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The Leningrad Region is located in the northwest of Russia and borders both Finland and Estonia. The region shares an administrative border with five subjects of the Russian Federation: the Novgorod, Pskov, Vologda Regions, the Republic Karelia and the city of Saint-Petersburg.
The territory of the region is appoxiametely 83908 sq. km. Large portions of this territory are occupied by the lowlands and low plains. The highest point above sea level in the Leningrad Region, Vepsovskaya Height (291 meters), is near the source of the river Oyat. There are 1800 lakes in the Leningrad Region. The largest of them is Ladoga - the biggest lake in Europe - 18.135 thousand square kilometers. The total length of all rivers in the Leningrad Region is about 50 thousand kilometers. The largest of them are the Neva, Svir, Volkhov and Vuoksa. 55.5% of the territory is forest.
Climate
The climate of Leningrad region is moderate and damp, transitive from sea to continental. The special features of the climate are determined by the geographical position of the region - it lies on the border of a huge continental plate of Eurasia and the nearby Atlantic Ocean, only 5-8 degrees south of Northern polar circle, at the same latitude as Greenland and Chukotka.
From the West, the side of Atlantic Ocean, damp sea air from moderate latitudes blows across the territory of the Leningrad Region, causing thaws, sleet and rain in winter, and rain and cool weather in summer. Continental air of moderate temperatures comes regularly from the East, but sometimes from the South and Southeast as well. These winds create warm weather patterns in summer and low temperatures in winter. Occasionally the Arctic air interferes with the flow of tropical air coming from the Southwest and Southeast. Large bodies of water; the Atlantic Ocean and the Baltic Sea, Ladoga and Onega lakes, create perfect conditions for high humidity year round.
Average temperatures:
January-9-11 C
July +16+17 C
Regular meteorological records have been kept almost since the founding of St. Petersburg in 1703, on order of Peter the Great. On average, the Leningrad Region enjoys only 25-30 clear and cloudless days in any given year. The region experiences precipitation in one form or another more than two hundred days each year. Snow accounts for about 75% of the average precipitation, with thunderstorms accounting for a much smaller portion.
In spite of the fact that winters are generally mild with frequent thaws, in certain years the region experiences deep freezes. In particular in the winter of 1941-1942, on some days the temperature went as low as minus of 35-40 degrees Celsius. In summer the air temperature can be much higher than average - on some exceptionally hot days the temperature rises to +25 degrees. In the Eastern half of the region, where the influence of the continent is stronger than in the West, the temperature can range from +32 up to -45 degrees over the course of the year.
And finally, in the region it is possible to observe the summer phenomenon of high latitudes - the white nights which last for about two months from the middle of May up to the middle of July.
Nature and Minerals
The natural landscapes of the Leningrad Region amaze with their variety. Here it is possible to see the shores of the Vyborg gulf and northern Ladoga, huge marshes on our southern coast, mountain valleys with granite boulders on the Karelian isthmus, canyons of the rivers and waterfalls, as well as plains with hilly heights to the South of the Neva river.
The originality of the geological structure of our territory is a result of fact that the current of Neva forms a boundary of sorts which divides the territory of the region into two different zones. The Northern zone, with its granite, belongs to Phenoscandia and is in the process of rising above sea level. The southern zone, the Russian plate of the East Europe platform, on the other hand is falling.
Accordingly, the two coasts of the Neva move in opposite directions: the right bank moves upwards, and the left one, downwards. This explains the seismic activity that from time to time is felt in the northern capital - an unusual occurrence in this part of the continent.
The Neva itself is rather a young river: it appeared about 2-3 thousand years ago as a result of a break of the waters of Ladoga Lake into the valley of the river Tosno. Geographically the territory of the region lies in a strip of southern taiga. The original landscape was composed of dense forests broken by stretches of fenny bogs. Even nowadays, after many centuries of economic development, the forest still occupies about half of the territory of the region, and the bogs approximately 12%.
Local minerals include bauxites, clay, phosphorites, slates, granite, limestone, sand. Among these bauxites, combustible slates and phosphorites have the greatest industrial value.
Population
(Data compiled during the last government census of the population of the Russian Federation in 2002)
1669 thousand people, among them:
City - 1109 thousand people (66.4%)
Rural - 560 thousand people (33.6%)
Nationalities
According to the last census, the territory of the Leningrad Region is home to more than 80 nationalities: Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Finns, Tatars, Veps, as well as Gypsies, Jews, Carnelians, Cheats, Estonians, Poles, Azerbaijani, and Uzbeks.
