Siberia

Siberia is rather more an image than a geographical concept. Everything to the east of the Ural Mountains, the whole northern part of the Asian continent, is considered by most people – especially by foreigners – to be Siberia. For those who have never been there, all this huge space – the cities, forests, seas, rivers, lakes and bogs (= болото) – merge (= слиться) into one stereotype: snow, frost, huge distances, wildness.

Actually Siberia is various and many-sided: Western and Eastern Siberia, Altai, Tuva and Khakassia, the Sayans and Transbaikalia, Yakutia – seven thousand kilometers from west to east and 3,500 km from north to south, or almost 20 Frances by its area (the size of Europe and larger than the USA).

The first Europeans to reach Siberia were Russian coast dwellers from the White Sea. Obnorsk, Tyumen and Tobolsk, the first expeditions by the Cossack ataman Yermak in the second half of the 16^th century. True were the words by the great Russian scientist Michael Lomonosov: “Russian power with Siberia will increase” – gas and petroleum, gold and diamonds, wood, furs, wild life, fish, the cleanest fresh water, – in general everything is immense in Siberia.

The large cities – Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk – are in the southern part of Siberia. The biggest of them, Novosibirsk is situated on the river Ob. It is not only the important railway junction and river port but also the seat of Siberia branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It has the Opera House bigger than Moscow’s Bolshoi. From Novosibirsk by Trans Siberial express, one can get to Krasnoyarsk, capital of the immense Krasnoyarsky territory. The city stands on the Yenisei, the geographical center of Asia, which divides the Western and Eastern Siberian economic regions. The main attraction of the Krasnoyarsk Region is a unique reserve in the spurs of the Eastern Sayan Mountains – and rock-climbers are fond of these places not mention of fascinating boat routers.

Between Yenisei and the Sayan highlands the fantastic nature attracts tourists. It includes Lake Baikal, a gem of Eastern Siberia, a real magnet for tourists. Nearly a quarter of global fresh water is concentrated in it, and the water is most transparent and clean.

Дата добавления: 2015-03-31