fbpx

KidsKonnect

Siberia Facts & Worksheets

Siberia is the central and eastern regions of Russia, which Asia entirely occupies.

Search for Worksheets

Worksheets /Social Studies /Geography /Siberia Facts & Worksheets
Premium
Not ready to purchase a subscription? Click to download the free sample version   Download sample

Siberia, which is also the center and eastern regions of Russia, is entirely occupied by Asia. It stretches from the Arctic Ocean to Mongolia and from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. Siberia makes up 75% of all Russian territory and almost 10% of the Earth’s land area. However, Siberia is one of the least populated regions on Earth in terms of population density.

See the fact file below for more information on Siberia, or you can download our 30-page Siberia worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

BACKGROUND HISTORY

  • Before Russian colonization in the late 16th century, Siberia was home to numerous minor ethnic groups whose members lived either as pastoral nomads reliant on domestic reindeer or as hunters and gatherers. However, the Sakha (Yakut), who were the greatest of these ethnicities, kept horses and cattle.
  • The small Siberian khanate was overthrown by a Cossack invasion in 1581, marking the beginning of the Russian conquest. Russian trappers, fur traders, and Cossack explorers explored all of Siberia up to the Bering Sea in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

CLIMATE

  • The average daily maximum temperature in Siberia, one of Russia’s coldest areas, is only 5 degrees. Primarily freezing and icy, the winter months do not even see the mercury column rise into the positive range.
  • The time when the sun is truly visible is referred to as the number of daylight hours. That is, without any clouds, fog, or mountains to obscure the view. The federal territory of Siberia experiences the most sunlight in June, with 11 hours per day.
  • A day is considered to be rainy if at least 0.1 mm (or 0.1 liters) of precipitation falls on the ground in that area. Rain, snow, hail, or even dew may be present. Therefore, it does not have to rain all day. The month of July has the rainiest days, while the shortest amount is in the month of February.
  • More moisture can be absorbed by warm air than by cold air. The relative humidity tells us how much moisture is actually present in the air compared to what is physically possible. The person feels uncomfortable and considers heavy humidity to be oppressive. Relative humidity of 40 to 60 percent is often regarded as agreeable. May is a very dry month with an average humidity of about 56%. November is typically 80% and at its peak level.
  • Snowflakes exceeding 12 inches (30.5 cm) in diameter were observed in the Siberian city of Bratsk in 1971. Snowfall made up of incredibly thin, needle-shaped icicles is known as “diamond dust” in other regions of Siberia.
  • When snow is stepped on, some Siberians can gauge the temperature from the sound it makes. Lower temperatures make the sound produced by snowflakes colliding and breaking more audible.

PEOPLE

  • In the 19th century, under the Russian tsars, and in the 20th century, under the Soviet Union, being sent to Siberia was seen as the greatest punishment because there was no way to escape due to its isolation. The “prison without walls” region, however, is not just about its correctional role; it also features human cultures that have endured for millennia, which have adapted to the harsh climatic conditions and preserved the traditions of their forefathers.
  • Uralic Group: Khanty and Mansi. Numerous characteristics between the Khanty and the Mansi are comparable, including environment, economy, structure, and a number of customs. Hunting (traditionally with bows and arrows and spears, later with guns), trapping, and fishing (with nets, weirs, seines, and traps) are their main means of subsistence. 
  • Uralic Group: Samoyedic People. The Nenets, who mostly inhabit Russia’s Yamalo-Nenetsia and Nenetsia autonomous regions, are the most well-known Samoyedic people.
  • Yukhagir Group. They numbered around 1,100 in the late 20th century after being driven nearly extinct by deprivation, encroachment, and diseases brought in by other communities.
  • Mongolic Group. The Buryats are the largest ethnic minority in Siberia, with a population of over 436,000. They are mostly concentrated in the Buryat Republic, a federal republic of Russia, where they were born. They are the largest Mongol group in the north. 
  • Turkic Group. They share linguistic and historical ties with the Tujue, a term the Chinese used to refer to the nomadic people who established an empire in the sixth century B.C. that stretched from what is now Mongolia and China’s northern border to the Black Sea.

