Paper short abstract:

This presentation puts Turkestan’s translocal history forward by focusing on foreign investment and involvement in the burgeoning capitalist economy of the region that linked rural places in the Ferghana Valley and the Bukharan steppe via Tashkent to Europe, China, Northern America and South Africa.

Paper long abstract:

When discussing the beginnings of capitalism and industrialisation, colonial Central Asia is not a region that comes to mind easily. If anything, it is taken to epitomise a monoculture colony whose single export good worth mentioning seems to be cotton. Much of the existing literature on foreign investment or economic involvement in post-conquest Central Asia stresses legal restrictions for foreigners or ethno-religious minorities. By exploring lesser known commodities that originated in Russian Turkestan and the Bukharan protectorate, I aim to present an economic history that was much more vibrant and diverse than usually acknowledged, both with regard to its product range and geographical scope. I also want to put Turkestan’s translocal history forward by focusing on foreign investment and involvement in the burgeoning capitalist economy of the region, that ultimately linked rural places in the Ferghana Valley and the Bukharan steppe via Tashkent to Europe, Qing China, Northern America and South Africa. By using the example of the G.V. Diurshmidt and his commodity empire in Central Asia, this presentation will trace early capitalist developments in Central Asia and situate them in the global networks of infrastructure and trade that connected the region to Europe, Asia and beyond.