World Atlas 2010 (4th edition)

93

(^5678)
5 6 7 8

EUROPE

E

D

B

A

C

96

99

104

99

El'brus18,510ft (5642m)

U

ar

s'l

ik

ey

oG

yr

C

a

u

c

a

s

u

s

D

on

ets

Vyatka

V

ol

g

a

D

o

n

Vol

ga

K

um

a

Sea of Azov

Aral Sea

Black

Sea

Caspian

Sea

KAZAKHSTAN

UKRAINE

TURKEY IRAQ

AZ. IRAN

G

E

O

R

G

IA

AR

ME

NIA

AZ

ER

BA

IJA

N

U

Z

B

E

K

I

S

T

A

N

TURKMENISTAN

Balakovo

Belgorod

Groznyy

Izhevsk

Krasnodar

Makhachkala

NaberezhnyyeChelny

Nizhniy Novgorod

Tambov

Tula

Ufa

Vladikavkaz

Vladimir

Volgograd

Voronezh

Orenburg

Penza

Samara

Orsk

Rostov-na-Donu

Sochi

Bryansk

Ryazan’

Perm’

Tol’yatti

Ul’yanovsk

Stavropol’

Kazan’

Astrakhan’

Nal’chik

Saratov

Cherkessk

Orël

Saransk

Cheboksary

Elista

Mikhaylovka

Running from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountainsinclude Mt El’brus, which at 18,510 ft (5642 m) is the highest point in Europe,and still uplifting at the rate of 0.4 inches (1 cm) every year.

From August 1942 to February 1943, German armieslaid siege to Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad.The Germans themselves were eventually surroundedand lost almost 250,000 men.Caviar is the processed eggs, or roe, of sturgeon thatlive in the Caspian Sea and Volga River. Overfishingand poaching in recent years have seen the price ofthe finest caviar rise to around US$5000 for 2.2 lbs (1 kg).

The Ural Mountains form thetraditional boundary betweenEurope and Asia, extendingsome 1550 miles (2500 km).They were formed over 280million years ago as theEast European and Siberianplates moved together.