Kamchatka contains a notable range of volcanoes which forms part of the Pacific ring. Forty have been located of which 14 are active. The loftiest active volcano, the loftiest mountain in Siberia, is Klyuchevskaya, 16,130 feet. Koryatskaya is 11,522 feet.
Investigations in Lake Baikal have shown that there are three basins of unequal extent and depth. The southerly basin has an extreme depth of 791 fathoms, and is separated by a shoal ridge of less than 300 fathoms from the middle and most extensive basin which reaches 832 fathoms in depth. The northern basin does not exceed 540 fathoms. On the W. of the lake the deep water goes inshore but on the E. the coastal waters are shoal. The area of the lake is 13,200 sq. m.; its surface is 1,561 ft. above sea level.
New surveys of the Arctic coast by Tolmachev, Vilkitski and others have resulted in considerable modifications in the chart. Shitkov explored the Yamal peninsula and cleared up some doubtful points in its hydrography. The small islands between the Gulf of Yenisei and Taimir peninsula have proved to be more numerous than was supposed and Taimir Gulf has been found to be relatively narrow. Cape Chelyuskin lies in lat. 77° 42′ N. Nikolas Land and other islands have been discovered to the N.W. of this cape, and new discoveries have been made in the New Siberia and Wrangel Is. (see Arctic Regions). There is still some doubt about the configuration of the coast-line between Cape Chelyuskin and the Lena delta. Hydrographical surveys have resulted in the discovery of some harbours on the Arctic coast including several in Taimir Land; Tiski Bay, E. of the Lena delta; and Chaun Bay in long. 170° E. Surveys in the Sea of Okhotsk have shown that the best harbours are Yamskaya Bay; Ola Bay, off Taui Bay; and Port Ayan. Okhotsk is falling into decay owing to its poor site. In Kamchatka Baron Korfa Gulf has been found to contain several good harbours. In the Maritime province the best harbours, in addition to Peter the Great Bay, are de Castries Bay, Imperial Bay and Olga Bay. De Castries Bay, a little S. of the Amur mouth, affords a far better and more accessible harbour than the Amur estuary. The Tartar harbours are closed by ice from Nov. to April or May and the Okhotsk harbours for a month or two longer.
Population.—There has been no census since 1897 but in 1915 the pop. was estimated at 10,377,900 on the basis of the last census and the yearly rate of increase. It was distributed as follows:—
| Governments and Provinces[1] | Area in sq. m. | Population[2] | Density per sq. m. |
| Tobolsk (Govt.) | 535,739 | 2,085,700 | 3·9 |
| Tomsk (Govt.) | 327,173 | 4,053,700 | 12·0 |
| Irkutsk (Govt.) | 280,429 | 821,800 | 2·5 |
| Yeniseisk (Govt.) | 981,607 | 1,143,900 | 1·1 |
| Yakutsk (prov.) | 1,530,253 | 332,600 | 0·2 |
| Transbaikalia (prov.) | 238,308 | 971,700 | 4·0 |
| Amur (prov.) | 154,795 | 261,500 | 1·6 |
| Maritime or Primorsk (prov.) | 266,486 | 631,600 | 3·0 |
| Kamchatka (prov.) | 502,424 | 41,600 | 0·1 |
| Sakhalin (prov.) | 14,668 | 34,000 | 0·5 |
| Total | 4,831,882 | 10,378,100 | 2·0 |
The two Steppe provinces, Akmolinsk and Semipalatinsk, which are geographically part of Siberia, though they were administratively distinct under the late imperial regime, have a combined area of 403,394 sq. m. and an estimated pop. (1915) of 2,421,400. The figures given above include native tribes (see below).
Colonization.—The Russians number over 85% of the total pop. of Siberia as a whole and about 93% of the total pop. of western Siberia (Tobolsk and Tomsk). The number of settlers entering Asiatic Russia (including the Steppe provinces) from Russia in Europe rose from 141,000 in 1906 to 619,000 in 1909. For some years after there was a decline, due, it is said, to a succession of good harvests in southern Russia: in 1912 and 1913 the annual immigration was little over 200,000. In 1914 it was 242,000. From 1906 to 1914 nearly 3,000,000 Russians entered Asiatic Russia, about 2,000,000 of whom went to Siberia. The Siberian railway zone continued to attract most settlers in western and central Siberia but many went to the Baraba steppe, the Altai region and the district round Minusinsk and the upper Yenisei. The Uryankhai region around the head streams of the Yenisei in the Sayansk mountains, which is nominally part of outer Mongolia under the suzerainty of China, contains many Russian settlers and for some years has been more or less under Russian control. In Transbaikalia much land is occupied by Cossacks and their descendants, and natives (largely Buryats), but in the upper Amur and the Ussuri valleys there are considerable areas of Russian settlement. The efforts, however, that were made by the State before 1917 to attract colonists to the Amur and Maritime provinces met with somewhat meagre response. Attempts to colonize Kamchatka have been practically abandoned and for many years Russian Sakhalin has failed to attract settlers. North of lat. 58° N. in western Siberia, and lat. 54° N. in eastern Siberia, there are very few Russians permanently settled. Total exemption from military service and other privileges which the State offered colonists in the lower valleys of the Yenisei and Lena did not succeed in attracting many settlers. The migration of Chinese and Koreans to the Amur and Ussuri valleys and the Transbaikal region was marked for many years. The Chinese came as temporary labourers but the Koreans were more inclined to become permanent settlers. Japanese artizans are found throughout eastern Siberia. In 1914 the Russian Government was making attempts to exclude Asiatics at the same time that it offered inducement to Russians to settle in the Far East.
