Reconnoitring Russia: Mapping, exploring and describing early modern Russia, 1613-1825
Journal: UCL Press eBooks
Year: 2024

Like many European countries during the Great Age of Discovery and Exploration, Russia embarked on policies of state building, exploration and imperial expansion. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the territory under Moscow’s control was about twenty thousand square kilometres. By 1800 Russia’s empire had expanded to some eighteen million square kilometres. Russia had thus become one of the world’s greatest empires. By focusing on such geographical practices as exploring, observing, de