Post on 28-Dec-2015
MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC QUALITIES
WORLD’S LARGEST TERRITORIAL STATE NORTHERNMOST LARGE AND POPULOUS
COUNTRY IN THE WORLD A FORMER WORLD COLONIAL POWER A COMPARATIVELY SMALL (142 MILLION)
AND CONCENTRATED POPULATION CLUSTERED DEVELOPMENT MULTICULTURAL STATE MINIMAL PORTS
SIZE, LOCATION, AND SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS
LATITUDINAL EXTENT NORTHERNMOST POINT: RUDOLF ISLAND IN
FRANZ JOSEF LAND (82O) SOUTHERNMOST POINT: GROZNYY IN WEST
AND VLADIVOSTOK IN EAST (44O) LONGITUDINAL EXTENT
MORE THAN TWICE ITS MAXIMUM NORTH-SOUTH EXTENT AND EXTENDS ACROSS 11 TIME ZONES
RUSSIA MAKES UP 76.6% OF THE TOTAL TERRITORY OF THE FORMER USSR (ALMOST TWICE THE SIZE OF THE US OR CHINA).
CLIMATOLOGY CLIMATE
AVERAGE WEATHER CONDITIONS FOR A GIVEN AREA OVER AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME, USUALLY 30 YEARS.
WEATHER REFERS TO THE ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS AT A
SPECIFIC PLACE AND TIME (TEMPORARY CONDITIONS) CLIMATOLOGY
A BRANCH OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY CONCERNED WITH:
SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT OF CLIMATES OVER THE SURFACE OF THE EARH
PROCESSES WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF CLIMATES
RUSSIAN CLIMATE
AFFECTED BY 3 NATURAL CONDITIONS:-- LATITUDINAL POSITION-- CONTINENTAL POSITION-- LOCATION OF MAJOR MOUNTAINS
CLIMATE AS A RESTRICTIVE ELEMENT
AGRICULTURE SHORT GROWING SEASONS DROUGHT PRONE EROSION (ACCELERATED BY SNOW MELT)
SETTLEMENT PATTERNS & TRANSPORTATION, see map on pg 126
INDUSTRY HIGH ENERGY CONSUMPTION EXTRACTIVE
PERMAFROST IN FAR NORTH SPRING AND FALL MUD SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES - $$$
PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS
RUSSIAN PLAIN EASTWARD CONTINUATION OF NORTH
EUROPEAN LOWLAND CORE AREA (MOSCOW BASIN)
URAL MOUNTAINS 2,000 MILES LONG (NORTH-SOUTH) YIELD A VARIETY OF MINERALS
WEST SIBERIAN PLAIN WORLD’S LARGEST UNBROKEN LOWLAND PERMAFROST IN THE FAR NORTH
PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS(continued)
CENTRAL SIBERIAN PLATEAU SPARSELY POPULATED, TEMPERATURE
EXTREMES, PERMAFROST YAKUTSK BASIN
MOUNTAINOUS, HIGH RELIEF EASTERN HIGHLANDS
RANGES, RIDGES, PRECIPITOUS VALLEYS, VOLCANIC MOUNTAINS, LAKE BAYKAL
CENTRAL ASIAN RANGES RISE ABOVE THE SNOW LINE, GLACIATED
CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS EXTENSION OF THE ALPINE SYSTEM
POLITICAL FRAMEWORK
SOVIET LEGACY REVOLUTION (1905-1917); Read caption, pg 119
and pg 111. BOLSHEVIKS VERSUS MENSHEVIKS V.I. LENIN CAPITAL: PETROGRAD TO MOSCOW (1918) USSR (UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS)
1924 -1991; consisting of 15 states. RUSSIFICATION – spread of Russian culture and
population. Including the replacement of ethnic peoples with Russians, esp. in non-Russian republics.
ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK
CENTRALLY PLANNED (EARLY 1920s) MAJOR OBJECTIVES
COLLECTIVIZE AGRICULTURE SPEED INDUSTRIALIZATION
A COMMAND ECONOMY IS ONE IN WHICH THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION ARE OWNED AND CONTROLLED BY THE STATE AND IN WHICH CENTRAL PLANNING OF THE STRUCTURE AND THE OUTPUT PREVAILS
FEATURES OF THE SOVIET ECONOMY PRODUCTION OF PARTICULAR MANUFACTURED GOODS IN
PARTICULAR PLACES ECONOMIC INTERDEPENDENCE OF THE REPUBLICS
LENIN (1917 - 1924)
INTRODUCED MARXIST PHILOSOPHY
REPLACED PRIVATE WITH PUBLIC OWNERSHIP
DEVELOPED NATIONAL ECONOMIC PLANS
SOVIET LEADERS
STALIN (1924 - 1953)
ALL ASSETS NATIONALIZED
CREATION OF HUGE CENTRALIZED STATE TO CONTROL ALL ASPECTS OF SOVIET LIFE
PURGES OF DISSIDENTS
COLLECTIVIZED FARMING – took land away from farmers
CONCENTRATION ON HEAVY INDUSTRY AT EXPENSE OF AGRICULTURE
SOVIET LEADERS
KRUSHCHEV (1953 - 1964)
GREATER EMPHASIS ON AGRICULTURE
VIRGIN LANDS PROGRAM – SEMIARID PASTURES INTO IRRIGATED WHEAT FIELDS
ULTIMATELY LED TO ARAL SEA ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER (pg 394 & next slide).
SOVIET LEADERS
SOVIET LEADERS
BREZHNEV (1964 - 1982)
HEIGHT OF THE COLD WAR MILITARY/INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY ECONOMIC STAGNATION (esp.
AGRICULTURE)
MIKHAIL GORBACHEV (1985 - 1991) INITIATED ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL REFORM PERESTROIKA
RESTRUCTURING INTENDED TO PRODUCE MAJOR CHANGES TO BOTH
THE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SYSTEM ECONOMIC AIM: TO CATCH UP WITH WESTERN
ECONOMIES POLITICAL AIM: REFORM OF THE COMMUNIST
PARTY GLASNOST
POLICY OF ENCOURAGING GREATER OPENNESS IN BOTH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
SOVIET LEADERS
A SHARP DECLINE IN AGRICULTURAL & INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION
ECONOMIC OUTPUT DOWN BY 4% IN 1990 & 10-15% IN FIRST HALF OF 1991
INTENSIFICATION OF ETHNO-CULTURAL NATIONALISM & SEPARATISM, WHICH THREATENED THE UNITY OF THE SOVIET UNION.
STEADY EROSION OF COMMUNIST PARTY MONOPOLY ON POWER
COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION(CONDITIONS IN 1990 & 1991)
LEAD TO THE EMERGENCE OF A “COMMONWEALTH” OF SLAVIC COUNTRIES TO REPLACE THE SOVIET UNION
COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES
THE RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT GORBACHEV
COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION(CONDITIONS IN 1990 & 1991)
CHECHNYA
WHY CHECHNYA DESERVES INDEPENDENCE SEE REGION ON pg 128 and pg 141 FOUGHT AGAINST THE RUSSIAN IMPERIALISTS TWO
CENTURIES AGO MASSIVE PERSECUTION DURING STALIN’S REIGN 1991 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
POINTS IN SUPPORT OF RUSSIAN CONTROL FIGHTING AFTER INDEPENDENCE WAS DECLARED IN
1991 CHECHENS ILLEGALLY INSTALLED A SEPARATIST
LEADER ATTACKS ON RUSSIANS & CHECHEN TERRORISM
RUSSIA’S PROSPECTS
SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ISSUES INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES/
MANUFACTURING CAPACITY TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE DECLINING POPULATION INTERNAL FRICTION
SIBERIA LARGER THAN THE CONTINENTAL U.S., BUT
LESS THAN 15 MILLION PEOPLE
VAST, CHALLENGING, UNTAPPED
CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENT VAST DISTANCES COLD TEMPERATURES, ARCTIC WINDS POOR SOILS
RESOURCE POTENTIAL OIL AND NATURAL GAS METALLIC ORES TIMBER