Native Races.—While no strictly ethnological classification of Siberian natives is yet possible, it is recognized that the tribes of the extreme N. and E., even if they differ from one another, have certain characteristics in common which distinguish them from later arrivals in Siberia. For these earlier tribes, who may possibly have migrated to Siberia from America at a very early period, the name Palaesiasts is used by Schrenk and Palaeo-Siberian by Czaplicka. For later tribes the term Neo-Siberian has supplanted Ural-Altaians to which there are linguistic and ethnological objections. Czaplicka classifies the native tribes of Siberia as follows, taking numerical statistics from Patkanov, who based his estimates on the census of 1897 which gives the latest trustworthy data: I. Palaeo-Siberians. i. Chukchee; in north-eastern Siberia, 11,771. ii. Koryak; S. of the Chukchee, 7,335. iii. Kamchadal; southern part of Kamchatka, 2,805. iv. Ainu; in southern Sakhalin and Yezo, 1,457. v. Gilyak; near Amur mouth and in northern Sakhalin, 4,649. vi. Eskimo; shores of Bering Strait, 1,307 (in Asia), vii. Aleut; in Aleutian Is., 574. viii. Yukaghir; between the lower Yana and lower Kolima, 754. ix. Chuvanzy; S. of Chaun Bay, 453. x. Ostyak of Yenisei; on the lower Yenisei, 988. II. Neo-Siberians. i. Finnic tribes (a) Ugrian Ostyak; lower and middle Ob, 17,221. (b) Vogul or Maniza; middle Ob, 7,476. ii. Samoyedic tribes; in far N. from Europe to Khatanga mouth, 12,502. iii. Turkic tribes (mainly outside Siberia) (a) Yakut ; from the Lena to the Amur and Sakhalin, 226,739. (b) Turco-Tartars of Tobolsk and Tomsk, 176,124. iv. Mongolic tribes (a) Kalmuk or Eleut; practically all outside Siberia (b) Mongols proper or Kalkha, 402. (c) Buryat; around Lake Baikal, 288,599. v. Tunguskic tribes (a) Tungus; far eastern Siberia, 62,068. (b) other Tunguskic tribes, totalling 14,439, viz. Chapogir: on the lower Tunguska; Goldi : on the lower Amur; Lamut: on the shores of Sea of Okhotsk; Monagir: on the middle Amur; Oroche: E. of the lower Amur; Orochon: on the Olekma; Oroke: in Sakhalin; and Solon: S. of the middle Amur. Tribes who live in the more fertile parts seem to be increasing in numbers but those who occupy the more barren regions of the N. are dwindling. The natives probably do not exceed one million.
There is much disease, particularly among the native tribes, although the climate itself is not unhealthy. In addition to goitre, leprosy occurs in the Lena and Amur valleys and elsewhere. Smallpox is endemic in many parts and tuberculosis is prevalent. Cholera is never absent in the Far East and occasionally assumes the proportions of an epidemic. Plague sometimes enters from Manchuria. Venereal diseases are rampant throughout Siberia. A curious nervous affection known as Arctic hysteria is common among the natives of the far north. It is not infrequently associated with melancholia and suicide. The hysterical manifestation of Shamanism may not impossibly be associated with this nervous affliction.
Education.—The last statistics date from 1912 when there were 6,245 schools in Siberia with a total of 341,271 pupils. The number of pupils per 1,000 of the pop. was thirty-six. Out of every 100 persons under nine years of age only 16 could read and write.
Towns.—Towns situated on or near the railway have grown rapidly but others have made little or no progress. In 1914 towns with a pop. of 10,000 or over numbered at least 21 compared with 17 in 1900; but estimates of the pop. of Siberian towns vary considerably and must be accepted with reserve. The largest towns are Tomsk (112,000) and Irkutsk (113,000), the capitals of western and eastern Siberia respectively. Omsk (128,000) is really a Siberian town but actually within the Steppes. Other large towns in western Siberia are: Novo-Nikolaevsk (63,000), a centre of rapid growth situated where the Siberian railway crosses the Ob; Barnaul (52,000) and Biisk (28,000), both centres in the rich Altai region. Kurgan (35,000) on the Tobol, a great agricultural market; Tyumen (30,000) now on the railway and a focus for trade between Russia and Siberia; Tobolsk (21,000), a declining fur and fish market on the Irtish; Kolivan (13,000) on the Ob, with agricultural interests; Mariinsk (13,000), a mining centre on the railway and Achinsk (10,000) a little farther east. In eastern Siberia other important towns are: the great port of Vladivostok (95,000); the two Amur ports and agricultural centres, Blagovyeshchensk (76,000) and Khabarovsk (53,500) ; Chita (73,000) with growing agricultural and commercial interests; Krasnoyavsk (73,000), the chief river and railway port of the Yenisei; Nikolsk-Ussuriski (34,700), a rising
industrial and railway centre 70 m. from Vladivostok; Nikolaevsk (12,500), the port at the Amur mouth; the two mining centres on the Yenisei, Minusinsk (14,000) with agricultural interests, and Yeniseisk (10,000); Kansk (10,000) on the upper Yenisei and Siberian railway; Stryetensk (10,000), at the head of the Amur-Shilka navi-
