CG: n
CT: A steppe is a dry, grassy plain. Steppes occur in temperate climates, which lie between the tropics and polar regions. Temperate regions have distinct seasonal temperature changes, with cold winters and warm summers.
Steppes are semi-arid, meaning they receive 25 to 50 centimeters (10-20 inches) of rain each year. This is enough rain to support short grasses, but not enough for tall grasses or trees to grow. Many kinds of grasses grow on steppes, but few grow taller than half a meter (20 inches).
S: NatGeo – https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/steppe/ (last access: 24 April 2025)
N: 1. vast treeless plain of southeastern Europe and Asiatic Russia, 1670s, from German steppe and directly from Russian step’, a word of unknown origin. It was introduced in Western Europe by von Humboldt early 19c. and extended generally to extensive treeless plains.
2. steppe. The first known use of steppe was in 1671.
- one of the vast usually level and treeless tracts in southeastern Europe or Asia.
- arid land with xerophilous vegetation found usually in regions of extreme temperature range and loess soil.
3. the Steppe, also known as Eurasian Steppe.
- belt of grassland that extends some 5,000 miles (8,000 km) from Hungary in the west through Ukraine and Central Asia to Manchuria in the east. Mountain ranges interrupt the steppe, dividing it into distinct segments, but horsemen could cross such barriers easily, so that steppe peoples could and did interact across the entire breadth of the Eurasian grassland throughout most of recorded history.
- Nonetheless, the unity of steppe history is difficult to grasp; steppe peoples left very little writing for historians to use, and Chinese, Middle Eastern, and European records tell only what happened within a restricted range across their respective steppe frontiers. Archaeology offers real but limited help (grave relics from chieftains’ tombs abound but, of course, say little about everyday life and leave political, military, and linguistic alignments to inference). As a result, until about 1000 ce, information concerning the rise and fall of steppe empires and the relation between events in the eastern and western portions of the steppe remains fraught with great uncertainty.
4. Physical Geography (General); Climatology: steppe.
- An area of grass-covered, treeless plains that has a semi-arid climate.
5. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention
S: 1. Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=steppe (last access: 25 April 2025). 2. MW – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/steppe (last access: 24 April 2025). 3. EncBrit – https://www.britannica.com/place/the-Steppe (last access: 24 April 2025). 4. TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 24 April 2025). 5. Amazon – https://www.amazon.es/Steppe-Story-Journey-English-ebook/dp/B0B9N2NP1X (last access: 24 April 2025).
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CR: biome, canid, ecology, forest, jungle, merlin, prairie, savanna, silviculture, taiga, tropical rainforest, tumbleweed.
