Introduction to Russia and Central Asia

Russia and Central Asia: Introduction

Russia and Central Asia
--covers 11 time zones
--Russia begins on the Northern European Plain and the Caucasus Mountains
--Europe becomes Asia at the Ural Mountains
--region of Russia to the east of the Urals is called Siberia (“Sleeping Land”)
--rich in natural resources, such as oil and natural gas
--developing these resources is difficult
Reasons why: cold climate, poor transportation, distances to civilized areas
--mixture of tundra, mountain, steppe, and desert
--Fertile Triangle located in southern and western Russia
--most farming, industry located here because of arable land and rivers for shipping


History
--Samarkand, Uzbekistan grew because of its location on the Great Silk Road
--region was isolated from civilized and wealthy areas of western Europe and Asia for a long time
--reason for isolation from Western Europe: lack of navigable rivers and sea routes
--reason for isolation from Asia: Himalayan mountains, Gobi Desert
--Soviet Union dominated this region from 1917 until the early 1990s
--communist system of government (government ran the economy and owned most or all of the property)
--this system allowed for little progress and was very inefficient
--little motivation to work hard or develop new ideas
--inventor of Tetris didn’t make money off of his invention
--Soviet Union damaged its land
--Chernobyl Nuclear Plant accident
--Aral Sea shrinking due to decision to stimulate cotton production
--rivers polluted; example—Volga
--1991: Soviet Union collapsed; replaced by 12 independent countries

Current Issues
--Former Soviet republics
--these countries are still developing (see list of per capita GDPs below)
--major economic problem: inflation (money not worth as much as it used to be)
--countries struggling to convert from communism to capitalism (free market economies)
--Chechnya
--area still controlled by Russia
--ethnic violence, resistance to Russian rule; Chechnya wants independence
--Soviet repression of religion no longer exists
--most Russians and Ukrainians are Christian (Orthodox)
--most central Asians are Muslims (Islamic)

General Statistics
GDP per capita:
Kazakhstan $7,800
Russia $9,800
Turkmenistan $5,700
***U.S. $40,100

Land Size:
Russia 17.1 million square km
Kazakhstan 2.7 million square km
Turkmenistan 0.5 million square km
***U.S. 9.6 million square km

Population:
Russia 143 million people
Kazakhstan 15 million people
Uzbekistan 26 million people
***U.S. 296 million people
***U.S. statistics shows for purpose of comparison