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Wetlands of Muslim South Siberia - Nature - Health & Science - OnIslam.net
Wetlands of Muslim South Siberia
OnIslam & Newspapers
Friday, 29 May 2015 00:00
Many Muslim Siberian Tatar villages in Sibir Kingdom lie on clear patches nestled in the midst of broad expanses of soupy soil.
Maybe a few Muslims are aware that South Siberia is a Muslim land since no less than nine centuries ago. And perhaps more people would be surprised to know that the name "Siberia" itself is derived from a language of a Muslim ethnic group.
The wetlands of the Muslim Sibir Kingdom (aka Tümen or Tyumen) are the site of one of the oldest Muslim settlement in Siberia. The native people of Sibir which is located in Southwest Siberia are the Siberian Tatars who started to adhere to Islam since the second half of the 13th century.
Sibir spans over the West Siberian Plain, the world's largest unbroken lowland where more than 50% of its land is under 100m above sea level, according to Columbia Encyclopedia 2006. This vast 2.7 million km²-plain covers 1/3 of Siberia.
The vast plain extends for 2,400 km from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Altay Mountains in the south, and for 1,900 km from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Yenisei River in the east.
Allah blessed Sibir with a variety of fauna and flora. In its northern regions, species of ptarmigan, walrus and the arctic fox can be found.
Polar bears also occur in the extreme north; the genetic make-up of this Polar bear sub-population is genetically distinct from other circumpolar regions of Planet Earth.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica 2009, large mammals native to Sibir include the brown bear, reindeer, moose (elk) and wolf. Also present are wolverine, ermine, marten, weasel, and polecat.
The predators among them are supported by populations of beaver, hare, mouse, hamster, vole, shrew, squirrel, and chipmunk.
The number of animal species in the West Siberian Plain ranges from at least 107 in the tundra areas to 278 or more in the forest-steppe region.
Also more than 350 species of birds have been recorded in Sibir. On the other hand, only a few cold-blooded vertebrate species live on land, but they include the venomous adder and the swift grass snake.
Perch and carp are prominent among the fish, of which there are more than thirty species. The carp often host a dangerous parasite, the liver fluke. Ticks in Sibir are frequent carriers of viral encephalitis.
Much of Sibir's plain is poorly drained and consists of some of the world's largest swamps and floodplains. Even though, the best-known trees native to Sibir are birch, pine, and aspen.
Some mountain ash, hawthorn, spruce, and fir are also present. European species of apple, ash, elm, linden, and oak have been successfully introduced.
The West Siberian Plain has eight distinct vegetation regions: tundra, forest-tundra, northern taiga, middle taiga, southern taiga, sub-taiga forest, forest-steppe, and steppe.
Sibir contains one of the world's largest areas of peatlands, which are characterized by raised bogs. Large Sibir regions are flooded in the spring, and marshlands make much of the area unsuitable for agriculture.
Being the northernmost Muslim country in the world, the weather in Sibir is like the rest of typical Siberia, with a clear sky and far below freezing winter temperatures.
The reason for these temperatures is the absence of nearby big water bodies, the Ural Mountains which bare Atlantic air masses from reaching Siberia, and the lack of high mountains at the north of Sibir, that could have held back freezing Arctic winds.
In fact on international scale, Sibir contains a number of the farthest substantially-populated cities from the ocean in the world, only surpassed by the other Muslim country Uyghurstan and its capital city Ürümqi which are occupied by China since 1949.
According to the 2012 report of the World Weather Information Service of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Sibir's climate is humid continental, with warm summers and severely cold winters. Snow is frequent, falling on almost half of all winter days, but individual snowfalls are usually light.
On average, temperatures range in summer from 15 °C to 26 °C, and in winter from −20 °C to −12 °C. However, Sibir is considered to be one of the coldest Muslim countries in the world as winter temperatures can go as low as −30 °C to −35 °C, yet, summer temperatures can go as high as 30 °C to 35 °C.
The difference between the highest and lowest recorded temperatures is 88 °C. Most days the weather is sunny, with an average of 2,880 hours of sunshine per year, but heavy rain is possible in summer.
The Contour maps of Sibir often thought to have a heart shape, that's why it's sometimes called the "Heart of Siberia".
'Siberia', a Muslim Name?!
A Muslim Siberian Tatar woman lifting water buckets. Because of the type of the soil of Sibir wetlands you have to be sure-footed for even the most basic chores, such as fetching water.
