According by an article published in Wikipedia ,Siberia is a vast region spanning the northern part of the Asian continent, and forming the Asiatic portion of Russia. As a result of the Russian conquest of Siberia (17th to 19th centuries) and of the subsequent population movements during the Soviet era (1917-1991), the modern-day demographics of Siberia is dominated by ethnic Russians (Siberiaks) and other Slavs. However, there remains a slowly increasing number of indigenous groups, accounting for about 5% of the total Siberian population (about 1.6–1.8 million),some of which are closely genetically related to indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Siberia Governorate (Russian: Сибирская губерния) was an administrative division (a guberniya) of the Tsardom of Russia and then the Russian Empire, which existed from 1708 until 1782. Its seat was in Tobolsk (initially spelt as Tobolesk). The governorate was located in the east of Russian Empire and bordered China in the south, Kazan Governorate in the southwest, and Archangelgorod Governorate in the northwest. In the north and the east, the governorate was limited by the seas of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. In terms of area, Siberia Governorate was by far the biggest of all the governorates, as it included areas in the Urals, Siberia, and the Russian Far East some of which were not yet even settled by Russians at the time.
Siberian Republic
A Siberian Republic (Russian: Сибирская Республика, romanized: Sibirskaya Respublika) is an idea of making Siberia an independent republic. The argument for an independent republic is that Siberia makes up 77% of Russian territory (13.1 million square kilometers) which includes around 35% of its population (40 million people). Western Siberia has rich oil and gas reserves, but the taxes go directly to Moscow. Getting extraction companies to pay taxes in the regions where they operate would benefit Siberia. The primary argument against self-determination is that Siberia relies on support from Western Russia for essential goods, such as food and manufactured products. However, this is based on existing import and export levels which could potentially change under independent economic policy. After the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014, performance artist Artyom Loskutov, attempted to organize a mock demonstration called Monstration to promote the idea of a Siberian Republic within the Russian Federation, on 17 August in Novosibirsk, to promote Siberian federalisation. Alexei Navalny announced the event in his blog, but the Kremlin launched a media blackout of the event. The protest was compared[by whom?] to the Euromaidan, which led to the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, and Russian politician Nikolai Valuyev called it the "first attempt of global efforts to promote separatism in Russia." Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor issued warnings to 14 media outlets that ran the story and threatened to close BBC Russian Service.
The Trans-Siberian Railway,[a] historically known as the Great Siberian Route and often shortened to Transsib, is a large railway system that connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over 9,289 kilometers (5,772 miles), it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the east. During the period of the Russian Empire, government ministers—personally appointed by Alexander III and his son Nicholas II—supervised the building of the railway network between 1891 and 1916. Even before its completion, the line attracted travelers who documented their experiences. Since 1916, the Trans-Siberian Railway has directly connected Moscow with Vladivostok. As of 2021, expansion projects remain underway, with connections being built to Russia's neighbors (namely Mongolia, China, and North Korea). Additionally, there have been proposals and talks to expand the network to Tokyo, Japan, with new bridges that would connect the mainland railway through the Russian island of Sakhalin and the Japanese island of Hokkaido.
Effects
Siberian agriculture began to send cheap grain westwards beginning around 1869.[citation needed] Agriculture in Central Russia was still under economic pressure after the end of serfdom, which was formally abolished in 1861. To defend the central territory and prevent possible social destabilization, the Tsarist government introduced the Chelyabinsk tariff-break (Челябинский тарифный перелом) in 1896, a tariff barrier for grain passing through Chelyabinsk, and a similar barrier in Manchuria. This measure changed the nature of export: mills emerged to produce bread from grain in Altai Krai, Novosibirsk and Tomsk, and many farms switched to corn (maize) production. The railway immediately filled to capacity with local traffic, mostly wheat. From 1896 until 1913 Siberia exported on average 501,932 metric tons (494,005 long tons; 553,285 short tons) (30,643,000 pood) of grain and flour annually. During th e Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, military traffic to the east disrupted the flow of civil freight. The Trans-Siberian Railway brought with it millions of peasant-migrants from the Western regions of Russia and Ukraine. Between 1906 and 1914, the peak migration years, about 4 million peasants arrived in Siberia. Historian Christian Wolmar argues that the railroad was a failure, because it was built for narrow political reasons, with poor supervision and planning. The costs were vastly exaggerated to enrich greedy bureaucrats. The planners hoped it would stimulate settlement, but the Siberian lands were too infertile and cold and distant. There was little settlement beyond 30 miles from the line. The fragile system could not handle the heavy traffic demanded in wartime, so the Japanese in 1904 knew they were safe in their war with Russia. Wolmar concludes: The railway, which was single track throughout, with the occasional passing loop, had, unsurprisingly, been built to a deficient standard in virtually every way. The permanent way was flimsy, with lightweight rails that broke easily, insufficient ballast, and railroad ties often carved from green wood that rotted in the first year of use. The small bridges were made of soft pine and rotted easily. The embankments were too shallow and narrow, often just 10 ft wide instead of the 16 ft prescribed in the design, and easily washed away. There were vicious gradients and narrow curves that wore out the fringe flanges on the wheels of the rolling stock after as little as six weeks use.
In 2008, the Russian Railways JSC (state company) launched a program for the accelerated delivery of containers cargo by block trains from the Far-Eastern ports (Vladivostok, Nakhodka and others) to the western borders of Russia, called "Transsib in 7 days". Within the framework of the program it is planned to decrease the cargo delivery time from the Far East from 11 days in 2008 to seven days in 2015.[needs update] The length of the routes is about 10,000 km (6,200 mi). The speed of delivery via the block trains should increase from 900 km (560 mi) per day in 2008 to 1,500 km (930 mi) per day in 2015. The first accelerated experimental block-train was launched in February 2009 from Vladivostok to Moscow. The length of the route was about 9,300 km (5,800 mi), the actual time of the experimental train's delivery was 7 days and 5 hours, and the average route speed was up to 1,289 km (801 mi) per day. The maximum route speed of the train was 1,422 km (884 mi) per day.