Russian Colonialism

Territorial changes of Russia in the course of over five centuries happened by means of military conquest and by ideological and political unions.

Many non-Slavic peoples founded their own states before Kievan Rus, for example, Sarir state of the Caucasian Avars (5th – 12th centuries), Tsahur Khanate (7th – 16th centuries), Zirikhgeran state of the Dargin and Kubachi peoples (6th – 15th centuries), Gazikumukh Shamkhalate of the Lak people (734–1642), Kaitag state of the Dargin people (6th century – 1813) etc.

Ivan III (reigned 1462-1505) and IV (reigned 1547-1584) expanded Muscovy's (1283–1547) borders considerably by annexing the Novgorod Republic (1478). After a period of political instability the Romanovs came to power (1613) and the expansion-colonization process of the Tsardom continued.

While western Europe colonized the new world, the Tsardom of Russia expanded overland - principally to the east, north and south.

This continued for centuries; by the end of the 19th century, the Russian Empire reached from the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and for some time included colonies in the Americas (1732-1867) and a short-lived unofficial colony in Africa (1889) in present-day Djibouti.

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