Tselina or virgin lands (; ) is an

umbrella term Hypernymy and hyponymy are the wikt:Wiktionary:Semantic relations, semantic relations between a generic term (''hypernym'') and a more specific term (''hyponym''). The hypernym is also called a ''supertype'', ''umbrella term'', or ''blanket term ...

for underdeveloped, scarcely populated, high-fertility lands often covered with the

chernozem Chernozem ( ),; also called black soil, regur soil or black cotton soil, is a black-colored soil containing a high percentage of humus (4% to 16%) and high percentages of phosphorus and ammonia compounds. Chernozem is very fertile soil and can ...

soil. The lands were mostly located in the

steppes In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropical gr ...

of the

Volga region The Volga region, known as the ( , ; rus, Поволжье, r=Povolžje, p=pɐˈvoɫʐje; ), is a historical region in Russia that encompasses the drainage basin of the Volga River, the longest river in Europe, in central and southern European ...

, Northern

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

and

Southern Siberia South Central Siberia is a geographical region in North Asia, just north of the meeting point between Russia, China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The Four Corners At approximately , the borders of Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan inters ...

. Retrieved 2018-07-29. The term became widely used in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

during the Virgin Lands campaign () - a state development and resettlement campaign to turn the lands into a major agriculture producing region.

References

External links

* Land tenure Agronomy Agriculture in the Soviet Union History of agriculture {{Kazakhstan-geo-stub

See also

References

External links