EUROPE-ASIA--THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE
The great plain of Eurasia, which borders about half the circuit of the
Arctic Ocean, is undivided by topographic barriers or boundaries. It is
physically a unit.
=Russia.=--Russia comprises more than one-half the area of Europe; the
Russian Empire embraces about one-half of Europe and Asia combined, and
constitutes more than one-seventh of the land surface of the earth. East
and west, from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok, the distance is about six
thousand miles. It has a similar position with respect to southern
Europe and China as has Canada to the United States.
In latitude the country is unfortunately situated. North of the latitude
of St. Petersburg the climate is too cold to grow bread-stuffs; a large
part of the country is, therefore, unproductive. The central belt is
forest-covered; the southern part, or "black earth" belt, comprises the
greater part of the productive lands, and this region is the chief
granary of Europe.
Russia is an agricultural country. Maize and rye grown for home
consumption, and wheat for export, are the chief products. Flax is a
leading export product, and the Russian crop constitutes about
four-fifths of the world's supply. Lands too remote from markets for
grain-growing produce cattle and sheep, which are grown mainly for their
hides and tallow. The wool of the Don is a very coarse textile that is
much used in the manufacture of American carpets; that of the arid
plateaus of the southern country is a fine rug wool.
Agriculture in Russia is on a much lower plane than in western Europe.
Most of the land is owned in large estates. Individual farming is rare,
land tillage being usually a community affair. A village community rents
or purchases a tract of land, and the latter is allotted to the families
composing it, a part of the land being reserved for pasturage. The
business is transacted by "elders," or trustees, who exercise a general
management and supervision over the "mir," or community.
The methods of farming are not the best, and an acre of land produces
scarcely one-third as much as the same area is made to yield in other
states. The farming class, or peasantry, was in a condition of serfdom
until within a few years. Poverty unfits them to compete with farmers of
western Europe; moreover, the laws of land ownership and tenure also
serve to discourage farming.
The metal and mineral resources are very great. Iron ore is abundant,
and the yearly output of both is greatly increasing. There are extensive
deposits in southern Russia, in the Ural Mountains, and in Poland. Coal
of good quality is plentiful, and coal mining is encouraged by a heavy
tariff on the foreign coal that enters regions where the home product is
available. The most productive coal-fields are those of the lower Don
River and of Poland.
Gold is obtained in various parts of Siberia and in the Ural Mountains,
but scarcely enough is mined for the requirements of coinage. Copper is
also mined in the Ural and Caucasus Mountains. More than nine-tenths of
the world's supply of platinum is also obtained in the Ural Mountains.
The petroleum fields of Transcaucasia have a yearly output a little
greater than those of the United States.
The forest area is surpassed only by the timber belt of North America,
both of which are in about the same latitudes. This area, within a very
few years, is destined to be the chief lumber supply of all Europe.
Moreover, the forests, the grain-growing lands, and the iron and coal
constitute national resources which are surpassed in no other countries
save the United States and China.
The Russian Government has done much to encourage manufactures.
Steel-making in the Ural district, in Poland, and in the iron regions of
the Don has progressed to the extent that home-made railway material and
rolling stock are now generally used. Farming machinery is made in the
cities of the grain-growing region. The manufacture of cotton, woollen,
and linen fabrics has developed to the extent that the state is becoming
an exporter rather than an importer of such goods.
Railway building has progressed under government aid, and about
two-thirds of the 37,000 miles of track are owned by the state. The
Transsiberian Railway connecting Vladivostok with the trunk lines of
Europe was built by the state both for strategic and economic purposes.
Large bodies of emigrants are carried into Siberia at nominal rates and
are settled on lands that are practically free. The return cargoes
consist of Chinese products--mainly silk textiles and tea--destined for
western Europe.
A network of railways covers the grain-growing districts; trunk lines,
mainly for strategic purposes, extend through Russian Turkestan to the
Chinese border. For many years Russia has endeavored to acquire the
territory that would afford commercial outlets to the Indian Ocean and
into China. In this the state has been thwarted by two great
powers--Great Britain and Japan. The construction of canals and the
improvements of river-navigation are under government management, and
the internal water-ways aggregate about fifty thousand miles of
navigation.
The foreign commerce is changing in character as manufactures develop.
Wheat, flour, timber products, flax, and petroleum are the chief
exports. Cotton, tea, wool, and coal are the leading imports, the
first-named coming mainly from the United States. Germany, Great
Britain, France, Holland, and the United States are the chief European
countries utilizing Russian trade. The commerce between Russia and China
is growing rapidly. The Transsiberian railway is its chief northern
outlet, and a branch of this road, now under construction, extends
through to the leading commercial centres of Manchuria, to Port Arthur.
