What was the significance of the first academic expeditions to the Russian provinces in the 18th century? Until that time, the primary sources of geographical knowledge came either from the testimony of foreign travelers or reports by military governors and trades men. This essay examines the formation of knowledge about the interior territories of the Russian state through the example of Pallas and Lepekhin’s expedition to Simbirsk Province in 1768-1769. The extensive material collected then important as a source for ecological and sociocultural surveys of the territory even now, two and a half centuries later.
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