Russian steppes
Vast treeless expanses
The Russian steppes are the vast grassland plains stretching across southern Russia and into Central Asia.
Steppe refers to any semiarid grassland, but the steppes usually means this particular region—flat, treeless expanses historically home to nomadic peoples and their herds.
The phrase evokes images of endless horizons, harsh winters, and isolation: exiled to the Russian steppes.
- plainsBroad, level grasslands
- nomadic tribesMobile communities seeking resources
- nomadic herdersMobile livestock-raising people
- CossacksEast Slavic warrior communities
- ScythiansAncient Eurasian steppe people
horse culture · wild horses · grasslands · endless horizon · open sky · Mongol Empire · marmots · tulips · droughts · harsh winters · bitter cold · pastoralism · Silk Road · migratory birds · wind erosion · snow cover · wolves · larks
- Novel settingsParis, London, Rome, Venice, Vienna
- Siberian Mapssurvey maps, regional charts, topography, historical maps, railway maps
Russian steppestaiga
Subarctic evergreen biome
dense forest · tundra · boreal forest · jungle · woodland
Russian steppestropical rainforest
Humid equatorial biome with dense vegetation
swamp · wetlands · Everglades · marshes · marshland
Russian steppesmountain range
Series of connected peaks
Alps · Himalayas · Ural Mountains · Caucasus Mountains · Rocky Mountains