Introduction to Geography of Siberia
Siberia, the mainland part of Russia in Asia. Siberia is a geographic region rather than a political unit; it lies entirely within Russia. Because of their close association, geographic and economic ties, Sakhalin and the northern part of Kazakhstan are sometimes considered part of Siberia.
With an area of some 5,000,000 square miles (13,000,000 km 2), Siberia makes up about 75 per cent of the territory of Russia and is more than a third larger than the United States. It extends from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean (a distance of as much as 3,800 miles [6,100 km]) and from China and Mongolia northward to the Arctic Ocean (some 2,000 miles [3,200 km]).
Physical Geography
LandSiberia can be divided into three sections: Western, Central, and Eastern Siberia.
Western Siberia lies between the Urals and the Yenisey River valley and consists primarily of the low-lying, flat plains of the West Siberian Lowland. Except for parts of the far north, Western Siberia is drained by the sluggish Ob-Irtysh river system. Much of the land is swampy. In the extreme southeast, the terrain becomes increasingly rugged, particularly in the Altai Mountains, which rise to almost 14,800 feet (4,500 m) above sea level
Central Siberia is roughly the area drained by the Yenisey and Lena rivers and consists chiefly of the eroded Central Siberian Plateau. Here elevations are generally well below 3,000 feet (900 m). Numerous mountains, including the Sayan Mountains and the Baykal and Yablonovyy ranges, make up the extreme south. Peaks in the Sayans reach heights of up to about 11,400 feet (3,470 m).
Eastern Siberia occupies the area between the Lena River and the Pacific Ocean. Except for several broad river valleys, most of Eastern Siberia is made up of low mountains; elevations rarely exceed 7,000 feet (2,100 m). Among the more prominent ranges are the Sikhote Alin, Dzhugdzhur, Stanovoy, Verkhoyansk, Cherskiy, and Kolyma ranges. On the Kamchatka Peninsula are numerous volcanoes, both active and dormant, including snowcapped Klyuchevskaya Sopka (almost 15,590 feet [4,750 m] high), the loftiest peak in Siberia.
Water. Most of the great rivers of Russia are in Siberia. The Lena, Ob, Irtysh, and Yenisey all exceed 2,000 miles (3,200 km) in length. More than a dozen others, including the Amur, Kolyma, Lower Tunguska, Vilyuy, Aldan, and Angara, have courses of 1,000 to 2,000 miles (1,600 to 3,200 km). Except for the eastward-flowing Amur, all the major Siberian rivers drain northward to the Arctic Ocean. In the extreme north, the Arctic rivers remain frozen as long as nine months each year, blocking the flow of water from warmer areas to the south. As a result, flooding is widespread each spring.
Small lakes dot many areas, especially the western lowlands. The only large lake is Lake Baykal (Baikal), in the south. More than 5,300 feet (1,600 m) deep, up to 50 miles (80 km) wide, and almost 400 miles (640 km) long, it contains about as much water as North America's Great Lakes. It is the world's deepest lake.
ClimateBecause of its northerly location in the gigantic landmass of Eurasia, Siberia has the severest climate of any area on earth, excluding Antarctica. Winters are long and bitterly cold; average January temperatures range from about 0° F. (—18° C.) in some parts of the south to well below —50° F (—46° C.) in the northeast. At Oymyakon, on the Indigirka River, temperatures as low as —96° F. (—71° C.) have been reported.
Summers are short and vary from warm to cool, depending on location. During July, the warmest month, temperatures are occasionally high, but generally average from about 70° F. (21° C.) in some southerly localities to about 38° F. (3° C.) in the north. Where summers are briefest and coolest, notably in the far north, permafrost (permanently frozen ground) lies near the surface.
Precipitation comes mainly during summer as rain and is scanty over most of Siberia—some 4 to 20 inches (100 to 500 mm) a year. Only in a few mountain areas, mainly along the Pacific coast, does it amount to as much as 40 inches (1,000 mm). Snow covers the land for about six to nine months each year.
Plants and AnimalsVegetation in the tundra—a treeless zone along the Arctic coast—consists chiefly of mosses, lichens, short grasses, and small shrubs. Similar vegetation occurs above the tree line in many of Siberia's mountains. South of the Arctic tundra lies the taiga, a vast coniferous forest which in some places is more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) wide. The predominant species are pine, fir, larch, and spruce. In, some parts of southern Siberia, deciduous trees, such as aspen and birch, occur mixed with the evergreens or in solid stands. In the southwest, where rainfall is scantiest, the forests give way to wooded and grassy steppes. There are also sizable steppe areas in some of the valleys and intermountain basins of the south and southeast.
