Glavnogo Upravleniya General'nogo

1871

Karta Aziatskoy Rossii

Glavnogo Upravleniya General'nogo

Mosow

Separate Map

61

110

13,000,000

Map of Asia Russia, on sheet 61x110, dissected into 24 sections, backed with linen. Inset: plan of Irkutsk, with reference to places. Compiled according to the latest information and published by the Cartographic Institution of the Military Topographic Directorate in the period from 1865 to 1871. Map is hand colored in outline, showing political and administrative boundaries, cities, towns, rivers, lakes and mountains. Relief shown by hachures.

Asia

Russia

Irkutsk (Russia)

Karta Aziatskoy Rossii : Sostavlena po Noveyshim Svedeniyam. i Izdana pri voyepno – topograficheskoy ... Glavnogo Upravleniya General'nogo Shtaba 1863.

13538.000

Glavnogo Upravleniya General'nogo

1871

Karta Aziatskoy Rossii : Sostavlena po Noveyshim Svedeniyam. i Izdana pri voyepno – topograficheskoy ... Glavnogo Upravleniya General'nogo Shtaba 1863.

"This extremely rare wall map, depicting all of Siberia and Central Asia, was published for the high command of the Russian Army in 1871, at a key historical juncture, just as Russia was consolidating its hold over its Far Eastern territories, while resuming its conquests in Central Asia, bringing the Great Game, the long-running cold war against Britain, towards the frontiers of India. The finely lithographed and beautifully coloured map employs an interesting projection to illustrate the ongoing geostrategic realities. While conventionally embracing all of Siberia, the view is cleverly slanted down in the lower left corner down to almost 30° N Latitude to take in the key theatre of the Great Game. The territories already under the rule of the Russian Czar are outlined in green and extend from just to the west of Moscow all the way east to the outer extremities of Alaska (which Russia had recently sold to the United states). Asiatic Russia is divided into various oblasti (provinces), each outlined in green. The topography is remarkably detailed and accurate, with all coastlines, lakes and major rivers carefully delineated, while areas of elevation are expressed throughout by fine hachuring. Innumerable cities, towns and villages are labelled, with major centres and oblast and sovereign capitals emphasized, while all important roads are traced. The only exception to the scientific precision is the delineation of the coast of some of the Arctic islands, which is conjectural in places, in advance of scientific surveys. The map provides excellent coverage of the new territories in the Far East that were conquered from China by Russia in 1860, notably including the port of Vladivostok, which in the year that the present map was issued became Russia’s main Pacific base (it is still shown in small font, while the outgoing main base in the Far East, Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, is still printed in large font). Shown heading across Asia, from Moscow to the Amur River, via Yekaterinburg and Irkutsk, is the Siberian Post Read, or ‘Moscow Highway’ the lifeline of Russian Asia. Turning to Central Asia, the map shows that Russia had by this time consolidated its hold down past Tashkent, while it had either already conquered, or was in the process of taking over the khanates of Bukhara (outlined in purple), Khiva (yellow) and Kokand (orange). Once accomplished, this would augment the Russian sphere to the frontiers of Afghanistan, and, for the British, uncomfortably close to India (Kashmir, outlined in orange, with its capital Srinagar, appears in the far-left corner). The map thus shows that the, usually cold, Great Game was then reaching a fever pitch. Indeed, the Russian advances in Central Asia would shortly motivate Britain to invade Afghanistan, making it buffer state protecting India. Interestingly, the map features a large inset map of Irkutsk, with a detailed street plan and key labelling 15 major sites. The city was the main Russian centre in east-central Siberia, located on the Irkut River, near Lake Baykal. Founded in 1661, Irkutsk long thrived as a great entrepot of transcontinental trade, handling a vast wealth of Siberian gold, diamonds, furs and lumber, as well as Chinese teas and silk. In a twist that may at first seem surprising, during the 19th century, Irkutsk became one of the great centres of high culture in all of Russia. For decades since the Decembrist Revolt of 1825, the Russian czars had exiled high-class political ‘troublemakers’ from St. Petersburg and Moscow to Irkutsk, including prominent writers, playwrights, artists, noblemen, politicians, businessmen and generals. These men formed a rarefied society, building fine houses with intellectual salons; by the time that the present map was issued, Irkutsk boasted some of the best libraries and theatres in the empire. The map was made for the Military Topographic Directorate of the General Staff, the special cartographic office of the Russian high command, with had access to all official surveys, as well as top secret reconnaissance gained by covert missions. The present work would have been of great strategic value to senior Russian Army officers and political leaders as they planned Russia’s next moves upon the world’s largest chess board; the tack marks in the corners of the present example serve as testament to the fact that the map was once displayed on a headquarters wall, the focus of high-level strategy sessions. A Note on Editions and Rarity The map was, as the title suggests, first issued in 1865. As the small inscription in the bottom centre margin indicates, the present updated edition was issued in 1871. Despite our best efforts, we have not been be able to find any references, let alone the locations, of any other examples of the map, in either the 1865 or 1871 editions. While an example or two surely exists somewhere in Russian state archives, the