Russian Explorers Research Articles

История забытой экспедиции

This article delves into a little-studied aspect of the history of the Russian exploration of the North – one of the first Arctic expeditions of the Russians in the early XIX century. The appeal to the historical experience of the discovery and study of the New Siberian Islands archipelago is determined by the growing interest in it on the part of world powers in connection with the development of coastal shelf resources and the resumption of the Northern Sea Route. In the Russian historiography the name of M.M. Gedenstrom remained a figure of silence for a long time in comparison with such explorers as F.P. Wrangel, P.F. Anju, G.A. Sarychev, E.V. Toll, who were engaged in the study of this region of the Arctic. However, the expedition of M.M. Gedenstrom is marked not only by the connection with specific tasks of Russian foreign policy and attempts to solve scientific problems relevant for that time, but also with the interests of business development on the islands, the subsoil of which is still rich in valuable fossil raw materials. M.M. Gedenstrom was the first to create a general map of the Novosi-birsk Islands, described them and the coast between the mouths of the Yana and Kolyma rivers, and corrected inaccuracies on previously compiled maps.

Cossacks in the Conditions of Frontier Modernization (on the example of the Far East in the late 19th – early 20th centuries)

Historically, the contacts between the Cossacks and the Chinese population were established and their particular strengthening occurred during the construction of the Chinese-Eastern Railway between 1897 and 1903. The imperial authorities devised a plan to establish the Sungurian Cossack army, which was to be augmented by the Cossacks dispatched to protect the ‘KVZhD’. These troops were to comprise the descendants of Albazin and the local population. In the context of the present circumstances, the Cossacks in the peripheral Ussuri Territory and Manchuria served as the frontiers of the system of relations with the local Chinese and Korean populations, as well as the modernizing transformation of the region. As the most mobile and passionate segment of the population, the Cossacks played a pivotal role in the socio-economic and cultural transformation of the region. Their extensive involvement in the agrarian economy and their diverse socio-class and ethno-confessional composition contributed to the diversification of the regional mosaic. During this historical period, the Cossacks served as the driving force of the Russian exploration of the Far Eastern space. Moreover, they facilitated the militarization of the newly developed territories. The format of the study permits presenting a set of relations risen along the Center–Far Eastern Cossacks axis. The objectives of this paper is to ascertain the nature of this relationship within the system and to study the dissemination of the experience of the Cossack self-government system to neighboring regions, including the process of Japanese colonization of the island of Hokkaido. The research findings indicate the efficacy of applying the Cossack administrative and economic management experience to the Far East and Manchuria, as well as in adjacent regions, such as Hokkaido. The article is intended for Cossack specialists and sinologists.

The adventures of Przhevalskii in socialist China: performing friendship at the inter-imperial periphery

ABSTRACT The Russian explorer Nikolai Przhevalskii (1839–1888) conducted extensive expeditions in Xinjiang, Mongolia, and northern Manchuria: contested inter-imperial peripheries between the Russian and Chinese empires of the nineteenth century. In 1950, the biopic Przhevalskii, directed by Sergei Iutkevich, became the first collaboration on a fiction film between the Soviet Union and the recently founded People’s Republic of China. Intended as a performative affirmation of Sino-Soviet friendship, Przhevalskii was ultimately rejected by the Chinese government, which insisted the film’s positive portrayal of the explorer did not align with his historical status as an agent of Russian empire. Building on recent scholarship on Soviet cultural and cinematic internationalism, this article reads Przhevalskii as an allegorical vision of late-Stalinist Soviet internationalism, shaped by the simultaneous expansion of the socialist world into East Asia and the Russian-nationalist triumphalism that drove the anti-cosmopolitan campaigns. This hierarchical, centripetal mode of internationalism clashed with the priorities of a newly socialist Chinese state wary of any reduction to a periphery of a socialist world dominated by Moscow. These tensions find expression in the film’s complex treatment of performance as the mode through which both collaborative authorship and Soviet primacy are affirmed.

