Russia has a population of over 100 million people composed of over 100 ethnic groups. The largest ethnic group is Russians, making up about 80% of the population, while other groups like Tatars, Ukrainians, Bashkirs, and Chuvash make up the remaining 20%. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, several republics became independent countries while others joined organizations like NATO. Russia remains ethnically diverse with Slavs, Caucasians, and Turkic peoples forming the major heritages. Russian is the most widely spoken language though over 100 tongues are used across the country's varied regions.

1. By Jack Garrity

2.  Chapter 14 at
Google
Classroom

3.  Russia’s population of more than 100 ethnic
groups includes Slavic, Turkic, and Caucasian
peoples. A study of the cultural geography of
Russia will explore the ethnic diversity of this
region and describe the ways in which the
different populations influenced Russia’s
culture throughout its long history.

4.  Russia today is home to one of the widest varieties of ethnic
groups in the world — there are more than 70 distinct groups.

5.  An ethnic group shares a common ancestry, language,
religion, customs, or a combination of these things.

6.  Over a thousand years, Russia grew from a territory to a
multiethnic empire, stretching from Europe to the USA.

7.  In the process, many non-Russian ethnic groups came
under its control

8.  During the USSR Soviet era (1922 -1991) regional political
boundaries often reflected the locations of major ethnic groups,
or nationalities.

9.  During the USSR Soviet era (1922 -1991) regional political
boundaries often reflected the locations of major ethnic groups,
or nationalities.

10. After the fall of the Soviet Union (1991), several of these larger
republics became independent countries.

11.  Some of them joined NATO the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, which the USA formed after World War 2.

13. After (1991), Finland, had been in USSR influence did not join
NATO.

15. After (1991), Estonia, a “Baltic State” joined NATO.

17. After (1991), Latvia, a “Baltic State” joined NATO.

19. After (1991), Latvia, a “Baltic State” joined NATO.

20. After (1991), Lithuania, a “Baltic State” joined NATO.

22. After (1991), Chez Republic joined NATO.

23. After (1991), Poland, a Roman Catholic State joined NATO.

25. After (1991), Belarus did not join NATO.

27. After (1991), Ukraine did not join NATO.

29.  Russia did not join NATO

31.  Russia has strong alliances with China, Iran, Central
and South Africa. India gets the majority of its
weapons and oil from Russia.

32. 80 percent of the population is Russian.

33. 20 percent make up 32 ethnic groups that have their own
republics or administrative territories within Russia.

34. However, 3 major ethnic groups Slavs, Caucasian , and
Turkish are the major heritages or ethnic groups.

35. Russians are part of a larger ethnic group known as
Slavs.

36. Slavs are a linguistic and ethnic branch of Indo-
European peoples that includes Poles, Serbs, Ukrainians,
and other eastern Europeans

37. The Russian Slavs have dominated the country’s politics
and culture.

38.  Another large ethnic group is classified as
Caucasian (kaw•KAY•zhuhn).

39. Caucasian people live in the Caucasus southwestern region,
including the Chechens, Dagestanis, and Ingushetians.

40. Turkic-speaking peoples live in southwestern and the middle
Volga area.

41. The Turkic peoples include the Tatars, Chuvash, Bashkirs, and
the Sakha.

42. The most numerous of these groups are the Tatars, about
one-third of whom live in Tatarstan, a western republic.

43. Russia has ruled Tatarstan since the mid-1550s.

44. However, the republic, like other Russian republics,
does have a limited amount of sovereignty, or self-rule.

45. The Sakha are a combination of local groups and Turkic
peoples who originally settled along the middle Lena
River.

46. Formerly seminomadic, the Sakha in southern Siberia have
expanded into the northeast.

47. About 75 percent of all Russians live in the west, due in part to
the rich soil, waterways, and a milder climate than that in east.

49. The west includes the country’s industrialized cities.

50. Moscow is the industrial and capital city 12,655,050

51. Moscow is a megacity with 12,655,050 people.

53. Kazan on the Volga has 1,257,341 people.

54. Kazan is the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, a semi-
autonomous region,

55. Kazan was founded in 1005.,

56. Volgograd (Stalingrad) has a population of 1,004,7763.

57. Volgograd founded in 1589 it was renamed Stalingrad
under the Soviet Union.

58. The Russians stopped the Natzi eastern advance at the
Battle of Stalingrad during World War 2.

59. Sevastopol (340,735) annexed by Russia in 2014 home to
the Russian Navy.

60. Czar Catherine the Great founded Sevastopol in 1783 after defeating
the Ottoman Turks.

61. Czar Catherine the Great founded Sevastopol in 1783 after defeating
the Ottoman Turks.

62. Czar Catherine the Great also founded Odessa (Ukraine) the major
southern port city.

63. Czar Catherine the Great also founded Odessa (Ukraine) the major
southern port city.

64. Saint Petersburg

65. Saint Petersburg was the imperial capital begun by Peter
the Great, to have a capital port city.

66. Saint Petersburg has a population of 5,384,342.

67. Since 1990, urban population growth in many
industrialized centers has leveled off or decreased.

68. East of the Ural Mountains, the population is less dense.

69. Only 25 percent of Russia’s population lives in Siberia, an
area that accounts for about two-thirds of the country’s
land area.

