RUSSIA 



5113 



RUSSIA 



8,764,585 square miles. It was over twice as 

 large as Canada, and also more than twice as 

 large as the United States, exclusive of Alaska. 

 Excluding Eastern Siberia, the entire region is 

 one vast plain, broken only by the Ural Moun- 

 tains. Excepting along a portion of its wi 

 era boundary, Russia is separated from adjoin- 

 ing countries by natural barriers. 



Russia was divided into many provinces, and 

 within its domains were found numerous races 

 and nationalities. The following table gives 

 the area of the largest political divisions and 

 their population, according to statistics of 1914: 



All Russia as it existed before the War of the 

 Nations was divided into Russia in Europe and 

 Russia in Asia. Russia in Europe occupied over 

 half the continent, and for administrative pur- 

 poses was divided into governments, provinces 

 and territories. Petrograd, the capital, was the 

 residence of the czar. The revolution brought 

 with it a breaking up of the political structure of 

 the country, as various districts announced their 

 establishment as independent nations (see His- 

 tory, below). 



The People of Russia. Of the 178,000,000 

 people in all Russia, about 129,000,000 are 

 found in European Russia. Three-fourths of 

 these are Slavs, or true Russians, who are di- 

 \ ulrd into three branches the Great Russians, 

 the Little Russians and the White Russians. 

 The Great Russians number about 65,000,000. 

 They occupy all of the central part of the 

 country and constitute about three-fourths of 



the population in the eastern and northern sec- 

 tions. The Little Russians, also known as Ru- 

 thenians, or Ukrainians, numbering about 20,- 

 000,000, are settled in the southeastern part of 

 the country. The Cossacks (which see) have 

 the same speech as the Little Russians. The 

 White Russians occupy four governments, or 

 provinces, in the west. There are also about 

 6,000,000 Russians in the. Asiatic provinces. 



In the northwestern provinces of Finland and 

 Lapland there are about 3,500,000 Finns, and at 

 the outbreak of the War of the Nations 2,000,- 

 000 Germans were living in the provinces bor- 

 dering on the Baltic. The Jews, of whom there 

 are over 5,000,000, are most numerous in the 

 southwest and west and in Poland. Russia has 

 more Jews than any other country more than 

 half of the number in the world. The region 

 between the Black and Caspian seas, known 

 as the Caucasus, is peopled by Armenians, 

 Kurds, Persians and other tribes. There are 

 about 5,000,000 Turco-Tatars in the country, 

 and 3,500,000 Lithuanians. Asiatic Russia con- 

 tains Mongols, Kalmucks and many other na- 

 tive tribes. 



Religion. Under the empire the state religion 

 was the Greco-Russian, or Orthodox Catholic. 

 Until the revolution of 1917 the czar was the 

 head of the Church. The Holy Synod was the 

 governing board, and the procurator, its chief 

 officer, had very large powers. The principal 

 churches and monasteries in Russia possessed 

 rich stores of vestments, some of comparatively 

 high antiquity, which were preserved with scru- 

 pulous care and used on ceremonial occasions. 

 In 1914 the Orthodox Catholics numbered over 

 87,123,600; Dissenters, about 2,204,000; Roman 

 Catholics, 11,500,000; Protestants, 5,030,000; 

 Jews, 5,450,000;' Mohammedans, 13,907,000. 

 The established Church has had no official 

 standing since the Bolshcviki took control. 



Physical Features, Plants and Animals 



Surface. The description which follows ap- 

 plies to Russia as it appeared on maps made 

 before 1917. Russia in Europe includes the 

 western portion of the great plain that extends 

 eastward to the Bering Sea, broken only by tin- 

 low range of the Ural Mountains. The plain 

 is not absolutely level. There are low hills, or 

 ilations, and stretches of broken country, 

 I 'i it no point has an altitude exceeding 1,400 

 feet. The general level of this plain in Europe 

 is from 400 to 600 feet. In the interior t! 

 are heights of land extending in a north and 



.-until direction. One, known as the Valdai 

 Hills, separates the plains bordering on the Bal- 

 tic from the low country of the Upper Volga 

 region. Its highest point is about 1200 feet. 

 The Heights of the Volga extend along the 

 right (west) bank of tint river from Nizhni 

 Novgorod to Tsaritsin, a distance of 730 miles, 

 and reach an altitude of over 1,300 feet. In 

 the southeast is the largest area in the world 

 below sea level, the basin of the Caspian, whose 

 waters are ninety-six feet below the Mediter- 