Bryozoa (Cheilostomata) from polymetallic nodules in the Russian exploration area, Clarion–Clipperton Fracture Zone, eastern Pacific Ocean—taxon novelty and characteristics as macro- and megafaunal elements

Bryozoa (Cheilostomata) from polymetallic nodules in the Russian exploration area, Clarion–Clipperton Fracture Zone, eastern Pacific Ocean—taxon novelty and characteristics as macro- and megafaunal elements

The Russian Legal Researches on Metaverses: a Scholar Review

Over the past few years, the subject of metaverses has become an object of research of scientists from various fields of knowledge. Most specialists believe that in the next 7–10 years the direction of metaverses will be integrated into many spheres of society. The issue does not remain without attention of the state. Today we observe the first stages of formation of the international «metaverses race» in order to strengthen the leading positions of countries in terms of digital transformation of the economy and ensuring their own digital sovereignty. Russia will soon become a participant in the race mentioned. The development of metaverses will inevitably lead to the transformation of many legal institutions. Therefore today Russian scholars are beginning to explore questions about the symbiosis of law and metaverses. Since the interest to the regulation of the metaverses sphere will increase, it seems right to conduct a comprehensive study of the works of Russian explorers devoted to the transformation of legal relations in the conditions of emerging metaverses. The aim of the research presented: to systematize the Russian legal literature on the subject, to identify the most relevant aspects of regulation in the field, to form a general research trend in the development of law in metaverses, as well as to discover the first research conflicts. The selection of academic papers was based on two interrelated methods: substantive and personal. The use of the first method helped to identify only those studies that are devoted exclusively to the subject. On this basis, the review did not include those acadeniic works that only indirectly address the issue of metaverses. Thanks to the second method, it was possible to exclude studies by scholars from related sciences and student papers too. In this regard, attention is paid mainly to the studies of authors who have a scholar degree and/or extensive practical experience. In addition, the methodology is formed by general methods of study: analysis, synthesis, generalization and others. As a result of the work carried out, its purpose has been fully achieved and the most important key aspects are reflected using graphic illustrations.

A comprehensive bibliographic analysis of environmental education research in Russia

This paper presents a detailed and insightful bibliometric analysis of environmental education research in Russia offering an integrated view of progress, impact and main actors of the field. Fundamental information was gained from journal articles, conference papers and other significant academic distributions that were included in the Scopus database. These included measurements involving issues like distributions and references/year, neighboring country comparisons, authorship patterns, affiliations and sources of financial support etc. The analysis of Russian exploration of environmental education presented in the paper provides an outline for further work in a crucial area Russia can be effective here, drawing on its experience with this demand to contribute to the development of environmental education and global sustainability efforts in general.

Making the most of scarce biological resources in the desert: Loptuq material culture in Eastern Turkestan around 1900

