Russian Geographical Society

Founded in 1845, the Russian Geographical Society (RGS) is the oldest geographical society in Russia. Headquartered in St. Petersburg, the society has gone through a series of name changes in its history, reflective of changes in Russian/Soviet history. It was known as the Russian Geographical Society from its founding in 1845 until 1849, again from 1917 to 1925, and from 1993 up to the present. It has also been known at various times as the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, the Russian State Geographical Society, the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic) State Geographical Society, the All-Union Geographical Society, and the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) Geographic Society.

The RGS was founded in the same era as the other great national geographical societies (such as those ...