Unit 7: Russia and the Republics

1. Unit 7: Russia and the Republics Countries of: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan

2. Vocabulary Cultural diffusion–the process of knowledge, skills, and technology being spread from one culture to another Demographics–the study of, or information about, people's lifestyles, habits, population movements, spending, age, social grade, employment, etc. Dictatorship–a country, government, or the form of government in which absolute power

3. Political Map

4. Physical Map

5. Climates

6. Population Density

7. Religions

8. Languages

9. Ethnic Groups

10. Russia

11. Ethnic Make-up Russia: 80% Russian, 70 other ethnic groups Mostly Orthodox Christians, some Muslims & Jews also

12. Physical Characteristics • 1/6 of Earth’s land surface • 12 Time Zones • Northern European Plain • West Siberian Plain • Central Siberian Plateau • Russian Far East

13. Northern European Plain • 1,000 miles wide • Chernozem • 75% of population lives here • Moscow, Kiev, and St. Petersburg located here

14. West Siberian Plain • Ural Mountains: divides Europe and Asia • Eurasia • Area b/w Ural Mts. And Yenisey River

15. Central Siberian Plateau and Russian Far East • HIGH plateaus • Lena River • Kamchatka Peninsula: 120 volcanoes- 20 still active • Sakhalin and Kuril Islands • Japan still claims Kuril Islands even though they were lost to Russia after WWII

16. Southern Landforms Transcaucasia: Caucasus Mts. Central Asia: Stans, very arid b/c of high mts to the south

17. Turan Plain • B/w Caspian Sea and Central Asia • Syr Darya and Amu Darya Rivers • Kara Kum and Kyzyl Kum Deserts

18. Rivers Ob River Volga River: 60% of Russia’s river traffic

19. Lakes Caspian Sea: largest inland sea, saltwater lake, tourism Aral Sea: since 1960 – lost 80% volume, irrigation

20. Lake Baikal: deepest lake in the world (1 mile), 20% of world’s freshwater, 1,200 species unique to the lake, rather clean

21. Siberia 32 million ppl live here -90 degrees to 94 degrees depending on the season Permafrost to HUGE swamps See Russian Winter ppt

22. Abundant Resources • Natural Gas, Oil, Coal, Iron Ore, 1/5 of world’s timber, top producer of hydroelectricity • Problem: they’re in Siberia

23. Climate Factors • Continentality • Tundra- arctic region • Taiga- south of the tundra • Steppe – chernozem- Ukraine through Kazakhstan • Desert- Turkmenistan & Western Uzbekistan

24. Shrinking Aral Sea • Between 1960 & today, 80% lost • Syr Darya and Amu Darya diverted for irrigation • Pollution – 24 species of fish originally, all gone now

25. Chernobyl • April 28, 1986 • Nuclear reactor exploded killing 31 people • Contaminated 100,000 sq. miles • Evacuated and resettled 250,000 ppl • Costs related to the disaster are over $300 billion • Millions exposed to nuclear radiation

26. Trans-Siberian Railroad

27. Russian Expansion

28. Emergence of Russia • Russia Under the Czars: • Social Structure was feudalism until the 1800s • Serfdom was abolished in 1861 (start of American Civil War) • Czar: variant of Caesar – oversaw expansion

29. Peter the Great • Famous czar who expanded from the Baltic Nations to the Pacific • Founded St. Petersburg as the new capital • Reading from book

30. Catherine the Great • Famous czarina • Expanded into Poland, Belarus, and the Ukraine • Reading from book

31. Russian Revolution • 1917 Vladimir Lenin led a revolt against Czar Nicholas II • Nicholas and his entire family were murdered (Anastasia story) • Lenin and the communists took over • New country is called USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)

32. Russian Revolution: 1917 – Czars were abdicated: gave up their crowns • Karl Marx - Marxism • Set up a Republics Soviet: governing council • Supreme Soviet: Moscow – national laws • Command Economy: all businesses are govt. owned • Collective Farms: under Stalin, group farming Rise of Communism

33. Soviet System • Lenin and Stalin: Communist Dictatorship • Millions resisted and sent to forced labor camps & prisons in Siberia • Red Army: Soviet military • Cold War: nukes, tanks, jets, subs- world power

34. Sputnik and the Space Race • October 4, 1957 • world's first artificial satellite • marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.

35. End of Communism • Mikhail Gorbachev: glasnost – openness in media • Perestroika: economic restructuring – gradual change to capitalism • Privatization: selling govt. owned businesses to private indv. • Boris Yelstin: 1991 – 1st democratic president • Vladimir Putin: 2000 – 2nd democratic president

36. Distance Decay • Size & harsh climate make transportation hard • ¾ raw materials from Siberia • Rivers frozen in winter • Railroads: 93,000 mi of track, • Federal Districts to gain more support over regional leaders (7: Central, Far-Eastern, Northwest, Siberian, Southern, Urals, and the Volga)

37. Economic Problems • Very polluted: oil spills; cancer • Shortage of money • 1998 Economic Crash: 40% of population in poverty • Inflation: Ruble: >$0.01 • No health care • Black Market: trade through barter, off the books • Alcoholism, Drug Abuse, divorce, and suicide are on the rise

38. Russian Mafia • By 1998 the mafia had control of 40% of private companies and 60% of govt. owned companies • No tax revenue from those businesses • Mother Russia’s Children

39. Transcaucasia: Georgia, Armenia, & Azerbaijan

40. Caucasian Culture • MANY Languages (3 families) • Most are Christian or Muslim • Russian territory until 1991 • 50 different ethnic groups

41. Georgia • Tourism and wine industry in subtropics • Tourism slowed with Abkhazian conflict • Supras: dinner party • Walnuts big part of diet • Own alphabet • Mostly Christian

42. Azerbaijan • Oil industry • Lots of underground gas and oil wells • Many earthquakes • Most speak Azeri or Russian and use a Latin alphabet • 93% Muslim • Democracy

43. Armenia • More Armenians live outside Armenia than in it • Own alphabet • Lake Sevan is one of the world’s largest mountain lakes • Armenian and Russian are main languages • Mostly Christian • Democracy

44. Chechnya • Was not released from Russia at the fall of the Soviet Union • Russian invasion from 1994-2001 • Chechens want independence • Own language, separate ethnic group • Russian refuses

45. Ossetia • Northern Ossetia is still part of Russia • Southern Ossetia is part of Georgia • Want independence, both countries say no • Resulted in 40,000 refugees • Truce, but no independence

46. Nagorno-Karabakh • Azerbaijan claims the region b/c of history • Armenia claims the region b/c ¾ of its population is ehtnic Armenian • Cease-fire in 1994 left 1 million refugees • Now considered an enclave of Armenia

47. Central Asia: the “Stans”

48. The Silk Road

49. The Great Game • Struggle between Russia and Great Britain for control of Central Asia • Soviets won and held control until 1991

50. Nuclear Testing • Soviet nuclear industry in Northern Kazakhstan • Between 1949 – 1989; Soviets exploded 470 nuclear devices • 180,000 sq. mi. effected • 1 million ppl exposed to radiation • Radiation still present