| title: | Polar exploration in the 19th century and Baltic-German polar explorers - scientific-historical analysis |
|---|---|
| reg no: | ETF4997 |
| project type: | Estonian Science Foundation research grant |
| subject: |
1.11. Natural Geography (incl Meteorology, Geophysics) 6.1. History (incl. Archeology) |
| status: | completed |
| institution: | Institute of Zoology and Botany at Estonian University of Life Sciences |
| head of project: | Erki Tammiksaar |
| duration: | 01.01.2002 - 31.12.2005 |
| description: | .In Estonia, it is known to everybody interested in the history of geography that Estonia has a quite long polar exploration tradition The beginning of polar exploration was, in the first place, conditioned with the need of the Russian Empire to guarantee his geopolitical interests in the Far East. The most suitable solution in this concern was put forward by A. J. von Krusenstern, who after his circumnavigation trip became the principal promoter of geographical investigations in the Russian Empire. Owing to Krusenstern, Baltic-Germans were for decades leading polar explorers in the Empire. Their success in polar exploration was greatly due to their good education level as compared with other nations living in the Russian Empire. The aspiration of Baltic-German to good education was caused by their wish to belong to the German cultural domain. It was guaranteed by Tartu University giving good academic education. All this made possible that in addition to Krusenstern many Baltic-German seafarers, explorers and scholars became known, like F. von Wrangell, F. G. von Bellingshausen, O. von Kotzebue, F. B. Lütke, K. E. von Baer, A. T. von Middendorff, A. von Schrenck, E. Hoffmann, G. von Maydell, A. von Bunge jun., R. Maack, E. von Toll, N. von Schilling a.o. Their contribution to polar exploration is remarkable. There are several publications describing their life an expeditions, but their contribution in the context of polar exploration in the 19th century has not been analysed. Reasons are of cultural, linguistic and historical kind (Until the present time the history of polar exploration has not been thoroughly treated in Estonia). For that reason the history of Estonian polar investigation is not known to English and German readers. The aim of this project is to carry out a comparative analysis of polar research projects, expeditions and results of different countries, scholars and seafarers in the 19th century on the basis of literature and archival documents in different languages, and to show that Estonian polar history deserves also international attention. |
| project group | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| no | name | institution | position | |
| 1. | Erki Tammiksaar | IZB | research associate | |