GEO 204 Europe, Russia, & Central Asia
The majority of Russia falls within the humid cold climate region. In the Köppen-Geiger classification scheme, this is signified by the letter ______.
'D'
Russia's territorial size is such that it encompasses ___ time zones.
11
The Soviet Union consisted of _____________ Soviet Socialist Republics.
15
The former Soviet Union dissolved in ______.
1991
The Russian Federation's change from 83 "Regions, Republics, and other entities" into eight new administrative units occurred in ______.
2000
Though territorially small, Europe is heavily populated and fragmented into _____ states
40
The number of Federal Administrative Districts within the Russian Federation is _______.
8
What was a prime motivation for Russia's colonial expansion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?
Access to warm-water ports.
This former Soviet Socialist Republic borders Turkey and remains in conflict with an oil-rich neighboring state over its exclave of Nagorno-Karabakh:
Armenia
This former Soviet Socialist Republic contains the oil city of Baki (Baku) and its people have ethnic affinities with Iran.
Azerbaijan
Which of the following peoples look across their border to Iran because they share a common Shi'ite Muslim faith?
Azeris
This exclave of Armenia is located within Muslim Azerbaijan.
Baki (Baku)
Which of the following states is NOT officially part of this realm?
Belarus
The _____ Mountains lie in the corridor between the Black and Caspian seas.
Caucus
Which three manufacturing regions form the anchors of the Russian core area?
Central Industrial, Volga, Ural
Which Russian republic fought a war for independence from Moscow during the 1990s?
Chechnya
This Caspian Sea-facing Russian Republic contains more than 20 culturally discrete communities and borders the Chechen Republic:
Dagestan Republic.
The _____________________________ is a historic and unique effort to achieve multinational economic integration and, to a lesser degree, political coordination.
European Union
True/False. According to Figure 5-2, the city of Novosibirsk lies in the permafrost zone.
False.
True/False. Moscow has continually served as the Russian/Soviet/Russian capital city since the rule of Peter the Great.
False.
True/False. Russia's mineral wealth has been fully realized in a modern industrial economy that is highly diversified.
False.
True/False. The great majority of Russia's inhabitants are concentrated to the east of the Ural Mountains.
False.
True/False. The official launching of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics took place in 1924.
False.
True/False. The post-communist era in Russia is typified by both free-market capitalism and increasingly democratic governance.
False.
True/False. The post-1991 Russian Federation was restructured to consist of only 14 internal political units.
False. (7)
True/False. The Urals are Russia's tallest, most dominant mountain range.
False. (The Caucuses)
The former Soviet Socialist Republic on the Black Sea containing the birthplace of Stalin is _________.
Georgia
The capital of the Chechen Republic is _______________.
Groznyy
Europe's relatively prosperous population is _________________.
Highly urbanized and aging rapidly.
The Central Uplands are characterized by
Hills and plateaus + raw materials.
Local demand for greater autonomy as well as cultural challenges posed by _____________________ are straining the European social fabric.
Immigration
The dominant religion in Chechnya is _______________.
Islam
Which of the following Russian manufacturing complexes is located in the Southeastern Frontier region?
Kuzbas
The industrial area just to the east of the Kuzbas is centered near __________.
Lake Baykal
The chief political and economic architect of the 1917 Russian Revolution that created the Soviet Union was:
Lenin
The Tran-Siberian Railway runs between______ and _______ and represents the longest train ride in the world.
Moscow, Vladivostok
The Russian port of ______ is kept open year-round by warm water from the North Atlantic.
Murmansk
The territory in dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia is _________________.
Nagorno-Karabakh
Which two counties in Central Asia control more 80% of the regions fresh water and are building dams?
No two countries do.
__________ was responsible for building a new Russian capital on the Gulf of Finland during the eighteenth century.
Peter the Great
The Volga River is central to which Russian subregion?
Povolzhye
The most important oil and gas reserves in Russia's Far East are centered on ________________.
Sakhalin
Czar Peter the Great attempted to turn the city of ________________ into the "Venice of the North".
St. Petersburg
The coniferous forest vegetation found to the south of the tundra is known as: _________________.
Taiga
Which of the following is NOT found in Russia west of the Urals?
The Kuznetsk Basin (Kuzbas)
Which of the following physiographic subdivisions contains the national heartland (and Moscow)?
The Russian Plain
True/False. Azerbaijan and Armenia bitterly contest the territory known as Nagorno-Karabakh.
True.
True/False. Chechnya is not a sovereign nation but an ethnic republic of Russia
True.
