The Russian Arctic: From Settlements to ‘Colonies’ (Adaptation, Family and Culture)

In the chosen world, special attention is riveted to the Arctic. Against the backdrop of an overpopulated, overburdened South, conflicts and military clashes occur. The territory of the North and the Arctic is not taken into account as a certain land "reserve" of the planet, where space is still rarefied in that the climate is heavier and harsher. The creation of an environment for human life here, the evolution of this environment, from phenomenal to quite acceptable civilized forms, is the application of the experience of social history, which is very important for understanding the geography of the Russian world, substantiating the status of Russia as an Arctic state. The purpose of the research project "Russian Arctic: from settlements to "colonies" (adaptation, family, culture)", implemented for three years (2020–2022), was the historical reconstruction of family-related structures that appeared on the Murmansk coast of the Barents seas during the formation of a permanent population in this area (the second half of the 19 th– early 20 th centuries). Based on the processing of registers of births and other records of the Orthodox population, demographic data were reconstructed and introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, as well as family structures in the form of generational lists of families living in this area, which included information about more than 7 thousand people. The results of the project are summarized in the new scientific publication "Historical and genealogical atlas of the Russian Arctic: Murmansk coast of the Barents Sea (1868–1920)". The publication illustrates the contribution of Russians to the development of the Arctic and is one of the visible evidence of Russia's historical rights to this region of the planet.