Ron Peltier, age 15, of Watertown, N.Y., for his question:
IS FORCED LABOR USED IN SIBERIA?
Siberia is a huge, thinly populated region in northern Asia that lies entirely within Russia. Ice and snow cover most of the area about six months a year. For a long time it was almost impossible to get workers to move to the area, so forced labor was sent there for various construction projects.
The practice of using forced labor in Siberia ended after Russian dictator Joseph Stalin died in 1953. Since then, the government has tried to attract workers to Siberia by offering such rewards as high salaries and long vacations.
Even with work temptations, Siberia isn't popular. Many workers stay only a few years before returning to the better living conditions in other parts of Russia. Part of the trouble is the weather. Temperatures often drop to 90 degrees Fahrenheit below zero.
Through the centuries, Russian rulers have sent millions of criminals and political prisoners to isolated parts of Siberia. Many of these people were forced to work as laborers building factories, mines and railroads.
Siberia has a population around 32 million, but the region has a population density of only eight persons per square mile. European Russia is more than 10 times as densely populated. More people leave Siberia than move there.
The government moved hundreds of factories and thousands of workers from European Russia to Siberia during World War II. This action protected the factories from the German armies that invaded Russia from the west.
In the mid 1900x, scientists discovered an abundance of natural resources in Siberia. There are very large deposits of coal, oil and other resources.
In 1974, Russia and Japan signed an agreement to develop a coal mine in eastern Siberia for the Japanese steel industry.
People have lived in Siberia for more than two and a half million years. A Mongol group called Tartars, under the emperor Genghis Khan, conquered the southern section during the early 1200s. They drove many of the original tribes into the northern forests.
In the late 1500s, a band of Russian Cossacks, led by an adventurer named Yermak, defeated the Tartars. Russian fur traders reached the Pacific coast about 1630 and by 1700, the Russians controlled almost all of Siberia.
Today the leading manufactured products of Siberia include building materials, chemicals and farm machinery. The Trans Siberian railroad, which crosses southern Siberia, carries passengers and freight to and from European Russia.
About a fifth of Russia's electrical power comes from hydroelectric dams on Siberia's great rivers. The world's largest power dam, Krasnoyarsk Dam on the Yenisey River, generates 6 million kilowatts of power.
A network of radio stations and a television communications satellite serve all Siberia today. Telegraph lines connect the major areas of the region.