Migrant Farmstead in the Settlement of Spassky. Golodnaia Steppe

1905
In 1911, Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) traveled to an area of Central Asia then known as Turkestan where he photographed Islamic architectural monuments as well as Russian development projects. Among the primary initiators of such projects was Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich (1850–1918), grandson of Nicholas I, who moved to Tashkent in 1881. There he sponsored a number of projects, including a vast irrigation scheme to make Golodnaia Steppe (“Hungry Steppe,” in contemporary Uzbekistan) a productive area for raising cotton and wheat. A related goal was to provide arable land to attract Russian settlers, but conditions in the region were harsh. Shown here are the simple stuccoed structures of a farmstead at the settlement of Spasskii (the Russian word for “Savior”). Rows of poplar trees have been planted to provide shade and shelter from the steppe winds. The overgrown area around the buildings shows no signs of cultivation. Prokudin-Gorskii used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. Some of his 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 different parts of the empire.

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Filename: 5680.jpg
Copyright: acku Afghanistan
Image Size: 1800x1664 / 561.6KB; 1905 Kazakhstan Farmhouses Meadows Settlements Farmstead Trees Photo WDL 010400
Contained in galleries: KAZAKHSTAN

1905<br />
In 1911, Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) traveled to an area of Central Asia then known as Turkestan where he photographed Islamic architectural monuments as well as Russian development projects. Among the primary initiators of such projects was Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich (1850–1918), grandson of Nicholas I, who moved to Tashkent in 1881. There he sponsored a number of projects, including a vast irrigation scheme to make Golodnaia Steppe (“Hungry Steppe,” in contemporary Uzbekistan) a productive area for raising cotton and wheat. A related goal was to provide arable land to attract Russian settlers, but conditions in the region were harsh. Shown here are the simple stuccoed structures of a farmstead at the settlement of Spasskii (the Russian word for “Savior”). Rows of poplar trees have been planted to provide shade and shelter from the steppe winds. The overgrown area around the buildings shows no signs of cultivation. Prokudin-Gorskii used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. Some of his 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 different parts of the empire.