2020, vol. 8, no. 1. Khrapunov N.I.

2020, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 147-166

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2020-8-1.147-166

   THE CRIMEA AS VIEWED BY BRITISH ADVENTURER WILLIAM ETON

N.I. Khrapunov
V.I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University
Simferopol, Russian Federation
khrapunovn@mail.ru

Abstract: Research objective: This paper analyses the account of the Crimea supplied in a little-known source written by British adventurer, William Eton, who visited this pe­ninsula in the period of an independent Crimean Khanate and used extremely interesting information taken from both his own experience and his Crimean friends.
Research materials: This paper addresses Eton’s book, titled A Survey of the Turkish Empire, published in London in 1798, which was never used by Russian scholarship, and responses to it by early nineteenth-century British intellectuals.
Research novelty and results: This paper has discovered aspects of Eton’s biography which reveal that he both received practical knowledge of various regions of the Ottoman Empire and obtained real experience in international trading to influence his reflections and opinions. It has uncovered the possible sources of the text in question, which supplied va­ried information on the government of the Crimean Khanate, its relations to the Ottoman Empire, social structures and statuses of different population groups, warfare and population, towns and settlements, economy and taxation, failed reforms by the last khan Shagin Girei, depopulation throughout the last years of the khanate, and its joining to Russia. Eton’s aim behind the detailing of Crimea into international trade was an intention to normalize the relations between the Great Britain and Russia. This research has placed Eton’s ideas into the context of British policy, English-Russian connections, and the British wri­ters’ perceptions of the place held by the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate in world history. It has been demonstrated that, similarly to Eton, many British recognised the historical conditionality of Russia’s expansion into the northern Black Sea area. This research has shown the similarity of Eton’s views with the perception of the French writers who were traditional rivals of the British.

Keywords: Crimea, William Eton, travelogues, Crimean khanate, Crimean Tatars, historical imagology, Russian empire, international relations

For citation: Khrapunov N.I. The Crimea as Viewed by British Adventurer William Eton. Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review. 2020, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 147–166. DOI: 10.22378/2313-6197.2020-8-1.147-166

Acknowledgements: The study was financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research in the framework of the academic project no. 18-09-00053 “The Crimea as Viewed by the English in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries”.

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About the author: Nikita I. Khrapunov – Cand. Sci. (History), Leading Researcher, Research Centre for the History and Archaeology of the Crimea at the V.I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University (4, Vernadsky Ave., Simferopol 295007, Republic of Crimea, Russian Federation); ORCID: 0000-0001-6141-9487, ResearcherID: Q-8101-2017. Email: khrapunovn@mail.ru

Received  December 26, 2019   Accepted for publication  February 19, 2020
Published  March Online 29, 2020