BRANCHES OF THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY IN SIBERIA (END XIX - BEGINNING OF XX CENTURY)
The article deals with the history of the Siberian Departments and sub-Departments of the Imperial Russian geographic society. The first scientific organization in Siberia was the Siberian Department of RGS (Irkutsk), later transformed into the East Siberian Department of RGS. In the late XIX - early XX century. Geographic Departments and sub-departments of RGS opened in Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, Barnaul, Yakutsk, Chita and other Siberian cities. The emergence of geographic societies was caused by the need of economic development of Siberia, which caused an increased interest in the scientific study of all aspects of life at the region. Physical-geographical geological, statistical, economic, ethnographic data on Siberia played an important role. The collection, systematization and analysis of these data became one of the main activities of Siberian geographic societies. The specificity of each geographic society was determined by the area of action, presence of intellectual, financial and material potential.