Is Russia a Prisoner of Geography?
Based on the book 'Prisoners of geography' by Tim Marshall
Vast (adjective; vaster, vastest): of very great area or extent; immense
"Russia is vast. It is vastest. Immense. It is six million square miles vast, eleven time zones vast; it is the largest country in the world."
Russia through maps
Explore Russia's vast landscape here .
Use the legend to determine Russia's different biomes.
Discover Russia's geology here:
Explore Russia's topography here:
"To the west of the Ural Mountains is European Russia. To their east is Siberia, stretching all the way to the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Even in the twenty-first century, to cross it by train takes six days."
Lines of the Trans-Siberian Railway, from Library of Congress at loc.gov.
Explore Russia's through Tim Marshall
Who lives in Russia?
Russia: Terrain|Population Density| Ethnicity
"When you move outside of the Russian heartland, much of the population in the Russia Federation is not ethnically Russian and pays little allegiance to Moscow, which results in an aggressive security system similar to the one in Soviet days."
Life in the Arctic
Visiting the coldest town in the world - Chilling Out | 60 Minutes Australia
Geopolitical interconnections
Is Russia a prisoner of geography?
"It doesn't matter if the ideology of those in control is tsarist, Communist or crony capitalist - the ports still freeze, and the North European Plain is still flat. Strip out the lines of nation states, and the map Ivan the Terrible confronted is the same one Vladimir Putin is faced with to this day."
Reference:
Marshall, T., 2019. Prisoners Of Geography. 2nd ed. London: Elliott and Thompson Limited, pp.4-32.
