European Russia | |
---|---|
Largest city | Moscow |
Demonym(s) | Russian |
Area | |
• Total | 3,969,100 km2 (1,532,500 sq mi)(7th) |
Population | |
• 2023 estimate | 109,455,000 [1] (13th) |
• Density | 27.5/km2 (71.2/sq mi)(160th) |
GDP (PPP) | 2022 estimate |
• Total | $3.275 trillion [2] |
• Per capita | $29,923 |
GDP (nominal) | 2022 [3] estimate |
• Total | $1.410 trillion |
• Per capita | $12,926 |
European Russia [lower-alpha 1] is the western and most populated part of the Russian Federation. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the country's sparsely populated and vastly larger eastern part, Siberia, which is situated in Asia, encompassing the entire northern region of the continent. The two parts of Russia are divided by the Ural Mountains and Ural river, bisecting the Eurasian supercontinent. European Russia covers the vast majority of Eastern Europe, and spans roughly 40% of Europe's total landmass, with over 15% of its total population, making Russia the largest and most populous country in Europe. It is divided into five Federal districts.
European Russia accounts for about 75% of Russia's total population. It covers an area of over 3,969,100 square kilometres (1,532,500 sq mi), with a population of nearly 110 million—making Russia the largest and most populous country in Europe, surpassing second-place Germany. [4] [lower-alpha 2] European Russia is the most densely populated region of Russia, with a population density of 27.5 people per km2 (70 per sq mi). [5] European Russia counts for about 15% of Europe's total population.
All three federal cities of Russia lie within European Russia. These cities are Moscow, the nation's capital and largest city, which is the second most populous city in Europe; Saint Petersburg, the cultural capital and the second-most populous city in the country; and Sevastopol, located in Crimea, which is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine.
Of the 16 Russian cities with over 1 million inhabitants, 11 lie within European Russia: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Ufa, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Voronezh, Perm and Volgograd (the remaining five are Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk).
The historical population of European Russia was composed of Slavic, Finno-Ugric, Germanic, Turkic, Jewish, Scythians, North Caucasian, Huns, Baltic, Khazarian and Norse peoples. [6] [7]
Some theories say that some early Eastern Slavs arrived in modern-day western Russia (also in Ukraine and Belarus) sometime during the middle of the first millennium AD. [8] The Eastern Slavic tribe of the Vyatichis was native to the land around the Oka river. Finno-Ugric, Baltic and Turkic tribes were also present in the area (although large parts of the Turkic and Finno-Ugric people were absorbed by the Slavs, there are great minorities in European Russia today). The western region of Central Russia was inhabited by the Eastern Slavic tribe of the Severians.
One of the first Rus' regions according to the Sofia First Chronicle was Veliky Novgorod in 859. In late 8th and early-to-mid-9th centuries AD the Rus' Khaganate was formed in modern western Russia. The region was a place of operations for Varangians, eastern Scandinavian adventurers, merchants, and pirates. From the late 9th to the mid-13th century a large section of today's European Russia was part of Kievan Rus'. The lands of Rus' Khaganate and Kievan Rus' were important trade routes and connected Scandinavia, Byzantine Empire, Rus' people and Volga Bulgaria with Khazaria and Persia. According to old Scandinavian sources among the 12 biggest cities of Kievan Rus' or Ancient Rus' were Novgorod, Kiev, Polotsk, Smolensk, Murom and Rostov. [9]
Through trade and cultural contact with Byzantine Empire, the Slavic culture of the Rus' adopted gradually the Eastern Orthodox religion. Many sources say that Ryazan, Kolomna, Moscow, Vladimir and Kiev were destroyed by the Mongol Empire. After the Mongol invasion the Muscovite Rus' arose, over all this time, western Russia and the various Rus' regions had strong cultural contacts with the Byzantine Empire, while the Slavic culture was cultivated all the time. [10] The elements of East Slavic paganism and Christianity overlapped each other and sometimes produced even double faith in Muscovite Rus'. [11]
In 2022 the GRDP of European Russia was around ₽100 trillion or US$1.4 trillion. [3]
