The project explores the Russian Empire’s ambitious yet nowadays almost forgotten attempt to expand its imperial reach into Africa in the final decade of the nineteenth century. It challenges the long-standing narrative of Imperial Russia’s indifference to overseas colonial ventures during the age of high imperialism.
Focusing on Captain Nikolai Leontiev’s activities in the Horn of Africa south of Ethiopia—where he established a private colonial fiefdom known as the Equatorial Provinces—the project situates the Russian colonial venture within a broader transimperial network. By tracing Leontiev’s actions in an international colonial context, it offers new insights into the global history of empire at the turn of the twentieth century. The project argues that Russian activities in Africa exemplified colonial internationalism—a form of transimperial European solidarity that transcended national rivalries and bound together subjects of competing empires in their shared colonial ambitions.
The research relies on a vast array of primary sources, many of which have never been comprehensively studied or remain entirely unknown.