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Mena Region

Mena region

The term Mena can mean a variety of different things:

Mythology

- Mena was - according to some - the Roman goddess of menstruation.

Geography

- Mena is the name of a town in Russia.
- Mena is the name of a town in Arkansas, United States.
- Mena is the name of a village in Cornwall, United Kingdom.
- MENA is an acronym commonly used for the Middle East & North Africa region.

News agencies

- Mena is another name for the Metula News Agency, a French-language Israeli press agency.
- MENA The Middle East News Agency (MENA) is primarily a national publicly-funded news agency based in Egypt.

Mena (mythology)

It is alleged that in Roman mythology, Mena was the goddess of menstruation. However, this cannot be traced through any document from Ancient Rome, leaving the possibility that Mena comes out of a late 20th century fantasy syndrome.

Menstruation

The menstrual cycle is the set of recurring physiological changes in a female's body that are under the control of the reproductive hormone system and necessary for reproduction. In women, menstrual cycles occur typically on a monthly basis between puberty and menopause. Besides humans, only other great apes exhibit menstrual cycles, in contrast to the estrus cycle of most mammalian species. During the menstrual cycle, the sexually mature female body releases one egg (or occasionally two, which might result in dizygotic, or non-identical, twins) at the time of ovulation. The lining of the uterus, the endometrium, builds up in a synchronised fashion. After ovulation, this lining changes to prepare for potential implantation of the fertilised egg to establish a pregnancy. If fertilisation and pregnancy do not ensue, the uterus sheds the lining and a new menstrual cycle begins. The process of the shedding of the lining is called menstruation. Menstruation manifests itself to the outer world in the form of the menses (also menstruum): essentially part of the endometrium and blood products that pass out of the body through the vagina. Although this is commonly referred to as blood, it differs in composition from venous blood. Common usage refers to menstruation and menses as a period. This bleeding serves as a sign that a woman has not become pregnant. (However, this cannot be taken as certainty, as sometimes there is some bleeding in early pregnancy.) During the reproductive years, failure to menstruate may provide the first indication to a woman that she may have become pregnant. A woman might say that her "period is late" when an expected menstruation has not started and she might have become pregnant. Menstruation forms a normal part of a natural cyclic process occurring in healthy women between puberty and the end of the reproductive years. The onset of menstruation, known as menarche, occurs at an average age of 12, but can occur any time between the ages of 8 and 16. The last period, menopause, usually occurs between the ages of 45 and 55. Deviations from this pattern deserve medical attention. Amenorrhea refers to a prolonged absence of menses during the reproductive years of a woman for reasons other than pregnancy. For example, women with very low body fat, such as athletes, may cease to menstruate. The presence of menstruation does not prove that ovulation took place; women who do not ovulate may have menstrual cycles. Those anovulatory cycles tend to take place less regularly and show greater variation in cycle length. In addition, the absence of menstruation also does not prove that ovulation did not take place, because hormone disruptions in non-pregnant women can suppress bleeding on occasion.

The normal menstrual cycle in humans

Women show considerable variation in the lengths of their menstrual cycles, and the length of the menstrual cycle differs in different animals (see below). While cycle length may vary, 28 days is generally taken as representative of the average ovulatory cycle in women. Convention uses the onset of menstrual bleeding to mark the beginning of the cycle, so the first day of bleeding is called "Cycle Day one". One can divide the menstrual cycle into four phases:

Menstruation

Menstruation lasts for a few days (usually 3 to 5 days, but anywhere from 2 to 7 days is considered normal) and involves the loss of about 50 millilitres of blood (including shed lining). An enzyme called plasmin — contained in the endometrium — inhibits the blood from clotting. Because of this blood loss, women have higher dietary requirements for iron than do males to prevent iron deficiency. Many women experience uterine cramps, also referred to as dysmenorrhea, during this time. A vast industry has grown to provide sanitary products to help women to manage their menses. The tampon is a common product.

Follicular phase

Through the influence of a rise in Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), five to seven tertiary-stage ovarian follicles are recruited for entry into the menstrual cycle. These follicles, that have been growing for the better part of a year in a process known as folliculogenesis, compete with each other for dominance. In a signal cascade kicked off by luteinizing hormone (LH), the follicles secrete estradiol, a steroid that acts to inhibit pituitary secretion of FSH. With diminished FSH supply comes a slowing in growth that eventually leads to follicle death, known as atresia. The largest follicle secretes inhibin that serves as a finishing blow to less competent follicles by further suppressing FSH. This dominant follicle continues growing, forms a bulge near the surface of the ovary, and soon becomes competent to ovulate. The follicles also secrete estrogens (of which estradiol is a member). Estrogens initiate the formation of a new layer of endometrium in the uterus, histologically identified as the proliferative endometrium. If fertilised, the embryo will implant itself within this hospitable flesh.

Ovulation

embryo When the follicle has matured, it secretes enough estradiol to trigger the acute release of luteinizing hormone (LH). In the average cycle this LH surge starts around cycle day 12 and may last 48 hours. The release of LH matures the egg and weakens the wall of the follicle in the ovary. This process leads to ovulation: the release of the now mature ovum, the largest cell of the body (with a diameter of about 0.5 mm). Which of the two ovaries — left or right — ovulates appears essentially random; no known left/right co-ordination exists. The Fallopian tube needs to capture the egg and provide the site for fertilisation. A characteristic clear and stringy mucus exhibiting spinnbarkeit develops at the cervix, ready to accept sperm from intercourse. In some women, ovulation features a characteristic pain called Mittelschmerz which lasts for several hours. The sudden change in hormones at the time of ovulation also causes light mid-cycle bleeding for some women. Many women perceive the vaginal and cervical mucus changes at ovulation, particularly if they are monitoring themselves for signs of fertility. An unfertilised egg will eventually disintegrate or dissolve in the uterus. Scientific investigations have indicated that the olfactory acuity or the sense of smell is greatest during ovulation in women.

Luteal phase

The corpus luteum is the solid body formed in the ovaries after the egg has been released from the fallopian tube which continues to grow and divide for a while. After ovulation, the residual follicle transforms into the corpus luteum under the support of the pituitary hormones. This corpus luteum will produce progesterone in addition to estrogens for approximately the next 2 weeks. Progesterone plays a vital role in converting the proliferative endometrium into a secretory lining receptive for implantation and supportive of the early pregnancy. It raises the body temperature by half- to one degree Fahrenheit (one-quarter to one-half degree Celsius), thus women who record their temperature on a daily basis will notice that they have entered the luteal phase. If fertilisation of an egg has occurred, it will travel as an early embryo through the tube to the uterine cavity and implant itself 6 to 12 days after ovulation. Shortly after implantation, the growing embryo will signal its existence to the maternal system. One very early signal consists of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone that pregnancy tests can measure. This signal has an important role in maintaining the corpus luteum and enabling it to continue to produce progesterone. In the absence of a pregnancy and without hCG, the corpus luteum demises and inhibin and progesterone levels fall. This will set the stage for the next cycle. Progesterone withdrawal leads to menstrual shedding (progesterone withdrawal bleeding), and falling inhibin levels allow FSH levels to rise to raise a new crop of follicles.

Menstrual symptoms

In many women, various unpleasant symptoms caused by the involved hormones and by cramping of the uterus can precede or accompany menstruation. More severe symptoms may include significant menstrual pain (dysmenorrhea), abdominal pain, migraine headaches, depression and irritability. Some women encounter premenstrual stress syndrome (PMS or premenstrual syndrome), a cyclic clinical entity. Breast discomfort caused by premenstrual water retention is very common. The list of symptoms experienced varies from person to person. Furthermore, within an individual, the severity of the symptoms may vary from cycle to cycle.

