49
scientific Russian studies in field of orientalistic were implemented by the
ambitious educational reforms of Peter the Great.
3.6 Oriental Studies After Peter the Great
Peter had planted the seeds for Westernization in Russia. The
institutions set up for scientific activities have become the basis for the post-
Peter period. However, what Peter had initiated was followed at the same
pace and determination by his heirs after his death in 1725. The foundation
of university departments teaching orientalism would be realised 80 years
after Peter’s death. However, still in the post-Peter period the foreign
orientalists were invited to Russia, academic excursions were conducted in
Siberia and Central Asia and language training schools were established in
Russia.
One of the developments in oriental studies after Peter’s death was
the contribution of Mikhail Lomonosov to the field. Lomonosov who founded
the Moscow University in 1755, supported the idea of opening an institute or
academy in Russia which would teach eastern languages. He had three
projects for this purpose.
109
There were only four chairs in the department of
philosophy at the university he had founded: Philosophy, physics, history
and oratory. Higher education in the field of eastern languages did not
realise until the 19
th
century. The German orientalist G. J. Ker, a peer of
Lomonosov who was invited to Russia in 1733 thought that Russia had to
109
Bertels, op. cit., in note 100, pp. 9-10.
50
conquer Turkey and Central Asia. He even had a plan for this.
110
So, Ker
who had parallel thoughts to Lomonosov connected the establishment of an
academy with conquest of Turkey and Central Asia.
Around the years 1734–1735, the city of Orenburg was founded as a
result of the military campaigns in eastern Urals. Orenburg maintained its
adminitrative importance until the establishment of general governership of
Turkestan and the Steppes. Therefore, Orenburg became a center where
information on the Central Asian Khanates and geographic and historical
materials on the East were gathered.
111
In 1744, the Tatar-Kalmuk school
was founded in Orenburg to train translators. P. I. Rychkov, Petra Ivanovich
and his son Nikolay Petrovich were three prominent scholars working on the
materials gathered in Orenburg. Petra Ivanovich wrote books on the history
and topography of Orenburg and the history of Kazan.
112
One of the important developments in the 18
th
century was the
tolerance extended towards the Muslims and the members of other religions
in 1785. Before this date, as a result of the efforts to suppress Islam in the
region, 418 of the 536 mosques in Kazan had been demolished. The Tsarina
Catherina II’s order ruled that Christianity would expand without the use of
violent means and the people who were baptized would be exempt from
110
Bartold, op. cit., in note 4, p. 305; Frye, op. cit., in note 31, p. 36.
111
Bartold, op. cit., in note 4, p. 409.
112
Ibid., p. 409.
51
military service and tax and the ones who were not would have to pay
double tax. These supprassive policies towards the Muslims resulted in a
Baskort revolt in 1755.
113
After this revolt there was a marginal change in
the attitude of the rulers. After the conquest of Crimea in 1783, it became
inevitable to extend tolerance to the Muslims. After the acceptance of
regulations concerning primary schools, Baron Igelstrom who was in charge
of the Simbirsk and Ufa administrations, was given the task to expand these
schools in Kirghiz steppes. It was reported that the books were going to be
published in Russian and Kirghiz. However, due to the lack of teacher
candidates among the Russians and the Kirghiz, the clerics from Kazan were
assigned these tasks, which resulted in the expansion of Islamic culture
rather than the Russian culture in the steppes. In the same period, decisions
were taken to encourage the Russians to learn eastern languages. In 1769,
a Tatar class was opened at the College of Kazan. With the decree of 27
September 1782 it was ordered that Arabic would be taught at the primary
schools in Tataristan, Iran and Bukhara, and Chinese would be taught at the
primary schools in Irkutsk and Kolyvan. This also worked to the advantage
of Tatars to expand their influence towards the north and the east. Following
the religious tolerance, the Quran was translated for the second time from
French in 1790 and for the third time from English to Russian in 1792.
114
113
This revolt is also called as Batırşah Revolt. See, Zeki Velidi Togan. Başkurtların
Tarihi. Ankara: Türksoy, 2003, p. 87.
114
Frye, op. cit., in note 31, p. 37.
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