18 SIIIKRI.V. 



iTir-liinHk and Zailii>k Altai, it was luimil |Mi.ssih|i' !'• stail u .s«;ttlt»d ami a4,'rioijltiiial 

 rolftnizatidii in tln' sontli-K.ist conicr nf tin- Kii^'liiz laipls. Thus in 1h47 tlio town of Koj»al 

 was hiiilt ill tli<' I'uot of tlic Si'mini'liiiisk Altai, ari'l in \><ol tin- lort of Vt-nioitj on tin- 

 slopes of III!' Zailijsk Altai, anil sut)si'r|MiMitly, a wliolo siM-ios of ronsidi-rable st'ttlemcrits wt'i*' 



fonmli'il .ijnnt,' the loot of lliis inonntain ••ji.iin. 



Th cniialidn nf llir' /ailii>k slM|»fs was i>f similar iin|iorlan<'»' in tlii' history of 



Asialjc lliissia Ut iliai t>\' m'IIIIiil' iIh' n-LMcn of ilir Ainoiir. As soon as Knssian colonization 

 lia«I set a liini fndt in this fnniticr laml of (Jcntral Asia, tli*- piont'ors of Russian scionoo pp;- 

 cipilatoil thcnisolvrs tliiihcT-. In ] 855 to lft57 ami tho following years, the Russian Goographi<.-al 

 Society e(|Mip|)e(l its lirst expiMiitinn innh'i- Hk! direction of its Vice-President Semenov to this 

 ri'LTloii, and snbs('i|iiciitly used eveiy rndcavDiii- for a scientifif exploratimi nf not only tlii> 

 ivtrjdii, liiit takiiif,' it as a starting |)oiiit, foi- a gradual exploitation of the natural trea>ur''> 

 of ilir interior of Asia. The names nf the most active agents of the Russian fjeographical 

 Society are connected wiih tli(> e\|)!oiatioii of this region of Sibei-ia and of the adjacent 

 countries of Central Asia. After Semenuv's expedition, Scvortsov, Veniukov, Baron Osten- 

 Sacken, Mousliketov, Romanov, Przhevalski, Potanin, Berosovski, Pevtsov, Groniclievski, the 

 brothers Groom-Grzhimailo, Kiasnov, Bogdanovich, Obruchev and Roborovski appear a.s the 

 pioneers of scienc(^ not only in tliis ivgioii but in the depths of the Asiatic deserts and their 

 oases and hills. In the interim Vcrnoie, with its excellently colonized area, not only became 

 the lever point of Russian influence over the neighbouring nomadic tribes, which soon voluntarily 

 subjected themselves to Russia, but it also succeeiled in binding such a knot of relations witli 

 the long settled rulers of Turaii as could never have been done from the distant Orenburg. 



In the meanwhile, in 1858, the fort of PiMuvsk was erected on the lowlands of the 

 SyT-Daria on the spot taken from the Kokaml tiibe of Ak-mecheti and a line of outposts 

 established along the Syr-Daria from Perovsk to Kasalinsk. At the end of the fifties the 

 Russian Government gradually came to the conclusion of the necessity of advancing the fron- 

 tier to include the tribes -which had gone over to Russian rule, and of entirely subjecting 

 till' Kirghiz hordes lar into the Kiidiiz steppes, witji the kingdoms of Turkestan, and of occu- 

 pying the slopes of the mountain chain limiting the upper cDursc of tln^ Syr-Daria on tlie 

 north between the meridians of tlie already occupied limits of lake Issyk-Kule and fort Pe- 

 rovsk. This occupation which was begun by Colonel Tsiinraermaini in 1860, and realized by 

 Colonel Cherniaev in 1864, resulted in the subjection of Tashkend, gradually brought the whole 

 of Turkestan under Russian rule and was completed in 1881 by the occupation of the pre- 

 sent Transcaspian province to the very frontiers of Persia and Afghanistan and the laying 

 down of the Transcaspian Railway. 



The colonization of Siberia proper has followed its natural course. The emigration move- 

 ment was very strong before the Ciimean campaign; then in 1855 it decreased, but after 

 the close of the campaign it again increased. Before 1861 at the time of the liberation of the 

 serfs the number of emigrants again began to decrease, but after the libm-ation it attained 

 the largest dimensions. From the time of their liberation the peasant population increased in a 

 manner unprecedented in the present century; so that evident signs of an over population 

 evinced themselves in many jiarishes and even districts of Russia, and emigration on a large 



