Role of Astrakhan Governor N. N. Tevyashev in the Development of Transport Infrastructure that Connected the European part of Russia with Iran, the Trans-Caspian Region and the South Caucasus at the end of the 19th century

Scientific article

DOI 10.28995/2073-0101-2026-3-924-941

For citation

Kornoukhova, G. G. (2026). Role of Astrakhan Governor N. N. Tevyashev in the development of transport infrastructure that connected the European part of Russia with Iran, the Trans-Caspian region and the South Caucasus at the end of the 19th century, Herald of an Archivist, no. 3, pp. 924-941. DOI 10.28995/2073-0101-2026-3-924-941

Kornoukhova, G. G., Astrakhan State University named after V. N. Tatishchev, Astrakhan, Russia

Role of Astrakhan Governor N. N. Tevyashev in the Development of Transport Infrastructure that Connected the European part of Russia with Iran, the Trans-Caspian Region and the South Caucasus at the end of the 19th century

Abstract

The article explores the work of Astrakhan Governor N. N. Tevyashev in developing transport infrastructure in the Astrakhan Governorate in the late 19th century. The research is based on the published minutes of the meeting of the Commission for the Discussion of Measures to Improve Shipping Conditions at the Mouths of the Volga in which N. N. Tevyashev participated in 1893. The study is also supported with archival documents – reports and submissions sent by the Astrakhan Governor to central agencies in 1895 based on decisions made by the Astrakhan Exchange Committee and the City Duma on the need to build the Volga–Caspian Canal and the Astrakhan Railway. This second group of sources is housed in the fund "Departments of Merchant Shipping and Commercial Ports of the Ministry of Trade and Industry" (F. 95) of the Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA) and is being introduced into scholarly circulation for the first time. The methodological basis of the study is a historical-anthropological approach, transforming history into a science of man and his contribution to the development of human society, to the development of the transport infrastructure of the Astrakhan Governorate in this case. The study's novelty lies in its focus on the work of N. N. Tevyashev, a pioneer in the idea of large-scale infrastructure development of the Astrakhan Governorate as a logistics hub linking Russia's central industrial region with Iran, the Trans-Caspian region, and the South Caucasus. In his speeches and documents submitted to central government agencies N. N. Tevyashev explained in details the need for the rapid construction of both a deep-water canal connecting the Caspian Sea with the port of Astrakhan and a railway line connecting the city with the rest of the Russian Empire. He also skillfully determined the route along which the railway line should be built taking into account the economic development of the region and demographic indicators. The author concludes that N. N. Tevyashev made a significant contribution to the development of transport infrastructure in the Astrakhan Governorate during the period of Russia's first industrialization. Although the projects' implementation was significantly delayed and initial results were not achieved until the turn of the first two decades of the 20th century, even after his death, his efforts proved instrumental in giving initial impetus to the constructive processes that transformed the Astrakhan Governorate into a developed logistics hub.

Keywords

Volga Railway, Astrakhan branch of the Ryazan-Ural Railway, economic history, Caspian-Volga trade route, southern frontier, Volga-Caspian transit route, Russian-Iranian cross-border area, history of transport communications.

Download the article: kornoukhova_doi

References

Arabadzhyan, Z. A. (2024). Nikolai Notovich – an Enthusiast of Russian Railway Concessions in Persia, RUDN Journal of Russia History, Series, The History of Russia, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 451–462.

Belousov, S. S. (2020). The Influence of Railways on the Development of the Settlement Network in Astrakhan Province, Last Quarter of the 19th – Early 20th Centuries, Bylye Gody, vol. 57, no. 3, pp. 1264–1269.

Bernov, V. A. (1896). Note on the Projected Rail Link between the City of Astrakhan and the General Network of Russian Railways and the Projected Volga–Caspian Sea Canal, St. Petersburg, Society for the Distribution of Useful Books publ., 8 p.

Bogatyrev, V. S. (2009). Dynamics of the Trade Development between Russia and Persia through Astrakhan in the 1880s – early 1890s, Izvestia, Herzen University Journal of Humanities and Sciences, no. 115, pp. 39–43.

Bukharitsin, P. I., Kotenkov, S. A. (2022). Difficult Rapids of the Volga–Caspian Sea, Historical Retrospective, part I, 9th–19th Centuries, Hydrometeorology and Ecology, no. 67, pp. 283–304.

Vinogradov, S. V., Yeshchenko, Yu. G. (2021). Retrospective Analysis of the Development of the Astrakhan Port as a Key Center of the Caspian-Volga Trade Route in the Late 19th – Early 20th Centuries, Modern Scientific Thought, no. 5, pp. 27–34.

Imasheva, M. M. (2024). Cotton Trade at the Astrakhan Port in the First Half of the 19th Century, Journal of Education and Science "ISTORIYA", vol. 15, iss. 3 (137), URL: https://history.jes.su/s207987840030318-8-1/ (Accessed: 10.04.2025).

