Россия (Rossija)--part: the Northwest Federal District--part (Sankt-Peterburg; Leningrad, Archangel'sk, Murmansk, Novgorod and Vologda oblasts; Karelia; and the Komi Republic), the Central Federal District, the Southern and North-Kavkavsky Federal Districts, the Ural Federal District, the Volga Federal District--part (Perm, Kirov, Nizhniy Novgorod, Orenburg, Penza, Samara, Ulyanovsk and Saratov oblasts; Udmurtia; the Mariy El Republic; Chuvashia; Mordovia; and Tatarstan), the Siberian Federal District--part (Tomsk, Kemerovo, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk and Omsk oblasts; Krasnoyarsk, Zabaykalsky and Altay krays; Gorno Altay; Khakassia; and Buryatia), the Far Eastern Federal District--part (Amur, the Jewish Autonomous, Magadan, Sakhalin and Kamchatka oblasts; Khabarovsk and Primorskiy krays; Chukotka Autonomous Okrug; the Sakha Republic--part: south of 65 degrees north); and Крым (Krym or Crimea); Qazaqstan--part: West Qazaqstan, Aqtobe, Qostanay, Northern Qazaqstan, Pavlodar, East Qazaqstan, Qaragandi and Almati Provinces

How is the land laid out?

This part of Россия (Rossija)¹ and Qazaqstan (Kazakhstan) is comprised of a big swath of northern Europe and Asia, millions of square kilometers. In the middle of the swath is Bashkortostan, which is excluded. As of mid 2014 Россия (Rossija) also included Крым (Krym).¹³ Aside from that peninsula, there are eight geophysical zones, some of which extend beyond the area and one of which is a composite of contiguous features. They are: the East European Platform;² the Ural'skiy³ Mountains; the West Sibirskaya⁴ Lowland; the Kazakhskiy⁵ Upland; the Turanskaya⁶ Lowland; the Sibirskaya Platform; the Kavkazky⁷ Mountains; and the southern and eastern basins and ranges.⁸

The East European Platform is most of European Russia, and is a mix of plains, low plateaus, hills, low mountains and marshes. To its north are the Beloye⁹ and Barentsevo¹⁰ seas, with the double island of Novaja Zeml'a¹¹ in between. Far north of that pair is a set of Arctic islands: Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa.¹² The platform continues west into Scandanavia, the Baltic states and Belarus, with the Gulf of Finland between, and southward into Україна (Ukrayina or the Ukraine). It is bounded to its southeast by three features. First is the Black Sea¹³ (and its extension, the Sea of Azov¹⁴). Second is the Greater Kavkaz¹⁵ range, which reach above 5,000 meters; they are Europe's tallest. Third is the Caspian Sea, the world's largest lake.¹⁶ In the very southeast the lowlands near this salt sea connect to the Turanskaya Lowlands.

The chief rivers of the west are: the Northern¹⁷ Dvina, which is formed by the Suchona¹⁸ and the Vyčegda,¹⁹ and flows to the White Sea; the Pečora,²⁰ which flows to the southeast corner of the Barents Sea; the Neva,²¹ which goes to the Gulf of Finland; the upper Western²² Dvina, which heads into Belarus; the source of the Dnepr,²³ which also flows into Belarus; the Don, which flows through the Čiml'anskoje²⁴ Reservoir²⁵ to the Black Sea; the Volga, which flows through the Rybinskoje²⁶ and the Kujbyševskoje²⁷ reservoirs to the Caspian Sea; the Kama and the Oka, the Volga's main tributaries; and the Ural, which goes south toward the Caspian. Also in this area are lakes (ozero) Onežskoje,²⁸ northeast of Lake Ladozhskoye, and Čudskoje,²⁹ along the Estonian border.

The West Siberian Lowland is a low, flat land; it is bounded west by the Ural Mountains; southwest by the Turgay Plateau and the Turgay Gate; south by the Kazakh Uplands; southeast by the Altay Mountains,³⁰the Sayanskij³¹ Range and by two high basins that the mountains define: the Kuznetsk³² and the Minusinsk. The West Siberian Lowland is bounded east by the Siberian Platform; and north by the western Karskoye³³ Sea. The Ob' River system dominates much of the plain, with the Jenisej's³⁴ lower course flowing on its east edge after it emerges from the Sayans and Tuva. The great tributary of the Ob' is the Irtyš,³⁵ which enters from Zhongguo (China), flows through the Zajsan³⁶ Reservoir as it passes between the Altay Mountains and the Kazakh Uplands, and receives the Tobol on its left.

