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Asiatic Russia

Siberia, or Asiatic Russia, extends from the Ural Mountains to the Sea of Kamtchatka and the Northern Pacific Ocean, and from about lat. 40° N. to the Arctic Ocean. Its length is over 3,500 m., breadth nearly 2,000 m., and area probably 5,000,000 sq. m. It forms a vast plain, sloping gradually from the Altai range on the S. to the Arctic Ocean, and in the W. there is an extensive mountain country separating Siberia from China. The Obi, Yenisei and Lena are the principal rivers, and rank among the largest in the world after the Amazon, Mississippi and Missouri. They all drain into the Arctic Ocean. The climate of Siberia is much colder than that of corresponding European latitudes, the winter temperature sometimes reaching from 50° to 70° below zero, and the ground is permanently frozen. In the far E. the rivers are frozen over in September, and remain so until May and sometimes June. Even on the southern steppes the cold of winter is intense. The short summers are very hot, and barley, oats, rye, buckwheat and some wheat are grown, principally in the S.-W. and along the water-courses. Hides and tallow, furs, cattle, and fish constitute the chief articles of internal commerce, and some manufactures have recently been developed.