Kitanina, T. M. (2018). The Penetration of Large Russian Financial Capital into the Economy of Central Asia in the Late 19th – Early 20th Centuries, A. I. Putivlov's Financial and Industrial Group and Railway Construction, St. Petersburg, Humanitarian Academy publ., 222 p.

Kobzeva, E., Avdeeva, E. (2008). The Route That Connected Russia with the Caucasus, Gudok, September 26, URL: https://gudok.ru/zdr/174/?ID=612198&ysclid=mp03cjxlvu364324837 (Accessed: April 10, 2025)/

Kolpakov, P. A. (2025). Development of the Road Infrastructure of Transcaucasia in the Second Half of the 19th – Early 20th Centuries, RUDN Journal of Russia History, Series, The History of Russia, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 389–401.

Kotenkov, S. A., Makshaev, R. R., Lobacheva, D. M., Matlakhova, E. Yu. (2024). The Volga–Caspian Canal in the 18th, Century Historical and Geographical Reconstruction of the Shipping Route, Lomonosov Geography Journal, Episode 5 Geography, vol. 79, no. 3, pp. 149–161.

Opalev, M. N. (2014). Construction and Operation of Railway Bridges and Crossings in the Lower Reaches of the Volga, Late 19th – First Half of the 20th Century, Science Journal of Volgograd State University, History, Area Studies, International Relations, no. 2, pp. 67–80.

Pirova, R. N., Ozdamirova, E. M. (2022). Participation of Eastern Merchants in Astrakhan Foreign Trade, First Half of the 19th Century, Monograph, Makhachkala, ALEF publ., 187 p.

Smorodin, A. N. (2012). The Volga Region Railway, Railway Transport, no. 6, pp. 64–68.

Tarkova, R. A. (2007). Development of Water Transport in the System of Socioeconomic Ties of the Lower Volga Region in 1861–1914, PhD Thesis (Hist.), Astrakhan, 244 p.

Toktamysov, S. Zh. (2024). Government Discussion on the Participation of Private Capital in the Construction of the Trans-Caspian Railway at the End of the 19th Century, RUDN Journal of Russia History, Series, The History of Russia, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 109–121.

Amini, Sh., Toms, S. (2021). Elite directors, London finance, and British overseas expansion, Victorian railway networks, 1860–1900, The Economic History Review, vol. 74, no. 2, pp. 496–521.

Berger, Th. (2019). Railroads and Rural Industrialization, Evidence from a Historical Policy Experiment, Explorations in Economic History, vol. 74, pp. 101–277.

Bogart, D., Dunn, O., Alvarez Palau, E. J., Shaw?Taylor, L (2021). Speedier delivery, coastal shipping times and speeds during the Age of Sail, The Economic History Review, vol. 74, no. 1, pp. 87–114.

Braun, S. T., Franke, R. (2022). Railways, Growth, and Industrialization in a Developing German Economy, 1829–1910, The Journal of Economic History, vol. 82, no. 4, pp. 1183–1221.

Darchieva, S. V., Darchiev, A. V. (2017). The Unrealized Project of Railway Construction, the Caucasian Saddle Road, Bylye Gody, vol. 45. no, 3, pp. 928–936.

Karataev, V. B., Markaryan, I. N., Allalyev, R. M. (2015). To the Issue of Historical Prerequisites and the Significance of the Construction of the Railway Network in the Caucasus the late 19th and early 20th Century era, Bylye Gody, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 933–939.

Klemann, H. A. M., Schenk, J. (2013). Competition in the Rhine delta: waterways, railways and ports, 1870?1913, The Economic History Review, vol. 66, no. 3, pp. 826?847.

Nachtigal, R. (2016). Verkehrswege in Kaukasien, Ein Integrations problem des Zarenreiches 1780–1870, Wiesbaden, Reichert Verlag, 448 р.

Solar, P. M., Dunn, O. B., Aidan Kane, A. (2024). Shipping in the London coal trade, 1700?1860, The Economic History Review, vol. 77, no. 3, pp. 1005–1034.

About authors

Kornoukhova Gadilya Gizatullaevna, PhD in History, Associate Professor, Astrakhan State University named after V. N. Tatishchev, Center for the Study of the History of the Lower Volga Region of the Soviet Period, Leading Researcher, Astrakhan, Russia, +7-8512-24-64-88, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

ORCID 0000-0002-7553-1856

Grant information

The article was prepared with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation grant (project No. 25-28-00920) “Organizational and Economic Mechanism for the Transformation of the Volga-Caspian Transit Route during the Period of the first Russian Industrialization (mid-19th – early 20th centuries)”, https://rscf.ru/project/25-2800920/

The article was received in the editorial office on 25.04.2025, recommended for publication on 20.06.2026