Saving Lost Souls or Doing Good Business? Interactions at the Russian-Kazakh Frontier and Strategies for Freeing Russian Slaves in Central Asia in the Early 19th Century

DIYÂR ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-57
Author(s):  
Elena Smolarz
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Regular Component ◽  
Early 19Th Century ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Christian Brothers ◽  
Common Practices ◽  
The Russian Empire

By examining patterns of ransoming strategies, this paper generates insights about the interactions between state, economic and social actors across the Russian-Kazakh frontier in the early 19th century. Generally, first encounters across borders and boundaries include violence and invasion. Accordingly, the enslavement and subsequent ransoming of captured people represent common practices in frontier regions. Analyses of these processes illuminate the nature of interactions between different actors along the border. Securing release of slaves through ransom was a regular component of Russian foreign policy from the 16th century onwards. Imperial institutions were established for ransoming Russian Christian brothers-in-the-faith and, later, for other subjects of the Russian Empire who had been enslaved by the Ottoman Empire and Central Asian Khanates. With imperial financing, the Orenburg Border Commission (1799-1859) co-ordinated the ransoming process and developed networks for achieving the release of Russian subjects held in the Kazakh Steppe, in Khiva and Bukhara. Actors involved in these networks were of heterogeneous descent, including Russian imperial officials, Bukharian and Khivan merchants, Kazakh officials, as well as Russian agents. Drawing on archival research, this article explores ransoming networks and strategies along the Russian-Kazakh frontier and probes the motives of the actors involved.

scholarly journals ATTACKS OF THE CENTRAL ASIAN NOMADS ON RUSSIAN TRADING CARAVANS IN THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY

2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-153
Author(s):  
Konstantin A. Abdrakhmanov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Russian Government ◽  
Early 19Th Century ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Slow Moving ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The Military

Based on archival materials (reports of the Orenburg border and customs departments, orders of the military governors of the Orenburg region, letters from the injured merchants, etc.), the article considers cases of attacks of the Central Asian nomads on the merchant caravans in the early 19th century. The main means of trade and transport communication between the Russian Empire, Bukhara, Khiva and Kokand were caravans, their size sometimes reached several thousand loaded camels. At that time, the steppes that separated the Russian border from the main trading cities of Central Asia were insufficiently explored, difficult to traverse, and very unsafe. Armed nomadic groups moving along the imperial border and deep in the Kazakh steppe were a direct threat to slow-moving and poorly guarded caravans. Steppe raiders were attracted by a diverse range of valuable goods and a large number of working animals, so valued by nomadic cultures. Merchants, their clerks, and hired workers were often killed in clashes with raiders. Those Russian merchants who were robbed of their money and property sought support from the leadership of the Orenburg province and even sent messages to the central Russian government.

Битвазапрошлое:храмсвятогоГеоргия вИзраавэпицентре церковно-политическойборьбыконцаXIXв.

2019 ◽  
pp. 256-281
Author(s):  
E.M. Kopot`
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Late 19Th Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Church

The article brings up an obscure episode in the rivalry of the Orthodox and Melkite communities in Syria in the late 19th century. In order to strengthen their superiority over the Orthodox, the Uniates attempted to seize the church of St. George in Izraa, one of the oldest Christian temples in the region. To the Orthodox community it presented a threat coming from a wealthier enemy backed up by the See of Rome and the French embassy. The only ally the Antioch Patriarchate could lean on for support in the fight for its identity was the Russian Empire, a traditional protector of the Orthodox Arabs in the Middle East. The documents from the Foreign Affairs Archive of the Russian Empire, introduced to the scientific usage for the first time, present a unique opportunity to delve into the history of this conflict involving the higher officials of the Ottoman Empire as well as the Russian embassy in ConstantinopleВ статье рассматривается малоизвестный эпизод соперничества православной и Мелкитской общин в Сирии в конце XIX века. Чтобы укрепить свое превосходство над православными, униаты предприняли попытку захватить церковь Святого Георгия в Израа, один из старейших христианских храмов в регионе. Для православной общины он представлял угрозу, исходящую от более богатого врага, поддерживаемого Римским престолом и французским посольством. Единственным союзником, на которого Антиохийский патриархат мог опереться в борьбе за свою идентичность, была Российская Империя, традиционный защитник православных арабов на Ближнем Востоке. Документы из архива иностранных дел Российской Империи, введены в научный оборот впервые, уникальная возможность углубиться в историю этого конфликта с участием высших должностных лиц в Османской империи, а также российского посольства в Константинополе.

