In the article we will talk about interesting facts about Russia. We will learn about many interesting things that this country can surprise with. There are many interesting aspects that not everyone knows about, but today we will share this information with you, after which Russia will be familiar to you, like a long-read book.
Territory
Let's start with the fact that Russia is the largest country. It has a huge territory, which surpasses all other countries in area. Incredibly, the area of Russia exceeds 17 million square kilometers. Only in size it is twice the size of Canada, which is the second largest in the world. In addition, Russia occupies one sixth of all land on the planet. It is curious that even if Antarctica became a state, the territory would still be in second place after Russia.
It is also curious to know that in the 18th century Russia was the third largest empire in the world. Then the territory of the state began from Poland andended in Alaska. The greatest growth was observed during the reign of the Romanovs. Then it was important that each monarch should transfer more territory to his heir than he received. But few people know that Russia is twice the size of the United States, and when compared with other planets, it is approximately equal to Pluto. There are also many states that have a border with Russia, namely 16. Naturally, this border is the longest in the world.
Sea
The seas washing the coast of Russia only confirm its size and power. The country is washed by 12 seas that belong to different ocean basins, namely the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic. The total area of the Russian water area is about 8 million square kilometers.
Russian seas have great potential. They have a huge amount of geological reserves that provide the country with we alth. There are especially many useful resources in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Barents Sea. At the end of the last century, hydrocarbon reserves were discovered on the shelf of the Caspian Sea. Mineral deposits have also been found in the Arctic.
However, with regard to the development of coastal areas, they are in varying degrees of development. In each of them, urbanization processes take place in their own way. There are five main areas of urbanization that are developing most dynamically. These are Makhachkala, Sochi, Rostov-on-Don, Kaliningrad and Novorossiysk. Nevertheless, St. Petersburg remains the leading center of Russia in this respect. As of 2017, it was here that half of the entire coastal population of the country lived.
Trans-Siberian Railway
Russia is also known for the railway that connects the country's capital with the largest eastern cities. The length of the highway exceeds 2000 kilometers. This is the longest road in the world. In 2002, electrification was completely completed on the railway. The highway connects the Urals, Siberia, the Far East and the European part of the country, it also provides access to Europe and is surrounded by Pacific ports, exits to Asia.
The starting point of the highway is the station "Moscow-Passenger - Yaroslavskaya". The final destination is Vladivostok. As for the throughput capacity of the highway, it is equal to 100 million tons per year. By fast train, the highway can be covered in 6 days.
Construction was started back in 1891 with the filing of Alexander III, who signed the decree on the construction of the Trans-Siberian railway. Initially, the construction cost was supposed to be about 350 million rubles, but in the end it took several times more money. It is believed that from 1891 to 1916 the costs amounted to about one and a half billion rubles.
Movement along the line began in the fall of 1901. It is interesting that the construction was carried out by the state exclusively at its own expense, without attracting foreign investors. At the initial stage of construction, about 10,000 people were involved in this business, but after a couple of years the number of participants exceeded 80,000 people.
Interestingly, despite the fact that the finalVladivostok is considered the station, yet there are more remote places on the branch from the capital, namely the Vostochny Port and Cape Astafiev. It is also curious that the world's longest train "Kharkov - Vladivostok" passed along the Trans-Siberian Railway, which covered about 10,000 km in a week.
Metropolitan
Metropolitan in Moscow is a rail public transport, which is located not only in the city, but also in the region. Historically, this is the first largest metro in Russia and the USSR. In terms of intensity of use, it ranks sixth in the world, after cities such as Beijing, Tokyo, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Seoul.
The first line was opened in the spring of 1935. It started at the Sokolniki station and continued to the Park Kultury station. Even then there was a separate branch "Smolensk". Today, the metro system consists of 14 different lines and 222 stations. At the same time, 44 of them are considered objects of cultural heritage, another 40 are recognized as architectural monuments. Until 2021, the authorities want to build another 29 stations and increase the length of the line by 55 km. Today, the length of the Moscow metro is 379 km.
It is also curious that the metro is one of the most popular in the world in terms of the number of passengers. Again, it is second only to Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai and Seoul, but this gap is insignificant.
This subway is interesting because it has set many records. So, it is in the Moscow metro that the deepest station called "Victory Park" is located, the depth of which reaches 73 m.there is a station that is located as close as possible to the surface of the Earth, namely "Pechatniki". The distance to the ground is only 5 m. The longest station is Vorobyovy Gory, which is 282 m long. But Partizanskaya is considered the widest station. It is in Moscow that the longest escalator is located, the length of which is more than 126 m. There is also a station in the metro, which is located completely outside the city. It is called "Myakinino" and is located in Krasnogorsk. And there is also the only semi-underground station called Michurinsky Prospekt.
