Anan’ev Denis A.,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Migration Processes and Problems of Social and Economic Development of the Russian Far East (the Latter Half of the 19th – Early 20th Century) in the Works of English- and German-Language Researchers
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2020-4-3
The article gives an overview of key studies published by the English- and German-language researchers on various issues of social and economic development of the Russian Far East during the ‘late imperial” period, when this region attracted thousands of migrants. The paper objective is to determine what problems were of particular interest to Western researchers evaluating the latter ones’ contribution to the study of this topic. It is established that Western specialists using theories of “colonization” and “colonialism”, methodological tools of historical demography and “ecological history”, focused on the problems of agrarian colonization of the region; migration of population from other parts of the Russian empire and neighboring countries (China, Korea, Japan); development of Far Eastern trade. German-language authors of the early 20th century (K. Wiedenfeld, W. Klumberg) applying the colonization paradigm rather negatively assessed the results of agricultural colonization of the Far East during the post-reform era. The contemporary researchers (K. Spiess, A. Moritsch, D. Landgraf et al.) admitted both achievements and problems of the resettlement process in the Far East, adopting a “middle-ground” position. English-language authors emphasized the sociocultural and ecological aspects of economic activities of resettlers, problems of interrelations between various ethnic groups (L.H. Siegelbaum); tried to put the economy of the Russian Far East into the international context, highlighting the importance of geopolitical factor, the rivalry between the colonial powers (J. Stephan, M. Sokolsky).
Publishing: 29/08/2020
How to cite: Anan’ev D.A. Migration Processes and Problems of Social and Economic Development of the Russian Far East (the Latter Half of the 19th – Early 20th Century) in the Works of English- and German-Language Researchers // Historical Courier, 2020, No. 4 (12), pp. 29–42. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2020/ISTKURIER-2020-4-03.pdf
Links: Issue 4 2020
Keywords: Western historiography; Russian Far East; agrarian colonization; migration; trade