Some etymologists suggest that Siberia was named after the Xibe people of Northeast Asia. However, the most accepted etymological theory among Western, Arab, Persian, Turkic and Russian etymologists is that the name "Siberia" originates from the Siberian Tatar word for "sleeping land" (Sib Ir).
Another version is that this name was the ancient tribal name of the Sipyrs, a mysterious people, later assimilated to Siberian Tatars.
The modern usage of the worldwide-famous name "Siberia" appeared in the Russian language only during the 1490s; after Russia started to invade the Muslim state named the Siberian Khanate (Sibir Kingdom) which fell to Russian invaders in 1598.
Some Slav scientists like the Polish historian Chycliczkowski claimed the name 'Siberia' is derived from the proto-Slavic word for "north" (север, sever).
But this explanation has been dismissed by the Russian intellectual Anatole Baikaloff on the grounds that the neighboring Chinese, Arabs and Mongols (whose name for the region was similar since at least the 13th century) didn't have knowledge of Slav Russian which didn't exist as a language in Asia at these early medieval ages.
Interestingly, a minor planet was discovered on September 9, 1967 and received the name "2120 Tyumenia" after the Muslim country of Sibir (Tümen/Tyumen). And more importantly, the celestial body was observed at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory of Crimea which is another Muslim Tatar country that is occupied by Russia since 1787.
According to Russian governmental reports in 2006, Sibir (Tyumen) is by far the richest federal subject (province) of Russia; with an average GDP per capita greater by several folds than the Russian national average.
Moreover, in a 2009 report released by the "Europe-Asia Studies", Sibir had the highest levels of oil and gas production of any region in the Russia Federation which occupies this Siberian Muslim country.
The lands of Sibir are an important hub for natural gas reserves and oil industries.
Due to its advantageous location at the crossing of the main Siberian motor, rail, water and air ways, Sibir rose as an ideal base for servicing the oil and gas industries of whole West Siberia.
As a result, many world-level oil and gas companies such as Gazprom, LUKoil and Gazpromneft, TNK-BP, Shell (Salym Petroleum Development N.V.) have their representative offices there.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin, Sibir's location is named the West Siberian Petroleum Basin; which is the largest hydrocarbon (petroleum and natural gas) basin in the world, covering an area of about 2.2 million km2.
After the discovery of rich oil and gas fields in Chimgi Tura the capital city of Sibir (modern-day Tyumen city) in the 1960s, Chimgi Tura became the focus of the Soviet oil industry since the Soviet Union was occupying the city.
The activities of the oil industry caused a Russian economic and demographic boom in Sibir's Muslim capital leading to more prosecution by Russia against the native Siberian Tatar Muslims.
During the 1970s and 80s, the Russian occupation extracted most of its oil and gas production from Sibir's West Siberian Basin.
These statistics and information clearly uncover the great potentials and natural wealth of these wetlands in Muslim South Siberia which lie currently under Russian occupation.
But unfortunately, it's hard to decide whether these rich natural resources are a blessing from Allah or an omen that brought massacres to Sibir's Muslims.
Biodiverse and Multinational State
An aerial view of houses in a Muslim Siberian Tatar village.
Since the medieval times, many Turkic, Arabic, Persian, Russian and Chinese documents informed that the Muslim Sibir Khanate was known for its religious tolerance and its multi-ethnic population which encompassed a wide variety of ethnic groups; especially the native Siberians like Khanty, Mansi, Nenets and Selkup people, beside of course the majority indigenous Siberian Muslim Tatars.
And perhaps the effect of this Islamic tolerance continued throughout these centuries as the Russian 2010 Census clarified that Sibir had 36 ethnic groups, making it one of the most multicultural oblasts (provinces) in the Russia Federation which occupies this Muslim country.
Yet, the statistics of the census clearly highlights the devastating impact of the genocides committed by Russians against the native Siberians including Siberian Tatar Muslims.
Russian invaders reach now 73.3% of the total 3,395,755 million population of Sibir, while anthropologists and demographers assure that the numbers of indigenous Siberian peoples are declining.
Now under the Russian occupation, the Muslim Siberian Tatars live in remote villages like Laytamak, Kukrende, Lechek, Ausak, and Kuskurgul -- cut off from "their mainland" from spring through winter.
As of May 2015, the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL.org) reported that there are weekly flights to some of these villages of Sibir. But, you won't find many refrigerators or televisions as the Russian occupation focused on developing the infrastructure of Sibir's major urban centers to make them suitable for the new Russian settlers -after 'cleaning' Sibir's cities ethnically and religiously from the native Muslim Siberian Tatars-, while it left some rural villages of Sibir for these native Muslims with outdated if any facilities.
