End of the Oikumene: A Very Short History of the Russian Far East

Abstract

There are many parts of the world that do not receive much attention outside of their own resident peoples. This is an anomaly of history and its measurements of value. Why should Niagara Falls or Victoria Falls have more name-recognition than the spectacular waterfall of Ilya Muromets in the Kuril Islands? Why Paris or Capetown instead of Irkutsk? Of course, this is a complex question involving population density, songs, and travel literature! But in terms of big history and universal studies, why should one place be privileged over others? For example, the literary scholar, Gary Lawless, directly addresses this question in his article on bioregionalism and big history for his own geographic home in the Gulf of Maine, while historian Craig Benjamin assesses the significance and survival of an even more focused area – Jericho in the West Bank of Palestine. So too, I wish to offer a contribution to the argument that our entire planet and all of humanity and life are of significance. Here, therefore is a brief but big history of my homeland.