The fertile window

The length of the follicular phase — and consequently the length of the menstrual cycle — may vary widely. The luteal phase, however, almost always takes the same number of days. Some women have a luteal phase of 10 days, others of 16 days (the average is 14 days), but for each individual woman, this length will remain constant. Sperm survive inside a woman for 3 days on average, with survival time up to five days considered normal. A pregnancy resulting from sperm life of eight days has been documented . The most fertile period (the time with the highest likelihood of sexual intercourse leading to pregnancy) covers the time from some 5 days before ovulation until 1–2 days after ovulation. In an average 28 day cycle with a 14-day luteal phase, this corresponds to the second and the beginning of the third week of the cycle. Fertility awareness methods of birth control attempt to determine the precise time of ovulation in order to find the relatively fertile and the relatively infertile days in the cycle. People who have heard about the menstrual cycle and ovulation may commonly and mistakenly assume, for contraceptive purposes, that menstrual cycles always take a regular 28 days, and that ovulation always occurs 14 days after beginning of the menses. This assumption may lead to unintended pregnancies. Note too that not every bleeding event counts as a menstruation, and this can mislead people in their calculation of the fertile window. If a woman wants to conceive, the most fertile time occurs between 19 and 10 days prior to the expected menses. Many women use ovulation detection kits that detect the presence of the LH surge in the urine to indicate the most fertile time. Other ovulation detection systems rely on observation of one or more of the three primary fertility signs (basal body temperature, cervical fluid, and cervical position). Among women living closely together, the onsets of menstruation may tend to synchronise somewhat. Researchers first described this phenomenon in 1971, and explained it by the action of pheromones in 1998 (Stern and McClintock 1998). However, subsequent research has called this conclusion into question.

Hormonal control

Extreme intricacies regulate the menstrual cycle. For many years, researchers have argued over which regulatory system has ultimate control: the hypothalamus, the pituitary, or the ovary with its growing follicle; but all three systems have to interact. In any scenario, the growing follicle has a critical role: it matures the lining, provides the appropriate feedback to the hypothalamus and pituitary, and modifies the mucus changes at the cervix. Two sex hormones play a role in the control of the menstrual cycle: estradiol and progesterone. While estrogen peaks twice, during follicular growth and during the luteal phase, progesterone remains virtually absent prior to ovulation, but becomes critical in the luteal phase and during pregnancy. Many tests for ovulation check for the presence of progesterone. These sex hormones come under the influence of the pituitary gland, and both FSH and LH play necessary roles. FSH stimulates immature follicles in the ovaries to grow. LH triggers ovulation. The gonadotropin-releasing hormone of the hypothalamus controls the pituitary, yet both the pituitary and the hypothalamus receive feedback from the follicle. After ovulation the corpus luteum — which develops from the burst follicle and remains in the ovary — secretes both estradiol and progesterone. Only if pregnancy occurs do hormones appear in order to suspend the menstrual cycle, while production of estradiol and progesterone continues. Abnormal hormonal regulation leads to disturbance in the menstrual cycle. Some women with neurological conditions experience increased activity of their conditions at about the same time every month. 80 percent of women with epilepsy have more seizures than usual in the phase of their cycle when progresterone declines and estrogen increases. Mice have been used as an experimental system to investigate possible mechanisms by which levels of sex steroid hormones might regulate nervous system function. During the part of the mouse estrous cycle when progesterone is highest, the level of nerve-cell GABA receptor subtype delta was high. Since these GABA receptors are inhibitory, nerve cells with more delta receptors are less likely to fire than cells with lower numbers of delta receptors. During the part of the mouse estrous cycle when estrogen levels are higher than progesterone levels, the number of delta receptors decrease, increasing nerve cell activity, in turn increasing anxiety and seizure susceptibility. (Maguire et al., 2005)

Hidden ovulation

Unlike other species, human women have concealed ovulation. A woman may sense her own ovulation while it may remain indiscernible to others; this is considered to have sociobiological significance. In contrast, other species often signal receptivity through heat. In this context, evidence suggests that women's preferences for men may change during their most fertile days; that is, before and shortly after ovulation. During this time, they may prefer different male scents, more masculine faces, and social presence in males considered as partners. (Gangestad 2004; debated) Women, especially young teens, have been noted to dress more provocatively, to say that they feel sexier, to flirt more, and to be more likely to initiate sexual activity around the time of ovulation than they did at other points in their menstrual cycle. Most of this, especially in younger women, appears to be subconscious.

The ovary as an egg-bank

Evidence suggests that eggs are formed from germ cells early in fetal life. The number is reduced to an estimated 400,000 to 450,000 immature eggs residing in each ovary at puberty. The menstrual cycle, as a biologic event, allows for ovulation of one egg typically each month. Thus over her lifetime a woman will ovulate approximately 400 to 450 times. All the other eggs dissolve by a process called atresia. As a woman's total egg supply is formed in fetal life, to be ovulated decades later, it has been suggested that this long lifetime may make the chromatin of eggs more vulnerable to division problems, breakage, and mutation than the chromatin of sperm, which are produced continuously during a man's reproductive life. This possibility is supported by the observation that fetuses and infants of older mothers have higher rates of chromosome abnormalities than those of older fathers.

The anovulatory menstrual cycle

Not all menstruations result from an ovulatory menstrual cycle. In some women, follicular development may start but not complete, nevertheless estrogens will form and will stimulate the uterine lining. Sooner or later the uterus will shed this lining. As no ovulation and no progesterone involvement occurs, doctors call this type of bleeding an estrogen breakthrough bleeding, and cannot always predict its duration or frequency. Anovulatory bleeding commonly occurs prior to menopause (premenopause) or in women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Cycle abnormalities

Frequency

The "normal menstrual cycle" occurs every 28 days ± 7 days. The medical term for cycles with intervals of 21 days or fewer is polymenorrhea and, on the other hand, the term for cycles with intervals exceeding 35 days is oligomenorrhea (or amenorrhea if intervals exceed 180 days).

Flow

The normal menstrual flow amounts to 50 ml ± 30 ml. It follows a "crescendo-decrescendo" pattern; that is, it starts at a moderate level, increases somewhat, and then slowly tapers. Sudden heavy flows or amounts in excess of 80 ml (hypermenorrhea or menorrhagia) may stem from hormonal disturbance, uterine abnormalities, including uterine leiomyoma or cancer, and other causes. Doctors call the opposite phenomenon, of bleeding very little, hypomenorrhea.

Duration

The typical woman bleeds ("is on her period") for three to seven days out of each month. Prolonged bleeding (metrorrhagia, also meno-metrorrhagia) no longer shows a clear interval pattern. Dysfunctional uterine bleeding refers to hormonally caused bleeding abnormalities, typically anovulation. All these bleeding abnormalities need medical attention; they may indicate hormone imbalances, uterine fibroids, or other problems. As pregnant patients may bleed, a pregnancy test forms part of the evaluation of abnormal bleeding.

The birth control pill

Estrogens and progesterone-like hormones make up the main active ingredients of birth control pills. Typically they tend to mimic a menstrual cycle in appearance, but to suppress the critical event of the ovulatory cycle, namely ovulation. Normally, a woman takes hormone pills for 21 days, followed by 7 days of non-functional placebo sugar pills or no pills at all; then the cycle starts again. During the 7 placebo days, a withdrawal bleeding occurs; this differs from ordinary menstruation, and skipping the placebos and continuing with the next batch of hormone pills may suppress it. (Two main versions of the pill exist: monophasic and triphasic. With triphasic pills, skipping of the placebos and continuing with the next month's dose can remove the pill's pregnancy protection.) In 2003 the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved low-dose monophasic birth control pills which induce withdrawal bleedings only every 3 months.

Etymology and the lunar month

The terms "menstruation" and "menses" come from the Latin mensis (month), which in turn relates to the Greek mene (moon) and to the roots of the English words month and moon — reflecting the fact that the moon also takes close to 28 days to revolve around the Earth (actually 27.32 days). The synodical lunar month, the period between two new moons (or full moons), is 29.53 days long. Many women, after a period of not being exposed to artificial nighttime lighting, find their menstrual cycles begin to occur in rhythm with the lunar cycle.

