Rychkov, Pyotr Ivanovich

The son of a Vologda merchant. Arriving in 1720 on the trading affairs of his father in Moscow , Rychkov learned foreign languages ​​and accounting. From 1730-1732 served in the management of state-owned Yamburg and Zhabinsky glass factories; after 1744 he was in charge of the Orenburg Provincial Chancellery.

In 1732 he was appointed translator to the St. Petersburg port customs. Under the first chiefs of the Orenburg Territory, he, in his own words, "was used for the most demanding military affairs." Neplyuev considered him his chief assistant and developed various projects with him; to conduct, for example, a project on trade between Russia and India, he sent Rychkov to St. Petersburg .

In the 1760s He retired and began arranging the estates granted to him. In 1770 he returned to the service of "the chief ruler of the Orenburg salt affairs", and under Panin he also managed "foreign affairs and foreigners in the province."

Pyotr Rychkov devoted his free time from administrative and commercial affairs to history and topography, amounting to at least 60 scientific works. It is considered the initiator of economic geography in Russia, the first beekeeper researcher in Russia ^[1] and the first among the “natural” (ethnic) Russians corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy ^{[2] [3]} (since 1759 ^[4] ).

In 1777 he moved to Yekaterinburg as head of the Main Board of the Ural factories. In the same year he died; buried in the Ascension Church of his Spasskoe estate built by him (now in ruins). It was from here, from the Rychkovs' estate, that Academician Pallas advanced on his expeditions “to physically describe the southern Russian provinces”.

• “The Orenburg History of the Establishment of the Orenburg Province” is an abstract of various I. I. Neplyuyev’s projects in the Orenburg Territory and the author’s attempt to write, in his words, a “thorough history”. In the work, the author cites a literal text or a retelling of the contents of government decrees, reports, reports, reports of expedition leaders and other representatives of the local administration. Rychkov also uses notes and “verbal news” of his contemporaries, his personal knowledge and impressions. He supplements them with his own impressions and information from other sources. The focus of the work is the history of the adoption of Russian citizenship by the Small Kazakh Zhuz , the activities of the Orenburg expedition and its chief commanders, the foundation of Orenburg and the border line, the establishment of ties with the East. The researcher paid special attention to the coverage of the Bashkir uprising of 1735-1740 .
• "Topography of the Orenburg" ^[5] . The creation of this work was associated with the work of compiling a “general map” of the Orenburg province and the adjacent territories of Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Started in 1752, this work culminated in the creation in 1755 of a whole atlas made by surveyor Ensign Ivan Krasilnikov. The "Orenburg Topography" was considered by the author as an explanation of the maps of Krasilnikov according to the historical and geographical description of the region. In "Topography of the Orenburg" Rychkov formulated the most important principle of historical research - a critical attitude to the source, a reliable, truthful presentation of the material. This work contains a lot of valuable information on the history of the Kazakh Khanate (as, for example, reasoning about the ruins of Belenan ) ^{[6] [7]} .
• "Introduction to the Astrakhan Topography" (1774)
• " Description of the city of Orenburg " (1744)
• “ Brief News of the Tatars ... ” (1745).
• In Miller 's Monthly Works, his Letters on Commerce appeared (1755 and 1757) and Letters to the Publisher on the Title of the White Tsar (1763).
• In “Works and translations, for the benefit and amusement of employees”, the following works of Rychkov were published: “Letters on Agriculture in the Kazan and Orenburg Provinces” (1758) and “History of the Orenburg” (1759), reprinted in 1896.
• “ The Experience of Kazan History of Ancient and Middle Ages ” (St. Petersburg, 1767).
• “ Introduction to Astrakhan Topography ” (St. Petersburg, 1774).
• “ Description of the Iletsk salt, with a detailed plan of the Iletsk protection ” (part XX, 1772) - the first description of the Iletsk salt industry .
• “ Description of the cave at the Belaya River ” - a report on a visit to the Kapova cave , the first karstological and speleological work in Russian ^[8] .
• " Description of the six-month Orenburg siege " - the first experience of historical understanding of the Pugachev uprising ; published in the History of the Pugachev Riot by Pushkin.

