What is Northern Asia? It's Russia!

Asia - the largest continent of the planet Earth. This is the territory of contrasts. Here is the highest point above sea level - Mount Everest, and the lowest - the Dead Sea. It is in Asia that the longest river, the Yangtze, flows. There is also a unique Caspian Sea. In fact, this is a huge lake. In addition, Asia - the most densely populated part of the planet, accommodating 53 countries with many nationalities, languages and cultures.

Geographically, it is common to divide Asia into the Eastern, Southern, Central and Northern regions. Where does Europe end, Asia North starts?

Russian Asia

It is with Siberia that the Northern part of the Asian continent is associated. It is bounded in the west by the Ural mountain ranges, in the east by the Kolyma River, in the south by the melkosopochnik of the Kazakh steppes and the Arctic Ocean in the north. So, North Asia is the mountain ranges of southern Siberia, the Arctic island territory, the middle Siberia, the northeastern part of Siberia and the West Siberian plain.

Geographical features

Starting from the West Siberian Plain, the surface of this part of the Asian continent slowly rises towards the east. At the same time, the whole region is inclined to the north, because the rivers here carry their waters from the south to the north and, naturally, belong to the basin of the most northerly ocean - the Arctic.

The climate in these places is severe, from the west to the east its continentality increases. It is in North Asia that the cold pole of our Northern Hemisphere lies.
The state border of the Russian Federation also passes through such a region as North Asia. The countries that border Russia here are Kazakhstan (the former USSR republic), China and Mongolia.

Northern Asia = Siberia

Modern Siberia is, in the described above, the territory of Russia, while historically the Siberian region extends further to the northeast of Kazakhstan and the Russian Far East.

Geographically, North Asia (without the Far East) is divided into:
- Eastern: the republics of Yakutia, Buryatia, Tuva, Khakassia; The Amur and Irkutsk regions; The provinces - Transbaikal and Krasnoyarsk;
- Western: Altai Republic, Altai Territory; Regions - Kemerovo, Omsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Kurgan and Tyumen (with the Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrugs);
- Central Siberia;
- North-Eastern Siberia.

Russia entered Siberia in the 16th-17th centuries. Today, in its territory, which is considered sparsely populated, there are just over 19 million people.

A unique feature

The northern part of Asia has special natural zones with such a set of climatic conditions.

This area is famous for a wide variety of landscape areas: from the steppes to the arctic deserts. However, the largest part of Siberia is the taiga. Nowhere in Russia it extends so far to the north and does not descend to the hot south, as in this part of North Asia. In some places, the width of the taiga zone exceeds 2,000 km.
Due to a relatively warm summer, the taiga vegetation feels great north of the Arctic Circle. Winter, with a low temperature regime, does not allow trees to grow hardwoods, because the taiga slowly creeps south. At this latitude in Western Siberia there are steppes, and in the Eastern - broad-leaved forests.

The main tree of North Asia is called larch. She in the cold season drops her pine needles and stubbornly tolerates frosts. Closer to Lake Baikal in the forests you can find Siberian pine, popularly called cedar.

Mountain slopes are covered with spruce-fir forests, and dry basins are rich in steppe vegetation.

The population of northern Asia

Several indigenous peoples and ethnic groups live on the territory of Siberia.

Buryats

It is a branch of the Mongolian ethnic community, the indigenous inhabitants of Buryatia, the Trans-Baikal Territory and the Irkutsk Region. Buryats are divided into clans and tribes, and also on the basis of territorial belonging.

North Asia is the birthplace of nomadic pastoralists, and Buryats are no exception. Like most Mongol-speaking peoples, the Buryat ethnic group supports the so-called "black faith" - Tengrianism or shamanism.

Yakutia

The most numerous ethnic group of northern Asia is the Yakuts. This indigenous population of Yakutia, their native language - one of the branches of the Turkic group. The traditional occupation is cattle breeding. The Yakuts own a unique experiment on breeding in northern latitudes in a sharply continental climate of cattle. Equally successful were experiments in fish farming, horse breeding, blacksmith and military affairs, as well as trade.

Since time immemorial, the Yakuts have been considered the children of Mother Nature, they worshiped the multitude of Aiyy and revered shamanism. By the middle of the XVIII century, North Asia met the first Russians, and the mass transition to Christianity began not only the Yakuts, but also the Chukchi, Evens and other nationalities.

The third largest ethnic group in the Siberian region is the Tuvinians. They are the indigenous inhabitants of Tuva. The native language is Tuvan, derived from the Sayan group of Turkic languages. Most of the Tuvinians are Buddhists, but in some places the indigenous faith - shamanism - has been preserved.

Evenki

Or in the old way - the Tungus. Evenki language belongs to the family of Altaic languages, the Tungus-Manchu group. There are several dialects. The nationality came about by mixing representatives of the Tungus tribes with the aborigines of Eastern Siberia. Ethnic peculiarities of the formation of the nation led to the fact that today three groups are distinguished with different economic and cultural directions: fishermen, pastoralists and reindeer herders.

Altaians

The general name of indigenous Turkic-speaking peoples of Altai. Two groups are distinguished according to ethnographic characteristics: Altaians are northern and southern.