Siberia as a Colony. N. M. Yadrintsev’s Opinion on Problems and Prospects of the Siberian Development

Abstract

The article analyzes the views of N. M. Yadrintsev, who was of the largest researchers of Siberia and a representative of regionalism, his assessment of conditions and results of the Siberia development and peopling, colonization policy towards the region in historical retrospect and as compared to the European expansion in other regions of the world, his arguments in favor of voluntary colonization as opposed to other colonization models, his seeing of the most urgent problems of developing Siberia, such as Siberian indigenous peoples issues, use of natural resources, Siberian industry development, a sad state of education and culture, dominated state of trade monopolies in the region, and regional governance. The paper shows that N. M. Yadrintsev’s ideas became widespread in the intellectual environment and partly received support by government circles. While many problems have been solved, however, a vision of the region as a raw material colony, an object of external control, and some other aspects still remain challenging.