The book ‘Complete Geographical Description of Our Homeland.’ was published under the editorship of Veniamin Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, the son of Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, the geographer and scientist. Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, as vice-chairman of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society managed this editorial project jointly with academician Vladimir Lamansky.
In his preface to the edition, Veniamin Semyonov emphasized the importance of this comprehensive work for understanding the country’s geographical layout and promoting the study of geography. His father also put a lot of effort into ensuring that the publication was of a high scientific standard and at the same time was written in interesting and lively style.
Each volume had three large sections on nature, population and “remarkable populated areas and locations”. The last section was given the most space. For this purpose, the description of individual settlements was made as a guidebook, describing locations along railways, navigable rivers and other transport locations.
In the first volume, Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky’s writings include the section ‘Remarkable Populated Areas’, which set the pattern for similar sections in the next volumes.
It should be noted as well, that the second volume ‘The Central Black Earth Region (Chernozem)"was entirely created by the Semyonovs: Peter Petrovich himself, his sons Dmitry, Andrey, Veniamin, Valery, Izmail and his daughter Olga. The other specialists worked on the rest of the book volumes.
This country study publication enjoyed wide popularity in the Pre-Revolutionary Russia. It played a significant role in the promotion of geographical knowledge in our country. However, unfortunately the publication was not finished because the First World War started. Primarily, it was supposed to publish 20 volumes, but only 10 books were published: the first volume was published in 1899, and the last one in 1914. The volumes 4, 8, 10, 11, 12 and 13 never appeared, as the books were not published in numerical order.
Also, some books were reprinted in several editions over the subsequent years. Of particular value are the first volumes of Alfred Devrien’s original edition.
In his preface to the edition, Veniamin Semyonov emphasized the importance of this comprehensive work for understanding the country’s geographical layout and promoting the study of geography. His father also put a lot of effort into ensuring that the publication was of a high scientific standard and at the same time was written in interesting and lively style.
Each volume had three large sections on nature, population and “remarkable populated areas and locations”. The last section was given the most space. For this purpose, the description of individual settlements was made as a guidebook, describing locations along railways, navigable rivers and other transport locations.
In the first volume, Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky’s writings include the section ‘Remarkable Populated Areas’, which set the pattern for similar sections in the next volumes.
It should be noted as well, that the second volume ‘The Central Black Earth Region (Chernozem)"was entirely created by the Semyonovs: Peter Petrovich himself, his sons Dmitry, Andrey, Veniamin, Valery, Izmail and his daughter Olga. The other specialists worked on the rest of the book volumes.
This country study publication enjoyed wide popularity in the Pre-Revolutionary Russia. It played a significant role in the promotion of geographical knowledge in our country. However, unfortunately the publication was not finished because the First World War started. Primarily, it was supposed to publish 20 volumes, but only 10 books were published: the first volume was published in 1899, and the last one in 1914. The volumes 4, 8, 10, 11, 12 and 13 never appeared, as the books were not published in numerical order.
Also, some books were reprinted in several editions over the subsequent years. Of particular value are the first volumes of Alfred Devrien’s original edition.
