Prerequisites for the Rapid Growth and Decay of Some Far Eastern Territories

The turn of the 19^th century was marked by a rapid growth of industry in the Russian Far East. It was caused by the generally favorable political atmosphere as well as by the construction of the Great Trans-Siberian Railway (Transsib) which had inspired the new life in the remote corner of Russia. Minister of Finance Witte wrote about it the following ,”The Siberian mainland opens a new way for us and new horizons for the world trade. …. It would start a new era in the history of mankind and initiate a radical revolution in the stable economic relations between the countries.”

The following figures would be of interest: while a decade before the Transsib construction (1880-1889) some 24,400 people came to these areas, and about 45,500 during the period of construction, 172,500 people came to the southern regions of the Far East in the first decade of the century, mainly by the railway. They were mostly the migrating peasants who wanted to populate that territory.

In those years, the mining industry was rapidly developing. For instance, in 1894 only ten applications were submitted to the name of the Governor General of Priamurye Territory requesting the right to prospect mineral resources, but the number increased to 43 in 1896.

The gold-mines used to take the leading positions in the mining industry. The annual produce of the Zeya Company amounted to 140 poods of gold in the 1880s. In 1897, the “Amur Gold-Miming Company” founded on the Amur, produced 45 poods of gold a year. Primorye Region boasted lots of produced gold as well.

Black coal production was the second by importance in the mining industry, been required by the necessity to supply both the navy and civil national fleet with fuel from independent coal bases.

The first commercial coal fields were discovered in Sakhalin, Suchan basin, Uglovaya and Ussurijsk areas (Primorye Region). Rich oil fields were discovered in Sakhalin Island. A polimetal deposit was surveyed in the north of Primorye Region. By the beginning of the twentieth century the southern regions of Priamurye and Primorye had become the centers of the Russian life in the Far East.

But the construction of China – East Railway and non-freezing ports of Dalny* and Port-Arthur* in the Liaodun Peninsula leased from China for 25 years, had attracted thousands of Russian traders and entrepreneurs who laid the foundation for Russian life in this territory in unprecedented short time. The cities of Khabarovsk and Vladivostok gradually lost their positions in the economic activity, and were replaced by Harbin and Dalny, which had unquestionable advantages over Khabarovsk and Vladivostok.

The modern city of Harbin originated in 1898 from a small village, with the start of the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway (KVZhD) by Russia, an extension of the Trans- Siberian Railway, shortcutting substantially the distance to Vladivostok and creating a link

to the port city of Dalny (today’s Dalian) and the Russian Naval Base Port Arthur.

Harbin was located at the crossroads of the most important railway lines, connecting Russia with Primorye, Manchuria, and the Yellow Sea coast. The ports Dalny and Port-Arthur, in contrast to Vladivostok and Khabarovsk, were located on the shore of the non-freezing harbor in the very center of important navigation lines. Thus, the Russian government had to use most of money resources for these cities, which were called the Eastern Paris and Eastern Odessa.

Due to insolvable contradictions between Russia and Japan, the Manchurian version of the Russian colonization of the Far East had resulted in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 -1905. After that War Russia had lost its positions in Manchuria, almost the whole navy, and the southern part of Sakhalin. Russia came out to the natural borders washed by the Pacific Ocean and continued the development of that territory.

6. Answer the following questions:

•How can you characterize the turn of the 19^th century in the Far East?

•What events inspired the new life in the remote corner of Russia?

•What branches of economy started to develop at that time?

•What places of the Russian Far East became the centers of development?

•What event caused a decay of Khabarovsk and Vladivostok regions?

• What unquestionable advantages had Harbin, Dalny and Port-Arthur over Khabarovsk and Vladivostok?

•How did people call Harbin and Dalny? Why?

•What were the losses of Russia after the Russo-Japanese War?

•Can we consider Russia to be one of the greatest colonial powers in the world?