Winsheim’s “Political Geography” as a Starting Point in the Development of the Russian and World Academic School of Geography and Regional Studies

The “Brief Political Geography” by Christian Nikola von Winsheim is the first book in the world specifically called political geography. It was issued by decision of the Governing Senate in two editions in Russian and German in St. Petersburg at the printing house of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1745 as an appendix to the educational atlas of the geography of the world, published there in 1737. The amazing fact is that the German book is 154 pages longer than the Russian one and contains a large and interesting section on the geography of Russia. The fragment omitted is the Russian version is an edition of Winsheim’s work of 1739 “On the Russian Empire”. The fact that the founder of political geography Bushing was well acquainted with the book of Winsheim is confirmed by the fact that a German-language copy of the “Brief Political Geography” was kept in Bushing’s personal library, and due to the fact that this library was bought by Catherine II for the Hermitage, and then transferred to the Imperial Public Library. we can get acquainted with this copy and the notes of Bushing to Winsheim. Thus, Winsheim’s book is not only the first with the title “political geography”, but also a key link in the development of the discipline, the center axis of the initial period of development of which can be designated as Hubner — Winsheim — Bushing — Ratzel. Its restoration gives us a chance to rethink both the age and the position of this science in the knowledge system, at the origins of which in Russia, along with Winsheim, stood Euler, Delisle, Krafft, Bushing, Tatishchev and many other outstanding scientists. Thanks to the rediscovery of Winsheim, it can be argued that political geography is one of the oldest humanities, which in many ways began the history of systematic knowledge in the field of geography, political science and international relations.