Western Siberia

• 1. Introduction

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  Western Siberia covers 2,590,000 square kilometres of North Asia. That is a region large enough to hold a major river system, the world's biggest hydrocarbon basin and the former capital of a medieval khanate. Most of it lies inside the Russian Federation, yet one southern slice belongs to Kazakhstan. Where exactly does Western Siberia begin and end? Which rivers drain it, and into which sea? What lies beneath its ground that makes it so important to Russia? And which powers have claimed its land across the centuries?

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• 2. Between Ural and Yenisei

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  The Yenisei River is the line that conventionally splits Siberia into two halves. Western Siberia sits on one side of it. Central Siberia and Eastern Siberia together make up the other half. On the opposite edge, the region begins at the Ural region. That gives Western Siberia a western and an eastern border drawn by landscape rather than by politics.

  Nearly 80 percent of the region sits within the West Siberian Plain. Two rivers stand out as the largest: the Irtysh and the Ob. All the major rivers of Western Siberia share a single destination, because they belong to the Kara Sea basin. The water of this vast lowland therefore flows toward that one northern sea.

  Politics cut across this geography only in the south. A southern part of Western Siberia lies in Kazakhstan, which is why some of the region's cities, such as Pavlodar and Semey, are Kazakh rather than Russian.

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• 3. The Oil and Gas Basin

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  Beneath the plain lies the West Siberian petroleum basin, which holds both petroleum and natural gas. It covers about 2.2 million square kilometres. Set against the region's total area, that means the basin underlies most of Western Siberia.

  No other hydrocarbon basin in the world is larger. Within Russia, this is also the largest oil and gas producing region. Surgut, one of the region's major cities, appears on the list of Western Siberian centres alongside older towns like Tomsk and Tyumen.

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• 4. Khans and Empires

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  In medieval times, parts of Western Siberia belonged to the Golden Horde. The Horde declined gradually during the 15th century. From that decline emerged the Khanate of Sibir, centered on Tyumen, which took shape within the area.

  The khanate did not last. In the late 16th century, the Russian Empire conquered most of Western Siberia. The southern region took a different path and became part of the Kazakh Khanate.

  That divide survived for centuries in one form or another. The borders drawn between Russia and Kazakhstan today are far newer. They came into being in the late 20th century, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

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• 5. Cities of the Plain

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  Novosibirsk is the most populous city in Western Siberia. Around it stands a chain of other major urban centres. Omsk, Tyumen, Surgut, Barnaul and Tomsk are among them, along with Kemerovo, Novokuznetsk and Kurgan.

  The list also crosses the international border. Kokshetau, Pavlodar, Petropavl, Semey and Oskemen are the major cities on the Kazakh side. Tyumen links the modern map to the past, since it was the center of the Khanate of Sibir.

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