Chronology -- Introduction -- The mediaeval background -- The gathering of the lands of the Golden Horde between the Sixteenth and Eighteenth Centuries -- Westward expansion from the Seventeenth Century to the beginning of the Nineteenth Century -- The pre-modern Russian multi-ethnic empire -- Colonial expansion in Asia in the Nineteenth Century -- The national challenge -- The reaction of the state: policy on nationalities 1831-1904 -- The late Tsarist multi-ethnic empire between modernization and tradition --The nationalities question and the Revolution -- Aftermath: Change and continuity in the Soviet multi-ethnic empire -- APPENDICES: Tables -- Glossary