Menstrual products

While some women allow their menses to flow freely or learn to recognise when their menses will flow, most women prefer to use some artifical means to absorb or catch their menses to prevent soiling their clothes. There are a number of different methods used:
- Sanitary towels, sanitary napkins, or pads - Rectangular pieces of material worn in the underpants to absorb menstrual flow, often with "wings," pieces that fold around the panties, or a sticky backing to hold the pad in place. Reusable cloth pads are made of cotton (often organic), terrycloth, or flannel, and may be handsewn (from material or reused old clothes and towels) or storebought. Disposable synthetic pads are made of wood pulp or synthetic products, usually with a plastic lining and bleached.
- Tampons - Disposable wads of treated rayon/cotton blends or all-cotton fleece, usually bleached, that are inserted into the vagina to absorb menstrual flow. Some women also make their own tampons from rolled up cotton strips.
- Menstrual cups - A firm, flexible cup- or bell-shaped device worn inside the vagina to catch menstrual flow. Reusable versions include rubber or silcone cups (like the Keeper, Divacup, [http://www.lunette.fi Lunette] and Mooncup). Disposable versions come in soft plastic cups (like Instead).
- Sea sponges - Reuseable soft sponges from plant-like animals that grow on the ocean floor, worn internally to absorb blood.
- Padettes - Disposable wads of treated rayon/cotton blend fleece that are placed within the inner labia to absorb menstrual flow.
- Padded panties - Reuseable cloth (usually cotton) underwear with extra absorbent layers sewn in to absorb flow.
- Blanket, towel, or "bleeding blankie" - Large reuseable piece of cloth, most often used at night, placed between legs to absorb menstrual flow. Pharmaceutical companies also provide products — commonly Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) — to relieve menstrual cramps.

Debate

Much debate centers around which menstrual products to use. The main debate can be summarized as one between the convenience, availability, and general knowledge of disposables versus the environmental, monetary, and potential health benefits of reuseables. A secondary aspect of this is commercial responsibility. Disposable menstrual products compose a large and powerful industry in the West, with a near monopoly on advertising, supermarket shelves, and menstrual education, leading many people to believe that these corporate products are their only options. Many people object to the negative portrayal of menstruation in advertising as shameful, unnatural, stinking, and hindering. In contrast, the reuseable menstrual products industry is composed mostly of small, independent, and woman-owned, woman-positive businesses. Finally, some believe that the disposable menstrual products industry is imperialist, forcing or coercing women of other cultures to leave their resueable, inexpensive or free menstrual products to become consumers of disposables. A summary of the main issues of debate: ; Environmental waste : Tampons, pads, disposable cups and their packaging generate tons of bulky waste per year, much of which is not biodegradable. ; Cost : Many disposables have a cheaper upfront cost than reuseables, but over time (a period of a few months), this cost is recouped many times over from savings on reuseables. Many reuseables can also be made for free from old clothes or scraps of cloth. ; Health concerns : 1. Bleaching - Many women object to the chlorine bleaching of disposable menstrual products, which leaves trace amounts of dioxin, a carcinogen, in them. 2. Scents and deodorizers - Chemical scents and deodorizers can cause rashes, irritation, and allergic reactions. They can upset the pH balance of the vagina and cause yeast infections. ; Health concerns specific to tampons : Toxic Shock Syndrome is caused by Staphylococcus aureus, which can thrive the environment found in tampon fibers. It is important to remember that TSS is very rare, with only approx. 40 cases per year in the UK. Tampon-associated TSS is not a staph infection. It is caused when the bacteria release a protein called toxic shock syndrome toxin (TSST). TSST is absorbed into the body where it acts as a toxin. Toxic Shock Syndrome can, and does, cause death. TSS can be avoided by using the least absorbent tampon possible for one's flow, and changing tampons at least every 8 hours, or by avoiding tampons altogether. This may apply to sea sponges also, though no cases of TSS with sea sponge use have been reported.

Culture and menstruation

Mysticism

Mystics have sometimes elaborated "equivalencies", analogising the waxing and waning of the moon with influences on human menstruation. In this spiritual, moon goddess, or astrological context some women call menstruation their "moontime". Some ancient views also regarded menstruation as a cleansing of the body: compare bloodletting as a major medical treatment of pre-modern times.

Religion

Some religions consider women "unclean" during menstruation.

Islam on menstruation

The Islamic world considers a woman "not in a state to have intercourse" during menstruation. A verse from the Qur'an (with parenthesised interpolations by Dr. Muhammed Muhsin Khan) affirms this:

"They ask you concerning menstruation. Say: that is an Adha (a harmful thing for a husband to have sexual intercourse with his wife while she is having her menses), therefore keep away from women during menses and go not unto them till they have purified (from menses and have taken a bath). And when they have purified themselves, then go in unto them as Allâh has ordained for you. Truly, Allâh loves those who turn unto Him in repentance and loves those who purify themselves (by taking a bath and cleaning and washing thoroughly their private parts, bodies, for their prayers, etc.)." (Al-Baqarah 2:222)

See [http://63.175.194.25/index.php?ln=eng&ds=qa&lv=browse&QR=43028&dgn=4 an Islamic review] on the subject.

Judaism on menstruation

A ritual exclusion applies to a woman while menstruating and for about a week thereafter, until she immerses herself in a mikvah (ritual bath).

Menstruation in other mammals

A regular menstrual cycle as described here only occurs in the great apes. Menstrual cycles vary in length from an average of 29 days in orangutans to an average of 37 days in chimpanzees. Females of other mammalian species go through certain episodes called "estrus" or "heat" in each breeding season. During these times, ovulation occurs and females become receptive to mating, a fact advertised to males in some way. If no fertilisation takes place, the uterus reabsorbs the endometrium: no menstrual bleeding occurs. Significant differences exist between the estrus and the menstrual cycle. Some animals, such as domestic cats and dogs do produce a very short and mild menstural flow, however due to its small amount (and personal cleanliness in cats) it passes pet owners largely unnoticed.

References

- K. Stern and M. K. McClintock: "[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9515961 Regulation of ovulation by human pheromones.]" Nature, 392 (1998), pages 177 – 179.
- Gangestad et al.: "[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15016293 Women's preferences for male behavioral displays change across the menstrual cycle.]" Psychological Science, March 2004, vol. 15, no. 3, pages 203 - 207
-

Notes

# "[http://www.4woman.gov/faq/menstru.htm#6 At what age does a girl get her first period?]," from Menstruation and the Menstrual Cycle, National Women's Health Information Center (accessed June 11, 2005). # Ibid., "[http://www.4woman.gov/faq/menstru.htm#4 What is a typical menstrual period like?]" (accessed June 11, 2005). # "Lower olfactory threshold during the ovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle" by E. Navarrete-Palacios, R. Hudson, G. Reyes-Guerrero and R. Guevara-Guzman in Biol Psychol. (2003) volume 63 page 269-279 . # M. Ball, "A prospective field trial of the Ovulation Method", European Journal of Obstetrical and Gynaecological Reproductive Biology, 6/2, 63-6, 1976. (Summarized at [http://www.woomb.org/bom/trials/index.html Trials of the Billings Ovulation Method] accessed November 3, 2005) # "Medical Microbiology" 4th ed. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Search&db=books&doptcmdl=GenBookHL&term=toxic+shock+syndrome+AND+mmed%5Bbook%5D+AND+147524%5Buid%5D&rid=mmed.section.769#775 Online textbook] Samule Baron, editor. (1996) Published by University of Texas Medical Branch; Galveston (TX)

