![]() The region has paleontological significance, as it contains bodies of prehistoric animals from the Pleistocene Epoch, preserved in ice or in permafrost. Their activity continued for a million years and some scientists consider it a possible cause of the " Great Dying" about 250 million years ago, – estimated to have killed 90% of species existing at the time. ![]() The Siberian Traps were formed by one of the largest-known volcanic events of the last 251 million years of Earth's geological history. Main articles: Prehistory of Siberia, History of Siberia, and List of Russian explorers Prehistory Horseman hunting, with characteristic Xiongnu horse trappings, Southern Siberia, 280–180 BCE. Another account sees the name as the ancient tribal ethnonym of the Sirtya (also "Syopyr" (sʲɵpᵻr)), a Paleoasiatic ethnic group assimilated by the Nenets. He suggests that the name might be a combination of two words with Turkic origin, "su" (water) and "bir" (wild land). He said that the neighbouring Chinese, Turks, and Mongolians, who have similar names for the region, would not have known Russian. Anatole Baikaloff has dismissed this explanation. The Polish historian Chyliczkowski has proposed that the name derives from the proto-Slavic word for "north" (север, sever), same as Severia. A further variant claims that the region was named after the Sibe people. The modern usage of the name was recorded in the Russian language after the Russian conquest of Siberian Khanate. Some sources say that "Siberia" originates from the Siberian Tatar word for "sleeping land" (Sib ir). Nevertheless, there exist sizable ethnic minorities of Asian lineage, including various Turkic communities-many of which, such as the Yakuts, Tuvans, Altais, and Khakas, are indigenous-along with the Mongolic Buryats, ethnic Koreans, and smaller groups of Samoyedic and Tungusic peoples (several of whom are classified as indigenous small-numbered peoples by the Russian government), among many others. Over 85% of its population are of European descent, chiefly Russian (comprising the Siberian sub-ethnic group), and Eastern Slavic cultural influences predominate throughout the region. Although it is geographically in Asia, Russian sovereignty and colonization since the 16th century have rendered the region culturally and ethnically European. Siberia is known for its long, harsh winters, with a January average of −25 ☌ (−13 ☏). The Russian government divides the region into three federal districts (groupings of Russian federal subjects), of which only the central one is officially referred to as " Siberian" the other two are the Ural and Far Eastern federal districts, named for the Ural and Russian Far East regions that correspond respectively to the western and eastern thirds of Siberia in the broader sense. It is further defined as stretching from the territories within the Arctic Circle in the north to the northern borders of Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China in the south, although the hills of north-central Kazakhstan are also commonly included. Traditionally, Siberia spans the entire expanse of land from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, with the Ural River usually forming the southernmost portion of its western boundary, and includes most of the drainage basin of the Arctic Ocean. ![]() ![]() īecause Siberia is a geographic and historic concept and not a political entity, there is no single precise definition of its territorial borders. Novosibirsk, Omsk, and Chelyabinsk are the largest cities in the area. Siberia is vast and sparsely populated, covering an area of over 13.1 million square kilometres (5,100,000 sq mi), but home to only one-fifth of Russia's population. It has formed part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its various predecessor states since the centuries-long conquest of Siberia, which began with the fall of the Khanate of Sibir in the late 16th century and concluded with the annexation of Chukotka in 1778. Siberia ( / s aɪ ˈ b ɪər i ə/ sy- BEER-ee-ə Russian: Сибирь, romanized: Sibir', IPA: ( listen)) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. ![]()
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