俄罗斯历史(英文版)

officially Russian Federation , Russian Rossiya or Rossiyskaya Federatsiya country that stretches

over a vast expanse of eastern Europe and northern Asia. Once the preeminent republic of the

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), Russia has been an independent country since the

dissolution

of

the

union

in

December 1991.

Under

the

Soviet

system

it

was

called

the

Russian

Soviet

Federated

Socialist

Republic

(R.S.F.S.R.).

With

an

area

of

6,592,800

square

miles

(17,075,400 square kilometres), Russia is the world's largest country, covering almost twice the

territory of either the United States or China. It ranks sixth in the world in population, following

China,

India,

the

United

States,

Indonesia,

and

Brazil.

The

great

majority

of

the

people

are

Russians, but there also are some 70 smaller national groups living within its borders. Most of the

population is concentrated in a great triangle in the western, or European, part of the country,

although

over

the

past

three

centuries-and

particularly

during

the

early

and

mid-20th

century-there was a steady flow of people eastward to the Asiatic section commonly referred to

as Siberia. On its northern and eastern sides Russia is bounded by the Arctic and Pacific oceans,

and

it

has

small

frontages

in

the

northwest

on

the

Baltic

Sea

at

St.

Petersburg

and

at

the

detached Russian oblast (province) of Kaliningrad. On the south it borders North Korea, China,

Mongolia,

and

the

former

Soviet

republics

of

Kazakstan,

Azerbaijan,

and

Georgia.

On

the

southwest and west it borders the former Soviet republics of Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, and Estonia,

as well as Finland and Norway; in addition, Kaliningrad (formerly a part of what was once East

Prussia

annexed

in

1945)

abuts

Poland

and

Lithuania.

Extending

nearly

halfway

around

the

Northern

Hemisphere

and

covering

much

of

eastern

and

northeastern

Europe

as

well

as

the

whole of northern Asia, Russia has a maximum east-west extent, along the Arctic Circle, of some

4,800

miles

(7,700

kilometres)

and

a

north-south

width

of

1,250

to

1,850

miles.

There

is

an

enormous variety of landforms and landscapes, which occur mainly in a series of broad latitudinal

belts. Arctic deserts lie in the extreme north, giving way southward to the tundra and then to the

forest zones, which cover about half of the country and give it much of its character. South of the

forest zone

lie

the wooded steppe

and

steppe,

beyond

which

are

small

sections

of

semidesert

along the northern shore of the Caspian Sea. Much of the federation lies in latitudes where the

winter

cold

is

intense

and

where

evaporation

can

barely

keep

pace

with

the

accumulation

of

moisture,

engendering

abundant

rivers,

lakes,

and

swamps.

The

capital

of

Russia

is

Moscow,

which was also the capital of the R.S.F.S.R. and of the Soviet Union. The republic itself had been

established

immediately

after

the

Russian

Revolution

of

October

(November,

New

Style)

1917

and

became

a

union

republic

on

December

30

(December

17,

Old

Style),

1922.

Following

the

termination of the U.S.S.R. in 1991, Russia joined with other former Soviet republics in forming

the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Historically, the territory of European Russia was

the core of the expanding Russian state and suffered onslaughts ranging from that of the Mongol

hordes in the 13th century to the Nazi invasion of World War II. This historical heritage, together

with

the

country's

vast

area

and

natural

wealth,

which

permitted

the

development

of

a

large-scale industrial economy, gave Russia a unique place of leadership among the former Soviet

republics. Its brooding landscapes and the complexities of the prerevolutionary society inspired

the prose and music of such giants of world culture as Anton Chekhov, Aleksandr Pushkin, Leo

Tolstoy,

and

Peter

Ilich

Tchaikovsky,

while

the

October Revolution (of 1917)

and

the

changes

it

brought were reflected in the works of such noted figures as the novelists Maksim Gorky, Mikhail

Sholokhov,

and

Aleksandr

Solzhenitsyn,

the

poet

Vladimir

Mayakovsky,

and

the

composers

Dimitry Shostakovich and Sergey Prokofiev. For the geography and history of Russia's two largest