Munkhtuul Altanshagay

The Role of Urban Settlements in the Development of Russian-Mongol Cross-Border Trade in the Last Quarter of the 19th — Early 20th Centuries P. 47-58.

UDC 339.5(47:517.3)«18/19»

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2021.70.1.005

Abstract. The article treats the development of trade and economic relations between the Russian Empire and Mongolia during the period of the pervasion of the Russian political influence in the Far East.

The relevance of the research is accounted for by the fact that Russo-Mongol relationships in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early 20th century are underinvestigated and the bilateral Russo-Mongol trade relations cannot be properly assessed. The author analyzes archival materials, reference sources and memoirs to investigate major practices of business cooperation between west-Siberian urban settlements of the Russian Empire and administrative centers of Mongolia. The increase of Russian economic influence in the region, mainly associated with substantial labor migration in the early 19th century, enabled the Russian Empire to enhance production capacity and ensure the expansion of commodity export to Mongolia. Due to the increasing number of Russian urban settlements, more and more Mongol livestock breeders were interested in getting into the Russian market. The author of the article maintains that the above-mentioned circumstance promoted a novel aspect of the Mongol export policy development: from then on Russia and not China was Mongolia’s greatest consumer of meat, wool, leather, fur, etc. The enhancement of Russo-Mongol trade cooperation fostered the transformation of such urban settlements as Biysk, Irbit, Minusinsk, and Tomsk in Russia and Khovd in Mongolia into cities. The establishment of Biysk trading affiliates in Ulyastay and Khovd facilitated trade cooperation and introduced European social and commercial benefits into Mongolian life.

Keywords: Altay region, foreign trade, Western Siberia, China, international relations, Mongolia, Russian Empire.

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