Siberia

Siberia (Russian: Сибирь, tr. Sibir' [sʲıˈbirʲ]), is the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the USSR from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the 16th century.

It includes a large part of the Eurasian Steppe and extends eastward from the Ural Mountains to the watershed between Pacific and Arctic drainage basins, and southward from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan and the national borders of both Mongolia and China.^[1] It makes up about 77% of Russia's territory (13.1 million square kilometres), but only 25% of Russia's population (36 million people).

Origin of the name

Some sources^[2] say that it originates from the Turkic for "sleeping land." Another version is that this name was the tribal name of the Sibilla, ancient Turkic nomads later assimilated to Siberian Tatars. It has also been asserted that the name Siberia is connected to the Sabir people. The modern usage of the name appeared in the Russian language after the conquest of the Siberia Khanate.

Borders and administrative divisionThe term Siberia has a very long history, and its meaning has gradually changed during ages. Historically, Siberia was defined as the whole part of Russia to the east of Ural Mountains, including the Russian Far East. According to this definition, Siberia extended eastward from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific coast, and southward from the Arctic Ocean to the border of Russian Central Asia and the national borders of both Mongolia (which included Tuva) and China.^[3]

Soviet-era sources (GSE and others)^[4] and modern Russian ones^[5] usually define Siberia as a region extending eastward from the Ural Mountains to the watershed between Pacific and ArcticKazakhstanMongolia and China. Correspondingly, Siberia includes the federal subjects of the Siberian Federal District, and some of the Urals Federal District, as well as Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, which is a part of the Far Eastern Federal District. This definition also includes geographically (but not administratively) subdivisions of several other subjects of Urals and Far Eastern federal districts. This definition excludes Sverdlovsk Oblast and Chelyabinsk Oblast, both of which are included in some wider definitions of Siberia. drainage basins, and southward from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central and the national borders of both.

Other sources may use either a somewhat wider definition that states the Pacific coast, not the watershed, is the eastern boundary (thus including the whole Russian Far East)^[6] or a somewhat narrower one that confines Siberia to the Siberian Federal District (thus excluding all subjects of other districts).^[7] However, in Russian the word for Siberia is never used to substitute the name of the federal district.

INFORMATII:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia