Expansion and colonialism on the eastern frontier: views of Siberia and the Far East in pre-Petrine Russia

Abstract

This essay is an examination of the nature of Russian colonial expansion into Siberia and the Far East in the seventeenth century. The argument is made that this expansion was essentially mercantile in nature, and occurred as a result of the quest for furs, which for the Muscovite state represented a reliable and highly lucrative source of revenue. Russian occupation of the Amur basin was additionally stimulated by the hope of establishing a food base for the fur trappers in the desolate regions to the north. The significance of all these regions for the government in Moscow, therefore, rested solely on their ability to supply a colonial commodity. Beyond this, they had no value, and the Russians were even willing in the case of the Far East to surrender territorial claims, if with this Chinese markets could be made more accessible for Russian furs. This interpretation counters both Western views of Russian expansion overall as an undifferentiated, indeed organic process, and some recent Soviet interpretations, which maintain that the Russians in this period had overriding territorial interests on the Amur lands.