Модернизация Бакинского порта как важного транспортного узла российско-персидской торговли в начале ХХ века
Modernization of the Baku Port as an Important Transport Hub for Russian-Persian Trade in the Early 20th Century

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the problem of the development of the Baku Trade Port in the pre-war period of the early twentieth century. It clarifies what imperfections of the port hindered the successful development of Russian-Persian maritime trade via Baku and to what extent they were eliminated. The article shows the structure of the Baku Trade Port and examines the part of it that was directly related to trade operations with Persia. In this case, we are talking about the so-called dry cargo — sugar, manufactured goods, fruits, cotton, etc. — which represented the main share of Russian-Persian trade turnover. The source base of the study was made up of office documents of the port administration and central departments stored in the fund “Departments of Merchant Shipping and Trade Ports of the Ministry of Trade and Industry” (F.95) of the Russian State Historical Archive. The article presents the dynamics of Russian-Persian cargo turnover of the Baku Trade Port. The problems of the port are presented through the analysis of the content of documents compiled by the heads of the Baku Trade Port — A.P.Mikhailov, V.V.Davydov, A.F.Danilov, and the entrepreneurs themselves, who complained about the difficulties of ships approaching the berth and exploiting the port territory. The analysis led to the conclusion that there were serious obstacles to the development of Russian-Persian maritime trade due to the lack of development of the Baku commercial port at the beginning of the 20th century: all three city piers were in a state of emergency and required urgent repairs. The situation was poor with the availability of storage facilities, the issue of paving the embankment and access roads. By 1910, these acute problems were solved, but the comprehensive modernization of the port remained unfinished.

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