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South Central Siberia is a geographical region inNorth Asia, just north of the meeting point betweenRussia,China,Kazakhstan andMongolia.
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At approximately49°8′8″N87°33′46″E / 49.13556°N 87.56278°E /49.13556; 87.56278, the borders ofRussia,China,Mongolia andKazakhstan intersect in theAltai Mountains. Mongolia and Kazakhstan are separated by a 55km stretch of the Sino-Russian border between theAltai Republic, a federal subject of Russia, andAltay Prefecture in theXinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. To the east,Tavan Bogd Uul inBayan-Ölgii Province, Mongolia, marks the end of the Sino-Russian border. To the west, is Kazakhstan'sEast Kazakhstan Province.
The Altai mountains on the Russian side of the border have been designated aUNESCOWorld Heritage Site.[1]
Above the "Four Corners" and in the southern part of South CentralSiberia is theAltai Republic (not to be confused with theAltai Krai to the northwest). It contains the central knot to theAltai Mountains. The area is very mountainous and has few good roads. It was inhabited by variousTurkic groups who gradually became theAltay people. As the surrounding steppes filled withRussians, many of the lowland Turks wereRussified or retreated to the mountains. The area only came under definitive Russian control in the 1860s. TheM52 highway (Russia) runs northwest from here.
Northern South Central Siberia includes the Altai Republic, which is a 400 km projection of forested mountains which bends slightly to the west at the tip. It is called theAbakan Range in the south andKuznetsk Alatau in the north. North of its northern end is the town ofTomsk.
The west part of South Central Siberia includes the steppe of theKuznetsk Depression, which contains the largeKuznetsk Basin coal fields, the mountains of the Abakans and Kuznetsk Alatau and theSalair Ridge which ends nearNovosibirsk.
In the Soviet era, the Kuznetsk Basin coal fields were the largest Russian coal field after the Donets Basin. The name Kuznets meansblacksmith and comes from the 'Blacksmith Tatars' orShors, who were notable metal workers.
The Russians reached the area as early as 1618. The Abakans, Kuznetsk Alatau and the Kuznetsk Basin form theKemerovo Oblast with its mostly Russian population. TheTom River drains the basin and joins theOb River north ofTomsk. The town ofNovokuznetsk was founded in 1618.
The eastern part of South Central Siberia, between the Kuznetsk Alatau and the Sayan Mountains, includes the steppe of theMinusinsk Depression which is the core ofKhakassia. TheYenisei River flows north through its center. TheAbakan River flows from the base of the depression north and slightly east to the Yenisei atAbakan town, near where another river comes in from the east.Minusinsk town is a few kilometres east of Abakan. TheChulym River (Ob River) starts in the northwest corner of the depression, arcs into the Taiga north of the Alatau and joins theOb River. East of the river is the southern tip ofKrasnoyarsk Krai.
This area was a center of theAfanasevo culture, a suggested homeland for theTocharians. Later it was the home of theYenisei Kirghiz, who gave their name to theKirgiz further south. TheKhakas of Khakassia may be their descendants.
East of the Altai and southeast of Minusinsk isTuva. Tuva is bordered on the south by theTannu-Ola Mountains, which separate it from the MongolianGreat Lakes Depression, on the west by the Altai, on the northwest by the Western Sayans which separate it from the Minusinsk Depression, on the north by the Eastern Sayans and on the east by mountains on the Mongolian border.
The core area is theTuva Depression, whereKyzyl is located, the capital city of theTuva Republic. TheYenisei River flows west here and then breaks through the Western Sayans in a long narrow gorge which contains theSayano-Shushenskaya Dam north of the Tuva border.
Tuva was traditionally part ofMongolia, and only passed to theSoviet Union—Russia in the 20th century.
To the north, South Central Siberia merges into the Siberian forests.
To the south, South Central Siberia merges into the mountains along the former Sino-Soviet border.Dzungaria is directly to the south.
To the west of South Central Siberia is the agricultural steppe of theAltai Krai with its Russian population. Here theKatun River and theBiya River join to form theOb River. Further west, between the Ob andIrtysh Rivers are theBaraba steppe in the north and the Kalunda Steppe in the south.
To the east, the Western and then EasternSayan Mountains extend east to the southern tip of Lake Baikal.
