THE RISE OF THE RUSSIAN-LANGUAGE PRESS IN TURKESTAN (1870–1917)

Аннотация

This article explores the emergence of the Russian-language press in Turkestan from the 1870s to the early twentieth century. The founding of Turkestanskie vedomosti in 1870 marked the beginning of official Russian-language periodicals, which primarily served the administrative and ideological needs of the Tsarist regime. While functioning as a tool of colonial governance and Russification, the press also reflected wider intellectual and political currents, including the circulation of revolutionary ideas and the rise of national-bourgeois newspapers after 1905. By situating the press within the socio-political context of late imperial Turkestan, the article highlights its dual role as both an instrument of empire and a medium of cultural exchange.