• Introducton
• Geographic Table
• Demographic Page
• Website Maps
• General Websites
• Bibliography of Atlases
• The 89 Regions of Post-Soviet Russia
• Russia/America: Frontiers and Imperial Peripheries

You might check the map collection in the bookstore to see if you can put your hands on a personal copy of a good, large-scale map of Eurasia or a good reference atlas, generally useful just to read the newspaper with understanding.

• For a fresh look at the meaning of maps, check this website = “The Map as Cultural Assumption”
• Here is a suggestive article about hand-drawn maps [2006mr-ap:VIA:37 =TXT]

• For quick reference, here are some maps of universal use to the historian (especially for the Russian historian) =

Russia |---| GoogleEarth Russia |---| Eurasia outline |---| Northern Hemisphere Snow & Ice Charts |---|  Global tetrahedral

Imperial Russian Maps and Digital Peasant Project
Old Map of Russian Empire, with "Zoom"
Geography of the Russian Empire, province [guberniia] by province
Russian genealogical resources, with maps

GEOGRAPHIC TABLE::
Russia and its "Near Abroad":
HIGH POINTS, LOW POOLS,
THE WATERS THAT FLOW BETWEEN,
CONCENTRATED POPULATIONS (CITIES),
& OTHER FEATURES

In the table below, the central organizational principle, defining each row at column 2, is the river. On any row, from column one (far left) to column five (far right), you take an imaginary river trip from highlands to various seas, from the high points to the low pools.

Obviously an imaginary river trip works best if you have a map at hand or use the hypertext links to maps in column 5 to give spatial identity to the imaginary river trip. However, SAC Editor is introducing hypertext links to Google Earth. When a geographic feature shows hypertext linkage, click to Google Earth.

Column 1
The six most important high points, with their most important watersheds (entered here roughly SW to NE) are =

    1) Caucasus Mts. (Mt. El'brus = 18,500)
             GO Kuban and Kura rivers
    2) Valdai Hills (1138 ft., this the highest spot in European Russia)
             GO Dnepr [Dnieper, rises at 830 ft above sea level], Vistula, Western.Dvina, Velikaia, Volkhov, and Volga [730 ft.]
    3) Ural Mts. (Urals; 6214 ft maximum height in the far north, but few points above 4000 ft.
                  The Trans-Siberian Railroad crosses the Urals at 1345 ft. Mt. Tom in the Coburg Hills = 3100 ft.)
             GO [Pechora], Kama, Ufa, Ural, Northern Dvina, Tobol, and Tavda rivers
    4) Tien Shan Mts., dividing China's Sinkiang border from Central Asia (Mt.Communism = 24,600)
            GO Amu Darya, Syr Darya, Ili rivers
    5) Lake Baikal (6365 ft. deep) and the western slopes of its high west bank
            GO Angara and Lena rivers
    6) Altai highlands of western Mongolia (15,266 at highest peak)
            GO Ob - Irtysh [not unlike forked Missouri - Mississippi], Yenisei, Amur, Argun and Shilka rivers

Column 2
Rivers

The table as a whole features 27 Eurasian river systems, their origins, course and destinations. There are 17 rivers (top 17 rows) in what is called "European Russia" (which includes some rivers in non-Russian territories which have been frequently in the orbit of Russian power).

Column 3
Cities

Most of the cities here are located along rivers, but NB! a small number of mountain cities [bracketed in column 1] and coastal cities [bracketed in column 4]

Column 4
Destination of rivers and other significant regional features indicated

Column 5
Alpha-coded to identify the seven major low pools =

A = Black Sea
B = Caspian Sea
C = Baltic Sea
D = White Sea
E = Aral Sea
F = Arctic Sea [or Arctic Ocean], and
G = Sea of Okhotsk

The first four low pools (A-D) are the destinations of what we conventionally call "European" rivers, the last three (E-G) are "Asian" (Siberian). Notice how a number is attached to each alpha-coded drainage region to specify individual river systems. E.g., The great Volga River is in the (B) Caspian Sea region and is coded "B1".

Column 5
also contains hypertext hop-points = [m], [M] and/or [G]

[m] = Regional map of the given low pool or an outline map of Eurasia (click on icon of magnifying glass to zoom)
[M] = Standard map of "Russia/USSR/Russia" as a whole, with topography and political/locational labels
[G] = GoogleEarth map of Eurasia, astonishingly explorable

These maps facilitate imaginary river trips, a good way to gain mastery over this river-centered table of Russian and northern Asian geography. Here in river-city Eugene, river consciousness is a mind-expanding experience.

MAP WEBSITES

• GoogleEarth -- click to tighten fist and drag yourself anywhere in the world
• UNO maps
• UO map (atlas) website
• Global tetrahedral projection
• North-polar projections of Cold War globe
• World soil map
• Eurasia, growth of "civilization" to 200 BC
• North, East and South Asia
• Eurasia (without far-western Europe) [CIA]
• Excellent Free Blank Map of Eurasia, showing nation-state borders
• Fallingrain Regions of Russia | Here is a post 1993 list of administrative regions
• 1914:Russian Administrative regions
• One of the best collections of maps of Russian-centered Eurasia
• A set of historical maps of Russia and Eurasia, with places labeled
• Russia, geo-physical and political (with rail lines)
• BIG MAP OF RUSSIA; Ditto
• Snow Today on the Northern Hemisphere
• Permafrost of the Northern Hemisphere
• Permafrost in Russia
• Vegetative zones of Russia
• 2002:Caspian Sea Pipelines
• Petroleum deposits and pipelines (dated)
• Russian national parks and preserves
• Areas of key environmental problems (Adobe); Ditto (not Adobe)
• Area Studies, country by country