Directorate would have issued the present man in only a small print run exclusively for high-level official use. As the maps would often had been pinned to walls, or otherwise heavily used, their survival rate would have been low. Thus, the rarity of map today is perhaps not so surprising. Historical Context: Russia’s Asiatic Ambitions and the Foundation of Modern Siberia The present map appeared at an especially interesting time in the history of Siberia, just the mega-region was being developed into its complete modern form within the context of complex, interrelated geopolitical trends. During the 16th century, Russia began it long process of expansion across the Urals into Asia, and by the mid-17th century its territory had reached the Pacific Ocean. While the Russian presence was sparse, relegated to an archipelago of forts, Siberia became economically important for its fur and mineral industries and for hosting the ‘Moscow Highway’, the long overland route that carried tea and silk from China to the heart of European Russia. By the mid-18th century, the Russian presence even extended across the Bering Strait into America, the future Alaska. However, for a long time, Siberia’s development was limited due to the vast distances, its harsh climate and a lack of investment; it simply was not priority for the Czar’s court in faraway St. Petersburg. Moreover, Russia’s activities in the Pacific were hindered by a lack of a convenient ice-free seaport. However, during the mid-19th century, Siberia and Central Asia moved to the fore of Russia’s agenda. This fell within the context of ‘The Great Game’, the cold war between Britain and Russia for control of the heart of Asia, that lasted from the end of the Napoleonic Wars until the 1890s. In the first half of the 19th century, Russia had successfully gained dominance over the Caucuses, and had developed large sections of western Siberia into a great mining empire. In 1848, Russia commenced its expansion into Central Asia, upon conquering the Kazakh Khanate (approximating modern Kazakhstan). It also commenced the construction of a proper post road across Siberia. Russia was throttled by Britain and her allies during the Crimea. War (1853-6), even though she had successfully defended her Far Eastern port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy from a British attack in 1854. The shocking defeat caused Russia to ‘pull itself together’, as the new Czar Alexander II (reigned 1855- 81) embarked an unprecedented series of reforms while pursuing an extremely ambitious agenda of expansion in Asia. Henceforth, Russia’s defence would be to go on the offense. Alexander II’s regime placed massive pressure upon China, which had been weakened by the Second Opium War (1856-60), resulting in the Convention of Peking (1860), which gave Russia control over the Primorsky Krai, with a superb ice-free deep-sea port, which was soon to become in Vladivostok, Russia’s new gateway to the Pacific. In 1871, the year that the present map as issued, Vladivostok formally became the Russian naval headquarters and commercial hub in the Far East, replacing Nikolayevsk-on-Amur. Siberia’s immensity had now reached 13.1 million square km, making it larger than any other realm in world history. In 1861, Alexander II emancipated the serfs, essentially releasing millions of rural Russian peasants from the feudal bondage. The liberation motivated the state to open up thousands of square kilometres of new lands for settlement and economic development in Siberia, spurring a great migration eastwards. From 1859 to 1914, over 10 million Russians moved to Siberia, with 500,000 settling in the Far East. For the first time, Russia dedicated sufficient manpower to develop Siberia, as villages grew into significant cities, trails were built into major roads, wilderness was cleared for farms, and small diggings became great mines. In 1867, Russia sold Alaska, which was both unprofitable and impossible to defend, to the United States for U.S. $7.2 million, an enormous sum for the time. While this may have seemed, at first glance, like a strategic retreat, by doing this Russia cleverly protected its Asian territories, by forming a protective ‘American wall’ between them and British North America (the U.S. had no designs on Russia proper). In 1868, Russia resumed its programme to conquer Central Asia, taking over the Emirate of Bukhara (eastern Uzbekistan and Tajikistan); in 1873 it seized the Khanate of Khiva (Turkmenistan and western Uzbekistan); and in 1876 it conquered the Khanate of Kokand (Eastern Uzbekistan, parts of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan). This brought the Great Game to a fever pitch, motivating Britain to conquer Afghanistan in 1878-80, in an effort to create a buffer state to protect India. Beginning in the 1880s, Russia and Britain gradually came to the realization that their cold war was futile; Russia would never truly threaten British India, while Britain had no place in interfering with Russia’s Asiatic possessions. The easing of the tensions freed Russia to concentrate resources on the development of Siberia. In 1891, Russia commenced the building the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok, which at 9,298 km in length, became to be the greatest infrastructure project in world history (it would not be completed until 1916). Russia would also place migration to Siberia into hyperdrive upon the introduction of the Stolypin Reforms in 1906, which allowed private land ownership by peasants and the opening of hundreds of thousands of kilometres of state land. While the Soviets would undue many of the late czarist policies, they inherited a vast Asiatic realm with limitless potential." (Alexander Johnston, 2020)

13538.000

Separate Map

61

110

13538000.jp2

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Glavnogo Upravleniya General'nogo