Russia's Steppe Frontier: The Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500-1800

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication

RUSSIA’S STEPPE FRONTIER The Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500–1800 Michael Khodarkovsky This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA http://iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail iuporder@indiana.edu© 2002 by Michael Khodarkovsky All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Khodarkovsky, Michael, date Russia’s steppe frontier : the making of a colonial empire, 1500–1800 / Michael Khodarkovsky. p. cm. — (Indiana-Michigan series in Russian and East European studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-253-33989-8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Russia—Territorial expansion. 2. Russia—Boundaries. 3. Russia—History—Period of Consolidation, 1462–1605. 4. Russia—History—1613–1689. 5. Russia—History—1689–1801. 6. Imperialism. I. Title. II. Series. DK43 .K485 2002 947.04—dc21 2001003581 1 2 3 4 5 07 06 05 04 03 02 Wäre ich ein Schmetterling . . . Out of the three possible governments—democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy—it is hard to say which one is the best; instead one needs to consider the circumstances of each society, its geography, territorial size, and the state of the people, to decide which government is most appropriate. Thus, politics and democracy are the best ways to secure prosperity and order in individual cities and small countries. Aristocracy might be ¤ne for large countries, which are safe from invasion because they are surrounded by the sea or impassable mountains, and particularly where the people are well educated, as is evident from the examples of England and Sweden. But where there are huge territories, open frontiers, and, most of all, an illiterate and unenlightened public ruled more by fear than its own interests, there the¤rst two are unsuitable; there monarchy is required. —V. N. Tatishchev, Istoriia rossiiskaia ...