Russian Rule in Samarkand 1868-1910
A Comparison with British India
Published on 11. September 2008
Book
Hardback
396 pages
978-0-19-954737-1 (ISBN)
Description
Russian Rule in Samarkand examines the structures, personnel, and ideologies of Russian imperialism in Turkestan, taking Samarkand and the surrounding region as a case-study. The creation of a colonial administration in Central Asia presented Russia with similar problems to those faced by the British in India, but different approaches to governance meant that the two regimes often stood in stark contrast to one another. While the Russian administration was characterised by corruption and inefficiency, British rule in India was often more violent, and its subjects much more heavily taxed.
Opening with the background to the political situation in Central Asia and a narrative of the Russian conquest itself, the book moves on to analyse official attitudes to Islam and to pre-colonial elites, and the earliest attempts to establish a functioning system of revenue collection. Uncovering the religious and ethnic composition of the military bureaucracy, and the social background, education and training of its personnel, Alexander Morrison assesses the competence of these officers vis-a-vis their Anglo-Indian counterparts. Subsequent chapters look at the role of the so-called 'native administration' in governing the countryside and collecting taxes, the attempt to administer the complex systems of irrigation leading from the Zarafshan and Syr-Darya rivers, and the nature and functions of the Islamic judiciary under colonial rule.
Based on extensive archival research in Russia, India, and Uzbekistan, and containing much rare source material translated from the original Russian, Russian Rule in Samarkand will be of interest to all those interested in the history of the Russian Empire and European Imperialism more generally.
Opening with the background to the political situation in Central Asia and a narrative of the Russian conquest itself, the book moves on to analyse official attitudes to Islam and to pre-colonial elites, and the earliest attempts to establish a functioning system of revenue collection. Uncovering the religious and ethnic composition of the military bureaucracy, and the social background, education and training of its personnel, Alexander Morrison assesses the competence of these officers vis-a-vis their Anglo-Indian counterparts. Subsequent chapters look at the role of the so-called 'native administration' in governing the countryside and collecting taxes, the attempt to administer the complex systems of irrigation leading from the Zarafshan and Syr-Darya rivers, and the nature and functions of the Islamic judiciary under colonial rule.
Based on extensive archival research in Russia, India, and Uzbekistan, and containing much rare source material translated from the original Russian, Russian Rule in Samarkand will be of interest to all those interested in the history of the Russian Empire and European Imperialism more generally.
Reviews / Votes
The depth of research, the detailing of complexities of critical fields of colonial control such as administration, irrigation and law, and its comparative approach make this work a significant contribution to the history of Tsarist Central Asia. * Jeff Sahedo, English Historical Review * Evocative [and] thoughtful book. * Steppe * Morrison...has drawn on much additional source material, including some from the Rusiian and Uzbekistan archives, and has contrived an interesting and detailed picture of features of Russian administration, notably its organisation and personnel, its relations with Islam and its work in the crucial area of irrigation. * M.E Yapp, Times Literary Supplement * Morrison has achieved a pioneering work. Neither in Russian nor in Western research is there another study which gives such a full and detailed view of Tsarist ruling practices in Central Asia. But even beyond the Tsarist Empire, this book is of significance for its impressive illustration of the limits to which Colonial Rule can be subject. * Ulrich Hofmeister, H-Soz-u-Kult * This is an engaging and elegantly written examination of Russian rule in Central Asia post-1865...an impressive study. * Nick Walmsley, Central Asian Survey * Pioneering... This is truly ground-breaking work and provides our understanding of tsarist Central Asia with a new level of detail. * Slavic Review * The depth of research, the detailing of complexities of critical fields of colonial control such as administration, irrigation and law, and its comparative approach make this work a significant contribution to the history of Tsarist Central Asia. * Jeff Sahadeo, English Historical Review * Morrison's work is probably the best account of the Russian administration in the settled parts of Turkestan; it is at least the best I have read so far, because he discusses the general lines of the Russian strategy in some detail. The comparative perspective also helps to explain many specifics of the Russian situation. * Juergen Paul, Central Asian Survey * Morrison's work shows an intimate familiarity with British literature on empire, and he has done important archival work in both India and Central Asia. The result is an innovative study on imperial governance concerning aspects as varied as administration, irrigation, law, and religion. * Jeff Sahadeo, Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History * A wonderful book, one which significantly advances our knowledge of tsarist Central Asia, European colonial methods of rule in the late nineteenth century, and the native response... a richly interwoven quilt of a study, where delight is offered as much by the care taken over individual details as in the overall sweep of the whole. * A. G. Marshall, The Slavonic & East European Review * This work constitutes, through its rigour, its degree of erudition and its novelty, a contribution of high quality to the imperial history of Central Asia which has been developing in recent years. * Isabelle Ohayon, Cahiers du Monde Russe * Alexander Morrison has managed to write a multifaceted account, which impresses both through the strength of his philological expertise and through his solid mastery of the sources. * Christian Teichmann, Jahrbuecher fuer Geschichte Osteuropas * well-written and genuinely captivating * Central Eurasian Reader *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
3 maps, 7 halftones
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
688 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-954737-1 (9780199547371)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Alexander Morrison was born in 1978 in the Hague, the Netherlands, where his father was working as a foreign correspondent, and grew up in Moscow, Paris, Harare and Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was educated at Borrowdale Primary School, Harare, Sevenoaks School in Kent and at Oriel College, Oxford, where he read Modern History and won the Gibbs prize for the highest First-class degree in his year. He was elected to a seven-year Prize Fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford, in 2000, and began the research for his doctoral thesis the following year, working in archives and libraries in Moscow, St Petersburg, Tashkent, Dushanbe and Delhi. He was awarded his D.Phil at Oxford in 2005, and in September 2007 took up the post of Lecturer in Imperial History at the University of Liverpool. Russian Rule in Samarkand is his first book.
Content
Introduction ; 1. The Setting ; 2. Religion and the Problem of Islam ; 3. The Creation of a Local Administration and the Abolition of Amlakdari ; 4. The Military Bureaucracy ; 5. The 'Living Wall': Native Administration in Samarkand ; 6. Irrigation ; 7. Qazis and the Judiciary ; Conclusion ; Appendices