Russian Far East

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Far Eastern Federal District (highlighted in red)

Russian Far East (Russian: Да́льний Восто́к Росси́и; IPA: [ˈdalʲnʲɪj vʌˈstok rʌˈsʲiɪ]) is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Siberia and the Pacific Ocean. The Russian Far Eastern Federal District should not be confused with the Siberian Federal District, which does not stretch all the way to the Pacific.

1 Terminology
- 1.1 In Russia
2 Geographic Features
3 History
- 3.1 Early history
- 3.2 Territory
4 Demographics
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Terminology

[edit] In Russia

In Russia, the region is usually referred to as just "Far East", creating potential confusion with the international meaning of Far East in translation. The latter is usually referred to in Russia as "the Asia-Pacific Region" (Азиатско-тихоокеанский регион, abbreviated to АТР), or "East Asia" (Восточная Азия).

[edit] Geographic Features

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

Russia reached the Pacific coast in 1647 with the establishment of Okhotsk, and consolidated control over the Far East in the 19th century.

[edit] Territory

Until 2000, the Russian Far East lacked officially defined boundaries. A single term "Siberia and the Far East" (Сибирь и Дальний Восток) was often used to refer to Russia's regions east of the Urals without drawing a clear distinction between "Siberia" and "the Far East." Several entities with the name "Far East" had existed in the first half of the 20th century, all with rather different boundaries:

1920–1922: The Far-Eastern Republic (included Transbaikalia, Amur Oblast, Primorskaya Oblast, Sakhalin Oblast, and Kamchatka);
1922–1926: The Far-Eastern Oblast (included Pribaykalskaya, Amurkaya, Primorskaya, Sakhalinskaya, and Kamchatskaya guberniyas);
1926–1938: The Far-Eastern Krai (included modern Primorsky Krai and Khabarovsk Krai).

From 1938 to 2000, there was no official entity with this name and the term "Far East" was used loosely, much like "the West" in the United States.

In 2000, Russia's federal subjects were grouped into larger federal districts, and Far Eastern Federal District was created, comprising Amur Oblast, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Kamchatka Oblast, Koryak Autonomous Okrug, Khabarovsk Krai, Magadan Oblast, Primorsky Krai, Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, and Sakhalin Oblast. Since 2000, the term "Far East" has been increasingly used in Russia to refer to the district, though it is often also used more loosely.

Defined by the boundaries of the federal district, the Far East has an area of 6.2 million square kilometers—over one-third of the Russia's total area.

[edit] Demographics

[edit] Population

According to the 2002 Census, Far Eastern Federal District had a population of 6,692,865. Most of it is concentrated in the southern parts. Given the vast territory of the Russian Far East, 6.7 million people translates to slightly more than one person per square kilometer, making the Russian Far East one of the most sparsely populated areas in the world. The population of the Russian Far East has been rapidly declining since the dissolution of the Soviet Union (even more so than for Russia in general), dropping by 14% in the last fifteen years. The Russian government has been discussing a range of re-population programs to avoid the forecast drop to 4.5 million people by 2015, hoping to attract in particular the remaining Russian population of the near abroad.

Ethnic Russians and Ukrainians make up majority of population. According to the latest statistics, there are currently about 100,000 Muslims living in the Russian Far East.^[1]

75% of the population is urban. The largest cities are (all population figures are as of the 2002 Census):

Vladivostok (pop. 594,701)
Khabarovsk (pop. 583,072)
Komsomolsk-on-Amur (pop. 281,035)
Blagoveshchensk (pop. 219,221)
Yakutsk (pop. 210,642)
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (pop. 198,028)
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (pop. 177,682)
Nakhodka (pop. 177,133)
Ussuriysk (pop. 157,759)

[edit] Traditional ethnic groups

The original population groups of the Russian Far East include (grouped by language group):

Turkic: Sakha
Eskimo-Aleut: Aleuts, Siberian Yupiks (Yuits)
Chukotko-Kamchatkan: Chukchi, Koryaks, Alutors, Kereks, Itelmens
Tungusic: Evenks, Evens, Nanais, Orochs, Ul'ch, Udegey, Orok
Isolate: Yukaghirs, Nivkhs, Ainus

[edit] Chinese diaspora

One starts with the fact that there are only around 40 million Russians scattered across the vast expanse of the Far East and Siberia, with only 7 million in the Far East itself.

Yet now, for example, Russia’s main Pacific port and naval base of Vladivostok, once closed to foreigners, is bristling with Chinese markets, restaurants and trade houses.^[2] The expanding Chinese presence in the area has led to yellow peril-style fears of Chinese irredentism.^[3] Russian newspapers publish fantastic estimates of between two and five million Chinese migrants in the Russian Far East, and predict that half of the population of Russia would be Chinese by 2050.^[4]^[5] Russians perceive hostile intent in the Chinese practice of using different names for local cities, such as Hǎishēnwǎi for Vladivostok, and a widespread folk belief states that the Chinese migrants remember the exact locations of their ancestors' ginseng patches, and seek to reclaim them.^[6] The xenophobia against Chinese and exaggerated concerns over the Chinese influx are described as being less prevalent in the Russian Far East, where most of the Chinese shuttle trade is actually occurring, than in European Russia.^[7]

The southern part of the Russian Far East, south of the Stanovoy Mountains, was ceded by China to Russia in the 19th century in the Treaty of Aigun and Treaty of Peking. Chinese historians present the treaties as being Unequal Treaties imposed on China by Russia by force, a presentation that also figures strongly in Chinese schools. ^[8]^[9]