Issues:
Sections:
Issue 90
HISTORY, ARCHAEOLOGY, ETHNOGRAPHY
UDK: 94(470)
THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND THE BEGINNING OF SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF THE EASTERN CAUCASUS
ABDULAEVA Madina Izamutdinovna
The article is devoted to the history of the formation and subsequent development of the system of scientific study of the Eastern Caucasus by the Russian Academy of Sciences. Specific facts and events related to the expedition activities of the Academy of Sciences show how the process of accumulating knowledge about the region went. The result of this activity was the emergence of a scientific understanding of the Caucasus in general and its eastern part in particular. A comprehensive study of the Caucasus, namely its nature, geographical location, mineral resources, flora and fauna, and, most importan, the peoples living here, in all their diversity, laid the foundations of domestic Caucasian studies. In the XVIII century, the Academy of Sciences becomes the main center for the study of the Caucasus, through expeditionary activities. "Physical" expeditions included natural-historical and physical-geographical observations, as well as history, ethnography, linguistics, and economics. The study of the productive forces and natural resources of the region, both in the past and today, does not lose its relevance. The expeditions gave a powerful impetus to the development of local sciences. The culminating point in the activities of the Academy of Sciences in the XVIII century were the expeditions of 1768-1774. These were the expeditions of S. Gmelin and I. Gildenstedt, which can be called epoch-making. The goals of the expeditions were different - scientific, reconnaissance, economic, etc. Often, researches went beyond the Academy's guidelines. Many projects remained unrealized, not all researchers' diaries were put into scientific circulation. Nevertheless, thanks to the expeditions of the Academy of Sciences, the image of the Caucasus became visible, embossed, with its own individual ethnic face.
Pages: 76 - 82
Date: 09.07.2023