ASIA, Russian expansion in.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Stanford's Map of the Siberian Railway: The Great Land Route to China and Korea. First edition of this splendid cartographic visualization of Russia's threat to British and Japanese interests in Asia in the early 20th century, published half a year before the completion and opening of the railway in June 1904. For Britain, the railway menaced its commercial power in China and naval power in the Pacific. Similar Japanese concerns fed the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War.The map also shows the Trans-Caspian Railway and a proposed line stretching from Kokand to Lanzhou, the latter symptomatic of Russia's increasing designs on Xinjiang and other western provinces of China. In February 1904, Stanford issued a second edition, which is often cited as the map's first appearance, and multiple editions followed.

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