RUSSIALAND OF THE CZARS

St. Basil’s Cathedral – MoscowNamed after Basil the Fool – holy man

Ivan the Terrible ordered this cathedral built after his defeat of the Tartars! 1554 – original color – white!!!

A Comparison•Area

US - 3.8 m sq. mi. Russia – 6.5 m sq. mi. Russia is almost twice as large as Canada

•Government US – federal Russia – federal

•PopulationUS – 314,000,000 Russia – 141,839,000

•UrbanizationUS – 82% Russia – 75%

•Economic SectorsUS – agriculture 1.2% Russia – agric. 9.8% industry 22.1 % indus. 27.5% service 76.7% serv. 62.7%

•Gross Domestic Product US – 15.04 trillion Russia – 1.8 trillion

GEOGRAPHIC AND HISTORIC THEMES

Winston Churchill stated “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” Why ? SIZE: She’s huge! Vast! Barren!

DISTANCE: Moscow – Vladivostok – 5,952 miles LA to NYC – 2,790 miles Seattle to Miami – 3,355 miles

CLIMATE: It’s extremely COLD AND DRY!Tundra, Subarctic, Humid Continental, Steppe

FEAR OF INVASION: Very isolated socially, politically. Rulers were harsh, distrusting of foreigners and their own people.

EXPANSION: Driven to expand! Why? She had too few warm water ports, thus a feeling of land encirclement! Czars created the largest contiguous empire!

ECONOMICALLY BACKWARD: With all her natural resources she has never been noted for producing anything other that armaments! Do you know of any Russian car, electronic device, camera, etc.????? Today she’s not much better!

Corruptionlack of foreign investment

` shrinking workforcepoor infrastructure

MULTI-ETHNIC: Russia is divided into 46 Oblasts like Sakhalin Island and 21 internal Republics like Chechnya all representing various groups. But still 70% of the population is ethnic Russian(Slavic)

INVASIONS

Mongols – 13th century

French – 19th century Napoleon

Trouble in the Black Sea area Turkish Sultan

19th century

HitlerInvaded during WWII

VEGETATION ZONES

TAIGA – A FOREST- RUSSIA’S BOREAL FOREST

GLOBAL BOREAL FORESTS

Amur Leopard

Musk

Can you guess what all of these lights represent??? People of course, but why are they here?