Russia's Population : The Culture And Geography Of Russia

Russia before Peter the Great was disconnected from Europe and did not have the technology that the rest of the world had. This position was largely caused by the Mongol invasion of Russia around the 14th century. However, before the Mongol rule, the city-states of Kievan Rus predominated the region. This settlement was established when the Vikings began migrating from Scandinavia to the Black Sea, merging with the East Slavic people. Soon after the creation of Kievan Rus, they converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and began trade with the Byzantine Empire. About 250 years later, the Golden Horde began controlling Russia, cutting it off from the rest of the Europe. When the Russians finally broke free from Mongol rule around the 15th

Russia emerged as a significant power during the 1500s through war. It fought its neighbors and expanded its territory aimlessly. Ivan the Terrible’s expansion brought him into contact with both Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Aiming to gain a port and outlet to the Baltic,

He was simultaneously worshiped and able to gain the nobles cooperation through this. Similarly, in Russia, Ivan III, the first real king of Russia, ended Mongol power and created a new service of nobles which were also dependent on the state. Peter the Great then proceeded to westernize Russia through his absolutist power. He built the city of St. Petersburg, where like Versailles, nobles were required to say. Peter also established a bureaucracy which was military and civilian. Overall, both absolutist rulers in France and Russia had similar political practices, like creating a grandiose environment where nobles had to stay, and developing a governmental system which gave all power to the

Russian princes, having gained back their territory from the Mongols, consolidated their power and restored the Russian state in 1462 under Ivan the Great. The underlying cultural aspects that existed in Russia from 1480-1800 like the Eastern Orthodox Church and the westernization of the boyars certainly helped Russia advance as a world power. The political constants in Russia, such as the serf and boyar control as well as expansion, also helped Russia to approach countries in the West in terms of influence.

Peter the Great ruled over Russia from 1682 to 1725. Known as a key force in the reformation of the Russian economy, and the country as a whole, Peter wished to bring his country into a new era. Up until his reign, Russia had been trapped in a medieval like state, cut off from its European neighbors; the Renaissance that revolutionized the rest of Europe had very little to no effect on the Russian government or its citizens. Peter realized that Russia could never be the world power that he wished it to be until they were on the same level as the rest of Europe. Seeing the dilemma, Peter left Russia for a period of time to travel Europe, work among the people of different nations, and study the cultures and governments of Russia’s neighbors.

European powers were constantly expanding while Russia was still stuck in backwardness, with no reforms, revolution, and their economy and military were not on par with the western countries. Russia was basically just an agricultural society, with almost no trading due to their only real seaport being frozen for more than half the year. This makes them vulnerable at a time when the European and Russia were constantly at war to take away each other’s territory. In the late 17th century, Peter the Great came to the throne and knew that Russia had to modernize so that Russia will be able to advance and not deemed as a weak country. During his reign, he embarked on a journey to numerous European countries to learn some skills and import ideas from the western world into Russian society. Before Peter the great reign, Russian were

Until the end of the 15th century, the vast territories to the west of the Ural Mountains, what is now known as the European part of Russia, were far from a single united state. Rather, it was a patchwork of small principalities ruled by different princes, united in their faith under the Russian Orthodox Church, but otherwise in fierce competition between themselves. The situation was complicated further by the Mongol overlords, requiring regular tributes ever since they conquered most of the Russian principalities back in the first half of the 13th century. On the other side, the Teutonic Knights and the Swedes, sensing the lack of power and unity from the Russians, tried to conquer the Russian lands closest to them. Squeezed between two formidable enemies, from East and West, the Russians had to fight for the very survival of

“In 1709 Peter the Great rallied the country, evicted the invaders from the north and established his frontiers on the shores of the Baltic and the Gulf of Finland. Here on the swamp he had in 1703 begun construction of a new capital, St. Petersburg.”

At this time Russia was extremely politically active. Russia’s politically activity essentially started in 1510. In 1510 Moscow was named the Third Rome, the center of the Christian world. Russians were quite proud of this achievement; they believed that the first Rome had fallen, and the second Rome, Constantinople, fell, but they believed that Moscow would never fall. The Russians had a hereditary monarchy. This means that the crown passes down from generation to generation. Before 1547 the previous rulers had been kings and queens this changed with Ivan IV the Terrible. At age sixteen, Ivan IV was crowned king in 1547. Instead of just taking the title grand prince, however, he took the titles grand prince and tzar. Tzar is from the Latin

Russia also has an abundance of rivers that mark the landscape of this gigantic realm. The Volga River is the largest of the Russian Rivers, and most likely its most important. There are several population centers along the Volga as the Volga is their “lifeline” (Blij 141). The Volga is perhaps much more important than the other rivers in the eastern half of Russia, such as the Lena, The Kolyma, and the Irtvsh, because of the bitterness of the climate west of the Urals, once again, makes the population very sparse in that half of the realm. The Don is an important river in the southernmost part of Russia.

There is very little we know about the early history of Russia. Though we don’t know much, what we do know about Russia’s early history is quite interesting. Russia started as a small group of cities inhabited by slavs and Scandinavians. The cities were usually invaded and taken over by outsiders. What we have found in archaeological digs gives us a better understanding of what it was like during those times. If you look deep into Russian history, you will find that the main city at the time was Novgorod. Moscow was never mentioned in the early history until 1147 AD. There other interesting things about Russia; you just have to be willing to look for them.

Russia comes with a broad spectrum of geography with 6,601,668 square miles, covering nine different time zones. Each region of Russia has a unique landscape that has effected the way people survived. East Russia is home to the Ural Mountains and consist mostly of rocky and marshy areas. The southern region, located between the Black Sea and

Russia, officially known as the Russian Federation, has a total area of 17,098,242 sq km (“The World Factbook”) and is the largest country in the world. It is about 1.8 times the size of the United States (“The World Factbook”). Most of Russia is either large stretches of plains or areas with a lot of forests and mountains, with the exception of the Siberian Tundra. It is difficult to perfectly describe Russia’s climate because of it’s large size. However, in general, the country only has two seasons, summer and winter. In the summer they have very warm, continental weather and they have very harsh winters with a lot of snow. Russia is plentiful in natural resources. They are particularly

The region of Latvia has a long history of occupation by foreign powers and so its ethnicity is quite varied. The Latvian Republic is one of the Baltic States located on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Along with its neighbours Lithuania and Estonia, Latvia gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. It is when Latvia gained its status as an independent state that the most crucial period for the Russian-speaking residents began, as at that time the country’s main issue was the status of its 1.1 million Russian-speaking residents. Under Latvia’s 2000 census (Heleniak, 2006), 30 per cent of the country’s 2.4 million population

Russia, known by most as the Russian Federation, is a federal state in Eurasia. Russia is the largest country in the world at 17,075,200 square kilometres by surface area, covering more than one eighth of Earth 's inhabited land, and the ninth most populous, with over 146.6 million people as of end of March 2016. The European western part of the country is much more populated and urbanised than the East, with almost eight-tenths of the population living within the European region of Russia. Russia 's capital, Moscow is one of the largest cities in Europe and the world. Its ohter major urban cities include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara.