Discover Far East with the Presidential Library

On the eve of the Eastern Economic Forum, which will be held on September 11-13, 2018 in Vladivostok, the Presidential Library is featuring digital copies of rare documents and materials about the regions of the Far Eastern Federal District, the largest in our country, occupying 36% of its territory.

The district includes nine regions, each of them is dedicated to a separate collection of the Presidential Library. These are the Amur Region, the Jewish Autonomous Region, the Kamchatka Territory, the Magadan Region, the Primorye Territory, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Sakhalin Region, the Khabarovsk Territory, and the Chukotka Autonomous District. In addition, the general collection "Point of Attraction – the Russian Far East" is available on our portal.

Who and when settled these vast territories of the eastern part of Eurasia? What difficulties did the settlers face?

Mainstreaming of Russians to Eastern Siberia and the Pacific coast dates from the XVII-XVIII centuries. In the XIX century, the Far East became already a real outpost of Russia in the Asia-Pacific region, a place of mutually beneficial cooperation with countries such as China, Korea, Japan, not destroyed even by the military vicissitudes of the XX century.

During the Soviet period, cities grew in the Far East, factories and roads were actively built. In the XXI century, the region set the task of anticipating development, the program "Far Eastern hectare" was announced, and so on.

A lot of digital copies of documents, books, periodicals and photographs devoted to different periods and cities of the Far East have been collected on the portal of the Presidential Library.

Think, for instance, of Vladivostok, the capital of Primorye. What was it looked like, for example, in the 1920s? This information is available in the reference book "The Entire Vladivostok" for 1926. The country has got New Economic Policy (NEP). "Rezinotrest" offers galoshes and tires, "Tobacco Trust" cigarettes and cigars, "Hotel Versailles" - a first-class holiday with running water in every room (it was a rare thing).

Looking at the pre-revolutionary views of the city is possible on postcards from the Presidential Library collection. And to get an impression of how the inhabitants of the European part of the country got to Vladivostok, is best of all from the lecture summary "From Petrograd to Vladivostok" (1915): "The shortest way from Petrograd to Vladivostok is 8154 versts. This distance passengers pass within 9-12 days", - the book says.  

But the railway station was built in Vladivostok only in 1893 (by the way, it was laid in 1891 by the Tsarevich, the future Emperor Nicholas II). How long was it to get here before? The publication "The Entire Business and Commercial Vladivostok in 1924" states that "from Chita to Blagoveshchensk for future culture-reregers (carriers of culture) the region needed at least two years, and further travel to Primorye took up to ten years more".

At the same time in the book "The Economy of the Far East" in 1926, M. I. Tselishchev marks that "the inhabited territory of the Far East in comparison with the occupied space is an insignificant part", and "any initiatives for economic revitalization of the region run into the region's desolation, and the unconditional need to attract the population to the Far East from the outside".

Further - the Khabarovsk Territory. From the article "Porto-Franco on the Amur" (1900) N. Yemelyanova, one can know to what extent the vast Far Eastern region grew in the efforts of diplomats, and in which military: "The Treaty of Aigun (treaty between the Russian Empire and China in 1858) strengthened this territory for us. Finally, the Convention of Beijing (1860) finally recognized us not only the Amur, but the entire Ussuri region. But diplomatic agreements too weakly ensured the possession of the newly annexed regions, they needed to concentrate a certain number of troops, they needed to be populated by the indigenous Russian population, including Cossacks, who were able not only to establish internal order in the province, but also to repel any attempt of a foreign invasion".

At the same time, the settlement of the region at first met "almost insurmountable obstacles": "The settlers were pressured by vast desert areas of the region where nothing could be obtained. You had to get everything you need either by rafting along the Amur River from the Trans-Baikal region, or from European Russia around the Cape of Good Hope, or, finally, from abroad".

The modern magazine "Russian Reporter" in the article "Petroglyphs of Sikachi-Alyan" tells about unique images of animals, people and masks on basalt boulders in the Khabarovsk Territory. It was preserved about 150 petroglyphs, although it is assumed that before they were at least twice as large: some of the stones eventually turned up and grew into the ground, some found themselves in the river. The purpose of petroglyphs is difficult to determine. However, until now, for adherents of shamanism, they are places of worship.

A special atmosphere of the Khabarovsk Territory and the Far East makes it possible to feel the cycle of documentary films "Russia from the train window" on the portal of the Presidential Library, where, in particular, the BAM expedition to the port of Vanino is told. "At the BAM, long non-stop transitions can last for days", - says one of the authors of the film, Anton Lange. - During this time, you cannot see a single soul".   

He also compares BAM with the second main railway of the Far East: "Transsib even in the most deaf places - the road is civilized, powerful, almost glamorous. BAM is another, much more brutal, severe".

Of particular interest is the site of the Eastern BAM in the Khabarovsk Territory, from Vanino to Tynda. On this unique stretch, which was built during the Great Patriotic War, there are so steep ascent and so complex a relief around that additional pushers join the trains. "In many countries, it is customary to be proud of their railways, but for some reason not in Russia", - Lange states with sadness.

