The Historiography of the First Russian Antarctic Expedition, 1819–21

This book looks at the different ways in which Russian historians and authors have thought about their country’s first Antarctic expedition (1819-21) over the past 200 years. It considers the effects their discussions have had on Russia’s Antarctic policy and may yet have on Antarctica itself. In particular, it examines the Soviet decision in 1949, in line with the cultural policies of late Stalinism, to revise the traditional view of the expedition in order to claim that it was Russian seamen that first sighted the Antarctic mainland in January 1820; this claim remains the official position in Russia today. The author illustrates, however, that the case for such a claim has never been established, and that attempts to make it damaged the work of successive Russian historians. Providing a timely assessment of Russian historiography of the Bellingshausen expedition and examining the connections between the priority claim and national policy goals, this book represents an important contribution to the history of the Antarctic. Correspondence Abstract Acknowledgements Contents Abbreviations List of Figures List of Tables Chapter 1: Preliminaries Bellingshausen Deception Panfilovtsy Original Texts of Quotations References Chapter 2: Introductions The Problem How This Book Is Organized The Progress of Exploration Original Texts of Quotations References Chapter 3: What the Explorers Actually Said (1821–1855) Primary Sources Ice Talk Mains and Continents Icebergs The Discovery Question Original Texts of Quotations References Chapter 4: General Acceptance (1833–1928) Early Responses Mistakes Novosil′skij Rusakov and Rabinovich Early Soviet Assessments Original Texts of Quotations References Chapter 5: Shifting Grounds (1929–1947) Increasing Rivalry Debenham’s Input A Soviet Note Vvedenskij Original Texts of Quotations References Chapter 6: The Fix (1948–1949) 1948 Berg Caution and Confusion Shvede The Condemnation of Andreev Applying the Zhdanovshhina to Bellingshausen The Denigration of Cook The Abuse of Sources The Limits of Early Scholarship Original Texts of Quotations References Chapter 7: A Forgotten Letter (1821) Authenticity Reliability Main Ice Original Texts of Quotations References Chapter 8: Digging In, 1: Minor Players (1950–1971) The Early 1950s Continued Dissent Traces of the Khrushhev Thaw Alejner History of Geography The Early 1960s Bibliography and Jurisprudence Original Texts of Quotations References Chapter 9: Digging In, 2: Heavyweights (1960–1971) Vladimir Lebedev Mikhail Belov Historiographic Role Publishing the Track Chart The Nautical Calendar Analysing the Track Chart Continuous Ice Sheet by Sheet The Antarctic Atlas The Anniversary Lecture Original Texts of Quotations References Chapter 10: Standing Pat (1966–1991) Brezhnev Kuznetsova Markov A New Atmosphere Mitin and Aristov Original Texts of Quotations References Chapter 11: The Triumph of ‘Fact’ (1992–2020) A Changing Context ‘Russian Antarctica’ Official Policy Recent Historical Treatments Lukin Koryakin Minor Treatments The Naval Archives’ Online Exhibition Original Texts of Quotations References Chapter 12: Conclusions Historiographic Summary A Litany of Shortcomings Conclusions References Russian Versions of Tables Apparatus References Name Index Subject Index