Grigoriy Nikolayevich Potanin as a historian of Siberia

G.N. Potanin is well known as a prominent public figure and as a traveler and explorer of Asia. However, there is a lack of knowledge about his contribution to the study of the history of Siberia. Potanin's interest in history originated in his family. While studying at the Omsk Cadet Corps, he received the first lessons of Russian history and geography. After he graduated from the Corps, he was forced to serve in the Cossack Regiment and could not read scientific books. He needed scientific knowledge. Meeting with the researcher P.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shanskiy changed the life of Potanin. He went to Saint Petersburg and entered the University as an unenrolled student. Unfortunately, G.N. Potanin did not receive higher education, but he zealously engaged in self-education. Reflections on the fate of Siberia and its peoples led Potanin to the thoughts of cultural and educational reforms. These ideas formed the basis of the program called Siberian oblastnichestvo [regionalism]. Implementing that program, G.N. Potanin took upon himself the task of the education and study of Siberia. He planned to write a book about Siberia. Nevertheless, he involved in the sociopolitical struggle, and he was subjected to severe punishment. Later he made four great scientific expeditions to Mongolia and China. He did not have enough time to fulfill his plan to write a book about Siberia. However, he developed an original concept of the history of Siberia. Influenced by Karamzin, Kostomarov, Shchapov, he concentrated on historical details, underlined the importance of documentary sources, he was one of the first to use factors of nature in the historical discourse. G.N. Potanin acquired his first experience of Siberian studies during his service in the Siberian Cossack Army. He classified documents of Cossack Army archives. Some time later he published those documents in the Moscow scientific magazine Chteniya v Obshchestve istorii i drevnostey ros-siyskikh [Reading Matters in the Imperial Society of History and Russian Antiquities]. Potanin' publication titled "Materials on Siberian History", marked the beginning of Siberian archaeography. That publication is still of great scientific value. After doing hard labor and being in exile, G.N. Potanin wrote some articles, published in the fundamental Zhivopisnaya Rossiya [Picturesque Russia]. He studied the history of development of Siberia by Russians in the end of the 16th - early 17th centuries. He identified the natural and economic factors of penetration of Russians into Siberia and explained the building of first Russian cities-fortresses in the northern most unfavourable climate part of the Siberian region. Among the first in Siberia, Potanin addressed the history of Siberian cities. He worked on social urban typology, gave lively and colorful characteristics to Siberian cities. G.N. Potanin also made a significant contribution to the study of social development of Siberia.

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