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Siberia (Сибирь)
Siberia is an enormous, sparsely-inhabited region covering an area larger than Canada, stretching east from the Ural Mountains towards the Pacific, and from Central Asia north to the Arctic Ocean.  Russian conquest began during the 16th-century reign of Ivan the Terrible, who dispatched bands of Cossacks across the low-lying Urals to conquer the khanate of Sibir, a remnant of the once mighty Golden Horde.  The numerous rivers of the region provided a natural transportation network, allowing Cossacks to reach the Sea of Okhotsk by 1640.
Russian settlers soon followed, attracted by the fur trade and abundant mineral resources.  The completion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad in 1905 increased the pace of industrial development.		Siberia served as a dumping ground for prisoners and political exiles from the very beginning, but the Soviets established a vast network of "gulag" labor camps in the 20th century.
After the 1917 Revolution, Siberia served as a base for White counterrevolutionary forces under the command of Admiral Kolchak, but the Bolsheviks consolidated their control by 1920.  Siberia was transformed during the Soviet era through forced peasant resettlement and the relocation of industries beyond the reach of invading German armies during World War II.  However, widespread environmental damage inspired an opposition movement which eventually contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.  Nowadays, Siberia remains one of the leading oil and gas producing regions in the world, and is also an important source of timber, coal, gold, copper, nickel and diamonds.

	Lake Baikal (Байкальское озеро)

Deep in the heart of Siberia lies one of the most remarkable natural wonders in the world.

Lake Baikal is considered sacred by Russians and indigenous peoples alike.			It is the oldest lake in the world, dating back 25-30 million years.
	It is also the deepest body of fresh water in the world, descending over a mile in depth.

		The water is incredibly clear, transparent to a depth of over 500 feet.
Perhaps most amazing, Lake Baikal holds one-fifth of the world's fresh water.				That's enough water to fill all five of the US Great Lakes combined.

	Lake Baikal is home to more than 3,500 species of plants and animals, many endemic to the region, including the nerpa seal — the only fresh-water seal in the world.

	Russia established a national park surrounding Lake Baikal in 1992.

	Soviet authorities built a pulp and paper mill on the southern shore of the lake in 1954.

	This factory provoked public outrage even in Soviet times.
Sadly, the mill continues to operate to this day.			It is blamed for significant air and water pollution.

Olkhon Island, the largest in the lake, is renowned as a center of shamanic power.			This island is considered sacred to the indigenous tribes of the region.
	According to legend, Olkhon was the birthplace of Mongolian leader Genghis Khan.

	Unfortunately, we only had time to explore a small corner of the Baikal region.

	We stayed in the village of Listvyanka, a popular tourist resort near the source of the Angara River, easily accessible from Irkutsk by both road and water.

	Irkutsk (Иркутск)
	Irkutsk lies on the banks of the Angara River, about 20 miles downstream from Lake Baikal.  Founded as a Cossack outpost in 1661, it soon became the principal city in eastern Siberia.

		In fact, Irkutsk once served as capital of Russia's easternmost territories.

	Even Alaska — which Russia sold to the US in 1867 — was once administered from Irkutsk.

	Irkutsk was also a favored destination for political exiles, including many of the conspirators in the failed 1825 Decembrist uprising.  Consequently, it has traditionally enjoyed a higher educational and cultural level than the average Russian provincial outpost.

	Irkutsk has also preserved much of its 19th-century wooden architecture.

		It remains a charming, if neglected, corner of the Russian Federation.

Practical Information

We visited Lake Baikal and Irkutsk for four days in July 2005.

• Hotel: We spent two nights at the Baikal Terema Hotel in Listvyanka, which was fairly comfortable despite the lack of air conditioning.  The Hotel Rus' in Irkutsk, on the other hand, was dreadful — the hot water was cut off during our stay, and the hotel administration tried to charge us a premium for having made our reservations in advance.
• Restaurants: We ate most of our meals in Listvyanka at Shuri Muri, a lakeside cafe next to the tourist office.  We also enjoyed a meal at the restaurant next to the Irkustsk hydrofoil station.
• Transportation: Magadan Airlines offers direct overnight flights from St. Petersburg to Irkutsk once a week, while Siberia Airlines provides return flights a few days later
• Miscellaneous: Here are some more links to tourist resources in the region.
  Lake Baikal Guidebook | "Baikalinfo" tourist database | Vacation in Baikal | Ecological tourism | Baikal Lake Travel Guide | Irkutsk Guide

This page was first published 22 September 2005, and last updated 22 September 2005.