Siberia

Siberia (Сибирь) is the Asian (eastern) part of Russia; it is a region in northern Asia, extending from the Ural Mountains to the Russian Far East, bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean and on the south by Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China.

Table of contents

1 Administration 2 History 3 Geography 4 Economy 5 Demographics

Administration

Siberia consists of Urals Federal District, Siberian Federal District and the Russian Far East.

Further political subdivisions of Siberia include:

• Buryat Republic, capital Ulan Ude
• Chita Oblast
• Irkutsk Oblast, capital Irkutsk
• Khakassia, capital Abakan
• Kemerovo Oblast, capital Kemerovo
• Krasnoyarsk Krai
• Novosibirsk Oblast, capital Novosibirsk
• Omsk Oblast, capital Omsk
• Sakha Republic, capital Yakutsk
• Tomsk Oblast, capital Tomsk, Russia
• Tuva Republic, capital Kyzyl

Other cities include:

• Akademgorodok
• Bratsk
• Irkutsk

History

Main article: History of Siberia

Siberia was occupied by differing groups of nomads such as the Yenets, the Nenets, the Huns, and the Uighurs. The Khan of Sibir in the vicinity of modern Tobolsk was known as a prominent figure who enorsed Kubrat as Khagan in Avaria in 630CE. The area was conquerd by the Mongols in the 13th century and eventually became the autonomous Siberian Khanate.

The growing power of Russia to the east began to undermine the Khanate in the 16th century. First groups of traders and Cossacks began to enter the area, and finally the imperial army began to set up forts further and further east. By the mid-17th century the Russian-controlled areas had been extended to the Pacific.

Siberia remained a mostly unexplored and uninhabited area. During the next few centuries, only a few exploratory missions and traders inhabited Siberia. The other group that were sent to Siberia were prisoners, who were exiled from western Russia.

The first great change to Siberia was the Trans-Siberian railway, constructed from 1891 - 1905. It linked Siberia more closely into the rapidly-industrialising Russia of Nicholas II. Siberia is filled with natural resources and during the twentieth century these were developed, and industrial towns cropped up throughout the area.

Geography

Siberia makes up roughly three-quarters of the total area of Russia. Much of it is swampland ill-suited to agriculture; other large areas (the taiga) are forested. The northernmost parts comprise extremely cold tundra.

Lakes and rivers include:

• Angara river
• Lake Baikal
• Lena river
• Ob River
• Tunguska

Economy

While not well suited for agriculture, Siberia has important mineral resources.

Demographics

Ethnic groups include: Evenki, Chukchis, Koryaks, Yukaghirs.

See also: Northern indigenous peoples of Russia

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