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Mt. Elbrus in
the Caucasus (5,642 metres) is the highest point in Russia. There
are more than 160 volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far
East, including Klyuchevskaya Sopka (4,750 metres), the highest
active volcano in both Europe and Asia.
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The
Ural Mountains, which extend more than 1,375 miles from north to
south, form the boundary separating the unequal European and Asian
sectors of Russia. Asian Russia is about as large as China and India
combined, occupying roughly three-quarters of the nation's
territory. But it is the European western quarter that is home to
more than 75 percent of Russia's inhabitants. This acutely uneven
distribution of human and natural resources is a striking feature of
Russian geography and population. Despite government attempts to
settle people in sparsely populated Asian areas abundant in
resources, this imbalance persists. |
Russia has more than 100,000 rivers, including the immense Lena,
Enisei, Ob, Irtysh, Amur, and Volga, as well as large freshwater
lakes such as Baikal and Ladoga.
Russia
controls immense
mineral, raw materials, and timber resources. It has
the greatest
oil, gas, coal, iron ores, and uranium deposits on the globe and
also significant
reserves of non-ferrous and rare metals. In terms of the volume of
the prospected reserves of nickel, platinum, diamonds, and
à number of other minerals Russia ranks first to third in
the world. Russian forests account for some 22 percent of the
world’s timber resources. See also
CLIMATE.
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