A Land of Resources?

In this lesson, we invite you to reflect on Siberia’s resources, climate, and environment, particularly in the context of the extractive industries and environmental change. Our lesson is divided into two interconnected, chronological sections, covering various resources from fur to oil and gas.

Task 1

Write down a few thoughts on your understanding of natural resources. What are natural resources, and why do they matter in our everyday life, as well as in national and international relations?

Fur tribute and fur trade

It can be challenging to find an exact definition of natural resources. Historians who study long-term human-environment relations (or just enviromental historians) often point out that the meaning and perception of resources vary greatly due to economic, political, and cultural reasons across different epochs and geographical regions. For example, water in the high Arctic is often considered an inexhaustible natural resource, but in southern regions, we see the scarcity of this resource and its enormous importance for both the lives of people and the complex interactions between nations. The more deeply we study the history of resources and the politics and economy surrounding them, the more clearly we reveal the history of significant planetary environmental and climate changes. In other words, the concepts of ‘natural’ and ‘social’ are much more deeply intertwined and not as clear-cut as they may seem.

During the early years of Russian colonization of Siberia, the new territory promised to significantly enrich the budget of Moscovia (as Russia was known before the establishment of the Russian Empire in the early 18th century). Even before Ermak’s campaign, Russian traders were aware of the valuable fur resources in Siberia, which served as a money equivalent in both Russian and European economies. The established tribute, or yasak, that the colonized people had to pay to Moscow was in fur. Thus, from the outset, the relationship between the colony and the center revolved around fur, the major resource of Siberia. It is worth mentioning that the practice of collecting tribute was not exclusively Russian. Historical documents reveal that some Mongolian and Turkic “settlers” and Indigenous communities before the Russian colonization also collected tributes from groups whose territories they occupied. However, the Russian practice of tribute collection established a long-term history of controlling resources and territories. Later, fur was accompanied by salt, which historically held a high value across the planet and was also used as a form of currency in exchanges. The established colonial economic relations were closely entwined with Siberia’s natural resources, allowing the Russian economy to become more deeply integrated into the larger European market. The fur tribute significantly impacted the economic and social life of Indigenous peoples and had environmental consequences.

The Russian state’s deep interest in Siberian natural resources led to the expansion of aggressive hunting activities, reaching further into the mainland, the Arctic, and the Far Eastern islands. Professional brigades from Russian settlers and some Indigenous communities (promyshlenniki) hunted not only to meet their needs or pay tribute but also turned hunting into an economic venture for meat and skins. In North America, those communities are known as trappers. At times, this hunting led to the complete extinction of species due to both the hunting activities and the colonial demand from Russian traders. One of the most well-known examples is the Steller’s sea cow, which went extinct in the late 18th century. You can read the story of its extinction in the book by Ryan Jones listed below.

By the end of the 17th century, the fur tribute was gradually transformed into taxes. However, this transformation did not mark the end of the fur trade. For many Indigenous and local communities, hunting was not only a subsistence economy but also played a significant role in the fur trade, which continues on a much smaller scale today. The history of these communities and their intimate relationship with the environment is well-documented ethnographically. One of the most well-known examples is the book by Vladimir Arsen’ev about his friend Dersu (see below). If you want to learn more about the life of Indigenous hunters in Siberia, we strongly recommend you read this book and watch its Oscar-winning film adaptation.

 

Iron and minerals

The technological changes brought about by the rise of the Russian Empire and the country’s integration into Western politics and economy introduced new challenges to the people and environment of Siberia. Mineral resources such as coal, metals, rocks, and gold became crucial to the growing imperial economy. Knowledge about these mineral deposits came not only from the first equipped academic expeditions but also heavily relied on Indigenous and local guides. The practical knowledge these people shared helped shape modern geology and other disciplines. One of the most well-known industrial projects was the extensive industrial ’empire’ of the Demidov family, who built mines and factories from the Ural Mountains to Western Siberia. The story of the Demidov family, along with their interactions with local people, including those exiled to Siberia (see the previous lesson), illustrates both the colonial governance of the Russian Empire in Siberia and the way the first wave of industrialization in the region was embedded in it.

Since that time, Siberian mineral resources have been at the center of Imperial and Soviet relations with the region and its people. Despite this, the level of industrial development remained very low. Mines in the southern part of Siberia, the tanning industry, and agriculture in the central part of Western Siberia were the major components of the Siberian economy. Knowledge of the rich mineral deposits and the perceived “emptiness” of Siberian spaces spurred metropolitan administrators to launch various projects to integrate Siberia more deeply into the imperial economy.

