Russia

Russia is a very diversified and extreme country. Russia is now booming, with its literature, arts, and cultural traditions that are being recognized and practiced stronger than ever. Cathedrals and churches are coming alive again with new materials. History has a lot to do with culture. A year from now, the city of Moscow, Russia's capital, will celebrate its eight hundred-fiftieth anniversary. Russia is shaking loose from its old communist propaganda and is commemorating artists and writers who were at one point banned. For most tourists from the west, Russia's history is mostly made up of vague myths and exhilarating gossip. The true history, the amazing history, the wonderful people and notorious people make Russia an exciting place.

The main nationality of Russia is, of course, Russian. There are eight main ethnic groups in Russia: Russian 81.5%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 3%, Chuvash 1.2%, Bashkir 0.9%, Byelorussian 0.8%, Moldavian 0.7%,

Russia

Russia

SPAR Krasnoyarsk, Russia - Nov 2012

and other 8.1%. Russian and other are the most widely used languages. The three main religions of Russia are Muslim, Russian Orthodox, and other. In Russian currency, one ruble equals one hundred kopeks. There were approximately twenty-seven rubles per U.S. dollar in 1999. In July 2000, Russia's population was 146,001,176.

Russia takes pride in educating its people. Literacy (those fifteen and older who can read and write) of the population is very high at 98%. The male percentage is 100%, and the female is 97%. The Russian alphabet is called Cyrillic and contains 33 letters.

As stated above, the capital of Russia is Moscow, but Russia has many other important cities as well, such as Irkutsk, Volgograd, and St. Petersburg. Russia has had many rulers, both good and bad, from 1462 to 2002, Ivan the Great to Vladimir Putin. Although there are many large cities, Russia is mainly a...