Hey everybody, so as you know, we're working on the next few episodes, so that means this is a filler week
This one has actually brought to you by a new sponsor Squarespace. Yeah, you've probably heard of them
They've actually reached out and they want to help us out. So thank you Squarespace. We'll talk about that more later
So as you know last time I did the states of India and I asked you guys what country would you like me to do?
administrative divisions next and a lot of you said Russia
The problem is the Russian Federation is broken down into eighty-five federal subjects into five different categories
We don't really have a lot of time for eighty-five anything on geography now
however
we do have enough time to cover one of the categories the
Republics of Russia for those of you that don't know much about Russia
It is actually a very diverse country with lots of different types of people living in it. Not just Russians
The Republic's are kind of like the non Russian ethnic enclaves that have their own level of administration
these subjects have the right to establish their own language and
Constitution the other subjects don't have these rights today
There are 22 of them and I will try my best to explain here we go
The first one at the gaya capital Michael a minority group represented the ad to gay people
They are one of the twelve Circassian tribes and they are one of the three
Federal subjects that have Circassian people as their minority group they even use the circassian flag as their republic flag culturally
They are mountain folk. They have a series of traditions and customs they love playing music with those shiping violins that look like daggers
They have these really interesting traditional dances where they like go on their toes. It looks kind of painful they have these
hawlucha
Ruiz with cheese in them. There's a lot of ancient tradition here like they still have these table stone house things
Nobody quite knows exactly what they are some say that their tombs under tradition a groom is never supposed to meet his bride
parents insert offensive joke here the Altai Republic capital Coronel Altai
So minority group represented the Altai who are a Turkic group the Altai people come from ten different clans
There's a UNESCO heritage site that can be found here
The Koch plateau has these interesting stone structures that are believed to be burial sites
But some people say that they're like magnetic instruments that direct the cosmic energy of the universe. Yeah
There's a lot of new-age tourism in this area
It's also the place where they found the Siberian ice made in the I mean that was preserved in permafrost
Bashkortostan capital is oofah minority group represented the bosch skiers
This is the most populated republic out of all the Republic's it was the first ethnic autonomous area established in 1917
They come from the oral mountains and their flag even has the quraysh hour
It has seven petals representing the seven families that gave birth to the Bosch gear people's music is huge here
They even make woodwind flutes by chopping up Reed's from the core
I plant a capital city has a huge monument dedicated to this guy
He's like considered their hero further out east
Bharatiya Capital Rulon O'Day ethnic minority represented by about 30 percent of the population the boutots. They are a
mongolic people group who are actually related to the Mongols and the
Comics this Republic is right next to Lake Baikal Russia's largest and deepest lake in the world because of that
They're not allowed to really industrialize their area because they don't want to pollute the lake. It's so important culturally speaking
It's very interesting because they kind of like fuse Buddhism with shamanism. They have unique traditions like bone fortune-telling
They also have great hot springs supposedly the waters can heal you from like anything and everything
Now the next one you may have heard in the news a few times Chechnya capital Grozny
Obviously the minority group represented are the Chechen people at about 95 percent and they are the lowest alcohol drinking region of Russia
partially because of the Islam thing basically when Russia came in stalin got suspicious and exiled a lot of them to
Kazakhstan and then he brought them back and then in the 90s, they tried to declare independence, but then Russia was like, nope
And that's where the subsequent Chechen wars began. There's a series of separatist movements and terrorist attacks and to this day
It's kind of died down but the separatist activities still kind of lingers
It's like it could ignite if someone pushes the buttons, but right now it's kind of like kind of standstill
I mean the people just want to live their lives like normal. Otherwise though, they actually have very beautiful scenery
I mean if you're one of those like controversy region tourists, then this might you might want to put this on your bucket list
Chuvashia capital Cheboksary minority group represented at about two-thirds of the population the chuvash known as the silver people chuvash
People are kind of like the strange
outcasts cousins of the Turkic groups because their language is the most isolated and kind
Difficult for the other ones to understand it's kind of like the Icelandic of Turkic languages
But if there's one thing this place is famous for it has to be beer everybody knows, Chivas
Jia makes beer many households brew their own version and they add their own little secret
Ingredients and they have all these nice little happy songs and dances that go with it next one
Get ready because this has a lot of controversy if you're Ukrainian, you're not gonna like hearing this
But I kind of have to cover it Crimea capital Simferopol, which is also a federal city represented minority group being the Crimean Tatars
Who only make up about 12% of the population they used to be the majority?
