Silly Question: Why Aren’t Russians Considered Asians?

It used to be a federation in the soviet days – USSR, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Russia is indeed a normal country these days.

Although Russia may have a large land mass in Asia, what proportion of the population are from the European part? I think it is quite large, hence us considering Russians European – as great many are!

Perhaps if you live in China or Korea you may consider Russians Asian. My wife is Korean; I’ve just asked her and she considers ‘Russians’ as Asian – even the Russian family that lives in our building who are from St Petersberg – who look completely European. For me, as a Brit, they’re just plain European.

I guess for a country of that size you just can’t label people with a continent in that way.

I’m a person, not a continent!!!

aid

The reason is that a large part of Russia’s population lives in its european part, to the west ot the Ural mountains. This has historical reasons, as this map shows: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:KievanRusen.jpg , where you see the area that was occupied by Russia in 11th century, which is also where ethnic Russians originally come from. The whole eastern part was colonized centuries later and was then (and still is) inhabited by other ethnic groups that actually do look like Asians. So, when today someone speaks about “Russians”, they usually mean one ethnic group out of quite a lot that make up the population of today’s Russia. And this one group is indeed historically from Europe.

Two other reasons:

1) Russia is so large that it’s considered it’s own entity… almost outside of Asia. It also has a different climate and geography.

2) When you say “Asian”, most people think of China, Japan, Korea, etc. — countries in The Orient. Russians don’t fit that mold (which is also why a lot of Americans think Indians are Middle Eastern).

I’m going to armchair quarterback this, but I think I know why you posed the original question.

1. Russia is as much of a unified ‘country’ as the United States. A federal republic of semi-autonomous subnational entities.

2. Russia’s population distribution is heavily concentrated in the European part of Russia. Map.

3. Moscow, the largest city, is extremely wealthy as compared to the rest of the country. Something like 90% of the wealth in all of Russia exists in Moscow.

4. Wealth and population concentrated in the European part of Russia means that the only media or people we Westerners come in to contact with are usually from that area.

5. There are Asian-looking Russians. A good customer of mine a few years ago was this short, attractive, middle aged woman. Visually, she appeared to be very Chinese. When she spoke, however, it was with a thick Russian accent. After knowing her for some time, she shared her story, which involved emigrating from Vladivostok (Russia’s largest Pacific city) to California.

6. The division between the European and Asian continents is largely artificial (some even claim it has more to do with racism/culturalism versus plate tectonics). The Eurasian Landmass is the more appropriate term, according to the geologist I know.

Am I the only one who finds it amusing that in a post about labeling people from various continents, you used the word Americans to refer to US citizens?

Carl, check out the Nationality entry at,

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html

On this subject, why does the USA refer to itself as the United States (or US) rather than the United States of America (or USA)?

From the above link,

conventional long form: United States of America conventional short form: United States abbreviation: US or USA

Is it just for brevity or is there something else to it?

aid

@Adrian Interesting. Now, are there any non-US sites that call us Americans? As for the US vs USA .. we were the USA at least through the 1980 winter olympics. I’m not sure when US became more widely used, but it’s just laziness.

This isn’t to say that US is entirely new. Indeed the Dollar sign began as an overlapping US .. this became an S with two vertical lines through it (basically the bottom part of the U disappeared) and now there’s only ONE vertical line (laziness again).

–

Anyway, I still find it amusing (in an ironic sort of way) that the word Americans was used in this post.

In any case, the fact is that “Asians” doesn’t refer (only) to continental origin any more than “Americans” does. It’s essentially the same thing — usage overpowering word origin.

The irony I referred to earlier was really Daniel answering his own question with his own usage of the word “Americans.”

But it’s essentially the same. You know what YOU mean by the term “Asians.” The fact is that others mean essentially the same thing. You don’t question the use of the word “American” for a small subset of those living in the Americas. Why would you question the use of the word “Asian” for a subset of those living in Asia? I know you weren’t stating that it should be used one way or the other. I just see the two words (and their usages as it turns out) as essentially the same.

and .. yes .. I know you began with “Silly question…”

Since when, as larry mentioned, russian is not a country? and why you exaggerate the presence of china? aren't you chinese?

Also it depends where in Russia you’re from. And how you feel about yourself. I am Eurasian. I concern my self European and Asian.

Basically, Russia should be split up on the map around the Ural mountains, that’s where Europe ends, and Asia begins. Russia as a land is both in Asia and in Europe.

Russians aren’t Asian, but Russia is imperialist in Asia, in all the area east of the Ural mountains, usually called Siberia and the Russian far east. The indigenous population was originally physically Asian in the entire area (appropriately) but it was conquered by Russia over time. They didn’t really fully conquer the far east until the late nineteen century.

Currently, ethnic Russians are the majority in most of the districts; often they’re vastly more numerous than the locals. So today, many Russians are born in the Asian part of Russia, and thus they’re Asian, but they’re of direct European origin, and for many people their ancestry from European part is somewhat recent.

Many of those “Russians” who actually look like Asians simply are Asians and have a different ethnicity than Russians from European Russia. Like Buryat, Sakha, Altai, Tuvan, Nenets, Khakas, Evenk, Chukchi and many other ethnicities. There are also some Koreans and Vietnamese in Russia, but they have recent foreign origin.

Just to complicate things, within European Russia there are also Asian minorities, like Kalmyk and Nenets, and also Turkic minorities and many others.

“Yes, I know Russia isn’t a country.” What? It’s a Federation? Like the United States? Which is a country? You confuse me!

I am from the United Kingdom. I consider myself European but many British people consider themselves British and not apart of Europe. If the Russian is from Moscow, Saint Petersburg or Kalinigrad. They’re european, but if they are from let’s say Vladivostok, then they are definitely not european, they’re right next to the border of China and North Korea, both Asian countries. Whatever, if they’re from the Asian side, then they are Asian. I think most would consider themselves Russian though. I have many European Russian friends. Unforuntately, the time difference between me and Asia is very big and most of the Asian Russians seem to be from Vladivostok, I think I’m better off speaking to people from Alaska, which I may remind you, was stolen from Russia because the CIA snook into Russia and stole the paper work so Russia can’t say that it is apart of three continents.

Most Russians do look European, although, I think in the eastern side, you’ll find more brunettes than in the east. In the north, there will be more blondes and their noses will be bigger in the far north (Science so they can warm up the air before it reaches their lungs). It’s weird near the border of China though. In Russia, they are ‘white’ and average at 5’9 (male) but just a couple miles south, the colour goes from white to oriental brown (Can I say that? I’m not sure what to say) and average height shrinks 3 inches. But I say that and although North Koreans may look similar, their average height is even less! Another three inches shorter.

The world is a strange place isn’t it? We have one massive country that looks similar all over and only a couple feet in one direction and everything has changed. It’s not just Russia though, the blood lines just seem to stay very similar without changing much through the course of history.