Western Siberia as an object of historical-geographical study and description. Article II

Abstract

The article provides a brief historical and geographical characteristics of Western Siberia in following stages: 1) from the beginning of Russian colonization to the end of the XVII century, 2) XVIII century, 3) 1800-1880, 4) 1880-1917, 5) 1917-1990. The last stage is divided by the bounds: 1929 (beginning of the first Five-Year Plan), 1945 and 1965. Emphasis is made on factors of the internal territorial differentiation and formation history of the regions of second order - historical and geographical meso-regions. The landscaped meso-regions (province and Subprovince) are taken as the basis ofterritorial divisions and operational territorial units being the invariant integral components of historical and geographical regions. By grouping the landscapes of meso-regions, similar in nature of region-forming conditions and factors, the 10 historical and geographical regions with their brief characteristics were allocated throughout the history of region formation.