The following Federal districts of Russia are overwhelmingly European:
Name of district | Area (km2) | Population (2023) | Population density | GRDP (2022) | Continent notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Central Federal District | 650,200 | 40,198,659 [12] | 59.658 | ₽47.368 trillion ($ 692 billion) [3] | Europe | |
North Caucasian Federal District | 170,400 | 10,251,083 [12] | 56.58 | ₽3.111 trillion ($45 billion) [3] | Europe | |
Northwestern Federal District | 1,687,000 | 13,840,352 [12] | 8.25 | ₽18.929 trillion ($276 billion) [3] | Europe | |
Southern Federal District [note 1] | 447,900 | 16,624,081 [12] | 33.46 | ₽9.816 trillion ($143 billion) [3] | Europe | |
Volga Federal District | 1,037,000 | 28,540,832 [12] | 28.63 | ₽19.664 trillion ($287 billion) [3] | Predominantly Europe | |
Ural Federal District | 1,818,500 | 12,262,205 [12] | 6.86 | ₽20.073 trillion ($293 billion) [3] | Predominantly Europe-Asia | |
Sum of 6 Federal Districts [note 2] | 3,995,200 | 109,455,000 [12] | 27.22 | ₽98.890 trillion ($1444 billion) [3] | Predominantly Europe | |
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The East Slavs are the most populous subgroup of the Slavs. They speak the East Slavic languages, and formed the majority of the population of the medieval state Kievan Rus', which they claim as their cultural ancestor. Today Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians are the existent East Slavic nations. Rusyns can also be considered as a separate nation, although they are often considered a subgroup of the Ukrainian people.
The Volga is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of 3,531 km (2,194 mi), and a catchment area of 1,360,000 km2 (530,000 sq mi). It is also Europe's largest river in terms of average discharge at delta – between 8,000 m3/s (280,000 cu ft/s) and 8,500 m3/s (300,000 cu ft/s) – and of drainage basin. It is widely regarded as the national river of Russia. The hypothetical old Russian state, the Rus' Khaganate, arose along the Volga c. 830 AD. Historically, the river served as an important meeting place of various Eurasian civilizations.
Vladimir Oblast is a federal subject of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Vladimir, which is located 190 kilometers (120 mi) east of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, the oblast's population was 1,443,693.
Kostroma Oblast is a federal subject of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Kostroma and its population as of the 2021 Census is 580,976. It was formed in 1944 on the territory detached from neighboring Yaroslavl Oblast.
Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria was a historical Bulgar state that existed between the 9th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now European Russia. Volga Bulgaria was a multi-ethnic state with large numbers of Bulgars, Finno-Ugrians, Varangians, and East Slavs. Its strategic position allowed it to create a local trade monopoly with Norse, Cumans, and Pannonian Avars.
Ryazan Oblast is a federal subject of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Ryazan, which is also the oblast's largest city.
The Christianization of Kievan Rus' was a long and complicated process that took place in several stages. In 867, Patriarch Photius of Constantinople told other Christian patriarchs that the Rus' people were converting enthusiastically, but his efforts seem to have entailed no lasting consequences, since the Russian Primary Chronicle and other Slavonic sources describe the tenth-century Rus' as still firmly entrenched in Slavic paganism. The traditional view, as recorded in the Russian Primary Chronicle, is that the definitive Christianization of Kievan Rus' dates happened c. 988, when Vladimir the Great was baptized in Chersonesus (Korsun) and proceeded to baptize his family and people in Kiev. The latter events are traditionally referred to as baptism of Rus' in Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian literature.
The Pechenegs or Patzinaks were a semi-nomadic Turkic people from Central Asia who spoke the Pecheneg language. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Pechenegs controlled much of the steppes of southeast Europe and the Crimean Peninsula. In the 9th century the Pechenegs began a period of wars against Kievan Rus', and for more than two centuries launched raids into the lands of Rus', which sometimes escalated into full-scale wars.
