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Siberia (Russian: Сиби́рь, Sibir'), is the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and...

Siberia (Russian: Сиби́рь, Sibir'), is the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the USSR from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the 16th century. It includes a large part of the Eurasian Steppe and extends eastward from the Ural Mountains to the watershed between Pacific and Arctic drainage basins, and southward from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan and the national borders of both Mongolia and China. It makes up about 77% of Russia's territory (13.1 million square kilometres), but only 25% of Russia's population (36 million people). Some sources say that it originates from the Turkic for "sleeping land." Another version is that this name was the tribal name of the Sibilla, ancient Turkic nomads later assimilated to Siberian Tatars. It has also been asserted that the name Siberia is connected to the Sabir people. Shaman Akkanat, one of the last shamans in western Siberia and a leading figure in the indigenous society of the region, claims that Siberia got its name