SIBERIA, a vast territory in northern Asia, belonging to Russia. In England the name is generally applied to all the Russian possessions in Asia, with the exception of the Transcaucasian and Armenian provinces. Siberia so defined is bounded on the n. by the Arctic ocean; on the e. by the seas of Kamchatka, Okhotsk, and Japan, all of them arms of the Pacific ocean: on the w. by the Ural mountains, Ural river, and Caspian sea. The southern boundary is made to include the recent Russian acquisitions in Turkestan, runs from lake lssyk Intl, n.n.e., then eastward by Kiahta to the Argun river, which it follows to the Amur; the latter it follows to long. 135° e., where it trends in a s.s.w. direction, ascending the Usuri tributary for 200 in., and then runs straight to the sea at the northern frontier of Corca. In the official language of Russia, however, Siberia is not of so wide extent. The Russian possessions in Turkestan form a sepa rate divisiou under the name of CENTRAL ASIA, and to this portion of the empire the governments of Akmollinsk, Semipalatinsk, Turgin, and Uralsk are now attached. Geographically speaking, these governments belong to Siberia; as do also considerable areas c. of the Ural mountains, which for administrative purposes, form part of the European governments of Perm and Orenburg. The following article deals mainly with the region officially termed Siberia; for the Russian possessions in the Turkestan territory, see ASIA, CENTRAL. The following are the subdivisions or governments of Siberia: . .
(With central Asia, but excluding the Caucasus, the tote] area of Russian Asia is nearly 6,000.000 sq.m., and the pop. 4,500,000.) It thus appears that in Siberia proper there arc about three inhabitants to every four English sq. miles. The northern and eastern shores are very irregular in form, jutting out frequently into bold peninsulas and prom ontories and being indented with numerous immense inlets, chief of which arc the estuaries of the Obi (575 m. iu length) and of the Yeuesei; the gulf of Anadir, and the sea of Okhotsk. All the island groups to the n. of Siberia, and since 1875 the whole of Sakhalin or Saghalien on the e. coast, belong to Siberia; whereas, since 1875, all the Kurile islands arc Japanese. The Linkhoff group, near the mouth of the Lena, edn lists of three islands from 60 to 100 m. long by 20 to 40 broad, and of numberless islets: they are completely barren, and present in their soil and subsoil alternate layers of sand and ice, in which arc imbedded the fossil remains of numerous animals. The greatest length of Siberia is 5,600 m. from n.e. to s.w., and the greatest breadth 2,170 in. front n. to south. A country of such vast extent (greatly larger than Europe) must necessa rily exhibit great varieties of climate; and we accordingly find in the northern regions, much of which lie far within the Arctic circle (cape Sievero Vostochnii, the most north erly promontory of Siberia, and of the old world, being in lat. 78° 25' n.), en extensive tract bordering on the ocean, composed of swamp, moorland, and mossy flats, covered with snow and ice for one-half of the year, and even during the greatest heats of sum mer, released from its icy bonds only to the depth of a few inches below the surface of the soil. The (Tenn, its northern boundary, is frozen for miles seaward during more than half the year, and during the remaining months, the numberless icebergs and floes which crowd the sea, and continually come into collision, render the navigation so dan gerous that no complete hydrographie survey of the coast has yet been made. On the southern boundary of this semi-barren zone, stunted misshapen bushes and 4rees are found; and as we advance southward, vegetation appears in the form of extensive for ests of birch, fir, and larch, which clothe the plains and hill-sides, and are interspersed with stretches of pasture of moderate quality. After crossing the parallel of let. 64° n. in- west Siberia, and that of lat. 61° a. in east Siberia, the more hardy cereals, barley, oats, and rye, begin to appear, and the soil increases in fertility, sometimes to an extra ordinary extent, thick woods of Siberia cedar and other trees clothe the mountain sides, and the valleys, especially along the banks of rivers, are in a state of continuous cul tivation. The whole of western Siberia is one great plain, sloping from its southern boundary, where the average elevation is 2,000 ft., northward to the Arctic ocean; with the exception of the small corner in the s.w., which is drained into the Caspian and Aral seas. The fertility of a great portion of the governments of Tobolsk and Tomsk, especially of the Baran, and /dam steppes, is proverbial, and they are the great granaries of Russia and northern Europe. But the warmest and perhaps most fertile part of western Siberia is the valley of the Yenesei, n. of the Sayansk mountains. Eastern Siberia is more hilly and less fertile than the western portion, but the valleys and hill-sides afford coed pasture. Four-fifths of Siberia is drained by the three immense rivers Old (q.v.), Ycre sei (q.v.), and Lena (q.v.), and by a number of smaller rivers, all of which t!ow to the Arctic ocean. Siberia has a large number of lakes, some of which are little else than salt marshes; the largest of them are lake Baikal (q.v.) and lake Balkash (q.v.). The chief mountain range of Siberia is the Altai chain, which forms the southern boundary toward Jlongolia, and ramifies eastward and northward from the region of lake Baikal, covering a large portion of the surface of eastern Siberia. The Stanovoi bills stretch
