The State of Land Transportation Routes and Road Construction in the Southern Far East of Russia in the Late XIX – Early XX Centuries

The article examines the initial period of road construction and the formation of transportation routes in the southern Far East of Russia following its annexation to the Russian Empire until the early XX century. The term “communication routes” encompasses various types of roads designed for the transportation of people and goods, including postal routes, pack trails, dirt roads, and clearings. The construction of roads in the Lower Amur region near the city of Nikolaevsk, in the Amur Oblast, as well as in the Primorsky Krai, is considered. In the Lower Amur region, the construction of transportation routes was driven by strategic defense needs. In the Amur Oblast, the primary incentive for creating transportation infrastructure was economic needs, driven by the development of gold deposits. Postal routes, which operated in the region’s uninhabited conditions, played an important role in road construction. By the late XIX century, the construction of dirt roads in the Primorsky Krai was greatly influenced by the construction of the Ussuri Railway. Conclusion dwells upon the fact that the development of transportation routes in the region corresponded to the capabilities of its time.