Russia's Sea Route to Globalisation. The Northeast Passage in the long 19th century

A shortcut to the riches of East Asia along the northern coast of Siberia - that was the dream of European seafarers in the 16th and early 21st centuries. In the centuries between, tsarist conquerors and Soviet engineers transformed the Arctic Ocean into a sea route to and from Siberia, largely sealing it off from foreign competition. What is less well known is that even in tsarist times, many dreamed of trading across the Arctic Ocean. This talk will focus on such plans and projects. It presents three case studies from the 19th century and from northern Russia and analyses the (planned) global networking and maritime ambitions of Russian and especially Siberian merchants.

Andreas Renner has been Professor of Russian-Asian Studies at the University of Munich since 2014. Last year he published a monograph on the history of the Northeast Passage. Prior to that, he studied the history of medicine and photography in Russia. His PhD thesis examined the relationship between nationalism and the structural transformation of the public sphere in the Russian Empire in the 1860s.