Rudnev, I.I.: The African Island of Madagascar

Title

Afrikanskii ostrov Madagaskar, Sankt-Peterburg 1906

The African Island of Madagascar

Keywords

Summary

This short essay, which was published as a free insert of the journal “Narodnoe obrazovanie”, intends to familiarise the reader with the island of Madagascar. Information on the geography, climate, flora and fauna, inhabitants, religion, contacts with the Europeans and changing habits of the population is provided. The island is presented as one of the richest French colonies in the making, even though until now it has not been very profitable. The volume includes a map and two drawings, depicting a ravenala (or traveller’s tree) and two aye-ayes.

Bio

Iakov Rudnev was a Russian pedagogue, writer and teacher of history and geography at various gymnasiums and institutes of Saint Petersburg. A member of the Imperial Russian Historical Society and of the Saint Petersburg Literacy Committee, he wrote many textbooks and essays for a popular readership, especially on ethnography, history and geography. Among his other works: Arabia and Syria (1903); Japan and Corea (1904); A Brief Guide to the Methodology of Geography (1904); History as a Science and as a Subject of Study in Folk Schools (1913).

Sources

T. Zhukovskaia, “Rudnev Iakov Ivanovich”, Petersburgskaia istoricheskaia shkola (XVIII – nachalo XX vv.): informatsionnyi resurs, Biografika, https://bioslovhist.spbu.ru/histschool/2120-rudnev-akov-ivanovic.html.

A.F.