Climate Zones And Population Centers In Russia example essay topic

Russia is a huge landmass and covers a vast amount of the earth's surface area. Being so large, Russia contains a huge variety of different geographical features. There are several mountains, rivers, bodies of water, climate zones, and population centers in Russia. Most of the development in Russia is located in its core area, east of the Ural Mountains.

There are several countries around Russia that used to be parts of a larger union called The Union of Soviet Socialists Republics, however, in 1991, the USSR broke apart into several other independent states. The new states that were formed are: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The realm that is Russia is further divided into eight regions including the Far East, Siberia, Northwest, Urals, Greater Volga, Central Russia, Black Earth, and North Caucasus. There are several mountain ranges in the Russian realm. Perhaps the most prominent and important mountain range is the Ural mountain range. The Urals basically divide Russia into two parts: the area east of the Urals, known as European Russia, and the area west of the Urals.

European Russia is highly developed, while the area west of Russia is little more than a wasteland, with little population. Besides the Urals, there are several other mountain ranges within the realm. For example, the Caucasus Mountains, which divide Russia from Georgia. There are several mountain ranges that define the southern border of Russia, including Yablonovyk Khrebet, Say an Khrebet, and Stanovoy Krhebet. Mountain ranges on the eastern border of Russia include Dzhugdzhur Khrebet, Khrebet Gydan, and Khrebet Gydan. All of the mountain ranges that define the eastern and southern borders, as well as the Ural Mountains create an area in west Russia in which there is little vegetation and harsh weather.

Russia also has an abundance of rivers that mark the landscape of this gigantic realm. The Volga River is the largest of the Russian Rivers, and most likely its most important. There are several population centers along the Volga as the Volga is their "lifeline" (B lij 141). The Volga is perhaps much more important than the other rivers in the eastern half of Russia, such as the Lena, The Kolyma, and the Irtysh, because of the bitterness of the climate west of the Urals, once again, makes the population very sparse in that half of the realm. The Don is an important river in the southernmost part of Russia. Russia is touched in many places by several large bodies of water.

The Barents and White Seas in the far northwestern section of Russia are both important bodies of water for Russia as far as trading goes. As large as Russia is, it is mostly landlocked, making the Barents Sea very important for trading in large cities such as Arkhangelsk. The Baltic Sea is another important body of water, as the large trading port of St. Petersburg is located on the coast of The Baltic. On the eastern coast of Russia, all of the larger cities, such as Vladivostok, are located on The Sea of Okhotsk. The Caspian, Black, and Aral Seas are all located in the southern part of the realm, around smaller former members of the Soviet Union, such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. In the western half of Russia, as has been stated, there is little population due to the harshness of the climate.

There are two main areas of climate in the Siberian region: the tundra, a treeless plain, and taiga, which is defined by coniferous forests. For the most part, the vast majority of Russia is dominated by cold climates, especially in the Western half. While Russia for the most part is relatively sparsely populated, there are several major population centers. Among them are Moscow (the Russian capitol), Novosibirsk, Volgograd, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, St. Petersburg, Grozny, Yakutsk, Irkutsk, Samara, Novo grad, Perm, Minsk, and Kiev. As you can see, Russia is a huge landmass that is dominated and defined by several rivers, mountains, climates, and population centers. While there are far too many geographic features of Russia to cover in one paper, this paper should give one a brief overview of some of the features of the realm that is one of the largest, and one of the most important on the planet.