Siberia Facts
Think about Siberia facts and a grim picture comes to mind. While there are some horrific historic details involving Siberia, there are some glorious facts as well.
Siberia Facts
“Siberia” comes from the Mongolian word “sibir”, which means "sleeping land." Anyway you slice it, Siberia is huge. Comprising over 75 percent of modern day Russia, the vast area is either foreboding or a beautiful land depending on your situation. Having lived in the city of Chita in Siberia for a year, I can tell you there is simply no way too accurately describe Siberia with simple facts. Nonetheless, let’s have a go at it.
How big is Siberia and, ironically, how valuable is it? Consider these Siberia facts:
- Siberia is bigger than Canada.
- Siberia has more natural resources than any area in the world.
- From east to west, Siberia covers nine time zones while the continental United States covers three.
- Siberia contains the largest flat plain in the world.
- Siberia is home to a massive meteor impact that flattened trees for hundreds of mile, but took five years to investigate because officials could not get to the remote location.
- The diamond deposits in Siberia are so extensive, non-Russian countries pay Russia not to mine them because of a fear the diamond market would collapse.
- Oil and gas from Siberia make up nearly 40 percent of all revenues in Russia.
- Most cities in Siberia exist because the communist leaders decided to build them to exploit natural resources. Once built, Russians were rounded up and forced to move.
- Gold is so plentiful that a $2,000 gold bracelet costs about $35 in cities such as Chita as of 2004.
Siberia is also known as the location where Communist leaders sent enemies of the state. Indeed, the Siberian city of Chita is known as the "City of Exiles." More to the point, however, is the gulag system.
The gulag system in Siberia was unlike any other prison system in the world. Each gulag was a labor camp. To keep prisoners from escaping, a unique system was used. Prisoners where half starved to death and forced to work till they dropped. All day and every day they would work, even in winter when temperatures where as low as minus 60 degrees. The gulags were also located in remote areas of Siberia where the closest villages or cities were hundreds of miles away. The mere idea of escape was laughable. Some tried, but few were successful. Because of these conditions, the gulags were not heavily guarded. In fact, many gulags in remote areas didn’t even have fences.
With the end of communism, Siberia has seen a voluntary migration by Russians who work on the Trans-Siberian Railway or in the massive natural resource industries. Siberia is the home to tremendously large oil, gold, timber and diamond deposits. With the turn to capitalism, the country is making a major effort to take advantage of such resources. This has led to a population explosion in cities such as Irkutsk, Chita and Ulan Ude.
Siberia is always depicted as a land of freezing snow. Having lived there, I can tell you it does get “Oh, my God” cold in the winter. Temperatures can drop into the –40s. In the spring and summer, however, temperatures can reach as high as 110 degrees. With such a massive area, the climates and temperatures fall all over the map. Put another way, the United States could fit in Siberia, so you can see how temperatures might vary.
Siberia is one of the last untamed areas on the Earth. Much of the area has never been visited by mankind. Hopefully, these Siberia facts give you a small taste of the land of exiles.