External links

- Harry Finley: Online museum of menstruation and women's health, http://mum.org/
- [http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/rags/ The rags: paraphernalia of menstruation]
- Menstral - track your periods and fertility on your cell phone: http://procod.com/menstral/
- [http://www.bloodays.com/ Bloodays - Software for tracking ovulation, natural conception and contraceptions]
- [http://www.ovusoft.com/ Ovusoft - Software for tracking ovulation and other cycle-related events, community message boards]
- Track your likely ovulatory date with this free [http://www.ovulation-calendar.net/ Ovulation Calendar]
- [http://www.perimon.com/ Free Software to watch the menstrual cycle etc.]
- Mencal - calendar software for UNIX-style operating systems with the ability to highlight repeating cycles: http://kyberdigi.cz/projects/mencal/english.html
- Leslie Botha-Williams, Women's Health Educator: A Woman's Guide to Understanding Her Hormone Cycle, http://www.holyhormones.com
- [http://63.175.194.25/index.php?ln=eng&ds=qa&lv=browse&QR=43028&dgn=4 An Islamic answer for the ruling of women menstruating]
- Menstrual Suppression With Birth Control Pills http://www.noperiod.com
- [http://www.livejournal.com/users/incendiaryfs/204904.html Love Your Blood: An info-zine on menstrual products and their alternatives]
- [http://www.seac.org/tampons/ Tampaction] and [http://bloodsisters.org/bloodsisters/ The Bloodsisters Project]- Menstrual activism against chlorine bleaching, excessive packaging, and negative attitudes toward menstruation in the West
- [http://www.scarleteen.com/body/ontherag.html On The Rag: Everything you need to know about your fertility cycles and menstruation...period] - Article on the menstrual cycle by notable sex activist and educator Heather Corinna
- [http://www.scarleteen.com/pink/washable.html Eight Myths About Washable Menstrual Pads Dispelled] Category:Reproductive system Category:Gynecology ja:月経

Russia

The Russian Federation (, transliteration: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya or Rossijskaja Federacija), or Russia (Russian: Росси́я, transliteration: Rossiya or Rossija), is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of Europe and Asia. With an area of 17,075,200 km² (6,595,600 mi²), it is the largest country in the world (by land mass), covering almost twice the territory of the next-largest country, Canada. It ranks eighth in the world in population. It shares land borders with the following countries (counter-clockwise from NW to SE): Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland (only through Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea. It is also close to the United States and Japan across stretches of water: the Diomede Islands (one controlled by Russia, the other by the United States) are just 3 km apart, and Kunashir Island (controlled by Russia but claimed by Japan) is about 20 kilometers from Hokkaido. Formerly the dominant republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Russia is now an independent country, and an influential member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, since the Union's dissolution in December 1991. During the Soviet era, Russia was officially called the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR). Russia is usually considered the Soviet Union's successor state in diplomatic matters. Most of the area, population, and industrial production of the Soviet Union, then one of the world's two superpowers, lay in Russia. After the breakup of the USSR, Russia's global role was greatly diminished, and cannot be compared to that of the former Soviet Union. In October 2005, the federal statistics agency reported that Russia's population has shrunk by more than half a million people dipping to 143 million.

History

Ancient Rus

:This section covers the pre-Russ ancient history of present Russia and its early medieval period, which is historically referred to as Ancient Rus. The vast lands of present Russia were home to disunited tribes who were variously overwhelmed by invading Goths, Huns, and Turkish Avars between the third and sixth centuries C.E. The Iranian Scythians populated the southern steppes, and a Turkic people, the Khazars, ruled the western portion of these lands through the 8th century. They in turn were displaced by a group of Scandinavians, the Varangians, who established a capital at the Slavic city of Novgorod and gradually merged with Slavic ruling classes. The Slavs constituted the bulk of the population from the 8th century onwards and slowly assimilated both the Scandinavians as well as native Finno-Ugric tribes, such as the Merya, the Muromians and the Meshchera. Meshchera The Varangian dynasty lasted several centuries, during which they affiliated with the Byzantine, or Orthodox church and moved the capital to Kiev in 1169 A.D. In this era the term "Rhos", or "Russ", first came to be applied to the Varangians and later also to the Slavs who peopled the region. In the 10th to 11th centuries this state of Kievan Rus became the largest in Europe and was quite prosperous, due to diversified trade with both Europe and Asia. Nomadic Turkic people Kipchaks (Polovtsi) conquered southern Russia at the end of 11th century and founded a nomadic state in the steppes along the Black Sea (Desht-e-Kipchak). In the 13th century the area suffered from internal disputes and was overrun by eastern invaders, the Golden Horde of the pagan Mongols and Muslim Turkic-speaking nomads who pillaged the Russian principalities for over three centuries. Also known as the Tatars, they ruled the southern and central expanses of present-day Russia, while its western zone was largely incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland. The political dissolution of Kievan Rus divided the Russian people in the north from the Belarusians and Ukrainians in the west. The northern part of Russia together with Novgorod retained some degree of autonomy during the time of the Mongol yoke and was largely spared the atrocities that affected the rest of the country. Nevertheless it had to fight the Germanic crusaders who attempted to colonize the region. Like in the Balkans and Asia Minor long-lasting nomadic rule retarded the country's economic and social development. Asian autocratic influences degraded many of the country's democratic institutions and affected its culture and economy in a very negative way. In spite of this, unlike its spiritual leader, the Byzantine Empire, Russia was able to revive, and organized its own war of reconquest, finally subjugating its enemies and annexing their territories. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 Russia remained the only more or less functional Christian state on the Eastern European frontier, allowing it to claim succession to the legacy of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Imperial Russia

While still nominally under the domain of the Mongols, the duchy of Moscow began to assert its influence, and eventually tossed off the control of the invaders late in the 14th century. In the beginning of the 16th century the Russian state set the national goal to return all Russian territories lost as a result of the Mongolian invasion and to protect the borderland against attacks of hordes. The noblemen, receiving a manor from the sovereign, were obliged to serve in the army. The manor system became a basis for the nobiliary horse army. The Russian state persistently battled against Nogai-Horde and Crimean khanat which were successors of the Golden Horde. Russians, captivated by nomads, were on sale on Crimean slave markets. In 1571 Crimean khan Devlet-Girei, with a horde of 120 thousand horsemen, devastated Moscow. Annually thousands of Russians became victims of attacks by nomads. Tens of thousand of soldiers protected the southern borderland--a heavy burden for the state--which slowed its social and economic development. Ivan the Great first took the title Tsar (from the Roman Caesar, also written Czar) of Moscow following his marriage to Sofia, a Byzantine Princess (niece of the last Byzantine Emperor) consolidated surrounding areas under Moscow's dominion. At the end of 16 centuries Russian cossacks established the first settlements in Western Siberia. To the middle of 17th century Russian settlements were in Eastern Siberia, on Chukotka, the river Amur, coast of Pacific ocean. In 1648 Cossack Semyon Dezhnev opened the passage between America and Asia. The Russian Empire was born. Russian Empire] Muscovite control of the nascent nation continued after the Polish intervention 1605-1612 under the subsequent Romanov dynasty, beginning with Tsar Michael Romanov in 1613. Peter the Great, who ruled from 1689 to 1725, succeeded in bringing ideas and culture from Western Europe to a Russia which had been affected by primitive nomadic cultures. Catherine the Great, ruling from 1762 to 1796, enhanced this effort, establishing Russia not just as an Asian power, but on an equal footing with Britain, France, and Germany in Europe. She enlarged the Russian territory by the Partitions of Poland. Russia has taken territories with the ethnic Belarus and Ukrainian population, earlier parts of the medieval Kievan Rus'. As a result of victorious Russian-Turkish wars Russia reached to Black sea and has set as the purpose protection of Balkan Christians against a Turkish yoke. In 1783 Russia and Georgian Kingdom (which was almost totally devastated by Persian and Turkish invasions) have signed the treatise of Georgiev according to which Georgia has received protection of Russia. In 1812, having gathered nearly half a million soldiers from France, as well as from all of its vassal states in Europe, Napoleon entered Russia and was defeated by Russian troops. In 1813 Russian army defeated the French armies in Germany. Russia has won in the War of 1877-1878 and Ottoman Empire recognized the independence of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and autonomy of Bulgaria. Unrest of the peasants and suppression of the growing Intelligentsia were continuing problems however, and on the eve of World War I, the position of Tsar Nicholas II and his dynasty appeared precarious. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the Romanovs. At the close of this Russian Revolution of 1917, a Marxist political faction called the Bolsheviks seized power in St. Petersburg and Moscow under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin. The Bolsheviks changed their name to the Communist Party. A bloody civil war ensued, pitting the Bolsheviks' Red Army against a loose confederation of anti-socialist monarchist and bourgeois forces known as the White Army. The Red Army triumphed, and the Soviet Union was formed in 1922.