Two major projects in the late 19th century significantly affected the industrialization of the region in the 20th century. The first was the Trans-Siberian Railway (also known as the Great Siberian Route or Transsib) (1891-1916), which connected the central part of the country with Vladivostok in the Far East. The second project was linked to the first one. It was the Stolypin agrarian reform (1901-1903), which, among other things, transferred about 3 million people, predominantly peasants, from the central part of the country to Siberia. Both projects significantly changed the economic and social landscape of Siberia and contributed to the imperial economy. In Arsen’ev’s book “Dersu the Trapper”, you can find passages that shed light on the rapid transformation of the eastern part of Siberia.

With its long history of fur trade, mineral discoveries, and attempts to turn Siberia into an agricultural region, the area faced tremendous transformations in the early 20th century, culminating in the Russian Revolution and the emergence of the Soviet state.

 

Task 2

Choose one of the resources which played an important role in Siberian and American history — fur, iron, gold, silver, water, etc. — and write a short essay comparing the politics surrounding that resource in Siberia/Russia and the United States.

 

Industrialization

The 1917 Russian Revolution brought about radical changes to political and social relations in the country and necessitated new resources for building a Soviet economy. Due to the Civil War, which lasted in the Far East until 1922/1923, and the unforeseen consequences of severed social and economic relations within the country, the Soviet economy was unable to cope with the ensuing economic crisis. One response was the implementation of the “New Economic Policy” (1921-1928), which among other economic measures included attracting investments from other countries. Siberia, with its rich mineral deposits, became a key area for these projects.

One notable example of rapid industrial development in Siberia was from the home region of Dr Dima Arzyutov, one of the authors of the course. It is The Kuzbass Autonomous Industrial Colony (in today’s Kemerovo region/Kuzbass), which was established by American and Dutch engineers in 1921. The goal of this industrial colony was to develop coal and iron deposits and build a coal industry. Although the colony existed only until 1928, due to the rise of state-regulated industrialization, it significantly shaped the future of the South Siberian region. This region became a major center of the coal and iron industry in the Soviet Union, along with the Urals and Donbass in Ukraine. The experiences of one of the colony’s members are detailed in Julia L. Mickenberg’s book American Girls in Red Russia: Chasing the Soviet Dream.

The massive development of coal in the region has had significant environmental impacts. Some parts of the Kemerovo region are now considered among the most environmentally polluted in the country. Additionally, extensive coal development has led to the shrinking of hunting and fishing territories for Indigenous communities, such as the Shors and Teleuts. This economic and social transformation was further complicated by the aggressive collectivization campaign (1928-1940), which targeted both Indigenous and settler communities. The campaign aimed to transform various forms of individual farms and landholdings that had existed during the imperial and early Soviet periods into collectively or state-controlled farms.

 

GULAG

On the eve of the Second World War, with the rise of the GULAG system (as we discussed in our previous lesson) in the Soviet Union under Stalin, Siberia’s landscape was dramatically altered by the labor of millions of prisoners. The remote Taymyr Peninsula, rich in mineral deposits such as nickel, platinum, copper, cobalt, and coal, was transformed into the vast Norilsk forced labor camp. Further east, along the Kolyma River, another similarly brutal GULAG camp developed its resources of gold, tin, tungsten, uranium, cobalt, and coal. This system represented a cynical combination of slave labor, authoritarianism, and complex industrial infrastructures, ultimately leaving behind a legacy of environmental devastation.

 

Second World War, evacuation of industrial plants, and a new wave of industrial development

The Second World War further exacerbated the already challenging conditions in Siberia. The militarized economy demanded more resources and labor, drawing on both the imprisoned population and those whose relatives were sent to the front lines. Due to its distance from the western border, Siberia was considered a safe rear area, suitable for producing weapons for the war effort. Consequently, over three hundred factories from industrial centers in the western part of the country (including eastern Ukraine, Moscow, Leningrad [today’s Saint Petersburg], and other regions) were relocated to Western and Eastern Siberia. Areas that were previously primarily agricultural became highly industrialized. The modern Siberian capital, Novosibirsk, is an example of such transformation. Viewing this history from an environmental perspective, one can observe a significant shift, leading not only to polluted rivers and air but also to the degradation of the landscape. This degradation is particularly evident in Kemerovo region/Kuzbass, with its open coal mining, and Sakha/Yakutia, with its open diamond mining (since 1949). When examining this and similar images and analyzing the long history of environmental transformations, environmental historians employ the concept of the Anthropocene, which refers to the geological shift driven by human activities.

