Russian Geographical Society
The Russian Geographical Society is a learned society, founded in St. Petersburg on August 6, 1845.
Until the Russian Revolution of 1917 it was known as the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, the founding members included, among other things, Fyodor Petrovich Liitke, Ferdinand von Wrangel, Vladimir Ivanovich Dal, Vladimir Fedorovich Odojewski, Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve and Karl Ernst von Baer. First President of 1845-1892 was Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaevich of Russia, the son of Tsar Nicholas I, but was actually led the company from the respective Vice President Fyodor Petrovich Liitke (1845-1850 and 1855-1857), Count Mikhail Nikolayevich Murawjow - Vilensky (1850-1855), Pyotr Petrovich Semenov - Tyan- Shansky (1873-1914) and July Schokalski Mikhailovich ( 1914-1931 ).
The society was divided into four departments, namely the physical geography, mathematical geography, ethnography and statistics.
Among other things, organized and financed the company, the expeditions and research by Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin, Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky, Nicolai Miklouho - Maclay, Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov, Vladimir Afanassjevitch Obruchev and Lev Semenovich Berg. Through financial support of the company's first polar stations in Russia could be built. In addition, we explored Russian and Ukrainian folklore.
1847-1850 drove the company the systematic exploration of the northern Urals and later throughout Siberia and Mongolia ahead.
In 1926, the name in State Geographical Society, renamed the Geographical Society of the USSR in 1938. During the Soviet Union, the Company from July Schokalski Mikhailovich (1914-1931), Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov (1931-1940), Lev Semenovich Berg (1940-1950) was Yevgeny Pavlovsky (1952-1954), Stanislaw Kaleschnik (1964-1977) and Alexei Fyodorovich Trjoschnikow (1977-1991) passed.
The company will award four honorary medals, which are named after Liitke, Semyonov, and Przhevalsky Deschnjow. By 1970, the Company had issued more than 2,000 volumes of geographic literature, including the annual expenditure Zapiski (since 1846) and Izvestiya (since 1865).
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union took you back to the original name, the headquarters is located in St. Petersburg.