Being largely wilderness, Siberia is the home of a great variety of animals. Moose, elk, reindeer, deer, bears, and wolves are among the principal large animals of the taiga. Though comparatively rare, tigers and leopards are found in some of the remote mountainous areas. Animals valued for their fur—for which Siberia has long been famous—include fox, kolinskies (minks), martens, otters, sables, squirrels, and rabbits and hares. The Arctic coast is the breeding ground for a multitude of birds, especially ducks, geese, and coots.
Economic DevelopmentDespite its many adverse conditions, such as harsh climate, rough terrain, and great distances, Siberia is undergoing rapid development. The region has an enormous wealth of resources, especially fuel and metallic minerals, timber, and water power. Virtually all of the economic development has come since 1928, when the Soviet Union began a planned economy with its first Five Year Plan. Many groups, including ardent pioneers as well as convicts in forced-labor camps, have contributed to Siberia's partial conquest.
During World War II, while the European part of the Soviet Union was heavily damaged, Siberia's development was speeded up. Many industrial activities were moved from European Russia to Siberia to prevent their destruction by the Germans. After the war, large amounts of equipment, even entire factories, were brought in from the countries of eastern Europe. Government investment in Siberia has been particularly heavy since the 1950's.
Most of the industrialization has occurred along or near the Trans-Siberian Railway in the south. Of major importance is the southern part of Western Siberia. It contains the bulk of Siberia's population, most of its large industrial cities, and several connecting railway lines. The heart of the region is the Kuznetsk Basin. Its enormous supply of coal and its reserves of iron ore and other minerals provide the foundation for heavy industries. In or near the basin are such centers as Novosibirsk, Siberia's largest city (1,436,000 inhabitants in 1989), Novokuznetsk, Barnaul, Kemerovo, and Tomsk. Other major cities include Omsk, with a population of 1,148,000, and Krasnoyarsk, with 912,000.
Elsewhere in Western Siberia are Russia's most productive oil and gas fields. In the late 1980's almost two-thirds of the Soviet Union's petroleum output came from the Ob fields northeast of Tyumen.
A number of industrial and urban areas are located along the Trans-Siberian Railway to the east. Irkutsk, at the southern end of Lake Baykal, is the hub of a rapidly growing industrial complex based largely on hydroelectric power. Farther east are Ulan Ude, Chita, Khabarovsk, and the Pacific port of Vladivostok. Some centers, because of abundant minerals or other resources, are developing at some distance from the Trans-Siberian. They are, however, usually linked to it by branch lines Bratsk, on the Angara River at the site of one of the world's largest hydroelectric dams, is an example.
A second railway, the Baykal-Amur Mainline (BAM), runs 2,000 miles (3,200 km) across southeastern Siberia, north of the Trans-Siberian. Construction began in 1974 and was completed 10 years later, opening up rich mineral and timber resources.
Farming, like manufacturing, is concentrated in the southwest, where conditions are favorable to dry farming. Wheat is the chief crop. In 1954 a program was begun in southwestern Siberia and the adjacent part of Kazakhstan that eventually brought 100 million acres (40 million hectares) of virgin land into wheat production. Other grains, sunflower seeds for oil, and sugar beets are also significant crops.
Mining, lumbering, fur farming, and trapping are carried on in some far-north localities. The only sizable northern city is Norilsk (181,000), a nickel-producing center near the mouth of the Yenisey River. Throughout the far north transportation is primarily by water during summer. There is also air service to several Arctic ports and remote towns Commercial fishing is becoming increasingly important in the cold waters along the Pacific coast.
PeopleThere are more than 40 million people in Siberia, most of whom are Russians, Ukrainians, and other Slavs. The Slavic population lives predominantly in cities. Throughout Siberia, but mainly in rural areas, are various indigenous peoples, most of them belonging to Turkic, Mongol, or other Altaic-speaking groups.
The Turkic-speaking peoples include the Tatars in the west, the Tuvinians in Central Siberia, and the Yakuts in the northeast. The largest of the Mongol groups are the Buryats. They are found, along with the Tungus-Manchurians, in the southeast. The Tuvinians, Yakuts, and Buryats each have their own state.
Siberia has numerous nomadic tribes in the northern regions. They live chiefly by hunting, fishing, and reindeer herding. The majority are of Finno-Ugrian stock. In the northeast are peoples of Paleo-Asiatic ethnicity, including the Chúkchi and the Koryak.