Southeast of the East European plain and the Turgay Gate of the West Siberian Lowland are the Kazakh Uplands. West and south of them are the Turanskaya Lowlands. These dry areas extend southward beyond the area. The shores of the Aral'skoye³⁷ Sea used to reach the boundary of this area, but it has substantially shrunk in the last few decades. The other lake of note is Balchaš,³⁸ well to the Aral'skoye Sea's east. South of Almati Province are the fringes of the Tyan'³⁹ Mountains, which rise above 6,000 meters on the border. Along the province's east are mountains alternating with passes into China; one of those ranges, the Dzungarian Alatau, tops 4,000 meters.

The Siberian Platform is a mix of plateaus and low mountains. To its south are the eastern Sayans, rugged Pre- and Trans-Baykalia⁴⁰ (surrounding Lake Bajkal⁴¹), with the Yablonovyy⁴² and the Stanovoy ranges beyond them. To the east are the Verkhoyanskiy⁴³ and the Dzhugdzhur ranges. Right bank tributaries of the Yenisey cover the western part of this area, among them the Lower⁴⁴ Tunguska, the Podkamennaja⁴⁵ Tunguska and the Angara. The last flows out of Lake Bajkal and through the Bratskoje⁴⁶ Reservoir. Further east the Lena system dominates, although its lower course is north of this area. Its key tributaries are the Vitim, which flows through Trans-Baykalia, the Vil'uj⁴⁷ and the Aldan. The Aldan in turn receives the Maja,⁴⁸ which drains the west side of the Dzhugdzhurs.

Another river system, the Amur, is on the far side of the southeastern mountains. One of its headwaters is the Űilka,⁴⁹ which begins south of the Yablonovoys and joins the Amur south of the Stanavoys, and heads north of the Pacific Ocean between the Bureinskiy⁵⁰ Range and the Sichote Alin'.⁵¹ One of the Amur's left bank tributaries is dammed to form the Zejskoje⁵² Reservoir. The Ussuri⁵³ joins on the right, starting from Lake Chanka⁵⁴ and following the Chinese border. Beyond the mouth of the Amur is Sachalin⁵⁵ Island. The only large lake within the platform that has not been mentioned is Tajmyr⁵⁶ in the northwest. North in the sea, beyond the lands surrounding that lake, is Northern Land.⁵⁷

East of the southern Verkhoyansk Range the land rises again as the Cherskogo⁵⁸ Range. Between them is the Indigirka River, and wrapping around behind the Cherskys is the upper Kolyma. Still further east are: the Anadyr' Range at the easternmost end of Asia; the Koryakskiy⁵⁹ Range at the head of the Kamčatka⁶⁰ Peninsula; and the Kamchatka Mountains⁶¹ along the peninsula with a volcano that tops 4,000 meters. South of the peninsula are the Kurilskiye Islands.⁶²

Who lives there?

Throughout this area, inhabited by well over 100 million, Russian is the majority language, although there are exceptions within smaller political units. And, with the language comes the dominant religion: Russian Orthodox Christianity, but with two qualifications. First many Russians are aetheists, agnostics or non-observant. Second, many Russian-speaking ethnic Kazakhs are Sunni Moslems, so the geographic extent of the Christian religion is more limited.

There are 14 cities with over one million residents in their metropolitan areas, nine of them in Europe. See Euro-Russian cities. The Asian cities are:

Within this area

Sankt-Peterburg; Leningrad, Archangel'sk, Murmansk, Novgorod and Vologda oblasts; Karelia; and the Komi Republic

Central Federal District

Perm, Kirov and Nizhniy Novgorod oblasts; Udmurtia; the Mariy El Republic; Chuvashia and Mordovia

Orenburg, Penza, Samara and Ulyanovsk oblasts and Tatarstan

Saratov Oblast

Ural Federal District

Tomsk, Kemerovo, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Chita, Amur, Magadan, Sakhalin and Kamchatka Oblasts; the Jewish Autonomous Oblast; Krasnoyarsk, Altay and Primorskiy Krays; Gorno-Altay; Khakassia; Buryatia; Chukotka Autonomous Okrug; and the Sakha Republic south of 65 degrees north

Omsk Oblast; West Qazaqstan, Aqtobe, Qostanay, Northern Qazaqstan, Pavlodar and East Qazaqstan Provinces

Qaragandi and Almati Provinces

Крым (Krym)

