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Abstract
The article presents an attempt to systematize the modern and postmodern theoretical approaches to the geographical aspects of the Russian historical process. Immensity and complexity of the problem are emphasized. Understanding of the subject under study is provided through the analysis of “space” in the natural and social sciences, especially in the theory and philosophy of history. All the approaches to comprehending the influence of nature on the Russian territory development are grouped into six lines: namely, empirical (expansion and understanding of information about the country); historical geography; colonization theory and its variations; co-evolution theory, noosphere doctrine, environmental history; anthropogeography, cultural geography; political geography, geopolitics. Their genesis and continuity are revealed. It is concluded that Russian space was understood in three intersecting continuums: physical-geographical, (geo)political, and socio-cultural. Internal and external levels of space conceptualization are distinguished. The first group includes approaches reflecting the settlement and development of Eurasian North-East and territorial organization; the second one – the ideas about the international status of the country. State-forming role of space in Russian history is emphasized. Forecast for further development of the problem is given.
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