"The New Orangeland": Justification of the Penetration into Mazandaran and Astarabad in the Publications of the Russian Resettlement Department's Officials

The article is devoted to the issues of justifying the need to intensify the policy of the Russian Empire in the southern Caspian region (in the Astarabad and Mazandaran provinces of Iran) as well as the promotion of Russian resettlement colonization of the region, in the writings of officials of the Head Department of Land Management and Agriculture. The main groups of arguments, used by imperial administrators and involved publicists to justify the expansion, are identified. It is noted that the considered works have raised the question of the need for political reconstruction in the region after the Great War, taking into account the national interests of Russia, its political and economic needs.