Великий чайный путь - прародитель глобализации

Перевод «Чайный Путь»

             The beginning of the 17th century was marked by major political and socio-economic collapses. Some historians called this time “Time of Troubles”. The state did not have enough bread, metal and so on. The Russian people had to look for the ways of solving the problems. The first people, so-called Pioneers went to the East with the purpose of new land development. So lots of trade agreements were concluded.

       In Pribaikalye Russian pioneers appeared in the early 17th century. In summer 1661 boyar son, Yakov Pokhabov with service people, started a fortress. A year after the Foundation, the new Fort was named Irkutsk after the name of the river, near which it was built. The location (place) of the settlement was very advantageous: the land was fertile, the forests were full of game animals and water was rich with various fish. Besides, Irkutsk was at the crossroads of major trade routes between West and East. In 2011 the monument of Irkutsk founder Yakov Pokhabov was erected in the city (by the architect Yury Volchek) Slide, and it is located near the railway station, built in 1898, The railway station beneficial effected on the development of Irkutsk. Trade and economic relationship rapidly increased. Slide, The statue of Jacob Pokhabov is situated on the embankment of one of the most beautiful Siberian rivers - Angara, along which there were trade routes in the middle ages. Slide
        Thanks to the development of border trade with Mongolia and China the economic role of Irkutsk greatly strengthened. Over some time, Irkutsk began to play an increasingly important role in Siberia. In 1670 through Irkutsk to China the first messenger from Moscow passed with securities/capital issues (ценные бумаги), and in 1675 the first Ambassador Nikolay Spafariy went to China, who made the map of trade route passing along Baikal. Slide.
    Trade with China and Mongolia provided Russia with tea, tobacco and Chinese fabrics. In the Russian Empire foreign traders were interested mainly in furs.
     Since 1703 state caravans began to leave Irkutsk for Beijing , and that turned our city to be the centre of the caravan trade. In 1706, this road was officially approved by the Siberian Government. The Caravans were organized once three years, their movement into one way took one year. And the trade route became known as “the Tea Road”.

    The great Tea Road was a caravan route going from Asia to Europe in the XVI-XIX centuries. The volumes of goods turnover was the second one after the Great Silk Road. The total length of the way was about 10 thousand kilometers. The Tea Road had a lot of land roads, water ways, it had branches to various Russian provinces. In 1659 as a gift to the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ten pounds of tea was brought from China, and after that the formal agreement on the supply of «dried Chinese herbs» was concluded. In 1666 the first trading caravan from Moscow to China was sent. The caravan traffic from Russia to China and from China to Russia went in the following way: Moscow, Tomsk, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, Ulan-Ude, Kyakhta, Urga, Beijing. Map.
  After the opening of a new path, there was a great excitement in Irkutsk. Since the 1680's  the city turned out to be the important trading and goods distributing center of the region. In 1762 Irkutsk merchants rapidly started to develop, and Irkutsk became to known as «Siberian Amsterdam» - the heart of  business activity of the whole Siberia.

        Several trade fairs worked on the way. The centre of fair trade was the bazaars. Slide. In 1778 according to the project of  Italian architect Giacomo Quarenghi the construction of a new arcade (or shopping center) started in Irkutsk. It housed more than 200 retail premises, on the second floor there was a spacious hall that was used for ceremonies and balls. The Central square of Irkutsk gradually transformed into the city's central market and the place was called as Gostinodvorskaya. Now it is the Kirov square. Slide
      On the project of the same architect the Palace of merchant Sibiryakov – was erected in Irkutsk on the corner of  Перcпективная street and the embankment, now it is known as the scientific library of  Irkutsk State University. Slide
    In 1779 Banking office was opened in Irkutsk, it was the first credit institution, located in the house of Irkutsk mining  industrialist M. A. Sibiryakov in Bolshaya street currently it is named Karl Marx street.
     Considerable funds of the state Treasury and large capital of  such merchants as Golikov, Chaminov, Trapeznikov, dynasty Sibiryakovs, perhaps, the most prominent patrons of Irkutsk, was invested in the construction of roads and towns, in education and culture, in the construction of churches and in the development of new lands, in honor of whom streets were named,. The first wooden two parish Church - Харлампиевская was built in 1738. In this church the priests blessed the sailors before swimming. In 1904, Kolchak was married in this Church. In 1717-1719 on Krestovaya mountain the first wooden two-storied Krestovozdvizhenskaya Church was built. On July 27, 1885 in a Craft settlement in Znamenskaya street, near Ostrozhniy bridge the foundation of the Kazan Church took place, and later it was called Red. Slide
       It should be noted that trade had a beneficial impact on the economic development of the region. Thousands of people were involved in petty trading, which contributed to the communications and transport development in Siberia. It was not only an exchange of goods, but also production techniques, and knowledge. Tea trade was very profitable venture and lasted until 1929.
      Tea brought to life a samovar production, encouraged the development of tableware, porcelain, sugar and bakery businesses. Already in 1724 the most numerous group of the population of Irkutsk was merchants, over 80% of people were related with trade. In 1851 the number of residents grew to nearly 17 thousand. At that time Irkutsk was called the «capital of Siberia». Since 1803 it was the capital of Siberia, and since 1822 East-Siberian General-governorship. From a small provincial town Irkutsk became the largest centre of Siberia.
      During the 18th century different spheres of science developed greatly namely education, library, museum and theater, also the first educational institutions and cultural institutions were established.
    The first glimpse of education in Irkutsk was born in 1725, when the school was opened “for teaching young Siberians Chinese and Mongolian languages”. In 1781the city school was opened in Overseas street (now Amurskaya street).
     Thus, Russia was able not only to solve the problems connected with the crisis, but also to expand its territorial, commercial and cultural boundaries.
Nowadays many sections of the Tea Road turned into the existing railway and highway and are part of a common transport network, linking Asia and Europe. On the Tea Road trade exchange between Russia, Mongolia and China is still going on.