H. de Windt

This article examines the debate about Siberian exile among English and American travelers in the late 1880s and mid‑1890s. It shows that initially the Siberian exile did not attract much attention among Anglo-American travelers who published books about their travels in Russia. After the journey of the English missionary Henry Lansdell through Siberia in 1878, the Siberian exile became the main subject of discussion among Anglo-American travelers in the 1880s. For example, an 1885 trip to Siberia by the American journalist George Kennan and his criticism of the treatment of political prisoners paved the way for a lively debate among Englishmen about the harshness of Siberian exile. Some of them disputed Kennan’s conclusions. The main opponent was the avid traveler and writer, the British aristocrat Harry de Windt. He pointed out that since Kennan’s visit to Siberian prisons, conditions for prisoners had been improved by the Imperial authorities. Until the mid‑1890s, however, the British press largely supported Kennan’s view. News of the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began to change attitudes in the West towards both Siberia and exile. An analysis of the work of the Scottish traveler and diplomat James Young Simpson (1873–1934), who visited the Siberian exile after Kennan and de Windt’s trips, shows that attitudes towards the region had begun to change after 1895; Kennan’s conclusions were no longer relevant. Simpson, impressed by the scale of the railway onstruction, believed that the transport of prisoners on foot and by water should cease. He expected prisoner conditions to improve. Simpson warned that it was wrong to generalise about prison conditions in Siberia. He pointed out that attitudes towards criminals varied according to the style of prison administration and the type of prison. After Simpson foreign travelers were more interested in the prospects of Siberia’s economic development, as well as the geopolitical position of the region in the Far East at the beginning of the 20th century.