Russia, even in its post Soviet scaled-back state, is in fact largely an empire. Most of its land was conquered from indigenous peoples who still inhabit it, this it not too different from both the United States and Canada, though the circumstances are somewhat different.
I think the thing that took me the longest to "get" was simply the distances between things. If you'd asked me a few years ago how far one coast of the USA is from the other, I'd probably guess at around a thousand miles. Top to bottom maybe 500.
Mind you I also didn't realise Washington wasn't in Washington state.
True, although the difference between the US and China is about 1% or so -- they are practically the same size.
And since Alaska is a sixth of the US, China is much larger than the continental US.
How come Russia is /so big/?
They'd take out a map, determine their approximate route from point A to point B, figure it would take about three hours... and arrive, confused, 45 minutes later.
If you're European and living in Europe, that is. Knowing the relative size of your surroundings is pretty useful.
We have 50 states.
America is basically the size of Europe, which really surprised me. But then, it's not knowledge you ever really need to know.