Republic of Karelia
Encyclopedia : R : RE : REP : Republic of Karelia
- For other uses of Karelia, see Karelia (disambiguation).
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| Capital | Petrozavodsk | ||||
| Area - total - % water | Ranked 23rd - 172,400 km² - 25% | ||||
| Population - Total - Density | Ranked 67th - est. 716,281 (2002) - est. 4.2/km² | ||||
| Political status | Republic | ||||
| Federal districts of Russia>Federal district | Northwestern Federal District | ||||
| Economic regions of Russia>Economic Region | North | ||||
| Cadaster # | 10 | ||||
| Official language | Russian1 | ||||
| Head of the Republic | Sergey Leonidovich Katanandov | ||||
| Prime Minister | Pavel Viktorovich Chernov | ||||
| Legislature | Legislative Assembly | ||||
| Anthem | Anthem of the Republic of Karelia | ||||
Geography
The Republic is located in the north-western part of the Russian Federation, taking intervening position between the basins of White and Baltic seas. The White Sea shore line is 630 km.The most part of the republic's territory (148,000 km², 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 m³. The mature and overmature tree stock amounts to 411.8 million m³, of which 375.2 million m³ is coniferous.
- Area: 172,400 km².
- Borders:
- *internal: Murmansk Oblast (N), Arkhangelsk Oblast (E/SE), Vologda Oblast (SE/S), Leningrad Oblast (S/SW)
- *international: Finland (SW/W/NW) (border line length: 723 km)
- *water: White Sea (an inlet of the Barents Sea) (N/NE/E), Lake Onega (SE), Lake Ladoga (SW)
- Highest point: 576 meter, the Nuorunen peak.
Time zone
The Republic of Karelia is located in the Moscow Time Zone (MSK/MSD). UTC offset is +0300 (MSK)/+0400 (MSD).
Rivers
There are 27,000 rivers in Karelia. Major rivers include:
- Vodla River (149 km)
- Kem River
- Kovda River
- Shuya River
- Suna River
- Vyg River
Lakes
There are 60,000 lakes in Karelia. Republic's lakes and swamps contain about 2,000 km³ of high-quality fresh water. Lake Ladoga (Laatokka) and Lake Onega (Ääninen) are the largest lakes in Europe. Other lakes include:- Nyukozero
- Pyaozero
- Segozero
- Syamozero
- Topozero
- Vygozero
Natural resources
Fifty useful minerals are found in Karelia, located in more than 400 deposits and orebearing layers. Natural resources of the republic include iron ore, diamonds, vanadium, molybdenum, and others.Administrative divisions
Demographics
Karelia is populated chiefly by Russians (73.6% of the population) and (ethnically Finnic) Karelians (10.0%). Other ethnic groups include Belarusians (7.0%), Ukrainians (3.6%), and Finns (2.3%).
- Population: 716,281 (2002)
- *Urban: 537.395 (75.0%)
- *Rural: 178,886 (25.0%)
- *Male: 331,505 (46.3%)
- *Female: 384,776 (53.7%)
- Females per 1000 males: 1,161
- Average age: 37.1 years
- *Urban: 35.9 years
- *Rural: 40.6 years
- *Male: 33.9 years
- *Female: 39.9 years
- Number of households: 279,915 (with 701,314 people)
- *Urban: 208,041 (with 525,964 people)
- *Rural: 71,874 (with 175,350 people)
The Karelian language is close to Finnish, and in recent years, it has been considered by some authorities as a dialect of Finnish. Nevertheless, far Eastern Karelian might not be completely mutually intelligible with Finnish and could be considered a proper language. Russian is currently the only official language of the republic, but there is a motion in the republic's government to make Karelian official as well.
History
Historically Karelia was a region to the northwest of Russia, east of present-day Finland, controlled by the Novgorod Republic. 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 Nystad in 1721.
In 1923 the province became the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Karelian ASSR). From 1940 it was made into the Karelo-Finnish SSR, incorporating the Finnish Democratic Republic created during the Winter War. Occupied territories were incorporated into Karelo-Finnish SSR after the Winter War but after the Continuation War the Karelian Isthmus was incorporated into the Leningrad Oblast. Name was changed back to a ASSR in 1956. During the Continuation War in 1941 Finland occupied large parts of the area but was forced to withdraw in 1944.
The autonomous Republic of Karelia in its present form was formed on November 13, 1991.
Politics
The highest executive authorityin the Republic of Karelia is the Head of the Republic. As of 2006, the Head of the Republic is Sergey Leonidovich Katanandov, who was elected in May of 2002.The parliament of the Republic of Karelia is the Legislative Assembly comprising 50 deputies elected for a four year term.
The Constitution of the Republic of Karelia was adopted on February 12, 2001.
Culture
Karelia is sometimes called "the songlands" in the Finnish culture, as Karelian poems constitute most of the Finnish national epic Kalevala.
Religion
The Karelians have been traditionally Russian Orthodox, known in Finland for their small chapels called tsasouna. However, Lutheranism was brought to the area by the Finnish immigrants during Sweden's conquest of Karelia.Notes
Note 1: Russian is currently the only official language of the Republic of Karelia. Although the Karelian language does not have official status at present, a [motion] has been set in place to grant it a place alongside Russian in the republic's government.See also
External links
- () () () [Official website of the Republic of Karelia].
- () () () [Karelia.ru web server].
- () () () [Window to Karelia server] (also in Karelian).
- () () () [Heninen.net] - various information about Karelia.
- () [Information about Karelians].
- () [Virtual Finland] - "The Many Karelias" article.
- () [ProKarelia] (also available in other languages).
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