Russia as part of Soviet Union

The Soviet Union was to be a transnational worker's state free from nationalism, which Leninism teaches is a ruse used by the bourgeoisie to keep the international working classes from realizing their common exploited position and overthrowing the bourgeois. The concept of Russia as a separate national entity was therefore downplayed in the early Soviet Union. Although Russian institutions and cities certainly remained dominant, many non-Russians participated in the new government at all levels. One of these was a Georgian named Joseph Stalin. A brief power struggle ensued after Lenin's death in 1924. Stalin gradually eroded the various checks and balances which had been designed into the Soviet political system and assumed dictatorial power by the end of the decade. Leon Trotsky and almost all other Old Bolsheviks from the time of the Revolution were killed or exiled. As the 1930s began, Stalin launched the Great Purges, a massive series of political repressions. Millions of people who Stalin suspected of being a threat to his power in some way were executed or exiled to Gulag labor camps in remote areas of Siberia. Stalin forced rapid industrialization of the largely rural country and collectivization of its agriculture. Stalin also strengthened Russian dominance within the Soviet Union as he buttressed his own hold on power. In 1928, Stalin introduced his "First Five-Year Plan" for modernizing the Soviet economy. Most economic output was immediately diverted to establishing heavy industry. Civilian industry was modernized and heavy weapon factories established with German and US assistance. The plan worked, in some sense, as the Soviet Union successfully transformed from an agrarian economy to a major industrial powerhouse in an unbelievably short span of time, but widespread misery and famine ensued for many millions of people as a result of the severe economic upheaval. In 1939 the USSR was in strong opposition to nazi Germany, and supported the republicans in Spain who struggled against German and Italian troops. However, in 1938 Germany and the other major European powers signed the Munich treaty. Germany then divided Czechoslovakia with Poland. The Soviet government, being afraid of a German attack to the USSR, began diplomatic maneuvers. In 1939 Poland refused to participate in any measures of collective safety, so the USSR signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany. On September, 17, 1939, when German armies were within 150 kilometers of the Soviet border, the Soviet army invaded eastern portions of Poland, populated by ethnic Ukrainians and Belorussians. The Soviet Union staged an artillery attack it claimed had come from neighboring Finland, and invaded it in an attempt to secure itself against future invasion by Germany (which Finland had good relations with) and to gain control of the country, separating it from Europe, and most importantly, from Germany. This conflict is now known as the Winter War. The invasion was a slight disappointment as only the eastern parts of Finland (Karelia) were occupied. This lead to Finland allying with Germany in order to gain revenge. Germany and its allies (Hungary, Italy, Finland, Romania) invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. Although the Wehrmacht reached the outskirts of Moscow, the Red Army stopped the Nazi offensive at the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, which became the decisive turning point for Germany's fortunes in the war. The Soviets drove through Eastern Europe and captured Berlin before Germany surrendered in 1945 (see Great Patriotic War). About 10 million Soviet citizens became victims of the oppressive policies and war crimes of Germany and its allies in the occupied territory. Although ravaged by the war, the Soviet Union emerged from the conflict as an acknowledged great power. The Red Army occupied Eastern Europe after the war, including the eastern half of Germany. Stalin installed loyal Communist governments in these satellite states. During the immediate postwar period, the Soviet Union first rebuilt and then expanded its economy, with control always exerted exclusively from Moscow. The Soviets extracted heavy war reparations from the areas of Germany under their control, mostly in the form of machinery and industrial equipment. The Soviet Union consolidated its hold on eastern Europe (see Eastern bloc). The United States helped the western European countries establish democracies, and both countries sought to achieve economic, political, and ideological dominance over the Third World. The ensuing struggle became known as the Cold War, which turned the Soviet Union's wartime allies, the United Kingdom and the United States, into its foes. Stalin died in early 1953 without leaving any instructions for the selection of a successor. His closest associates officially decided to rule the Soviet Union jointly, but secret police chief Lavrenty Beria appeared poised to seize dictatorial control. General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev organized an anti-Beria alliance and staged a coup d'etat. Beria was arrested in June of 1953 and executed later that year; Khrushchev became the undisputed leader of the USSR. Under Khrushchev, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, and Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit the earth. Khrushchev's reforms in agriculture and administration, however, were generally unproductive, and foreign policy toward China and the United States suffered reverses, notably the Cuban Missile Crisis, when he began installing nuclear missles in Cuba and nearly provoked a war with the United States. Over the course of several angry outbursts at the United Nations, Khrushchev was increasingly seen by his colleagues as belligerent, boorish, and dangerous. The remainder of the Soviet leadership removed him from power in 1964. Following the ousting of Khrushchev, another period of rule by collective leadership ensued, lasting until Leonid Brezhnev established himself in the early 1970s as the preeminent figure in Soviet political life. Brezhnev is frequently derided by historians for stagnating the development of the Soviet Union. In contrast to the revolutionary spirit that accompanied the birth of the Soviet Union, the prevailing mood of the Soviet leadership at the time of Brezhnev's death in 1982 was one of aversion to change. In the mid and late 1980s, the reform-minded Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. He introduced the landmark policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring), in an attempt to modernize Soviet communism. Glasnost meant that the harsh restrictions on free speech that had characterized most of the Soviet Union's existence were removed, and open political discourse and criticism of the government became possible again. Perestroika meant sweeping economic reforms designed to decentralize the planning of the Soviet economy. However, his initiatives provoked strong resentment amongst conservative elements of the government, and an unsuccessful military coup that attempted to remove Gorbachev from power instead led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Boris Yeltsin seized power in Russia and declared the end of exclusive Communist rule. The USSR splintered into 15 independent republics, and was officially dissolved in December of 1991 (see History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991)). Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and a market economy to replace the strict centralized social, political, and economic controls of the Soviet era.

Post-Soviet Russia

market economy Prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin had been elected President of Russia in June 1991 in the first direct presidential election in Russian history. In October 1991, as Russia was on the verge of independence, Yeltsin announced that Russia would proceed with radical market-oriented reform along the lines of Poland's "big bang," also known as "shock therapy." After the disintegration of the USSR, the economy of Russia went through a crisis. Outside Russia, in the newly independent states, were most of the nonfreezing ports, consumer goods factories, former Soviet pipelines, and significant numbers of the hi-tech enterprises (including the atomic power station). In Russia there was mainly heavy and military industry. Russia has taken up the responsibility for payment of the USSR's external debts, though its population is 50% of the population of the USSR. The largest state enterprises (a petroleum industry, metallurgy) have been privatized for the small sum of $US 600 million, which is far less than they were worth. Russia's Congress of People's Deputies attempted to impeach Yeltsin on 1993-03-26. Yeltsin's opponents gathered more than 600 votes for impeachment, but fell 72 votes short. On 1993-09-21, Yeltsin disbanded the Supreme Soviet and the Congress of People's Deputies by decree, which was illegal under the constitution. On September 21 there was a military showdown, the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993. With military help, Yeltsin held control. The conflict resulted in a number of civilian casualties, and was resolved in Yeltsin's favor. Elections were held on 1993-12-12. Since the Chechnyan seperatists declared independence in the early 1990s, an intermittent guerrilla war (First Chechen War, Second Chechen War) has been fought between disparate Chechen groups and the Russian military. Some of these groups have become increasingly Islamist over the course of the struggle. It is estimated that over 200,000 people have died in this conflict. Minor conflicts also exist in North Ossetia and Ingushetia. After Yeltsin's presidency in the 1990s, Vladimir Putin was elected in 2000. Under Putin, the intensified state control of the Russian media has raised Western concerns over Russian civil liberties. At the same time, the rising oil prices, tensions, and war in the Middle East have helped increase Russia's revenue from oil production and export, and have stimulated economic expansion. Putin's presidency has shown improvements in the Russian standard of living, as compared to the 1990s; despite acute crises, human rights abuses, and largely criticized government failures.

