Asia is the largest continent of the planet Earth. This is a territory of contrasts. Here is the highest point above sea level - Mount Everest, and the lowest - the Dead Sea. It is in Asia that the longest river, the Yangtze, flows. There is also a unique Caspian Sea. It is actually a huge lake. In addition, Asia is the most populous part of the planet, hosting 53 countries with many peoples, languages and cultures.
Geographically, it is customary to divide Asia into East, South, Central and North. Where does Europe end, does North Asia begin?
Russian Asia
The northern part of the Asian continent is associated with Siberia. It is bounded in the west by the Ural mountain ranges, in the east by the Kolyma River, in the south by the uplands of the Kazakh steppes and by the Arctic Ocean in the north. So, North Asia is the mountain ranges of southern Siberia, the Arctic island territory, central Siberia, the northeastern part of Siberia and the West Siberian plain.
Geographic features
Starting from the West Siberian Plainthe surface of this part of the Asian continent is slowly rising towards the east. At the same time, the entire region is tilted to the north, which is why the rivers here carry their waters from south to north and, naturally, belong to the basin of the northernmost ocean - the Arctic Ocean.
The climate in these places is severe, from west to east its continentality increases. It is in North Asia that the cold pole of our Northern Hemisphere is located.
The state border of the Russian Federation also passes through such a region as North Asia. The countries that border Russia here are Kazakhstan (former Soviet republic), China and Mongolia.
North Asia=Siberia
Modern Siberia is, within the framework described above, the territory of Russia, while historically the Siberian region extends further into the northeast of Kazakhstan and the Russian Far East.
Geographically, North Asia (without the Far East) is divided into:
- East: the republics of Yakutia, Buryatia, Tyva, Khakassia; regions - Amur and Irkutsk; Territories - Trans-Baikal and Krasnoyarsk;
- Western: Republic of Altai, Altai Territory; regions - Kemerovo, Omsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Kurgan and Tyumen (with the Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrugs);
- Central Siberia;
- North-Eastern Siberia.
Siberia became part of Russia in the 16th-17th centuries. Today, its territory, which is considered sparsely populated, is home to just over 19 million people.
Uniquefeature
The northern part of Asia with such a set of climatic conditions has special natural zones.
This territory is famous for its wide variety of landscape zones: from steppes to arctic deserts. However, the largest part of Siberia is the taiga. Nowhere in Russia does it extend so far to the north and descend to the hot south as in this part of North Asia. In some places, the width of the taiga zone exceeds 2,000 km.
Due to the relatively warm summer, the taiga vegetation feels great well north of the Arctic Circle. Winter, with a low temperature regime, does not allow hardwood trees to grow, because the taiga slowly creeps to the south. At this latitude, there are steppes in Western Siberia, and broad-leaved forests in Eastern Siberia.
The main tree of North Asia is the larch. She sheds needles for the cold season and endures frosts. Closer to Lake Baikal in the forests you can find Siberian pine, popularly called cedar.
Mountain slopes are covered with spruce-fir forests, and dry basins are rich in steppe vegetation.
Population of North Asia
Several indigenous peoples and ethnic groups live in Siberia.
Buryats
This is a branch of the Mongolian ethnic community, the indigenous people of Buryatia, the Trans-Baikal Territory and the Irkutsk Region. Buryats are divided into clans and tribes, as well as on the basis of territorial affiliation.
Northern Asia is the homeland of nomadic pastoralists, and the Buryats are no exception. Like most Mongolianpeoples, the Buryat ethnic group is a supporter of the so-called "black faith" - Tengrism or shamanism.
Yakuts
The largest ethnic group in northern Asia is the Yakuts. This is the indigenous population of Yakutia, their native language is one of the branches of the Turkic group. The traditional occupation is cattle breeding. The Yakuts own a unique experiment on breeding cattle in the northern latitudes in a sharply continental climate. No less successful were experiences in fish farming, horse breeding, blacksmithing and military affairs, as well as trade.
From time immemorial, the Yakuts were considered the children of Mother Nature, worshiped the polytheism of Aiyy and revered shamanism. By the middle of the 18th century, North Asia met the first Russians, and a massive conversion to Christianity began not only for the Yakuts, but also for the Chukchi, Evens and other nationalities.
The third largest nationality of the Siberian region is Tuvans. They are the indigenous inhabitants of Tuva. The native language is Tuvan, which comes from the Sayan group of Turkic languages. Most of the Tuvans are Buddhists, but in some places the indigenous faith, shamanism, has been preserved.
Evenki
Or in the old way - Tungus. The Evenki language belongs to the family of the Altaic languages, the Tungus-Manchu group. Several dialects stand out. The nationality occurred by mixing representatives of the Tungus tribes with the natives of Eastern Siberia. The ethnic features of the formation of the nationality have led to the fact that today there are three groups with different economic and cultural areas: fishermen,pastoralists and reindeer herders.
Altaians
The common name for the indigenous Turkic-speaking peoples of Altai. There are two groups according to ethnographic characteristics: northern and southern Altaians.
