The first projects and the commencement of installation of the electric telegraph through Siberia and the Russian Far East (1850's - 1870's)

The article highlights the development and implementation of pilot projects on installing the electrical telegraph from the European part of Russia via Siberia to the Far East in the 1850s. The author refers to documents from the State archives of the Omsk region as well as to German scientists' and travelers' original travel notes which were not so far translated into Russian. The article describes several foreign projects offered to the Russian government and also examines a transcontinental project of telegraph communication from Moscow to Alaska designed by the Russian military engineer D.I. Romanov. The author features the construction of the telegraph line designed by D.I. Romanov and setting up the telegraph communication in populated areas of Siberia and the Far East in the third quarter of the 19th century. The efforts of Emperor Alexander II and his government to improve the management of the telegraph are shown. The telegraph in Siberia connected European countries with Asia which helped to solve both economic and geopolitical tasks: the Russian capital was connected with far off eastern regions of the Russian Empire making their management more efficient.