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[[Image:Traffic in Moscow.jpg|thumb|240px|Traffic in Moscow.]]
[[Image:Traffic in Moscow.jpg|thumb|240px|Traffic in Moscow.]]
The second-largest city in Russia is [[St. Petersburg]] (formerly '''Leningrad'''), which was established by [[Tsar]] [[Peter the Great]] in 1703 to be the capital of the Russian Empire as part of his Western-looking reforms. The city was called Petrograd during [[World War I]] and Leningrad after 1924. In 1991, as the result of a city referendum, it was renamed St. Petersburg. Under the tsars, the city was Russia's cultural, intellectual, commercial, financial, and industrial center. After [[Lenin]] moved the capital back to [[Moscow]] in 1918, the city's political significance declined, but it remained a cultural, scientific, and military-industrial center. The Hermitage, formerly the Winter Palace of the tsars, is one of the world's great fine arts museums.
The second-largest city in Russia is [[St. Petersburg]] (formerly '''Leningrad'''), which was established by [[Tsar]] [[Peter the Great]] in 1703 to be the capital of the Russian Empire as part of his Western-looking reforms. The city was called Petrograd during [[World War I]] and Leningrad after 1924. In 1991, as the result of a city referendum, it was renamed St. Petersburg. Under the tsars, the city was Russia's cultural, intellectual, commercial, financial, and industrial center. After [[Lenin]] moved the capital back to [[Moscow]] in 1918, the city's political significance declined, but it remained a cultural, scientific, and military-industrial center. The [[State Hermitage Museum|Hermitage]], formerly the Winter Palace of the tsars, is one of the world's great fine arts museums.
Russia has an area of about 17 million square kilometers (6.5 million sq. mi.); in geographic terms, this makes Russia the largest country in the world by more than 2.5 million square miles. But with a population density of about 22 persons per square mile (9 per sq. km.), it is sparsely populated, and most of its residents live in urban areas.
Russia has an area of about 17 million square kilometers (6.5 million sq. mi.); in geographic terms, this makes Russia the largest country in the world by more than 2.5 million square miles. But with a population density of about 22 persons per square mile (9 per sq. km.), it is sparsely populated, and most of its residents live in urban areas.