This series of posts is from a presentation entitled “German Geography of the Russian Empire 1721-1914” that I gave in the summer of 2025 at the conferences of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR) and the Foundation for East European Family History Studies (FEEFHS). At a high level, it explores the territorial growth of Imperial Russia and shows its significance to German settlement and migration across the empire in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Geography of German Settlement in the Russian Empire
I. Introduction
Between 1700 and 1914, the Imperial Russian Empire expanded through military conquest, diplomatic treaties, and annexation of territory. The empire grew from approximately 15.5 million square kilometers (nearly 6 million square miles) in 1700 to over 22.8 million square kilometers (8.8 million square miles) at its greatest extent in 1895.
Expansion included territories west into the Baltic states, Finland and Eastern Europe, south into the Black Sea and Caucasus regions, east into Central Asia, and eastward across Western Siberia to the Pacific Ocean.
The Russian Empire’s imperialist growth, aside from the desire to validate itself as an empire, was driven by the need for warm-water ports in Europe, control over trade routes, and access to natural resources. Along with these strategic needs, it also wanted territory on its frontiers to act as buffer zones against neighbor and rival empires. Often foreigners and colonists were settled in those territories. Among them were Germans.
When you look at clusters of German habitation either on modern or historical maps, maybe you’ve wondered “why here and not there?” What about all the space in between?
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| 2001 — “Deutsche Auswanderung nach Russland im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert [German Emigration to Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries]” from Nationalatlas Bundesrepublik Deutschland. |
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| 1993 — “The Germans of Russia 1710-1959” from Atlas of Russian History From 800 BC to the Present Day, 2nd edition. |
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| 1897 — “Nr. 7. Deutsche Kolonisation Im Osten. II. Auf Slavischem Boden. [German Colonization in Slavic East.]” from Deutscher Kolonial-Atlas. |
The scattered German settlements (Streusiedlungen) are not often included on these maps in those seemingly empty spaces. They are, as a whole, not well documented and are also sometimes purposely left out if they don’t fall onto one larger agricultural immigration stories of the Volga Germans and the Black Sea Germans.
As I prepared for this presentation, I had two questions I wanted to answer:
- What territory did the Russian Empire gain and when?
- What did those gains ultimately mean for German settlement and migration throughout the empire?
There are many maps that show the territorial growth of the Russian Empire. Most of them focus on the gains in European Russia, or what Peter the Great and Catherine the Great brought to the table. The world was watching what Russia was doing and documenting it on maps.
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| 1842 — “Sketch of the Acquisitions of Russia Since the Accession of Peter I to the Throne.” |
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| 1856 — “Treaty Map Shewing the Boundaries of Russia & the Eastern European States : & the Proposed Boundary between Russia & Turkey.” |
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| 1906 — “Russische Eroberungen in Zentral Asien [Russian conquests in Central Asia]” from Meyers grosses Konversations-Lexikon. |
The map below from 1947 shows the entire empire. The dark green area on this map is Russia in 1700 when Peter I was tsar. Even by this point, it was by no means small.
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| 1947 “Территориальный Рост Российской Империи С 1700 По 1914 Г. [Territorial Growth of the Russian Empire from 1700 to 1914].” |
For a point of reference, I have placed a camel on the city of Saratov to mark the Volga German region. The area around Saratov became a part of Russia in 1590.
Territorial gains are shown in the colors around the perimeter of the map, or the edges of the empire.
A. The Baltic states and Finland in the northwest.
B. Eastern Europe in the west and southwest.C. The Black Sea region in the south.D. Further south and into Asiatic Russia is the Caucasus region.E. Moving eastward is Central Asia and Western Siberia.F. And finally, the Far East.
Each of the posts in this series will take one region and explain at a high level the events that brought the territory into the Russian empire complete with a timeline. It will focus on the accumulation of territory and not every military action, or loss and gain by whatever means. Following that will be a description what it meant for German settlement and migration. Historical and modern maps are used to illustrate both. Search links are provided for a deeper dive into subjects that might interest you.
First up, the Baltics and Finland.
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Related Posts:
- Geography of German Settlement in the Russian Empire
I. Introduction (posted 20 September 2025)
II. The Baltics & Finland (posted 21 September 2025)
III. Eastern Europe (posted 22 September 2025)
IV. The Black Sea Region (posted 23 September 2025)
V. The Caucasus Region (posted 24 September 2025)
VI. Central Asia and Western Siberia (posted 25 September 2025)
VII. Russian Far East (posted 26 September 2025)
VIII. Summary (posted 27 September 2025) - Full resolution image album from the series