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UralsExcept in the polar and northern sections, the mountains are forested, and lumbering is an important industry. The great mineral resources of Russia are in the Urals. Iron ore is mined in the south, and there are rich deposits of coal, copper, manganese, gold, aluminum, and potash. Oil fields and refineries along the Kama and Belaya rivers in the W Urals produce oil. Emeralds, chrysoberyl, topaz, and amethyst are mined, as are deposits of bauxite, asbestos, zinc, lead, silver, platinum, nickel, chrome, and tungsten.
The Urals industrial area (c.290,000 sq mi/751,100 sq km), a major Russia metallurgical region, is in the central and S Urals and the adjacent lowlands. Huge industrial centers are found at Yekaterinburg, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk, Perm, Berezniki, Nizhni Tagil, Orsk, Orenburg, Ufa, and Zlatoust. The concentration of industry in the Urals has led to the severe environmental degradation of many of the region's mountain habitats.
HistoryKnown to medieval Russia as the Stone Belt, the Urals were reached in the early 12th cent. by colonists and fur traders from Novgorod. Colonization developed rapidly in the late 16th cent. The first ironworks were established in the 1630s, and metallurgy was encouraged by Peter the Great. In the late 18th and early 19th cent., the Urals area was a major iron producer, but its relative importance declined in the late 19th cent.
Under the first two Five-Year Plans (1929–39), the tremendous industrial development of the Urals was based on Ural iron ore and coking coal shipped by rail from the Kuznetsk Basin. During World War II, industries were transplanted from European USSR to the Urals, strategically situated in the heart of the USSR. Since the war, coking coal from the Qaraghandy Basin, Kuznetsk coal, and hydroelectric power have supported the metallurgical industry, which has been enormously expanded.
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- Ural
Ural, river, c.1,580 mi (2,540 km) long, rising in the S Urals, flowing through Russia and Kazakhstan. Part of the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia, the Ural flows S past Magnitogo...
- Uralic and Altaic languages
Uralic and Altaic languages, two groups of related languages thought by many scholars to form a single Ural-Altaic linguistic family. However, other authorities hold that the Uralic and Altaic...
- Naroda
Naroda or Narodnaya Gora [Rus.,=people's mountain], peak, c.6,180 ft (1,880 m) high, NE European Russia, in the N Urals. It is the highest peak of the Urals.
- Telpos-Iz
Telpos-Iz, peak 5,304 ft (1,617 m) high, NE European Russia, in the N Urals. It was thought to be the highest in the Urals until the discovery of Naroda peak.
- Ugrian
Ugrian or Ugric, subgroup of the Finno-Ugric group of languages, which is, in turn, a subdivision of the Uralic subfamily of the Ural-Altaic family of languages. See Finno-Ugric languages; Ura...
- Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg or Ekaterinburg, formerly Sverdlovsk, city (1989 pop. 1,365,000), capital of the Sverdlovsk region and the administrative center of the Ural district, E European Russia, in the e...
- Hungarian language
Hungarian language, also called Magyar, member of the Ugric group of the Finno-Ugric languages. These languages form a subdivision of the Uralic subfamily of the Ural-Altaic family of language...
- Finno-Ugric languages
Finno-Ugric languages, also called Finno-Ugrian languages, group of languages forming a subdivision of the Uralic subfamily of the Ural-Altaic family of languages (see Uralic and Altaic langua...
- Finnish language
Finnish language, also called Suomi, member of the Finnic group of the Finno-Ugric languages. These languages form a subdivision of the Uralic subfamily of the Ural-Altaic family of languages ...
- Beloretsk
Beloretsk, city (1989 pop. 72,000), in Bashkortostan, W Siberian Russia, in the Urals and on the Belaya River. One of the oldest industrial cities of the Urals region, Beloretsk is a metallurg...