Now after 417 years of Russian occupation since the Russian invasion of the Muslim Sibir Kingdom in 1598 -which was renamed in Russian to Tyumenskaya oblast-, Islam declined from the major religion to only 6%, according to the Russian Census of 2010.
And in the same census, the indigenous Muslim Siberian Tatars declined because of the genocides committed by Russians to less than 7.5% of the total population of their motherland Sibir aka Tümen or Tyumen.
Other Muslim populations in Sibir now include Bashkirs who represent 1.4%, Azeris: 1.4%, and Kazakhs: 0.6%.
These numbers are significant as the Muslim country Bashkortostan of Bashkirs which lies under Russian occupation since 1552 is found at the southwest of Sibir, while Kazakhstan the largest independent Muslim country in the world by area -was under Russian occupation till 1991- is the southern neighbor of Sibir.
Capitals of Floodplains
In Sibir's wetlands boats are the main mean of transportation.
With continuous expansion and since Sibir Kingdom was the most civilized state in Siberia as it was part of the Islamic World that formed the First World during the medieval times, Sibir changed its capital three times.
The current capital Chimgi Tura aka Tyumen city was the first capital, then this honorable status was granted to the north city of Qashliq aka Isker or Sibir city (modern-day Tobolsk).
The primary geographical feature of Sibi'r capital Chimgi Tura is the Tura River, which crosses the city from northwest to southeast. The river is navigable downstream of the city.
The left bank of the Tura is a floodplain surrounded by gently rolling hills. It's a shallow river with extensive marshlands. During the spring season, it floods when the snow melts.
The spring flood usually peaks in the second half of May, when the river becomes 8-10 times wider than during the late-summer low water season.
The city is protected from flooding by a dike which can withstand floods up to 8 meters high. According to local records of 1979, the highest ever flood water level in Chimgi Tura was 9.15 m.
On the other hand, to the north of Chimgi Tura lies Qashliq or Tobolsk which is located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh Rivers.
These water reservoirs allowed the Muslim Siberian Tatars unlike other peoples of Siberia to be skilled agriculturalists.
Agriculture supported a much denser population of Muslim Siberian Tatars than was to be found anywhere else in Siberia proper.
But sorrowfully, as a result of the Russian massacres against Sibir's Muslims since 1598, the number of Siberian Tatars now range between 6,779 according to the Russian 2010 census and 242,325 in Russia's 2002 Census.
A mosque in Chimgi Tura city, aka Tümen/Tyumen city, the capital of Sibir.
Muslim Siberian Tatar women herd sheep which is an important fauna in Sibir.
A mosque in Surgut city in Khanty Mansi Autonomous Okrug. This okrug (region) was part of Sibir Kingdom.
A Muslim Siberian Tatar woman prepares Burek (blueberry dumplings), a very famous traditional dish that is well-known throughout the Muslim World.
Nefteyugansk Mahallah Mosque in Khanty Mansi Autonomous Okrug which was a region of Sibir Kingdom.
A Muslim Siberian Tatar kid.
A mosque in Khanty Mansi Autonomous Okrug at the northern borders of Tyumen area and lies under its administration.
A Siberian Tatar carpenter produces ornate wooden window frames which show typical Islamic and Tatar designs. Sibir's forests facilitates having good types of wood.
A Muslim Siberian Tatar woman making some handicrafts.
Sibir's people need to equip vehicles like this truck with special wheels well-suited to the slogging.
A Muslim Siberian Tatar woman makes cream in her kitchen.
Tatar handicrafts at the national Sabantuy spring festival.
A Siberian Tatar Muslim man carries water from the lake.
Muslim Siberian Tatar children enjoy their backyard playground.
A Muslim Siberian Tatar family shows off the cozy comforts of home which is made of wood in such tree-rich areas of Sibir.
A Muslim Siberian Tatar man hacks a traditional boat by hollowing out a single tree trunk.
Flag of Tatarstan Muslim republic appears in Chimgi Tura stadium. At least, 200,000 Volga Tatars who are native to Tatarstan live in Sibir with their Siberian Tatar Muslim fellows.
Muslim Siberian Tatar shop assistants bring supplies via boats when the soil get flooded and submerged with water from s
In Sibir's wetlands, travel by airplane is the quickest way to go any distance since the roads are normally cut by rising water from the season of spring till winter.
A truck wades its way through the water of Sibir's wetlands and its "Raised Bogs".
