Russia straddles two continents, Asia and Europe, but is almost universally considered a European country;
In fact, it's pretty much the same:
On the one hand, as of now, the national population of Russia is 14.6 billion, of which the population of the European part alone reached 1With about 100 million, Moscow and St. Petersburg, the two largest and most famous cities in Russia, are also located in the European part, with populations of 12.3 million and 5.13 million respectively;
Even Chelyabinsk, the third largest city with a population of about 3.5 million, is located near the Ural Mountains, the region that divides the two continents of Asia and Europe.
On the other hand, Russia is more similar to European countries in all aspects, such as the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the predecessor of Russia, which was originally located around Moscow and belonged to the European region, and Russia's race, culture, history, religion, etc. are also closer to European countries.
And one more thing, even today, Russia's participation in Europe is even higher, and Russia is classified as Europe, both in international organizations and in the traditional perception of everyone.
However, is the Asian part of Russia, that is, the Siberian region, not important to Russia?
First of all, this area is very largeFrom the Ural Mountains of the Asia-Europe dividing line in the west, to the Bering Strait of the Pacific coast and the boundary between Asia and North America in the east, next to the Arctic Ocean in the north, and to Kazakhstan, Mongolia and the northern border of our country in the south, it is 7,000 kilometers long from east to west, and 3,500 kilometers wide from north to south, with an area of 13.22 million square kilometers;
If nothing else, such a large area alone is very important to anyone.
Of course, in addition to the area, it seems to me that the importance of the Siberian region for Russia lies in the following:
First, Russia is known as a vast and sparsely populated country, and the Siberian region is the key.
Today, when it comes to Russia, many people know that it is a vast and sparsely populated country, with a land area of 17.1 million square kilometers but a population of only 14.6 billion, on average, only 85 people;
For comparison: among other large countries, the United States has an area of 9.37 million square kilometers and a population of 33.3 billion, 35 per square kilometer5 people;
Brazil covers an area of about 8.51 million square kilometers and has a population of 21.5 billion, with 25 per square kilometer3 people;
China covers an area of 9.6 million square kilometers and has a population of 14100 million, 146 per square kilometer9 people;
And the total population of the world is 80300 million, with a land area of about 1With a population density of 69 people per square kilometre at 4.9 billion square kilometres, it is clear that Russia is vast and sparsely populated, and I think it is true that of the six countries in the world with an area of more than 7 million square kilometres, only Canada and Australia have lower population densities.
However, Russia is vast and sparsely populated, and the most important factor is the vast and sparsely populated region of Siberia;
The Siberian region covers an area of 13.22 million square kilometers, but the population is only about 38 million, and if you count only the European part of Russia, its area is about 3.9 million square kilometers, and the population reaches 10.8 billion, the number of people per square kilometer reached 277, a little higher than Brazil;
In other words, due to the existence of the Siberian region, the population of Russia has been reduced by almost 20 per square kilometer, thus making his vast and sparsely populated territory more worthy of its name.
Second, the Siberian region is also key to Russia's diverse topography.
Today's Russia, the territory is vast, the terrain is complex, the huge territory, plains, mountains, plateaus and other terrain can be said to be everything, according to statistics, in the various terrains in Russia, the plains account for about 50%, mountains and plateaus each account for about 25%;
But in fact, if you look at the European part of Russia, you will find that it is basically plains, and only some mountains, the Ural Mountains and the Caucasus Mountains are located on the dividing line between Asia and Europe;
The Siberian region is the key to Russia's diverse terrain conditions, this region can be roughly divided into three parts, the West Siberian Plain, the Central Siberian Plateau and the West Siberian Mountains, the plateau and mountains that are really located in Russia, such as the Romanov Plateau, the Sayan Mountains, the Yablonov Mountains, etc., are all located in the Siberian region;
The Far East, in particular, is the most mountainous and complex region of Russia;
And if you only look at the European part, the Russian plain will account for more than 90% of the area, and it can only be regarded as a plain country.
Third, Russia is known as a resource power, and the Siberian region is the key among the key.
