Word | Definition |
Siberia | the part of Russia that lies on the continent of Asia. Frigid arctic and subarctic region of Russia |
Trans-Siberian Railroad | a railroad that would eventually link Moscow with the Pacific port of Vladivostok. Built between 1891 and 1903 |
Ural Mountain | separates the Northern European and West Siberian plains. Recognized as the dividing line between Europe and Asia. |
Lake Baikal | Oldest and deepest lake on Earth. It is over 5,000 feet deep, 1/5 of world's fresh water is located in Lake Baikal |
USSR | became new nation in 1922, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Organized all the different peoples absorbed during the centuries of Russian rule. Also known as Soviet Union for short. |
privatization | the selling of governemt owned business to private citizens |
Volga River | longest river in Europe and Russia. Begins near Moscow and drains into the Caspian Sea |
Tundra | The flat treeless lands forming a ring around the Arctic Ocean; the climate region of the Arctic Ocean |
distance decay | the concept that increasing distances between places tends to reduce interactions among them |
St. Petersburg | built by Peter the Great in 1703, on the Baltic Sea; became the Russian Captial; he dies before it is finished. |
chernozem | Black earth, is abundant on the plain |
Central Asia | a region that includes the republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan, Turkmenistan |
taiga | a nearly continuous belt of evergreen coniferous forests across the Northern Hemisphere, in North America and Eurasia |
Transcauasia | a region that consists of the republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia |
Russian revolution | in 1917, ended the rule of the czars, the russian Communist party, lead by V.I. Lenin took control of the government from the czars |
cold war | Conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II, called "Cold" because it never escalated into open warfare. |