LABOR DAILY OF RUSSIAN BUYERSHIP IN THE SPHERE OF CARAVAN TRADE WITH CENTRAL ASIA IN THE EGO-TEXTS OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE XVIII - THE FIRST THIRD OF THE XIX CENTURY

Abstract

This article attempts to reconstruct the business life of merchants engaged in foreign trade with Asian khanates in the second half of the 18th - first third of the 19th centuries using ego-sources. Business correspondence of entrepreneurs and their employees, official papers of the regional and imperial administrations, officials from the border and customs services make it possible to reproduce in the most accurate way the unique features of the daily work of merchants engaged in the sphere of caravan trade in the Asian direction. The research material consists mostly of unpublished authentic data from the State Archive of Orenburg oblast (GAOO). Such documents provide some information about the size of the merchant caravans, the range of export products, the amount of money used by the merchants-exporters, and also reflect the opinions of merchants about the main difficulties of the caravan trade. From the merchants’ appeals to the authorities for help we can learn about the financial situation of a particular merchant, understand the motives of his actions and evaluate how stable his business was. Letters from entrepreneurs who lived in various regions of Russia and participated in foreign trade show that businessmen of Orenburg, which during the 18th - 19th centuries had the status of the main center of trans-Asian trade, practically did not send any caravans to Central Asia during the period under study. The archival documents show the ethnic and religious composition of the entrepreneurs who participated in foreign trade with Bukhara, Khiva and Kokand. The main distinguishing feature of sources of personal origin is that the subjective view on the specifics of the labor process of entrepreneurs and the emotionally charged text form in the mind of the reader a bright, distinct image of merchants who stood at the origins of Russia's economic ties with Central Asia.

Keywords

• ego-sources
• everyday business activity
• central asia
• caravan trade
• military governor
• merchants