Tatiana Stanislavovna Minaeva,
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Northern Arctic Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov, Arkhangelsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
“Governor-General of Novaya Zemlya” (M.K. Sidorov as the Inspirer of the Development of the Marine Mammal Hunting in the North of Russia)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2023-6-3
M.K. Sidorov, a merchant and industrialist of the second half of the 19th century, was originally from the Arkhangelsk province. He knew the peculiarities of the economy of the North of Russia and the traditional occupations of its population, therefore, when the marine mammal hunting started to decline, he began to fight for its revival. This struggle was not easy, as the government did not consider the marine mammal hunting to be promising, and the merchants did not want to support it. M.K. Sidorov used various means to change the situation. He spoke in public organizations, wrote articles, published books, sent projects and proposals to government agencies, organized a mammal hunting expedition, took part in all-Russian and international industrial exhibitions, where he demonstrated the products of the marine mammal hunting. The merchant was particularly concerned about the active marine mammal hunting of Norwegians near the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, so he advocated the creation of permanent settlements on Novaya Zemlya, the inhabitants of which could engage in mining, marine fishing, and hunting. To the great disappointment of the entrepreneur, his works caused almost no positive responses from the Russian administration and representatives of private enterprise, the funds spent by him did not bring profit. In historiography, there is an idea that M.K. Sidorov did not gain support because his ideas were ahead of their time, and he did not know how to build relationships with officials. The article examines the activities of M.K. Sidorov to attract the attention of the state and society to the marine riches of the Arctic and to prove the profitability of their extraction. The author analyzes the proposals and views of M.K. Sidorov, the types of his activities and draws new conclusions about the causes of the entrepreneur’s failures and the consequences of his efforts.
Publishing: 28/12/2023
The article has been received by the editor on 13/09/2023
How to cite: Minaeva T.S. “Governor-General of Novaya Zemlya” (M.K. Sidorov as the Inspirer of the Development of the Marine Mammal Hunting in the North of Russia) // Historical Courier, 2023, No. 6 (32), pp. 31–41. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2023/ISTKURIER-2023-6-03.pdf]
Links: Issue 6 2023
Keywords: The North of Russia; M.K. Sidorov; marine mammal hunting; the history of Russia in the second half of the 19th century; Novaya Zemlya