CENTRAL AND NORTH-EASTERN CAUCASUS IN THE EXPLORATIONS OF G. S. GORDEEV (1820–1830s)

Abstract

The paper explores the ethnography and region studies foundation in the Caucasus in the case of G.S. Gordeev. It shows the evaluation of choosing the scientific plot and practical activities of a typical representative of the military survey branch of the Caucasus studies. Gordeev belonged to the sort of a common nobleman who made his carer via military and civil service in Transcaucasia.

Based on the archive primary sources, published papers of the investigator and a lot his articles taken from the periodical newspapers of the early XIX c. the author shows the input of G.S. Gordeev into the foundation of the ethnographical descriptions of the Ossetians, Chevsurians, Tushines and people of the Highland Dagestan together with studying of the region from the point of military topography. The paper emphasises the genuine unity of geographical and ethnographical studies with the military and political demands of the Imperial power that structed the direction of collecting data by the researcher. The materials collected by Gordeev for the commanding stuff of the Caucasus either show some evaluation of the insight on Caucasus people from Romanticism to serious scientific studies.

The article highlights that at the case of Gordeev’s scientific heritage one can see the base ideas of the Orientalism: the statements of the Caucasus people backwardness, the urge to study ancient history and ethnic cultural traditions together with the idea of the Christian religious priority against the Islam in the Caucasus.

The author concludes that the whole life of Gordeev, killed in his final scout expedition in the Highland Dagestan, was dedicated to the intellectual exploration of the Caucasus and its inclusion into the Russian Empire.