Another transport "landmark" of the Khabarovsk Territory and the entire Far East is the ferries that run between the Big Land (Vanino) and Sakhalin (Kholmsk). Only in the mid-1970s the long-term problem of delivering people and cargo to the largest island of Russia was partially solved. Then in Kaliningrad, 10 special ferries were built, which overcame three oceans before they get here. These amazing ships are able to take away a whole train at a time!

The story of Sakhalin begins with the fact that in 1805 sailors from the Russian ship "Nadezhda" under the command of I. F. Kruzenstern put on the map the eastern shore of Sakhalin and described the life and customs of some inhabitants of these places. However, it was not possible to bypass Sakhalin around, so the question of whether it was an island or a peninsula remained open for a while. In the collection of the Presidential Library there is a digital copy of the rare book of 1809 by I. F. Krusenstern "Journey around the world in 1803, 4, 5 and 1806".

The most active development of the island dates back to the mid-XIX century, and it was to this period that the book-diary "Sakhalin Island and the Expedition of 1853-1854" by N.V. Busse is devoted to. Surely many people know that during the Russian Empire, Sakhalin was primarily used as a place of exile. In the preface to the book of Busse we read the following: "Particular attention is paid to Sakhalin Island, which, in the remoteness of its position among the inhospitable Okhotsk and Japan seas, represents all the conditions of a place designated for distant exile, but on the other hand its natural wealth, especially abundant a deposit of coal".

However, many interesting things can be learned from official documents. So, in the case of the Ministry of Justice "On compensation of losses incurred by residents of. Sakhalin during the Russo-Japanese War" (1906) it is reported how the Russian residents of the island were compensated for their temporary eviction to the mainland in 1904-1905. "In total, claims of this kind are claimed for more than 700,000 rubles", -  the document says.

Kamchatka. The development of this part of our country began even earlier, in the XVIII century. Thus, the book by Stepan Krasheninnikov "Description of the Land of Kamchatka" (1755) narrates "about the food and drink of the Kamchatka people", "about riding on dogs", "about the fertility of the Kamchadals, about the families of their wives, names of men and women", etc.  

The heroic defence of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky during the Crimean War of 1853-1856 is detailed in the "Attack on the Petropavlovsk port of the Anglo-French squadron in 1854" (1884) from the magazine "Reading for soldiers". "Taking such a distant expedition to the Pacific Ocean, the Allies expected to seize the port for sure, knowing that overland communication with the inhabited part of Russia was very difficult, and all the sea routes were then in the hands of the enemy fleet". However, the city survived. The adventure of the British and the French failed.  

For cinema lovers, we recommend watching films devoted to Kamchatka: "Kamchatka: immigrants from the mainland and local residents" and "Trip of the Government Commission to Kamchatka and Sakhalin".

But the description of the "sea gate" of the Kamchatka Territory - Avacha Bay in the magazine "Russian Reporter" for 2013: "How they teach in Kamchatka schools, in Avacha Bay can accommodate either the entire world merchant fleet, or the fleet of any one country completely. This is a bay that goes deep into the mainland for more than 20 kilometers".

Avacha Bay is compared to another giant bay - Guanabara, on the banks of which Rio de Janeiro is locateed. In Avacha Bay, one of the bases of the Russian Pacific Fleet is located, and around it there are several reserves. The most famous of them is "The Island of Old Men", named so not in honor of pensioners, but because of the seabird colonies called "old man". In addition, seals and whales are found in the ice-free Avacha Bay.

Chukotka. About the Chukotka miracle - Kitova Alley "Russian Reporter" wrote in 2014: "The most northern on earth monument of human civilization was accidentally discovered in the summer of 1976. The expedition of the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences, having examined the banks of Chukotka, was on its way to completion. The scientific vessel floated past the foggy island of Yttygran lying in the Siluksky Bay. Suddenly, the fog cleared, and the scientists looked at the amazing picture: tens of giant whale bones vertically dug into the ground were shining on the shore of the island". The total length of the "object" was half a kilometer, for such a design it would take at least sixty adult animals. Most likely, there was an altar here.

Chukotka is also called the "fragment of Beringia". "Chukotka is an amazing country. In remoteness from the centers of European civilization, it is similar to Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America or the island of Easter, lost in the South Pacific, says V. S. Krivoshekova in the book "The guidelines for the development of Beringia in the XXI century" (2004). "It is a fragment of Beringia, a bridge of land that has repeatedly connected Asia and North America, then appears from the depths of the Bering and Chukchi seas, once again plunging into the abyss".

Scholars believe that over the past 2.5 million years the narrow Bering Strait has "converged" three times and again divided Eurasia and America. The last case of such a "natural bridge", apparently, dates back to the period 360-700 thousand years ago.

And, proceeding from similar natural features, it was here, in Beringia, the longest surviving mammoths, the last population of which, more recently, by geological standards - 3-4 thousand years ago - "grazed" on Wrangel Island ...

