Towards the issue of the use of the convict labour in the economic development and settling of Siberia and Russian Far East (the XVIIth - early XXth century)

The article attempts to highlight the pages of Russian history related to the settling and economic development of the eastern outskirts of the country by the exiles and convicts. The author traces the development of the penitentiary policy of Russian Empire from the end of the XVIIth century to the beginning of the XXth century, the change in the numbers and composition of the exiled in accordance with important historical events, the ways of their transportation to the place of settlement, and the types of work where the convict labour was used. The author concludes that for the tsarist government penal servitude and exile were seen not only as a punishment for crime, but also as one of the forms of settling and developing of the newly acquired territories.