Russians can rightfully claim that they live in the largest country in the world. The area of Russia at the beginning of 2014 amounted to about 17,125 thousand square kilometers, which is twice as high as Canada, which ranks second. And such a large territory of our state was formed gradually, over many centuries. It all started with a chain of small settlements that sprang up along the trade route from Scandinavia to Constantinople ("from the Varangians to the Greeks") with the main cities - Novgorod and Kiev. The area of Russian cities at that time was extremely small.
The political and economic ties of Russia were then mainly directed to Europe, but the state had to expand in the northeast, since relatively small Finno-Ugric peoples lived there, who, mingling with the arriving Slavic tribes, began to form the basis of the Russian ethos. In the west, there were European states, where the population density was quite high.
Nascent Russia was more than modern Saudi Arabia
In the 10-12th centuries, the Slavs began to actively explore the territories between the Oka and Volga rivers, where Krivichi began to move from Novgorod, and Vyatichi from the south-west. A new trade route was formed along the Volga, which flows into the Caspian Sea, and new shopping centers appeared in the northeast (Ryazan, Suzdal, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, etc.).
By the end of the 12th century, the area of Russia (Rus) was 2.5 million square meters. kilometers. However, the next few centuries were unfavorable for territorial acquisitions, since in the 13-15th centuries Russia underwent decay into small principalities and was conquered by the Mongol-Tatar troops and the Polish-Lithuanian armies. The development of territories at that time was only in the northern direction (people fled there, having founded the subethnos of Pomors on the banks of the Barents and White Seas). At that time, the area of Russia was only 2 million square meters. kilometers, which, however, is larger than the territory of modern Mexico or Saudi Arabia (about 1.9 million square kilometers each country).
The area of Russia is tripling
In the 14th century, the Moscow principality began to play a special role in Russian open spaces, which received from the Golden Horde the right to collect tribute from other lands. This state formation gradually strengthened and in 1380 won the first victory over the Mongol-Tatars. Further, Veliky Ustyug, Tula, Rzhev, Nizhny Novgorod were annexed to the existing territories, and the victory on the Ugra River in 1480 liberated the Russian lands from the Horde dependency and made it possible to expand to the east.
Ivan the Terrible, who came to power, annexed the Astrakhan and Kazan Khanates to the Moscow principality, while attempts to expand to the west in the 14-17th centuries were unsuccessful. At the end of the 16th century, predominantly peaceful development of Siberia and the Urals begins, Russian immigrants go to the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk, building cities everywhere and organizing furs. By the end of the 17th century, the area of Russia is 7 million square meters. km
The formation of the Russian Empire
In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the formation of the Russian Empire began, when Left-Bank Ukraine came out of the control of the Commonwealth and became part of the then Russia. In the same period, Peter the Great “cut a window to Europe”, took control of the territories of modern Estonia and Latvia. Further, during the partition of the Commonwealth, Belarus, Lithuania and Right-Bank Ukraine passed to the Russian Empire. In the east, it is possible to recapture the coasts of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea from the Ottomans, and in the west - at the beginning of the nineteenth century, annex Finland. In addition, Bessarabia was annexed during this period. The total area of the Russian state at the end of the above period was 16 million square meters. kilometers.
The area of the Russian Empire reached 24 million square meters. kilometers
Another approximately 8 million square meters. kilometers (up to 24 million sq. km) the area of Russia increased by the beginning of the 20th century due to the entry of Georgia and Armenia (at the request of the rulers of these territories), a number of lands of the North Caucasian peoples, the voluntary annexation of almost all Kazakh territories, Kyrgyz lands. The Khiva and Bukhan kingdoms were introduced into the Russian Empire as a result of wars, and Alaska (which was sold to America subsequently, in 1867), Primorye and Amur Region - in the order of peaceful annexation.
Heavy twentieth century
A series of wars and revolution in the twentieth century constantly changed the political map of Russia, on which these or those territories appeared or disappeared. For example, Finland, which signed independence from the Russian Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century, transferred part of its territories (Vyborg and its environs) back as a result of World War II and others. The Soviet Union, which formed in the former territories of the Russian Empire in the post-war period, had a common territory 22.4 million km and did not carry out any major actions to change the territory, except for the internal transfer of Crimea from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954.
The collapse of the USSR and the return of Crimea to Russia
About 17 million 125 thousand square kilometers - that is what area of Russia turned out after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the separation of 15 republics. It should be borne in mind that mainly southern territories were separated with a more favorable climate, while the territory of modern Russia includes vast lands with permafrost, where there are rather difficult natural conditions for people to live. Therefore, the population of the Russian Federation, whose average density is just over 8 people per square meter. km., is unevenly distributed - most of it is concentrated in the European part of the country, where a maximum density of 4.6 thousand people per square meter is revealed. km - in Moscow, while in Chukotka it does not exceed 0.07 people in the same area.
In March 2014, as a result of the will of the inhabitants of Crimea, this territory with a wonderful climate returned to our country, and the area of Russia with Crimea began to amount to 17,151 thousand square meters. kilometers, including the area of the Crimean Federal District - about 26.9 thousand square meters. km
Most of Russia's population lives in cities
Once upon a time, a large area of Russia was covered with forests, and during the Soviet period, the predatory plunder of this natural resource was not particularly allowed, therefore, after the collapse of the USSR, about 46% of the Russian territory possessed enviable forests. Today this figure is significantly less. However, the area of Russia (with Crimea) is land that is still rich in various minerals, with beautiful flora, fauna, water resources and places of rare beauty. In the post-Soviet period, the rural population, due to the collapse of collective farms and lack of work, reached out to cities where today up to 77% of the total number of Russians live. The total area of Russian cities has not yet been established. It is only known that megacities with an area of 100 square meters. km and more in the Russian Federation as of spring 2014, there are more than 120 units, including Moscow with an area of 2550 square meters. km, Volgograd - about 860 square meters. km, St. Petersburg - about 1440 square meters. km and etc.