It is still uncertain whether humans first came to Siberia from Europe or from central and eastern Asia. Evidence of Paleolithic settlement is abundant in southern Siberia, which, after participating in the Bronze Age, came under Chinese and then under Turkic-Mongol influence. Southern Siberia was part of the Mongols' khanate of the Golden Horde.
Before Russian colonization began in the late 16th century, Siberia was inhabited by a large number of small ethnic groups whose members subsisted either as hunter-gatherers or as pastoral nomads relying on domestic reindeer.
Nowadays, the great majority of Siberia's population is made up of Russians. Non-Russian groups include Turkic-speaking nationalities in the Altai Republic, the Republic of Khakass, the Republic of Tuva, and the Kemerovo Region; Buryats and Evenks in the Republic of Buryatia, in the Aginsky Buryatsky Autonomous Area; Finno-Ugric Ostyaks (Khanty) and Voguls (Mansy) in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area; Nenets (Samoyedes) in the Taymyr Peninsula of Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area. The largely nomadic Mongol and Turkic herders of Siberia mostly settled down to agriculture under the Soviet government. The indigenous peoples of central and northern Siberia remain mostly hunters and fishermen. The chief non-Christian religions are Islam and Tibetan Buddhism in the south, and forms of shamanism elsewhere. The diverse people who inhabit this region are largely friendly and welcoming. Travelling to Siberia in Russia may just be the adventure of a lifetime.

About Siberia

Siberia (Tatar: "Sleeping Land") is an amazing and largely untouched area with a lot to offer. Siberia, as a whole, is the largest geographical region in Russia. It extends from the Ural Mountains on the west to the Pacific Ocean on the east and southward from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan and the borders of Mongolia and China.
The area of Siberia in the wider sense is about 5,207,900 square miles (13,488,500 square km), consisting of two economic planning regions, Eastern and Western Siberia. In the west, abutting on the Ural Mountains is the huge West Siberian Plain, drained by the Ob and Yenisey rivers, varying little in relief, and containing wide tracts of swampland. East of the Yenisey River is Central Siberia, a vast area that consists mainly of plains and the Central Siberian Plateau. Farther east, the basin of the Lena River separates Central Siberia from the complex series of mountain ranges, upland massifs, and intervening basins that make up Northeastern Siberia (i.e., the Russian Far East).
Major vegetation zones extend east-west across the whole area--tundra in the north; swampy forest, or taiga, over most of Siberia; and forest-steppe and steppe in southwestern Siberia and in the intermountain basins of the south.
Siberia is notorious for the length and severity of its almost snowless winters: in Sakha, minimum temperatures of -68º C (-90º F) have been recorded. The climate becomes increasingly harsh eastward, while precipitation also diminishes.
Siberia is Russia's leading producer of gold, diamonds, mica, and aluminum, and there are large reserves of iron ore, coal, oil, gas, graphite, and nonferrous precious metals. Exploitation of the region's rich waterpower resources began in the mid-1950s, and there are four giant hydroelectric power stations on the Angara River between Irkutsk and Lake Baikal. Forestry, like mining, is a major economic activity in Siberia. Agriculture (wheat and oats) is practiced in the south, and animal husbandry is prevalent among the indigenous Siberian peoples. Reindeer breeding, fishing, sealing, hunting, and fur processing are important occupations in the Arctic north.

Trans-Siberian railway

Trans-Siberian railway is the longest (9 288 km) and the most famous train route in the world that goes through Russia with a journey duration of approximately 7 days, it running over eight time zones. The Trans-Siberian Railway is a railway that connects Moscow, European Russia, Russian Far East, China, Mongolia and the Japan Sea through a vast railway network.

The original Russian name for this railway is "The Great Siberian Way", its serious planning began in the 1890s, motivated partly by military ambitions, but chiefly by eagerness to colonize the then virgin but cultivable lands in the east, which would relieve rural overpopulation in European Russia, and to tap their mineral resources. The driving force in the decision to build was Tsar Alexander III. The line was constructed between 1891 and 1916.

This railway is the backbone of Russia. It is the only overland route going through the whole country. This unique status makes the railway still quite important for the economy and safety of the country. After crossing Siberia the Trans-Siberian route divides into three different routes: