The First Agricultural Schools and the Promotion of Agricultural Knowledge in the Baikal Region at the Beginning of the 20<sup>th</sup> Century
The article deals with the problem of the formation and distribution of agricultural education and the promotion of agricultural knowledge among the peasant population of the Baikal region at the beginning of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. The Baikal region comprises the territory of modern Irkutsk Region, the Republic of Buryatia and the Trans-Baikal Territory. In the late 19<sup>th</sup> - early 20<sup>th</sup> centuries in the Russian suburbs there is a steady growth of professional schools, including agricultural ones. The article shows the activities of the “Zemstvo”, local bodies of power, on the organization of the first lower agricultural schools in the Baikal region. The consideration is given to the difficulties faced by the local authorities to establish these institutions. The information is presented that the widespread promotion of agricultural knowledge was carried out through courses and lectures. The first agricultural schools in the region appeared in the late 19<sup>th</sup> century and on the eve of the revolutionary events of 1917 they experienced staff shortages, lack of finance and other financial difficulties. The author gives a brief overview of the historiography on the history of agricultural education of the 19<sup>th</sup> - beginning of the 20<sup>th</sup> century in Russia as a whole and in the Baikal region in particular.