Territorial evolution of Russia

Territorial changes of Russia happened by means of military conquest and by ideological and political unions in the course of over five centuries (1533–present).

Expansion of Russia (1300–1945)

Russian Tsardom and Empire
Territorial development of the Muscovy between 1390 and 1533

The name Russia for the Grand Duchy of Moscow started to appear in the late 15th century and had become common in 1547 when the Tsardom of Russia was created.
For the history of Rus' and Moscovy before 1547 : see Kievan Rus' and Grand Duchy of Moscow. Another important starting point was the official end in 1480 of the overlordship of the Tatar Golden Horde over Moscovy, after its defeat in the Great standing on the Ugra river. Ivan III (reigned 1462–1505) and Vasili III (reigned 1505–1533) had already expanded Muscovy's (1283–1547) borders considerably by annexing the Novgorod Republic (1478), the Grand Duchy of Tver in 1485, the Pskov Republic in 1510, the Appanage of Volokolamsk in 1513, and the principalities of Ryazan in 1521 and Novgorod-Seversky in 1522.[1]

After a period of political instability, 1598 to 1613 the Romanovs came to power (1613) and the expansion-colonization process of the Tsardom continued. While western Europe colonized the New World, the Tsardom of Russia expanded overland – principally to the east, north and south.

This continued for centuries; by the end of the 19th century, the Russian Empire reached from the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and for some time included colonies in the Americas (1732–1867) and a short-lived unofficial colony in Africa (1889) in present-day Djibouti.[2]

Expansion into Asia

The first stage from 1582 1650 so I North-East expansion from the Urals to the Pacific. Geographical expeditions mapped much of Siberia. The second stage from 1785 to 1830 looked South to the areas between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The key areas were Armenia and Georgia, with some better penetration of the Ottoman Empire, and Persia. By 1829, Russia controlled all of the Caucasus as shown in the Treaty of Adrianople of 1829. The third era, 1850 to 1860, was a brief interlude jumping to the East Coast, annexing the region from the Amur River to Manchuria. The fourth era, 1865 to 1885 Incorporated Turkestan, and the northern approaches to India, sparking British fears of a threat to India in The Great Game.[3][4]

Table of changes
Year Tsar Territory taken Taken from Background Map
1552 Ivan the Terrible Khanate of Kazan Khanate of Kazan Russo-Kazan Wars
1556 Ivan the Terrible Khanate of Astrakhan Khanate of Astrakhan Russian control of the Volga trade route
1598 Feodor I of Russia Khanate of Sibir Khanate of Sibir Conquest of the Khanate of Sibir
1582 – late 18th century gradual Siberia indigenous people Russian conquest of Siberia
1667 Alexis of Russia Smolensk, Left-bank Ukraine, Kiev (temporary), Zaprozhia (condominium with Poland) Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Russo-Polish War (1654–1667)
1681 Feodor III of Russia Qasim Khanate Qasim Khanate Death of Queen Fatima Soltan
1686 Peter the Great Gain of Kiev and Zaporizhia are permanent Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Union with Poland against Ottoman Empire (Great Turkish War)
1721 Peter the Great Livonia, Estonia, Ingria, and Karelia Sweden Great Northern War
1743 Elizabeth of Russia South-West Karelia Sweden Russo-Swedish War (1741–43)
1771 Catherine the Great Kalmyk Khanate Kalmyk Khanate exodus of the Kalmyks to Dzungaria
1772 Catherine the Great Inflanty Voivodeship and Eastern Belarus Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth First Partition of Poland
1774 Catherine the Great Southern Bug and Karbadino Ottoman Empire Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774)
1783 Catherine the Great Crimean Khanate Ottoman Empire Annexation of the vassal state
1792 Catherine the Great Yedisan Ottoman Empire Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792)
1793 Catherine the Great Right-bank Ukraine and Belarus Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Second Partition of Poland
1795 Catherine the Great Western Galicia and Southern Masovia Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Third Partition of Poland
1799 Paul I of Russia Alaska indigenous people Russian America
1801 Alexander I of Russia Eastern-Georgia Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti Annexation of Georgia
1809 Alexander I of Russia Grand Duchy of Finland Sweden Finnish War
1810 Alexander I of Russia Western-Georgia Kingdom of Imereti Annexation of Georgia
1812 Alexander I of Russia Bessarabia (Moldova) Ottoman Empire Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812)
1813 Alexander I of Russia Duchy of Warsaw France Napoleonic Wars
1813 Alexander I of Russia Georgia, Dagestan, parts of northern Azerbaijan, and parts of northern Armenia Sublime State of Persia Russo-Persian War (1804–13)
1828 Nicholas I of Russia Igdir Province, rest of northern Azerbaijan, and Armenia Sublime State of Persia Russo-Persian War (1826–28)
1858 Alexander II of Russia North of the Amur River Qing Empire (China) Second Opium War
1860 Alexander II of Russia East of the Ussuri River Qing Empire (China) Second Opium War
1730–1863 gradual Kazakhstan Lesser Horde, Middle Horde, Great Horde Incorporation of the Kazakh Khanate
1866 Alexander II of Russia Uzbekistan Emirate of Bukhara Russian conquest of Bukhara
1867 Alexander II of Russia Loss of Alaska United States of America Alaska Purchase
1873 Alexander II of Russia North-Turkmenistan Khanate of Khiva Khivan campaign of 1873
1875 Alexander II of Russia Sakhalin Japan border settlement with Japan
1876 Alexander II of Russia Kyrgyzstan and West-Tajikistan Khanate of Kokand Annexation of the vassal state
1878 Alexander II of Russia Kars Oblast and Batum Oblast Ottoman Empire Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)
1885 Alexander III of Russia South-Turkmenistan Turkmens Turkmen campaign
Ashgabat
Krasno
vodsk
Chik
ishlyar
Merv
Pandjeh
Geok Tepe
Bami
Kazil-
Arvat
Chat
Bukhara
Khiva
Turkmen campaign of 1880–85
* Blue=Russian fort; Yellow=Khanate of Khiva.
1893 Alexander III of Russia East-Tajikistan sparsely populated Exploration of the Pamir plateau
1905 Nicholas II of Russia Loss of South-Sakhalin Empire of Japan Russo-Japanese War

