Ural (region)
Ural (
The historical center of the Ural is Cherdyn, which is now a small town in Perm Krai. Perm was an administrative center of the
Etymology
From the 11th century, the region of the Ural Mountains was called Kamyen' (Камень, "the Stone") by Russians. In the mid-16th – early 17th century, the southern parts became known as Ural, which later spread to the entire area. The name probably originated from Turkic "aral". This word literally means "island" and was used for any territory different from the surrounding terrain. In Bashkortostan there is a 13th-century legend about a hero named Ural. He sacrificed his life for the sake of his people, and they poured a stone pile over his grave, which later turned into the Ural Mountains.[3]
Topography
By topography and other natural features, Ural is divided, from north to south, into the Polar (or Arctic), Near-Polar (or Sub-Arctic), Northern, Central and Southern parts. The Polar Ural has an area of about 25,000 km2 and a strongly dissected relief. The Near-Polar Ural is wider (up to 150 km) and higher than the Polar Ural. The Northern Ural consists of a series of parallel ridges with the height up to 1,000–1,300 m and longitudinal depressions, which are elongated from north to south. The Central Ural is the lowest part of Urals, with the highest mountain of 994 m (Basegi) and a smooth relief. The relief of Southern Ural is more complex, with numerous valleys and ridges directed south-west and meridionally.[3][4]
Geology
Urals contains 48 species of economically valuable ores and minerals. Eastern regions are rich in
Climate
The climate of Ural is continental. The ridges of the Ural Mountains are elongated from north to south, they effectively absorb sunlight thereby increasing the temperature. The areas west to the Ural Mountains are 1–2 °C warmer in winter than the eastern regions because the former are warmed by the Atlantic winds whereas the eastern slopes are chilled by the Siberian air masses. The average January temperatures increase in the western areas from –20 °C in the Polar to –15 °C in the Southern Urals and the corresponding temperatures in July are 10 °C and 20 °C. The western areas also received more rainfall than the eastern ones by 150–300 mm per year. The highest precipitation (1000 mm) is in the Northern Ural that causes the average height of snow up to 90 cm. The eastern parts receive from 500 to 600 mm on the north to 300–400 mm on the south.[3]
Rivers and lakes
Most Ural rivers belong to the basin of the
Flora
The landscapes of Ural change both in the latitudinal and vertical directions and are dominated by steppes and forests. Steppes lie mostly in the southern and especially south-eastern Urals. Meadow steppes have developed in the lower parts of mountain slopes and are covered with various clovers, daisies, filipendula, meadow-grass and foxtail millet, reaching the height of 60–80 cm. Many lands are cultivated. Moving to the south, the meadow steppes become more sparse, dry and low. The steep gravelly slopes of mountains and hills of eastern slopes of the Southern Ural are mostly covered with rocky steppes. Valleys of the rivers contain willow, poplar and caragana shrubs.[3]
Forest landscapes of Urals are diverse, especially the southern part. The western areas are dominated by dark coniferous taiga forests which change to mixed and deciduous forests on the south. The eastern mountain slopes have light coniferous taiga forests. Southern Ural is most diverse in the forest composition; here together with coniferous forests also abundant are other tree species such as
Fauna
Ural forests are inhabited by animals typical of
Steppes of the Southern Urals are dominated by
Astronomical events
2013 Russian meteor event
At around 9:20 a.m. on Friday, 15 February 2013, an astronomical incident occurred, known as the
History
The first people appeared on the Ural at the end of the Early Paleolithic period (about 75 thousand years ago). Several sites were discovered from the late Paleolithic (35–10 thousand years ago) including the
At the beginning of the 2nd millennium, the
In the 17th century, Ural became inhabited by
In the 17th century rich and high-quality mineral deposits were discovered in the Ural region. First iron and copper smelters were founded by the mid-17th century. The area was recognized by the Russian government as a strategic source of raw materials. More than 60 factories were built in the first half of the 18th century and this number doubled in the 1750–60s. The industrial activity declined in the early 19th century due to the crisis of the feudal system in Russia, and the growth slowed in all areas except for the gold mining. The largest industrial and commercial centers were Perm, Yekaterinburg, Orenburg, Ufa, Kungur and Irbit. Irbit hosted the biggest fair of the Urals. In the 1840s, regular commercial navigation started on the Kama River.[3]
