Western Siberia

Western Siberia is a large region in North Asia. It is part of the wider area known as Siberia, which is mostly inside the Russian Federation, with a southern part in Kazakhstan. This area lies between the Ural region and the Yenisei River, which splits Siberia into two parts: Western Siberia and the other part made up of Central Siberia and Eastern Siberia.

Western Siberia covers a huge space of 2,590,000 square kilometers. Most of it is part of the West Siberian Plain. The biggest rivers here are the Irtysh and the Ob. All the main rivers in this region flow into the Kara Sea basin.

The West Siberian petroleum basin is the world's largest area for finding and producing hydrocarbon resources, such as petroleum and natural gas. It covers about 2.2 million km² and is the main oil and gas producing area in Russia.

Long ago, in medieval times, some parts of Western Siberia were part of the Golden Horde. Later, the Khanat of Sibir was formed there, centered in Tyumen. In the late 1500s, most of Western Siberia was taken over by the Russian Empire, while the southern area became part of the Kazakh Khanate. The current borders between Russia and Kazakhstan were set up in the late 1900s after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Major cities

The biggest city in Western Siberia is Novosibirsk. Some other important cities in the area are Omsk, Tyumen, Surgut, Barnaul, Tomsk, Kokshetau, Kemerovo, Novokuznetsk, Kurgan, Pavlodar, Petropavl, Semey, and Oskemen.