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The Russian Geographical Society (RGO) is a learned society
Learned society

A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline or group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies, such as the Poland Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana , the Italian Acc...
, founded on 6 August, 1845 in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
, Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
.
Founding members of the Society these included:

The Society's official presidents were Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia
Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia

Grand Duke Constantin Nikolaevich of Russia was the second son of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia.During the reign of his brother Alexander II of Russia, Constantin was an admiral of the Russian fleet and reformed the Imperial Russian Navy....
 in 1845-92 and Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of Russia
Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of Russia

Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of Russia , 26 April 1859 - 28 January 1919 was the eldest son of Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia and a first cousin of Alexander III of Russia....
 in 1892-1917, but actually it was run by the Vice-Presidents: Fyodor Litke (1845-50, 1855-57), Count Mikhail Muravyov
Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov-Vilensky

Count Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov was one of the most reactionary Russian imperial statesmen of the 19th century. He should not be confused with his grandson, Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov, who served as Russian Foreign Minister between 1897 and 1900....
 (1850-57), Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky (1873-1914), and Yuly Shokalsky
Yuly Shokalsky

Yuly Mikhailovich Shokalsky was a Russian oceanographer, cartographer, and geographer.A grandson of Anna Petrovna Kern, Pushkin's celebrated mistress, Shokalsky graduated from the Naval Academy in 1880 and made a career in the Imperial Russian Navy, helping establish the Sevastopol Marine Observatory and rising to the rank of Lieutenant-...
 (1914-31).






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The Russian Geographical Society (RGO) is a learned society
Learned society

A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline or group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies, such as the Poland Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana , the Italian Acc...
, founded on 6 August, 1845 in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
, Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
.

History


Imperial Geographical Society


Prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917

The Russian Revolution is the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union....
, it was known as the Imperial Russian Geographical Society.

Founding members of the Society
these included:
  • Fyodor Litke
  • Fyodor Wrangel
  • Vladimir Dahl
  • Vladimir Odoyevsky
  • Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve
    Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve

    Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve was a Baltic-German astronomer from a famous dynasty of astronomers....
  • Karl Ernst von Baer
    Karl Ernst von Baer

    Karl Ernst von Baer was a Baltic German biologist and a founding father of embryology....
  • Nikolai Nadezhdin
    Nikolai Nadezhdin

    Nikolai Ivanovich Nadezhdin was a Russian literary critic and Russia's first ethnographer.Born in the Zaraisk District of Ryazan guberniya, Nadezhdin graduated from Ryazan Seminary in 1815 and Moscow Religious Academy in 1824....


The Society's official presidents were Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia
Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia

Grand Duke Constantin Nikolaevich of Russia was the second son of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia.During the reign of his brother Alexander II of Russia, Constantin was an admiral of the Russian fleet and reformed the Imperial Russian Navy....
 in 1845-92 and Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of Russia
Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of Russia

Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of Russia , 26 April 1859 - 28 January 1919 was the eldest son of Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia and a first cousin of Alexander III of Russia....
 in 1892-1917, but actually it was run by the Vice-Presidents: Fyodor Litke (1845-50, 1855-57), Count Mikhail Muravyov
Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov-Vilensky

Count Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov was one of the most reactionary Russian imperial statesmen of the 19th century. He should not be confused with his grandson, Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov, who served as Russian Foreign Minister between 1897 and 1900....
 (1850-57), Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky (1873-1914), and Yuly Shokalsky
Yuly Shokalsky

Yuly Mikhailovich Shokalsky was a Russian oceanographer, cartographer, and geographer.A grandson of Anna Petrovna Kern, Pushkin's celebrated mistress, Shokalsky graduated from the Naval Academy in 1880 and made a career in the Imperial Russian Navy, helping establish the Sevastopol Marine Observatory and rising to the rank of Lieutenant-...
 (1914-31).
Rgolibrary
The filial societies were established at the Caucasus (1850), Irkutsk (1851), Vilnius (1867), Orenburg (1868), Kiev (1873), Omsk (1877), and other cities.

The Society organized and funded the expeditions of Richard Maack
Richard Maack

Richard Karlovich Maack was a 19th century Russia natural history, geography, and anthropology. He is most known for his exploration of the Russian Far East and Siberia, particularly the Ussuri River and Amur River valleys....
, Pyotr Kropotkin, Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, Nikolai Przhevalsky
Nikolai Przhevalsky

Nikolai Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky , also transliterated Przewalski and Prjevalsky , was a Russian geographer and List of explorers of Central Asia and Eastern Asia....
, Nikolai Miklukho-Maklai, Pyotr Kozlov
Pyotr Kozlov

Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov was a Russian explorer who continued the studies of Nikolai Przhevalsky in Mongolia and Tibet.Although prepared by his parents for military career, Kozlov chose to join Przhevalsky's expedition....
, Vladimir Obruchev
Vladimir Obruchev

Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev was a Russian geologist who specialized in the study of Siberia and Central Asia. He was also one of the first science fiction authors in Russia....
, and Lev Berg. It helped set up the first polar stations in Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 and was one of the first to publish detailed studies of the Russian folklore and Ukrainian fairs.

