An Environmental History of the Russian Steppes, c.1700-1914

Professor David Moon

Arts and Humanities Research Council Fellowship (AH/I001239/1):  January-August 2010, £57,539

David Moon with herd of endangered Pzheval'skii's wild horses on the steppe, Askania-Nova Biosphere Reserve, Ukraine, May 2011.

This project investigates how, when people migrate from one type of environment to another, it encourages critical reflection on the influence of human activity on the environment, and also stimulates conceptual and practical innovations for managing interaction between human society and the wider environment of which it is a part.

The focus is the steppe region in the south of the Russian Empire from the early eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries. The steppes are a semi-arid grassland, prone to droughts and dust storms, with very fertile soil, that had been inhabited by nomadic pastoralists. From the eighteenth century, the region was settled by farmers from central and northern Russia and Ukraine, as well as from central Europe, who were used to more trees and water, but less fertile soils.

Over the period, farmers and scientists experienced and studied the steppe environment, observed changes in it, became anxious about human impact on that environment, and tried to work out how best to deal with the recurring droughts, which caused soil erosion and crop failures. They tried planting trees, artificial irrigation, and ways of cultivating the land to conserve the scarce moisture. In the process, Russian scientists pioneered modern soil science, ways of cultivating trees and grain crops in semi-arid environments, and thought out the theory and practice of what we would now term sustainability.

Research is taking two forms: first, conventional historical research in archives and libraries; second, field trips to the steppes, in particular scientific nature reserves. During the fellowship, research trips are being undertaken to St Petersburg, Russia, Odessa, Ukraine, and Helsinki, Finland, and a field trip to the Askania Nova nature reserve in Ukraine.