scholarly journals Swedish baron G.M. Sprengtporten in Russian service, 1786-1809

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 480-492
Author(s):  
Vladimir N. Shaidurov ◽  
Valentina A. Veremenko
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Early 19Th Century ◽  
Independent State ◽  
Russian Army ◽  
Historical Figures ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Short Time ◽  
First Time ◽  
Swedish Citizen

General of the Infantry Count G.M. Sprengtporten (1740-1819) is one of the less known historical figures of the last quarter of the 18th and of the early 19th century. As a Swedish citizen, he hatched plans to turn Finland into an independent state. In the mid-1780s he saw in Catherine II a potential ally who could implement his ideas. After accepting the invitation to enter Russian service, Sprengtporten did not blend either in the Highest Court or in the Russian army. Not having shown any significant military feats during the wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, he distinguished himself in the diplomatic and lawmaking field. An important event was his mission to Europe (1800-1801), which resulted in the return of more than six thousand Russian prisoners to Russia. The draft Regulations on the Establishment of the Main Administration in New Finland, developed by Sprengtporten with some changes made by Emperor Aleksander I, became the cornerstone of Finnish autonomy within the Russian Empire over the next century. Occupying for a short time the post of Governor General, he became a link between Finland and Russia. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the comprehensive presentation of the Russian service of G.M. Sprengtporten. The article is written on the basis of published sources and unpublished documents from some central archives, which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time.

Ottoman-Russian Relations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Brisku
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Trade Disputes ◽  
Military Alliances ◽  
Military Reform ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
Late 18Th Century ◽  
The Russian Empire

Four-centuries-long encounters between the Ottoman Empire and the Grand Duchy of Muscovy/Russian Empire point to complex relations that have been triggered and defined mostly by territorial, trade disputes, and wars, and maintained by diplomatic rivalry and occasional military alliances. Starting as friendly encounters during Sultan Bayezid II reign at the beginning of the 16th century, these relations, essentially and persistently asymmetrical, reveal an initial and long Ottoman dominance over the Muscovy/Russian side; one that lasted from the early 16th to the late 18th century—whereby the two sides shared no direct borders, traded and did not fight each other until the late 17th century—followed by a late 18th-century and mid-19th-century Russian ascendency. This ascendency was achieved largely thanks to the military reform that Tsar/Emperor Peter the Great undertook, namely, the establishment of a standing and professional army and consequentially due to the many wars that Russia won throughout the 19th century; the decisive ones being those fought during the reign of Empress Catherine the Great. The mid-19th century and the early 20th century—which witnessed the implosion of the Russian Empire due to the Bolshevik Revolution and the break-up of the Ottoman Empire by Britain and France—was a long period that saw few and brief military alliances, contested trade relations and yet continued wars. It was ultimately marred by an Ottoman drive to counterbalance Russia’s dominance, while the latter sought to preserve it, by involving other European powers (British and French)—the most crucial moment being the British, French, and Ottoman armies defeating the Russian one in the Crimean War (1853–1856)—transforming their bilateral interactions into multilateral but unsustainable relations.

scholarly journals Russian-Kokand relations in the early 19th century (By the example of Philip Nazarov Embassy period)

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.J. Yakobjanov
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
The Political ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
Early 19Th Century ◽  
The Russian Empire

This article focuses on the Kokand khanate and the political and diplomatic relations of the Russian Empire in the early 19th century. In the course of these diplomatic relations, several embassies were established between the two countries. One of these is Philip Nazarov. This article will tell you about its embassy, its purpose and its consequences.

Russian Empire in the System of Global Trade in Medicinal Herbs in the Late 18th – Early 19th Century and the Problem of Proportion Between “Scientific” and “Traditional” Pharmaceutics

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 698
Author(s):  
Marina Loskutova
Keyword(s):  
Medicinal Plants ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Napoleonic Wars ◽  
Indigenous Plants ◽  
Early 19Th Century ◽  
Binary Model ◽  
Russian State ◽  
European Trade ◽  
The Russian Empire

