Ethnic Diversity
The
Russia of Nicholas II on the eve of World War I was a land of striking
ethnic diversity. Comprising all of the republics of what later was to
become the Soviet Union, as well as present-day Finland and much of Poland,
Russia was home to more than 150 million people--of which only about
half were ethnic Russians. In his travels throughout the empire, Prokudin-Gorskii
captured this diversity. His color photographs of peasants from rural
Russia, the nomadic peoples of Central Asia, and the mountain peoples
of the Caucasus predate the forced Russification and the rapid modernization
of the Soviet period and document traditional costumes and ways of life.
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Russian Peasant Girls
Young Russian peasant women offer berries to visitors to their izba,
a traditional wooden house, in a rural area along the Sheksna River
near the small town of Kirillov.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
Peasant Girls,
1909.
Digital color rendering.
Prints and Photographs Division
(LC-DIG-ppmsc-03984) (4)
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The Emir of Bukhara
The Emir of Bukhara, Alim Khan (1880-1944), poses solemnly for
his portrait, taken in 1911 shortly after his accession. As ruler
of an autonomous city-state in Islamic Central Asia, the Emir presided
over the internal affairs of his emirate as absolute monarch, although
since the mid-1800s Bukhara had been a vassal state of the Russian
Empire. With the establishment of Soviet power in Bukhara in 1920,
the Emir fled to Afghanistan where he died in 1944.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
The Emir of Bukhara,
1911.
Digital color rendering.
Prints and Photographs Division
(LC-DIG-ppmsc-03959) (5)
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Nomadic Kazakhs on the Steppe
Many Central Asiatic peoples, for example the Kirghiz, Kazakhs,
and Uzbeks, lived nomadic lives on the steppes, valleys, and deserts,
migrating seasonally from one place to another as opportunities
for obtaining food, water, and shelter changed. Shown here is a
young Kazakh family in colorful traditional dress moving across
the Golodnaia (or "Hungry") steppe in present-day Uzbekistan and
Kazakhstan.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
Nomadic Kirghiz,
1911.
Digital color rendering.
Prints and Photographs Division
(LC-DIG-ppmsc-03979) (6)
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Jewish Children with their Teacher
Samarkand, an ancient commercial, intellectual, and spiritual
center on the Silk Road from Europe to China, developed a remarkably
diverse population, including Tajiks, Persians, Uzbeks, Arabs,
Jews, and Russians. Samarkand, and all of West Turkestan, was incorporated
into the Russian Empire in the middle of the nineteenth century
and has retained its ethnic diversity up to the present. Prokudin-Gorskii
captures here a group of Jewish boys, in traditional dress, studying
with their teacher.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
Group of Jewish Children
with a Teacher, 1911.
Digital color rendering.
Prints and Photographs Division
(LC-DIG-ppmsc-04442) (7)
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Profile of a Nomad
In this portrait, Prokudin-Gorksii captures the traditional dress,
jewelry, and hairstyle of an Uzbek woman standing on a richly decorated
carpet at the entrance to a yurt, a portable tent
used for housing by the nomadic peoples of Central Asia. After
conquering Turkestan in the mid 1800s, the Russian government exerted
strong pressure on the nomadic peoples to adopt a sedentary lifestyle
and settle permanently in villages, towns, and cities.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
Profile of an Uzbek
Woman. . .,
ca. 1907-1915.
Digital color rendering.
Prints and Photographs Division
(LC-DIG-ppmsc-04442) (8)
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Prisoners in a Zindan with Guard
Five inmates stare out from a zindan, a traditional
Central Asian prison--in essence a pit in the earth with a low
structure built on top. The guard, with Russian rifle and bayonet,
is attired in Russian-style uniform and boots.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
A Zindan (prison).
. ., ca. 1907-1915.
Digital color rendering.
Prints and Photographs Division
(LC-DIG-ppmsc-04416) (9)
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Portrait of a Dagestani Couple
A couple in traditional dress poses for a portrait in the mountainous
interior region of Gunib on the north slope of the Caucasus Mountains
in what is today the Dagestan Republic of the Russian Federation.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
Dagestani Types, ca.
1907-1915.
Digital color rendering.
Prints and Photographs Division
(LC-DIG-ppmsc-04437) (10)
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Chinese Foreman at the
Chakva Tea Farm
A Chinese foreman poses with established tea plants and new plantings
at a tea farm and processing plant in Chakva, a small town just
north of Batumi. The semi-tropical climate of the Black Sea coast
in modern-day Georgia was ideal for growing tea.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
Tea Factory in Chakva.
Chinese Foreman Lau-Dzhen-Dzhau,
ca. 1907-1915.
Digital color rendering.
Prints and Photographs Division
(LC-DIG-ppmsc-04429) (11)
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Study of a Dagestani Man
Dagestan, meaning "land of mountains" in the Turkic languages,
contains a population consisting of many nationalities, including
Avars, Lezgi, Noghay, Kumuck, and Tabasarans. Pictured here is
a Sunni Muslim man of undetermined nationality wearing traditional
dress and headgear, with a sheathed dagger at his side.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
Dagestani Types,
ca. 1907-1915.
Digital color rendering.
Prints and Photographs Division
(LC-DIG-ppmsc-04436) (12)
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Russian Children on a Hillside
Children sit on the side of a hill near a church and bell-tower
in the countryside near White Lake, in the north of European Russia.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
A Group of Children,
1909.
Digital color rendering.
Prints and Photographs Division
(LC-DIG-ppmsc-04421) (13)
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Russian Settlers in the Borderlands
Ethnic Russian settlers to the Mugan Steppe region, south of the
Caucasus Mountains and west of the Caspian Sea, established a small
settlement named Grafovka. The region is immediately north of the
border with Persia. Settlement of Russians in non-European parts
of the empire, and particularly in border regions, was encouraged
by official government policy and accounts for much of the Russian
migration to Siberia, the Far East, and the Caucasus regions.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
A Settler's Family,
ca. 1907-1915.
Digital color rendering.
Prints and Photographs Division
(LC-DIG-ppmsc-04435) (14)
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