Konstantin Stepanovich Veselovskii. To the 200th anniversary of his birth
The paper considers the contribution of K.S. Veselovskii (20.05.1819–03.11.1901), the Russian statistician of the 19th century, to the development of geographical science. Compiled under his editorship and with his direct participation, the Economic-Statistical Atlas of the European Russia, the first Russian economic atlas, summarized key information on agriculture as the basis for the Russian economy of the mid-19th century. The method of graphical representation of statistical data on the maps of the Atlas was innovative and contributed to the development of world cartography. The history of compiling the earliest Russian soil map is discussed in detail. The map depicted the geographical patterns of soil distribution in European Russia and their relation to climate. The generalized map was included in the Economic-Statistical Atlas and it became the first soil map of the country in the world. The study “On the Climate of Russia,” in which K.S. Veselovskii collected and critically processed all available observations of air temperature, winds and precipitation played a significant role in the development of geographical science. The role of K.S. Veselovskii in the organization of meteorological observations in Russia is also shown.