Physical Features and Climate of Russia

Most of the population can be found in the north-west part where the biggest cities are – Moscow and SST. Petersburg. Other parts of Russia are less developed with high unemployment rates and poverty. Because of its location Russian culture is influenced by Europe from one side and Asia from another and it creates a sort of misunderstanding between people who live In different regions. Russia Is rich with natural resources especially gas and Is able to play almost a monopolistic role exporting these resources.

However whenever I travel around Russia I see that many wings are not brought for tourists consumption and many areas require improvement. Let’s take Aural Mountains for example – a massive area with beautiful mountains that could be perfect for winter sports. But it is embarrassing to bring foreign tourists there because the quality of service leaves much to be desired. The main money capital is centered in Moscow and SST. Petersburg so the other parts of Russia have to suffer. 2. How did climate and physical geographic features spur Russian’s imperial expansion? To start with, Russia had a huge territory from the 10th century.

Century wrought century It was expanding its territory In order to get the access to waters, warmer climate lands and gain more natural resources. As the climate was quite harsh, people were conquering and gaining lands with better climate. Secondly, the surrounding countries and lands felt dependent on Russian resources and some of them preferred to unite their lands with Russia. Therefore the population was growing rapidly. 3. Why is fur far more than an indulgence in Russia? What role did the fur trade play in the expansion of Russia? Nowadays, Russian fur market is one of the largest in the world.

From the past times hunting animals for food and fur has been a great contribution to Russian’s economy that helped in development and country expansion. Many types of animals which fur Is valued live In the Russian forests and their number Is quite large, that allows hunting them without major disturbances of nature. Fur trade was one of the popular activities In Russia now and then. 4. How did the establishment of the Soviet bloc lad development of the Soviet union following World War II? Discuss with regard to technical optimization, had a land border with Afghanistan, Hungary, Iran, China, DEEP, Mongolia, Norway,

Poland, Romania, Turkey, Finland, Czechoslovakia and the only sea border with the U. S. A. , Sweden and Japan. The Soviet Union, along with the United States was a strong empire. The Soviet Union dominated the world system of socialism, as well as was a permanent member of UN Security Council. After the victory in the war was carried out denationalization of the Soviet economy and its recovery in areas affected by the occupation. By 1950 industrial production increased by 73% compared to the pre-war period. Agriculture recovered more slowly, with great difficulties, mistakes and miscalculations.

However in 1947 the food situation has stabilized, were canceled cards for food and industrial goods, a monetary reform helped to stabilize the financial situation. 5. What factors led to the breakup of the Soviet empire? The following factors played the key role for the breakup of Soviet Union: International arguments between countries about the different cultures that are under intro of Soviet Union; Restrictions introduced by the government for mass media and West influence; Being behind the west empires in development – the level of life was very low, deficit of everything; Economic reform failure;

Oil prices decrease; All the decisions were taken in Moscow only – other parts were not satisfied with that; Wars like Afghanistan and Cold war were destroying economy; Was hard to lead such a big in territory country; “Perestroika” program of Geographer; Boris Elgin brought democracy program and it became popular within a short period of time. 6. In 1986, what happened at Coherency? Today, what policy does the Russian Federation have regarding the storage of nuclear waste? On April 26, 1986 the destruction happened of the Fourth energy unit of Coherency nuclear power plant, hat located on the territory of the Ukrainian USSR (now – Ukraine).

It includes the classification system of nuclear materials and the distribution of duties – who from the government is in charge of what. As any law it includes the punishments and penalties system for breaking any of the published rules. 7. Discuss the environmental degradation of Lake Basal and the Oral Sea. Lake Basal in Russia and Oral Sea in Astrakhan were once the cleanliest water objects in are aware of the environmental crisis, claim that nowadays these two objects are totally different as they were in the past times.

Let’s start with Basal – the problem as that many programs established by government in order to preserve its cleanliness were not brought into life. Therefore the problem of Basil’s pollution was not resolved and the level of cleanliness was rapidly dropping. Oral Sea had a sadder fate. The level of its water dropped due to the pollution and the sea separated into two isolated reservoirs of water – North and South. Both countries were unable to take care of these natural resources which lead to degradation of environment in the mentioned areas. 8. During the Soviet era, the human population of Siberian tundra and taiga rose hardly.

Currently people are leaving the area. Discuss migration in and out of Siberia with regard to natural resource development, industrialization, forced labor, military strategy, and free market forces In Russia there is a strong tendency of people to migrate from east to west or south, because the level of life is higher in those regions. People are setting up near the big megalopolises. It is because they are searching for better Jobs, for education, for recognition and self-development. Therefore the areas they leave become less populated and less developed.

It influences the agriculture and production of goods of Russia, as many territories are left unused and the economy bases on different sources of income. The trade is on high level – migrants try to take as many belongings as they can so they trade the goods they collected through a long period of time, animals are traded as well for food and fur. 9. Ethnic diversity in Central Asia contributed to the breakup of the Soviet Union. How have national identities been asserted in the decade since the Central Asian Republics became independent countries? What cultural factors serve to unify or separate the states in this region?

After the breakup of Soviet Union in 1991 many countries of Central Asia that separated have been placed in hard times of crisis and political and economic instabilities. As well as Russia, they were developing with the use of their own resources and skills. Some of them were influenced by the USA in order to get some material help. The cultural factors that served to unify or separate the states are based on cultural differences, disagreement in accepting other cultural traditions and religions. Some regions were not satisfied with the government and were trying to separate and establish their own ones.