Watch the following Radio Liberty very short documentary (2019) about the diamond mines in Sakha/Yakutia.

The expansion of industries inevitably affected the lives of Indigenous people. Some began new careers in factories and mines, but most had to adapt to contaminated environments and shrinking territories for fishing, hunting, and animal husbandry. You can watch this short documentary made by Indigenous Shor activist Yana Tannagasheva (2021).

 

Oil and gas

A new challenge arose with geological prospecting when Siberian deposits of oil and gas transitioned from potential resources to actual ones. In 1965, the Samotlor oil field was discovered in Northwestern Siberia. Some political scientists view this discovery as a major shift, transforming the country into a “petrostate“—an economy dependent on the extraction and export of oil and gas, leading to consequent social and economic inequalities within the country. Western Siberia became the primary oil and gas resource, initially for the Soviet Union and later for Russia. Since the mid-1970s, the Soviet Union became one of the major suppliers of gas to Europe. Over the past sixty years, this economic model has not radically changed, even under the current Western sanctions prompted by military invasions of Ukraine and the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.

 

Water

As mentioned in the beginning, the meaning of “resource” is never fixed; it fluctuates across various historical, political, economic, and other contexts. Moreover, the history of resources allows us to reveal the complexity of their spatial distribution and the extent to which geography matters. One example of these interplays is the history of Siberian rivers. Since the early years of Russian colonization, rivers have played a significant role as “roads” of colonization, sources of fresh water, and, given the fish population, a crucial source of food. With the first attempts at industrialization in Siberia, the meaning of water resources also changed. Now water also became an energy source. In 1896, the first hydroelectric power plant in Siberia on the Nygra River was launched. By the 1960s, energy demand had risen so high that several massive hydropower plants were built or launched in Siberia, namely Bratsk (1954-1967) and Ust’-Ilim (1963-1979). On one hand, these plants partially addressed issues with energy production, but they also revealed the extent of environmental disruption and the social and cultural trauma experienced by those living in the flooded lands.

The planning and construction of new plants, along with the unrealized Soviet project of reversing Siberian rivers—which aimed to supply the Central Asian territories of the Soviet Union with fresh water and would consequently radically change the planetary climate—evoked public discussions across Siberia and the entire Soviet Union.  To a certain extent, the project to reverse Siberian rivers was rooted in Stalin’s “Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature,” which aimed to improve agricultural practices and irrigation systems in the country. The political environment in the 1960s was significantly different from that of the late 1940s when Stalin’s partially realized plan was launched. The discussions in the 1960s-1980s involved writers, scholars, journalists, environmentally-minded people and even some representatives of Indigenous communities. And at the end of the 1980s with perestroika and glasnost, they all took to the streets in Siberian towns to protest the environmental devastation caused by Soviet engineering in Siberia. For example, the project of the Katun’ hydropower plant in the Altai Republic, one of the most beautiful places in Siberia, if not all of Eurasia, where the river’s fresh water is crystal clear, would threaten the pastures of Indigenous Altai herders and alter the region’s ecosystem. The mobilization of various social and political groups, including Moscow-based authors, helped stop the project and prevent technological aggression against nature. Another example was the construction of the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill on the shore of Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest and oldest freshwater lake. Since the 1960s until 2013, the mill discharged harmful pollutants into the lake, affecting access of both Indigenous peoples and settlers around Baikal to fresh water and fish. The beautifully written novels by Siberian authors Viktor Astafyev (“Queen Fish”) and Valentin Rasputin (“Farewell to Matyora”) convey a sense of environmental loss and elegy felt by many people at that time. You can also watch a film adaptation of Rasputin’s novel (Episode 1 and Episode 2). You can also watch The Atlantic’s documentary about the Siberian Arctic city of Norilsk, one of the most polluted cities in Russia, titled “Would You Live in This Toxic, Closed-Off City?” (2017).

 

Environmental movement

As you may notice, the period from the 1960s to the 1980s was transformative for the environmental movement in Siberia. During this time, the protection of Siberian lands, which had always been considered pristine nature, became a major focus of criticism against Soviet modernization. In addition to public discussions and the prevention of power plants, the burgeoning environmental movement worked closely with Soviet biologists and ecologists who sought to restore the extensive network of nature reserves (zapovednik) in the Soviet Union.

You might be surprised to learn that the Soviet Union was the world’s leading country in establishing nature reserves between the 1910s and early 1950s. The first-ever nature reserve, Barguzin Nature Reserve, was established in East Siberia in 1917 to restore the sable population (see the works of Nicholas Breyfogle). By 1951, Siberia and the Russian North had numerous nature reserves that not only protected the environment but also ensured an embargo on any extractive industries within their territories.

