ECONOMIC RIVALRY BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN THE MARKETS OF CENTRAL ASIA: THE CASE OF THE KOKAND KHANATE (19TH CENTURY)

This article analyses the economic rivalry waged by the British and Russian empires in the 19th  century for control of the markets of Central Asia, and of the Kokand Khanate in particular, on the  asis of the reports of Russian travellers and officials. Drawing on A.N. Teterevnikov's work "Ocherk  vnutrenney torgovli Kirgizskoy stepi" (1867), the article examines the mechanism by which English goods penetrated the markets of Central Asia along the Peshawar-Kabul-Bukhara-Kokand route  through intermediaries known as "parachi," as well as Russia's active seizure of the Kokand market  following the rapid development of Russian industry after 1861. The study demonstrates that the  rivalry between the two empires unfolded not only on the military-political plane but, above all, at the level of commodity prices, transport costs, and control over local intermediary networks, with  geographical proximity and the short transport route running through Tashkent ultimately proving to  be the decisive factor in Russia's gaining the upper hand.