This article examines Russian imports of medicinal plants in the late 18th – early 19th centuries and the attempts to reduce these procurements by using home-grown plants instead in the context of a general crisis in European trade during the Napoleonic wars. It attempts to estimate the volumes of imported medicinal materials, analyzes the range of medicinal plants, and compares the trades in exotic medicinal plants in Russia with the known data about their circulation in various European countries. The article demonstrates the dependency of Russian state-run apothecaries and hospitals on both the imported exotic plants and species native to the Russian Empire in the late 18th – early 19th centuries, and examines the available data concerning the apothecary gardens and wild medicinal plants harvesting for state-run apothecaries in Russia. It highlights the lack of infrastructure for a steady supply of native plants to state-run apothecaries and hospitals, the factor that accounted for the futility of attempts to reduce the dependency on imported medicaments in the early 19th century. At the same time, the paper emphasizes the continuing presence of local potion and herb shops trading in medicinal plants long before the transfer of European pharmaceutical institutions and practices to the Russian empire. These shops were not restricted to trading in indigenous plants only but could also sell the exotic ones. This fact undermines the simple binary model of European and “indigenous” or “folk” pharmaceutical traditions co-existing in Russia in the late 18th – early 19th centuries, arguing instead for their entangled histories.

scholarly journals The Development of the Norms and Institutions of Criminal Law in the Transcaucasia Region at the Beginning of the 19th Century

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 766-774
Author(s):  
Irina Minnikes ◽  
Natiq Salamov
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Criminal Policy ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
The State ◽  
Early 19Th Century ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Criminal Legislation ◽  
The 19Th Century

The authors study the development of criminal law in the Transcaucasia region of the Russian Empire in the early 19th century, and discuss the political and legal significance of the accession of Transcaucasia to the Russian Empire. The normative basis of the research is various agreements of the Russian Empire, including agreements with the Khanates of Northern Azerbaijan, the acts of the supreme power —decrees, manifests and instructions, as well as the corresponding narrative materials. The methodological basis of this research is the general dialectic method of scientific cognition, the methods of empirical and theoretical character: description, formalization, comparison, analysis, generalization, deduction and induction, hypothesis, as well as the special legal methods: formal legal, comparative legal. Research results made it possible to prove that, before Transcaucasia joined the Russian Empire, social relationships in the region, including criminal law ones, were regulated by both written and common law, and that state and political changes lead to changes in criminal legislation throughout the whole history. When Transcaucasia, which has a multi-national and multi-confessional population, joined the Russian Empire, the central government faced the task of working out a special criminal law policy of protecting the society from criminal infringements, as well as some other goals and tasks in this area. The authors determine the degree to which the borderland policy of the state influenced the development of the borderland criminal policy, describe legal acts that enacted changes in the criminal legislation. Special attention is paid to describing the institutions of criminal law that underwent changes though the participation of the state in this process; specifics of the goals and tasks of government coercion, as well as the general basics of sentencing are evaluated. The conducted analysis of the contents of historical legal acts allowed the authors to conclude that, after joining the Russian Empire, the essential tasks of the criminal law of Transcaucasia were, for the first time, formulated at the normative level, including such tasks as crime prevention and the protection of individuals and public safety from criminal infringements. The fundamental principles of humanism and justice, different from the previously dominant ones, were established in the criminal law.

scholarly journals Caravan trade of Central Asian merchants with Russia in the first quarter of the 19th century

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-410
Author(s):  
Konstantin A. Abdrakhmanov
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Central Administration ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Shed Light

The article analyzes the everyday business activity of Asian entrepreneurs who participated in caravan trade with the Russian Empire through the cities of Orenburg region in the first quarter of the 19th century. The specifics of foreign trade operations of merchants from Bukhara, Khiva and Kokand during this period were almost completely ignored by Russian historians in the pre-revolutionary, Soviet and modern periods. The source base of this article consists of unpublished archival documents that shed light on the details of the business activities of merchants from Asia. Letters to the regional and Imperial administration made by Asian entrepreneurs, as well as personal letters from foreign merchants are particularly valuable in this regard. Traders had to deal with a long list of tasks. Before the caravan could go along the required route, it was necessary to hire responsible guides, which was not always possible (guides often turned out to be unreliable, which led to additional expenses for the cargo owners), acquire pack animals, take care of security and prepare a considerable amount of money for various road tolls for travelling through the Kazakh steppe. The merchants who were successful in the caravan trade were characterized by moral and psychological stability, the ability to restrain themselves, not succumbing to momentary desires, and even the skills of using cold weapons and firearms. To resolve issues that were exclusively within the competence of representatives of the Russian regional or central administration, Asian merchants had to possess certain communication skills.

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