Republic of Karelia

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See Karelia (disambiguation) for other meanings of the name Karelia.

The Republic of Karelia (Респу́блика Каре́лия, Karjalan Tazavalla) is an autonomous republic in the Northwestern Russia federal district of Russia. The capital is the city of Petrozavodsk situated on the shore of Onego lake. (280,000 inhabitants). It borders the Leningrad Oblast and Vologda Oblast of Russia, Finland, the Murmansk Oblast (Kola peninsula), the White Sea, and the Arkhangelsk Oblast. Karelia is called Karjala in Finnish.

The Republic of Karelia is located in the north-western part of Russian Federation, taking intervening position between the basins of Barents and Baltic seas. The total territory of Karelia is 172,400 sq. km. with a population of about 800,000 people.

Russian: '''Респу́блика Каре́лия Российская Федерация
Karelian (Finnish): Karjalan Tazavalla\'''


(Full Size)	(Full size)

National motto: None

Official language

Karelian (Finnish), Russian

Capital

Petrozavodsk

President

Sergey Katanandov

Prime Minister

Pavel Chernov

Area
- Total
- % water

(not ranked)
172,400 km²
Negligible

Population
- Total
- Density

(not ranked)
780,000
50/km²

Currency

Russian Rouble

Time zone

UTC +3

Calling Code

7 (Russia)

Table of contents

1 History
2 Politics
3 Geography
4 Culture
5 Demographics
6 Related articles
7 External links

History

Main article: History of Karelia

Historically Karelia was a region to the northwest of Russia, east of present-day Finland. 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 ÃÂÃÂbo in the middle or the 18th century.

In 1923 the province became the Karelian ASSR (Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic). From 1940 it was made into the Karelo-Finnish SSR, incorporating the Finnish Democratic Republic created during the Winter War, but was changed back to a ASSR in 1956. During the Continuation War in 1941 Finland occupied parts of the area but was forced to withdraw in 1944.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Karelia

The autonomous Republic of Karelia was formed on November 13, 1991.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Karelia

In the northeast, the Republic is washed by the White Sea with a shore line of 630 km.; in the west Karelia borders on Finland (border line length approx. 700 km.); in the north, on Arkhangelsk Region; in the south, on Vologda and Leningrad Regions of the Russian Federation.

The most part of the republic's territory (148,00 sq.km. or 85%) is comprised of state forest stock. The total growing stock of timber resources in the forests of all categories and ages is 807 million cubo metres. The mature and overmature tree stock amounts to 411,8 million cubo metres, of which 375,2 million cubo metres is coniferous.

The Regions of North and South Karelia lie in Finland and the Karelian Republic in Russia. The Karelian Isthmus is part of the Leningrad Oblast

There are 27,000 rivers and over 60,000 lakes in Karelia. Lake Ladoga and Lake Onego are the largest lakes in Europe. Lakes and swamps contain about 2,000 cubo kilometres of high-quality fresh water. 50 useful minerals are found in Karelia, located in more than 400 deposits and orebearing layers.

List of Cities

Petrozavodsk
Medvezhegorsk
Kondopoga
Segezha
Unitsa

Culture

Main article: Culture of Karelia

The Karelian language is close to Finnish, and has in recent years become considered a dialect of Finnish. Finnish and Russian are the official languages of the republic.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Karelia

Karelia is populated chiefly by Russians and (ethnically Finnic) Karelians. There are about 780,000 inhabitants in the Republic of Karelia, of whom 73% are registered as Russians, and 11% as Karelians.

External links