Covering a large portion of the period from the early seventeenth century to the contemporary era, the Kalmyk National Archive has particularly rich holdings from the pre-revolutionary period, which makes it an outstanding source for historical studies on Russia's 'internal colonialism' at the Empire's southern frontiers. Unfortunately, most of this documentation was lost after the revolution and the civil war. Another part of the archive disappeared during WW II or was deliberately destroyed during the subsequent deportation of the Kalmyk people in 1942. Prior to this, the archival funds still numbered about 70,000 complete files. We know this because information about the pre-revolutionary holdings is well-documented in the inventories contained in the archival primary record books and their inspection lists which were created mainly in the late 1930s and early 1940s and still contained the titles of all documents with a special mark next to those that had been lost over time. These old inventories were revised in the late 1990s and became the subject of an updated edition. Unfortunately, in this case, too, all the lost documents were deleted from the new archival inventories. These previous records, which, given the loss of the documents themselves, provided the only historical record of much of Kalmyk and Russian imperial history, have now disappeared. However, in the mid-1990s I could take copies of the primary inventories, which already then were in a deplorable state. During my archival research in recent years, I began to work with these old archival books in order to describe, inventory and analyse this particular 'colonial archive'. The results of this work are presented in this publication. Thus, we have a description of the metadata, including the titles of those documents that were either subjected to the horrendous waste campaign of the Soviet era, or were destroyed to erase inconvenient historical truth. In addition to such echoes from the distant and now inaccessible past, this publication presents an up-to-date inventory of pre-revolutionary documents stored to this day in the Kalmyk National Archive.

Covering a large portion of the period from the early seventeenth century to the contemporary era, the Kalmyk National Archive has particularly rich holdings from the pre-revolutionary period, which makes it an outstanding source for historical studies on Russia’s ‘internal colonialism’ at the Empire’s southern frontiers. Unfortunately, most of this documentation was lost after the revolution and the civil war. Another part of the archive disappeared during WW II or was deliberately destroyed during the subsequent deportation of the Kalmyk people in 1942. Prior to this, the archival funds still numbered about 70,000 complete files. We know this because information about the pre-revolutionary holdings is well-documented in the inventories contained in the archival primary record books and their inspection lists which were created mainly in the late 1930s and early 1940s and still contained the titles of all documents with a special mark next to those that had been lost over time. These old inventories were revised in the late 1990s and became the subject of an updated edition. Unfortunately, in this case, too, all the lost documents were deleted from the new archival inventories. These previous records, which, given the loss of the documents themselves, provided the only historical record of much of Kalmyk and Russian imperial history, have now disappeared. However, in the mid-1990s I could take copies of the primary inventories, which already then were in a deplorable state. During my archival research in recent years, I began to work with these old archival books in order to describe, inventory and analyse this particular ‘colonial archive’. The results of this work are presented in this publication. Thus, we have a description of the metadata, including the titles of those documents that were either subjected to the horrendous waste campaign of the Soviet era, or were destroyed to erase inconvenient historical truth. In addition to such echoes from the distant and now inaccessible past, this publication presents an up-to-date inventory of pre-revolutionary documents stored to this day in the Kalmyk National Archive.

How does our colonial past echo through today's global politics? How have former empire-builders sought vindication or atonement, and formerly colonized states reversal or retribution? This groundbreaking book presents a panoramic view of attitudes to empires past and present, seen not only through the hard politics of international power structures but also through the nuances of memory, historiography and national and minority cultural identities. Bringing together leading historians, poitical scientists and international relations scholars from across the globe, Echoes of Empire emphasizes Europe's colonial legacy whilst also highlighting the importance of non-European power centres- Ottoman, Russian, Chinese, Japanese- in shaping world politics, then and now. Echoes of Empire bridges the divide between disciplines to trace the global routes travelled by objects, ideas and people and forms a radically different notion of the term 'empire' itself. This will be an essential companion to courses on international relations and imperial history as well as a fascinating read for anyone interested in Wesern hegemony, North-South relations, global power shifts and the longue duree.

This book gives a radically new reading of Russia’s culturalhistory. Alexander Etkind traces how the Russian Empire conqueredforeign territories and domesticated its own heartlands, therebycolonizing many peoples, Russians included. This vision ofcolonization as simultaneously internal and external, colonizingone’s own people as well as others, is crucial for scholarsof empire, colonialism and globalization. Starting with the fur trade, which shaped its enormous territory,and ending with Russia’s collapse in 1917, Etkind exploresserfdom, the peasant commune, and other institutions of internalcolonization. His account brings out the formative role of foreigncolonies in Russia, the self-colonizing discourse of Russianclassical historiography, and the revolutionary leaders’illusory hopes for an alliance with the exotic, pacifistsectarians. Transcending the boundaries between history andliterature, Etkind examines striking writings about Russia’simperial experience, from Defoe to Tolstoy and from Gogol toConrad. This path-breaking book blends together historical, theoretical andliterary analysis in a highly original way. It will be essentialreading for students of Russian history and literature and foranyone interested in the literary and cultural aspects ofcolonization and its aftermath.

"How does our colonial past echo through today's global politics? How have former empire-builders sought vindication or atonement, and formerly colonized states reversal or retribution? This groundbreaking book presents a panoramic view of attitudes to empires past and present, seen not only through the hard politics of international power structures but also through the nuances of memory, historiography and national and minority cultural identities. Bringing together leading historians, poitical scientists and international relations scholars from across the globe, Echoes of Empire emphasizes Europe's colonial legacy whilst also highlighting the importance of non-European power centres- Ottoman, Russian, Chinese, Japanese- in shaping world politics, then and now. Echoes of Empire bridges the divide between disciplines to trace the global routes travelled by objects, ideas and people and forms a radically different notion of the term 'empire' itself. This will be an essential companion to courses on international relations and imperial history as well as a fascinating read for anyone interested in Western hegemony, North-South relations, global power shifts and the longue duree."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

While Western literature has long reflected the techniques of power that privileged the colonial masters and their point of view, Russian fictional and nonfictional texts have escaped such scrutiny because Russia is not generally considered a colonial power. In arguing that Russia's long history of territorial expansion is a form of colonization, this book uses postcolonial theory to examine Russian literature and the power structures reflected in it. Among the authors discussed are Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, and Solzhenitsyn.

From the 1780s to the 1820s, Kodiak Island, the first capital of Imperial Russia's only overseas colony, was inhabited by indigenous Alutiiq people and colonized by Russians. Together, they established an ethnically mixed "kreol" community. Against the backdrop of the fur trade, the missionary work of the Russian Orthodox Church, and competition among Pacific colonial powers, Gwenn A. Miller brings to light the social, political, and economic patterns of life in the settlement, making clear that Russia's modest colonial effort off the Alaskan coast fully depended on the assistance of Alutiiq people. In this context, Miller argues, the relationships that developed between Alutiiq women and Russian men were critical keys to the initial success of Russia's North Pacific venture. Although Russia's Alaskan enterprise began some two centuries after other European powers—Spain, England, Holland, and France—started to colonize North America, many aspects of the contacts between Russians and Alutiiq people mirror earlier colonial episodes: adaptation to alien environments, the "discovery" and exploitation of natural resources, complicated relations between indigenous peoples and colonizing Europeans, attempts by an imperial state to moderate those relations, and a web of Christianizing practices. Russia's Pacific colony, however, was founded on the cusp of modernity at the intersection of earlier New World forms of colonization and the bureaucratic age of high empire. Miller's attention to the coexisting intimacy and violence of human connections on Kodiak offers new insights into the nature of colonialism in a little-known American outpost of European imperial power.