Transport inaccessibility of Georgia in the 1770s – 1860s

Abstract

Based on the source study of the publications of the travelers’ diary entries, this article examines the transport inaccessibility of Eastern Georgia during the 1770s – 1860s. The goal lies in determining the impact of transport inaccessibility upon the implementation of pro-Russian goals. The author aims to determine the level of transport inaccessibility of Eastern Georgia on the imperial and local levels as the negative factors for the travelers in this region. The article employs the methods of the archeology of knowledge in the classical tradition of M. Foucault and discourse analysis of micro-historical scale in the classical interpretation of C. Ginzburg. Traditionally, the attention of researchers is focused on the positive integration processes, while the isolationist anti-globalist practices that contradict these ideas and their justifications are not reflected by the researchers. A non-biased account of anti-globalist practices significantly complements the known historical facts, and allows providing a new interpretation that is relevant against the background of the ongoing in the region ethno-national "renaissance". The scientific novelty lies in articulation of the problem: based on the travelers’ diaries, the author characterizes the impact of transport inaccessibility upon the implementation of pro-Russian tasks in the 1770s – 1860s. The mechanism for integration of the Georgian population lies in the development of land routes, which the Russian Empire regarded as the most effective way to establish its presence in the region, allowing it to quickly transfer resources and attract local producers of goods to the Russian markets. The article discusses a popular scientific opinion that Russia through interaction with the Russian and obtaining practical benefits by the Georgian, intended to arouse the interest of the latter to the model of social structure and culture of metropole. The conclusion is made that the centripetal policy faced negative factors of inaccessibility of Eastern Georgia on the imperial and local levels.