Development of Siberia and Far East

The collection is dedicated to two priority areas of modern Russia's development: the territories of Siberia and the Far East. These regions will determine the country's geo-economic future. The collection contains historical evidence from the XVI century onwards, including accounts of the pioneering explorers who ventured into these uncharted lands. It includes scientific monographs, publications from the East Siberian branch of the Russian Geographical Society and the Imperial and Soviet academies of sciences, as well as reports from research expeditions and works of art. The collection also includes cartographic, audio-visual, and visual materials.

The collection's structure reveals two main directions of movement for the discoverers of Siberia and the Far East. It covers both the period of exploration of these territories and their subsequent development, primarily through the settlement of peasant families. It also includes the period of scientific research, which is reflected in the materials from the expeditions of the Russian Academy of Sciences, including those to Kamchatka, Altai-Kuznetsk, Kulunda, and Baikal.

Russian pioneers such as Ermak, a Cossack leader who defeated the Siberian Khanate and explored the major river routes of Western Siberia, Semyon Dezhnyov, who discovered Kolyma, Chukotka, and the Bering Strait. Among them are Yerofey Khabarov, who initiated the conquest of Amur region and created first Russian map, and Vladimir Atlasov, who brought Kamchatka under Russian control and discovered Kuril Islands.

The documents reveal the details of the first (1725-1730) and second (1733-1743) Kamchatka expeditions, led by Vitus Bering and Aleksei Chirkov. The first expedition, organized by order of Peter the Great, aimed to explore the eastern coast of Russia north of Kamchatka. The second expedition, also known as the Great Northern Expedition, was initiated by Bering and involved the exploration of Siberia, the Far East, the Arctic, Japan, and northwestern America. Special attention was paid to the study of the northern sea route from the Kola Peninsula to the Pacific Ocean.

In the 1730s and 1940s, several geographical expeditions were conducted that explored the coastlines of the Ob, Yenisei, Lena, and Anadyr Rivers, the Taimyr Peninsula, Kuril Islands, Amur Region, and the Sea of Okhotsk. These expeditions made significant contributions to various fields of science, including geography, geology, ethnography, physics, botany, zoology, and more.

For the first time, a detailed map of the entire territory of the Russian Empire was created. It included an inventory of the shores of the Arctic Ocean, from Arkhangelsk to Cape Bolshoy Baranov. This collection contains geographical descriptions compiled by famous Russian navigators and explorers, such as S. Dezhnev, V. Atlasov, G. Nevelsky, and S. Krasheninnikov.

Biographical sketches and stories of famous researchers and scientists, such as R. Malik and A. Czekanowski, have become an integral part of the collection. The work of I. Chersky, a geologist, paleontologist, and explorer, is well represented. Most of the cartographic materials were compiled by him or with his involvement.

The collection includes digital copies of official documents, archival materials, research, reference books and periodicals, as well as albums, photographs, and maps from the collections of several institutions. Those are: Russian State Library, State Public Historical Library, Russian State Historical Archive, Russian State Archive of Film and Photographic Documents, Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Central Naval Library, and Russian Geographical Society, Petersburg State University, Moscow State University, Moscow State Pedagogical University, Russian State University for Humanities, Ural Federal University, Baikal State University, Ural State Law University, Pacific State University, Tomsk State University, Altai State University, Yaroslavl State University, Tobolsk Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve, Presidential Library, Altai Regional Universal Scientific Library, Trans-Baikal Regional Universal Scientific Library, Irkutsk Regional State Universal Scientific Library, State Universal Scientific Library of Krasnoyarsk Territory, Pushkin Omsk State Regional Scientific Library, State Library of Yugra, Samara Regional Universal Scientific Library, National Library of Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).