Politics

The Russian Federation is a federal republic with a president, directly elected for a four-year term, who holds considerable executive power. The president, who resides in the Kremlin, nominates the highest state officials, including the prime minister (or premier), who must be approved by the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament, and governors, who must be approved by regional legislatures. The president can pass decrees (executive orders) without consent from Parliament and is also head of the armed forces and of the Russian National Security Council. Russia's bicameral parliament, the Federal Assembly (Russian: Федеральное Собрание, English transliteration: Federalnoye Sobraniye) consists of an upper house known as the Federation Council (Совет Федерации, Sovet Federatsii), composed of 178 delegates, which are appointed by executive and legislative bodies of each of 89 federal subjects for the term of four or five years, and a lower house known as the State Duma (Государственная Дума, Gosudarstvennaya Duma), comprising 450 deputies also serving a four-year term, of which 225 are elected by direct popular vote from single member constituencies and 225 are elected by proportional representation from nation-wide party lists. From the next elections, which are to be held in December 2007, all 450 members of the Duma will be elected from party lists.

Subdivisions

:See also: Federal districts of Russia, Federal subjects of Russia, Republics of Russia, Oblasts of Russia, Krais of Russia, Autonomous Oblasts of Russia, Autonomous Districts of Russia, Federal cities of Russia. Federal cities of Russia The Russian Federation consists of a great number of different federal subjects, making a total of 88 constituent components. There are 21 republics within the federation that enjoy a high degree of autonomy on most issues and these correspond to some of Russia's ethnic minorities. The remaining territory consists of 48 oblasts (provinces) and 7 krais (territories), as well as 9 autonomous okrugs (autonomous districts), and 1 autonomous oblast. Beyond these there are two federal cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg). Recently, seven extensive federal districts (four in Europe, three in Asia) have been added as a new layer between the above subdivisions and the national level.

Geography
federal districts The Russian Federation stretches across much of the north of the supercontinent of Eurasia. Although it contains a large share of the world's Arctic and sub-Arctic areas, and therefore has less population, economic activity, and physical variety per unit area than most countries, the great area south of these still accommodates a great variety of landscapes and climates. Most of Russia is in zones of a continental and Arctic climate. Russia is the coldest country of the world. Mid-annual temperature is −5,5 °C (for comparison, in Iceland +1,2 °C, in Sweden +4 °C). Most of the land consists of vast plains, both in the European part and the Asian part that is largely known as Siberia. These plains are predominantly steppe to the south and heavily forested to the north, with tundra along the northern coast. The permafrost (areas of Siberia and the Far East) occupies more than half of territory of Russia. Mountain ranges are found along the southern borders, such as the Caucasus (containing Mount Elbrus, Russia's and Europe's highest point at 5,633 m) and the Altai, and in the eastern parts, such as the Verkhoyansk Range or the volcanoes on Kamchatka. The more central Ural Mountains, a north-south range that form the primary divide between Europe and Asia, are also notable. Russia has an extensive coastline of over 37,000 km along the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, as well as more or less inland seas such as the Baltic, Black and Caspian seas. Some smaller bodies of water are part of the open oceans; the Barents Sea, White Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea are part of the Arctic, whereas the Bering Sea, Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan belong to the Pacific Ocean. Major islands found in them include Novaya Zemlya, the Franz-Josef Land, the New Siberian Islands, Wrangel Island, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. (See List of islands of Russia). Many rivers flow across Russia. See Rivers of Russia. Major lakes include Lake Baikal, Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. See List of lakes in Russia.
Borders
The most practical way to describe Russia is as a main part (a large contiguous portion with its off-shore islands) and an exclave (at the southeast corner of the Baltic Sea). The main part's borders and coasts (starting in the far northwest and proceeding counter-clockwise) are:
- borders with the following countries: Norway and Finland,
- a short coast on the Baltic Sea, facing eight other countries on its shores from Finland to Estonia and including the port of St. Petersburg,
- borders with Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, and Ukraine,
- a coast on the Black Sea, facing five other countries on its shores from Ukraine to Georgia,
- borders with Georgia and Azerbaijan,
- a coast on the Caspian Sea, facing four other countries on its shores from Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan,
- borders with Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea,
- an extensive coastline that provides access with all the maritime nations of the world, and stretches
- from the North Pacific Ocean including
- the Sea of Japan (where the west shore of Russia's Sakhalin lies),
- the Sea of Okhotsk (where the east shore of Sakhalin and its Kurile Islands lie), and
- the Bering Sea,
- through the Bering Strait (where its minor island of Big Diomede is separated by only a few miles from Little Diomede, a part of the US state of Alaska),
- to the Arctic Ocean, including
- the Chukchi Sea (where the south and east shores of its Wrangel Island lie),
- the East Siberian Sea (where its west shore, and the east shores of its New Siberian Islands lie),
- the Laptev Sea (where their west shores lie),
- the Kara Sea (where the east shore of its Novaya Zemlya lies),
- the Barents Sea (where their west shore, the south shores of its Franz-Josef Land the port of Murmansk and important naval facilities lie, and where the White Sea reaches far inland). The exclave, constituted by the Kaliningrad Oblast,
- shares borders with
- Poland to its south and
- Lithuania to its north and east, and
- has a northwest coast on the Baltic Sea. The Baltic and Black Sea coasts of Russia have less direct and more constrained access to the high seas than its Pacific and Arctic ones, but both are nevertheless important for that purpose. The Baltic gives immediate access with the nine other countries sharing its shores, and between the main part of Russia and its Kaliningrad Oblast exclave. Via the straits that lie within Denmark, and between it and Sweden, the Baltic connects to the North Sea and the oceans to its west and north. The Black Sea gives immediate access with the five other countries sharing its shores, and via the Dardanelles and Marmora straits adjacent to Istanbul, Turkey, to the Mediterranean Sea with its many countries and its access, via the Suez Canal and the Straits of Gibraltar, to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The salt waters of the Caspian Sea, the world's largest lake, afford no access with the high seas.
Spatial extent
The two most widely separated points in Russia are about 8,000 km (5000 mi) apart along a geodesic (i.e. shortest line between two points on the Earth's surface). These points are: the boundary with Poland on a 60-km-long (40-mi-long) spit of land separating the Gulf of Gdańsk from the Vistula Lagoon; and the farthest southeast of the Kurile Islands, a few miles off Hokkaido Island, Japan. However, this is confusing because the points which are furthest separated in longitude are "only" 6,600 km (4,100 mi) apart along a geodesic. These points are: in the West, the same spit; in the East, the Big Diomede Island (Ostrov Ratmanova). It is also often mentioned that the Russian federation spans eleven time zones.
Cities
As of 2005 Russia has 13 cities with over a million inhabitants (from largest to smallest): Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Omsk, Kazan, Chelyabinsk, Rostov-on-Don, Ufa, Volgograd and Perm. See also: List of cities in Russia
Economy
More than a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia is now trying to establish a market economy and achieve more consistent economic growth. Russia saw its comparatively developed centrally-planned economy contract severely for five years, as the executive and legislature dithered over the implementation of reforms and Russia's industrial base faced a serious decline. Moreover, an emergency livestock shortage in 1987, which triggered large-scale international aid, severely bruised the ego, as well as the economy, of the emerging Russian state. After the breakup of the USSR, Russia's first slight recovery, showing the signs of open-market influence, occurred in 1997. That year, however, Asian financial crisis culminated in the August depreciation of the ruble in 1998, a debt default by the government, and a sharp deterioration in living standards for most of the population. Consequently, the year 1998 was marked by recession and intense capital flight. Nevertheless, the economy started recovering in 1999. Then it entered a phase of rapid economic expansion, the GDP growing by an average of 6.7% annually in 1999-2005 on the back of higher petroleum prices, weaker ruble, and increasing service production and industrial output. The economic development of the country, however, has been extremely uneven: the capital region of Moscow contributes a third to the country's GDP having only a tenth of its population. The recent recovery, made possible due to high world oil prices, along with a renewed government effort in 2000 and 2001 to advance lagging structural reforms, has raised business and investor confidence over Russia's prospects in its second decade of transition. Russia remains heavily dependent on exports of commodities, particularly oil, natural gas, metals, and timber, which account for about 80% of exports, leaving the country vulnerable to swings in world prices. In recent years, however, the economy has also been driven by growing internal consumer demand that has increased by over 12% annually in 2000-2005, showing the strengthening of its own internal market. The country's GDP shot up to reach €1.2 trillion ($1.5 trillion) in 2004, making it the ninth largest economy in the world and the fifth largest in Europe. If the current growth rate is sustained, the country is expected to become the second largest European economy after Germany (€1.9 trillion or $2.3 trillion) and the sixth largest in the world within a few years. The greatest challenge facing the Russian economy is how to encourage the development of SME (small and medium sized enterprises) in a business climate with a young and dysfunctional banking system, dominated by Russian oligarchs. Many of Russia's banks are owned by entrepreneurs or oligarchs, who often use the deposits to lend to their own businesses. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank have attempted to kick-start normal banking practices by making equity and debt investments in a number of banks, but with very limited success. Other problems include disproportional economic development of Russia's own regions. While the huge capital region of Moscow is a bustling, affluent metropolis living on the cutting edge of technology with a per capita income rapidly approaching that of the leading Eurozone economies, much of the country, especially its indigenous and rural communities in Asia, lags significantly behind. Market integration is nonetheless making itself felt in some other sizeable cities such as Saint Petersburg, Kaliningrad, and Ekaterinburg, and recently also in the adjacent rural areas. Encouraging foreign investment is also a major challenge due to legal, some cultural, linguistic, economic and political peculiarities of the country. Nevertheless, there have been significant inflow of capital in recent years from many European investors attracted by cheaper land, labor and higher growth rates than in the rest of Europe. Amazingly high levels of education and societal involvement achieved by the majority of the population, including women and minorities, secular attitudes, mobile class structure, better integration of various minorities in the mainstream culture set Russia far apart from the majority of the so-called developing and even some developed nations. So far, the country is also benefiting from rising oil prices and has been able to pay off much of its formerly huge debt. Equal redistribution of capital gains from the natural resource industries to other sectors is also a problem. Still, since 2003, exports of natural resources started decreasing in economic importance as the internal market has strengthened considerably largely stimulated by intense construction, as well as consumption of increasingly diverse goods and services. Yet teaching customers and encouraging consumer spending is a relatively tough task for many provincial areas where consumer demand is primitive, although some laudable progress has already been made in larger cities especially in clothing, food, entertainment industries. The arrest of Russia's wealthiest businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky on charges of fraud and corruption in relation to the large-scale privatizations organized under then-President Yeltsin has caused many foreign investors to worry about the stability of the Russian economy. Most of the large fortunes currently prevailing in Russia seem to be the product of either acquiring government assets particularly at low costs or gaining concessions from the government. Other countries have expressed concerns and worries at the "selective" application of the law against individual businessmen. However, some international firms are investing heavily in Russia. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Russia had nearly $26 billion in cumulative foreign direct investment inflows during the 2001-2004 period (of which $11.7 billion occurred last year alone).
Demographics
Despite its comparatively very high population, Russia has a low average population density due to its enormous size. Population is densest in the European part of Russia, in the Ural Mountains area, and in the south-western parts of Siberia; the south-eastern part of Siberia that meets the Pacific Ocean, known as the Russian Far East, is sparsely populated, with its southern part being densest. The Russian Federation is home to as many as 160 different ethnic groups and indigenous peoples. As of the 2002 census, 79.8% of the population is ethnically Russian, 3.8% Tatar, 2% Ukrainian, 1.2% Bashkir, 1.1% Chuvash, 0.9% Chechen, 0.8% Armenian, and the remaining 10.3% includes those who did not specify their ethnicity as well as (in alphabetical order) Avars, Azerbaijanis, Belarusians, Buryats, Chinese, Evenks, Georgians, Germans, Greeks, Ingushes, Inuit, Jews, Kalmyks, Karelians, Kazakhs, Koreans, Maris, Mordvins, Nenetses, Ossetians, Poles, Tuvans, Udmurts, Uzbeks, Yakuts, and others. Nearly all of these groups live compactly in their respective regions; Russians are the only people significantly represented in every region of the country. The Russian language is the only official state language, but the individual republics have often made their native language co-official next to Russian. Cyrillic alphabet is the only official script, which means that these languages must be written in Cyrillic in official texts. The Russian Orthodox Church is the dominant Christian religion in the Federation; other religions include Islam, various Protestant faiths, Judaism, Roman Catholicism and Buddhism. Division into different religions takes place primarily along ethnic lines: majority of Russians are Orthodox, majority of people of Turkic descent are Muslim, Judaism is very uncommon among non-Jews. Neopaganism is on the rise, especially among Slavic people. See Religion in Russia for more.
Culture