But then again in former USSR times, they were exiled to who's becca stan, and then some of them were allowed to come back
However today the majority of the population is Russian. This is the largest dispute area with Russia and Ukraine today
basically
this whole area used to be under complete Ukrainian Authority then in 2014 a bunch of
Pro-russian separatists and the Russian military got involved and they issued a take over most countries across the world
Do not recognize this as a part of Russia, but it kind of operates in functions under Russian Authority today
It's really confusing also
it's kind of like a very geographically advantageous location as it kind of gives access to the Black Sea and then further to the
Mediterranean but yeah a hotbed of dispute
Oh, and there's ancient Greek sites over here as well because lots of history Dagestan the Gateway to the Caucasus capital
Makhachkala the minority group represented
There's actually not a single one, but it's kind of like 10 main minority groups largest ones being the Caucasian groups
the Avadh is darkins and there's also the Turkic ku mix and
Azerbaijanis overall over a hundred nationalities and over 30 languages are spoken in this area
It is the most racially diverse region in all of Russia about 80% of the population identifies as Muslim
The land has lots of beautiful mountains and forests and fortresses you come here chances are you will definitely find a burqa
Overcoat not burka bucha, the people here love to dance with daggers recently
Just like in Chechnya in 2008 and 2012
There was kind of like a wave of guerrilla warfare that was going on the Russian government got involved
It got kind of messy
But yeah
it's interesting because there's like so many different people groups and it's just they all have their own little story here in goosh area the
Smallest of all the federal subjects in Russia capital macaws minority group and it being the English. They are very similar to the Chechens
They're like the little brother of the Chechens and they speak almost the same language and their majority of them are Muslim back in World
War two time Stalin deported a lot of them to Kazakhstan and then when they were allowed to come back they realized a lot of
The Audion people took over what they claimed to be their land and there was a lot of internal conflict
Culturally today a lot of them. Don't really quite know the
Extent of their history since a lot of it depended on oral tradition and songs and just a heads up
This is probably one of the most poorest regions of all of Russia. And if you go there will be a lot of security
Checkpoints if you're a man, it's not really recommended that you grow a beard because you might be mistaken for an English rebel
I mean you guys have seen me with facial hair. So I'm I think I'll be good Cobb Rd
no bulk area capital Nalchik two main groups populate most of this area at about seventy percent copper today, who are
Circassians just like the other ones we talked about and the bulk of whom are Kipchak Turkic out of all the twelve
Circassian tribes the combat they are the largest ones and even though the majority of them identify as Muslim
There's still like about 12% that still kind of practiced the traditional hobbsy faith
It involves a lot of nature stuff and spirits land has beautiful gorges and hills and the tallest peak in all of Russia and Europe
If you consider it Europe people here are also known for being quite athletic
This guy won the first gold for Russia in the Rio Olympics
Kalmykia capital at least a minority group represented the comics who make up about 60% of the population
This is probably the strangest demographic anomaly in all of Russia
Why because kalmyks are the westernmost?
buddhist community in the entire world and they are the only region in all of Europe in which
Buddhism is the majority religion today
You can see traditional Buddhist temples all over the capital at least according to tradition their ancestors the koi rots
Migrated from Central Asia to find better land or maybe they try to escape from the Mongol tribes
Nobody really quite knows but the point is they came here and brought Buddhism
orally
the Russians made a lot of deals with them and then they deported them and then they brought them back and
Today, it looks really Buddhist the Russian Qatar ChaCha cassia capital chair kiss just like coppertino ball, Korea
They have two main groups the Turkic Connor Kai peoples and the circassian Turkish people's just like kabardino-balkaria
A portion of the population here still actually kind of maintains the ancient Circassian religions the people here love horse riding
There's also like a rite of passage
Like boys to becoming men when they're 9 years old like they have to get a whip from their father or grandfather
and ride the horse with that whip Corellia capital patrols votes minority group represented the karelians who are the lowest
Minority group in a republic at less than 10% The karelians are some of the last few remaining
Uralic peoples on the planet and they are the cousins of Finnish people. They speak a language. That is very similar
Some people say it's just a dialect of Finnish. However, unfortunately,
unless a
revival happens the future of the Karelian language and culture is
Looking kind of bleak and it's kind of dying out and even though this is the Russian Federation flag
The Karelian people have their own Karelian flag, which looks like this. They're known for making these really cool like egg pie
It's called Karelian pie, but it's like a pastry. It's really good. It's really good Takashi
Yeah
Capital Abakan minority group represented the cut costs most scholars agree that they are most likely related to the qgs people in
kyrgyzstan
The cool thing though is that this place was kind of like the crossroads where a lot of people passed through in ancient times
So it's kind of labeled as Siberia's archaeological Mecca. There's so many ancient sites found here
You have things like stones and obelisks
Ruined cities forts and rock drawings and they have that 7 story tall burial mound the Komi Republic capital
Six Evod, I don't even know at this point minority group represented to call me at about a quarter of the population
Call me is like the Ural Mountains
Capital it offers some of the best tourism for the dividing range
They have the virgin call me forest a UNESCO heritage site and this National Park, which is beautiful
They also kind of have a history of hosting some of the most brutal gulags in all of Russian history
But the forests are nice they have their own food and they have their own traditions based off of pre-christian shamanism
And they still kind of keep those traditions alive a little bit the madhuri el Republic capital
Yoshkar-ola minority group represented the Mari located in the Volga territory
The Madhuri people are kind of called like Europe's last pagans
These people actually do keep a lot of the pre-christian pagan traditions alive
It's kind of like what Russia used to look like before?
