Directions, volumes and structure of freight traffic along the Amur at the beginning of the 20th century: analysis of transport statistics

The article is devoted to the history of the development of trade along the Amur before the First World War. The important role of freight traffic along the Amur in the development of trade in the Far East is often noted. However, that in their assessments, researchers often rely on the works of contemporaries, which provide only fragmentary information on the movement of goods along the Amur. This article attempts to reveal the information potential of some statistical sources on the topic as well as to consider on their basis the main trends in the development of river trade in the Amur region during the specified period. In order to recreate the general picture of trade along the Amur, the work uses transport statistics of Amur shipping, the materials of governor's reports and the analytical materials of contemporaries. The intensification of the general dynamics of freight traffic occurred in the period after the end of the Russo-Japanese War: firstly, as a result of the increase in the volume of goods supplied to the population of the Russian Amur region, which was actively growing due to the influx of settlers, and secondly, the mass transportation of materials for the construction of the Amur Railway. In quantitative terms, the shipment of goods up the Amur was inferior to the shipment down the river, but it was in this direction that goods were mainly supplied to parts of Transbaikalia and Primorye, as well as the entire Amur Region. The commissioning of the Trans-Siberian Railway also contributed to the development of the intermediary role of Amur shipping in the export of goods from the Far East. The railway did not contribute to a reduction in the volume of goods transported along the Amur, but rather changed their directions and structure.