Russia as the “Western Other” in Southeast Asia: Encounters of Russian Travelers in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

This article explores an intriguing and unexplored angle of the evolution of Russia's Asian Mission in the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1869 the opening of the Suez Canal increased Russian shipping to the Far East and brought more Russian travelers to Southeast Asia where in an interesting coincidence of local interests and imperial views they interacted with the local rulers, officials in the region. As scholars, naval officers or government officials/advisors they wrote literary accounts or reports of their journeys and sometimes gave public presentations on their experiences which informed the Russian public and government about British and French expansion in the region and the local perception of Russia as a European power. One of these travelers included the heir to the throne and future tsar of Russia, Nicholas II and his mentor E. E. Ukhtomskii, later a prominent exponent of Russia's Asian mission. By examining the contact of Russian travelers with the rulers and officials of Burma and Siam this article reveals how the interpenetration of Russia's imperial myth of an Asian Mission with an Occidental view of Russia in Burma and Siam helped confirm the empire's notion of a “civilizing mission” and its claim of moral and cultural superiority to other Western powers.