- Cinema of Russia
- List of famous Russians
- Music of Russia
- Russian architecture
- Russian cuisine
- Russian humour
- Russian literature
- List of Russian language poets
- Russian formalism
- Russian folklore
- Russian music
- Russian painting
- Russian theatre
Name
:Main article: Etymology of Rus and derivatives. The name of the country derives from the name of the Rus' people. The origin of the people itself and of their name is a matter of controversy.
Miscellaneous topics

- Communications in Russia
- Education in Russia
- Foreign relations of Russia
- Law of the Russian Federation
- List of Russian companies
- Military of Russia
- Postage stamps and postal history of Russia
- Public holidays in Russia
- Russian Association of Scouts/Navigators
- Tourism in Russia
- Transportation in Russia
References

- The New Columbia Encyclopedia, Col.Univ.Press, 1975
- World Civilizations:The Global Experience, by Peter Stearns, Michael Adas, Stuart Schwartz, and Marc Gilbert
External links

Government resources

- [http://www.duma.ru/ Duma] - Official site of the parliamentary lower house (in Russian)
- [http://www.council.gov.ru/eng/index.html Federative Council] - Official site of the parliamentary upper house
- [http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/ Kremlin] - Official presidential site (in English)
- [http://www.gov.ru/ Gov.ru] - Official governmental portal (in Russian)
- [http://www.russianembassy.org/ Embassy of the Russian Federation to the United States]
- [http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/russia.html Russia Energy Resources and Industry from U.S. Department of Energy]
- [http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1006.html U.S. State Department Consular Information Sheet: Russia]
General information

- [http://www.russiaprofile.org/index.wbp Russia Profile]
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1102275.stm Count

Arkansas

---- Arkansas (pronounced or ) is a southern state in the United States. The population according to the 2000 census was 2,673,400. Its U.S. postal abbreviation is AR, and its Associated Press abbreviation is Ark. It was admitted as the 25th state of the United States in 1836.

History

The early French explorers of the state gave it its name, which is probably a phonetic spelling for the French word for "downriver" people, a reference to the Quapaw people and the river along which they settled. Other Native American nations living in present-day Arkansas were Caddo, Cherokee and Osage Nations. On June 15, 1836, Arkansas became the 25th state of the United States as a slave state. Arkansas seceded from the Union on May 6, 1861 during the American Civil War. Under the Military Reconstruction Act, Congress, by June 1868, had readmitted Arkansas, as well as North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and Florida. The state is the only one with an official pronunciation. The traditional form "arkanSAW" was made official by the state legislature in 1881.

