Choduraa K. Irgit

THE FIRST EXPEDITIONS ON THE ETHNOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH OF TUVA IN THE LATE XIX - EARLY XX CENTURIES

The article is devoted to the first expeditions to Tuva and its inhabitants at the turn of the XIX and XX centuries, organized by the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. This society, founded in 1846, is associated with the institutionalization and formation of Russian ethnology. With its assistance, the peoples of Russia and adjacent territories, which included Tuva in the XIX century, were investigated. The author has carried out a review analysis of the materials collected during the expeditions to Tuva by P. E. Ostrovsky and F. Ya. Kon.The further fate of the works was publication or storage of manuscripts in archives, museums in Russia and Europe. The author has noted the importance of the first expeditions, which were aimed not only at collecting materials, but also at acquiring the first ethnographical collections for Russian museums. They are the source base for the research of Tuvan ethnological science.