The First Central Asian Episode in US Foreign Relations: Eugene Schuyler, Turkestan, and America’s Tacit Acknowledgment of Russia as a Eurasian Power

Abstract

Eugene Schuyler was the first American to travel to Central Asia. Recognized as a scholar diplomat, he had written extensively on Russia and served as the US consul to Reval and the secretary of the American legation in St. Petersburg. During his diplomatic service in Russia, Schuyler was granted absence of leave to visit Central Asia and witnessed the Russian conquest of the region. He was also accompanied by the Russian army to visit the Ili region in Xinjiang amid the Dungan Revolt (1862–1877). Schuyler’s unusual experience was detailed in his travelogue Turkistan, Notes of a Journey in Russian Turkistan, Khokand, Bukhara, and Kuldja. This paper aims to analyze his travelogue to track down the earliest American contact with Central Asia. It argues that the US, even though aware of Russian military activity in the region from Schuyler’s report, tacitly acknowledged Russia’s hegemony in Asia. This could be attributable to Schuyler’s partiality to Russia’s cause, the generally congenial atmosphere in the US-Russia relations in the 1870s, and the absence of perceived US interests in Central Asia. The US foreign policy decision of the 1870s had far-reaching economic consequences and lasting political implications into the 19 th century and beyond.