Law and government

Florida The current governor of Arkansas is Mike Huckabee, a Republican. [http://www.mikehuckabee.com Mike Huckabee], who had been elected lieutenant governor in a 1993 special election, ascended to the governor's office in 1996 when Governor Jim Guy Tucker, a Democrat, was convicted as part of the Whitewater Scandal. This led to a state "Constitutional crisis" when Tucker refused to give up the governor's office for a short period of time, because the Arkansas Constitution does not allow a convicted felon to be governor of the state. Tucker had been lieutenant governor under Bill Clinton and had become governor as a result of Clinton's election to the presidency. Arkansas's two U.S. Senators are Democrats Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. The state has four seats in House of Representatives. Three seats are held by Democrats—Marion Berry (District 1), Vic Snyder (District 2), and Mike Ross (District 4). One seat is held by the state's lone Republican Congressman, John Boozman (District 3). The Democratic Party holds super-majority status in the Arkansas General Assembly. Republicans actually lost seats in the State House in 2004. A majority of local and statewide offices are also held by Democrats. This arrangement is extremely rare in the modern South, where a majority of statewide offices are held by Republicans. Most Republican strength lies mainly in northwest Arkansas in the area around Fort Smith, while the rest of the state is strongly Democratic. Arkansas has only elected one Republican to the United States Senate since Reconstruction. However, the Arkansas General Assembly has not been controlled by the Republican Party since Reconstruction, and is the fourth most Democratic Legislature in the country, after Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Connecticut. In Arkansas, the lieutenant governor is elected separately from the governor and thus can be from a different political party. Each office's term is four years long. Office holders are term-limited to two full terms plus any partial terms prior to the first full term. Some of Arkansas' counties have two county seats, as opposed to the usual one seat. The arrangement dates back to when travel was extremely difficult in the states. The seats are usually on opposite sides of the county. Though travel is no longer the difficulty it once was, there are few efforts to eliminate the two seat arrangement where it exists, since the county seat is a source of pride (and jobs) to the city involved. Section 105 of Chapter 4 of Title 1 of the Arkansas code^{[http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/NXT/gateway.dll/ARCode/title00000.htm/chapter00063.htm/section00068.htm?f=templates$fn=document-frame.htm$3.0#JD_1-4-105]} determines the official, codified pronunciation of Arkansas: "It should be pronounced in three (3) syllables, with the final "s" silent, the "a" in each syllable with the Italian sound, and the accent on the first and last syllables." The same section states that the variation are-KAN-sas "is an innovation to be discouraged." It is believed that Arkansas is the only U.S. State with such a law on the books. See: List of Arkansas Governors

State symbols

The following state symbols are officially recognized by the state law.
- State American Folk Dance: Square Dance
- State Anthem: Arkansas by Eva Ware Barnett
- State Beverage: Milk
- State Bird: Mockingbird
- State Flower: Apple Blossom
- State Folk Dance: Square Dance
- State Fruit: South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato
- State Gem: Diamond
- State Historical Song: The Arkansas Traveler (folk song)
- State Historic Cooking Vessel: Dutch oven
- State Insect: Honeybee
- State Mammal: White-tailed Deer
- State Mineral: Quartz Crystal
- State Motto: Regnat Populus (The People Rule)
- State Musical Instrument: the Fiddle
- State Rock: Bauxite
- State Soil: Stuttgart Soil Series
- State Songs: "Arkansas (You Run Deep in Me)" by Wayland Holyfield and "Oh, Arkansas" by Terry Rose and Gary Klass
- State Tree: Pine
- State Vegetable: South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato

Geography

See: List of Arkansas counties, List of cities in Arkansas, List of Arkansas townships. The capital of Arkansas is Little Rock. Arkansas is the only state in the US where diamonds are found naturally (near Murfreesboro, Arkansas). The eastern border for most of Arkansas is the Mississippi River except in Clay and Greene counties where the St. Francis River forms the western boundary of the Missouri Bootheel. Arkansas shares its southern border with Louisiana, its northern border with Missouri, its eastern border with Tennessee and Mississippi, and its western border with Texas and Oklahoma. Arkansas is a beautiful land of mountains and valleys, thick forests and fertile plains. Northwest Arkansas is part of the Ozark Plateau including the Boston Mountains, to the south are the Ouachita Mountains and these regions are divided by the Arkansas River; the southern and eastern parts of Arkansas are called the Lowlands. The so called Lowlands are better known as the Delta and the Grand Prairie. The land along the Mississippi river is referred to as the "Delta" of Arkansas. It gets this name from the formation of its rich alluvial soils formed from the flooding of the mighty Mississippi. The Grand Prairie is slightly away from the Mississippi river in the southeast portion of the state and consists of a more undulating landscape. Both are fertile agricultural areas and home to much of the crop agriculture in the state. Delta Arkansas is home to many caves, such as Blanchard Springs Caverns. Hot Springs National Park and the Buffalo National River can also be found within its borders.

Interstate highways

- Interstate 30
- Interstate 40
- Interstate 55
- Interstate 430
- Interstate 440
- Interstate 530
- Interstate 540
- Interstate 630

United States highways

Major Arkansas highways

Economy

The state's total gross state product for 2003 was $76 billion. Its Per Capita Personal Income for 2003 was $24,384, 50^th in the nation. The state's agriculture outputs are poultry and eggs, soybeans, sorghum, cattle, cotton, rice, hogs, and milk. Its industrial outputs are food processing, electric equipment, fabricated metal products, machinery, paper products, bromine, and vanadium. In recent years, automobile parts manufacturers have opened factories in eastern Arkansas to support auto plants in other states (though Arkansas does not, as of August 2005, have an auto plant itself). Tourism is also very important to the Arkansas economy; the official state nickname "The Natural State" is prominently displayed in state tourism advertising.

Demographics

:See also: List of people from Arkansas As of 2003, the state's population was 2,725,714 according to Census Bureau estimates. 48.8% is male, and 51.2% is female. Racially, Arkansas is:
- 78.6% White non-Hispanic
- 15.7% Black
- 3.2% Hispanic
- 0.8% Asian
- 0.7% Native American
- 1.3% Mixed race The five largest ancestry groups in the state are: American (15.9%), African American (15.7%), Irish (9.5%), German (9.3%), English (7.9%). People of American ancestry have a strong presence in the northwestern Ozarks and the central part of the state. Blacks live mainly in the fertile southern and eastern parts of the state, especially along the Mississippi river. Arkansans of British and German ancestry are mostly found in the far northwestern Ozarks near the Missouri border. As of 2000, 95.0% of Arkansas residents age 5 and older speak English at home and 3.3% speak Spanish. French is the third most spoken language at 0.3%, followed by German at 0.3% and Vietnamese at 0.1%.

Religion

Arkansas, like most other Southern states, is overwhelmingly Protestant. The religious affiliations of the people are as follows:
- Christian – 86%
- Protestant – 78%
- Baptist – 39%
- Methodist – 9%
- Pentecostal – 6%
- Church of Christ – 6%
- Assemblies of God – 3%
- Other Protestant – 15%
- Roman Catholic – 7%
- Other Christian – 1%
- Other Religions – <1%
- Non-Religious – 14%

Important cities and towns

Education and Research centers

Centers of Research

- [http://www.comanchelodge.com/chickamauga-cherokee.html Arkansas Cherokee Indian Research]
- Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center [http://www.dbnrrc.ars.usda.gov/ website]
- National Center for Toxicological Research [http://www.fda.gov/nctr/ website]

Colleges and universities

National Center for Toxicological Research
- University of Arkansas System
- University of Arkansas
- University of Arkansas - Fort Smith
- University of Arkansas at Little Rock
- University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
- University of Arkansas at Monticello
- University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

- Arkansas Baptist College
- Arkansas Tech University
- Central Baptist College
- Harding University
- Henderson State University
- Hendrix College
- John Brown University
- Lyon College
- Ouachita Baptist University
- Philander Smith College
- Southern Arkansas University
- University of Central Arkansas
- University of the Ozarks
- Williams Baptist College Williams Baptist College
- Arkansas State University System
- Arkansas State University - Jonesboro
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