As a result of the Emancipation reform of 1861, most Ural farmers lost more than half of their personal lands. First joint-stock companies appeared on the Ural in the second half of the 19th century, including those with foreign capital. Many old ironworks were reconstructed and a number of new ones were built. The development accelerated not only in the traditional gold and platinum industries, but also in the coal mining and engineering. Mechanical factories were established in Yekaterinburg, Perm, Izhevsk and others cities, and chemical industry was developed in Berezniki. Nevertheless, Ural lost its status of the main metallurgical area to the South of Russia. The end of 19th century saw a rapid growth of the Ural cities and of the anti-capitalist movements. The long-term exploitation of the factory workers resulted in establishment of Social Democratic committees demanding improvements of working conditions. Those activities peaked around the period of the political collapse of the 1910s in Russia. This brought a severe industrial crisis, fuel shortages, disruption of transport, reduction of agricultural production and the deterioration of the life conditions. The October Revolution brought numerous benefits to the workers, but was followed by the years of Civil Wars (1917–19). The situation improved only after 1920. In 1920–21, the industrial production was at the 12% level of that in 1913, but by 1925–26 it recovered to 93% and in 1937 reached 700%. New giant plants were raised in Magnitogorsk (1932, iron and steel production), Bereznikovskiy (1932, Chemistry), Sverdlovsk (1933, Heavy Machinery), Chelyabinsk (1933, tractors), Solikamsk (1934, potassium), Krasnokamsk (1936, pulp and paper), Novotagilsk (metallurgy) and others. In 1929, oil was discovered in the Kama River basin and its production began in 1932 in Bashkortostan.[3]
During World War II (1941–45) Ural became the industrial backbone of Russia as most important industrial enterprises were evacuated there from the western Russia occupied by Germans. From the summer to winter of 1941, 667 factories were moved to Ural and by the end of 1941 Ural accounted for 62% of the Soviet iron production. The Ural's industrial production increased 3 times in 1943 relatively to 1941 and the military production increased 6 times. During the war, Ural accounted for 40% of the Soviet military production. Three Ural's plants gave 66% of Soviet tanks and mobile artillery units. The annual increase of production was about 50%. In 1946, most plants were converted into non-military directions.[3]
Ethnic composition
The Northern Urals is home to
Current administrative divisions of Urals
Subdivision (major city) | Economic region[2] | Federal District[1] |
---|---|---|
Bashkortostan Republic (Ufa) | Ural | Volga |
Chelyabinsk Oblast (Chelyabinsk) | Ural | Ural |
Kurgan Oblast (Kurgan) | Ural | Ural |
Orenburg Oblast (Orenburg) | Ural | Volga |
Perm Krai (Perm) | Ural | Volga |
Sverdlovsk Oblast (Yekaterinburg) | Ural | Ural |
Tyumen Oblast (Tyumen) | West Siberia | Ural |
Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug (Khanty-Mansiysk) | West Siberia | Ural |
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (Salekhard) | West Siberia | Ural |
Udmurt Republic (Izhevsk) | Ural | Volga |
The table (see also maps above) reveals that the Ural Federal District and Ural economical region are rather different entities, which geographically differ from the Urals, even though the Urals is not well defined geographically. In particular, those entities include parts of Volga and Siberia, and do not include areas belonging to
See also
- Ural Cossacks
- Ural Ocean
- Ural pictograms
- Uralic languages
- History of Ural
References
- ^ a b c "Указ Президента РФ от 13 мая 2000 г. N 849 "О полномочном представителе Президента Российской Федерации в федеральном округе" (Decree No 849 by the President of Russia on 13 May 2000)" (in Russian).
- ^ a b "Ural economic region" (in Russian). Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "Ural (geographical)" (in Russian). Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f Ural Mountains, Encyclopædia Britannica on-line