Portal:Siberia
The Siberia Portal
A portal dedicated to Siberia
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A river with the Ural Mountains in the background, Berezovsky, Khantia-Mansia, Russia Urals -
A view of Katun Nature Reserve, a Russian 'zapovednik' (strict nature reserve) located in the highlands of the central Altai Mountains of south Siberia -
The Vasyugan, a river in the southern West Siberian Plain of Russia -
Kuznetsk Alatau is a mountain range in South Siberia, Russia -
An ice cave on Olkhon Island, eastern Siberia, Russia -
Chuysky tract in Shebalinsky District, on the outskirts of the village of Kamlak. The district is an administrative and municipal district (raion), and one of the ten in the Altai Republic, Russia. -
A JSC Siberia Airlines Airbus A319-114 in Frankfurt, Germany -
A view of Belukha Mountain. It is located in the Katun Mountains and is the highest peak of the Altai Mountains in Russia, and is the highest of the system of the South Siberian Mountains.
Introduction
Siberia | |
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Geographical region | |
 Siberian Federal District |
Siberia (/saɪˈbɪəriə/ sy-BEER-ee-ə; Russian: Сибирь, romanized: Sibir', IPA: [sʲɪˈbʲirʲ] ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states since the centuries-long conquest of Siberia, which began with the fall of the Khanate of Sibir in the late 16th century and concluded with the annexation of Chukotka in 1778. Siberia is vast and sparsely populated, covering an area of over 13.1 million square kilometres (5,100,000 sq mi), but home to roughly a quarter of Russia's population. Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Omsk are the largest cities in the area.
Because Siberia is a geographic and historic concept and not a political entity, there is no single precise definition of its territorial borders. Traditionally, Siberia spans the entire expanse of land from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, with the Ural River usually forming the southernmost portion of its western boundary, and includes most of the drainage basin of the Arctic Ocean. It is further defined as stretching from the territories within the Arctic Circle in the north to the northern borders of Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China in the south, although the hills of north-central Kazakhstan are also commonly included. The Russian government divides the region into three federal districts (groupings of Russian federal subjects), of which only the central one is officially referred to as "Siberian"; the other two are the Ural and Far Eastern federal districts, named for the Ural and Russian Far East regions that correspond respectively to the western and eastern thirds of Siberia in the broader sense.
Siberia is known for its long, harsh winters, with a January average of −25 °C (−13 °F). Although it is geographically in Asia, Russian sovereignty and colonization since the 16th century has led to perceptions of the region as culturally and ethnically European. Over 85% of its population are of European descent, chiefly Russian (comprising the Siberian sub-ethnic group), and Eastern Slavic cultural influences predominate throughout the region. Nevertheless, there exist sizable ethnic minorities of Asian lineage, including various Turkic communities—many of which, such as the Yakuts, Tuvans, Altai, and Khakas, are Indigenous—along with the Mongolic Buryats, ethnic Koreans, and smaller groups of Samoyedic and Tungusic peoples (several of whom are classified as Indigenous small-numbered peoples by the Russian government), among many others. (Full article...)
Selected article -
Permafrost (from perma- 'permanent' and frost) is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two years or more: the oldest permafrost had been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below a meter (3 ft), the deepest is greater than 1,500 m (4,900 ft). Similarly, the area of individual permafrost zones may be limited to narrow mountain summits or extend across vast Arctic regions. The ground beneath glaciers and ice sheets is not usually defined as permafrost, so on land, permafrost is generally located beneath a so-called active layer of soil which freezes and thaws depending on the season.
Around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface is underlain by permafrost, covering a total area of around 18 million km2 (6.9 million sq mi). This includes large areas of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Siberia. It is also located in high mountain regions, with the Tibetan Plateau being a prominent example. Only a minority of permafrost exists in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is consigned to mountain slopes like in the Andes of Patagonia, the Southern Alps of New Zealand, or the highest mountains of Antarctica.
