The article presents the analysis of the ethnographic information found in the notes of A.C. Benkendorf on his journey from Tobolsk to Obdorsk in summer 1802; the data have been compared with published materials close in chronology and subject. We have revealed the circumstances of the acquiring of ethnographic information and its content, and assessed its reliability and degree of uniqueness. The attribution of a number of drawings related to the North Ob River areas, made by Benkendorf's companion — artist E.M. Korneev — presented a particular task of the study. As a result, the events of the trip, location and ethnicity of people depicted in the drawings have been clarified. The research has shown that the information gathered by Benkendorf certainly contributes to the existing corpus of published sources on the ethnography of the northern communities of Western Siberia. The notes are small in volume, fragmentary, and have inaccuracies, but they contain vivid observations and author's spontaneity; importantly, it was possible to correlate them with specific territories of the Ob region and local ethnic groups. It was found that the ethnographic information collected by the participants of the 1802 trip relates not only to the Ob Khanty and Obdorsk Nenets populations, but also, possibly, to the Berezov Mansi. A significant advantage of the notes is that they were corroborated and supplemented by E.M. Korneev’s drawings.

Keywords: ethnography of Western Siberia, Ob Ugrians, Nenets, Prince Taishin, artist E.M. Korneev.

 

Funding. The work was completed under state assignment FWRZ-2021-0006.

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Accepted: 09.06.2025

Article is published: 15.09.2025