Siberia. The word itself evokes the image of an opaque curtain of a snowstorm with snowdrifts reaching up to your waist and the freezing cold that penetrates your body and seeing nothing but white purity all around you and perhaps a bear roaring somewhere over the knoll. But what does the real Siberia look like?

Siberia is the vast area stretching from the Arctic Ocean on the north, to the dry steppes of Mongolia and Kazakhstan on the south, from the Ural mountains on the west, to the Pacific ocean on the east. This description already implies the fact that it is cold there - very cold.

The Siberian winter is long and freezing. The snowdrifts may be high enough to cover the first floor of some high-rise buildings. There’s a little Siberian city where the lowest temperature in the Northern hemisphere was officially recorded as -72C in one January. Already feel cold? Warm up: South Siberia isn’t that bad – the average temperature in January doesn’t go lower than 0 -5C. Hot summers happen in Siberia from time to time. They are really short, though – just 2 months, which is enough for the temperature to go up to +35C.

Unfortunately, Siberia isn’t famous only for its cold but also for the GULAG prisons into which the Soviet government sent millions of usual thugs along with the “political” prisoners who had enough courage to doubt the actions of the communist policy. The work at the prison was brutal – prisoners’ labor was widely used at countless throws in shafts and mines. This statement needs a more detailed explanation. Siberia is an incredibly rich land – it’s the place that conceals 85% of Russian lead and platinum ores, 80% of coal and molybdenum, 71% of nickel, 69% of copper, 44% of silver, 40% of gold. Besides, the major world’s diamond, oil and gas fields are also located in Siberia.

Minerals are not the only thing that Siberia supplies Russia with. Today, the Siberian district produces over 20% of Russian cereals which equals to 14 million tons! You probably remember what the Siberian climate is like – definitely not like Africa… Only 11% of the land is occupied by agricultural land (59% - forests, 8% - swamps).

This is truly a magic land! Few crops have enough time to ripen during the short Siberian summer – but the ones which got acclimatized to the weather conditions grow up really huge and give rich harvests. In taiga, on knolls, and in swamps grow precious medicinal herbs that have been used in traditional medicine of the Russians, Chinese and Mongolians for centuries. These are: legendary ginseng, Altai golden root, magnolia-vine, and much, much more. If these herbs are planted in the rich soils of other European regions for instance, they lose their healing powers.

The administrative center of Siberian district is located in Novosibirsk. It’s one of the biggest Russian cities situated right behind the Ural Mountains. The Russians call it their Eastern Capital. Novisibirsk is a young industrial city; it has two subway lines and a highly developed road system. Besides, Novosibirsk is one of the major Russian centers of science. There are other megalopolises in Siberia as well. For instance, there is also Tomsk - the city which takes the third place in Russia according to the number of universities and colleges. More than 40 thousand students are attending the universities of Tomsk.

What have we forgotten to say? Oh, yeah… Bears… Since more than the half of Siberia is covered with taiga forests, it’s quite reasonable that there are bears and even tigers there. However, no animal would enter a big, noisy industrial city! You will be able to see bears only in zoos.