“It is natural to ask, what will happen in the future? Will Alaska connect with Chukotka with a new land bridge? The authors of the book ask. - In the near future, no, but compression and expansion of the globe occur periodically”...

The collection of the Presidential Library "Magadan Region: Pages of History" is dedicated to Kolyma. The collection includes research, statistical materials, maps, etc. On these postcards you can look at Magadan in the 60s of the XX century.  Okhotsk-Kamchatka region is covered in the pre-revolutionary works of N. V. Slyunin, where he writes: "The discovery of this region and its accession to Russian possessions is the final finale of the activity of a small party of Cossacks, hunters and industrialists". During one small century, "these small detachments of Udalts and all kinds of free women, visiting unknown land and collecting soft junk (valuable fur), made an unprecedented feat in the history of conquering such a vast space".

And in the "Journey through Eastern Siberia" by I. D. Bulychov is described the chronology of the development of these lands (with part of the lands now entering the region adjacent to the Magadan region of Khabarovsk Territory): "In 1645 Poyarkov Cossack across the Amur went to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. In 1647, Shelkovnikov, descending the river May to the sea, three versts from the mouth of the river Okhoty founded a fortified winter cabin. A year later, the Cossacks: Alekseev and Dezhnev, after leaving Kolyma, turned east, and, sailing along the shore, reached the Bering Strait (80 years before Bering). " In addition, it is reported that "many similar expeditions were carried out at that time, but without success."

Jewish Autonomous Region. In the electronic reading room of the Presidential Library, as well as in the points of access to the library resources located in each region of our country, there are fragments of the newsreel "Birobidzhan: from an abandoned semi-station to the center of the Jewish Autonomous Region, 1937", which tells how the current capital of the EAO city Birobidzhan not so long ago was a small railway station Tikhonkaya.

The history of this amazing region - the only autonomous region within Russia - begins in May 1928, when the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR decided to "secure free lands for the needs of the working Jews in the Amur strip of the Far Eastern Territory". In the book On the Occupation of the Birobidzhan District by Working Jews, A. N. Merezhin talks about the competition of the young EAO with neighboring China and Manchuria, that the project of a large-scale settlement of these lands was initially perceived by many to be skeptical. And in the book "What Birobidzhan is" (1929) of the same author it is noted that at first the settlers here faced many troubles: floods, anthrax, problems due to late arrival of tractors, etc.

Amur River Region.  Proceedings of A. N. Mitinsky, Commander of the High Order of the Amur Expedition (1911), it is noted that "on the Amur expedition, according to the highest decision of the Council of Ministers approved on October 27, 1909, the Colonization Inspection of the Amur Railway area and the measures to its settlement". It is also curious that in this book, among the branches of the national economy in the Far East, hard labor is also mentioned. True, apparently, at that time they were already perceived as retiring into the past: "The hard labor is unprofitable in nature, for instead of a good worker it is necessary to feed two or three bonded ones - bad ones, and even soldiers to them. The katorga did its good only during the war, when otherwise the cabinet would have to close the trades for lack of workers because of mobilization, etc. "

A detailed study of the Amur Region is reflected in the works of such well-known researchers as P. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky and G. E. Grum-Grzhimailo. It is curious modesty, which authors accompany their work "Description of the Amur Region": "The oldest history of the Amur region is almost completely unknown to us. Even among Chinese historians, we find nothing but fantastic stories about the peoples who once inhabited this country. And only after the successive dynasties - Liao (916-1115) and Guigne (1115-1235), of which the first arose at the banks of the Amur River, and the second in the forests of Girinya, the Chinese information ... receive greater certainty, truth and completeness".

Finally, Yakutia (the Republic of Sakha). This amazing region is narrated by "The Proceedings of the Yakutsk Expedition Equipped with the Money of I. M. Sibiryakov" (1900). Here are the fairy tales in the Upper Yukagir dialect, which differ significantly, for example, from Russian folk and reflect the peculiarities of local life: these are tales of a fox, a dog, a hare, and even a louse and a "human boy", etc.

The document "The Most Important Legislation and Orders of the Government Regarding the Yakut Region" (1910) refers to the law approved by the State Council and the State Duma on the release from the Treasury of funds for the compilation of the "Dictionary of the Yakut language." And there is a postscript: "On his own His Imperial Majesty's own hand it is written:" To be according to this ".

In the "Chronicle of the Yakut Territory, compiled from official and historical data" (1896), the history of the Russian development of these lands has been described since 1620, when "the first information received from the Mangazey Cossacks on the Yenisei and Vilyui rivers appeared and (was) their report in Tobolsk about the new people - the Yakuts".

The natural riches of the Yakut Region are much spoken of in the book "Eastern Suburbs of Russia" from the series "Picturesque Russia".

Today, the Far East is still a huge, promising territory, entailing an incredible beauty of nature and a lot of unique places that are not anywhere else in the world.