The Society pioneered the systematic exploration of the Northern Urals in 1847-50, of the farthest reaches of the Amur River in 1854-63, of the vast areas of Kashgaria, Dzungaria
Dzungaria

Dzungaria is a geographical region in northwest China corresponding to the northern half of Xinjiang. It covers approximately 777,000 km?, lying mostly within the Xinjiang, and extending into western Mongolia....
, and Mongolia
Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and People's Republic of China to the south, east and west....
 from the 1870s onward.

By 1917 the RGO was composed of eleven subdivisions and 1,000 members.

All-Union Geographical Society


The Society changed its name to the State Geographical Society in 1926 and to the Geographical Society of the USSR in 1938. After Shokalsky its presidents were geneticist
Geneticist

A geneticist is a scientist who studies genetics, the science of heredity and genetic variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer....
 Nikolai Vavilov
Nikolai Vavilov

Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov was a prominent Russian and Soviet Union botanist and geneticist best known for having identified the Vavilov_Center of cultivated plants....
 (1931-40), zoologist Lev Berg (1940-1950), parasitologist
Parasitology

Parasitology is the study of parasites, their host s, and the relationship between them. As a List of biology disciplines, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question, but by their way of life....
 Evgeny Pavlovsky (1952-64), glaciologist Stanislav Kalesnik (1964-77), polar explorer Aleksei Treshnikov
Aleksei Treshnikov

Alexey Fyodorovich Treshnikov was a Soviet Union polar explorer and leader of the 2nd Soviet Antarctic Expedition and the 13th Soviet Antarctic Expedition....
 (1977-91). Among its notable members were Aleksandr Kolchak
Aleksandr Kolchak

Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Kolchak was a Imperial Russian Navy commander, polar explorer and later head of part of the anti-Bolshevik White movement during the Russian Civil War....
 and Maia Berzina
Maia Berzina

Maia Yanovna Berzina was a prominent Russian ethnography, geography and cartographer . Among her scores are "Americans" entry in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia and several maps in the Great Soviet World Atlas ....
. The Society has convened numerous congresses and has awarded four types of medals, named after Litke, Semyonov, Przhevalsky, and Semen Dezhnev. By 1970, it had published more than 2,000 volumes of geographical literature, including the annual Zapiski (since 1846) and Izvestiya (since 1865). It reverted to its original name upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The main offices of the Society are in St. Petersburg.

Divisions

The Imperial Society comprised four departments:

Department of Physical Geography


Department of Mathematical Geography


Department of Ethnography

Nikolai Nadezhdin was involved in the foundation of this department, when the RGO was originally set up. During the 1850s and 1860s the ethnographic
Ethnography

Ethnography is a genre of writing that uses fieldwork to provide a descriptive study of human societies. Ethnography presents the results of a holism research method founded on the idea that a system's properties cannot necessarily be accurately understood independently of each other....
 division gathered and published material such as works of folklore and the byt or "way of life" which they regarded as reflecting the "essence" of the indigenous people of the Russian Empire. In 1909 Dmitry Nikolayevich Anuchin
Dmitry Nikolayevich Anuchin

Dmitry Nikolayevich Anuchin was a Russian anthropologist, ethnography, archaeologist, and geography. He was a member of the Russian GeographicaL Society and convened the ethnographic sub-section of the Twelfth Congress of Russian Natural Scientists and Physicians held in Moscow in 1909....
, Vladimir Bogdanov
Vladimir Bogdanov

Vladimir Leonidovich Bogdanov is a Russian oil tycoon, since 1993 President of Surgutneftegaz, one of the largest Russian oil company.In 1973 he graduated from Tyumen Industrial Institute with a degree in oil and gas well boring and since then has worked in oil industry in Tyumen Oblast, mainly in Surgutneftegaz....
 and Vsevelod Miller convened the ethnographic sub-section of the Twelfth Congress of Russian Natural Scientists and Physicians held in Moscow. Here they pushed for more professionalism to distinguish ethnographers from missionaries and amateurs.

In 1917 David Zolotarev
David Zolotarev

David Alekseevich Zolotarev was a Russian anthropologist and ethnographer who studied the tribal populations of the Yaroslavl region of northern Russia....
 and Nikolai Mogiliansky of the RGO participated in the Commission for the Study of the Tribal Composition of the Population of the Borderlands of Russia
Commission for the Study of the Tribal Composition of the Population of the Borderlands of Russia

The Commission for the Study of the Tribal Composition of the Population of the Borderlands of Russia was set up in February 1917 by Sergei Fedorovich Ol'denburg under the auspices of the Russian Academy of Sciences....
.

Department of Statistic


Further reading

  • Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky. ??????? ??????????? ???????????? ?????????????? ???????? ??????????????? ????????. Volumes 1-3. SPb, 1896.
  • Lev Berg. ?????????? ?????????????? ???????? ?? 100 ???. 1845-1945. Moscow-Leningrad, 1946.
  • ?????????????? ???????? ?? 125 ???. Leningrad, 1970.
  • Hirsch, Francine. 2005. Empire of Nations: Ethnographic Knowledge and the Making of the Soviet Union. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-4273-7

External links