Accumulation of Knowledge about Africa in Russia — How It Started

The article presents a survey of sources from which Russia received early information about Southern and Tropical Africa in the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries on the basis of materials from Department of manuscripts and Department of architectural documents of the Russian National Library (Saint Petersburg). These included, for example, hand-written “Cosmographies” which the Russians read in the 17th century, “Geographies” published during the era of Peter the Great and the first descriptions of Africa published by Russian Navy officers in the early 19th century. It is also important to trace the impression that these manuscripts made on the contemporaries. The article displays how the knowledge accrued in these journeys in such fields as Earth sciences, cartography, navigation and ethnography contributed to changing attitudes in Russian society towards Africa

Ancient history · Archaeology · Ethnography · Geography · Library science · Navy · Regional science · Russian federation · Saint petersburg · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History