The initial stages of the formation of historical-geographic regions on the territory of Russia (IX-XV centuries)

Abstract

General scientific task of historical geography can be defined as study of evolution of the territorial (or regional) differences in man's relationship with the natural environment. Historical-geographic regionalization is the foreground in this study. The formation of the historical-geographic regions depend on many natural and social factors, of which at the initial stage the first ones play the main role and landscape structure of the territory is a basis. In the course of history the role of human activity increases and landscape anthropogenic transformation is enhanced. The article discusses the initial stages of the formation of historical-geographic regions, covering the era of Kiev Russia and the feudal fragmentation of the country (IX-XV centuries). Regionalization is made at the mezoregion level called historical-geographic land (krai). The basic and the most stable of them - the North-Western and the Central Russian (or Volga-Oka) - are located mainly within the sub-taiga (hemiboreal) landscape zone. To the end of the XV century the internal regional differences are also outlined in the Russian North, but by the end of the XV century the historical-geographic lands here were still in a developmental phase.