ANIMALS

  • A subspecies of tiger is the Siberian tiger, commonly referred to as the Amur tiger. It is the world’s largest wild cat and the largest member of the tiger subspecies. There are just about 600 wild Siberian tigers alive.
  • The Siberian cat is a type of domestic cat. For more than 2000 years, it has happened naturally in the Siberian region.
  • A medium-sized breed of working dog is the Siberian husky. The Chukchi people of eastern Siberia’s Chukchi Peninsula are said to have developed it first. Huskies are a stunning type of dog that is independent, active, and intelligent.
  • A breed of medium-sized herding dogs is called the Samoyed. It gets its name from the Siberian Samoyedic tribes. The nomadic Samoyed people migrated from central Asia to northwest Siberia. They had to stay mobile so that the herds of reindeer could locate enough food for themselves because that was their only source of nourishment.

ECONOMY

  • Siberia is incredibly mineral rich and is home to practically all economically valuable metal ore deposits. In addition to having numerous untapped reserves of oil and natural gas, it also has some of the greatest known deposits of nickel, gold, lead, coal, molybdenum, gypsum, diamonds, diopside, silver, and zinc in the world.
  • At the Norilsk deposit in Siberia, Russia is home to nearly 40% of the nickel resources currently known to exist. The largest producer of nickel and palladium worldwide is Norilsk Nickel.
  • The world’s largest forests are found in Siberia. Even while many forests in the east have been cut down considerably faster than they can regenerate, timber still represents a significant source of income.

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

  • Siberia covers a size of around 4 million square miles, making it almost as large as Canada. It extends from the Lena River to the Ural Mountains. The best time to visit Siberia is in March since the temperature ranges from -5 to -25 C. It is extremely cold in the winter and mild in the summer.
  • Lake Baikal. The world’s largest freshwater lake by volume is Lake Baikal. More than 20% of the fresh surface water on Earth is found in Siberia. With a 5,387-foot depth, it is also the world’s deepest lake (1,642 meters).
  • Sayan Mountain Ring. In addition to a wide range of ethnic traditions, the region is home to stunning natural beauty, including clear lakes and raging mountain rivers, rich woods, and limitless steppes.
  • The Trans-Siberian Railway Network. The World’s Longest Railway Line is in Siberia. It stretches 5,771 miles (9,288.2 kilometers) between Moscow and Vladivostok. The trip lasts six nights and seven days, stopping for 10 to 20 minutes at each station. The railway is renowned for the beautiful vistas along the eight time zones, Lake Baikal, birch and pine forests, and the Ural mountains crossing route.
  • Altai Mountains. Nearly in the center of Eurasia is the spectacular and picturesque mountainous region known as the Altai.
  • Putorana Plateau. There are almost no roads, therefore, you can only travel there by helicopter, boat, or snowmobile during the summer. “The land of 10,000 lakes and 1,000 waterfalls” is the area’s well-known nickname. The number and depth of lakes are unmatched by any other elevated region in Russia, and the concentration of waterfalls is the highest in the country.

Siberia Worksheets

This fantastic bundle includes everything you need to know about Siberia across 31 in-depth pages. These ready-to-use worksheets are perfect for teaching kids about Siberia, the central and eastern regions of Russia, which Asia entirely occupies.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

  • Siberia Facts
  • Map the Mountains
  • People are People
  • Weatherman
  • Siberian Truth
  • All Aboard!
  • Putorana Plateau
  • Frozen Life
  • Siberian Twist
  • Welcome to My Crib!
  • I Did It!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Siberia most known for?

Siberia is famous for its very cold winters when the average temperature in January is -25°C. It is located at the border of Asia and Europe. Therefore, some people consider it part of Asia, while others think it is more closely related to Europe because Russia colonized it.

Why is it called Siberia?

Siberia, famously known as the ‘sleeping land,’ experiences dauntingly cold temperatures during winter – a remarkable feat considering how rarely snow falls. Even in Sakha, minimum temperatures of an astonishing −90 °F have been recorded!

What language is spoken in Siberia?

Even though Russian is widely spoken throughout North Asia, Siberia and the Northern Pacific Rim of Asia still belong to over three dozen different languages that are not mutually intelligible.

Link/cite this page

If you reference any of the content on this page on your own website, please use the code below to cite this page as the original source.

Link will appear as Siberia Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, December 22, 2022

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

Related Resources