The term of the Russian North unites following regions located in the north of the Russian Federation European part: St. Petersburg, the Leningrad Region (St. Petersburg and the Lenigrad Region are distinguished to the separate part of our web site), the Arkhangelsk Region including Nenets Autonomous District, the Murmansk Region, the Vologda Region, Komi Republic and the Republic of Karelia.
Vast area of the Russian North borders in the south on regions of the Russian north-west (the Pskov and the Veliky Novgorod Regions) and central part of Russia (the Tver, the Yaroslavl, the Kostroma, the Kirov Regions) and also on the Urals (the Perm Territory), in the West – on Finland and Norway, in the east – on the West Siberia (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District — Yugra), in the north it is washed with the White Sea and the Barents Sea. In XIII-XV cc. all these vast territories were a part of Russian merchant the Novgorod Republic («His Majesty (or Sovereign) Lord Novgorod the Great»). In 1478 the Novgorod Republic was routed by the Moscow Principality and all territories of Novgorod were included into the Moscow state.