Humanities & Social Sciences 10 (2016 9) 2496-2506 ~ ~ ~ УДК 94:325.54(571.1/.5) On the Emerging Polish Diaspora and its Development in Siberia in the First Half of the 19th Century Vladimir N. Shaidurov* 2, 21st National Mineral Resources Mining University ‘Gornyi’ Line, Vasil’evskii Island, St. Petersburg, 199106, Russia Received 17.02.2016, received in revised form 22.04.2016, accepted 23.06.2016 The Russian and Polish historical sciences focus closely on studying the ways that the Polish diaspora emerged and evolved outside areas where they traditionally resided. <...> Polish communities actively formed as the government had implemented its punitive policies since the late 13th century. <...> While historiography traditionally devotes much attention to the study of the Polish community in the second half of the 19th century, there are few works dealing with the community’s initial period in various Siberian provinces (guberniya). <...> As a result, the article based on a variety of archival data is aimed at defining essential features characteristic of the Siberian Polish diaspora in the pre-reform period before the 1850s ‘Great Reforms’. <...> Keywords: Polish community, Siberia, Tobol’sk province, Tomsk province, pre-reform period, 19th century, Polish uprisings, exile, police surveillance, economic and household activities. <...> Introduction Russian historical studies have long been interested in the Siberian multi-ethnic society formation process. <...> The historical backgrounds of certain ethnic communities as well as their economic, social and political activities have been studied through various historical approaches both in the pre-revolutionary period and in the Soviet times. <...> However, no comprehensive description of Siberian communities has been given in scientific literature so far. © Siberian Federal University. <...> All rights reserved * Corresponding author E-mail address: elada@spmi.ru – 2496 – One of historiographical peculiarities is that the overwhelming majority of researchers concentrated on a number of aspects, namely, addressing ‘the Polish question’ under the rule of tsars Nicholas I and Alexander II, defining Poles’ place and their role in the national liberation and revolutionary movements, describing Poles in exile and hard labour. <...> While these issues were analysed, as a rule, at a national level, locally emerging Polish communities remained outside the field of historical studies. <...> An analysis of theoretical <...>