This subway is so impressive that it has been mentioned more than once in the literature. So, in 1933, a novel by Vladimir Voronkin was published, which told about the preparations for the construction of this grandiose project. The works of such Soviet writers as Ilf and Petrov are also devoted to him. As for modern literature, the most famous work is a series of post-apocalyptic novels by Dmitry Glukhovsky, which describes the life of people in the subway after the disaster. The metro is repeatedly mentioned not only in literature, but in music, cinema, video games.
Time
Separately worth talking about the time zones of Russia. To begin with, we note that there is a special Federal law called "On the calculation of time", according to which, since 2014, 11 time zones have been established in Russia. As you understand, this is a record number of time zones in one country.
Now let's talk a little about history. During the period of the Russian Empire, time was determined using mechanical watches.and mean solar time. On the railways, a single Petersburg time was used. When there was a boom in the construction of railways, the country switched to a standard time system. Russia officially adopted the international system of time zones only in 1919. However, she did not immediately take action. Throughout the state, this system came into effect only 5 years later.
If you are collecting interesting facts about Russia, it will be interesting to know that between 1924 and 2011 there were official belts in Russia. Nevertheless, individual territories could live according to the time of the neighboring zone. Because of this, the principle of the continuity of Russia's time zones was violated, because of which borders appeared where time could fluctuate in a period of 2 hours. In the fall of 2009, a decision was proposed to reduce the number of belts. However, this proposal was received with surprise by many, and the reaction was very contradictory.
Glaciers
Russian glaciers fill many rivers. The largest of them are located on the islands of the Arctic Ocean. Every year their volume decreases due to a decrease in precipitation.
The largest glacier in Russia is the Bogdanovich glacier, whose area exceeds 30 square kilometers. Interestingly, in terms of the number of glaciers and the area they occupy, the territory of Altai is inferior to the Caucasus. This is directly related to the amount of precipitation.
Plain
The West Siberian Plain is a territory located in the northern part of Asia. She isoccupies almost the entire western part, from Siberia to the Ural Mountains and the Central Siberian Plateau. The territory is partially bounded by the Kara Sea. The shape of the plain resembles a trapezoid. The area exceeds 2.5 million square kilometers, which means that the West Siberian Plain is the largest on earth.
Its dimensions are truly impressive. Interestingly, this is the most developed part of Siberia by people. It is on this territory that the Omsk, Tomsk, Tyumen, Novosibirsk regions, as well as a number of autonomous districts and districts, are located. And as for the surface of the plain, it is a low-lying flat area with a slight difference in heights. Nevertheless, the relief is very diverse, due to the peculiarities of the geological structure. The plain is based on the West Siberian Plate, which is a very hard Paleozoic sediment. As for hydrography, the territory of the plain is located in the region of the West Siberian artesian basin. About 2,000 rivers flow here, the total length of which exceeds 250,000 km. The rivers are replenished mainly due to melted snow and autumn rains. Precipitation is very uneven, and about 80% falls on the summer-spring period.
Caspian
If you need interesting facts about Russia, pay attention to the reservoirs. We are talking about the Caspian Sea, whose area exceeds 170,000 square meters. S alt waters wash the shores of 5 countries, are the water border between Asia and Europe. In fact, it leads only in depth, but in areais only in second place.
However, if we consider freshwater reservoirs, the Caspian Sea is the largest in Eurasia. Incredibly, the waters of this sea are approximately 90% of all fresh water in the Russian Federation. Since ancient times and still the local water is considered the cleanest and most transparent. Naturally, the waters are considered medicinal. The Caspian Sea is often called a lake among the people. By the way, the second largest Russian lake is considered Ladoga, whose area is 18,000 square kilometers. It is curious that about 35 rivers flow into it, and the Neva begins from it.
Baikal
This is a lake of tectonic rock, which is located in the southern part of Siberia. This is the largest lake in Russia and in the world, as well as the largest concentration of fresh water. It is curious that the coastal areas are distinguished by a very unusual and diverse nature. Most of the animals found here are endemic. Traditionally, Baikal is popularly called the sea. The lake is located almost in the very heart of Asia, in the middle of the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia.
The area of the water surface exceeds 30,000 square kilometers, excluding islands. This is equal to the area of the Netherlands or Belgium. The length of the coastline exceeds 2000 km. The lake is located in a hollow, which is surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges. The depth of the lake reaches 1642 m. This mark was established in 1983 by researchers Leonid Kolotilo and A. Sulimov, who carried out hydrographic work. Again, according to scientists, in the Siberian Lake BaikalApproximately 336 rivers flow into it.
