2. Geography
• World’s largest country, lies on Europe and Asia
• Gigantic size and harsh climates make
transportation difficult
• European Russia is warmer than Asian Russia
• 75% of population live in European Russia
• Russia touches many inland bodies of water such as
Black Sea, Caspian Sea, and Lake Baikal
• Caucasus Mountains = south of European Russia
14. Culture
• Over 145 million people and over 150
different ethnic groups
• Religions =Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, or
Jewish
• St. Petersburg has many beautiful museums
and is home to the Marinsky Theatre = one
of Russia’s top ballet companies
21. Culture
• Russians enjoy all kinds of literature,
including folktales called skazki
• Russian Orthodox Church = incredibly popular
and thriving even though communism tried to
eliminate it
• Russian Orthodoxy was responsible for a
Slavic alphabet called Cyrillic
• ¾ of Russian people live in cities, mostly in
large apartment blocks
• Russian workers are celebrated on May Day
29. Economy
• Russia has large deposits of coal, oil, and gas
• Southwestern area can produce high yields of grains
• Fishing industry is one of the largest in the world
• Forests of Siberia provide plenty of timber
• However, Russia’s economy is not strong due to
years of communist control of farms and factories
which denied people the experience of creating jobs,
starting businesses, and making money
30. Economy
• Siberia has the largest supply of minerals
• Volga River carries almost ½ of Russia’s
river traffic and provides water for
irrigation and hydroelectric power
31.
32. History
• During Ad 800, Slavs built a civilization
around the city of Kiev = Kievan Rus
• Mongols swept in during the 1200’s and
greatly reduced Kiev’s wealth and power
• Russian rulers slowly expanded their power
and land size = called czars, had complete
and total control over the government
33.
34.
35.
36. History
• At the bottom of society were great masses
of people called serfs = farm laborers who
were attached to the land
• Serfs lived hard lives and few could read
and write
• In late 1800’s, began to industrialize to rely
more on manufacturing and less on farming
43. Soviet Era
• In 1917, political leaders, soldiers, and factory
workers forced Czar Nicholas II to give up the
throne
• Vladimir Lenin led a second revolution and seized
control, set up a communist government, which had
strict control of the government and society
• In 1922 Russian Communist leaders formed the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics = U.S.S.R
• Joseph Stalin took power after Lenin died,
government took tighter control of country and
many people suffered
48. Soviet Era
• After WWII, Stalin set up communist governments
in many neighboring Eastern European countries
• From late 1940’s to late 1980’s US and USSR
waged a Cold War, in which both nations competed
for world influence without actually fighting each
other
• Soviet Union included Russians and people from
many other ethnic groups
• In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev took power and relaxed
Soviet control
56. Change from Communism
• Changed from communism to free enterprise
immediately
• Under communism everyone had jobs, workers
today can lose their jobs when business is poor
• Without government controls, prices have risen
making it harder to buy necessities such as food,
clothing
• Major Environmental issues due to the old Soviet
government making factories and nuclear plants that
polluted the environment
• Diseases have resulted from air pollution
57.
58. Challenges of Change
• Russia is a democracy today
• Russian president has more power than US,
can implement plans that are not passed by
legislature
• Facing challenges of learning how to be a
democracy
• Ethnic groups want to form their own
country
• Chechens of Chechnya want their own
nation, have used terrorism to get attention,
Russia has had to use force to keep them in
the country
