Ilya Alexandrovich Shipilov,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Works and Materials of Participants of Academic and Government Expeditions of the 18th Century as Sources for Historical Urban Studies of Siberia
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2025-3-18
The article offers one of the first comprehensive characteristics in the scientific literature of the works and materials of participants in Russian academic and government expeditions as sources on historical urbanism (urban studies) of Siberia of the 18th century. The article presents the analysis results of written (documentary, narrative and mixed), cartographic and pictorial sources from the scientific heritage of geodetic expeditions (1710s−1730s), the journey (1719−1727) under leadership of D.G. Messerschmidt, the Second Kamchatka Expedition (1733−1743), astronomical and physical expeditionary campaigns (1740s−1770s), and the North−Eastern Geographical and Astronomical Expedition (1785−1795) under the leadership of J. Billings and G.A. Sarychev. The high information potential of the works and materials of travel scientists for the study of Siberian urbanism in historical dynamics has been identified and represented. Cartographic, geodetic and astronomical expedition works have traced the evolution of ideas during the 18th century about the geographical location of cities and adjacent settlements in Siberia, the Far East and the North Pacific region in accordance with scientific and technological development and urban planning. The techniques of analyzing narrative and visual sources are demonstrated to obtain new factual information about the layout and architecture of settlements, the social, ethnic and professional composition of their inhabitants, and the ethnography of the urban population. Based on the results of the study of diverse works and materials of travel scientists, a conclusion was made about the dual status of the Siberian city in the 18th century: the stronghold of traditional Russian culture and the center of urbanization and modernization of the region.
Publishing: 28/06/2025
The article has been received by the editor on 13/04/2025
How to cite: Shipilov I.A. Works and Materials of Participants of Academic and Government Expeditions of the 18th Century as Sources for Historical Urban Studies of Siberia // Historical Courier, 2025, No. 3 (41), pp. 274−292. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2025/ISTKURIER-2025-3-18.pdf]
The article was made on the topic of the state assignment “The Past in the Manuscript Sources of the 16th−20th Centuries: Preservation and Development of Traditions” (FWZM-2024-0006).
Links: Issue 3 2025
Keywords: historical urbanism of Siberia; cities and settlements; academic and governmental expeditions of the 18th century; written, cartographic and pictorial sources; geographical location and mapping of cities; ethnography of urban population; urbanization and modernization of Siberia