BackgroundMost fisher-gatherer communities we know of utilized a limited number of natural resources for their livelihood. The Turkic-speaking Loptuq (exonym Loplik, Loplyk) in the Lower Tarim River basin, Taklamakan desert, Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang), were no exception. Their habitat, the Lop Nor marsh and lake area, was surrounded by desert and very poor in plant species; the Loptuq had to make the most of a handful of available biological resources for housing, furniture, clothing and fabric, fishnets and traps, tools and other equipment. The taxa used by the Loptuq were documented by foreign explorers at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, prior to the forced resettlement of the group in the 1950s and subsequent destruction of their language, lifestyle and culture.Methods and sourcesEthnobiology explores the relationship between humans and their environment, including the use of biological resources for different purposes. In several aspects, historical ethnobiology is more challenging; it studies this relationship in the past and therefore cannot verify results with informants. As the present study discusses an extinct culture on the basis of literary and material sources, we apply a method called source pluralism. This approach allows the inclusion and combination of a wide range of data and materials, even scraps of information from various sources, with the aim to understand phenomena which are sparsely mentioned in historical records.Travel reports by Swedish, British, German, American and Russian explorers together with linguistic data provide the most important sources for understanding Loptuq interaction with the environment and its biota. Especially the large number of toponyms and phytonyms recorded by the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin and materials from his expeditions, including voucher specimens kept in Stockholm in the herbarium of the Swedish Natural History Museum, and objects of material culture in the collections of the Ethnographical Museum, are crucial for our analysis about local knowledge among the Loptuq. Illustrations and photographs provide us with additional information.ResultsThe question of how the Loptuq managed to survive at the fringe of a desert, a marsh and a lake which changed its location, intrigued all foreign visitors to the Lop Nor. The Loptuq’s main livelihood was fishing, hunting and gathering, and their material culture provided by plants and other organic materials included their usage, consumption and trade. Only a handful of species formed the basis of the Loptuq material culture, but they had learned to use these specific plants for a variety of purposes. The most important of these were Lop hemp, Poacynum pictum (Schrenk) Baill., the riparian tree Euphrates poplar, Populus euphratica Olivier, and the aquatic common reed, Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. Several species of tamarisk were used for fuel and building fences. A few plants were also harvested for making foodstuffs such as snacks and potherbs. In addition, the Loptuq also used fur, bird skins, down, feathers, mammal bones and fish bones for their material needs. The habitat provided cultural ecological services such as motifs for their folklore, linguistic expressions and songs, and the Loptuq engaged in small-scale bartering of plant products and furs with itinerant traders, which ensured them with a supply of metal for making tools.ConclusionThis article discusses the now extinct Loptuq material culture as it existed more than a hundred years ago, and how the scarce biological resources of their desert and marsh habitat were utilized. Loptuq adaptation strategies to the environment and local knowledge, transmitted over generations, which contributed to their survival and subsistence, were closely connected with the use of biological resources.For this study, a comprehensive approach has been adopted for the complex relationships between human, biota and landscape. The Loptuq are today largely ignored or deleted from history for political reasons and are seldom, if at all, mentioned in modern sources about the Lop Nor area. Their experience and knowledge, however, could be useful today, in a period of rapid climate change, for others living in or at the fringe of expanding deserts.

ГЕОЛОГОРАЗВЕДОЧНЫЕ РАБОТЫ НА МЕСТОРОЖДЕНИИ ЖЕЛЕЗОМАРГАНЦЕВЫХ КОНКРЕЦИЙ В ЗОНЕ КЛАРИОН–КЛИППЕРТОН ТИХОГО ОКЕАНА: ИСТОРИЯ И РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ

The paper highlights the history of Russian research of manganese nodules in the Pacific Clarion–Clipperton zone, the most promising nodule-bearing province of the World Ocean, and presents the main results of geological exploration work carried out in the Russian license area in the Pacific Ocean – the Russian Exploration Area for Polymetallic nodules. The article provides information about the contractual obligations to the International Seabed Authority (ISBA) that the Russian Federation has in accordance with a fifteen-year contract for the exploration of polymetallic nodules concluded with the ISBA. The paper also presents the main results of studying the baseline environmental characteristics of the natural environment in the Russian Exploration Area for Polymetallic Nodules. Information is provided on the fulfillment of other contractual obligations to the International Seabed Authority: scientific research on the development of exploration and production technologies, processing technologies, training of personnel for the International Seabed Authority, and fulfillment of financial obligations.

ГЕОЛОГОРАЗВЕДОЧНЫЕ РАБОТЫ НА ГЛУБОКОВОДНЫЕ ПОЛИМЕТАЛЛИЧЕСКИЕ СУЛЬФИДЫ В ОСЕВОЙ ЗОНЕ СРЕДИННО-АТЛАНТИЧЕСКОГО ХРЕБТА: РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ В РОССИЙСКОМ РАЗВЕДОЧНОМ РАЙОНЕ

An overview of Russian studies of deep-sea polymetallic sulfides (PМS) in the axial zone of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) at the Russian Exploration Area (REA‒PMS) is presented. A brief geological description of the axial zone of the MAR and PMS sites discovered and studied for almost forty years before and after the signing of an exploration contract with the International Seabed Authority in 2012 is given. Information on methods for conducting searches and exploration of PMS, technical equipment, as well as on metallurgical processing of raw materials is presented.

