Talk:Republics of Russia
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[edit] Table of Republics
I have made a table of the republics with information i thought interesting. I have spotted and corrected one or two mistakes, but anyone who sees an apparent mistake (eg. missing a zero from Tatarstan's population or Bashkirs as the titular nationality of Kalmykia) please feel free to check it up and if necessary correct it. My main source was other wikipedia articles, but i also used: Sakwa, Russian politics and society, 3rd ed., Routledge, 2002. N-edits 18:40, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Migration?
"Due to decades (in some cases centuries) of internal migration inside Russia, this nationality is not necessarily a majority of a republic's population."
I recently read 'Murder in Samarkand' by Graig Murray (U.K. ambassador to Uzbekistan until 2004). He states a different reason why many of the 'ethnic republics' are named for groups that are often actually a minority in the republic in question. His explanation is that is that Stalin intentionally draw up the lines so as to fragment and isolate each ethnic group, and to ensure they were actually a minority in their 'homeland'. This was done in order to limit the potential for nationalist movements and independence calls. If I remember correctly Uzbekistan is a good example - the majority ethnic group in Uzbekistan is the Tajiks. (Presumably, following this logic, the Tajiks are a minority in Tajikistan, though I have not checked this.) This argument is supported to some degree by the very odd ways that some of the borders have been drawn up, often criss-crossing (rather than following) natural boundaries. In places the borders almost seem fractal - in fact, in places there are isolated enclaves of one republic inside another. This was apparently to break off and isolate towns that had a particular majority from their larger geographic area.
I'm not sure "in some cases centuries" makes sense either; as I understand it many of these named regions (even when part of the USSR) are not centuries old. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.232.250.50 (talk) 16:03, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