Christianity came in half of all the women know how to play the goose Lee a lot of times they have an all Mari prayer
Service in which the entire community comes together. They bring a lot of food
They sacrifice the bones skin and organs of an animal to the fire
Mordovia capitals saransk minority group represented the morphine
Here's the thing. The land here is pretty flat, but they still love like cross-country skiing
These people are really big on wood carving and they are really good at it
It's not uncommon to see a lot of traditional morphing houses that look like log cabins
it's like they they sand the wood very nice and well and they also have
disputable e the most famous puppet theater in all of Russia North Ossetia
Aulani capital Vladikavkaz minority group the Assyrians and they are the only
Iranian people group that have their own Republican Russia as and they're descended from people from Iran
But the thing is the majority of them are Christian
anyway
It was also historically part of the Silk Road and the people here made a lot of money back in the day today has lots
Of minerals and spa resorts, but then there's the controversy with South Ossetia
We talked about this in the Georgia episode internationally recognized as part of, Georgia
however
administratively it kind of falls under Russian jurisdiction since
2008 after the Russia Georgian War in order to get in from the Georgia side
You actually need a passport next one Yakutia or the sakha republic minority group represented the Yokota
This is a very unique spot in Russia. They are like the most East Asian looking people in Russia
They hold fast to their traditions. They have a lot of their own traditional costumes and food
They like to perform circus acts they love horses
I even have a summer festival in which everybody just kind of does their own cool thing
there's a ton of diamond mining out here and
Yakutsk, the capital is like the second coldest major city in the world
Tatarstan capital is kazan minority group at about half of the population are the tatars
These guys are like the brothers of bashkortostan and out of all the secondary language is taught in russia
Tatara is actually one of the most prevalent
Basically a long time ago the Volga boulders mixed in with the Kip Chuck Turks and then BAM that Tatars were born today
They're one of the most economically developed regions in all of Russia tons of oil here
They have these three UNESCO heritage sites, and I yeah, the place is kind of like a mix between Orthodox and Muslim
There's even an all
Religions temple that was built here Tuva capital Keisel minority group the two vin people and it's weird because these people are like in awe
Shoot cousin of the mongols even though they speak a Turkic language
I mean at one point they even were part of Mongolia they have very similar traditions and customs to the Mongolian people
So in the few places where you can find steppe nomadic lifestyle traditions just like the Mongolians they have their own version of throat singing
Which sounds kind of eerie because it uses like two tones with your throat
And just like the Mongolians there's a noticeable Buddhist majority
Yeah
Buddhists Russians high Kalmykia
And finally Woodmoor Chia capital chefs minority group at about 30% the roots
They are known as the meadow people and they have one of the highest concentrations of people with red hair in all of Russia
They even have a red hair festival. They have their own national epic called the doors
Even II they play it with lots of strings and wood instruments
otherwise remember we're on flag slash fan Friday that person visited this place and they sent me a bunch of stuff from Woodmoor chia like
This magnet and they say I think you were from Finland
And you said like it was interesting because you could kind of understand what they're saying cuz they're kind of like your cousins
I don't know
I feel like a lot of Finnish and Estonian
And maybe even Hungarian people might be interested in these areas cuz it's like they kind of technically are distant relatives of you guys
I don't know if you're finished Estonian or Hungarian. What do you think about the people the earl people from these areas?
Anyway, that's it
All the republics of the Russian Federation as you can see it's kind of interesting because it's like they each kind of have their own
Little story and they all kind of had their own little rule that they played in the history of Russia
It's a really cool place
I would love to travel there and maybe blog about it and if you would like to blog about it or share your
Experiences you might want to make a website. Yeah a great transition. Just want to say a huge
Thank you to Squarespace. If you don't know who they are. They're a great website making company check them out
They make it so easy even idiot people like me can make websites with them
It's great stuff
And if you go to Squarespace comm slash geography now, you can get a 10% discount if you want to start it up
I'm sure a lot of you guys have great ideas and websites you could possibly make and they have a lot of other custom tools
That you can use and make to kind of make the perfect website according to how you want to make it
So yeah, I just want to say a huge. Thanks. Once again Squarespace you guys Rock? Thank you for reaching out to geography now
Alright, well, thank you guys for watching. I gotta work on the next country episode. I hope you have a good one
Stay cool. Stay tuned