ПАМЯТИ МИХАИЛА ЕВГЕНЬЕВИЧА МЕЛЬНИКОВА (12.02.1961–29.02.2016)

The article is dedicated to the memory of Mikhail Evgenievich Melnikov, an outstanding researcher of a new type of minerals – cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts (CFC) of the World Ocean. M. E. Melnikov, scientist and practitioner, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, leading geologist of the State Scientific Center “Yuzhmorgeologiya”, head of the work on the preparation of materials for submission on behalf of the Russian Federation of an Application to the International Seabed Authority (ISA, Authority) for approval of the work plan for exploration of the CFC. The work of the team headed by Mikhail Evgenievich culminated in 2015 with the conclusion between the Authority and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation of a contract for the exploration of CFC and the receipt of the exclusive right to explore polymetallic ores in the Russian exploration area of cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts (RRR–CFC), located in the western part of the Pacific ocean on the Magellan Seamounts. Melnikov M. E. headed geological exploration work in the area of the Russian exploration area of KMK, supervising offshore field and office work. The article presents biographical data, highlights the scientific achievements and personal qualities of M. E. Melnikov

Geographic Information Systems as a Tool of Modern Age Archeology in Western Siberia

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be applied to archeological sites that belong to the epoch of Russian exploration of Western Siberia. GIS make it possible to collect, accumulate, and visualize archeological data. Although the method has gained a lot of popularity in the recent decades, Russian GIS-archeology has poor theoretical foundations. This article summarizes experience, problems, and prospects of using GIS at Modern Age archeological sites in Western Siberia. It starts with a comprehensive historiographic analysis of the domestic experience in various regions of Russia. The author introduces a preliminary classification of GIS-technologies. The analysis proved that GIS are acknowledged practical tools that make it possible to accumulate available theoretical data about archeological sites. Some regions have more prospects for GIS-archeology than others. A number of issues will have to be solved to develop the domestic GIS-archeology. For instance, attributive markers, conventional designations, and map bases should be unified. Moreover, archeologists often experience problems with access to data and experience obtained by their colleagues. Finally, there are very few specialized archeological GIS on Modern Age sites. In addition, Russian archeology will definitely benefit from AI-technologies.

THE RUSSIAN EXPERIENCE OF INTERCULTURAL INTERACTION WITH THE NORTHERN PEOPLES (THE CASE OF THE EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE INSTITUTE OF THE PEOPLES OF THE NORTH IN LENINGRAD)

The article examines the Russian experience of intercultural interaction with the peoples of the North based on the analysis of the forms and methods of introducing representatives of the peoples of the northern outskirts to the Russian educational tradition aimed, on the one hand, at adaptation of the small northern peoples to Russian cultural life, on the other hand, at preservation of the ethnic and cultural identity and reproduction of the forms of national culture. The development of the Arctic by the Russian explorers, the economic, political and cultural introduction to the Russian world of the nomadic population, which was mostly at the primitive stage of civilisational development, revealed to the world a unique experience of territory development and harmonious assimilation of the “small peoples” who inhabited these territories. The article pays special attention to the art workshops of the Institute of the Peoples of the North, where northern artists with exceptional natural talent were trained and special approaches to the development of their creative abilities to artistic creativity were developed. The article analyses the formation of a special “northern” art style in the workshops of the Institute in the 1930s as an example of successful cooperation between professional teachers and naive artists of the North, one of their brightest representatives being the original Nenets artist Konstantin Pankov.

A Brief Historiographical Note Related to North Asia: Nicolae Milescu (1636–1708) & John Frederick Baddeley (1854–1939)

Russian exploration in the 17th century attracted the attention of twentieth-century geographers, a fact that also resulted in a series of translations of texts produced by Russian embassies in the Far East, especially those beginning to deal with the Qi

Подарки и их смыслы в деятельности Монголо-тибетской экспедиции П. К. Козлова (1923–1926 гг.) (по новым архивным документам)