However, in 1951, many nature reserves were shut down. It wasn’t until the 1970s that a new window of opportunity opened for environmental protection in Siberia and the Far East. Initially, a few nature reserves with very limited protection (zakazniki) were established. In 1976, the first post-WWII nature reserve was established on Wrangel Island. Three years later, in 1979, one of the largest nature reserves in Russia was opened on the Taymyr Peninsula.

Among social science scholars, there is no consensus about the relationships between nature reserves and Indigenous and local communities in Siberia. Nature reserves play a crucial role in environmental protection and serve as symbols of resistance against aggressive extractive industries. However, in many parts of Russia, nature reserves are not friendly to nearby communities or, more importantly, to the communities whose hunting, fishing, and herding areas are occupied by these reserves.

 

Tourism

Due to the global narratives portraying Siberia as wild, frozen, and pristine, the region has gradually become a new tourist destination. Before the 1917 Russian Revolution, only the Altai Mountains and Lake Baikal attracted tourists. You can read more about this in Alan D. Roe’s book, “Into Russian Nature.” Today, we are aware of high Arctic tourism, taiga tourism, and many other “wild nature” activities in Siberia. However, environmental scholars warn us about the environmental impact of tourism, as seen in discussions in the Republic of Altai in South Siberia. Additionally, the politics of cultural appropriation and cultural commodification (you can look up the meanings of these concepts) may significantly affect the sustainability of local and Indigenous communities.

 

Task 3

How do you envision the future of the Siberian environment? What measures should be taken to prevent massive environmental degradation and to develop a sustainable way of living for Siberian communities?

 

Fiction

Arsenʹev, V.K. (1996). Dersu the Trapper. McPherson.

Astafyev, V. (1982 [1976]). Queen Fish: A Story in Two Parts and Twelve Episodes. Moscow: Progress Publishers.

Nerkagi, A. (2010). From the Horde. In The Way of Kinship: An Anthology of Native Siberian Literature, edited by A. Vashchenko and C.Clayton Smith, 200–209. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press.

Rasputin, V. (1995 [1976]). Farewell to Matyora. Translated by Antonina W. Bouis. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

 

Memoirs

Mickenberg, J. L. (2017). American Girls in Red Russia: Chasing the Soviet Dream. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.

 

Non-fiction

Brain, S. (2010). “The Great Stalin Plan for the Transformation of Nature.” Environmental History 15 (4): 670–700. https://doi.org/10.1093/envhis/emq091.

Breyfogle, N., ed. (2018). Eurasian Environments: Nature and Ecology in Imperial Russian and Soviet History. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Breyfogle, N. B. (2015). “At the Watershed: 1958 and the Beginnings of Lake Baikal Environmentalism.” The Slavonic and East European Review 93 (1): 147–80. https://doi.org/10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.93.1.0147.

Breyfogle, N. B. (2021). “The Origins of the Barguzin Nature Reserve.” In Place and Nature, edited by Nicholas B. Breyfogle, David Moon, and Alexandra Bekasova, 268–91. Essays in Russian Environmental History. White Horse Press.

Bruno, A. (2022). Tunguska: A Siberian Mystery and Its Environmental Legacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chu, P-Y. (2021). The Life of Permafrost: A History of Frozen Earth in Russian and Soviet Science. Toronto; Buffalo; London: University of Toronto Press.

Demuth, B. (2019). Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait. W. W. Norton, Inc.

Goldman, M. I. (2008). Petrostate: Putin, Power, and the New Russia. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

Jones, R.T. (2017). Empire of Extinction: Russians and the North Pacific’s Strange Beasts of the Sea, 1741-1867. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

Kudachinova, C. (2020). The View of the Golden Mountains: The Altai and the Historical Resilience of the Imagination. In Russia in Asia: Imaginations, Interactions, and Realities, edited by Jane F. Hacking, Jeffrey S. Hardy, and Matthew P. Romaniello, 28–48. London and New York: Routledge.

Roe, A.D. (2020). Into Russian Nature: Tourism, Environmental Protection, and National Parks in the Twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

 

Documentaries

Would You Live in This Toxic, Closed-Off City? (2017)

 

Films

Dersu Uzala, (1975), Directed by Akira Kurosawa (with English subtitles)

Farewell, (1981), Directed by Elem Klimov and Larisa Shepit’sko (with English subtitles)

• Episode 1
• Episode 2

Siberiade. (1977). Director: Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky (with English subtitles)

• Episodes 1 and 2
• Episodes 3 and 4