande igneous province. The massive eruption at the origin of this formation coincides about with the massive extinction of the end of Permian the. This volcanic event is regarded as the the most powerful volcanic eruption of the history which the planet knew.

During the Quaternary , only the extreme North-West of Siberia was covered by the glaciers, but on practically all the remainder of the area a permafrost was installed up to one great depth. The only trees which manage to thrive is the Mélèze of Siberia thanks to its not very deep roots. The Taïga dominates everywhere safe in the extreme North-East.

Is and republic of Sakha centers it includes/understands many North-South directed assembly lines which appeared at various geological times. These mountains which rise with practically 3000 meters of altitude, are almost stripped of vegetation as soon as one exceeds a few hundred meters of altitude. The Monts of Verkhoïansk were entirely covered with glacier to the Pléistocène but the climate was then too dry so that the ice extends to low altitudes. In low altitude, there are many sometimes boxed and covered valleys of forests of larches except for extreme north where the Toundra dominates. The grounds are primarily Tourbière S and the horizon soil activates has a thickness lower than one meter safe at the edge of the rivers.

More the high summit of Siberia is the Klioutchevskaïa Sopka, active Volcan located in the Péninsule of Kamtchatka.

Climate

The climate of Siberia is prone to temperature variations of great amplitude. On the northern coast, beyond the Arctic circle, the summer is very short (approximately a month). Most of the population lives in the south of Siberia along the line of the Transsibérien. In this area, the average temperature is of approximately 0°C oscillating between -15°C on average in January and +20°C at least of July. The duration of the fertile period, the abundance of the sunning and the particularly fertile grounds (Chernozem) of the south of Siberia make it possible agriculture to thrive as it fast development of agriculture at the beginning of the 20th century showed it.

To the south of Siberia, the winds of the western south bring the hot air of the Central Asia and the the Middle East. The climate of Western Siberia (Omsk, Novossibirsk) is higher several degrees than that of Eastern Siberia (Irkoutsk, Chita). With a temperature record of -71,2°C, Oïmiakon (Republic of Sakha) holds the record of cold of planet. But in addition in several areas the temperature reaches summer +36 with +38°C. Sakha is the coldest area of Siberia and one finds the temperatures lowest in the basin of the river Yana, or the ground is cold up to 1493 meters of depth (the cold ground is called Pergélisol or permafrost). In spite of these conditions, cold forever considered by the Russian Empire as an obstacle with colonization. In winter, the Siberian anticyclone generally settles in a semi-permanent way on southernmost Siberia so that the winds are normally weak.

Precipitations in Siberia are weak exceeding 500 mm only with the Kamtchatka where the wet winds come from the Mer of Okhotsk run up against the mountainous solid masses - producing the only important glacier of the area - and in Primorée in the extreme south-east where the influence of monsoon can generate strong precipitations lasting the summer. In spite of the cold which reigns in winter, the snowfalls are weak in particular in the east of the area.

Economy

Siberia is particularly rich in minerals with the presence of layers of practically all required metals; this concentration is partly related to the glacial absence of cover during the Quaternaire (except the zones located in high-altitude). The area concentrates some of the largest layers of Nickel, Or, Plomb; Molybdenum, Diamond, Money and Zinc as well as immense layers of Oil and often under-exploited Natural gas. The majority of the layers are located in the east of the area, the coldest zone, which makes their extraction particularly difficult. This one started only when Stalin, arrived at the capacity, had recourse to the off-set .

Agriculture is limited by the weak duration of the fertile period in most of the area. Despite everything, in south-west, where particularly fertile black cotton soils are present and where the climate is moderated a little more, were created extensive large farms cultivating the Blé, the Orge, the Seigle and the potatoes as well as great breedings of Mouton and Bovidé S. Ailleurs, because of poverty of the ground and the brevity of the fertile period, the agricultural resources are restricted with the breeding of Renne S in the Toundra: this activity is practiced by the autochtones since nearly 10.000 years. Siberia has the largest forests of planet. The Bois remains an important economic resource in spite of the fact that many forests located in the East of the area were exploited too quickly so that they can be regenerated. The Mer of Okhotsk is one of both or the three full of fish areas of planet thanks to its cold currents and to its tides of great amplitude what makes it possible Siberia to provide approximately 10% of fish fished in the world, although the activity somewhat declined since the bursting of the the USSR.

The industry, which had developed during the years 1920 and 1930 with a strong particular growth during the second world war, strongly declined since the bursting of the USSR. Several of the gigantic factories located in Western Siberia and around the lake Baïkal closed their doors these last years.

Demography

Siberia has a density from approximately 3 personnes/km ². The majority of the inhabitants are Russian S; those go down from the Slave S which lived in Europe of the East four centuries before. The populations autochtones are made of groups Mongolian S and Turkish S such as the Bouryat S, the Touvain S, the Yakoute S and the Tatar S of Siberia. Other ethnicities include/understand the Ket S, the Choukchi S, the Koryak S and the Youkaghir S.

Approximately 70% of the population live in the cities in majority in apartments. In the rural areas, the inhabitants live in simple residences but often more roomy.

Novossibirsk is more the big city of Siberia. Tobolsk, Tomsk, Irkoutsk and Omsk is older cities equipped with a historical downtown area.

Religion

The Religion plays a big role in the life of the inhabitants of Siberia. A great number of worships are practiced. The dominant religion is the orthodoxe worship. There are in addition many practitioners among the people autochtones. For those, certain places are crowned like the island of Olkhon on the Lac Baïkal.

Transport

The means easiest to circulate in Siberia east to use the Trans-Siberian . This one crosses Siberia from Moscow until Vladivostok to the extreme is. The train comprises compartments of 2nd class to 4 berths, compartments of 1st class to 2 berths as well as a car restoring. The Baïkal Amour Masterly is another railway connecting the Lac Baïkal to the river Amour.

Administrative divisions

Siberia includes/understands several federal subjects:

Cities

Siberia presents a extremely low Population density. One finds there nevertheless a certain number of cities:

People

  • Aléoutes

  • Buriat
  • Dolgans
  • Evenks (or Toungouzes)
  • Itelmènes
  • Kamtchadales
  • Kérèks
  • Kètes
  • Khantys
  • Koryaks
  • Koumandines
  • Mansis
  • Nanaïs
  • Néguidales
  • Nganassanes
  • Nénètses
  • Nivkhes
  • Orotches
  • Oudégués
  • Ouïltas
  • Oultches
  • Saames
  • Selkoups
  • Soïotes
  • Tazes
  • Tchelkantses
  • Tchouktches
  • Tchoulymtses
  • Tchouvantses
  • Tèlènguites
  • Téléoutes
  • Todjintses
  • Tofalars
  • Toubalars
  • Youkaguirs
  • Yupik

Internal bonds

External bonds

  • the railway line of Trans-Siberian the
  • the lake Baïkal which is vastest and deep not salted water reserve
  • Peuples of Siberia and Yakoutie
  • Économie and undertaken in Siberia (in German)

Random links:Trot (horsemanship) | Nicolas Brûlart de Sillery | Areography | Hidan | The Hurricane on the mountain | Arts_libéraux