The Long and Winding Road to Vladivostok: The Trans-Siberian Railway and the World

This is a guest post by Elizabeth Dorokhina, a Cataloging Intern in the Geography and Map Division.

This summer, working as a Catalog Technician Intern in the Geography and Map Division, I had the unique opportunity to catalog maps of Asiatic Russia. These maps offer a comprehensive understanding of the region in multiple languages, exploring various parts of Asiatic Russia and its distinctive features. Maps of the Trans-Siberian Railway, especially, capture how cartography shows more than just a limited geographical area, but political, social, and economic issues across the world, too.

The Trans-Siberian Railway famously used the 5 foot “Russian gauge” instead of the standard gauge of 4 feet and 8.5 inches to prevent foreign use of the railroad. However, stretching across two continents and eight time zones, its existence is inherently intertwined with foreign interests and activity.

The railway, therefore, is both a uniquely Russian project and one that connects many different nations. Within Russia, the vast land between Moscow and Vladivostok encompasses several different terrains, including steppes, mountains, ice, rivers and more across the two continents. To accommodate this, the railway utilizes several different types of tracks, which are diagramed in this map. They showcase the diversity present even within the country.

Furthermore, the construction of the map was deeply influenced by nearby nations, including China and Japan. In early plans for the railway, there was only one route, travelling straight from Moscow to Vladivostok following the Amur River. But, because of the difficulties in terrain, the Russian government sought to take a shortcut through Manchuria, changing the original plan for their route. The map below shows the original plan.

In order to build the route through Manchuria, the Russian government created a joint venture with the Chinese government–establishing what we now know as the Chinese Eastern Railway, which greatly shortened the route and saved money. The new path through Manchuria can be seen below.

However, this made the railway vulnerable to political changes in China, especially with the rise of the Japanese Empire. Prior to the Chinese Eastern Railway agreement, Japan’s colonial ambitions in Korea began a conflict with China, especially heightened by uprisings in Korea, when both Japan and China sent in troops. The conflict grew into the Sino-Japanese War, where Japan was victorious and forced China to cede key territories, including part of Manchuria.

This map below shows the varying ownership of different parts of the railway, with some components being solely owned by the Japanese, some being Japanese built and Chinese operated, some being only Chinese, and some having both Russian and Chinese joint ownership.

After the agreement, Russia and Japan clashed several times, culminating in the Russo-Japanese War, where Japan again came out victorious. Thus, even though the Chinese Eastern Railway passing through Manchuria eased the journey of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Russian government also proceeded with constructing the original pathway completely in Russian territory. This path, which follows the Amur River, was completed in 1916, about a decade after the Chinese Eastern Railway was finished.

The railway also showcases global connections in its construction. This map below shows the use of Westinghouse brakes in the railway, which were made by an American corporation. Furthermore, the map illustrates the global trends in increased construction of railways, indicating the political and economic importance of railways.

Though the Siberian terrain is difficult to traverse, it contains an abundance of several valuable minerals. The next map shows the location of several key reserves of gold, silver and copper, manganese, lead and other minerals along the railroad, increasing access to resources and their trade across the world.

Because the railway increased accessibility of these resources, many countries across the globe showed an interest in its construction and the trade it could facilitate. This map also indicates this connection; it was published in London, written in English, and created by a colonel who is part of both Russian and French geographical societies. Maps such as this one portray the numerous transnational connections this railway created.

The Trans Siberian Railway is the longest in the world, connecting people, materials, towns and countries across the globe within its vast distance of over five thousand miles. Those miles have been documented and explored in a variety of ways in the Library of Congress’ maps, showing the complex history of the railway and the global connections it fosters.