70. Frozen tundra, mountains, and forests make most of
this part of Russia unsuitable for farming.

71. Yakukts is the capital city of the Sakha
Republic, Russia.

72. Yakukts population of 311,760 people live about 450 km
(280 mi) south of the Artic Circle.

73. Vladivostok is a major Pacific port city in Russia overlooking
Golden Horn Bay.

74. Vladivostok’s population of 598,927 people borders with China and
North Korea.

75. Little Diomede (Inupiaq: Iŋaliq, Russian: Диомид) is a
city in the Nome Unorganized Brorough of Alaska.

76. Big Diomede Island is part of Russia, the islands are
2.4 miles from each other.

77. Diomede is the only settlement on Little Diomede
Island, with a population of 95.

78. During the earlier years of the Soviet era, many ethnic
Russians migrated to non-Russian republics of the
Soviet Union.

79. In the 1970s, however, this trend began to reverse.

80. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, more
ethnic Russians have returned to their homeland.

81. Most have settled in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the
southwest.

82. The number of people moving into the country has been
greater than the number of Russians leaving the
country.

83.  Russian is the official langage, yet more than 100
languages are spoken .

84. The Altaic family of languages is spoken by the
Turkic peoples of western Russia.

85. In eastern Russia are Russian and Sakha are the major
languages.

86. The Soviet government strictly discouraged religious
practices and actively promoted atheism.

87. Atheism (AY•thee•ih•zuhm), or the belief that there
is no God or other supreme being.

88. In the late 1980s, however, the government began to
relax its restrictions on religion.

89.  The Russian Orthodoxy Christian Church, Islam,
Judaism, and Buddhism were allowed full liberty as
traditional religions.

90. Christianity The Eastern Orthodox Church had been
central to Russian culture for a thousand years before
the Communist revolution in 1917.

91. In 1453 Constantinople, the center of the Eastern
Orthodox Church, had fallen, and Russia became the
leader of the Orthodox Christian world.

92. In 1453 Constantinople, the center of the Eastern
Orthodox Church, had fallen, and Russia became the
leader of the Orthodox Christian world.

93. In 1453 Constantinople, the center of the Eastern
Orthodox Church, had fallen, and Russia became the
leader of the Orthodox Christian world.

94. Today, most Russians who claim a religious affiliation
belong to the Russian branch of the Orthodox Church..

95. Other Christian groups, including Roman Catholics and
Protestants, have also reemerged.

96. In 988 Prince Vladimir, leader of Kievan Rus, adopted
Eastern Orthodox Christianity as Russia’s official
religion.

97. Islam is the second-largest religion , practived by the
majority of people who a live in the Caucasus region
and between the Volga River and the Urals.

98. Most Russian Muslims follow the Sunni branch of Islam,
like Turkey and Afghanistan.

99. Judaism has long been persecuted. In czarist times, Jews
could settle only in certain areas, could not own land,
and were often the targets of organized persecution and
massacres known as pogroms.

100. Yet Jewish communities managed to thrive in many
of Russia’s cities.

101. The World Wars took a tragic toll on Russia’s Jews. As
a result, many Jews migrated to Israel or the United
States.

102. Today, Jewish communities in Russia are restoring
their religious practices.

103. The republics of Tuva, Buryatia, and Kalmykia
(kal•MIH•kee•uh), near the Caspian Sea, have a large
number of Buddhists.

104. A small number of Buddhists live in the larger cities
such as St. Petersburg and Moscow, with Buddhist
centers and facilities.

105. During the Soviet era, education was free and
mandatory.

106. The emphasis was on math, science, and engineering
rather than on language, history, and literature.

107. This produced generations of technology-focused
government officials.

108. They, along with prominent educators, writers, and
artists, made up the Soviet intelligentsia), or intellectual
elite.

109. After the collapse of the Soviet Union. Schools began
to include language, history, and literature.

110. Today, students have a choice of different types of
schools, but the country’s unstable economy has
limited school budgets. Teachers often abandon
teaching because of the low pay and low morale

111. In addition, students focus on earning money rather
than getting an education.

112.  Average life expectancy is 66 years, 12 years shorter
than in the United States.

113. The infant mortality rate, or the number of deaths per
1,000 births, is 12 compared to the U.S. rate of 6.6.

114. Since 1992 the Russian death rate has exceeded the
birthrate, resulting in negative population growth.

115.  The arts in Russia were often inspired by religion.

116. For example, churches were crowned with onion-
shaped domes that symbolized heaven in the Russian
Orthodox tradition.

117. Russian art changed its focus to nonreligious themes in
the early 1700s when Peter the Great introduced
European culture.

118. By the early 1800s, Russia had entered an artistic
golden age that lasted into the 1900s.

124. Painters such as Viktor Vasnetsov and composers
such as Pyotr (Peter) Tchaikovsky contributed to the
richness of Russian culture.

125. The works of poets Aleksandr Pushkin, Boris Pasternak, and Anna
Akhmatova, and novelists Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky have made
Russian literature famous.

126.  Soviet Art glorified the government’s achievements
in their works, an approach known as socialist
realism.

132.  End
 Next time History of Russia