Dmitry Naryshkin: Towards Civil Taurida Governor’s Biography
Personality of government official from among top executives significantly affects the character of his administrative strategies, especially in Russia. That’s why biographies of Russian governors of the past are of great scientific interest. Political biographies of Taurida governors in the period when this governorate itself was very recently established are of particular interest to both historians and political scientists. The subject matter of our article is biography of a statesman Dmitry Naryshkin, who was Taurida governor in the first half of the 19th c., his relationship with his cousin, patron and immediate superior in the administrative hierarchy of the Russian Empire Count Mikhail Vorontsov. So, in our article, using source analysis and prosopologic approach, we trace both early stages of Dmitry Naryskin’s career and the characteristic features of his activities as Taurida governor. During this period, Count Mikhail Vorontsov, who was Novorossiya Governor-General, played the main role in region governance. All Naryshkin’s administrative decisions were made only after consultation with Vorontsov. So, Taurida governor was only the administrant of Vorontsov’s projects and plans, and rarely showed his own initiative. Nevertheless, during Dmitry Naryshkin’s governorship, Simferopol became a true center of the province, and the challenging bit of road between Simferopol and Alushta was constructed. Based on archival documents and memoirs of contemporaries, we conclude that Dmitry Naryshkin was feckless administrator, but Mikhail Vorontsov’s attention to Taurida Governorate contributed to the stable development of the region.