Uncover the origins of the Russian state and of the Russian Empire, which came to include nomadic peoples of the steppe. Grasp the factors that led to the Russian Empire's 19th-century campaign to control the steppe. Witness the Russian buildup of forts and supply lines, leading to their conquests of Kokand, Bukhara, Khiva, and Turkmen lands from the 1860s to 1880s, absorbing Central Asia into the Russian Empire.