Historic–geographical peculiarities of exploring Russia’s Northern and Arctic territories in the 17th–19th centuries

Abstract

The historic–geographical dynamics and nature of the exploration of Russia’s Northern and Arctic territories are described beginning from the 17th century. These territories immediately began to play an important economic role, because the furs obtained from there served as a source of monetary metals. The country’s budget, in fact, depended on furs, and the successes of exploring the North (and East) were especially impressive then. For the entire three-century-long period, this exploration has been most closely associated with extraction and export of raw materials, which has determined Russia’s specialization in global commodity markets, characteristic of every historical period. The article overviews how each of the three centuries that preceded the Soviet period contributed to this process and paved the way fort the Soviet spurt in the development of Russia’s Northern and Arctic territories. The authors also compare the historic–geographical features of exploration of Russia’s Arctic and Northern territories with the similar process in the American North.