• USA at night
  

  

  Here is a list of the 89 federal subjects of Russia in order of population according to the 2002 census.
  This list added some comments from http://www.economicexpert.com/a/List:of:federal:subjects:of:Russia:by:population.htm

  • Moscow 10,382,754
  • Moscow Oblast 6,618,538
  • Krasnodar Krai 5,125,221
  • Saint Petersburg 4,661,219
  • Sverdlovsk Oblast 4,486,214
  • Rostov Oblast 4,404,013
  • Bashkortostan 4,104,336
  • Tatarstan 3,779,265
  • Chelyabinsk Oblast 3,603,339
  • Nizhny Novgorod Oblast 3,524,028
  • Tyumen Oblast 3,264,841
  • Samara Oblast 3,239,737
  • Krasnoyarsk Krai 2,966,042
  • Kemerovo Oblast ( 1995 pop. 3,077,900 est. often called Kuzbass after the Kuznetsk Coal Basin is located in southwestern Siberia, Russia, where the West-Siberian Plain meets the South Siberian mountains. The oblast, 95,700 km², shares a border with Tomsk 2,899,142
  • Perm Oblast is in the Privolzhsky (Volga) Federal District of Russia. It is named after its primary city, Perm. The oblast covers an area of 160,600 km², and as of the 2002 census the population is 2. Neighboring oblasts and republics are (f 2,819,421
  • Stavropol Krai is a regional subdivision of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Stavropol. As of February 2004 its governor is Alexander
    Chernogorov. Administrative Division Districts Stavropol Krai consists of the following districts : Alexa 2,735,139
  • Volgograd Oblast is a regional subdivision of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Volgograd. Area 114,100 km², population 2,531,000 ( 1985). Administrative Division Districts Volgograd Oblast consists of the following districts ( Russian: ): 2,699,223
  • Novosibirsk Oblast is a regional subdivision of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Novosibirsk. Novosibirsk Oblast (area 178,200 km², pop. 2,748,500 est. 1995)) is located in the southeastern Western Siberian plain, at the foothills of low S 2,692,251
  • Saratov Oblast ( Russian: ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is Saratov. Major cities include Balakovo (pop. 200,600 as of 2002) and Engels (pop. Area 100,200 km² ( ranked 36th), 2,668,310
  • Altai Krai (́ ) is a regional subdivision of Russia in the Siberian Federal District. It borders with, clockwise from the south, Kazakhstan, Novosibirsk and Kemerovo Oblasts and the Altai Republic. The krai's administrative center is the city of Bar 2,607,426
  • The Irkutsk Oblast Russia is located in south-eastern Siberia in the basins of Angara, Lena and Nizhnyaya Tunguska rivers, and occupies an area of 767,900 km² (4. 6% of Russia's territory). The Irkutsk Oblast borders with the Buryat and Tuva Republics in 2,581,705
  • Dagestan 2,576,531
  • Voronezh Oblast 2,378,80
  • Orenburg Oblast 2,179,551
  • Omsk Oblast 2,079,220
  • Primorsky Krai 2,071,210
  • Tula Oblast 1,675,758
  • Leningrad Oblast 1,669,205
  • Udmurtia 1,570,316
  • Vladimir Oblast 1,523,990
  • Belgorod Oblast 1,511,620
  • Kirov Oblast 1,503,529
  • Tver Oblast 1,471,459
  • Penza Oblast 1,452,941
  • Khabarovsk Krai 1,436,570
  • Khantia-Mansia 1,432,817
  • Ulyanovsk Oblast 1,382,811
  • Bryansk Oblast 1,378,941
  • Yaroslavl Oblast 1,367,398
  • Arkhangelsk Oblast 1,336,539
  • Chuvashia 1,313,754
  • Vologda Oblast 1,269,568
  • Kursk Oblast 1,235,091
  • Ryazan Oblast 1,227,910
  • Lipetsk Oblast 1,213,499
  • Tambov Oblast 1,178,443
  • Chita Oblast 1,155,346
  • Ivanovo Oblast 1,148,329
  • Chechnya 1,103,686
  • Smolensk Oblast 1,049,574
  • Tomsk Oblast 1,046,039
  • Kaluga Oblast 1,041,641
  • Kurgan Oblast 1,019,532
  • Komi Republic 1,018,674
  • Astrakhan Oblast 1,005,276
  • Buryat Republic 981,238
  • Kaliningrad Oblast 955,281
  • Sakha Republic 949,280
  • Amur Oblast 902,844
  • Kabardino-Balkaria 901,494
  • Murmansk Oblast 892,534
  • Mordovia 888,766
  • Oryol Oblast 860,262
  • Pskov Oblast 760,810
  • Kostroma Oblast 736,641
  • Mariy El 727,979
  • Republic of Karelia 716,281
  • North Ossetia-Alania 710,275
  • Novgorod Oblast 694,355
  • Sakhalin Oblast 546,695
  • Khakassia 546,072
  • Yamalia 507,006
  • Ingushetia 467,294
  • Adygeya 447,109
  • Karachay-Cherkessia 439,470
  • Kamchatka Oblast 358,801
  • Tuva 305,510
  • Kalmykia 292,410
  • Altai Republic 202,947
  • Jewish Autonomous Oblast 190,915
  • Magadan Oblast 182,726
  • Permyakia 136,076
  • Ust-Orda Buryatia 135,327
  • Aga Buryatia 72,213
  • Chukotka 53,824
  • Nenetsia 41,546
  • Taymyria 39,786
  • Koryakia 25,157
  • Evenkia 17,697

  

 Websites

• Library of Congress Country Studies
• List of Russian Webservers