n irregular line from the NW. corner of
the Black Sea to the Sea of Japan, skirting Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan,
East Turkestan, and the Chinese empire; Behring Sea, Sea of Okhotsk, and
the Sea of Japan wash its eastern shores; Sweden, the Baltic, Germany,
and Austria lie contiguous to it in West Europe. This solid, compact mass
is thinly peopled (13 to the sq. m. over all) by some 40
different-speaking races, including, besides the dominant Russians
(themselves split into three branches), Poles, Finns, Esthonians,
Servians, Bulgarians, Lithuanians, Kurds, Persians, Turco-Tartars,
Mongols, &c. Three-fourths of the land-surface, with one-fourth of the
population, lies in Asia, and is treated under Siberia, Turkestan,
Caucasia, &c. Russia in Europe, embracing FINLAND and POLAND (q. v.), is
divided from Asia by the Ural Mountains and River and Caspian Sea; forms
an irregular, somewhat elongated, square plain sloping down to the low
and dreary coast-lands of the Baltic (W.), White Sea (N.), and Black Sea
(S.); is seamed by river valleys and diversified by marshes, vast lakes
(e. g. Ladoga, Onega, Peipus, and Ilmen), enormous forests, and in the N.
and centre by tablelands, the highest of which being the Valdai Hills
(1100 ft.); the SE. plain is called the STEPPES (q. v.). The cold and
warm winds which sweep uninterrupted from N. and S. produce extremes of
temperature; the rainfall is small. Agriculture is the prevailing
industry, engaging 90 per cent. of the people, although in all not more
than 21 per cent. of the soil is cultivated; rye is the chief article of
food for the peasantry, who comprise four-fifths of the population. The
rich plains, known as the "black lands" from their deep, loamy soil,
which stretch from the Carpathians to the Urals, are the most productive
corn-lands in Europe, and rival in fertility the "yellow lands" of China,
and like them need no manure. Timber is an important industry in the NW.,
and maize and the vine are cultivated in the extreme S.; minerals abound,
and include gold, iron (widely distributed), copper (chiefly in middle
Urals), and platinum; there are several large coal-fields and rich
petroleum wells at Baku. The fisheries, particularly those of the
Caspian, are the most productive in Europe. Immense numbers of horses and
cattle are reared, e. g. on the Steppes. Wolves, bears, and valuable
fur-bearing animals are plentiful in the N. and other parts; the reindeer
is still found, also th