ABSTRACT
The Position of Russia in Central Asia.— The advance of Russia across Central Asia may be considered to have begun in the second quarter o f the nineteenth century.1 A t this period her boundary in Asia ran from the mouth of the U ral River to Orenburg and thence to Omsk and Semipalatinsk. This line was defended by forts and outposts which, generally speaking, skirted the great K irghiz steppe. A t this same period British India was bounded by the River Sutlej and the north-west desert. Consequently a zone some fourteen hundred miles wide separated the two empires.
