Surveying Manchuria: Imperial Russia’s Topographers at Work

Abstract

Russia’s eastward expansion in Manchuria during the last decade of the nineteenth and the first decade of the twentieth century was one of the most ambitious colonisation projects by a European power in Asia. Geographic and military expeditions to Manchuria were persistent and wide—ranging, examining geography, climate, natural resources, indigenous peoples and local traditions. Russian topographic surveys produced detailed maps of Manchuria and facilitated railway expansion in this region. However, accounts of Russian military topographers reveal the difficulties of travelling and collecting data in Manchuria. They were less enthusiastic about the prospect of occupying this region, but their voices rarely reached the high echelons of power. As a result, Russia’s colonial enterprise in Manchuria was accompanied by constant frustrations. Russian territorial expansion beyond its own borders had common features with the colonial ambitions of European empires in China, Asia and elsewhere during the high tide of global imperialism.KeywordsGeographic KnowledgeGeneral StaffEuropean PowerSonghua River BasinMilitary ExpeditionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.