Russia borders Finland to the West and stretches further East than Japan.
Finland is in Europe and Japan is in Asia.
But where does Russia stand? Is it European or Asian?
The divide between Europe and Asia is the Ural mountains.
So if you want a quick answer, Russia is in both.
But the real answer is more complicated.
Russia is a vast country from Poland to North Korea.
Passing through 11 time zones.
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So how did Russia become Russia?
Eastern Slaves came into power in Europe between the 3rd-8th centuries.
A badass Varangian warrior founded the Kievan Rus state in the 9th century.
And they got chummy with The Byzantines, who were like "here have this cool Orthodox Christianity".
The Mongols arrived and did what Mongols do.
Russia became part of the Mongol Empire.
The Grand Duchy unified the other Russian entities.
And Under Ivan the Great they defeated the Mongols and merged Central and Western Russia.
Under Ivan Terrible, Russia began annexing nearby Khanates. Russia conquered territory deep into Siberia.
Ivan became Tsar And ruled a transcontinental Kingdom.
Then came Peter the Great. Under his rule, Russia conquered some regions of the Baltic nations. there he founded Saint Petersburg, Russia's "Window to Europe".
Peter the Great's reforms brought Western European cultural ideals to Russia. He embarked on a modernization campaign similar to the Japanese Meiji restoration.
Peter enforced nobles to wear European clothing, set in motion a beard tax and adopted the Julian calendar.
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He also declared himself Emperor of Russia.
However, there was one thing that Peter couldn’t Westernise, geography.
According to Greeks, who Europeans based their geography on, Russia was in Asia.
Then Philip Johan von Strahlenberg came to power in the 1730s and change the whole definition of Europe.
Asia was now east of the Ural mountains.
Anna of Russia, who was Peter’s niece, financed the distribution of Strahlenberg’s maps.
And Russia became less of a spooky Asian Empire with lands in Europe more a Europeanish Empire with lands in Asia.
It was all a matter of re-branding. But Europeans and Russians could still not decide 100% whether Russia was a fully-fledged European state or an Asian one.
75% of Russia is east of the Ural mountains firmly placing it inside Asia geographically.
Demographically you can see the Asian influence in Russia too. As well as Asian religious influences, particularly with Islam.
As well as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Shamanism in parts of Siberia. Russia is multi-ethnic and has many people with both European and Asian heritage.
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Over 160 ethnic groups live in Russia.
Russia is not associated with the European Union.
It, not a member of not NATO either.
The Russian government has instead focused on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), security, military and political organization whose members are Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
All of which would be considered Asian countries.
Russians themselves are even a recognized minority in the People’s Republic of China.
While 75% of Russia is in Asia, 77% of its people aren’t.
The Western part of Russia is more European culturally.
The people of Russia mostly speak European languages, and the cities look more likely European.
The old Russian capital Saints Petersburg was designed like Venice.
Russia's old rulers the Tsars spoke French at court and were related to other European monarchs.
And even if many people don’t realize it European culture would worsen off without Russian contributions.
It’s next to impossible to go through the classical libraries of Europe without finding a book written by Dostoevsky or Tolstoy.
And classical music would be left wanting without Tchaikovsky.
And most importantly their singers compete in the Eurovision.
You could argue that modern Russia is a result of the Age of Empires. Like the British or French.
Who also held transcontinental territories in the past.
But unlike the European empires the Russian Empire was a mostly contiguous land empire.
Which made it much easier to maintain.
One of the main reasons for this cultural and continental confusion is that Russia is populated with a majority European ethnic group.
Russia Was invaded by an Asian Empire. Which it then conquered the lands of And is now made up of elements of both.
Imagine if Alexander the Great's empire survived to this day.
Would it be European or Asian?
Russia is both European and Asian, European and not Asian, Asian and not European, and neither Asian nor European.
It straddles the definition of both while also being totally different.
This is all caused by our messy definition of continents.
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How many continents are there?
Some people would say 7, others 6, some others 5.
There is no certain answer and it solely depends on your definition.
Europe isn’t a continent.
Europe and Asia are called Eurasia. Because Tectonically, Europe and Asia are the same continents.
That is why there is no border between Europe and Asia.
The choice of the Ural Mountains as a divide was arbitrary.
At best Europe should be a subcontinent, like India.
By dividing Europe from Asia we are making a continent based on cultural differences.
If we did that for every culture how many continents would end up with? 20?-40?-100?
So if you want to use a strict geographical definition Russia would be a Eurasian country.
Which actually sums up Russia very well, a mix of both Europe and Asia. Even with all these factors.
Some placing Russian nearer to Europe, others nearer to Asia.
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