Theories World Island Theory One part of the world matters world island of Eurasia Heartland Theory Who controls the center controls the island Rimland Theory Whoever controls the rim controls the island Bosporus Theory Whoever controls the Bosporus Straits Turkey controls the island Continentality The distance from the sea influences climate Closer to the sea more mild weather Farther from the sea more extreme Distance Theory Quality of communications diminishes with more space from the center Physical Features Permafrost Soil never thaws out uppermost part of Russia Scandinavia Tundra Top 6 inches of the soil thaws out Results in standing water and short grasses and mosses Taiga Rich deep forests that spread across Russia are Taiga Below the Tundra Steppe Naturally occurring semi arid grassland Good for wheat growing Half of Russia is a flat plain easy to invade either direction Ural Mountains Separates Asia from Europe in Russia Lake Baikal Southern Russia deepest lake in the world and contains 20 of the freshwater on the planet Glacier Pile of snow ice that builds up for a long time Moraine is the pile of junk in front of the glacier Terminal moraine is the very end of the glacier small hills form Glaciated Valley Valley formed by previous glaciers melting and retreating A fjord is a glaciated valley filled with ocean water Norway is good example Caucasus Region Between Black Caspian Seas where many minorities live in Russia Very mountainous Russian Far East Mountainous Eastern Highlands lightly populated Siberia Russia Central Siberia is a plateau Western Siberian Plain All west of Urals is a long flat plain Southern Russia Tien Shen Mts Central Asian Ranges Yakutsk Basin Russia Low flat land mostly permafrost Lena River Kamchatka Peninsula Russia Pacific Ocean Kola Peninsula Russia Stays a tad warmer due to Gulf Stream Volga River Russia Runs into Caspian Sea main river of Russia Longest river in Europe Don River Russia Runs into Black Sea canals were built from Volga to Don because Caspian Sea is land locked Crimea Peninsula Ukrainian Peninsula jetting into Black Sea Dnipro River Cuts Ukraine in half city of Kiev sits on it Giant Steppe Ukraine Ukraine is bread basket of Europe makes wheat Jutland Peninsula Denmark Germany Iberian Peninsula Spain Portugal Andorra Italian Peninsula Italy Vatican City San Marino Balkan Peninsula Romania Greece Bulgaria etc Pelanesian Peninsula Southern Greece Scandinavian Peninsula Norway Sweden Pyrenees Mountains France Andorra Spain The Alps France Switzerland Italy Austria Slovenia Bosnia Serbia Albania Other Rivers Elbe Germany runs into Hamburg Rhine Runs into Rotterdam 3 port in the world Thames London Seine Paris Loire French river with many large castles Po The Po River Valley has 90 of Italian GDP Danube Germany Austria Hungary Romania into Black sea Vistula Poland Russian Cities Murmansk HQ of Russian Navy on Kola Peninsula Vladivostok Big city of the Pacific Eastern Fortress and contains Russian Pacific Navy Yakutsk Industrial city Irkutsk Capital of Eastern Siberia 2 5 million people Germans Jews and Cossacks all are here because of alienation racism in other parts of Russia Geniuses came from here Novosibirsk Engineering capital of Russia Capital of Western Siberia Yekaterinburg Cap of Ural Region 1st president of Russia came from here Tzar was mur dered here Boeing has workers here border of Europe Asia Below cities are located along Volga River Nizhniy Novgorod Heavy Industry Factories Industrial 1 of Asia Kazan Mongol City turned Muslim Islamic Capital Tatars Asian descendants Helicopters are built here home of WHITE Kremlin Samara Wheat Corn Grain airplane center Russian Space Museum Rostov Cossacks seaport at bottom of Don River Moscow Capital of Russia Slavic people Orthodox Church Red Kremlin St Petersburg Peter has swamps drained and city is born 1700 1917 is capital of Russia touches Baltic Sea window to the West Volgograd Stalingrad 122 divisions of Germans attacked Russians went underground and surrounded Germans Battle of Stalingrad was the turning point of WWII in many peoples eyes Ukraine Kiev Slavic people Cyrillic alphabet 1054 Eastern Orthodox Church splits Ukrainians are a part of it Also Catholics and Ukrainian Church More than half of European Jews lived inside the pale Ukraine was a part of this area housed many Jews Created because of Russian prejudices toward Jews in 1700 s 1800 s Caucasus Region Azerbaijan Baku Azeri people Shia Muslims friend of USA due to oil pipeline Georgia Tbilisi Eastern Orthodox many leaders of Russian were Georgian Armenia Yerevan Home to Mt Ararat Noah probably 1st converts to Christianity used to be part of Turkey claimed to have genocide from Ottoman Empire common day Turkey after disputes over religion race Belarus Minsk White Russia Same elected Communist dictator Thinks USSR will be revived Poland Warsaw Western Slav but Latin Alphabet Heavily Catholic Many Jews were killed in Poland during WWII Royal Capital where the Kings are from and the cultural center is Krakow Warsaw was one of the heaviest bombed cities in WWII Czech Republic Prague Industrial Progressive Prague is an OH SHIT city Accidentally bombed by Americans in WWII Former part of Czechoslovakia Catholic Slovakia Bratislava Many Western companies Very close to Vienna Austria many work there Bulgaria Sofia Bulgars came from Volga River region Former Yugoslavia Woodrow Wilson formed Yugoslavia based on race and assumption the different people would get along Sarajevo was the start of WWI Austria Turkey Known as the Balkans Balkanization is the splintering of countries into smaller countries Serbia Belgrade Belgrade was Capital of former Yugoslavia and modern Serbia Largest number of Slavs in the region Identical to Russians modern puppet of Russians Orthodox Church Cyrillic alphabet Turks defeated the Serbs at Kosovo sacred region for Serbs Slovenia Ljubljana 1st country to get out of Yugoslavia 1991 Catholic Slavs Contained more than half of the money in Yugoslavia 1st Slavs to migrate to Europe Croatia Zagreb Half Slovene Half Serbian Same language as Serbians but written in Latin alphabet Catholic 1 million Serbians in Croatia Killed over 500 00 of the Serbs Bosnia Herzegovina Belgrade Slavic Bosnians are Muslim Mountainous country 25 of Serbia Orthodox 20 are Catholic Croats 50 are Jews Albania Tirane Not part of Yugoslavia Land of little white people Catholic Turks take over Albania 1300 s Suffered