Even light vehicles must use plank roads like this one to avoid the water.
Wetlands of Muslim South Siberia
OnIslam & Newspapers
Friday, 29 May 2015 00:00
Many Muslim Siberian Tatar villages in Sibir Kingdom lie on clear patches nestled in the midst of broad expanses of soupy soil.
Maybe a few Muslims are aware that South Siberia is a Muslim land since no less than nine centuries ago. And perhaps more people would be surprised to know that the name "Siberia" itself is derived from a language of a Muslim ethnic group.
The wetlands of the Muslim Sibir Kingdom (aka Tümen or Tyumen) are the site of one of the oldest Muslim settlement in Siberia. The native people of Sibir which is located in Southwest Siberia are the Siberian Tatars who started to adhere to Islam since the second half of the 13th century.
Sibir spans over the West Siberian Plain, the world's largest unbroken lowland where more than 50% of its land is under 100m above sea level, according to Columbia Encyclopedia 2006. This vast 2.7 million km²-plain covers 1/3 of Siberia.
The vast plain extends for 2,400 km from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Altay Mountains in the south, and for 1,900 km from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Yenisei River in the east.
Allah blessed Sibir with a variety of fauna and flora. In its northern regions, species of ptarmigan, walrus and the arctic fox can be found.
Polar bears also occur in the extreme north; the genetic make-up of this Polar bear sub-population is genetically distinct from other circumpolar regions of Planet Earth.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica 2009, large mammals native to Sibir include the brown bear, reindeer, moose (elk) and wolf. Also present are wolverine, ermine, marten, weasel, and polecat.
The predators among them are supported by populations of beaver, hare, mouse, hamster, vole, shrew, squirrel, and chipmunk.
The number of animal species in the West Siberian Plain ranges from at least 107 in the tundra areas to 278 or more in the forest-steppe region.
Also more than 350 species of birds have been recorded in Sibir. On the other hand, only a few cold-blooded vertebrate species live on land, but they include the venomous adder and the swift grass snake.
Perch and carp are prominent among the fish, of which there are more than thirty species. The carp often host a dangerous parasite, the liver fluke. Ticks in Sibir are frequent carriers of viral encephalitis.
Much of Sibir's plain is poorly drained and consists of some of the world's largest swamps and floodplains. Even though, the best-known trees native to Sibir are birch, pine, and aspen.
Some mountain ash, hawthorn, spruce, and fir are also present. European species of apple, ash, elm, linden, and oak have been successfully introduced.
The West Siberian Plain has eight distinct vegetation regions: tundra, forest-tundra, northern taiga, middle taiga, southern taiga, sub-taiga forest, forest-steppe, and steppe.
Sibir contains one of the world's largest areas of peatlands, which are characterized by raised bogs. Large Sibir regions are flooded in the spring, and marshlands make much of the area unsuitable for agriculture.
Being the northernmost Muslim country in the world, the weather in Sibir is like the rest of typical Siberia, with a clear sky and far below freezing winter temperatures.
The reason for these temperatures is the absence of nearby big water bodies, the Ural Mountains which bare Atlantic air masses from reaching Siberia, and the lack of high mountains at the north of Sibir, that could have held back freezing Arctic winds.
In fact on international scale, Sibir contains a number of the farthest substantially-populated cities from the ocean in the world, only surpassed by the other Muslim country Uyghurstan and its capital city Ürümqi which are occupied by China since 1949.
According to the 2012 report of the World Weather Information Service of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Sibir's climate is humid continental, with warm summers and severely cold winters. Snow is frequent, falling on almost half of all winter days, but individual snowfalls are usually light.
On average, temperatures range in summer from 15 °C to 26 °C, and in winter from −20 °C to −12 °C. However, Sibir is considered to be one of the coldest Muslim countries in the world as winter temperatures can go as low as −30 °C to −35 °C, yet, summer temperatures can go as high as 30 °C to 35 °C.
The difference between the highest and lowest recorded temperatures is 88 °C. Most days the weather is sunny, with an average of 2,880 hours of sunshine per year, but heavy rain is possible in summer.
The Contour maps of Sibir often thought to have a heart shape, that's why it's sometimes called the "Heart of Siberia".
'Siberia', a Muslim Name?!
A Muslim Siberian Tatar woman lifting water buckets. Because of the type of the soil of Sibir wetlands you have to be sure-footed for even the most basic chores, such as fetching water.
