Barbara Kellner-Heinkele

On the Tracks of Peter Simon Pallas in the Crimean Peninsula: Remarks on His Scientific Itineraries, Late 18^th/Early 19^th Century

67^th Annual Meeting of the PIAC, Gotemba 2025

During the 18^th century, a number of West European and Russian travellers, merchants and missionaries ventured into the territory of the Crimean Khanate. Some of them left travel accounts or descriptions that reflect a certain degree of understanding for what was perceived as an exotic world. After the downfall of the Khanate as a result of the Ottoman-Russian War (1768–1774) and the annexation of the peninsula by tsarina Catharina II (1762–1796) in 1783, soldiers, settlers, artisans, builders and adventurers poured into the new province inducing rapid change of the political, economic, demographic and cultural texture of the Crimea and the northern shores of the Black Sea. A wave of scientific as well as literary works followed as this latest acquisition to the Russian Empire became the worthy counterpart to the trips to Italy, already fashionable among West Europeans.

Among these works none can match the „Travels through the Southern Provinces of the Russian Empire, in the Years 1793 and 1794“ (2 vols., in German 1799 + 1801, in enlarged English transl. 1812) by the German-Russian scholar and explorer Peter Simon Pallas (1741–1810). The work shows that Pallas pursued his extended expeditions all over the Crimea in 1793–1794 and later, when he settled in the peninsula (1796–1810), recording his experiences in the most meticulous manner. His main interest was for geology, botany and geomorphology. However, his observations of the various people inhabiting this land, both indigenous and newcomers, their way of life, trade, agriculture and religion prove a sharp eye for the weaknesses and chances of the new regime. This paper gives a glimpse of how the Crimean peninsula underwent a fundamental change within just 15 years.