1.As we all know, Russia is the country with the largest forest area in the world, and its vast territory has a forest coverage rate of up to 466%, with forests of about 8 million square kilometers;
Among them, the European part of Russia is basically located on the Eastern European Plain, with more population and large cities, and the development and utilization of land is more sufficient, and many places have been opened up as arable land, so the forest coverage rate is only about 40%, which is converted into an area of about 1.5 million square kilometers;
Look at the rest of the world:
Brazil has a forest cover of 589%, with an area of up to 5 million square kilometers, Canada's forest coverage rate is about 44%, with an area of 3.97 million square kilometers, the United States' forest coverage rate is 33%, with an area of about 3.1 million square kilometers, even if it is China's forest, the forest coverage rate is 23%, with an area of 2.2 million square kilometers;
Their forests are much larger than the European part of Russia.
In other words, Russia can be called a country with large forest resources, with the largest forest area in the world, and the Siberian region is the most critical factor;
In fact, the Siberian region has a forest area of 6.5 million square kilometers, with a forest coverage rate of nearly 50%, which is larger than the countries mentioned above and enough to rank first in the world, even if taken separately.
2.As we all know, Russia is the country with the richest freshwater resources in the world, with more than 3 million rivers and more than 2.8 million lakes, accounting for 25% of the world's total freshwater resources.
But in fact, the largest reserves of freshwater resources are in Siberia.
The data speak: 1) Lake Baikal, the most famous lake in Siberia, is 636 kilometers long, with an average width of about 48 kilometers and an area of 3At 150,000 square kilometers, it is the largest lake in Russia, and its deepest point reaches 1,637 meters, which is also the deepest lake in the world, and it is also the largest lake in the world, with a water storage capacity of 236 trillion cubic meters;
And the largest lake in the European part of Russia is Lake Ladoga, which is 219 km long and has an average width of about 83 km and an area of 1At 80,000 square kilometers, it does not seem much smaller than Lake Baikal, but its deepest point is only 230 meters, and its water storage capacity is 908 billion cubic meters, which is equivalent to 38%；
It is worth mentioning that Lake Ladoga is also the largest lake in Europe.
2) Siberia has three major rivers in the world, of which the Yenisei River has an annual runoff of 625.5 billion cubic meters, the Lena River 540 billion cubic meters, and the Ob River 385 billion cubic meters;
The largest river in the European part of Russia is the Volga, with an annual runoff of only 245 billion cubic meters;
And I would also like to mention that the Volga is also the largest river in Europe.
Even if you don't count the big rivers mentioned above, Lake Baikal alone accounts for more than 80% of Russia's freshwater reserves, and it can be said that Siberia and Lake Baikal also play a vital role in the reason why Russia is the world's largest freshwater resource.
3) Russia is also the world's largest hydropower resource, second only to Brazil and China in the world, ranking among the top three in the world;
We all know that the size of water energy resources depends on several factors, one is the size of the river water, the larger the water volume, the larger the water energy resources, the other is the drop of the river, the larger the river drop, the higher the water energy resources contained;
Obviously, the water volume of several major rivers in the world in Siberia far exceeds that of the European part of the country, and as we mentioned above, the European part of Russia is dominated by plain terrain and has a small river drop, so the water energy resources contained in it are very limited;
Only the Siberian region, not only has a larger annual river runoff, but also has more complex topographical conditions, mountainous plateaus are all over, so that the local river drop is also very large, is the most abundant water energy resources in the whole of Russia;
For example, the Sayan-Shushensk hydropower station on the Yenisei River, started construction in 1958 and completed in 1987, the dam is 242 meters high, the top length is 1083 meters, the total storage capacity of the reservoir is up to 31.3 billion cubic meters, the total installed capacity is about 6.4 million kilowatts, and the annual power generation can reach 23.5 billion kWh, which is one of the largest hydropower stations in Russia and even the world;
According to statistics, the amount of hydropower resources in Siberia has reached 1556 trillion kWh, which is 65% of Russia's total hydropower resources.
