Russia

St. Basil's Cathedral in the Red Square, Moscow

For decades, only the United States and Russia had the power to determine world affairs. Russia is one of the greatest world powers not only because its territory is the world's largest and its huge population, but because of the contribution it has made to world history as well as a remarkable culture-literature, poetry, music, painting, theater and cinema-that is known and admired throughout the world.

The geography of Russia quite varied. Russia lies in both Asia and Europe, with the Ural Mountains and the Volga River dividing European Russia and Asian Russia. Russia's longest coastline is on Arctic seas, whose ice makes navigation impossible during most of the year. Only the port of Murmansk is open year-round because of the Gulf Stream. Russia is the largest country in the world, having an area of 6,592,850 square miles, almost twice that of Canada, the second largest country. Along the Pacific coast, the most important Russian port is Vladivostok. St. Petersburg is the port closest to the centers of population and trade. It is open from May to October.

Russia's history is very rich. The first Russian state was Kiev, in what is today Ukraine. It was ruled by a Viking grand prince, Prince Oleg. The name of the state was Rus and it remained separate from the rest of Europe until the tenth century. In 988 AD, Grand Prince Vladimir I became a Christian and made Christianity the official religion. Ivan the Terrible was the first to use the title of tsar. A long line of rulers gradually expanded the kingdom. During the reign of Peter the Great from 1696 to 1725, Muscovy became the Empire of all Russias, or simply Russia. Unfortunately, weak rulers and poverty took over Russia after Peter's death.