Mining Industry of Prikamye: on the Question of the Formation of Historiographic Tradition

Abstract

Some problems of the tradition of studying the mining industry of Prikamye in the context of the economic policy of the state in the pre-revolutionary period of Russian historiography (the second half of the 18th - early 20th centuries) are considered. The relevance of the study is due, in particular, to the tercentenary of the publication on December 21 (10), December 1719 by Peter I of Berg-Privilege, which for the first time established the legal foundations of mining in Russia, as well as the need to describe the latest trends and results of the interaction of physical nature and the human community, which are of contradictory character. The main attention is paid to the analysis of those works of encyclopedic scientists, participants in academic expeditions, historians, geographers, economists, statisticians, mining engineers and representatives of other fields of knowledge that contain information at the regional level. It is concluded that the study of the mining industry and its impact on the natural and social environment began in parallel with the further development of resources in the second half of the 18th century, mainly Prikamye, the Urals and Siberia and, as a result, the emergence of new factory settlements. It is shown that the works of scientists were of an interdisciplinary nature, had a pronounced practical orientation and were largely determined by the need to ensure the fiscal interests of the empire. It is alleged that a complex of fundamental and applied problems was raised, which determined the content of research in the subsequent period.

Keywords

• historiographic tradition
• imperial period
• mining industry
• prikamye
• anthropogenic landscape