Why aren’t there a lot of cities in Eastern Siberia?

Comments ( 5 )

1. Chris says

   there are quite a few "cities" there that are larger than many of the cities in the United States.

   The old government subsidized these cities, because of the need for people in areas with abundant natural resources. So, there are many cities throughout the east.

   Since the collapse, these cities have reduced in size. One of the traditional "problems" with trade in that region is the lack of year around harbors. You might consider a steady diet of -50F hard on airplanes too.

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2. lucas421 says

   There are are thousands of towns/cities scattered throughout Eastern Russia. For a good map, go to http://maps.yandex.ru/ and copy/past владивосток and hit enter. You will see Vladivostok and tons of other towns nearby.

   True, Siberia is not densely populated because of the extreme climate. Both China and Japan are south of Russia and therefore warmer. A large part of Siberia is tundra and taiga. In many Siberian cities water pipes are laid above ground because the ground is frozen after a couple feet.

   Although your trade idea would be convenient, a new Russian law says all imports have to go through Moscow.

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3. Slava T says

   In comparison to the Chinese population we all look like dwarfs :).
   Historically not a lot of indigenous people lived there when this area became a part of the Russian Empire in the 17th century. Russia managed to get recognition of the borders with the Manchu Chinese Empire by Nerchinsk Agreement of 1689 that secured this area from the Chinese. There was an attempt to lure some peasants from the overpopulated areas of the European Russia to Siberia after their liberation in 1861 but agricultural realities of Siberia hugely differed from the Central Russian ones, so the attempt generally failed. As you know oil and gas hadn't been the main commodities up to the middle of the XXth century, so Russian Siberia and the Far East were left as country's freezer (in all possible senses) till 1930s when the needs of the Soviet industrialization changed the main economic priorities. Actually it was the reason (along with some other less cheerful though) for Siberia and The Far East to experience flow of the population from the Central Russia that reached 20 mln something.
   The shortcomings of the Soviet planned and overcentralized economy did not allow to use the Siberian potential in full. Probably it is even for better because there was a crazy plan in the end of 1970s to divert the flow of the huge Siberian rivers and direct them to the Soviet Central Asian republics (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan) to water the droughted areas and deserts there. I cannot even imagine what would've happened to the Siberian ecosystem its forests, wild life and so on if they had pressed on with that idea.

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4. www.freewebs.com/bel says

   Several ones have over a million or nearly a million inhabitants.

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5. Dmitry says

   Look to climate maps. http://printable-maps.blogspot.com/2008/09/climat…
   Think again. 🙂

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