World Regional Geography

Russia and the Newly Independent States!

Countries: Russian Federation and 11 loosely allied countries including;
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Themes to Explore in Russia: (page 247)1

The move to a market: The most remarkable change in the region here is the major effort to rapidly change from a centrally planned economy to a market economy that is mainly based on enterprise.
New alignments of people and trade: The breakup of the Soviet Union into smaller, more autonomous political units resulted in population movements, new allocations, and new trading patterns.
The slow emergence of democracy: Market liberalization didn't lead automatically into more popular participation in government, instead they had to forge governing institutions in an unstable manner and circumstances.
The reconfiguration of the institutions of a civil society: During this transition, Soviet Union did provide many social and civil safeguards for its citizens. All though, this transition to a market economy, crime and corruption flourished.

Physical features in Russia!

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This picture is of the Ural Mountains.
Ural Mountains-
These mountains are in a fairly straight line south from the Arctic Ocean into Kazakhstan. Fortunately these mountains are not an issue with being a huge barrier to humans, because they have made many easy passes across this mountain range. One roll these mountains play is affecting the weather patterns found in Russia. This is caused when winds carry moisture all the way from the Atlantic and Baltic across the Urals and into Siberia. Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk that were established in the Urals during the twentieth century have been a main factor in the deforestation that has been occurring in the Urals. The forest was cut down to fuel these newly developed nations.

Eastern Extension of the North European Plain- They rolls low and flat from the Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine and Romania 1,200 miles to the Ural Mountains. This part of the region is referred to as European Russia because the Ural Mountains are traditionally considered part of the not very clear border between Europe and Asia. European Russia is the most densely populated area in the entire region, with its agricultural and industrial core.
The West Siberian Plain- Lying east of the Ural Mountains. This is the largest plain in the world, covered mostly in marshy lowlands that are about the size of the eastern United States. This plain is drained by the Ob River and its tributaries that flow north to the Arctic Ocean. Also this plain has areas covered in Permafrost (permanently frozen soil) from the long bitter winters. The West Siberian Plain has some of the world's largest Oil and Natural Gas sources, but extraction is made very difficult with the harsh climates. In the West Siberian plain, there is the Tundra in the far north.
Central Siberian Plateau-  Permafrost also covers most the are in the Central Siberian Plateau. This plateau and the Pacific Mountain Zone is also about the size of the United states. Because of the harsh climate and permafrost in this area it is only lightly populated. There is exceptions where there isn't any permafrost, you can find area's around the coasts, where the Pacific Ocean moderates temperatures there, or where heat is supplied because of the many active volcanoes created from the Pacific Plate sinking under the Eurasian Plate.
Grasslands/Steppes- Further south of the West Siberian Plain there is an irregular band of grasslands (steppes) and desserts that stretch from the Caspian Sea to the mountains bordering China.

Climate(s) in Russia:
(and Agriculture)

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Climate Map of Russia.
No place on earth (other than Antarctica) has as harsh of a climate that is in the Northern part of the Eurasian landmass, which is occupied by Russia.
Continental Climate: Winters are long and cold, with only a small amount of daylight, where as the summers are short, they go from cool to hot, with long days.
Most of the rainfall in the area comes from the storms that blow in from the Atlantic ocean far to the west, but by the time the rain bearing air masses come, most of its moisture has been let out over Europe. All though a fair amount of rain does reach areas like the Ukraine, European Russia, and the Caucasian Republics.
Because of these harsh climates with short summers and not an excessive amount of rain crops and agriculture in this region require excessive amounts of labor, water and fertilizer. The only decent area for agriculture is in a part of the Caucasian mountain zone because there is an adequate amount of rainfall and a relatively warm climate.
East of the Urals, In the lands of Siberia: This area receives a moderate amount of precipitation (mainly from the east) but experiences a long, cold winter. Huge areas are covered in what is referred to as taiga. Taiga (a northern coniferous forest) which stretches all the way to the Pacific. In Siberia there is no possible agriculture, but the Tundra in the far north people often do tender Reindeer.
East of the Caucasus Mountains, Central Asia: Here their climates are influenced by their locations in the middle of a very large continent with semi arid to arid climates. The summers here are scorching and short, with very intense winters. Southern areas are grasslands and support agriculture where irrigation is possible as well as herding.
Summers here are usually still covered in Permafrost.


Resources:

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Gazprom logo.
The photo to the right is a picture of the Gazprom logo which is a state-owned energy company. Gazprom is the tenth-largest oil and gas entity in the world. Private company's here in Russia like Gazprom already account for more than half of the federal tax receipts.
  • Crude Oil- Russia is the second largest exporter of oil
  • Natural Gas- Russia on its own is the worlds largest exporter of natural gas.
  • Hydro-power- Russia is the third largest producer of Hydro-power in the world.
  • Deposits- There is deposits of  coal, iron ore, lead, mercury, copper, nickel, platinum, and gold.

Environmental Issues:

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Photo of the oil pipelines.
Resource Extraction and Environmental Degradation:  Pollution levels fell for a while after the demise of the Soviet Union, as well and environmental degradation slowed because the economy slowed markedly.
Forest clearing in Siberia decreased because as much as half both domestic demand and international prices for wood declined. But unfortunately now as the Russian economy rebounds, demand for all resources is growing, and air and water pollutions are on the rise. In Siberia some of the worlds worst inland oil spills have occurred, contaminating  lakes, rivers, and wildlife.