from the Amur n.e. along the shores of the sea of Okhotsk. The Yablonnoi mountains, which long fOund a place in books of geography, were shown by the Russian exploring commission (1863) to have no existence, the place where they were supposed to be sit uated being an undulating plateau, which connects the basin of the lndigirka and the sea of Okhotsk. Lofty mountain-cu ins traverse the island of Saghalien and the penin sula of Kamtchatka, in which there are 21 active volcanoes, the loftiest of which is Klintshewsker; elevation 15,000 feet. Among the wild animals of Siberia are the rein deer in the northern fiats, and on the high mountains of the 5. ; the arctic or black fox, and white bear in the 11. ; the sable, ermine, marmot, marten, squirrel, Caspian ante lope, and wild sheep—all in the s.; and the lynx, wolf, wild-boar, and glutton are gen erally diffused. Camels are found among the Kirghiz, along with the broad-tailed sheep, the Russian sheep being also domesticated in Siberia; and horses of good quality, an inferior sort of cattle of the Russian breed, and a large wollish-looking dog, used chiefly to draw sledges, complete the list of domestic animals. Fresh and salt water fish abound, and feathered game is plentiful in the south. The mineral wealth of Siberia is great: gold, silver, copper, and lead are found in all the mountainous districts% on the w. and s.; platinum, iron, and precious stones, including diamonds, are found on the eastern slopes of the Ural; zinc, antimony, arsenic, plumbago, and valuable emerald and topaz mines are worked in the districts n. of the Amur; and porphyry, malachite, jasper, and salt (front the steppes)are common. More than half of the inhab itants of the central and western provinces are Russians and Poles, or of Russian and Polish descent, and these have been sent to the country either as exiles, on account of political or criminal offenses, or as government colonies. The lost abandoned class of exiles are kept to hard labor in the mines; others are put to less laborious, bat still com pulsory work; and a third portion are settled in specified districts, under surveillance of the police, and allowed to employ themselves as they choose. This last class chiefly employs itself in trapping those animals whose skins and furs form valuable articles of trade. In the northwest are found the Samoieds, and adjoining them the Ostiaks, both of whom live by hunting and fishing alone. In the s. are the nomad tribes of the Kirghiz (q.v.) and Kalmucks (q.v.), both cattle-breeding peoples, though the latter have now partially adopted a settled mode of life, and manufacture iron and gunpowder. Next to them, on the borders of Mantchooria, are the Buriats, a people of Mongol origin, land the most numerous tribe in Siberia; to the n. of whom are the Yakuts and Tungn ses, of Tartar origin, who are spread over the whole of eastern Siberia, from the town of Irkutsk to the Stanovoi range, and live mostly by hunting. The Tchuktchis, an Esqui maux race, and the Koriaks inhabit the n.e. corner, and the 'Manchus are the population of the Amcor territory. Manufactures are unimportant, and arc confined to the principal towns; the barter trade in European goods is carried on at Obdorsk; Ostrovnoe,Yakutsk, and Petropstvlovsk; and the transit-trade with China through Kialita (q.v.), the imports front China being tea of the finest quality, sugar, silk, cotton, wool, grain, fruits, etc.; and the exports to that country, cotton and woolen cloths, linen, furs and skins, leather, and articles of gold and silver._ The exports to Russia are the natu stal produce of the country, and are transported westward to the frontier by alter nate land and river carriage, to Tobolsk, thence over the Ural mountains to Perm. Rein deer sledges are the usual means of transport in winter. Fairs are held at stated periods in certain localities, and much of the trade of the country is there transacted. The chief towns in Siberia proper are Tobolsk, pop. 20,000; Tjumen, 13,000: Tomsk, 24,000; Irkutsk, 27,000. Siberia seems to have been first made known to the Russians by a mer chant named Anika Stroganoff; and soon after, the conquest of western Siberia was effected by the Cossack Vassili Yermak, an absconded criminal, at the head of a numer ous band of wild followers. After Yermak's death in 1584, the I fussians pursued their conquests eastward, founding Tomsk in 1604, and though they often experienced serious reverses, their progress was rapid, the sea of Okhotsk being reached in 1639, and Irkutsk founded in 1661. Frequent disturbances have occurred between the Russians and the Chinese and Tartars, which have resulted in the extension southward of the Siberian boundary into Mantchooria and Turkestan (q.v.). In 1845 the left hank of the Amoor became Russian. In 1858 the frontier was extended along the sea-board s. of the river to the frontier of Corea. The Russians live now a large number of steam-vessels on the Amor. Recent voyages of exploration point to the practicability of opening direct and extensive commerce between Archangel and the rivers Obi and Yenesei. The Lena is also navigable for a great distance from its mouth.—See Atkinson's Oriental and West ern Siberia (Load. 1856); and various articles in the Geographical Magazine for 1876, etc.