Introduction. The article examines gift donations practiced during the 1923–1926 expedition to Mongolia and Tibet led by the outstanding Russian explorer of Central Asia Pyotr K. Kozlov. Goals. The paper seeks to analyze items approved by the Soviet Government for P. Kozlov to have selected from the State Depositary, reasons why the traveler did receive the precious artifacts of gold and silver, circumstances of donations, addressees, and the latter’s perceptions. Materials and methods. The work focuses on materials from the State Archive of the Russian Federation and P. Kozlov’s expedition diaries, the objectives set be articulated via individual gift donation stories (occasions) with Mongolian elites and the 13th Dalai Lama, corresponding motives and offering forms. Results. The paper shows the gift-giving practices were viewed by the traveler not only as some homage be paid to local cultures but rather as a means of communication with Mongolian officials and authorities for the latter’s assistance in solving problems faced by the Expedition. No other Russian explorer ever delivered such high-value items to have been used as gifts. Conclusions. This suggests the Bolshevik Government was hoping — with the help of Kozlov’s expedition — to facilitate positive images of Soviet Russia in Mongolia and Tibet (during a scheduled meeting with the Dalai Lama). The Appendix to the article includes several documents from the State Archive of Russia describing the selected gifts and their distribution by individuals.

Earliest European Accounts of Chinese Secret Societies in the Beginning of the 19th Century

The paper examines the earliest information by the Europeans concerning activities of the secret societies – traditional public organizations that have played a significant role in history of China and continues to be a phenomenon of public life in China and abroad. Identification of the 1811 report on secret societies in Dutch, which had been considered the earliest, was succeeded in the 1811 Belgian publication. Its attribution to French naturalist L. T. Leschenault de la Tour (1773–1826) is proven. The French original of this account is identified; its text larger version and divergences from the Dutch translation are indicated. The circum-stances of Leschenault's obtaining information of the Chinese secret societies in China on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies are examined. A linguistic commentary is given on the dialect names of the secret societies and the Chinese personal names of its leadership reported by him. The Russian explorer I.F. Kruzenshtern is described as the first European to report on secret societies in China in Part 2 of the Russian edition of his Voyage Round the World ... of the 1810. The exact time of the original German edition publication of this book is specified. Variety of assessments of secret societies’ nature by Kruzenshtern and Leshenault are elucidated. Their difference from later assessments by Protestant missionaries W. Milne and R. Morrison, who proposed the ‘Masonic paradigm’ is demonstrated. The four original texts by Kruzenshtern and Leshenault with their accounts of secret societies in China are provided as Supplements.

Philippines of the 19th Century as Seen by Two Russian Explorers: Ivan Goncharov and Louis Сhoris

The paper depicts the presence of Russian navigators in the Philippines and their impressions of Manila and the island of Luzon in the 19th century. The author considers two visits by Russian navigators to the Philippines: During the expedition of O. Kotzebue in 1815–1818 when necessary, repairs to the ship were being taken and in 1854 during the Russian voyage to Japan. Among the members of the first expedition, the impressions of the Russian German Louis Khoris, who was the artist of the expedition, and the German A. Chamisso, a visiting naturalist, are considered. Image of the Philippines in the second half of the 19th century is shown through the travel notes of the Russian writer Ivan A. Goncharov, who participated in the expedition of E. V. Putyatin as a secretary. The text contains quotations from books published on the basis of travel notes, diaries and observations of all the navigators mentioned above. The article is illustrated with drawings by L. Khoris made during the stay in Manila and later lithographs of the year 1860 taken from the works of foreign travelers visiting the Philippines during the same period.

Discovery of New Hydrothermal Ore Fields “Korallovoe” (13°07′ N) and “Molodezhnoe” (13°09′ N) in the Middle Atlantic Ridge

During the 41th scientific cruise of the R/V “Professor Logachev” in 2019, two new ore fields were discovered within the Russian exploration area of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The “Korallovoye” ore field is located in the middle part of the rift valley ridge and lies on a gentle slope in the depth range of 2800–2850 m. The “Molodezhnoye” ore field is located at a distance of approximately 5 km northeast of the “Korallovoye” field and lies on a less steeper section of the slope between 3500 and 3550 m in depth. The “Korallovoye” and “Molodezhnoye” fields are confined to the outcrop of a gabbro-peridotite massif on the western side of the Mid-Atlantic Rift valley. The total number of discovered ore fields in the Russian exploration area has been increased to 14 sites.