Footnotes

1. Also transliterated as Rossiya. Russia in English.
2. Vostochno-Evropeyskaya Platforma in one version of transliterated Russian.
3. Siberian in English. There is in an alternate Russian transliteration.
4. Zapadno-Sibirskaya Nizmennost' in one version of Russian transliteration.
5. Kazakh in English. There is in an alternate Russian transliteration. Saryarka in Kazakh.
6. Turananian in English. Also called the Turkestan Lowland. There is in an alternate Russian transliteration. I do not know the Kazakh for it.
7. Caucaus in English. There is in an alternate Russian transliteration.
8. This is the periphery from the Tien Mountains to the Anadyr Range.
9. White in English. There is in an alternate Russian transliteration.
10. Barents in English. There is in an alternate Russian transliteration.
11. Novaya Zemlya in an alternate transliteration from Russian. It means New Land.
12. Franz Josef Land in English. There is an alternate Russian transliteration.
13. Chernoye More in one version of transliterated Russian.
14. Azovskoye More in one version of transliterated Russian.
15. Caucasus in English.
16. Kaspiyskoye More in one version of transliterated Russian.
17. Severnaya in one version of transliterated Russian.
18. Also transliterated from Russian as Sukhona.
19. Also transliterated from Russian as Vychegda.
20. Also transliterated from Russian as Pechora.
21. Beyond the Neva's source of Lake Ladoga (Ladozhshkoye or Ladožskoje Ozero) is the Volkhov (or Volchov), which, beyond Lake (ozero) Il'men is known as the Lovat'.
22. Zapadnaya in one version of transliterated Russian. The river has another spelling in Belarus and another name in Latvija (Latvia).
23. Also called the Dniepr (English), and spelled differently in Belarus and Україна (Ukrayina).
24. Also transliterated from Russian as Tsimlyanskoye.
25. Vodokranilishche in one version of transliterated Russian.
26. Also transliterated from Russian as Rybinskoye.
27. Also transliterated from Russian as Kuybyshevskoye.
28. Also transliterated from Russian as Onezhskoye. Onega in English.
29. Also transliterated from Russian as Chudskoye. Also called Peipus.
30. Gory is mountains in one version of transliterated Russian. These top 4,000 meters.
31. Sayan in English. There is in an alternate Russian transliteration.
32. Also called the Kuzbass.
33. Kara in English. There is in an alternate Russian transliteration.
34. Yenisey is an alternate tansliteration from Russian.
35. Also transliterated from Russian as Irtysh and called the Ertix in Zhongguo (China).
36. Also transliterated from Russian as Zaysan.
37. Aral in English. There is in an alternate Russian transliteration.
38. Also transliterated from Russian as Bakhash.
39. Tian Shan is one version of transliterated Chinese. Tian means Heaven(ly) in Chinese. Tien in English (from an alternate Chinese transliteration of t'ien.) There is in an alternate Russian transliteration.
40. Pribaykal'ye and Zabaykal'ye in one version of Russian transliteration.
41. Also transliterated from Russian as Baykal.
42. Yablonovy in another version of Russian transliteration.
43. Verkhoyansk in English. There is in an alternate Russian transliteration.
44. Nizhnyaya in one version of transliterated Russian.
45. An alternate transliteration from Russian is Podkamennaya.
46. An alternate transliteration from Russian is Bratskoye.
47. An alternate transliteration from Russian is Vilyuy.
48. An alternate transliteration from Russian is Maya.
49. Shilka is an alternate transliteration from Russian.
50. Bureya in English. There is in an alternate Russian transliteration.
51. Sikhote-Alin' is an alternate transliteration from Russian.
52. Zeyskoye is an alternate transliteration from Russian.
53. Called the Wusuli in Zhongguo (China).
54. An alternate transliteration from Russian is Khanka. It is called Xingkathu in Zhongguo (China).
55. Sakhalin is an alternate transliteration from Russian.
56. Taymyr is an alternate transliteration from Russian.
57. Severnaya Zemlya in one version of transliterated Russian.
58. Chersky in English. There is in an alternate Russian transliteration.
59. Koryak in English. There is in an alternate Russian transliteration.
60. Also transliterated from Russian as Kamchatka.
61. Also called the Central (Sredinnyy) Range.
62. Kuril in English. There is in an alternate Russian transliteration.
63. Federal city, constituent republic.
64. As of 2006.
65. Also transliterated from Russian as Chelyabinsk.
66. Sibirskaya in one version of transliterated Russian.
67. It translates from Russian as New Siberia.
68. Also transliterated from Russian as Yekaterinburg. Formerly Sverdlovsk.
69. Formerly transliterated as Almaty or called Alma-Alta or Vernyi.