The steppe extends roughly from the Dniepr to the Ural or 30 to 55 degrees eastern longitude, and from the Black Sea and the Caucasus in the south to the temperate forest and taiga in the north, or 45 to 55 degrees northern latitude.

The term Pontic-Caspian steppe summarizes the vast steppelands stretching from north of the Black Sea as far as the east of the Caspian Sea, from the central Ukraine across the Southern and Volga Federal Districts of Russia to western Kazakhstan. The area corresponds to Scythia and Sarmatia of Classical Antiquity. The Dnieper River (Belarusian: Дняпро/Dnyapro; Russian: Днепр/Dnepr; Ukrainian: Днiпро/Dnipro; Polish: Dniepr; Latin: Borysthenes, Danaper) is a river (2290 km length) which flows from Russia through Belarus and then Ukraine. ... The Ural River (Russian: Урал, Urál [formerly: Яик, Yaik River], Kazakh: Жайық, Zhayyq) flows through Russia and Kazakhstan. ... Map of the Black Sea. ... The Entholinguistic patchwork of the modern Caucasus - CIA map The Caucasus, a region bordering Asia Minor, is located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea which includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands. ... Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests are a temperate and humid biome. ... The taiga is found throughout the high northern latitudes, just below the tundra, and just above the steppes. ... A steppe in Western Kazakhstan in early spring In physical geography, a steppe (Russian: - step, Ukrainian: - step, Kazakh: - dala), pronounced in English as step, is a plain without trees (apart from those near rivers and lakes); it is similar to a prairie, although a prairie is generally considered as being... Map of the Black Sea. ... The Caspian Sea is the largest lake on Earth by both area and volume,[1] with a surface area of 371,000 square kilometres (143,244 mi²) and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometres (18,761 mi³).[2] It is a landlocked endorheic body of water and lies between... Southern Federal District (Russian: Ю́жный федера́льный о́круг; tr. ... Categories: Russia geography stubs | Federal districts of Russia ... Scythian warriors, drawn after figures on an electrum cup from the KulOba kurgan burial near Kerch. ... Sarmatian horseman Sarmatians, Sarmatae or Sauromatae (the second form is mostly used by the earlier Greek writers, the other by the later Greeks and the Romans) were a people whom Herodotus (4. ... It has been suggested that Greco-Roman be merged into this article or section. ...

Prehistoric cultures

• Sredny Stog culture 4500-3500 BC
• Yamna/Kurgan culture 3500-2300 BC
• Catacomb culture 3000-2200 BC
• Srubna culture 1600-1200 BC
• Novocherkassk culture 900-650 BC

The Sredny Stog culture dates from 4500-3500 BC. It was situated just north of the Sea of Azov betweeen the Dnieper and the Don. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Yamna (from Russian яма pit) or pit grave culture is a prehistoric culture of the Bug/Dniester/Ural region, dating to the 36th–23rd centuries BC. The culture was predominantly nomadic, with some agriculture practiced near rivers and a few... This article is about Bronze Age burial mounds and the Kurgan culture. ... Catacomb culture, ca. ... Srubna or Timber-grave culture, 16th-12th centuries BC. This is a bronze age successor to the Yamna culture, the Catacomb culture and the Abashevo culture. ...

Historical nations

• Cimmerians 8th-7th c. BC
• Scythians 8th-4th c. BC
• Sarmatians 5th c. BC to 5th c. AD
• Goths 3rd-6th c.
• Bulgars 3rd-6th c.
• Huns 4th-8th c.
• Alans 5th-11th c. AD
• Eurasian Avars 6th-8th c.
• Gokturks 6th-8th c.
• Onogurs 8th c.
• Sabirs 6th-8th c.
• Khazars 6th-11th c.
• Pechenegs 8th-11th c.
• Kipchaks and Cumans 11th-13th c.
• Golden Horde 13th-15th c.
• Cossacks 14th-18th c.
• Girai Khanate, Volga Tatars, Crimean Tatars and other Tatar states and tribes 15th-18th c.
• Russian Empire 18th-20th c.
• Soviet Union 20th c.
• Russian Federation, Ukraine, Kazakhstan 20th c.-present

The Cimmerians (Greek Κιμμέριοι, Kimmerioi) were ancient equestrian nomads who, according to Herodotus, originally inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea, in what is now Russia and Ukraine, in the 8th and 7th century BC. Assyrian records, however, first place them in the region of Azerbaijan in... Scythia was an area in Eurasia inhabited in ancient times by an Indo-Aryans known as the Scythians. ... Sarmatia Europæa separated from Sarmatia Asiatica by the Tanais (the River Don), based on Greek literary sources, in a map printed in London, ca 1770. ... Invasion of the Goths: a late 19th century painting by O. Fritsche portrays the Goths as cavalrymen. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Huns were a confederation of Eurasian tribes, most likely of diverse origin with a Turkic-speaking aristocracy, who appeared in Europe in the 4th century, the most famous being Attila. ... The Alans, Alani, Alauni or Halani were an Iranian nomadic group among the Sarmatian people, warlike nomadic pastoralists of varied backgrounds, who spoke an Iranian language and to a large extent shared a common culture. ... Map showing the location of Avar Khaganate, c. ... The Göktürks or Kök-Türks known as Tujue (突厥 tu2 jue2) in medieval Chinese sources, established the first known Turkic state around 552, after the Huns, under the leadership of Bumin/Tuman Khan/Khaghan (d. ... Onogur or Onoghur was the name of the European Avar federation spreading from Pannonia to the Kuban during their 2nd Dynasty under the rule of the Bolgar house of Dulo (also Dub or Dubo, of the Unogundur tribe of Bolgars) from 635– 685 CE. It was during this dynasty... The Sabir people inhabited the Caspian depression prior to the arrival of the Avars. ... The Khazars (Heb. ... Pechenegs or Patzinaks, also known as Besenyők, were a semi-nomadic steppes people of Central Asia that spoke a Turkic language. ... Kipchaks (also Kypchaks, Qipchaqs) are an ancient Turkic people, first mentioned in the historical chronicles of Central Asia in the 1st millennium BC. Their language was also known as Kipchak. ... Cumans, also called as Polovtsy, (Russian Половцы, from old Slavic for pale yellowish) was the European name for the Western Kipchaks, a nomadic West Turkic tribe living on the north of the Black Sea along the Volga. ... The Golden Horde (Turkish: Altın Ordu, Russian: Золотая Орда) was a Tatar-Mongol state established in parts of present-day Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan after the break up of the Mongol Empire in the 1240s. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Tatars (Tatar: Tatarlar/Татарлар) is a collective name applied to the Turkic people of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. ... The Crimean Tatars (Qırımtatar (aka Qırım, Qırımlı and Qırım türkü), Pl. ... Historically, the term Tatar (or Tartar) has been ambiguously used by Europeans to refer to many different peoples of Inner Asia and Northern Asia. ... Official language Russian Official Religion Russian Orthodox Christianity Capital Saint Petersburg (Petrograd 1914-1925) Area Approx. ...

See also

• Kurgan hypothesis
• Ukrainian stone stela
• Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

In 1956 Marija Gimbutas introduced her Kurgan hypothesis combining Kurgan archaeology with linguistics to locate the origins of the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) speaking peoples. ... The anthropomorphic stone stelae found in the Ukrainian steppe, with some finds extending the area to Moldavia, the northern Caucasus (Southern Federal District) and and the area north of the Caspian (western Kazakhstan), date from the Copper Age (ca. ... Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a group of biomes in which the climate is temperate to semi-arid. ...

External links

• Pontic steppe (World Wildlife Fund)
• google maps