Traditionally, Siberia extends eastwards from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and includes most of the drainage basin of the Arctic Ocean.
Novosibirsk and Omsk are the largest cities in the region.īecause Siberia is a geographic and historic region and not a political entity, there is no single precise definition of its territorial borders. Siberia is vast and sparsely populated, covering an area of over 13.1 million square kilometres (5,100,000 sq mi), but home to merely one-fifth of Russia's population. It has been a part of Russia since the latter half of the 16th century, after the Russians conquered lands east of the Ural Mountains. Sibir', IPA: ( listen)) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east.
