Abstract:
The magazine “European Vestnik” was published in Moscow from 1802
to 1830. From 1805 till 1830, with short breaks, the editor of the magazine
was the Russian historian, translator, critic and publisher – Mikhail Trofimovich Kachenovsky. Along with the topics of literature and art, the magazine
covered important events of Russia’s foreign and domestic policy, the
history of foreign countries and their political life. From the very beginning,
materials about the Caucasus were included on the pages of the magazine.
They are thematically diverse – correspondences, letters, historical essays,
analytical works, etc. Their authors were not only Russians but foreigners
as well. The identity of the author of some of the materials is unknown.
The interesting materials were published in “Ruropean Vestnik” about
the Caucasus in 1826: The correspondence on the start of the Russia-Iran
war; also, references from Conrad Malte-Brun’s Works “Precise of universal
geography” and the French magazine “Jour. d. Deb.” translated article “On
the current state of the Caucasus lands”. The author justifies the rule of the Russians in the region and praises their political course. There is another
interesting work of Nikolai Pelt on the same matter – “The vision of Georgia
in the scope of its historical and statistical relations”. The author was
explaining and defining to the Russian society that trade in Georgia could
have brought great benefits to Russia and encouraged to develop further
activities as the French did.
The letter by an unknown author, the magazine’s correspondent “R-ii”
“From Tbilisi”, was published in 1827, describing the solemn celebration of
the birthday of her Majesty Empress Maria Feodorovna in Tbilisi; The author
notes that such celebration was quite unusual for this region at that time.
In the 7th and 8th issues of the magazine, the article by the Italian geographer
Adriano Balbi was published in 1828 with the title – “On the languages
of the Caucasus”, which is a translation from his French-language
book, “The Ethnographic Atlas of the World”, published in 1826.