True/False. Development in the Povolzhye has been sparked, in part, by the development of the Volga-Don Canal, which links it to the Black Sea.
True.
True/False. Global warming will increase Russia's maritime access to the world.
True.
True/False. In general, the north and west of Russia are flat, the south and east are mountainous.
True.
True/False. In the former USSR, atheism was official policy.
True.
True/False. Povolzhye is the Russian name for an area that extends along the middle and lower Volga River.
True.
True/False. Russia is about twice as large as Canada in area.
True.
True/False. Siberia's importance in Russia is due to its natural resources.
True.
True/False. The Lena, Ob, and Yenisey are all major, northward-flowing, Siberian rivers.
True.
True/False. The Russian Plain is essentially an eastward continuation of the North European Lowland.
True.
True/False. The Russian population today totals just over 200 million.
True.
True/False. The Russians, in their eastward push across Eurasia, eventually settled Alaska
True.
True/False. The centralized economic planning practiced in the Soviet Union constituted a command economy.
True.
True/False. The czar(ina) principally responsible for trying to modernize Russia and make it a European-style state was Peter the Great.
True.
True/False. The north-south mountain range in west-central Russia that is falsely regarded as the "boundary" between Europe and Asia is called the Ural Mountains.
True.
The new pipeline opened in 2006 carries Caspian Sea oil from Baki (Baku) to a new terminal in the country of ___________.
Turkey
The __________ form the eastern limit of the Russian Core:
Ural Mountains
The mountain chain in west-central Russia that is (incorrectly) regarded as the "boundary" between Europe and Asia is known as the _________________.
Urals
Distance-decay effects are greatest between Moscow and _________.
Vladivostok
The European geographic realm lies on the _________ flank of the European landmass.
Western
Kaliningrad is important to Russia because_______.
because it is an ice free Baltic Sea port
Which of the following is not an ex-Soviet, Central Asian Republic? a) Uzbekistan b) Turkmenistan c) Azerbaijan d) Kazakhstan e) Tajikistan
c) Azerbaijan
Russia's railroad network radiates outward from Moscow, thereby providing the city with a high degree of ___________.
centrality
The term ________ is used to describe an inland climate that is remote from the moderating influences of large water bodies.
continentality
Which of the following is NOT currently an independent country that was once part of the Soviet Union? a) Moldova b) Georgia c) Latvia d) Chechnya e) Ukraine
d) Chechnya
Which of the following is true? a) Climate refers to current conditions at a given location. b) Weather refers to long-term average conditions. c) Russia's climate may be described as dominated by C climates. d) Climate refers to long-term average conditions. e) Russia has no 'E' climates.
d) Climate refers to long-term average conditions.
The Povolzhye has been helped by all of the following except: a) the Volga-Don Canal b) large petroleum reserves c) the Volga River d) the coal deposits that gave rise to the Kuzbas complex e) distance from European conflicts
d) the coal deposits that gave rise to the Kuzbas complex
Each of the following is considered one of the BRICS except: a) Brazil b) Russia c) India d) China e) Canada
e) Canada
The Transcaucasian Transition Zone includes all of the following except ___________. a) Georgia b) Armenia c) Azerbaijan d) Nagorno-Karabakh e) Kyrgyzstan
e) Kyrgyzstan
The Kuzbas ____________. a) is located near the city of Novosibirsk b) is also called the Kuznetsk Basin c) lies in the Southeastern Frontier region d) contains both iron and coal deposits e) all of the above
e) all of the above
A country's core area _______________. a) often contains the capital city b) incorporates the nation's largest population cluster c) contains the region with the country's most efficient communications networks d) exhibits the country's strongest cultural imprints e) displays all of the characteristics listed
e) displays all of the characteristics listed
The movement of the headquarters of the Russian Empire to St. Petersburg allowed that city to become a _____________.
forward capital
All five countries of Central Asia are characterized by _____________.
having mostly Turkic languages
Russia's core area ____________.
incorporates the Central Industrial Region, at the heart of which lies the city of Moscow
Persistently frozen ground is known as ________________.
permafrost
The BRIC countries all have ___________ in common:
recent economic growth
The Russian Revolution of 1917 ________________.
saw the overthrow of the last czar
There were 15 Soviet Socialist Republics of the former USSR, in each case the main basis for their creation in 1917 was _________.
the ethnic composition of each region
St. Petersburg _______________.
was formerly called Leningrad
What is the biggest cause of the near disappearance of the Aral Sea?
water was diverted from the rivers that flow into it
Most of the population of Russia is found in the________.
western part of the country
