Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
8
Russia and I ts Neighbors
In contrast to the democracies considered so far, Russia had a Communist
government from 1917 to 1991 and many of those patterns linger. Moreover,
the Soviet Union imposed its communist system on Eastern Europe after
the end of World War II. Czechoslovakia exemplifies the situation there.
By the middle of the 20th century, both Russia and Eastern Europe were
highly industrialized and suffered extreme air and water pollution.
Russia is a vast land, stretching across Europe and Asia for nearly
7000 kilometers from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific. The land runs from the
Arctic south to China, Mongolia, the Black Sea, and Rumania. In size it is
twice as big as China or the United States. The original people were Slavs,
who lived in the forests in harmony with nature. They farmed, hunted, and
trapped, and used the broad rivers for trade. In the ninth century AD the
Rus tribe established a government based in Kiev, in present-day Ukraine.
The Rus traded furs, honey, and wax with Sweden to the west and with
the Byzantine Empire to the south. By the late 10th century, they were a
strong military force in the region, and had adopted the Orthodox version
of Christianity, converted by missionaries sent from Constantinople
(now Istanbul). In 1237 the Mongols invaded from Asia, winning control
of Russia for two centuries. To the east, their empire extended to China
and Korea.
Russian principalities continued to pay tribute to the Mongols (later
called Tatars or Tartars) until 1480, when Ivan the Great won indepen-
dence for Moscovy. Ruling from the Kremlin, their hilltop fortification, the
grand dukes expanded their power. In 1552 his grandson, Ivan the Terrible,
won control of the Tatar states of Kazan and Astrakhan, thus becoming an
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