A.F. Gebel and G.F. Gebel's expeditions and their role in the exploration of the European Arctic during the second half of 19th – early 20th centuries

O.V. Shabalina a,b*, K.S. Kazakova b**

a Kola Science Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, Apatity, 184209 Russia

b Apatity Branch of Murmansk Arctic State University, Apatity, 184209 Russia

E-mail: *oshabalina@yandex.ru, **Ksenia-kuznec@yandex.ru

Received January 24, 2019

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DOI: 10.26907/2541-7738.2019.2-3.150-160

For citation: Shabalina O.V., Kazakova K.S. A.F. Gebel and G.F. Gebel’s expeditions and their role in the exploration of the European Arctic during the second half of 19th – early 20th centuries. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2019, vol. 161, no. 2–3, pp. 150–160. doi: 10.26907/2541-7738.2019.2-3.150-160. (In Russian)

Abstract

The paper focuses on the insufficiently studied expeditions to the Kola Peninsula for resource exploration that were organized in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries by mineralogist A.F. Gebel and ornithologist H.F. Gebel. A retrospective study of the history of these expeditions was carried out based on a wide range of sources, reports, and documentation of the Academy of Sciences, as well as the expedition materials and personal documents. It was revealed that the studies of the Northwest of the Russian Empire in the period under consideration represented a separate direction of expeditionary academic research, but, with regard to the context of development of the research activities at the maritime and military departments of Russia and the Russian Geographical Society, the number of expeditions organized by the Academy of Sciences decreased considerably. However, privately organized expeditions related to the industrial development of Russia were supported in the Academy of Sciences. In the case of initiative expedition for resource exploration, the assistance came from A.F. Gebel, the Director of the Mineralogical Museum of the Academy of Sciences, and the Ministry of National Education. Privately organized expeditions for exploration of new resource deposits were also ordered by potential investors into the industrial development of the Kola North. One of such expeditions was the H.F. Gebel’s travel to Ponoy in search of copper.

Keywords: Arctic, exploration history, research expeditions, A.F. Gebel, H.F. Gebel, Kola Peninsula, academic studies

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