Siberian Route
The Siberian Route (Russian: Сибирский тракт, romanized: Sibirsky trakt), also known as the Moscow Highway (Московский тракт, Moskovsky trakt) and Great Highway (Большой тракт, Bolshoi trakt), was a historic route that connected European Russia to Siberia and China.
History
The construction of the road was decreed by the Tsar [
The much longer Siberian route started in
In the early 19th century, the route was moved to the south. From Tyumen the road proceeded through Yalutorovsk, Ishim, Omsk, Tomsk, Achinsk and Krasnoyarsk before rejoining the older route at Irkutsk. It remained a vital artery connecting Siberia with Moscow and Europe until the last decades of the 19th century, when it was superseded by the Trans-Siberian Railway and Amur Cart Road. The automobile equivalent is the Trans-Siberian Highway.
Etymology and legacy of name
The Siberian Route was also known as the Tea Road, owing to the great quantities of tea that were transported from China to Europe through Siberia. Charles Wenyon, who passed by the "Great Post Road" in 1893, subscribed to the popular belief that "the best tea produced in China for the exportation goes to Russia".[1]
In 1915, China exported to Siberia 70,297 tons of tea, which accounted for 65% of the country's overall tea exports.[2] The route is the namesake of the Russian Caravan blend of tea.
It was imported primarily in the form of hefty hard-packed
See also
- Tea in Russia
- Kyakhta Russian-Chinese Pidgin
References
- ^ Wenyon, Charles (1896). Across Siberia on the Great Post-road. London: Charles H. Kelly. p. 76. (reprinted by Ayer Publishing, 1971).
- ISBN 978-1-4128-0639-8.
- ISBN 978-1-58008-745-2.
- ISBN 978-0-8014-8922-8.
Further reading
- Avery, Martha. The Tea Road: China and Russia Meet Across the Steppe. Mandarin Books, 2003. ISBN 7-5085-0380-5.
- Alexander Michie, 'The Siberian Overland Route from Peking to Petersburg', 1864. -followed the route in 1863