“The Question of Reinforcing Colonization of the Amur Region Ended in a Single Attempt”: From the Note of the Qualified Representative of the Ministry of Agriculture N. K. Schuman (1916)

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УДК 94(47).083

DOI 10.28995/2073-0101-2020-2-427-438

Andrei A. Ivanov

St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

“The Question of Reinforcing Colonization of the Amur Region Ended in a Single Attempt”: From the Note of the Qualified Representative of the Ministry of Agriculture N. K. Schuman (1916)

Abstract

This published note of the qualified representative of the Ministry of Agriculture in the Amur region N. K. Schuman (1916) introduces into scientific use valuable information on the results of the Amur River region development in the last years of the Russian Empire and broadens our understanding of the economic policy of the government in the Far East. The author of the note describes basic economic activities in the region (gold mining, forestry, agriculture, process industry, etc.), effects of the railroad construction on the commerce; highlights unsolved problems that hinder economic growth. The note underscores the “yellow peril”; in the author’s opinion, the widespread use of Chinese workers created a number of threats: risk of being stripped of workers, if a conflict occurred with China, usurpation of industries by foreign workers, and their rapacious attitude to Russian resources. The document develops and supplements the project of planned colonization of the Amur River Region, developed by Schuman in 1914, approved by A. V. Krivoshein, and experimentally introduced in the Ulminsk district of the Amur region in 1914-1916. The author of the note concludes that reinforcement of the Russian colonization of the Amur region ended in single attempt; while this high-priority task remained unsolved it was impossible to promote economic prosperity of the region. Schuman’s proposals on state regulation of the resettlement and its transfer from Siberia to Far East (including temporary prohibition of settlement in Siberia) are also of interest. The note is stored in the Russian State Historical Archive of Far East (fond 810); its publication is preceded by an introduction, which reconstructs Schuman’s career and the circumstances in which the published document was created, thus helping to better understand its purpose and content.

Keywords

Historical source, Amur River region, colonization of Far East, N. K. Schuman, resettlement policy, economic policy, center and periphery of the Russian Empire.

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References:

DEM'YANENKO, A. N., DYATLOVA, L. A. Obshchii zamysel Amurskoi ekspeditsii 1910 goda i kratkii obzor ee Trudov [The general concept of the Amur expedition of 1910 and a brief overview of its work. In Russ]. IN: Oikumena, 2010, no. 3, pp. 7-28.

KHODYAKOV, M. V., ZHIQING ZHAO. Trudovaya migratsiya kitaitsev v Rossiyu v gody Pervoi mirovoi voiny [Chinese Labor Migration to Russia during the First World War. In Russ.]. IN: Noveishaya istoriya Rossii, 2017, no. 1, pp. 7-30. DOI: 10.21638/11701/spbu24.2017.101

About author

Ivanov Andrei Aleksandrovich, PhD in History, associate professor, St. Petersburg State University, Institute of History, department of contemporary Russian history, professor, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, +7-911-710-06-68, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Grant information

This research has been supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project no 18-18-00142 “The Center and the periphery: State economic policy on the outskirts of the Russian Empire (1894-1917).”

Submitted 4.05.2019, published (for citation):

IVANOV, A. A. “V voprose ob usilenii kolonizatsii Amurskoi oblasti my dal'she opyta ne poshli”. Iz zapiski upolnomochennogo Ministerstva zemledeliya N. K. Shumana. 1916 g. [“The Question of Reinforcing Colonization of the Amur Region Ended in a Single Attempt”: From the Note of the Qualified Representative of the Ministry of Agriculture N. K. Schuman (1916). In Russ.]. IN: Vestnik arhivista / Herald of an Archivist, 2020, no. 2, pp. 427-438. doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2020-2-427-438

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