Grishin E. S. Assessment of the State of Cartographic Exploration of the European Part of the Russian Empire as One of the Indicators of the Historical Development of the Territory (1721–1917)

Evgeniy S. Grishin
Institute of History and Archaeology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Ekaterinburg, Russia
E-mail: bibliosof-info@yandex.ru
ORCID: 0000-0002-9521-2246

 Download | Back to the Content № 1. 2025

UDC 94(47)”1721/1917″:528.9
DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2025-4-1-6-37

ABSTRACT. The article is devoted to the issues of determining the level of cartographic exploration and its connection with the historical development of the territory under consideration. The theoretical part considers the concept of cartographic exploration, provides examples of the practice of maintaining catalogs and cartograms of exploration in modern cartography. The article also describes the specifics of the historical assessment of the growth in survey topographic works and the possibilities of taking into account various indicators of exploration, which are relevant for its retrospective assessment: the total number of survey maps for a certain region, the duration of topographic works, the instrumental and methodological base. A description of the methodology for maintaining retrospective cartographic exploration is given: indicators of accounting for growth, a template of the registration card and other methodological standards. The features of the main groups of sources on the history of cartographic exploration are considered. The author’s periodization of the development of exploration of the European part of the Russian Empire from 1720 to the First World War is given, and four stages are characterized with identifying dominant characteristics and the most priority regions for survey work. The article provides a description of individual groups of survey cartographic works, including land maps of the Petrine geodesists, maps of the Geographical Department of the Academy of Sciences, general survey plans, military topographic maps, and others. The significance of thematic and object-oriented mapping is described in relation to the growth of the total array of survey cartography. The article is accompanied by several tables, which compactly present the main factual material of the article: the progress of cartographic works at different stages, indicating the chronological framework and performers. General observations on the article are presented in the form of the two author’s maps indicating the predominant cartographic works for individual periods, which are considered in the article.

KEYWORDS: cartographic exploration, history of cartography, European part of the Russian Empire

For citation: Grishin E. S. [Assessment of the State of Cartographic Exploration of the European Part of the Russian Empire as One of the Indicators of the Historical Development of the Territory (1721–1917)]. Istoriko-geograficheskiy zhurnal [Historical Geography Journal], 2025, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 6–37. DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2025-4-1-6-37 (In Russian).