Permafrost contains large amounts of dead biomass that have accumulated throughout millennia without having had the chance to fully decompose and release their carbon, making tundra soil a carbon sink. As global warming heats the ecosystem, frozen soil thaws and becomes warm enough for decomposition to start anew, accelerating the permafrost carbon cycle. Depending on conditions at the time of thaw, decomposition can release either carbon dioxide or methane, and these greenhouse gas emissions act as a climate change feedback. The emissions from thawing permafrost will have a sufficient impact on the climate to impact global carbon budgets. It is difficult to accurately predict how much greenhouse gases the permafrost releases because of the different thaw processes are still uncertain. There is widespread agreement that the emissions will be smaller than human-caused emissions and not large enough to result in runaway warming. Instead, the annual permafrost emissions are likely comparable with global emissions from deforestation, or to annual emissions of large countries such as Russia, the United States or China. (Full article...)
Interesting facts -
- Forest brother Alfred Käärmann hid for 7 years from Soviet officials, spent 15 years in Siberian prison camps, had his passport stamped "annulled" and was banished from Estonia until 1981.
- Eruptions of Anyuyskiy Volcano in Siberia may have inspired legends of places where hunting is banned and smoke and fire rise from the ground.
- In 1866 Polish exilees to Siberia staged an uprising trying to escape to China.
General topics
- Prehistory of Siberia
- History of Siberia
- Geography of Siberia
- North Asia § Geography
- Demographics of Siberia
- Indigenous peoples of Siberia
- Category:Flora of Siberia – includes flora taxa that are native to Siberia. Taxa of the lowest rank are always included. Higher taxa are included only if endemic.
- Siberia Governorate
- Siberian Republic
- Great Russian Regions
- Trans-Siberian Railway
Need assistance?
Do you have a question about Siberia that you can't find the answer to? Consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk.
General images -
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A group of Kachin Khakas (from Indigenous peoples of Siberia) -
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Laminar armour from hardened leather reinforced by wood and bones such as this was worn by native Siberians (from Indigenous peoples of Siberia) -
A sample of Siberian Traps basalt (dark) containing native iron (from Siberian Traps) -
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Ethnographic map of the Soviet Union, 1970 (from History of Siberia) -
Siberia in 1636 (from History of Siberia) -
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The map shows the origin of the first wave of humans into the Americas. Involved are the ANE (Ancestral Northern Eurasian, which represent a distinct Paleolithic Siberian population), and the NEA (Northeast Asians, which are an East Asian-related group). The admixture happened somewhere in Northeast Siberia. (from Indigenous peoples of Siberia) -
Nenets child (from Indigenous peoples of Siberia) -
Indigenous Siberian musical instrument used with throat singing, at Krasnoyarsk Regional Museum, Russia (from Indigenous peoples of Siberia) -
A Siberian Yupik woman holding walrus tusks (from Indigenous peoples of Siberia) -
Step-like geomorphology at the Putorana Plateau, which is a World Heritage Site. (from Siberian Traps) -
A Nanai family in traditional costumes (from Indigenous peoples of Siberia) -
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A 17th-century koch in a museum in Krasnoyarsk. Kochs were the earliest icebreakers and were widely used by Russian people in the Arctic and on Siberian rivers. (from History of Siberia) -
Layers of igneous rock from the Putorana Plateau. (from Siberian Traps) -
Indigenous Siberian canoe at Krasnoyarsk Regional Museum, Russia (from Indigenous peoples of Siberia) -
The Khanate of Sibir in the 15th and 16th centuries (from History of Siberia) -
Lamellar armour traditionally worn by the Koryak people (c. 1900) (from Indigenous peoples of Siberia) -
Siberian river routes were of primary importance in the process of Russian exploration and conquest of Siberia. (from History of Siberia) -
The extent of the Siberian Traps (map in German) (from Siberian Traps) -
The tower of the 17th-century Russian Ilimsky ostrog, now in Taltsy Museum in Irkutsk, Siberia. (from History of Siberia) -
Koryak men starting a fire (from Indigenous peoples of Siberia) -
An ethnographic map of 16th-century Siberia, made in the Russian Empire period, between 1890 and 1907 (from Indigenous peoples of Siberia) -
Selkup man -
1905 map of Siberia (from History of Siberia) -
Selenga Buryats (from Indigenous peoples of Siberia) -
The Putorana Plateau is composed of Siberian Traps. (from Siberian Traps) -
An Indigenous Siberian shaman at Kranoyarsk Regional Museum, Russia (from Indigenous peoples of Siberia) -
Ket woman
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Trans-Siberian Railway route map
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