3.As we all know, Russia is also a major country in the world in terms of mineral resources and energy resources, and has almost all the types of mineral resources that have been discovered so far;
Its natural gas reserves are as high as 378 trillion cubic meters, accounting for 28% of the world's proven reserves, the world's first, iron ore reserves up to 650 tons, accounting for 40% of the world, the world's first, coal reserves up to 162.1 billion tons, the world's second, aluminum ore reserves of 400 million tons, the world's second, nickel ore, tin ore reserves account for 30% of the world, * proven reserves of 25.2 billion tons, accounting for 5% of the world;
Wait a minute. Among them, the Siberian region also accounts for the vast majority;
For example, oil and gas resources, Russia's earliest Baku oil field was close to depletion as early as the fifties of the last century, so why can it still become a major country in oil and gas resources?
The key reason is that Siberia is rich in oil and gas resources, represented by the Tyumen oil field, more than 200 oil and gas fields have been discovered in Siberia, and the proven reserves account for more than 60% of Russia;
From West Siberia to the south, to the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf, it is the richest oil and gas region in the world.
Another example is coal, where Siberia accounts for more than 70% of Russia's reserves.
Almost all of Russia's mineral and rare metal resources are also located in Siberia and even more in the Far East.
In the former Soviet Union, it was roughly estimated that the total amount of various resources contained in Siberia accounted for two-thirds of the total resources of the former Soviet Union.
And for Russia, it is clear that this proportion will only be higher.
In addition, the United States has also assessed that the value of natural resources available in Siberia is as high as 400 trillion US dollars;
What is this concept?
In 2022, Russia's national GDP will only be 224 trillion dollars, which means that relying on the various resources of the Siberian region alone is enough to make Russia worry-free for hundreds of years.
Seeing this, many friends may find a problem:
If the Siberian region is so important, why is Russia's center of gravity still in Europe, and there are no plans to develop it?
In fact, Russia has tried to develop the Siberian region several times since the beginning of more than a hundred years:
1.The first is the very famous Trans-Siberian RailwayConstruction began in 1891 and opened to traffic in 1904, with a total length of 9,288 kilometers, starting from Moscow in Europe in the west, passing through the vast Siberian region and the northeast of China in the east, and reaching Vladivostok on the Pacific coast;
We often say that in order to develop, infrastructure construction should come first, and a very important reason for Russia to build the Trans-Siberian Railway is to develop the Siberian region.
2.After the end of World War II, starting from the fifties of the last century, the former Soviet Union once again tried to develop the Siberian region;
In the plan at that time, from 1959 to 1965, the former Soviet Union planned to increase investment in regions outside Eastern Europe to more than 40%, and by 1965, 44% of the country's pig iron, 48% of steel, 50% of coal, 30% of oil and 46% of electricity came from Siberia, making it an important energy base and heavy industry base in the country;
One of the most typical is the Tyumen oil field, which began to be developed in 1965;
Driven by this super oil field, from 1965 to 1980, the annual oil production of the West Siberian region increased rapidly from 95 million tons by 3more than 100 million tons, accounting for 50% of the national output of the Soviet Union at that time;
At that time, 50% of the Soviet Union's coal production and 60% of its natural gas production came from Siberia.
3.Not to mention the most recent one, that is, in recent years, Russia has pulled the eastern powers to develop the Siberian Far East.
Overall, the Siberian region is indeed very important to Russia, but it is also quite difficult to really develop this region;
In the past 100 years, Russia has tried many times, but the effect is not obvious, on the one hand, most of these developments focus on the exploitation of various resources in Siberia, and after mining, they are exported, and the promotion of local development is limited;
On the other hand, the natural conditions of Siberia are relatively harsh, not only is it one of the coldest places in the northern hemisphere in winter, with temperatures as low as minus 48 at every turn, but it is also one of the largest tundra in the world, which also makes it difficult to build local infrastructure.
In the Far East, for example, in the nineties of the last century, the population of this region was more than 8 million, but now it has decreased to more than 6 million;
The decline in population will also affect the industrial structure of the Siberian region, which in turn will affect the development of the region.
However, I personally feel that the resources of the Siberian region are too rich, which not only means that it is very important for Russia, but also means that the development prospects of this region will not be too bad in any case;
What do you think?