Siberia isn't much different than any other part of the planet, I have come to learn. It's just in Russia, which generates an aura of mystery to most Westerners. Because of its latitude, its climate is a bit more extreme in winter than many locales, except for the polar regions. I am not a scholar and this is not a history lesson. It's my musing and it's primarily concerning Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia.
The enormous Russian region known as Siberia occupies Eurasia's northeastern quadrant. It covers an area of 13,488,400 square kilometers (5,207,900 square miles) and makes up more than three quarters of Russia. It is a fourth bigger than Canada, the world's second largest country. It extends from the Ural Mountains on the west, to the Pacific Ocean on the east. From south to north it spans an empty realm from Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China to the Arctic Ocean. It is empty because, although Siberia includes 23 percent of Eurasian territory, it claims less than 1 percent of the continent's population.
To many Westerners the name evokes a popular misconception that Siberian settlers are exiles or forced laborers. It is true that Siberia became a place of exile during the early 1700s and remained that for long after, but most Siberian settlers have been free migrants. Between 1885 and 1914, 4 million Slavic peasants sought refuge in Siberia. Almost all of them—and the majority of those afterward—settled in the southern tier along the main transportation routes. The rest of Siberia had a population density of less than one person per square mile (0.5 person per square kilometer), a condition that remains true.
The people have long called Siberia the "future" or "cupboard" of the nation, and the cupboard teems with raw materials. Despite long winters with subzero temperatures, about a tenth of Siberia's mineral and forest wealth has been tapped and is under development by prospectors. Some 200 industrial cities and towns, more than 30 with populations of more than 100,000 cropped up throughout the region during the 20th century. Largest industrial centers such as Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk each have population of well over a million.
The mineral resources of Siberia are enormous; particularly notable are its deposits of coal, petroleum, natural gas, diamonds, iron ore, and gold. Both mining and manufacturing underwent rapid development in Siberia in the second half of the 20th century, and steel, aluminum, and machinery are now among the chief products. Agriculture is confined to the more southerly portions of Siberia and produces wheat, rye, oats, and sunflowers.
Today's Siberia is one of the most dynamically developing regions of the Russian Federation. With the fall of the USSR, Siberia became more open to foreign travel and trade, while local Siberians sought to distance themselves from the Russian government in Moscow. Being developed for so long time as a functional appendage of the center, Siberia is now endeavoring to establish its own systems of foreign trade and international economic relations aimed at compensating regional economic disparities.
I have never been to Siberia, so some of the facts will have been personally communicated to me by a friend who is a native of Novosibirsk, Siberia. Other facts will come from the public domain, common knowledge, as it were. I will be composing the post on-the-fly. I will already have some facts at hand while composing, as well as composing from memory - which I will then verify and may correct.
Siberia, Russia is a vast region, and Novosibirsk is its largest city, with 1.6 million souls. Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia and the third in the country after Moscow and St. Petersburg, houses the State Academy Opera and Ballet Theater, a large scientific research center, and a large variety of casinos, world-class universities, institutes, and theaters.
My friend lives in Novosibirsk, which is quite a metropolitan city by Russian standards. Yes, Russia has standards. Now, however, Siberia's standards are more lofty than Russia's as a whole. Siberia is a melting pot of peoples and cultures, all combining to give Siberia a fresh, wholesome face. It is also a wealth of higher education opportunities, including world-class universities and research institutes. Western-style capitalism is flourishing, with high fashion stores and boutiques, auto dealerships, and other for-profit businesses opening most every day. But even as progressive as it is, Siberia is still, in many ways, like taking a step, well, not exactly back in time, just definitely somewhere else. Nomads still roam the Russian Steppe, but their yurt probably has some modern conveniences inside, and the car is parked outside, along with the reindeer and horses. Although life in a Siberian city like Novosibirsk is certainly comfortable for most, much of the land beyond the city's limits is still wild. The climate is harsh for most of the year, and the weather can change very quickly, usually for the worse.
Most Westerners, including myself, always thought of Siberia as a very cold place. And it is, in winter. The summers are quite mild, however. June and July temperatures in Arkansas are 97F to 100F. June and July temps in Novosibirsk are milder than Arkansas, with lows from 40F to highs of 75F. There is a Siberian joke that explains that there is a difference in winter and summer. In summer, Siberians wear their fur coats unbuttoned.
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