Soviet Union

After the October Revolution of November 1917, Poland and Finland became independent from Russia and remained so thereafter. Russia proper became the Russian SFSR (1917–1991) and eventually the Russian Federation (1991–present). Its area of effective direct control varied greatly during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. Eventually most of the former Eurasian lands of the Russian Empire were consolidated into one or more of each of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union (1922–1991).

After World War II the Soviet Union annexed:

Territories of the former Russian Empire that permanently or temporarily became independent:

Russian Federation

The dissolution of the Soviet Union has led to the creation of independent post-Soviet states, with the Russian SFSR becoming the Russian Federation. Territorial disputes of the Russian Federation involve both post-Soviet states and other neighbors.

The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria was an unrecognized secessionist government of the Chechen Republic during 1991–2000, which fought two wars against Russia until the government was exiled in 2000.

In 2014, Crimea was annexed by the Russian Federation. The annexation was not recognized by Ukraine, the United States, Canada, the European Union, and several other members of the international community.

See also

References
  1. Allen F. Chew, An Atlas of Russian History: Eleven Centuries of Changing Borders (2nd ed. 1967). pp 14–43.
  2. John Channon, The Penguin historical atlas of Russia (1995) pp 8–12, 44–75.
  3. Brian Catchpole, A map history of Russia (1983) pp 6–31.
  4. Allen F. Chew, An Atlas of Russian History: Eleven Centuries of Changing Borders (2nd ed. 1967)

Further reading
  • Bassin, Mark. "Russia between Europe and Asia: the ideological construction of geographical space." Slavic review 50.1 (1991): 1–17. Online
  • Bassin, Mark. "Expansion and colonialism on the eastern frontier: views of Siberia and the Far East in pre-Petrine Russia." Journal of Historical Geography 14.1 (1988): 3–21.
  • Forsyth, James. "A History of the Peoples of Siberia: Russia's North Asian Colony 1581–1990" (1994)
  • Foust, Clifford M. "Russian expansion to the east through the eighteenth century." Journal of Economic History 21.4 (1961): 469–482. Online
  • LeDonne, John P. The Russian empire and the world, 1700–1917: The geopolitics of expansion and containment (Oxford University Press, 1997).
  • McNeill, William H. Europe's Steppe Frontier: 1500–1800 (Chicago, 1975).
  • Subtelny, Orest (1988). Ukraine: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-5808-9.
  • Plamen Mitev, ed. Empires and peninsulas: Southeastern Europe between Karlowitz and the Peace of Adrianople, 1699-1829 (LIT Verlag Münster, 2010).
  • Treadgold, Donald W. "Russian expansion in the light of Turner's study of the American frontier." Agricultural History 26.4 (1952): 147–152. Online
  • Velychenko, Stephen, The Issue of Russian Colonialism in Ukrainian Thought.Dependency Identity and Development, AB IMPERIO 1 (2002) 323-66

Atlases
  • Blinnikov, Mikhail S. A geography of Russia and its neighbors (Guilford Press, 2011)
  • Catchpole, Brian. A map history of Russia (1983)
  • Chew, Allen F. An Atlas of Russian History: Eleven Centuries of Changing Borders (2nd ed. 1967)
  • Gilbert, Martin. Routledge Atlas of Russian History (4th ed. 2007) excerpt and text search
  • Parker, William Henry. An historical geography of Russia (University of London Press, 1968)
  • Shaw, Denis J.B. Russia in the modern world: A new geography (Blackwell, 1998)
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