This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

The Imperiia Project: a spatial history of the Russian Empire

locator map note

The placemarks on this map show the location(s) of provincial towns (administrative seats). In other words, each placemark serves as a general marker of a region. Showing the city of Moscow on a map is not at all the same thing as showing you the boundaries of Moscow province. We do that on the individual province pages. Here we are simply using Google Maps to help you put location in rough perspective.

The coordinates are all drawn from GeoNames.org. They describe the centroid of the space of the current (modern) town location and therefore need to be taken with a grain of salt in terms of their accuracy as markers of historical places.

This page is referenced by:

mountains [What does the map above tell you?]

Mountains are not the signature feature of the Russian landscape, but if when we say "Russian" we have the entire empire in mind (as we almost always do at Imperiia)... it is a different story. Several remarkable ranges - wholly or in part - fell within the boundaries of the empire, including the Carpathians, the Caucasus, and the Eastern Range of Kamchatka (home to the highest volcanic peak in the northern hemisphere).

Charmingly (or comically, depending on your mood), the playing cards also make note of a number of... eh-hem... glorified hills. It won't take too much sleuthing to distinguish one kind of "mountainous" province from the other.
swamps [What does the map above tell you?]

Ah, swamps. Everyone's favorite topic. The cards make note of their presence, and often specify "a significant quantity," but otherwise we are left to image what they looked and smelled like, and whether they were seen as resources or obstacles.

If you are interested in swamps, you might also want to read up on salt lakes. Even better, consider yourself invited to "Wade into the Putrid Sea"!

locator map note

This page is referenced by:

Starter Question:

What's next?