Translating the State: Technical Translation in Building the Russian Empire

The figure of Tsar Peter I of Russia (1672–1725), a reputed reformer of the early Russian state, has become a plastic signifier and conveys different kinds of historical symbolism. But it is widely agreed that the formidable pace of Petrine reforms caused a genuine struggle to construct such a language of the new Russian technocracy which could serve as an effective instrument for collective actions. The emerging Russian empire was rapidly changing its language of operation and eventually translated itself into a linguistic and governmental structure, many features of which were borrowed from German cultural patterns. This paper will focus on Peter's military shipbuilding, which started from his hands-on training as an apprentice to the VOC shipyard in Amsterdam, and will examine how individual efforts in technical translation eventually contributed to creating a model for an endeavour on an imperial scale. By navigating ships Peter learned how to navigate his new state, and my paper will trace this development on the level of individual cognitive tasks in translation, the level of translated normative practices which were established in the Russian Navy, and the state level which employed translation for building the legal framework of the state. By reconstructing the practices of this complex endeavour in translation between languages, technologies, and administrative models this paper seeks to clarify how the institutionalized procedures of translation helped reconfigure early modern Muscovy, with far-reaching implications for global history.