Russian-Asian trade caravans of the 18th–19th centuries: features of organization and everyday life on the road

The study covers transport issues of economic relations between Russia and Asian states in the 18th–19th centuries. The paper attempts to systematize the accumulated information about the mechanism of the trade caravan as an important element of the everyday work of merchants engaged in international trade in the period under study. The article describes the key tasks of entrepreneurs in organizing a caravan. Being the main customers of the caravan services, the merchants tried to take into account all the nuances of preparing goods for shipment, from the selection of management and working personnel to the purchase of fastening gear. Emphasis is placed on the elements of everyday life of the caravan personnel, such as the rules for placing cargo on pack animals and caring for them, the gastronomic arsenal of caravaners, recreation conditions, replenishment of water and provisions during the movement. The article describes the principles of selection of caravan masters, their functions and powers. In the course of the study, a number of differences between Russian and Asian caravans were discovered, which existed mainly in the status of caravan masters, the way the owners of the goods travelled and how meals were organized. The source base of the study, formed by unpublished archival materials, narratives of merchants and travelers who traveled in the 18th–19th centuries on pack animals across the Asian steppes and deserts and participated in the everyday camp life, made it possible to recreate the microenvironment of the caravan travel as a unique logistical phenomenon.