A considerable amount of manufactured goods is sent to Asia Minor and
the Iran countries.
The most available ports opening into the Atlantic are on the Baltic
Sea, but these are blocked by ice in winter; the best ports are on the
Black Sea, but the Russians do not control the navigable waters that
connect them with the Atlantic.
Much of the internal trade is carried on by means of annual fairs. The
most important of these are held at _Nijni_, (lower) _Novgorod_,
_Kharkof_, _Kief_, and other points. At the first-named fair goods to
the amount of $80,000,000 have changed hands during a single season, and
the annual fair is the recognized common ground on which the oriental
traders meet the buyers of European and American firms.
Unlike the schemes of colonization of other European states, the various
possessions of the Czar are practically in a single area, the
dependencies being contiguous. The lines between them, with few
exceptions, are political rather than natural boundaries.
_St. Petersburg_, the capital, is the centre of finance and trade.
_Riga_ is the port from which most of the lumber is exported; it
receives the coal purchased from Great Britain for the factories of the
Baltic coast. The harbor of Riga is not greatly obstructed by ice.
_Archangel_ has an export trade of lumber and flax during the few months
when the White Sea is free from ice. _Odessa_ and _Rostof_ are the
grain-markets of the empire. _Astrakhan_ is the centre of trade for the
Iran countries, and _Baku_ is the petroleum-market. _Moscow_ is the
chief focal point of the railways; and in consequence has become a great
centre of manufacture and trade. _Warsaw_, next to Moscow, is the most
important city.
=Siberia.=--This great territory resembles Russia in surface and climatic
features. Like the former "west" of the United States, Siberia is the
open "east" into which much of the surplus population of Russia,
Germany, and the Scandinavian countries is moving, attracted by fine
farming lands. The European emigrant becomes a producer when settled in
Siberia, and, at the same time, a consumer of Russian manufactures. In
five years more than one million people thus became occupants of the new
country in Siberia. Russian trade is encouraged by a heavy tariff on
foreign goods brought into Siberia.
_Tobolsk_, _Tomsk_, and _Semipalatinsk_ are collecting stations for
Siberian products, and each is built on navigable waters. _Irkutsk_
receives the caravan trade that goes from Peking through _Urga_ and
_Kiakhta_, the frontier post of Chinese trade. _Vladivostok_ is the
great Pacific outlet and the terminus of the Transsiberian Railway. It
is ice-bound in winter. _Harbin_, in Manchuria, China, is a Russian
trading post of great commercial importance.
=Bokhara= and =Khiva= are Russian vassal states. The former was acquired
chiefly as a trade-route. A railway from _Krasnovodsk_ on the Caspian
Sea extends through _Merv_, _Bokhara_, and _Samarkand_ to _Kashgar_,
where it meets the caravan trade from central China. The building of
this railway has caused a great development of cotton-growing in these
countries, which furnish Europe and America with the choice Afghan,
Khiva, and Bokhara rugs.
=Transcaucasia=, now joined to Russia, is a part of the plateau of Iran. A
railway extends across the country from _Batum_ to _Baku_, connecting
the Black and Caspian Seas. Transcaucasia is the petroleum region of the
East. It is also noted for the Shirvan, Kabistan, Daghestan, and Kazak
rugs which are sold all over Europe and America. The so-called
"Cashmere" rugs are not a product of Kashmir, but are made in the town
of _Shemaka_. Kabistan rugs are made in _Kuba_. Kazak fabrics are
usually the sleeping-blankets of the Kazak (Cossack) rough-riders.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
How will the development of the coal, iron, and lumber resources most
likely affect the industrial future of Russia?
Discuss the policy of Siberian immigration;--what are its advantages to
German colonists?
From the map accompanying this chapter show how the tributary streams of
the great rivers have served to extend Russian commerce through Siberia.
Note the situation of the cities and towns of Siberia with reference to
the rivers.
What effect has the high latitude of Russia on its agricultural
industries?
From the Statesman's Year-Book make a list of the leading exports and
imports of Russia by articles, and also the volume of trade with other
countries.
From the Abstract of Statistics find the statistics of trade between
Russia and the United States.
FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE
Commercial life in Russia--preferably from the article, "Russia," in the
Encyclopædia Britannica.
For a rug of the Caucasus type, see illustration, p. 351; compare the
Kabistan with the Persian piece--which has the floral and which the
geometric figures?