Pashazada Irrigation Canal, Supplying Water to the Estate of the Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich. Golodnaia Steppe

1905
Shown here is the Pashazada aryk (irrigation canal, in Turkic languages), which served the estate of Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich (1850–1918), grandson of Tsar Nicholas I, in Golodnaia Steppe (Hungry Steppe), located in present-day Uzbekistan. Exiled from Saint Petersburg in 1874 because of a family scandal, Nicholas settled in 1881 in Tashkent, which had been taken by Russian forces in 1865. There he sponsored a number of philanthropic and entrepreneurial projects. Among the latter was a vast irrigation scheme intended to provide arable land to Russian settlers and to make Golodnaia Steppe a productive area for raising cotton and wheat. This small canal, lined with poplar trees, was part of the much larger system financed by Nicholas. The image is by Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944), who used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many parts of the empire. In 1911 he traveled to the region of Central Asia then known as Turkestan (present-day Uzbekistan and neighboring states), where he photographed architectural monuments as well as rural scenes.

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Filename: 5091.jpg
Copyright: acku Afghanistan
Image Size: 1800x1654 / 659.9KB; 1905 Kazakhstan Qaraghandy Oblast Betpak-Dala Pashazada Irrigation Canal Nikolai Konstantinovich Trees Photo WDL 010398
Contained in galleries: KAZAKHSTAN

1905<br />
Shown here is the Pashazada aryk (irrigation canal, in Turkic languages), which served the estate of Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich (1850–1918), grandson of Tsar Nicholas I, in Golodnaia Steppe (Hungry Steppe), located in present-day Uzbekistan. Exiled from Saint Petersburg in 1874 because of a family scandal, Nicholas settled in 1881 in Tashkent, which had been taken by Russian forces in 1865. There he sponsored a number of philanthropic and entrepreneurial projects. Among the latter was a vast irrigation scheme intended to provide arable land to Russian settlers and to make Golodnaia Steppe a productive area for raising cotton and wheat. This small canal, lined with poplar trees, was part of the much larger system financed by Nicholas. The image is by Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944), who used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many parts of the empire. In 1911 he traveled to the region of Central Asia then known as Turkestan (present-day Uzbekistan and neighboring states), where he photographed architectural monuments as well as rural scenes.