Dadykina , M. M. Kraikovskii , A. V Laius , Iu A. Pomorskie promysly na Shpitsbergene v XVIII - nach. XIX v. Issledovanie. Dokumenty (review)

Abstract

SEER, 97, 2, APRIL 2019 364 Dadykina, M. M.; Kraikovskii, A. V. and Laius, Iu. A. Pomorskie promysly na Shpitsbergene v XVIII – nach. XIX v. Issledovanie. Dokumenty. AliansArkheo , Moscow and St Petersburg, 2017. 504 pp. Notes. Tables. Figures. Appendices. Bibliographical references. Indices. Price unknown. Russia’s emergence as a maritime power during the reign of Peter the Great is widely discussed in the literature. What is less widely appreciated, however, is the fact that Russian maritime activities long predated Peter. The peoples of the Russian north (the ‘Pomors’) constructed sea-going craft enabling them to engage in fishing, hunting and associated pursuits on and near the various islands and lands of the Arctic and sub-Arctic long before the time of the TsarReformer . One of the locations favoured by Pomor fishermen and hunters was the archipelago of Svalbard, or Spitsbergen as it is still known to the Russians. Svalbard’s historically contentious geopolitical status, plus recent tensions over the whole of the Arctic basin deriving from both environmental and political factors, mean that this book is likely to attract some international attention even though it focuses on the relatively distant past (eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries). Although Svalbard has been the subject of much discussion over the years both among scholars and among politicians and others, the authors of this book contend that discussions have long been hindered by the absence of scholarship based on solid documentary evidence. It is this lacuna which they seek to address. The focus is on Russian maritime activities taking place on and around the archipelago during the period within the broader context of the Arctic environment, the northern economy and society, government policy, and prevailing ideas on modernization, economic theory and the rational use of resources. Both the activities of the Russian state and those of the local participants in maritime enterprises are considered. Key questions include the part played by maritime activities on Svalbard and its surrounding seas in the northern economy, and in what ways such activities interconnected with government policies and schemes for modernization. The book is divided into two principal sections. The first, entitled ‘Spitsbergen in the Politics, Economy and Culture of the Russian Empire’ is a broad-brush survey of the subject based primarily on the documentary sources found in the second section, supplemented by secondary sources where appropriate. Having surveyed the earlier (primarily Russian) historiography, attention turns to maritime activity in the Russian north in the context of attempts to ‘Europeanize’ the Russian Empire. Government policies to organize companies to exploit the resources of Svalbard and nearby territories (train-oil, walrus products including valuable walrus ivory, seal products, cod) are discussed and their significance for the local economy assessed. The government’s repeated attempts to develop a Russian whaling industry are also considered. Detailed REVIEWS 365 consideration is given to the ways in which the Pomors organized their activities, including the winter land-based hunting of fox, polar bear, northern reindeer and eider-duck. Altogether it is concluded that Pomor expeditions to Svalbard did not play a substantial role in the northern economy, though the sources available are two meagre to allow for a definitive judgement. The book’s second section consists of some 184 documents, most of which appear in published form for the first time. The authors and their assistants have scoured archives in Moscow (RGADA), St Petersburg (RGIA, Arkhiv SPbII RAN) and Archangel (GAAO) to make a wide range of materials available to the scholarly community. The documents include those relating to government attempts to establish monopoly companies according to mercantilist principles, and to develop a whaling industry, and those which cast light on traditional Pomor activities. An important role in the latter is played by data from the Archangel customs receipts. There are two appendices. The first is a list of excerpts from the St Petersburg vedomosti for the 1740s and ’50s with details about whaling activity plus a translation of an account of a voyage to Svalbard undertaken in 1780 by S. Bacstrom. The second contains data on the arrival and departure of relevant vessels at the port of Archangel with the provisions and imports carried (1780s) and other details. There is a...