The Astrakhan Stage of S. G. Gmelin’s Expedition according to Materials of Russian and Foreign Archives

Introduction. The second half of the 18th century is an important stage in the development of expeditionary activities by the Russian Academy of Sciences. Between 1768 and 1774, several expeditions across Russia were equipped, each being designated its special route and program. The majority of leaders the research teams were of German origin. Professor Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin was in charge of the expedition which headed towards the Caspian Sea. His instructions prescribed to collect and investigate various aspects of national economies, issues of culture, religion and language of local populations, natural resources, flora and fauna, etc. From a political perspective, the most important point was to study the Kalmyk ethnos, especially the organization of power (administrative) relations, genealogical tables of the Kalmyk nobility, their history and causes of the mass exodus of Kalmyks to Dzungaria in 1771 after the abolition of the autonomy of Khans. The sources to characterize S. G. Gmelin’s research activities in Astrakhan Governorate have been dispersed throughout various Russian and foreign archives.
Goals. The paper aims to systematize the data and provide an objective historical overview.
Methods. The research applied the methods of semantic analysis and translation of 18th-century handwritten sources, methods of microhistorical analysis and methods of prosopography.
Conclusions. The conducted analysis of archival sources results in a number of conclusions as follows. Firstly, the range of tasks and areas of work of S. G. Gmelin’s research expedition in Astrakhan Governorate was extremely wide and required the involvement of a large team of specialists from different fields of knowledge. That is why the professor would often turn to locals, most of the latter being members of Sarepta community. Secondly, under the pretext of scientific work, the academic detachment pursued, in particular, intelligence goals. This is confirmed by the widest range of tasks and the nature of data members of S. G. Gmelin’s party were looking for in the Kalmyk Steppe and uluses. Thirdly, the materials collected during the expeditionary work are of great interest for modern ethnographic studies, since they contain unique information about culture, language, national economy, and everyday life of the Kalmyks in the mid-to-late 18th century. But the fate of the last S. G. Gmelin’s works is still in question – he compiled the latter in 1773–1774 — as some part of the materials came into the possession of the Astrakhan merchant Nikolai Rentel, and a certain part was submitted to the Russian Academy of Sciences.

1. НА РК ― Национальный архив Республики Калмыкия. [Natsional’nyy arkhiv Respubliki Kalmykiya [National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia].]

2. СПФ АРАН ― Санкт-Петербургский филиал архива Российской академии наук. [Sankt-Peterburgskiy filial arkhiva Rossiyskoy akademii nauk [Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg Branch].]

3. UMA ― Объединенный архив Моравской церкви. [Unitätsarchiv Moravian Archives].

4. Батмаев 2002 — Батмаев М. М. Социально-политический строй и хозяйство калмыков в XVII–XVIII вв. Элиста: АПП «Джангар», 2002. 400 с. [Batmaev M. M. Sotsial’no-politicheskiy stroy i khozyaistvo kalmykov v XVII–XVIII vv. [Socio-political structures and economy of the Kalmyks in the 17th–18th centuries]. Elista: Dzhangar, 2002. 400 p. (In Rus.)]

5. Володжанский 2011 — Володжанский И. С. Научная деятельность гернгутеров Сарепты (к. XVIII – н. XX в.в.): специфика, динамика и мотивация развития // Сарепта: Историко-этнографический вестник. 2011. Вып. 4. С. 118–130. [Volodzhansky I. S. Research activities of Sarepta herrnhuters (late 18th – early 20th cc.): specificity, dynamics and development motivation]. Sarepta: Istoriko-etnograficheskiy vestnik. 2011. Pp. 118–130. (In Rus.)]

6. Гурьянов 1953 — Гурьянов В. П. Иван Михайлович Комов: его жизнь и деятельность: к истории русской агрономии и географии. М.: Моск. общество испытателей природы. 1953. 103 с.  [Guryanov V. P. Ivan Mikhailovich Komov: ego zhizn’ i deyatel’nost’: k istorii russkoi agronomii i geografii [Ivan Mikhailovich Komov: his life and works. History of Russian agronomy and geography revisited]. Moscow: Moscow Society of Nature Explorers, 1953. 103 p. (In Rus.)]

