Siberia

Coordinates: 60°0′N 105°0′E / 60.000°N 105.000°E / 60.000; 105.000

Siberia (/saɪˈbɪəriə/; Russian: Сиби́рь, tr. Sibir'; IPA: [sʲɪˈbʲirʲ]) is an extensive geographical region, and by the broadest definition is also known as North Asia. Siberia has been historically part of Russia since the 17th century.

The territory of Siberia extends eastwards from the Ural Mountains to the watershed between the Pacific and Arctic drainage basins. Siberia stretches southwards from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan and to the national borders of Mongolia and China. With an area of 13.1 million square kilometres, Siberia accounts for 77% of Russia's land area, but it is home to just 40 million people – 27% of the country's population. This is equivalent to an average population density of about 3 inhabitants per square kilometre (approximately equal to that of Australia), making Siberia one of the most sparsely populated regions on Earth.

Etymology

Some sources say that "Siberia" originates from the Siberian Tatar word for "sleeping land" (Sib Ir). Another account sees the name as the ancient tribal ethnonym of the Sipyrs, a mysterious people later assimilated to Siberian Tatars. The modern usage of the name appeared in the Russian language after the conquest of the Siberian Khanate. A further variant claims that the region was named after the Xibe people. The Polish historian Chycliczkowski has proposed that the name derives from the proto-Slavic word for "north" (север, sever), but Anatole Baikaloff has dismissed this explanation on the grounds that the neighbouring Chinese, Arabs and Mongolians (who have similar names for the region) would not have known Russian. His own suggestion is that the name represents a combination of two words, "su" (water) and "bir" (wild land).

Siberian Husky

The Siberian Husky (Russian: Сибирский хаски) is a medium size, dense-coat working dog breed that originated in north-eastern Siberia. The breed belongs to the Spitz genetic family. It is recognizable by its thickly furred double coat, erect triangular ears, and distinctive markings.

Huskies are a very active, energetic, and resilient breed whose ancestors came from the extremely cold and harsh environment of the Siberian Arctic. Siberian Huskies were bred by the Chukchi of Northeastern Asia to pull heavy loads long distances through difficult conditions. The dogs were imported into Alaska during the Nome Gold Rush and later spread into the United States and Canada. They were initially sent to Alaska and Canada as sled dogs, but rapidly acquired the status of family pets and show dogs.

Lineage

In 1979, a study was made of ancient canid remains dated to the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene that had been uncovered by miners decades earlier around Fairbanks, Alaska. These were identified as Canis lupus and described as "short-faced wolves". The collection was separated into those specimens that looked more wolf-like (i.e. the Beringian wolf), and those that looked more dog-like and in comparison to the skulls of Eskimo dogs from both Greenland and Siberia thought to be their forerunners.

Husky

Husky /ˈhʌski/ is a general name for a type of dog used to pull sleds in northern regions, differentiated from other sled-dog types by their fast pulling style. They are "an ever-changing cross-breed of the...fastest dogs." The Alaskan Malamute, by contrast, is "the largest and most powerful" sled dog, and was used for heavier loads. Huskies are used in sled dog racing. In recent years, companies have been marketing tourist treks with dog sledges for adventure travelers in snow regions as well. Huskies are also today kept as pets, and groups work to find new pet homes for retired racing and adventure trekking dogs.

Etymology

The word husky originated from the word referring to Arctic people in general, Eskimos (aka Inuit), "...known as Huskies, a contraction of Huskimos, the pronunciation given to the word "Eskimos" by the English sailors of trading vessels." Use of Husky is recorded from 1852 for dogs kept by Inuit people.

Lineage

Nearly all dogs' genetic closeness to the gray wolf is due to admixture. However, several Arctic breeds also show a genetic closeness with the now-extinct Taimyr wolf of North Asia due to admixture: the Siberian Husky and Greenland dog (which are also historically associated with Arctic human populations), and to a lesser extent the Shar Pei and Finnish spitz. An admixture graph of the Greenland dog indicates a best-fit of 3.5% shared material; however, an ancestry proportion ranging between 1.4% and 27.3% is consistent with the data and indicates admixture between the Taimyr wolf and the ancestors these four high-latitude breeds.

Krasnoyarsk Railway

Krasnoyarsk Railway (Russian: Красноярская железная дорога) is a subsidiary of the Russian Railways headquartered in Krasnoyarsk and serving the south of Siberia.

Main information

Its mainline is a link in the Trans-Siberian Railway crossing the Krasnoyarsk Krai and Khakassia. It is wedged between the West Siberian Railway (to the west) and East Siberian Railway (to the east). Its length is estimated at 3157,9 km (as of 2009).

History

Regular traffic on the road between Novonikolaevsk (now Novosibirsk) and Krasnoyarsk opened in 1898, between Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk in 1899 after the completion of the construction of the largest railway bridge in Asia over the Yenisei.

In the period from January 1904 to October 1905 Siberian railway played a big role in providing military transportation during the Russo-Japanese war. In 1926 built the line Achinsk – Abakan (Achinsk-Minusinsk railway). In 1949 began the construction of the line Novokuznetsk – Abakan, in 1950, began construction of the station Abaza. In the 1960s to build Achinsk – Lesosibirsk, Red Hill – Kiya-Salter, Kamusta – Sayano-Shushenskaya power station. In 1965, completed the construction of the line Abakan – Taishet branch Uyar – Sayan. In the 1970s the line was built resota – Karabula.

Trans-Siberian Railway

The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR, Russian: Транссиби́рская магистра́ль, tr. Transsibirskaya Magistral; IPA: [trənsʲsʲɪˈbʲirskəjə məgʲɪˈstralʲ]) is a network of railways connecting Moscow with the Russian Far East and the Sea of Japan. With a length of 9,289 km (5,772 mi), it is the longest railway line in the world. There are connecting branch lines into Mongolia, China and North Korea. It has connected Moscow with Vladivostok since 1916, and is still being expanded.

It was built from 1891 to 1916 under the supervision of Russian government ministers who were personally appointed by Tsar Alexander III and by his son, Tsar Nicholas II. Even before it had been completed, it attracted travellers who wrote of their adventures.

Route description

The Trans-Siberian Railway is often associated with the main transcontinental Russian line that connects hundreds of large and small cities of the European and Asian parts of Russia. At 9,289 kilometres (5,753 miles), spanning a record seven time zones and taking eight days to complete the journey, it is the third-longest single continuous service in the world, after the Moscow–Pyongyang 10,267 kilometres (6,380 mi) and the Kiev–Vladivostok 11,085 kilometres (6,888 mi) services, both of which also follow the Trans-Siberian for much of their routes.