Siberian colonization in modern english-american scientific press

The article is devoted to a review of publications in the foreign scientific journal “Sibirika” on issues of Siberian exile and colonization. Since the journal Sibirika is not known to the Russian scientific community as a source of materials on the foreign historiography of Siberia, its detailed description is given. The journal is a discussion platform for scientists from around the world publishing the results of their research related to human activities in the region. An analysis of modern Russian and Anglo-American historiography of Siberia allows us to conclude that, despite the use of the same archival sources and materials, Russian and Western researchers often come to different conclusions or make their own attempts to comprehend the causes of certain events on the basis of the data received. Since the journal's articles are not a homogeneous complex, they were divided into several groups according to the thematic principle. In this paper, the works on the issues of Siberian exile, colonization and regionalism are analyzed. In his article D. Collins notes that the exile was one of the main sources in overcoming the inequality in the number of men and women during the colonization of Siberia, thus refuting the position of Soviet historians on this issue. The author cites the data from anthropological studies that showed that the largest number of mixed marriages and the largest percentage of mixed-race people were found in the north and east of Siberia. He clarified that until this time the Russian population in northern and eastern Siberia was much smaller than in its southern and western parts, what is more, the skills of indigenous wives and trade relations that arose as a result of marriages were valued higher in the northern and eastern regions which were poorly suitable for agriculture. Another researcher of Siberian exile, A. Gentes, describes the Tsarist Russia's system for the deportation of disabled to Siberia for a long time, from the middle 16^th to the end of 19^th century. He provides convincing evidence of high mortality among exiles, which was mainly resulted from a disproportionately large number of elderly and disabled people among them. C. Weiss in her work suggests that Siberian exile, as a way to populate the territory beyond the Urals with people of the same cultural origin as the “conquerors”, played an important role in overcoming the conflicts emerged in the course of colonization, as these people could build administrative structures and drive out indigenous tribes. C. Weiss, discusses the reasons for the differences between the colonization processes of Russia and colonization in other countries and makes an attempt to comprehend the mental perception of Siberia by Russians and the role that Russia played in shaping Siberian identity. In conclusion, the author emphasizes the significance of the foreign colleagues' works for a complex study of Siberian issues.

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