7. Дюльденко 2015 — Дюльденко А. А. Иоганн Иериг (1747–1795): сотрудничество с императорской академией наук и европейским научным сообществом // Вестник Калмыцкого института гуманитарных исследований РАН. 2015. № 2. С. 25–30. [Diuldenko А. А. Johannes Jährig (1747–1795): cooperation with the Imperial Academy of Sciences and the European Scientific Community. Vestnik Kalmytskogo instituta gumanitarnykh issledovaniy RAN (Bulletin of the Kalmyk Humanities Research Institute of the RAS). 2015. No. 2. Pp. 25–30. (In Rus.)]

8. Ломоносов и академические экспедиции 2011 — Ломоносов и академические экспедиции XVIII века / сост. Александровская О. А., Широкова В. А., Романова О. С., Озерова Н. А. М.: РТСофт, 2011. 272 с. [Lomonosov i akademicheskie ekspeditsii XVIII veka [Lomonosov and the 18th–century academic expeditions]. O. Alexandrovskaya et al. (comps.) Moscow: RTSoft, 2011. 272 p. (In Rus.)]

9. Материалы для истории экспедиций 1940 — Материалы для истории экспедиций Академии Наук в XVIII и XIX веках: хронологические обзоры и описание архивных материалов / сост. В. Ф. Гнучева; под ред. В. Л. Комарова. М.; Л.: Изд-во АН СССР, 1940. 310 с. [Materialy dlya istorii ekspeditsiy Аkademii Nauk v XVIII i XIX vekakh: khronologicheskie obzory i opisanie arkhivnykh materialov [Materials for the History of the 18th– and 19th– century expeditions of the Academy of Sciences: chronological reviews and descriptions of archival materials]. V. Gnucheva (comp.), V. Komarov (ed.). Moscow, Leningrad: USSR Acad. of Sc., 1940. 310 p. (In Rus.)]

10. Протоколы заседаний Конференции 1900 — Протоколы заседаний Конференции Академии наук с 1725 по 1803 год. Т. 3. 1771–1785. СПб.: Тип. ИАН, 1900. 894 с. [Protokoly zasedaniy Konferentsii Аkademii nauk s 1725 po 1803 god. T. 3. 1771–1785 [Conferences of the Academy of Sciences: minutes of meetings, 1725 to 1803. Vol. 3. 1771–1785]. St. Petersburg: Imperial Acad. of Sc., 1900. 894 p. (In French)]

11. Соколов, Парнес 2002 ― Соколов В. Е., Парнес Я. А. Самуэль Готлиб Гмелин (1745–1774) // Биология. № 29, 2002. C. 4. [Sokolov V. E., Parnes Ya. A. Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin (1745–1774). Biologiya. No. 29. 2002. P. 4. (In Rus.)]

12. Сытин 2015 — Сытин А. К. Самуэль Готлиб Гмелин ― профессор ботаники Петербургской Академии наук // Немцы в России. Немецкий мир Санкт-Петербурга: Сб. статей. СПб.: Росток, 2015. 588 с. [Sytin А. K. Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin ― professor botaniki Peterburgskoy Аkademii nauk [Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin ― Professor of Botany of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences]. St. Petersburg: Rostok, 2015. 588 p. (In Rus.)]

13. Ученая корреспонденция 1937 — Ученая корреспонденция Академии Наук XVIII века (1766–1782): Научное описание / сост. И. И. Любименко; под ред. акад. Д. С. Рождественского; ред. Г. А. Князев, Л. Б. Модзалевский. М.; Л.: Изд-во АН СССР, 1937. 606 с. [Uchenaya korrespondentsiya Аkademii Nauk XVIII veka (1766–1782): Nauchnoe opisanie [The 18th-century scholarly correspondence of Academy of Sciences (1766–1782): a scientific description]. I. Lyubimenko (comp.), D. Rozhdestvensky (ed.) et al. Moscow: USSR Acad. of Sc., 1937. 606 p. (In Rus.)]

14. Энциклопедический словарь 1892 — Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона. Том VIIА (14). Выговский — Гальбан. СПб.: Семеновская Типография (И. А. Ефрона), 1892. 952 с. [Ehntsiklopedicheskiy slovar’ Brokgauza i Efrona. T. VIIА (14). Vygovskiy — Gal’ban [Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. Vol. VIIA (14). Vygovsky — Galban]. St. Petersburg: Semenovskaya Press, 1892. 952 p.