Russia founded Oriental language schools to govern conquered Muslims
Evidence
At the same time as Peter was educating his subjects, he was seeking to add to their number. In Central Asia and the Caucasus, Russia was acquiring an empire inhabited mostly by Muslims and it was obviously desirable to understand Islam better in order to govern those Muslims more effectively. In 1702 a special school for the study of Oriental languages was established. In 1716 Peter had the Qur’an translated from the French version of Du Ryer. — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 230
Categorization
- QUESTION: Why translate the Qur’an from a French intermediary rather than directly from Arabic? What Arabic resources did Peter’s circle lack?
Related
- Russian Orientalism grew directly out of imperial state-building (similarity 0.81)
- Middle Eastern scholars taught Oriental studies in Russian universities (similarity 0.79)