Ex Oriente Procella: Discussions in Russian government about Colonization Methods of Northern Manchuria in 1901–1902

Abstract

The article is a publication of documents from the Russian State Historical Archive of the Far East and is devoted to the problem of the development by the central and regional authorities of the Russian Empire of a strategy for the development of lands in the territory of North-East China along the Chinese Eastern Railway under construction. Having initially identified the problem of maintaining the safety of the road itself as the main one, the discussion shifts to the issue of settlement and colonization of lands in the alienation zone by Russian settlers. The focus is on the correspondence and reports of senior officials. The letter of the Minister of Internal Affairs D. S. Sipyagin to the Amur Governor-General N. I. Grodekov dated September 7, 1901 contains the opinions of the highest officials of the empire associated with the adoption of specific decisions on the issue: S. Yu. Witte, V. N. Lamzdorf, A. N. Kuropatkin and D. S. Sipyagin himself. The second document contains the original report of General A. A. Trusov on the issue of colonization of Manchuria from March 24, 1902, prepared by him on the instructions of N. I. Grodekov as a response to a letter from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The proposals made by the general will form the basis of the most humble report of the Amur Governor-General for 1901–1902 as a program for strengthening Russia’s presence in Manchuria. The published documents are important for understanding the process of developing the policy of military and economic expansion of the Russian Empire in Northeast China at the beginning of the 20th century.