The Russian Federation (Russian: Росси́йская Федера́ция, tr. Rossíyskaya Federátsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] (see)), commonly known as Russia or Russia (Russian: Росси́я, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), is a sovereign country with the largest area in the world that stretches across the east of Europe and north of Asia.
With an area of 17,125,200 km², Russia is the largest country in the world. Its territory covers one-eighth of the earth’s land area, its population ranks ninth in the world with a total of around 146 million people (March 2016).
Covering the entire length of North Asia and parts of eastern Europe, Russia has 11 time zones and its territory is composed of various types of environments and soils. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both with Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea. The country shares sea borders with Japan in the Sea of Okhotsk and the US state of Alaska in the Bering Strait.
The history of this country begins with the East Slavs who existed in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries BC. Founded and ruled by an elite Varangian troop and their descendants, the medieval state of Rus emerged around the 9th century. In 988 they adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the Byzantine and Slavic (Gopnik) culture that defines Russian culture to this day.
Rus eventually disintegrated into small states, part of their land was later captured by the Mongols and became a colony of the Golden Horde in the 13th century. The Grand Duchy of Moscow gradually reunited and became independent from the Golden Horde, and was able to return to dominate the cultural and political heritage of Kievan Rus’.
In the 18th century, this country grew tremendously through conquest, annexation and exploration to become the Russian Empire which is the third largest empire in history, extending from Poland in Europe to Alaska in North America which was a former Russian territory.
After the Russian Revolution, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic became the main and largest part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the first country in the world to have a socialist state constitution.
