Studies in Physics and Geography Supervised by Andrey Zhuravsky in the Pechora Region in the Early 20th Century

The article focuses on the study of the physical geography of Russia's European North by Andrey Zhuravsky (1882-1914) in 1902-1914. The aim of the article is to clarify the role of Zhuravsky, the founder of the first scientific institutions in the European North of Russia, in the development of knowledge in the physical geography of the Pechora region (the territory of the modern Komi Republic) based on unpublished archival documents and published sources. The sources were found in the archives of Syktyvkar, Tobolsk, in the A.V. Zhuravsky Historical and Memorial Museum in Ust-Tsilma. Zhuravsky's publications in Ezhegodnik Zoo-logicheskogo muzeya imperatorskoy Akademii nauk [Annual Reports of the Zoological Museum of the Imperial Academy of Sciences], Izvestiya Russkogo geograficheskogo obshchestva [News of the Russian Geographical Society], Trudy imperatorskogo Sankt-Peterburgskogo obshchestva estestvoispytateley [Proceedings of the Imperial St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists], Izvestiya Ar-khangel'skogo obshchestva izucheniya Russkogo Severa [News of the Arkhangelsk Society for the Study of the Russian North], Ar-khangel'skie gubernskie vedomosti [Arkhangelsk Provincial Sheets] were also used. The methodological basis of the study is analysis, synthesis, description, and a historical genetic approach. The activities of the Zoological Station and the Pechora Natural Historical Station of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Ust-Tsilma in the study of the physical geography of the region, the results of expeditions, scientific and organisational work in the field of geography are shown. The stations studied the relief of the region (river basins and altitudes), revealed the relationship of the plant world with the soil composition. Zhuravsky proceeded from the characteristics of the Pechora region to the problems of the development of the biological geography science. The study of the geography of the tundra flora, in fact, was a reflection of landscape science. In the field of cartography, Zhuravsky first conducted topographical surveys, made plans and charts of the Bolshezemelskaya tundra, and mapped the Adak-Talbey range which he had discovered. It is concluded that, as a result of a systematic research of the Bolshezemelskaya tundra, Zhuravsky was first to profoundly study the nature of the northern part of the Komi region, to expand geographical data, and to specify the significance of the vast territory of the North and the Arctic. Zhuravsky "discovered" the Pechora region for Russia, collected unique diverse material that made it possible to carry out interesting comparisons and draw promising conclusions.

Keywords

Authors

References