Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
For most of the 19th century the name Hertslet was synonymous with the Foreign Office lib-
rary. Lewis Hertslet was appointed as sub-librarian in 1801 and promoted to chief librarian
in 1810, overseeing both the department's collections of publications and its recordkeeping.
On his retirement in 1857 his youngest son, Edward, succeeded him as head of the library,
serving until 1896. Both father and son developed an encyclopaedic knowledge of political
history and geography. By placing the management of information at the heart of govern-
ment, the Hertslets supported the effective conduct of the United Kingdom's diplomatic
relations and its interest in world affairs. It was Lewis Hertslet who produced this hand-
drawn map showing the westward expansion of the Russian Empire between 1763 and 1836.
Damage along and repairs to some of its edges and folds indicate that it was heavily used.
The many amendments in pencil may be corrections prior to the making of an engraved copy
but we know of no extant printed maps derived directly from this original manuscript.
In contrast to the maritime empires of overseas colonies built up by the western European
powers, Russia had grown as a land-based, largely contiguous realm, spreading steadily east-
ward into Siberia and Central Asia. For a time, the empire spanned not just Europe and Asia
but America too: from 1799 until its sale to the United States of America in 1867 Alaska was
a Russian colony. Under the Romanov dynasty, which ruled between 1613 and 1917, Russia
turned her attention to the south - where the great empires of Persia and Ottoman Turkey lay
- and the west, as well as the east. The modernising Tsar Peter the Great (1682-1721) moved
his capital from Moscow to the new city of St Petersburg in 1703 to provide his empire with
a 'window upon Europe'.
The progressive territorial expansions to the west and southwest shown on this map were
achieved through a mixture of warfare and diplomacy, particularly during the reigns of Cath-
erine the Great (1762-1796) and Alexander I (1801-1825). The majority of Russia's new
possessions were acquired from the fringes of the Ottoman Empire or at the expense of Po-
land, which was gradually partitioned among Russia, Prussia and Austria. Her single most
substantial acquisition of territory, however, was the Grand Duchy of Finland, transferred
from Sweden under the 1809 Treaty of Fredrikshamn.
Russia's military successes and growing political importance during the early 19th century
- cemented by Tsar Alexander's victory against the French Emperor Napoleon in 1812 -
made her of particular interest to the British government. In the context of the frequent wars
and shifting alliances that characterised the European power politics of this period, it was
crucial for the Foreign Office to maintain ready access to information about the United King-
dom's allies and rivals. Whilst the near-century of service from such high-calibre officials as
the Hertslets played a pivotal role in the accumulation of such knowledge, maps of this kind
proved to be equally valuable as a method of capturing and expressing it.
