260 years ago, in 1755, a landmark book was published, “History and Description of the Land of Kamchatka”*, written by Stepan Krasheninnikov, professor at the Academy of Sciences. “To know one’s Homeland to its limits” is the testament left to future generations by the Nestor of Russian ethnography, Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov (1711-1755). He revealed to Russia the Kamchatka Peninsula, the land of the Itelmens and Kamchadales, the indigenous peoples. But at the beginning of the 21st century, do we really know our Homeland and how do the descendants of those seen and described by the scientist and geographer live? Why and by whom is the local population of this distant land of Kamchatka oppressed?
*This book was published in English in 1764 and in French in 1770 (published in Amsterdam).
