2026/3(46)
Contents
HISTORICAL RESEARCH
APPLIED RESEARCH
Significant extension to an existing property on the example of the World Heritage site ‘White monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal
Methodological approaches to working with the cultural heritage of the region in the context of the cultural and educational policy of modern Russia
Objectification as a form of digital reconstruction of lost cultural heritage in the urban environment of tourist sites Western Siberia
INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE
CULTURAL HERITAGE STUDIES
Karbas of the 17th century. An Oransky find on the coast of Novaya Zemlya
40 years of the Marine Arctic Complex Expedition of the Heritage Institute
Shamanic ladder in the Muslim cemetery: to the semantics of the ornamented on-grave posts of the Tobol-Irtysh Tatars
Identification of immovable cultural heritage objects in Russia: conceptual, regulatory and regional aspects
HERITAGE PRESERVATION
MUSEOLOGY
School as a center for the preservation of cultural heritage: from the experience of cultural and educational activities of school museums
Publ. 18/09/2026
Archives
DOI 10.34685/HI.2026.57.60.010
Filin P.
Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, the search for the Northeast Passage and Russian maritime culture in the late 16th century
Abstract. This article analyzes the texts of the Dutch navigator Jan Huyghen van Linschoten as a unique source on the history of the early exploration of the Russian Arctic and the formation of Russian maritime culture in the late 16th century. Drawing on the recently completed translation of his journals of voyages north in 1594 and 1595 in search of the Northeast Passage, the author introduces a comprehensive set of data on Russian commercial and fishing voyages, navigation practices, and contacts with Western European expeditions. Particular attention is paid to Linschoten's descriptions of Russian voyages to the mouths of the Ob and, likely, the Yenisei, which allows us to reconstruct the functioning of the Mangazeya sea route even before the official founding of Mangazeya. Contacts between the Dutch and the Sami and Nenets are examined, documenting early forms of intercultural interaction, as well as the inclusion of the local population in Russian political space. Using Balthasar de Moucheron's notes on the fortification of the Nassau Strait (Yugorsky Strait), the article demonstrates how ideas shaped by Linschoten's data were transformed into concrete projects for the forceful control of the Northeast Passage and potentially conflicted with the interests of the Muscovite state. In conclusion, the article argues that Linschoten's journals provide evidence of the existence of a mature Russian maritime culture in the Arctic by the late 16th century, based on a developed coastal navigation system, traditional vessel types, and coastal navigation practices. This enabled Russia's successful advance along the entire coast of the Arctic Ocean in the 17th century.
Key words: Linschoten, Barents, Arctic, Northeast Passage, navigation, Vaigach.
Filin Pavel Anatolievich,
PhD in History, Senior researcher,
Likhachev Russian Research Institute
for Cultural and Natural Heritage (Moscow);
Senior researcher, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology
and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) (Saint-Petersburg)
Email: pfilin@yandex.ru
Published: The Heritage Institute Journal, 2026/3(46)
URL: http://nasledie-journal.ru/en/journals/891.html
Founder
Likhachev Russian Research
Institute for Cultural
and Natural Heritage
Publisher
Likhachev Russian Research
Institute for Cultural
and Natural Heritage
Certificate
of the Mass information mediaregistration:
ЭЛ № ФС 77–60211,
date: 17.12.2014
Frequency
4 issues per year
Published on-line only
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