Ural Mountains

The Ural Mountains (Russian: Ура́льские го́ры, tr. Uralskiye gory; IPA: [ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈgorɨ]; Bashkir: Урал тауҙары), or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. The mountain range forms part of the conventional boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia. Vaygach Island and the islands of Novaya Zemlya form a further continuation of the chain to the north into the Arctic Ocean.

The mountains lie within the Ural geographical region and significantly overlap with the Ural Federal District and with the Ural economic region. They have rich resources, including metal ores, coal, precious and semi-precious stones. Since the 18th century the mountains have contributed significantly to the mineral sector of the Russian economy.

Etymology

Russia

Coordinates: 60°N 90°E / 60°N 90°E / 60; 90

Russia (ⁱ/ˈrʌʃə/; Russian: Росси́я, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə]), also officially known as the Russian Federation (Russian: Росси́йская Федера́ция, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə]), is a sovereign state in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic. At 17,125,200 square kilometres (6,612,100 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is the world's ninth most populous country with over 144 million people at the end of 2015.

Extending across the entirety of northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both with Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the U.S. state of Alaska across the Bering Strait.

Wild Russia

Wild Russia is a six-episode series of documentaries about the wilderness in Russia (original title in German: Wildes Russland) made by the German NDR Naturfilm/Studio Hamburg Doclights (executive producer: Jörn Röver) for NDR/WDR/S4C/Animal Planet and National Geographic in 2009. The German version of NDR Blu-ray (also DVD) was narrated by Christian Brückner, and its English version was narrated by Clifford Wells. The National Geographic version was narrated by Paterson Joseph. It was re-edited and aired by Animal Planet in the United States, narrated by Jason Hildebrandt.

The cinematography of Wild Russia is notable—similar in scope and quality to the best BBC nature documentaries. The original version (which has both a German and an English soundtrack) and the National Geographic version are so different in content and layout that each can be viewed as a unique, separate show.

Episodes

The series (series producer: Henry M. Mix) consisted of six episodes. The National Geographic version was aired in the following order: