Turchakovskii, K.I.: Textbook of General Geography

Title

Uchebnik vseobshchei geografii, Kiev 1904¹¹ (first edition: 1883)

Textbook of General Geography

Keywords

Summary

The book bears a subtitle: Course II. Africa, Australia, America, and Asia from a physical, ethnographical, and political point of view. The textbook, at its eleventh edition (reprinted without alterations), is divided into four parts, each devoted to the description of Africa, Australia, America, and Asia, respectively. These sections are preceded by an author’s foreword, where he states that the purpose of the textbook is to incorporate into Russian educational literature the latest research in Geography and Ethnography, as well as to organise the material in line with scientific methodological requirements. He also explains how he has arranged the content, following the “pedagogical principle of moving from simple to more complex phenomena”. Consequently, the present course of geography begins with an overview of Africa. This continent is chosen as first due to its relatively simple coastline and its inhabitants, who are described as being “at a low stage of development”. Africa is followed by a description of Australia, where, according to the author, European civilization coexists with primitive cultures, then by the Americas, and, finally, Asia. The section on Africa is divided into three main parts (Countries of Northern Africa, Countries of Central Africa, and Countries of Southern Africa), preceded by a general overview of the continent, where the author details its features, location, climates, rivers and lakes, flora and fauna, and population. The author devotes the most attention to African countries that he sees as most significant in terms of political, industrial, and other relations. These include Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, and the Cape Colony.

Bio

Kliment Turchakovskii was a Russian pedagogue, geographer, and author of textbooks. Born into a priest’s family, he graduated from Zhitomir Gymnasium in 1869 and from the Imperial St. Petersburg University in 1873 as a candidate of sciences. He began his teaching career at the Cherepovets Real School, and later taught history and geography at the Kishinev Gymnasium. From 1878, he taught at the Odessa Richelieu Gymnasium and also lectured on geography and commercial statistics at the Odessa Commercial School. In 1891, he was appointed director of the Zlatopolsky Gymnasium, and in 1892, of the Ostrogozhsky Gymnasium. He died while being employed in this position in 1897. Turchakovskii published several successful geography textbooks; in 1888 his “Textbook of Elementary Geography” (Courses I, II, III) was awarded the Small Prize of Emperor Peter the Great.

Sources

Entsiklopedicheskii slovar’ Brokgauza i Efrona, t. XXXIV, Sankt-Peterburg 1901, p. 248.

M.E.