Besides Russians, the indigenous peoples of the Northwest of Russia who now live on the territory of Leningrad region are primarily descendants of the Finno-Ugric language group - Veps, Izhors and Finns-Ingermanlandians.
The ancient nation - Veps – has been known since the 9-10th centuries under the name "Ves", "Chukhar", and "Kaivan". Between the 11-15th centuries the Ves nation converted to Orthodoxy. The historical homeland of the Veps - Mezhozerje - is the territory between Ladoga, Onega and White lakes. Over time this nation has essentially been assimilated into the larger Russian population and Vep culture and a life does not differ substantially from that of the Russian rural population. Major Vep population centers are Podporozhsky, Boxitogorsk, Tikhvin and Lodejnopolsky districts. Veps also live in Yaroslavl, Kurbinskaja, Shustruchejskaya, Vinnitskaya, Ozerskaya, Radogoshchinskaya, Sidorovskaya, Khmelezerskaya, Alekseevskaya and Pashozerskaya districts.
The Izorha are an ancient nation which, as well as the Veps, are known from the first ancient Russian annals. Historically they occupied the southern part of Karelian Isthmus, the grounds along the coasts of the rivers Neva, Izhora, Oredezh, Luga, Narova, and also the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. From the 11th to the 15th centuries they were part of the Vodskaya Pyatina of the Novgorod republic. From the end of the 19th century the traditional homeland of the nation was drastically reduced as their assimilation with the general Russian population proceeded. The Izhora are Orthodox, a fact that facilitated their assimilation. At present Izhora live only in the Kingisepp district of the Leningrad Region, as well as in the Soikinskaya, Ust-Luga and Kuzemkinskaya districts.
Unlike Veps and Izhora the Finns-Ingermanlandians are a relatively young ethnic group, which appeared in the 17th century after Finnish colonists populated the territory received by Sweden as a result of the to the Stolbov peace treaty (1617). They consist of two ethnographic groups - Savvokot and Evermeiset, and up until the middle of the 19th century represented the majority of the rural population of the modern territory of Vsevolozhsky, Kingiseppsky, Lomonosovsky, Volosovsky, Gatchinsky, Tosnensky and Kirovsky districts of Leningrad region. In the 1940’s Finns-Ingermanlandians were subjected to repression by the Soviet authorities and until the middle of 1950’s they were forbidden to return to their former dwellings. As a result of the repression, a significant part of the Finns-Ingermanlandians population either disappeared or was assimilated.
It is necessary to note that Finns-Ingermanlandians are Lutherans, and this for a long time was a major factor constraining their assimilation into the broader Russian population.
Now Finns-Ingermanlandians reside in their remaining ethnic strongholds of Volosovsky, Vsevolozhsky, Gatchinsky, Kingiseppsky, and the Kirishsky and Lomonosovsky districts.
Administrative -- Territorial Division
Leningrad Region is an independent subject of the Russian Federation and includes 29 municipal regions, subdivided into districts, 17 areas, 9 cities, and numerous small settlements.
Transportation Infrastructure
RAIL TRANSPORT:
Extent of railways total more than 3 thousand km, 30% are electric. Density of networks -- 32 km of rail for every 1000 sq. km. Turnover of goods -- more than 100 million t/year.
AUTOMOBILES:
Extent of motorways -- more than 13 thousand km.
Density of a road network -- 108 km of roadway for every 1000 sq.km.
Construction of a ring motorway around of Saint Petersburg is planned.
RIVER TRANSPORT:
Extent of navigable ways -- 1908 km.
Turnover of goods -- more than 15 million tons/year.
River ports: Leningrad and Podporozhsky.
SEA TRANSPORTATION:
Within St. -- Petersburg, Vyborg and Vysotsky, the construction of new port complexes is planned.
In Primorske -- the pipeline for liquefied gas and the bulk -- oil terminal; In Vysotske -- the pipeline for liquid ammonia;
In the Ust' -- meadow -- the coal terminal and the terminal of general cargoes.
AIRPORTS:
Pulkovo 1 -- for service of local airlines
Pulkovo 2 -- for service of international airlines. |
