The Present State of Medical Geography in the USSR

A review of the present state of Soviet medical geography based on an analysis of papers presented at the Second National Medical Geography Conference held in Leningrad in November, 1965. The authors, representing four departments of the Geography Faculty of Moscow University, stress geophysical and geochemical causative factors of human disease and the contributions being made by medical landscape science in relating environmental prerequisites to particular diseases.     

Geography in higher education in the USSR

Abstract

Soviet geography in higher education stems from a solid tradition long pre‐dating 1917, but in Soviet times the subject's practical relevance to environmental problems has been especially emphasised. University courses are very specialised, yet in certain respects they are also extraordinarily broad by British standards. Geography graduates usually enter either teaching or scientific/ research bodies, to which they are readily suited by their training. The practical emphasis of geographical education, however, occasionally produces certain strains in the discipline.     

The Economic Geography of the USSR by the Year 2000

A Soviet economic geographer uses a popular science monthly to predict some of the changes that may be expected in the Soviet Union over the next three decades. Urban population will tend to live in middle-size cities rather than gigantic urban complexes or excessively small settlements. Farm yields will be increased through more intensive use of the land. Conventional fuels and hydroelectricity will not be challenged by atomic power except in remote areas lacking other energy sources. Heavy industry will continue a gradual eastward shift beyond the Urals but will not be matched by an equal flow of population, which will remain concentrated in the European part of the country.     

Basic Problems of Middle-School Geography Education in the USSR

The author finds geography education neglected because educators lack a proper understanding of the role that can be played by geographic knowledge. He criticizes the present structure of geography courses as being excessively factual and encyclopedic, ignoring general concepts and failing to instill in students an ability to think for themselves in geographic terms. A new sequence of geography courses with improved content and methodology is proposed.     

The Geography of Natural-Infection Foci of Tick-Borne Encephalitis in the Territory of the USSR

A map of the habitat of tick-borne encephalitis is compared with maps of distribution of various physical-geographic elements to determine significant factors in the formation of natural-infection foci of tick-borne encephalitis. Key factors are found to be a stable climate with annual sums of temperatures close to 2000° C., a dissected terrain, high-grade forest stands with a rich grassy ground vegetation, which supports the domesticated or wild mammals that serve as hosts of adult ticks, and landscapes in which the original forest cover is being re-established after overgrazing or overcutting. Provinces of distribution of infection foci are distinguished in terms of these factors.     

The Work of the Institute of Geography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 1958

The author defines satellites primarily on the basis of their commuting links with the central city or cities. He discusses characteristics of satellite cities and towns and their functions, trends in the development and location of satellites, and recommendations for Soviet city planning. In the following translation, the Russian term gorod has been translated as city, and poselok gorodskogo tipa (urban-type settlement) as town.     

A Canadian Scholar'S Views on Geography in Canada and in the USSR

There has long been controversy over the exact location of the middle segment of the great medieval trade route from the Varangians (Northmen) in the Baltic to the Greeks (Byzantium) in the Black Sea. There is no ambiguity about the northern segment, between Novgorod and the Baltic, or the southern segment, from Smolensk down the Dnieper to the Black Sea, but authors have tended to disagree about the various rivers, lakes and portages used by traders in the Russian heartland between Novgorod and Smolensk. A Russian chronicle describing a campaign led by Aleksandr Nevskiy against a Lithuanian force in 1245 sheds light on the alignment of the middle segment of the trade route. It appears that the route originally passed through Velikiye Luki in the 10th century. As this area became embroiled in clashes between warring Russian principalities, the trade route shifted eastward to the Toropets area, which became dominant by the 13th century. The existence of two additional minor routes is also noted.     

Economic Geography in the USSR on the 50th Anniversary of Soviet Power

Economic geography has, since the inception of the Soviet state, played an important utilitarian role in the planning and development of the national economy. The basic research of economic geographers in the preplanning stage should, however, be distinguished from the actual selection of an industrial site or of a railroad alignment, which must be the province of government design and planning agencies. Two approaches can now be noted in Soviet economic geography. One, closely related to economics, deals with the economic factors of economic location; the other, closely related to physical geography, emphasizes the regional approach to the man-environment system.     

Scientific Fundamentals of Higher Geography Education in Universities and Teachers Colleges of the USSR

The geography curriculum of universities is analyzed in terms of the total number of class-hours allocated to various groups of subjects: systematic geography, regional geography, specialization courses, courses in physics, chemistry and mathematics, and education courses. It is suggested that systematic courses could be strengthened by introduction of more courses on theoretical subjects, such as the fundamentals of landscape science and the theory of economic geography. Regional courses suffer from excessive factual material and not enough discussion of general patterns and concepts. Courses that shape the specialization of geographers should be more flexible in order to reflect continuing changes in emphasis in geographic research (for example, by introduction of a course in remote-sensing techniques). A background in the exact sciences is thought to be essential for the modern geographer.     

The Geography of Population and the Geography of Services

In discussing a methodology for a geography of services, a new branch of Soviet geographic research, the authors propose geographically meaningful classifications of services, the use of value and labor-input indicators, the problem of a typology of service regions, and other aspects of research in this new discipline. The geography of services is found to be closely related to population geography because of the correlation between the distribution of services and the distribution of population.