Western and Central Siberia, with which I am dealing here, comprise the great plains, of over 1000 miles in length from east to west, which are watered by the Obi, Irtish and Yenisei rivers, and also include a part of the north-west edge of the Central Asiatic plateau, in what is generally known as the Siberian Altai system. Western and Central Siberia, therefore, contains both plains and plateaus, and the physical features of the country are affected by two factors—namely, the latitude and altitude; for the same physical conditions are found in northern latitudes at low altitudes as are found in the southern latitudes at higher altitudes. In other words, climatic zones of considerable regularity occur all over Western and Central Siberia and are directly dependent upon two factors, latitude and altitude.
2. WESTERN SIBERIA AND THE ALTAI
Physical Zones, Administrative Areas, Population and
Immigration
This great stretch of country lying nearest to European Russia contains the drainage area of the Irtish and Obi rivers, which take their rise in the Altai Mountains and flow north-west across the great plain of Western Siberia. The physical and climatic zones in this region are as follows[1]:—
In the far north, bordering the Arctic Sea down to latitude 62 degrees, there is an immense area of level mossy waste called toundras. Farther south, between latitude 57 and 62, comes a great forest belt and fur-bearing zones, inhabited chiefly by a few Siberian fur traders and by the native Finnish tribes.
- ↑ See Diagram of Physical and Vegetation Zones of Western and Central Siberia.
