34
among the employees of the Chancellery of Foreign Affairs in Moscow were
the Tatar and Kalmuk translator, Taras Ivanov and Kalmuk translator Vasili
Martynov.
75
3.4 Diplomatic Activities and Russian Orientalism
In that period, there were many Russian ambassadors sent to Central
Asian cities. It was aimed to free the Russian prisoners in Central Asian
cities, most of whom were caught by the Turcomans on the Caspian Sea as
fishermen or tradesmen. Hafiz Tanish, who wrote the biography of the most
powerful Uzbek khan, Abdullah, told how a delegation from Russia was
stopped in Urgench in 1583 and released only on Abdullah’s order. In this
story Moscow is mentioned as the “capital of the Frenk [i.e. European]
sultans”.
76
It is interesting that while in some Persian sources before Peter
the Great, the Russians are called Uzbek-i Ferengi (European Uzbeks), in
Hafiz Tanish’s story they are defined just as Frenk.
77
Following the conquest of Siberia, Russia established a relationship
with China. Yet, in the 16
th
century, the Russian Empire sought to learn the
routes to China influenced by a British, John William Merrick, who had
visited Russia several times. Besides, some Russians were sent to Britain
75
Khodarkovsky, op. cit., in note 72, p. 64.
76
Bartold, op. cit., in note 4, p. 369.
77
Frye, op. cit., in note 31, p. 34.
35
with him to obtain some information about the routes to China.
78
Nevertheless, we cannot argue, that until the time of Peter those relations
were considered to be important. The main reason of it was the
geographical distance between China and Russia. Thus, it took a long time
for the tradesmen to cover the distance between these two countries.
In the midst of the 17
th
century, the geographical terms developed
more with a well-defined, clearer terminology. The envoys to Central Asia
had a new mission: gathering information on trade routes to India. These
envoys were collecting Russian slaves as well. Among these slaves, Michel
Fedorovich, Anisime Gribov, Ivan Fedotov, Boris and Semen Pazukhine
brothers can be mentioned.
79
In 1653, when a the Russian envoy was in
Kazvin, a converted Persian under Russian service Vasili Aleksandrovich
Davudov and a Tatar of Kazan, Muhammed Yusuf Kasymov were also sent.
Davudov should just go to Bukhara and make the Russian slaves to be
released. Kasymov would “learn the overland, mountain or sea route to
India”. Kasymov should be very careful for river routes, which were very
important for Russian trade and colonization. The muscovite government
was aware of the existence of a big river, Amu Derya, in Central Asia.
Kasymov should have learned, “where this river originates, where it flows,
which passages it crosses, which peoples were living on its shores, what
78
Kim & Shastitko, op. cit., in note 16, p. 32., Bartold, op. cit., in note 4, p. 377.
79
Ibid., p. 32.
36
industries they possessed and which countries peoples were living around
it”. They had translators in assistance.
80
The broadening of Russia’s horizon pushed the cartography as well.
There were neither in ancient sources nor in the sources of Middle Ages
information about the confronted new peoples and the newly conquered
territories by Russia. However, in the 17
th
century, the maps about those
countries attracted the attention of European science as well. The first
example of them was the “Big Picture”, what was lost except its notes, from
the year 1600. in 1667, the vaivode of Tobolsk Pierre Ivanovich Godunov
was ordered to “describe and draw all Siberian territories and peoples with
their borders, rivers and cities”, and his map was printed immediately in
Moscow. European science benefited from that study as well. For example,
Nicolas Corneliszon Witsen draw the “map of Asia and Europe, north and
east” based on the information of Russian data and sources and in 1692 he
published his work “Northern and Eastern Tataristan”, which was translated
to various languages.
81
In short, form the Mongol conquest to the time of Peter the Great, the
hegemony over the other Russian kniazes expanded to all of the heirs of
Golden Horde. Following the conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan, the relations
with Iran and Central Asian khanates were established, and after the
80
Bartold, op. cit., in note 4, pp. 371-372.
81
Ibid., pp. 381-382.
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