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Handmaidens of Continental Colonialism? The Ambiguities of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society’s Central Asian Expeditions

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Abstract

Knowledge and power intersected in the Central Asian expeditions of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Founded in 1847 in St Petersburg, the Geographical Society included many military officers amongst its members. While its exploration of Central Asia was primarily undertaken to enrich geographical knowledge, the voyages also provided intelligence to the army’s general staff, which provided soldiers and financial subsidies. However, this did not ipso facto mean that the Geographical Society’s explorers necessarily surveyed Central Asia to add more territory to the Russian Empire. They were primarily motivated by scientific curiosity.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For a recent overview, see Schimmelpenninck van der Oye (2014), Russian-language accounts include Bezotosnyi (2017) and Batorskii (1886).

  2. 2.

    Paul I to V.P. Orlov, Rescript, 12/1/1801, Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi voenno-istoricheskii arkhiv (hereafter: RGVIA), fond 846, opis’ 16, delo 323, sheet (list) 1.

  3. 3.

    For a recent comprehensive history of the ‘second oldest profession’ see Andrew (2018).

  4. 4.

    There would be more name changes, including Main Staff (Glavnyi shtab) and, again, Quartermaster’s Department, but the functions generally remained the same. See Voennaia entsiklopedia (1911–15), s.v. “General’nyi shtab.”

  5. 5.

    For the phrase’s etymology, see Becker (2012).

  6. 6.

    Hopkirk (1990), for the Russian perspective, see Khalfin (1965), Sergeev (2013). A forthcoming work by Morrison (2019) based on archival research describes Russia’s advance into Western Turkestan.

  7. 7.

    The Society’s priorities did not meet with universal approval. In 1876, its commission charged with revising topographical maps of European Russia complained, “to make geographical discoveries, we must emerge from Asia’s depths. In European Russia we will find extensive regions that require proper cartographical coverage.” See Baskhanov (2014, 299).

  8. 8.

    For a brief but reliable biography see Lincoln (1980).

  9. 9.

    This section draws on Schimmelpenninck van der Oye (2004).

  10. 10.

    On the General Staff’s role in organizing and financing the Geographical Society’s expeditions, see Andreev (2013, 56–82).

  11. 11.

    The definitive biography is Dubrovin (1890). For English language accounts of his life, see Rayfield (1976), Andreev (2018), Schimmelpenninck van der Oye (2001, 24–41).

  12. 12.

    N.M. Przehval’skii, Report to the Voenno-uchenyi komitet, 26 February 1870, Nauchnyi arkhiv Russkogo geograficheskogo obshchestva (hereafter: NARGO), fond 13, opis’ 3, delo 37, sheets 1–2.

  13. 13.

    For his report, see N.M. Przheval’skii to Main Staff, “On the Current Situation in Eastern Turkestan,” 6 June 1877, NARGO, fond 13, opis’ 1, delo 26, sheet 1.

  14. 14.

    N.M. Przheval’skii, Memorandum, 25 August 1878, RGVIA, fond 4000, opis’ 1, delo 553, sheets 3–4.

  15. 15.

    A.N. Kuropatkin to Alexander II, secret memorandum, November 1878, RGVIA, fond 4000, opis’ 1, delo 553, sheet 24.

  16. 16.

    N.M. Przhevalk’skii to P.S. Vannovskii, report, 10 March 1888, RGVIA fond 401, opis’ 4/928, delo 40, sheet 4.

  17. 17.

    N.M. Przheval’skii to Main Staff, “Novoe soobrazhenie o voine s Kitaem,” memorandum, 26 June 1886, RGO fond 13, opis’ 1, delo 43, sheet 83 (the document is also in RGIA fond 971, opis’ 1, delo 181.

  18. 18.

    P.S. Vannovskii to N.K. Giers, letter, 5 November 1885. RGVIA fond 401, opis’ 4/928, delo 36, sheet 124.

  19. 19.

    I am grateful to the late Robert Belknap for this thought.

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  1. Department of History, Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada

    David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye

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  1. David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye
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  1. Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale), Germany

    Dittmar Schorkowitz

  2. Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA

    John R. Chávez

  3. Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Philipps University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany

    Ingo W. Schröder

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Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, D. (2019). Handmaidens of Continental Colonialism? The Ambiguities of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society’s Central Asian Expeditions. In: Schorkowitz, D., Chávez, J.R., Schröder, I.W. (eds) Shifting Forms of Continental Colonialism. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9817-9_6

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