The Interethnic Division of Labor in the Swedish Colony in the Urals, 1876-1900

<jats:p>In 1876, a group of Swedish ironworkers arrived at the Urals in order to construct modern Swedish blast furnaces and modernize the local metal production. On the Ural frontier, they encountered a multiethnic environment populated by Russians, Germans, and Bashkirs. The present article examines the relations between the Swedish colonists and the local population with particular emphasis on the interethnic division of labor. The study draws on the memoirs of the Swedish missionary Wilhelm Sarwe, who lived in the Urals from 1882 to 1895, as well as on the archive of the Swedish colony preserved in the Swedish National Archives (Riksarkivet). This analysis reveals a flexible and dynamic division of labor between the Swedish ironworkers and their Russian apprentices, competition with German engineers, and efforts to combine professional mentorship with Lutheran missionary activity among the Bashkirs. By the beginning of the 20th century, the Swedish colony as such had ceased to exit, and the vast majority of the Swedes had returned to their homeland. The Swedish colony, however, left a legacy in the Ural frontier: Swedish ironworking technology contributed to the development of the Ural metal industry, and those Swedes who remained rapidly integrated into Russian culture.</jats:p>