Berezin, N.I.: Africa. A Manual for Teaching Geography

Title

Afrika. Posobie dlia prepodavaniia geografii, Sankt-Peterburg 1912

Africa. A Manual for Teaching Geography

Keywords

Summary

Thought of as the first of a series (Asia, America, Australia and Oceania, Europe, Russia were meant to follow), according to Berezin’s introduction this manual was born out of necessity, as he had struggled to find a geography textbook suitable for young students, and reliable for teachers. It is divided into six chapters: chapter 1 is dedicated to the history of discoveries and studies of the African continent; chapter 2 to the expeditions to Inner Africa; chapter 3 to the climate and rivers; chapter 4 to the nature; chapter 6 to European acquisitions; chapter 6 to African states and countries (Egypt, Mauritania, Sahara, Sudan, Abyssinia, Guinea, Equatorial Africa, East Africa, South Africa). A primary source of information seems to have been Henry Stanley, whom Berezin quotes repeatedly. Observations about the continent appear to be largely based on second-hand anecdotal information. Pictures of locals, everyday life in the villages, hunting practices and the landscape are also provided.

Though other popular books by Berezin were generally praised, this textbook was not well received: for instance, the 1914 Index of Popular Science Books of Geography included the manual among the not-recommended ones, stating that it offered “a very incorrect coverage of Negros and their lives”, a lot of “scientific inaccuracies and errors”, and that “the connection between nature and life is not clarified”.

Bio

The son of the renowned Orientalist Il’ia Berezin, professor at Kazan and Saint Petersburg universities, Nikolai Berezin was a writer, geographer and schoolteacher, who dedicated himself to popularise the life and works of many Western explorers, like Nils Nordenskiöld, James Cook, Gustav Nachtigal. He also translated the adventurous accounts of Joachin von Brenner-Felsach’s travel to Sumatra and Sven Hedin’s to Central Asia. A passionate traveller himself, he thoroughly documented some of his experiences, writing, for instance, a reportage of a journey through Karelia, complete with photos. In addition to popular literature, he also compiled several geography textbooks and manuals for schoolchildren and teachers.

Sources

Ukazatel’ nauchno-populiarnykh knig po geografii, Sankt-Peterburg 1914², p. 149;

I. Masanov, Slovar’ psevdonimov russkikh pisatelei, uchenykh i obshchestvennykh deiatelei, t. 4, Moskva 1960, p. 63.

A.F.

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