Summary
This travel narrative was published by Napoléon Ney, founder and president of the Racing Club in France, following his journey from Paris to Samarkand through Europe, the Caucasus, and Siberia. The account documents the inauguration of the Transcaspian railway in Samarkand on 27 May 1888, undertaken upon invitation from Russian General Annenkoff. It provides insight into how new technologies transformed travel during a period of Russian-British imperial rivalry in Central Asia.
Detailed Account
Ney traveled from Paris to Odessa and crossed the Black Sea in five days on a Russian steamboat to Batumi. From the Caucasus, he continued across the Caspian Sea and took a train from Tbilisi, capital of Transcaucasia, to Baku. He described regions and landscapes while discussing railway connections from political, military, and trade perspectives. The advancements in steamboat and railway technology enabled faster access to distant destinations and allowed transportation of heavy loads in greater quantities than previously possible with camels and horses. Ney also noted plans for pipelines connecting Baku and Batumi between the Caspian and Black seas, and observed that a train station in Bokhara signified significant change.
Ney outlined Russian presence in Central Asia over two centuries and detailed events leading to Russian Turkestan's formation in 1866 with Tashkent as capital and General Kauffman as governor. He included a contemporary perspective on civilizing missions: 'The position of the Russians in Central Asia is that of all civilized states that find themselves in contact with semi-savage populations, wandering, without fixed social organization. It always happens in such cases that there are incursions, raids to suppress. To put an end to them we are forced to reduce to a more or less direct submission the bordering populations. Once this result is achieved, the tribes are in turn exposed to the aggressions of their neighbors. They must therefore defend against these depredations and punish those who commit them. From this arises the necessity of distant, expensive, and periodic expeditions.' (pp. 212-213)