Urban and Industrial Pollution: Today in Russia even urban sewer systems are rare, and of those that do exist, few actually can process and purify the sewage that enters them. This means that even dense concentration of humans can concentrate alone enough to generate lethal levels of many pollutants. Also the cities were often built with their residential areas located adjacent to the industries producing harmful by-products, many people are exposed to high levels of industrial pollutions. An example of this is in the city of Magnitogorsk in the Urals, whose economy is based on the largest steel mill in the world. One in three Magnitogorsk citizens has respiratory problems from breathing in the smoke an airborne chemicals. Nonpoint sources of pollution: they include untreated automobile exhaust, raw sewage, and agricultural chemicals that drain from fields into urban water systems and supplies. This causes it to be difficult to link urban pollution specifically to health problems because the sources of pollution defuse.
Nuclear Pollution:  Nuclear pollution here in Russia and the Newly independent states is the worst in the world, and its effects have spread well beyond the borders of the region. The most famous nuclear disaster in the world occurred in north-central Ukraine in 1986, when the four nuclear reactors at the Chernobyl power plant exploded. This explosion covered a vast amount of area in northern Ukraine southern Belarus, and Russia and even sent a cloud of radiation over much of the eastern European area and Scandinavia. A direct result of this caused 5000 people to die, 30,000 people where disabled, and 100,00 were evacuated from their homes.
All though the Soviet government signed an international anti-dumping treaty, it sank 14 nuclear reactors and dumped thousand of barrels of radioactive waste into the world's oceans.

Population Patterns:

European Russia is the most heavily settled zone in the region, this area has an average density of 22 people per square mile. Where as the United States has an average of 80 people per square mile. Another area of denser population in this region is formed in a wedge stretching from Odesa in southern Ukraine on the Black Sea north to St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea and east to Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia. This area has this amount of people because most of this area is the usable area for agricultural soils. Beyond Novosibirsk in the west Siberian plain settlement has an irregular pattern of industrial and mining development. The eastern industrial cities are all lying on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and each have several hundred people.
Population Changes: Before the break up in the Soviet Union, this region was considered a developed nation with fairly high standers of living and well-being. But in the early 1900's the well-being of the citizens in the region deteriorated significantly, and the region's population declined.  After 1991 many people in the region began to suffer nutritional deficiencies caused by sharply falling incomes and food scarcities. The cost of food took up as much as half of the families budgets.

Transportation:

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Trans-Siberian Railroad
The region of Russia is huge and with challenging geography, therefore causing transportation to be somewhat difficult at times. Water transportation is the cheapest, but in Russia the Russian rivers run north to south, where as most of their transportation needs are going from east to west. In the modern era the expansion of land transportation has been very minimal due to the permafrost and long winters, along with swampy forestland's and complex upland landscapes.
In 2003 there were only 130 cars that covered over an estimated 1000 families. Few citizens and families couldn't even afford a car.
Now there is road traffic in Russia, but it mainly exists in European Russia, and less than one sixth of the roadways are hard surface roads, and there is virtually no multilane highways; meaning roadways in the area are usually very congested. This region uses railways for commuters as well as transporting goods. Rail service here is usually dense, as well as the underground commuter systems. The region of Russia also uses air transportation. Airplanes transport in and out of the country hauling materials, goods and tourists.

Health Care:

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"Despite the relatively poor health care situation and statistics, Russia has pioneered some of the most specialized fields of medicine in recent times, including laser eye surgery and different developments and breakthroughs in relation to heart surgery. " -Allianz

Inherited from the Soviet Union, Russian health care still gives people a wide range of social services and  the rights to free health care. This was not changes through Russia's independence, rather it was confirmed through the new Russian Constitution and the new health care financing law.

Health Care Providers in Russia

Rural Health Posts




Health Centers





Urban Polyclinics





Special Focus Polyclinics
These offer basic health checks and facilities including routine examinations, immunizations and minor injuries. They cover a population of about 4,000 people.


These cover larger rural populations of approximately 7,000 people and offer a range of primary care services. They are able to perform minor surgeries and are normally staffed by a team of nurses in conjunction with a pediatrician, a therapist and a midwife/gynecologist.

These provide services which are normally considered general practice and include screening, treatment for chronic illnesses and on-going care. Depending on their size, urban polyclinics would also house approximately 3-4 specialists from fields such as cardio, oncology and obstetrics.      

This is where pediatricians and specialist ambulatory pediatric care treat children up to the age of 19.

References:   

Climate map of Russia from: http://www2m.biglobe.ne.jp/%257eZenTech/English/Climate/Russia/Russia_Climate_Map.gif
Gazprom logo picture from: http://www.euronews.net/images_old/08/W300px_0805-eco-gazprom.jpg
Photo of the oil pipelines from: http://www.supergreenme.com/data/thumbs/cb/cbfd9e964246f41910f8740b8bab0151.png
Trans-Siberian Railroad picture from: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mksZk6AGJ8Q/TZDc234qvEI/AAAAAAAAewg/WahJSzUbOtY/s1600/TSR.jpg
heathcare in Russia information retrieved from: http://www.allianzworldwidecare.com/healthcare-in-russia
healthcare picture from: http://www.moveoneinc.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/healthcare.jpg

Pulsipher, L.M., and Pulsipher, A. (2008). World Regional Geography: Global Patterns, Local Lives (4th ed.) Pages 245-295. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company.