The Polans or Polians, also known as Polanians, Polianians, and Eastern Polans, were an East Slavic tribe between the 6th and the 9th century, which inhabited both sides of the Dnieper river from Liubech to Rodnia and also down the lower streams of the rivers Ros', Sula, Stuhna, Teteriv, Irpin', Desna and Pripyat.
Chud or Chude is a term historically applied in the early East Slavic annals to several Baltic Finnic peoples in the area of what is now Estonia, Karelia and Northwestern Russia. It has also been used to refer to other Finno-Ugric peoples.
A bogatyr or vityaz is a stock character in medieval East Slavic legends, akin to a Western European knight-errant. Bogatyrs appear mainly in Rus' epic poems—bylinas. Historically, they came into existence during the reign of Vladimir the Great as part of his elite warriors (druzhina), akin to Knights of the Round Table. Tradition describes bogatyrs as warriors of immense strength, courage and bravery, rarely using magic while fighting enemies in order to maintain the "loosely based on historical fact" aspect of bylinas. They are characterized as having resounding voices, with patriotic and religious pursuits, defending Rus' from foreign enemies and their religion. In modern Russian, the word bogatyr labels a courageous hero, an athlete or a physically strong man.
The architecture of Kievan Rus' comes from the medieval state of Kievan Rus' which incorporated parts of what is now modern Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, and was centered on Kiev and Novgorod. Its architecture is the earliest period of Russian and Ukrainian architecture, using the foundations of Byzantine culture but with great use of innovations and architectural features. Most remains are Russian Orthodox churches or parts of the gates and fortifications of cities.
The Novgorod First Chronicle or The Chronicle of Novgorod, 1016–1471 is the oldest extant Rus' chronicle of the Novgorod Republic. Written in Old East Slavic, it reflects a literary tradition about Kievan Rus' which differs from the Primary Chronicle. The later editions of the chronicle reflect the lost Primary Kievan Code of the late 11th century, which contained information not present in the later Primary Chronicle.
The Volga Finns are a historical group of peoples living in the vicinity of the Volga, who speak Uralic languages. Their modern representatives are the Mari people, the Erzya and the Moksha Mordvins, as well as speakers of the extinct Merya, Muromian and Meshchera languages.
The Mokshas comprise a Mordvinian ethnic group belonging to the Volgaic branch of the Finno-Ugric peoples. They live in Russia, mostly near the Volga and Moksha rivers, a tributary of the Oka River.
The Rus', also known as Russes, were a people in early medieval Eastern Europe. The scholarly consensus holds that they were originally Norsemen, mainly originating from present-day Sweden, who settled and ruled along the river-routes between the Baltic and the Black Seas from around the 8th to 11th centuries AD. In the 9th century, they formed the state of Kievan Rusʹ, where the ruling Norsemen along with local Finnic tribes gradually assimilated into the East Slavic population, with Old East Slavic becoming the common spoken language. Old Norse remained familiar to the elite until their complete assimilation by the second half of the 11th century, and in rural areas, vestiges of Norse culture persisted as late as the 14th and early 15th centuries, particularly in the north.
Rusʹ Khaganate, or kaganate of Rus is a name applied by some modern historians to a hypothetical polity suggested to have existed during a poorly documented period in the history of Eastern Europe between c. 830 and the 890s.
Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus', was the first East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century. Encompassing a variety of polities and peoples, including East Slavic, Norse, and Finnic, it was ruled by the Rurik dynasty, founded by the Varangian prince Rurik. The name was coined by Russian historians in the 19th century to describe the period when Kiev was at the center. At its greatest extent in the mid-11th century, Kievan Rus' stretched from the White Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south and from the headwaters of the Vistula in the west to the Taman Peninsula in the east, uniting the East Slavic tribes.
According to some historians, the Old Russian people were a unified ethnic group that emerged from East Slavic tribes of the Kievan Rus. The foundations for this theory were laid by Sergei Tokarev and further developed by Boris Rybakov and Pyotr Tretyakov. However, this theory is controversial among historians.
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