The Republic of Karelia (Russian: Респу́блика Каре́лия, tr. Respublika Kareliya, Karelian: Karjalan tazavaldu; Finnish: Karjalan
tasavalta; Veps: Karjalan Tazovaldkund) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic), located in the
northwest of Russia. Its capital is the city
of Petrozavodsk. Its population in 2010 was 643,548. The modern
Karelian Republic was founded as an autonomous republic within the Russian SFSR
by the Resolution of the Presidium of the All-Russian
Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) of June 27, 1923, and by the
Decree of the VTsIK and the Council of People's Commissars of July 25, 1923,
from the Karelian Labor Commune. From
1940 to 1956, it was known as the Karelo-Finnish
Soviet Socialist Republic, one of the union republics in the Soviet Union. In 1956, it was once again an autonomous
republic and remains part of Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union
in 1991.
The republic is in the northwestern part of
Russia, between the White and Baltic Seas. The White Sea has a shoreline of 630 kilometers
(390 mi). It has an area of 172,400 km2
(66,600 sq mi). It shares internal borders with Murmansk Oblast (north), Arkhangelsk Oblast
(east/south-east), Vologda Oblast
(south-east/south), and Leningrad Oblast
(south/south-west), and it also borders Finland (Kainuu, Lapland, North Karelia, Northern Ostrobothnia and South Karelia); the borders measure 723 km. The main
bodies of water next to Karelia are the White Sea (an inlet of the Barents Sea) to the north-east and Lake Onega and Lake Ladoga both shared with neighboring Oblasts to the south.
Its highest point is the Nuorunen peak at 576 m (1,890 ft).
There are about 27,000
rivers and 60,000 lakes in Karelia. The
republic's lakes and swamps contain about 2,000 km³ of high-quality fresh
water. Lake Ladoga (Finnish: Laatokka) and Lake Onega (Ääninen) are the largest lakes in Europe. The majority of the republic's territory
(148,000 km², or 85%) is composed of state forest stock. The total growing
stock of timber resources in the forests of all categories and ages is 807
million m³. The mature and over-mature tree stock amounts to 411.8 million m³,
of which 375.2 million m³ is coniferous. Fifty useful minerals are found in
Karelia, located in more than 400 deposits and ore-bearing layers. Natural
resources of the republic include iron ore, diamonds, vanadium, molybdenum, and others.
Historically, Karelia was
a region to the northwest of Russia, east of present-day Finland, controlled by the Novgorod Republic. From the 13th century and onwards, various
parts were conquered by Sweden, and incorporated into Swedish Karelia until they were lost to Russia by the Treaty of Nystad in 1721. In 1920, the province became the
Karelian Labour Commune. In 1923, the province became the Karelian Autonomous
Soviet Socialist Republic (Karelian ASSR).
From 1940, it was made into the Karelo-Finnish SSR,
incorporating the Finnish Democratic Republic
which nominally operated in those parts of Finnish Karelia that were occupied
by the Soviet Union during the Winter War. Annexed territories were incorporated into
Karelo-Finnish SSR, but after the Second World War, the Karelian Isthmus was
incorporated into the Leningrad Oblast. Its
status was changed back to an ASSR in 1956.
In 1941, Finland occupied large parts of the area but was forced to withdraw in
1944. Though Finland is not currently pursuing any measures to reclaim Karelian
lands ceded to Russia, the "Karelian
Question" remains a topic present in Finnish politics. The
autonomous Republic of Karelia in its present form was formed on 13 November 1991.
The covers posted my Max, on July 19, 2017 and I received on October 15, 2017.
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