The Russian Geographical Society (), or RGO, is a

learned society A learned society ( ; also scholarly, intellectual, or academic society) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and sciences. Membership may be open to al ...

based in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It promotes geography, exploration and nature protection with research programs in fields including

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...

ethnography Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

and

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

History

Imperial Geographical Society

The society was founded in

on 6 (18) August 1845. Prior to the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, it was known as the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. The order to establish the society came directly from Emperor Nicholas I. The motive for the establishment was to encourage geographical research on domestic topics, which has later been described as a Russian nationalist political goal. The filial societies were established at the Caucasus (1850), Irkutsk (1851), Vilnius (1867), Orenburg (1868), Kiev (1873), Omsk (1877), and other cities. The Society organized and funded the expeditions of Richard Maack, Pyotr Kropotkin, Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, Nikolai Przhevalsky, Nikolai Miklukho-Maklai, Pyotr Kozlov, Vladimir Obruchev, and

Lev Berg Lev Semyonovich Berg, also known as Leo S. Berg (; 14 March 1876 – 24 December 1950) was a leading Russian geographer, biologist and ichthyologist who served as President of the Soviet Geographical Society between 1940 and 1950. He is known f ...

. It helped set up the first polar stations in

and was one of the first to publish detailed studies of the Russian folklore and Ukrainian fairs. The Society pioneered the systematic exploration of the Northern

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

in 18471850, of the farthest reaches of the

Amur River The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ''proper'' is ...

in 18541863, of the vast areas of Kashgaria, Dzungaria, and

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

from the 1870s onward. By 1917 the RGO was composed of eleven subdivisions and 1,000 members.

Members and presidents

The founding members of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society included: * * Friedrich (Fyodor) von Berg *

Karl Ernst von Baer Karl Ernst Ritter von Baer Edler von Huthorn (; – ) was a Baltic German scientist and explorer. Baer was a naturalist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, and is considered a, or the, founding father of embryology. He was a m ...

* Ferdinand von Wrangel * *

Vladimir Dal Vladimir Ivanovich Dal (, ; 22 November 1801 – 4 October 1872) was a Russians, Russian Lexicography, lexicographer, Multilingualism, speaker of many languages, Turkology, Turkologist, and founding member of the Russian Geographical Society. Du ...

* Gregor von Helmersen * Peter von Köppen * Adam Johann (Ivan) von Krusenstern * * Fyodor Litke * Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky * Vladimir Odoyevsky * Vasily Alekseevich Perovsky * Pyotr Ivanovich Ricord * * Friedrich Georg Wilhelm (Vasily) von Struve The Society's official presidents were Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia in 18451892 and Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of Russia in 18921917, but it was actually run by the Vice-Presidents: Fyodor Litke (18451850, 18551857),

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Mikhail Muravyov (18501857), Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky (18731914), and Yuly Shokalsky (19141931).

Constantine Medal

The Constantine Medal was a gold medal worth 200 silver roubles and was the highest award of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. It was established and named after the Society’s first chairman, Great Duke Constantine and was awarded from 1849 to 1929 to explorers who had made a significant geographical discovery or to authors of outstanding publications in geography, ethnography or Russian statistics. From 1924 to 1929 the Medal was referred to as “The highest award of the Russian Geographical Society”. Recipients of the medal included: *1849 Ernst Reinhold von Hofmann, for his excellent work during the first expedition of the Russian Geographical Society to the Northern Urals (first award) *1858 Ivan Aksakov, for his research into trade fairs in Ukraine *1859 Ludwig Schwarz *1863 Vladimir Dahl, for the Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language *1864 Ivashintsov Nikolay Alekseevich, for his long-term efforts to research the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

*1874 Nikolay Przhevalsky, for his pre-eminent scientific research, geographical discoveries and travels to Mongolia and the Tangut land *1878 Adolf Erik Nordensheld, for his voyage and research in the Arctic Ocean along the northern coast of Western and Eastern Siberia *1880 Ivan Mushketov, geologist and engineer, explorer of Central Asia *1898 Dr Gustav Radde *1900 Vladimir Obruchev, for his publications on Asian geology *1902 Pyotr Kozlov, for the 18991901 expedition to Tibet *1905

Alexander Kolchak Admiral Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (; – 7 February 1920) was a Russian navy officer and polar explorer who led the White movement in the Russian Civil War. As he assumed the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia in 1918, Kolchak headed a mili ...

, for participation in Baron E. Toll’s expedition, and for the journey to Bennett Island in particular *1905 Friedrich Schmidt *1907 Grigory Grum-Grshimailo, for all his works in Asian geography and for his ''Description of a Journey in Western China'' Volume III *1907

Fridtjof Nansen Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 1861 – 13 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and co-founded the ...

, for his remarkable feats, which constitute a whole era in the Arctic Ocean exploration *1914 Boris Vilkitsky, for hydrographic expeditions in the Arctic Sea.

All-Union Geographical Society

The Society changed its name to the State Geographical Society in 1926 and to the Geographical Society of the USSR in 1938. After Shokalsky its presidents were

geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic process ...

Nikolai Vavilov (19311940),

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

(19401950), parasitologist Evgeny Pavlovsky (19521964), glaciologist Stanislav Kalesnik (19641977), and polar explorer Aleksei Treshnikov (1977–1991). The Society has convened numerous congresses and has awarded four types of medals, the tri-annual Grand Gold Medal, three bi-annual medals named after Litke, Semyonov, and Przhevalsky, and also the bi-annual Semen Dezhnev prize. By 1970, it had published more than 2,000 volumes of geographical literature, including the annual ''Zapiski'' (since 1846) and ''Izvestiya'' (since 1865).

Post-Soviet era

The society reverted to its original name upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The main offices of the Society are in St. Petersburg. Since 2002 the society has sponsored an annual seasonal ice base in the Arctic, Camp Barneo. In 2009, the Minister of Defence of Russia Sergei Shoigu was elected the President of the Society. , he is still in office. In 2010, the Board of Trustees of the Society was established. The

president of Russia The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the State Council (Russia), Federal State Council and the President of Russia#Commander-in-ch ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

was appointed chairman of the Board. Other board members included Russian oligarchs, politicians and

Albert II, Prince of Monaco Albert II (Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi; born 14 March 1958) is Prince of Monaco, reigning since 2005. Born at the Prince's Palace of Monaco, Albert is the second child and only son of Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace. He attend ...

. The appointments of Shoigu and Putin resulted in the Society getting more subsidies from the Russian state. The

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

led to BP CEO Bernard Looney's resignation as a trustee of the Society, and membership of Russia within the

International Geographical Union The International Geographical Union (IGU; , UGI) is an international geographical society. The first International Geographical Congress was held in Antwerp in 1871. Subsequent meetings led to the establishment of the permanent organization i ...

(IGU) was suspended as of 7 March 2022, pending a formal decision on its membership at the next IGU General Assembly in July 2022. Nevertheless, while suspending Russia’s formal membership, the IGU maintains an open door for continued engagement with colleagues in Russia.

Divisions

The Imperial Society comprised four departments: Physical Geography, Mathematical Geography, Ethnography, and Statistics. Nikolai Nadezhdin was involved in the foundation of the Ethnography department, when the RGO was originally set up. During the 1850s and 1860s the

ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

division gathered and published material such as works of folklore and the ''byt'' or "way of life" which they regarded as reflecting the "essence" of the indigenous people of the Russian Empire. In 1909 Dmitry Nikolayevich Anuchin,

Vladimir Bogdanov Vladimir Leonidovich Bogdanov (; born 28 May 1951) is a Russian businessman and oil business magnate, tycoon. Biography and career In 1973, he graduated from Industrial University of Tyumen, Tyumen Industrial Institute with a degree in oil an ...

and Vsevolod Miller convened the ethnographic sub-section of the Twelfth Congress of Russian Natural Scientists and Physicians held in Moscow. Here they pushed for more professionalism to distinguish ethnographers from missionaries and amateurs. In 1917 David Zolotarev and Nikolai Mogilyansky of the RGO participated in the Commission for the Study of the Tribal Composition of the Population of the Borderlands of Russia.

References

External links

*
The contribution of the Russian Geographical Society to the history of ocean studies
{{authority control Science and technology in Russia History of geography Geographic societies Learned societies of Russia Organizations based in Saint Petersburg Organizations established in 1845 1845 establishments in the Russian Empire Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Saint Petersburg