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.

Terminology

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).

Geographic Features

• Beyenchime-Salaatin crater
• Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano
• Kuril-Kamchatka Trench

History

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.

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 Pribaikalskaya, 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.

Demographics

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)

Traditional ethnic groups

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

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

Chinese diaspora

18 million Russians scattered across the vast expanse of the Far East and Siberia face 250 million Chinese came across a common border in China’s northern provinces. Russia’s main Pacific port and naval base of Vladivostok, once closed to foreigners, today is bristling with Chinese markets, restaurants and trade houses.^[2]

Experts predict that the Chinese diaspora in Russia will increase to 10 million by 2010 and half of the population of Russia would be Chinese by 2050.^[3][4] Chinese historians continue to denounce the current borders as unfair and imposed on China by Russia in the 19th century, and Chinese children are still being taught in school that Russia took away the Far East from China by force.^[5][6]

Asian Tungusic tribes like Evenks or Udegeys had settled in the Far East long before the Russians came there. However, the region was never part of the Chinese empire.^[7]

External links

• Meeting of Frontiers: Siberia, Alaska, and the American West (includes materials on Russian Far East)
• Дальневосточный федеральный округ at WGEO
• A Chinese future for the Russian Far-East

References

See also

• Far Eastern Republic
• Russian Manchuria
• Extreme North (Russia)

•  • [ e] Countries and territories of East Asia
People's Republic of China  People's Republic of China1  Japan  North Korea  South Korea  Mongolia SARs  Hong Kong  Macau Sometimes included:  Singapore Vietnam Russian Far East 1 Otherwise known as "Taiwan"; see Political status of Taiwan.