Also called the Ural Mountains and the Stone Belt. This range of mountains in Russia is the traditional boarder between Europe and Asia. They extend 2,500 kilometers in a generally north south direction from the Arctic Ocean to the Steppes. (The Ural River continues the boarder between east and west to the Caspian Sea.) In the south the Mugodzhar Hills form a low extension for 500 kilometers going nearly to the Aral Sea.
The Urals are composed of many parallel ridges in the south. The mid part of the range is narrow and relatively low. Many routes through the mountains are located there. The north Urals follow the 60º E meridian almost perfectly. The Arctic and Sub-Arctic generally deflect off the east more or less. As their name implies this section generally free of trees. Though they are quite scenic they are not very high above sea level. The highest peak in the range, Naroda Mountain (Poznurr), is just 1895 meters in height.
Quite a bit of industry is located near the mountains. Many factories were relocated east of them during WWII to protect them from the invading Germans. In addition much or the region is rich in minerals and factories have continued to be located there to take advantage of that fact. | 