Received 3 September 2024
Accepted 25 December 2024

© 2025 The Author

REFERENCES

  • Adrianov I. V. [Cartographic Activity and Works of V. N. Adrianov]. Izvestia vuzov. Geodesy and aerophotosurveying [News of Universities. Geodesy and Aerial Photography], 1980, no. 2, pp. 104–116. (In Russian).
  • Dolgov E. I., Glushkov V. V. [On the History of the Creation of the Corps of Military Topographers of the Russian Army]. Geodezia i kartografia [Geodesy and Cartography], 1999, no. 8, pp. 49–53. (In Russian).
  • Fel S. E. [The Petrine Geodesists and Their Participation in the Creation of Russian Cartography of the 18th Century]. Voprosy geografii [Problems of Geography], 1950, coll. 17, pp. 5–22. (In Russian).
  • Fel S. E. Kartografiya Rossii XVIII v. [Cartography of 18th Century Russia]. Moscow: Geodezizdat Publ., 1960. (In Russian).
  • Glushkov V. V. Istoriya voyennoy kartografii v Rossii (XVIII — nachalo XX v.) [History of Military Cartography in Russia (18th — Early 20th Century). Moscow: IDEL Publ., 2007. (In Russian).
  • Gnucheva V. F. Geograficheskiy departament Akademii nauk XVIII veka [Geographical Department of the Academy of Sciences of the 18th Century]. Moscow; Leningrad: Izd-vo Akademii nauk SSSR Publ., 1946. (In Russian).
  • Goldenberg L. A. [On the Issue of Cartographic Source Studies]. Istoricheskaya geografiya Rossii XII — nachala XIX v. [Historical Geography of Russia of the 12th – Early 19th Century]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1975, pp. 217–233. (In Russian).
  • Grishin E. S. [Some Problems of Mapping the Borders of the Asian Part of the Russian Empire]. Tsifrovoye vostokovedeniye [Digital Orientalia], 2021, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 56–64. (In Russian).
  • Istomina E. T. [Hydrographic Maps of the European Part of Russia in the Second Half of the 18th Century As a Historical and Geographical Source]. Ispol’zovaniye starykh kart v geograficheskikh n istoricheskikh issledovaniyakh [Using Old Maps in Geographical and Historical Research]. Moscow: Mosk. filial Geograf. ob-va SSSR Publ., 1980, pp. 76–87. (In Russian).
  • Kartograficheskaya izuchennost’ Rossii (topograficheskiye i tematicheskiye karty) [Cartographic Exploration of Russia (Topographic and Thematic Maps)]. Moscow: Institut geografii RAN Publ., 1999. (In Russian).
  • Khalfin N. A. [Life and Works of Ivan Fedorovich Blaramberg]. Blaramberg I. F. Vospominaniya [Blaramberg I. F. Memories]. Moscow: Glavnaya redaktsiya vostochnoy literatury izd-va “Nauka” Publ., 1978, pp. 5–24. (In Russian).
  • Kolgushkin V. V. Opisaniye starinnykh atlasov, kart i planov XVI, XVII, XVIII vekov i poloviny XIX veka, khranyashchikhsya v arkhive tsentral’nogo kartograficheskogo proizvodstva VMF [Description of Old Atlases, Maps and Plans of the 16th, 17th, 18th Centuries and Half of the 19th Century, Stored in the Archive of the Central Cartographic Production of the Navy]. Leningrad: S. n., 1958. (In Russian).
  • Krutov D. A. [Assessment of the Increase in the Geographical Knowledge of the Crimean Peninsula at the End of the 18th Century]. Istoriko-geograficheskiy zhurnal [Historical Geography Journal], 2022, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 44–55. DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2022-1-2-44-55 (In Russian).
  • Lashkov A. Yu. [At the Origins of the Russian Air Force]. Voyenno-istoricheskiy zhurnal [Military History Magazine], 2012, no. 7, pp. 12–18. (In Russian).
  • Litvin A. A. [His Imperial Majesty’s Own Map Depot and the Development of Domestic Cartography in 1797–1812]. Dokumental’nyye relikvii Rossiyskoy istorii: 200-letiye Voyenno-uchenogo arkhiva [Documentary Relics of Russian History: 200th Anniversary of the Military-Scientific Archive]. Moscow: Editorial URSS Publ., 1998, pp. 37–53. (Works of the Russian State Military-historical archive; iss. 2). (In Russian).
  • Losev A. I., Kazakov V. I. [Corps of Military Topographers]. Voyenno-istoricheskiy zhurnal [Military History Magazine], 1992, no. 10, pp. 79–82. (In Russian).
  • Lyarsky P. A. [P. I. Rychkov as an Outstanding Russian Geographer of the 18th Century]. Geograficheskiy sbornik [Geographical Collection]. Moscow; Leningrad: Izd-vo Akademii nauk SSSR Publ., 1954, vol. 3: History of geographical knowledge and geographical discoveries, pp. 44–78. (In Russian).
  • Melnikova T. N. [On the Mathematical Basis of Russian Maps of the 18th Century]. Geograficheskiy sbornik [Geographical Collection]. Moscow; Leningrad: Izd-vo Akademii nauk SSSR Publ., 1954, vol. 3: History of geographical knowledge and geographical discoveries, pp. 111–130. (In Russian).
  • Novlyanskaya M. G. Kirilov i yego Atlas Vserossiyskoy imperii [I. K. Kirilov and His Atlas of the All-Russian Empire]. Moscow; Leningrad: Izd-vo Akademii nauk SSSR Publ., 1958. (In Russian).
  • Novokshanova Z. K. Fedor Fodorovich Shubert — voyennyy geodezist (1789–1865 gg.) [Fedor Fedorovich Schubert — Military Surveyor (1789–1865)]. Moscow: Geodesizdat Publ., 1958. (In Russian).
  • Novokshanova-Sokolovskaya Z. K. Kartograficheskiye i geodezicheskiye raboty v Rossii v XIX — nachale XX v. [Cartographic and Geodetic Works in Russia in the 19th — Early 20th Century]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1967. (In Russian).
  • Pospelov E. M. Kartograficheskaya izuchennost’ zarubezhnykh stran [Cartographic Exploration of Foreign Countries]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1975. (In Russian).
  • Postnikov A. V. [Requirements for the Writing and Сonveying of Geographical Names on Russian Maps of the 18th–19th Centuries]. Voprosy geografii [Problems of Geography], 1979, coll. 110, pp. 149–156. (In Russian).
  • Postnikov A. V. Razvitiye krupnomasshtabnoy kartografii v Rossii [Development of Large-Scale Cartography in Russia]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1989. (In Russian).
  • Preobrazhensky A. I. Russkiye ekonomicheskiye karty i atlasy [Russian Economic Maps and Atlases]. Moscow: Gosudarstvennoye izdatel’stvo politicheskoy literatury Publ., 1953. (In Russian).
  • Salishchen K. A. Kartovedeniye [Cartography]. Moscow: Izd-vo Moskovskogo universiteta Publ., 1990. (In Russian).
  • Sergeev S. V., Dolgov E. I. Voyennyye topografy Russkoy armii [Military Topographers of the Russian Army]. Moscow: ZAO “SiDiPress” Publ., 2001. (In Russian).
  • Sobisevich A. V. Istoriya geograficheskogo izucheniya i kartografirovaniya territorii Karelii (XVIII — pervaya chetvert’ XX v.): avtoref. kand. dis. [History of Geographical Studying and Mapping the Territory of Karelia (18th — First Quarter of the 20th Century): Abst. Diss. Cand.]. Moscow, 2013. (In Russian).
  • Staritsyn A. N. [Russian Cartography in the Early 18th Century and the Problem of Localisation of Old Believers’ Settlements in the Northern Region of Russia]. Al’manakh severoyevropeyskikh i baltiyskikh issledovaniy [Nordic and Baltic Studies Review], 2017, iss. 2, pp. 236–254. DOI: 10.15393/j103.
    art.2017.763 (In Russian).
  • Tsvetkov M. A. [Cartographic Materials of the General Survey]. Voprosy geografii [Problems of Geography], 1953, coll. 31, pp. 90–106. (In Russian).
  • Zdobnov N. V. Istoriya russkoy bibliografii [History of Russian Bibliography]. Moscow: S. n., 1944, vol. 1. (In Russian).
[Top]