Some etymologists suggest that Siberia was named after the Xibe people of Northeast Asia. However, the most accepted etymological theory among Western, Arab, Persian, Turkic and Russian etymologists is that the name "Siberia" originates from the Siberian Tatar word for "sleeping land" (Sib Ir).
Another version is that this name was the ancient tribal name of the Sipyrs, a mysterious people, later assimilated to Siberian Tatars.
The modern usage of the worldwide-famous name "Siberia" appeared in the Russian language only during the 1490s; after Russia started to invade the Muslim state named the Siberian Khanate (Sibir Kingdom) which fell to Russian invaders in 1598.
Some Slav scientists like the Polish historian Chycliczkowski claimed the name 'Siberia' is derived from the proto-Slavic word for "north" (север, sever).
But this explanation has been dismissed by the Russian intellectual Anatole Baikaloff on the grounds that the neighboring Chinese, Arabs and Mongols (whose name for the region was similar since at least the 13th century) didn't have knowledge of Slav Russian which didn't exist as a language in Asia at these early medieval ages.
Interestingly, a minor planet was discovered on September 9, 1967 and received the name "2120 Tyumenia" after the Muslim country of Sibir (Tümen/Tyumen). And more importantly, the celestial body was observed at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory of Crimea which is another Muslim Tatar country that is occupied by Russia since 1787.
According to Russian governmental reports in 2006, Sibir (Tyumen) is by far the richest federal subject (province) of Russia; with an average GDP per capita greater by several folds than the Russian national average.
Moreover, in a 2009 report released by the "Europe-Asia Studies", Sibir had the highest levels of oil and gas production of any region in the Russia Federation which occupies this Siberian Muslim country.
The lands of Sibir are an important hub for natural gas reserves and oil industries.
Due to its advantageous location at the crossing of the main Siberian motor, rail, water and air ways, Sibir rose as an ideal base for servicing the oil and gas industries of whole West Siberia.
As a result, many world-level oil and gas companies such as Gazprom, LUKoil and Gazpromneft, TNK-BP, Shell (Salym Petroleum Development N.V.) have their representative offices there.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin, Sibir's location is named the West Siberian Petroleum Basin; which is the largest hydrocarbon (petroleum and natural gas) basin in the world, covering an area of about 2.2 million km2.
After the discovery of rich oil and gas fields in Chimgi Tura the capital city of Sibir (modern-day Tyumen city) in the 1960s, Chimgi Tura became the focus of the Soviet oil industry since the Soviet Union was occupying the city.
The activities of the oil industry caused a Russian economic and demographic boom in Sibir's Muslim capital leading to more prosecution by Russia against the native Siberian Tatar Muslims.
During the 1970s and 80s, the Russian occupation extracted most of its oil and gas production from Sibir's West Siberian Basin.
These statistics and information clearly uncover the great potentials and natural wealth of these wetlands in Muslim South Siberia which lie currently under Russian occupation.
But unfortunately, it's hard to decide whether these rich natural resources are a blessing from Allah or an omen that brought massacres to Sibir's Muslims.
Biodiverse and Multinational State
An aerial view of houses in a Muslim Siberian Tatar village.
Since the medieval times, many Turkic, Arabic, Persian, Russian and Chinese documents informed that the Muslim Sibir Khanate was known for its religious tolerance and its multi-ethnic population which encompassed a wide variety of ethnic groups; especially the native Siberians like Khanty, Mansi, Nenets and Selkup people, beside of course the majority indigenous Siberian Muslim Tatars.
And perhaps the effect of this Islamic tolerance continued throughout these centuries as the Russian 2010 Census clarified that Sibir had 36 ethnic groups, making it one of the most multicultural oblasts (provinces) in the Russia Federation which occupies this Muslim country.
Yet, the statistics of the census clearly highlights the devastating impact of the genocides committed by Russians against the native Siberians including Siberian Tatar Muslims.
Russian invaders reach now 73.3% of the total 3,395,755 million population of Sibir, while anthropologists and demographers assure that the numbers of indigenous Siberian peoples are declining.
Now under the Russian occupation, the Muslim Siberian Tatars live in remote villages like Laytamak, Kukrende, Lechek, Ausak, and Kuskurgul -- cut off from "their mainland" from spring through winter.
As of May 2015, the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL.org) reported that there are weekly flights to some of these villages of Sibir. But, you won't find many refrigerators or televisions as the Russian occupation focused on developing the infrastructure of Sibir's major urban centers to make them suitable for the new Russian settlers -after 'cleaning' Sibir's cities ethnically and religiously from the native Muslim Siberian Tatars-, while it left some rural villages of Sibir for these native Muslims with outdated if any facilities.
