Russian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the
Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of
Russia, between
Siberia and the
Pacific Ocean. The Russian Far East should not be confused with
Siberia, which does not stretch all the way to the Pacific.
Encyclopedia
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the
Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of
Russia, between
Siberia and the
Pacific Ocean. The Russian Far East should not be confused with
Siberia, which does not stretch all the way to the Pacific.
Territory
Until 2000, the Russian Far East lacked officially defined boundaries. A single term "Siberia and the Far East" was often used to refer to Russia's regions east of the
Urals without drawing a clear distinction between "Siberia" and "the Far East." Several entities with the name "Far East" had existed in the first half of the
20th century, all with rather different boundaries:
From 1938 to 2000, there was no official entity with this name and the term "Far East" was used loosely, much like "the West" in the United States.
In 2000, Russia's
federal subjects were grouped into larger
federal districts, and
Far Eastern Federal District was created, comprising
Amur Oblast,
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug,
Jewish Autonomous Oblast,
Kamchatka Oblast,
Koryak Autonomous Okrug,
Khabarovsk Krai,
Magadan Oblast,
Primorsky Krai,
Sakha Republic, and
Sakhalin Oblast. Since 2000, the term "Far East" has been increasingly used in Russia to refer to the district, though it is often also used more loosely.
Defined by the boundaries of the federal district, the Far East has an area of 6.2 million square kilometers—over one-third of the Russia's total area.
Population
According to the 2002 Census,
Far Eastern Federal District had the population of 6,692,865.
Most of it the population is concentrated in the southern parts. Given the vast territory of the Russian Far East, 6.7 million people translates to slighly more than one person per square kilometer, making the Russian Far East one of the most sparsely populated areas in the world. The population of the Russian Far East has been rapidly declining since the dissolution of the
Soviet Union , dropping by 14% in the last fifteen years. The Russian government has been discussing a range of re-population programs to avoid the forcasted drop to 4.5 million people by 2015, hoping to attract in particular the remaining Russian population of the
near abroad.
75% of the population is urban. The largest cities are :
Traditional ethnic groups
The original population groups of the Russian Far East include :
- Turkic: Sakha
- Eskimo-Aleut: Aleuts, Inuit, Siberian Yupiks
- Chukotko-Kamchatkan: Chukchi, Koryaks, Alutors, Kereks, Itelmens
- Tungusic: Evenks, Evens, Nanais, Orochs, Ul'ch, Udegey, Orok
- Isolate: Yukaghirs, Nivkhs, Ainus
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Terminology
In Russia, the region is usually referred to as just "Far East", creating potential confusion with the international meaning of
Far East in translation. The latter is usually referred to in Russia as "the Asia-Pacific Region" , or "East Asia" .
History
Russia reached the Pacific coast in 1647 with the establishment of Okhotsk, and consolidated control over the Far East in the 19th century.
External links
See also
