Jump to content

Page:Siberia and the Exile System Vol 1.djvu/79

From Wikisource
This page has been validated.
THE FLOWERY PLAINS OF TOBOLSK
57

the empire of Germany.[1] The single province of Tobólsk, which in comparison with the other Siberian provinces ranks only fourth in point of size, exceeds in area all of our northern States from Maine to Iowa taken together. The province of Yeniséisk is larger than all of the United States east of the Mississippi River and the territory of Yakútsk is thirteen times as large as Great Britain, thirty-four times as large as the State of Pennsylvania, and might be divided into a hundred and eighty-eight such States as Massachusetts; and yet Yakutsk is only one of eleven Siberian colonies.

A country of such vast extent must necessarily include all varieties of topography and scenery, and all sorts of climate. Disregarding for the present local and partial exceptions, taking climate and topography together and beginning at the arctic ocean, Siberia may be roughly divided into three broad east-and-west zones, or belts of country.

  1. COMPARATIVE AREAS.
    Siberia. Square Miles. Europe. Square Miles.
    Tobólsk 570,290 France 204,177
    Tomsk 333,542 Germany 211,196
    Steppe territories 560,324 Great Britain 120,832
    Yeniséisk 992,874 Greece 25,014
    Irkútsk 309,191 Italy 110,620
    Yakútsk 1,517,132 Montenegro 3,630
    Trans-Baikál 240,781 Netherlands 12,648
    Amúr region 239,471 Portugal 32,528
    Maritime territories 730,024 Roumania 48,307
    ————— Servia 18,750
    Total 5,493,629 Spain 193,199
    Am. and Europe. Square Miles. Sweden 170,979
    Norway 123,205
    U. S. and Alaska 3,501,404 Switzerland 15,892
    Austria-Hungary 240,942 European Turkey 125,289
    Belgium 11,373 —————
    Denmark 14,124 Total 5,184,109
    Siberian provinces 5,493,619
    The United States, Alaska, and Europe 5,184,109
    —————
    Difference in favor of Siberia 309,520