Relationship of Russian Merchants with the Tuvan Population in the Second Half of the 19th - Early 20th Century

Abstract

The author identifies the main factors that influenced the relationship between Russian merchants and the Tuvan population in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries taking into account a number of features and attracting new sources. The author studies the influence of debt trade on Russian-Tuvan relations, characterizes the policy of the Tuvan noions towards Russian merchants, determines the role of Chinese capital in the development of Russian trade in Tuva, considers the image of Russian merchant in the view of the Tuvans. In the course of the work, the system approach was used which allows us to consider the object of the study as a set of interrelated elements. The novelty of the study is the involvement of previously unused sources that considered the nature of the relationship between Russian merchants and the Tuvan population in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries: the materials of the State Archive of the Irkutsk Region, the Central Archive of the Republic of Tyva, the Scientific Archive of the Manuscript Fund of the Tuva Institute for the Humanities and applied research, the State Archive of the Tomsk Region. The author comes to the conclusion that in the second half of the 19th - early 20th century the Russian-Tuvan relations were contradictory. On the one hand, the Tuvan population that needed goods of Russian merchants showed interest and did not oppose the economic development of the region. Some of the Russian merchants managed to firmly adapt to the Tuvan territory and contact with the local population. On the other hand, the increased inflow of Chinese capital at the beginning of the 20th century, the hostility of the Tuvan noions incited by the Chinese side, as well as the terms of debt trade contributed to the aggravation of Russian-Tuvan economic relations. However, despite numerous difficulties and the unstable situation, Russian merchants managed to maintain their positions in Tuva.