However, modern estimates say that the number of inflows ranges from 500 to 1100. The largest rivers that flow into Baikal are Turka, Snezhnaya, Goloustnoe, Upper Angara. It is curious that only one Angara river flows out of the lake. Separately, it is worth noting the properties of water in the lake. It contains very few minerals and any organic impurities, but it has a lot of oxygen. It is believed that the purity of water is maintained mainly due to microscopic crayfish that feed on any organic matter.
Ural Mountains
They represent a huge mountain system, which is located between the West Siberian Plain, which we spoke about above, and the East European Plain. The length of the mountain ranges exceeds 2000 km, and the width in different regions varies from 40 to 150 km. These are the oldest mountains in the world. The Urals are often associated in historical sources with the Hyperborean Ranges.
Starting from the Tale of Bygone Years, the mountains were called Siberian or Belt. As for the geological structure, it must be said that the mountain range was formed during the Paleozoic period, which was characterized by the active formation of mountains. It is believed that these mountains are slow growing, and therefore they have low seismic activity. Depending on the territory, the ridge has several highest points. And yet the highest is in the subpolar Urals. This mountain is Narodnaya, the height of which reaches 1895 m. There are a large number of lakes and rivers on the territory, as well as usefulfossils.
If you collect interesting facts about Russia, it is worth noting that of the 55 varieties of the most important minerals that were mined in the USSR, 48 are represented in the Urals.
Cold
Cold is the word that can basically describe the whole of Russia. There are several areas where temperatures are incredibly low throughout the year. Residents of these areas have to face enormous difficulties. And the coldest city in Russia is Oymyakon, where the record temperature is -71 degrees.
Oymyakon is a small area with no more than 500 people. At the same time, it is considered the coldest zone on the planet, which is located at sea level. The maximum temperature was recorded here in 1938. In principle, the average winter temperature is minus 55 degrees, and the average annual temperature is minus 15 degrees. To reach this remote area, residents of the capital will need to cover 6 hours by air, and then another 1,000 km of snow-strewn impassability.
In the middle of the last century, there was a military airport here, which later began to serve ordinary residents. You can try to get to the village directly only in the summer, and even then, it is not guaranteed that you will get there. The airport is an old log building that looks more like a rundown shack. There is absolutely no public transport in the village, the population moves by sleigh.
Ifif you want to see something unusual, then you should definitely visit the coldest city in Russia. You will be surprised by the appearance of cheerful people who live in such conditions. It is interesting that schoolchildren attend an educational institution at temperatures up to minus 60 degrees. If it drops below, then the students stay at home, because the ink just freezes.
Kalashnikov rifle
This is a weapon that was adopted in the USSR in 1949. Designed it 2 years before Mikhail Kalashnikov. For almost half a century of manufacturing these weapons, about 70 million copies of various models were produced.
It is curious that the Kalashnikov assault rifle is used in 50 foreign armed groups and armies. It is believed that the main competitor of this weapon is the American M16 automatic rifle. Naturally, there are more Kalashnikovs in the world in Russia.
One must understand that weapons are becoming obsolete and their shortcomings are becoming more and more pronounced. At the moment, the main disadvantage is considered to be a collapsible receiver, which does not allow mounting modern sights. However, in 2011, work began on the modernization of the Kalashnikov assault rifle. Already in 2012, a new sample was created, which was distinguished by a fundamentally new design and had amazing capabilities.
Interesting facts about Russia
So, let's talk about some facts that are also quite unusual and curious.
- The tallest standing structure in Europeconsidered the Ostankino TV tower.
- It is on the territory of Russia that the largest active volcano on the entire Eurasian continent is located. This is Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano. Its height is slightly less than 5 km. The ash wave reaches about 8 km upwards, but at the same time it slowly rises with each new eruption. Eruptions have occurred regularly over the past 7,000 years.
- The distance from Russia to America is only 4 km. This is the distance between Ratmanov Island in Russia and Krusenstern Island in the USA. Many people mistakenly believe that the minimum distance is 86 km because it is the width of the Bering Strait. But it is not so. We have already understood that the distance from Russia to America is only 4 km, this fact has been scientifically confirmed. Today, the possibility of building a tunnel or a bridge that would cross the Bering Strait is being considered. However, for various technical and economic reasons, this idea has not yet been implemented.
- The most popular computer game "Tetris" was created by Alexey Pajitnov. It happened in 1985 in Russia. The game soon became incredibly popular in the Soviet Union, and in 1986 it was a brand in the West as well.
- It is believed that Ivan the Terrible was a rather cruel tyrant, but if you compare him with the rulers of that time, he is soft. So, if we compare the number of people who were executed at his hands with the victims of European rulers, we will see an impressive difference. About 4,000 victims died under the Grozny regime, compared to 400,000 who died as a result of the rule of Europeanrulers.
We will complete the list of interesting facts with the fact that the State Hermitage Museum keeps a whole flock of cats in order to protect the territory from rodents. Moreover, each cat has its own document with a photo.
