The scientific exploration of the Russian Far East by German-speaking researchers in the 18th and 19th centuries
organized by Erich Kasten
Erich Kasten organized a seminar on the history of exploration of the Russian Far East in June 8-11, 2012, with the participation of Marie-Theres Federhofer (Tromsø/Norway), Peter Schweitzer (Fairbanks/USA), Erki Tammiksaar (Tartu/Estonia) and Michael Dürr (Berlin/Germany). The seminar was dedicated to the works of scholars who had explored the Kamchatka peninsula and other coastal regions of the Russian Far North from the 18th century onwards. Many of them were of German or German-Baltic origin, working for the Russian government. Their descriptions and reports are still considered part of the most important ethnographic documents we have on the peoples living there. These works contain information about the conditions of life and use of the environment, providing the background for contemporary studies in history, literary studies, ethnography and natural science.
The main topics discussed were transnational scientific relations and the lively mutual transfer of knowledge at that time between Berlin, the Baltic States and St. Petersburg. The results of this seminar are summarized in an anthology published in 2013. Exhibitions on this topic were also shown in Kamchatka.