Steppe on it

A steppe is a "vast, grassy plain" (http://autocww.colorado.edu/~toldy2/E64ContentFiles/SustainableEnvironment/Steppe.html).  There are steppes in Europe, Asia, and North and South America.  In Russia, the steppe is "dry, cold, and flat" with few, if any, trees (http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/HIS241/Notes/Geography/Steppe.html).   The steppe in Russia is the largest one in the world.  Cossacks lived on the Russian steppe - they were nomads (the soil of the steppe does not support farming) their fortified camps were called 'sich' (http://www.personal.psu.edu/zzz5019/blogs/zachary_ziobro/2011/02/the-cossack-era.html).