Now after 417 years of Russian occupation since the Russian invasion of the Muslim Sibir Kingdom in 1598 -which was renamed in Russian to Tyumenskaya oblast-, Islam declined from the major religion to only 6%, according to the Russian Census of 2010.
And in the same census, the indigenous Muslim Siberian Tatars declined because of the genocides committed by Russians to less than 7.5% of the total population of their motherland Sibir aka Tümen or Tyumen.
Other Muslim populations in Sibir now include Bashkirs who represent 1.4%, Azeris: 1.4%, and Kazakhs: 0.6%.
These numbers are significant as the Muslim country Bashkortostan of Bashkirs which lies under Russian occupation since 1552 is found at the southwest of Sibir, while Kazakhstan the largest independent Muslim country in the world by area -was under Russian occupation till 1991- is the southern neighbor of Sibir.
Capitals of Floodplains
In Sibir's wetlands boats are the main mean of transportation.
With continuous expansion and since Sibir Kingdom was the most civilized state in Siberia as it was part of the Islamic World that formed the First World during the medieval times, Sibir changed its capital three times.
The current capital Chimgi Tura aka Tyumen city was the first capital, then this honorable status was granted to the north city of Qashliq aka Isker or Sibir city (modern-day Tobolsk).
The primary geographical feature of Sibi'r capital Chimgi Tura is the Tura River, which crosses the city from northwest to southeast. The river is navigable downstream of the city.
The left bank of the Tura is a floodplain surrounded by gently rolling hills. It's a shallow river with extensive marshlands. During the spring season, it floods when the snow melts.
The spring flood usually peaks in the second half of May, when the river becomes 8-10 times wider than during the late-summer low water season.
The city is protected from flooding by a dike which can withstand floods up to 8 meters high. According to local records of 1979, the highest ever flood water level in Chimgi Tura was 9.15 m.
On the other hand, to the north of Chimgi Tura lies Qashliq or Tobolsk which is located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh Rivers.
These water reservoirs allowed the Muslim Siberian Tatars unlike other peoples of Siberia to be skilled agriculturalists.
Agriculture supported a much denser population of Muslim Siberian Tatars than was to be found anywhere else in Siberia proper.
But sorrowfully, as a result of the Russian massacres against Sibir's Muslims since 1598, the number of Siberian Tatars now range between 6,779 according to the Russian 2010 census and 242,325 in Russia's 2002 Census.
A mosque in Chimgi Tura city, aka Tümen/Tyumen city, the capital of Sibir.
Muslim Siberian Tatar women herd sheep which is an important fauna in Sibir.
A mosque in Surgut city in Khanty Mansi Autonomous Okrug. This okrug (region) was part of Sibir Kingdom.
A Muslim Siberian Tatar woman prepares Burek (blueberry dumplings), a very famous traditional dish that is well-known throughout the Muslim World.
Nefteyugansk Mahallah Mosque in Khanty Mansi Autonomous Okrug which was a region of Sibir Kingdom.
A Muslim Siberian Tatar kid.
A mosque in Khanty Mansi Autonomous Okrug at the northern borders of Tyumen area and lies under its administration.
A Siberian Tatar carpenter produces ornate wooden window frames which show typical Islamic and Tatar designs. Sibir's forests facilitates having good types of wood.
A Muslim Siberian Tatar woman making some handicrafts.
Sibir's people need to equip vehicles like this truck with special wheels well-suited to the slogging.
A Muslim Siberian Tatar woman makes cream in her kitchen.
Tatar handicrafts at the national Sabantuy spring festival.
A Siberian Tatar Muslim man carries water from the lake.
Muslim Siberian Tatar children enjoy their backyard playground.
A Muslim Siberian Tatar family shows off the cozy comforts of home which is made of wood in such tree-rich areas of Sibir.
A Muslim Siberian Tatar man hacks a traditional boat by hollowing out a single tree trunk.
Flag of Tatarstan Muslim republic appears in Chimgi Tura stadium. At least, 200,000 Volga Tatars who are native to Tatarstan live in Sibir with their Siberian Tatar Muslim fellows.
Muslim Siberian Tatar shop assistants bring supplies via boats when the soil get flooded and submerged with water from s
In Sibir's wetlands, travel by airplane is the quickest way to go any distance since the roads are normally cut by rising water from the season of spring till winter.
A truck wades its way through the water of Sibir's wetlands and its "Raised Bogs".
Even light vehicles must use plank roads like this one to avoid the water.
