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Russia: The Introduction
From Grolier's The New Book of Knowledge
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Russia (officially, the Russian Federation) is the world's largest country. Extending over two continents, Europe and Asia, it stretches from the Gulf of Finland (part of the Baltic Sea) in the west to the Bering Strait (separating the Arctic and Pacific oceans) in the east—a distance of more than 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers).
In all, it contains more than one-tenth of the world's land surface.
The history of Russia dates back more than one thousand years. In the A.D. 800's and 900's, Vikings from Scandinavia ruled over a Slavic people then known as the Rus. Tatars, a Mongol people from the east, conquered the Rus in the 1200's and ruled until Ivan III, the grand duke of Moscow, defeated them in 1462. Ivan became the sole
ruler over central Russia and began the first dynasty of Russian imperial rulers. In 1613, the Russian aristocracy elected Michael Romanov czar (or emperor), beginning a second dynasty that lasted for three hundred years.
Under the Romanovs, the Russian Empire more than tripled in size, expanding to the south, east, and west. The czars, impressed by the wealthy and sophisticated nations of western Europe, tried to copy western ways. But Russia's entry into the modern industrial age was hindered by its medieval labor system. Russian peasants, called serfs,
remained bound in a state of servitude to the landowners.
The Romanov Dynasty remained in power until 1917, when the empire was swept away by a people's revolution that established the Communist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, more commonly known as the Soviet Union, or U.S.S.R. Russia, the largest of the republics, formed the core of the Soviet Union and contained about half its
population. Communists ruled the country until the union collapsed in 1991. Since that time, Russia has struggled to overturn the effects of the failed Communist system and build a strong democratic government and capitalist economy.
Facts and Figures
Russian Federation is the official name of the country.
Location: Eastern Europe and northern Asia.
Area: 6,592,850 sq mi (17,075,481 km2).
Population: 146,000,000 (estimate).
Capital and Largest City: Moscow.
Major Language(s): Russian.
Major Religious Group(s): Eastern Orthodox.
Government: Republic. Head of state—president. Head of government—premier (prime minister). Legislature—Federal Assembly, made up of the Federation Council and the State Duma.
Chief Products: Agricultural—grain, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, vegetables, fruits, beef, milk. Manufactured—Mining equipment and machinery, aircraft, space vehicles, ships, road and rail transportation equipment, communications equipment, agricultural machinery, tractors, and construction equipment, medical and scientific instruments, textiles, foodstuffs, handicrafts. Mineral—coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, gold, bauxite, and other metals.
Monetary Unit: Ruble (1 ruble = 100 kopeks).
Donald W. Treadgold
University of Washington
Author, Twentieth Century Russia
Reviewed by Ilya Prizel
University of Pittsburgh
