Economic activity of the Ussuri Cossacks and their contribution to the development and organization of defense of the Amur region in the late XIX – early XX centuries

this article examines the economic activities of the Ussuri Cossacks and their contribution to the development and protection of the borders of the Amur region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is emphasized that after the annexation of the Amur region in the middle of the 19th century, the Russian government sought to strengthen its position in this strategically important region, not only to ensure important trade routes, but also to increase trade with neighboring countries, primarily Japan and China. The Government also faced the need to stabilize the military and political situation in the Pacific region. These and other factors predetermined the importance of the resettlement of the Cossacks in the Amur region and the organization of the Ussuri Cossack army. The article notes that border protection was the main responsibility of the Ussuri Cossacks. Initially, due to the lack of the necessary number of regular troops, it was the Cossacks who were the military force capable of defending the border along a fairly long stretch of the border – along the Amur and Ussuri rivers. It is emphasized that the Ussuri Cossacks played a significant role in the settlement and development of the Amur region and became the basis on which the settlers developed a special way of life and ethnoculture, which allowed them to perceive themselves as Far Easterners.

Ussuri Cossack army, Amur Cossack army, Cossacks, Amur region, colonization of the Russian Far East, economic development of the Amur region, defense of the Amur region, border protection