Foreign sources in the contemporary works of British-American researchers on history of Russian colonization

Abstract

Copyright © 2015 by Sochi State University. The article considers the use of foreign archival sources by modern British and American researchers, specializing in Russian colonization processes in XVI-XVIII centuries. The authors examine the study of archival sources relating to the Russian colonization, deposited in the British archives, as well as their influence on the British historiography of Russian colonization. Additionally, this article analyzes the involvement of unpublished documents from the archives of Turkey by Anglo-American historians, which allow to highlight the history of Russian colonization of Transcaucasia, and the use of sources from the archives of China, tells the story of the accession of Siberia and the Far East to the Russian state. The authors show how archival sources of Russian origin residing abroad ("Hoover archives", "Yudin collection" at the Library of Congress, "Bakhmeteff Archive" and the materials of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad), were introduced into scientific circulation by foreign researchers. The article defines an influence of archival sources on the development of the British and American historiography of Russian colonization.