He was married twice:

• First wife - Anisya Prokofievna Gulyaeva (1715-1751); in this marriage the sons Andrey (1740-1774), Nikolai (1746-1798), Ivan (1745 - after 1790) and daughter Maria (1743-1752) were born. His first-born, being the commandant of Simbirsk , died in the rank of colonel, protecting the city from the Pugachevites.
• The second wife - Elena Denisievna Chirikova (1733 - after 1768) - was fond of down-knitting and distributed it among the residents of Orenburg . It can be said that thanks to the Rychkov spouses, Orenburg downy shawls, later known throughout Russia, appeared ^[9] . She gave birth to her husband the following children: Vasily (February 1753), Peter (December 1753), Maria (1754), Alexandra (1756), Ferapont (1757), Natalya (1758), Elizabeth (1759), Anna (1761), Xenophon ( 1762), Agrafena (1766), Katerina, Praskovya. The daughter of Alexander, in the marriage of Zubov, was the stepmother of the mother of S. T. Aksakov , who mentions her in the “ Family Chronicle ” ^[10] .

• In the Museum of Geography of Moscow State University (on the 24th floor of the Main Building ) a bust of P. I. Rychkov is installed ^[11] .

Systematic efforts to perpetuate the memory of Rychkov in the South Urals began to be made only in the post-Soviet period:

• On August 27, 2009, a monument to P. I. Rychkov was unveiled in the town of Sol-Iletsk ^[12] .
• 2012 in the Orenburg region is declared the year of P. I. Rychkov ^[13] . In August of that year, a monument was opened to him in Orenburg ^[13] .
• In 2005, the administration of the Orenburg region established a literary prize named after P. I. Rychkov ^[14] .
• In 2010, a street was named in honor of P. I. Rychkov in the village of Lenin, Orenburg District

List of works

• The topography is Orenburg, that is, a detailed description of the Orenburg province. - SPb. : When Imp. Academy of Sciences, 1762.
  • Part One - 331 p.
  • Part Two - 262 p.

Bibliography

• Pekarsky P.P. Relations of Peter Ivanovich Rychkov with the Academy of Sciences in the 18th century . - SPb., 1866.
• Pekarsky P.P. Life and literary correspondence of Pyotr Ivanovich Rychkov. With a portrait and a photograph of Rychkov’s handwriting. SPb .: Acad. Sciences, 1867.
• Pekarsky P.P. Life of Peter Ivanovich Rychkov and his literary activity // Collection of articles read in the second branch of the Academy of Sciences. - 1869. - T. II.
• Collection of historical and statistical materials about the Simbirsk province. - Simbirsk, 1868. - S. 127-142.
• Milkov F.N.P. I. Rychkov: Life and geographical works. - M.: Geografgiz, 1953. - 144 p.
• P.E. Matvievsky, A.V. Efremov. Pyotr Ivanovich Rychkov, 1712-1777. M., Nauka, 1991 .-- 265 p.
• A.V. Efremov. Pyotr Ivanovich Rychkov: historian and enlightener. Kazan: Tatar Book Publishing House, 1995. - 116 p.
• Pikul V.S. “Hardworking and zealous husband” , miniature .

• Rychkov, Pyotr Ivanovich - an article in the electronic version of the Chelyabinsk encyclopedia (Chelyabinsk: Encyclopedia / Comp .: V. S. God, V. A. Chernozemtsev. - Ed. 1112 s .; ill. ISBN 5-88771-026-8 )
• Article in Bashkortostan: A Brief Encyclopedia
• Rychkov, Petr Ivanovich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Rychkov, Petr Ivanovich // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.
• Rychkov Petr Ivanovich // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.