Industry, crafts and trade in Siberia in the 1700s-1820s

The study of history of the region's economy in the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries seriously advanced in the post-soviet Russian historiography. Profound monographic studies on the history of business, industry, trade and crafts were published. There was a need for generalization of research results. The author offers a synthesis of the experience. The article presents an outline of the development of industry, crafts and trade in Siberia in the 18th century - the first quarter of the 19th century, when the region experienced the first results of the transition to the industrial era. At this time crafts predominated, but factories became commonplace. A feature of the manufacturing industry of Siberia was the complete domination of the feudal entrepreneurship of the Treasury, the Cabinet, the nobility and the monasteries, the displacement of private capital in the sphere of trade and crafts. The imperial family took possession of the most profitable non-ferrous metallurgy, depriving plants and mines to private entities for fiscal debts. Mining areas of Altai and Transbaikalia became major suppliers of non-ferrous metals in Russia. During the 18th and 19th centuries their successful operation was due to a unique combination of three factors: the area was rich in ores, in forests for fuel and building materials and in fertile land that could attract and concentrate the peasant population which was used as a workforce. Salt plants that belonged to monasteries were confiscated by the state, iron works were taken over by the Treasury for debt. Distilleries provided for the state wine monopoly. Extraction and production of salt was also the subject of official monopoly. For maintenance of military units, there worked a textile factory in Omsk, Telminsky and Taltzy industrial complexes near Irkutsk. Feudal industry operated on the forced labor of convicts, exiled workers, workmen and bonded peasants. At the beginning of the 19th century, there were signs of the feudal business crisis. Private capital, which worked with the use of hired labor, concentrated in the marine industry, in fishing and fur trade, in craft and trade. Large private capital could only be formed in trade. The exchange of goods between European Russia and Siberia was carried out through a network of fair traders, wholesalers. Merchants sold or lent industrial goods purchased at the Nizhny Novgorod and Irbit fairs at regional urban fairs, from which, in turn, they went to county and local trades in more or less large settlements. Instead, Siberian raw materials and furs were gathered. Domestic trade remained in the form of fairs due to the seasonality of tradeways. In foreign trade, Siberia served as a mediator between European Russia and China. Trade with China through Maimaicheng was of great significance for the Russian trade.

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