Commerce amid suspicion: Inside Russia’s 19th-century push to trade with India

In March 1871, the 3,200-tonne steamship Nakhimoff departed from the Black Sea port of Odessa for a voyage to Bombay. It was a landmark journey made possible by the opening of the Suez Canal two years earlier – the ship would pass through major ports in the Mediterranean and Red Seas before heading toward India.

At the time, full diplomatic ties persisted between the Russian and British Empires. Yet relations were steeped in mutual suspicion. The “Great Game” for dominance in Central Asia was at its height, and lingering resentment from the Crimean War still coloured their diplomacy. Consulates would often double as intelligence posts, with the British mission in Odessa serving chiefly as an observation point for Russian movements in the Black Sea region.

Despite this mutual distrust,