АЙГУНСКИЙ ДОГОВОР – ПАМЯТНАЯ ДАТА ЕВРЕЙСКОЙ АВТОНОМНОЙ ОБЛАСТИ

By the law of the Jewish Autonomous region, May 28 is recognized as one of the official memorable dates in the history of the region. It was on this day in 1858 in the Chinese city of Aigun that the Aigun Treaty, a historical document on the delimitation of Russia and China possessions, was signed. The agreement is a legal justification for the annexation of the lands lying on the left bank of the Amur to the Russian Empire, as well as Primorye. The history of the Jewish Autonomous region is an integral part of the Russian state general history concerning the development of Siberia and the Far East lands by Russians. Its initial stage should be considered 1581, when the pioneer squad headed Ermak Timofeevich marched from the banks of the Kama River to the east, which contributed to the discovery and annexation of new rich lands located beyond the mountains of the Urals to the Russian state. The subsequent advance of Russian explorers from the Ob to the Yenisei, from the Yenisei to the Lena and further to the Pacific Ocean, later resulted in the domination of Russia on the Amur and in the Amur lands annexation. The movement to Siberia and the Far East served as a source of the state treasury deficit replenishment, provided trade ties with the peoples living on these lands, as well as the opportunity to break through the isolation and blockade in the Russian state in the west and southwest. However, the Russian stay on the Amur was short-lived and was interrupted in the middle of the XVII century by military actions by well-armed troops of the Qing Empire. Unable to transfer large military forces to the Amur region, in 1689 Russia was forced to sign the Treaty of Nerchinsk, according to which the Russians left the left-bank Amur region for more than a century and a half. But the efforts and sacrifices of the XVII century pioneers in the Amur region were not in vain. They became a prologue for the subsequent restoration and consolidation by the Russian state of its territorial and political positions.

САРАЙШЫҚТАҒЫ «ХАН МОЛАСЫН» ІЗДЕУ ТАРИХЫ

The article is devoted to the search for the place of «Khan molasy» in the territory of a medieval settlement in the village of Saraishyk, Makhambet district, Atyrau region and its results. The first real documentary about the burial of a historical figure Kasym Khan in Saraishyk was given by Kadyrgali Zhalayiri in his work. In his work «collection of Chronicles» of 1602, he wrote about Kasym Khan: «he finally died in Saraishyk. These days, his grave in Saraishyk». Kadyrgali biy's work was recognized in the scientific community without controversy. The burial of Kasym Khan in Saraishyk was carried out by the Russian explorer of the XIX century V.V. Velyaminov-Zernov and the Soviet historian A. P. Chuloshnikov. Mukhamedzhan Tynyshpayev wrote about Kasym Khan: «on Kyrgyz legends, he was buried in Saraishyk». It is a historical fact that Kasym Khan, the powerful ruler of the Kazakh Khanate, was buried in Saraishyk. In recent years, research has been carried out in the mausoleum of Jochi Khan, as well as the search for the remains of Zhanibek Khan. In connection with this work, summarizing historical data and opinions, archaeologists of the Saraishyk museum-reserve began to search for the place of «Khan molasy» in 2020.

In-Situ Study Methods Used in the Discovery of Sites of Modern Hydrothermal Ore Formation on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

This paper presents in situ methods used in the search for areas of modern hydrothermal activity, as well as the results of their long-term use during cruises within the Russian exploration area of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). In this study, the following methods were used: CTD-sounding, methane sounding, teleprofiling and measurements with Eh, pS, pNa, pH and EF sensors. During profiling by towed complexes (RIFT, MAK-1M), various geophysical and geochemical anomalies near high-temperature, low-temperature and inactive fields were detected. Geophysical anomalies are more distinct when profiling near the bottom, and geochemical anomalies are located at a distance from the bottom (~150–200 m). Direct signs of high-temperature discharging (black smoker′s smoke, hydrothermal buildings) and indirect signs of low-temperature discharging (lithified carbonate sediments and accumulations of endemic hydrothermal fauna) were detected during teleprofiling. We have described 6 types of complex geophysical anomalies determined by CTD-sounding that allow the detection of plumes at different stages of formation and from different sources. The use of a methane sensor during sounding makes it more likely to identify a low-temperature discharge. Methane has a highly variable nature of distribution—over distances from the first hundreds of meters to tens of kilometers and a seabed height of ~50–500 m. The use of these methods together makes it more possible to detect low- and high-temperature hydrothermal discharges within mid-oceanic ridges (MOR).