In the history textbook for grades 5-9, the concepts of “empire” and “colonialism” will be separated

The new history textbook for grades 5-9 will revise the definition of the concept of “empire,” the author of the manual, Alexander Chubaryan, told the newspaper “News”. According to him, the textbook will also show the differences between the Russian Empire and “classical colonialism.”

“One of the very significant issues is a new approach to the definition of the word “empire”,” the historian said. He said that in preparing the new manual, one of the important tasks was to show the differences between the Russian Empire and “classical colonialism”, for example, the British Empire.

At the same time, Alexander Chubaryan noted that when creating the textbook, they took into account the fact that the CIS countries assess being part of the Russian Empire as a colonial period. “All the empires in the world have been overseas territories. And there was a common space. Therefore, when they were part of Russia, they were objectively included in this common economic space. They seemed to become one with Russia,” he explained.

Presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky said that new history textbooks for grades 5-9 will be prepared by September 1, 2024.

On August 7, a new textbook on general and Russian history for grades 10 and 11 was presented. The section on the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s has been rewritten in the new manual. In addition, a section about modernity was added to it, including a description of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The authors of the manual are Vladimir Medinsky and Alexander Chubaryan, MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov.

Anastasia Larina