Vasyl Karazin
Encyclopedia
Vasily Nazarovych Karazin was a Ukrainian
Enlightenment
intellectual, inventor, and scientific publisher in Ukraine. He is the founder of Kharkiv University
, which now bears his name. He is also known for opposing to what he saw as colonial exploitation
of Ukraine
by the Russian Empire
, even though he himself was ethnically Serbian
.
(Slobidsko-Ukrainska Guberniya
), now Bohodukhivskyi Raion of Kharkiv Oblast
), Ukraine
, in the family of Nazary Alexandrovych Karazin, a Russian
Imperial Army
officer (noted for his involvement in Pârvu Cantacuzino
's 1769 rebellion in Wallachia
). Vasily Karazin considered himself to be ethnic Serb
, though his family originally known as Karadji was of Greek origin.
Vasily Karazin was educated in nobility schools in Kharkiv
and Kremenchuk
. At the age of eighteen, he left for Saint Petersburg
, and underwent military training in the prestigious Semyonovsky Regiment. He also studied at the School of Mines, one of the top educational institutions in Russian Empire at that time. Karazin was, nevertheless, opposed to this environment, and often reacted against the manners and customs condoned by the nobility of the times. Unsatisfied with his military service, he moved back to his village and married a fourteen-year-old serf
.
In 1798, Karazin attempted to leave Russia given his opposition to the policies of Russian Emperor Paul I
, but was denied a passport
. After he attempted to cross the border illegally, he was swiftly arrested.
When Alexander I
took power, Karazin began petitioning him with his views on government development, pointing out the state's need to invest in education. In 1802 he obtained the tsar's permission to open a university
in Kharkiv. On September 1 of that year, during a meeting of the Kharkiv nobility, he gave a famous speech on the benefits of a university, asking for voluntary donations. Lacking sufficient funding and academic supplies, Karazin underwent hardship in achieving his educational priorities.
On January 17, 1805 the Kharkiv University was opened; Karazin did not take part in the opening ceremony, as by that time he had lost his position with the Ministry of Education. According to Alexander Herzen
, "the colossal ideas of Karazin were downscaled to a provincial German
Hochschule
". Forced to return to his village, Karazin did not give up on all his plans, and established a school for local children. In November 1808, Karazin wrote a letter to the emperor titled On non-intervention in European affairs for which he was arrested for the second time.
Karazin continued his academic work. He was a member of 7 academies, published more than 60 articles in different fields of science, primarily agriculture
, pharmacology
, chemistry
, and physics
. As an example of his innovative spirit, in 1810 in his village he opened Ukraine's first weather station
.
Karazin repeatedly voiced critiques of what he viewed as colonial exploitation
of Ukraine by the Russian Empire, and was a proponent of constitutional monarchy
as a form of government organization. In 1820–21 he was imprisoned in Shlisselburg
fortress. He died in Mykolaiv
.
The Russian painter and writer Nikolay Karazin
was his grandson.
, #1(376), January 5, 2002 Available online in Russian and in Ukrainian. Vasyl Karazin. Bibliography A.M Peskov Boratynsky
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
intellectual, inventor, and scientific publisher in Ukraine. He is the founder of Kharkiv University
Kharkiv University
The University of Kharkiv or officially the Vasyl Karazin Kharkiv National University is one of the major universities in Ukraine, and earlier in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union...
, which now bears his name. He is also known for opposing to what he saw as colonial exploitation
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
by the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, even though he himself was ethnically Serbian
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
.
Biography
He was born in Kruchyk village (Sloboda Ukraine GovernorateSloboda Ukraine
Sloboda Ukraine was a historical region which developed and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries on the southwestern frontier of the Tsardom of Russia....
(Slobidsko-Ukrainska Guberniya
Guberniya
A guberniya was a major administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire usually translated as government, governorate, or province. Such administrative division was preserved for sometime upon the collapse of the empire in 1917. A guberniya was ruled by a governor , a word borrowed from Latin ,...
), now Bohodukhivskyi Raion of Kharkiv Oblast
Kharkiv Oblast
Kharkiv Oblast is an oblast in eastern Ukraine. The oblast borders Russia to the north, Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the south-east, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the south-west, Poltava Oblast to the west and Sumy Oblast to the north-west...
), Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, in the family of Nazary Alexandrovych Karazin, a Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
Imperial Army
Military history of Imperial Russia
The Military history of the Russian Empire encompasses the history of armed conflict in which the Empire participated. This history stretches from its creation in 1721 by Peter the Great, until the Russian Revolution , which led to the establishment of the Soviet Union...
officer (noted for his involvement in Pârvu Cantacuzino
Pârvu Cantacuzino
Pârvu or Pîrvu Cantacuzino was a high-ranking Wallachian boyar, ban of Oltenia, and anti-Ottoman rebellion leader who also briefly served as an officer in Russia's Imperial Army during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774...
's 1769 rebellion in Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
). Vasily Karazin considered himself to be ethnic Serb
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
, though his family originally known as Karadji was of Greek origin.
Vasily Karazin was educated in nobility schools in Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
and Kremenchuk
Kremenchuk
Kremenchuk is an important industrial city in the Poltava Oblast of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Kremenchutskyi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast, and is located on the banks of Dnieper River.-History:Kremenchuk was...
. At the age of eighteen, he left for Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, and underwent military training in the prestigious Semyonovsky Regiment. He also studied at the School of Mines, one of the top educational institutions in Russian Empire at that time. Karazin was, nevertheless, opposed to this environment, and often reacted against the manners and customs condoned by the nobility of the times. Unsatisfied with his military service, he moved back to his village and married a fourteen-year-old serf
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
.
In 1798, Karazin attempted to leave Russia given his opposition to the policies of Russian Emperor Paul I
Paul I of Russia
Paul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...
, but was denied a passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
. After he attempted to cross the border illegally, he was swiftly arrested.
When Alexander I
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
took power, Karazin began petitioning him with his views on government development, pointing out the state's need to invest in education. In 1802 he obtained the tsar's permission to open a university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
in Kharkiv. On September 1 of that year, during a meeting of the Kharkiv nobility, he gave a famous speech on the benefits of a university, asking for voluntary donations. Lacking sufficient funding and academic supplies, Karazin underwent hardship in achieving his educational priorities.
On January 17, 1805 the Kharkiv University was opened; Karazin did not take part in the opening ceremony, as by that time he had lost his position with the Ministry of Education. According to Alexander Herzen
Alexander Herzen
Aleksandr Ivanovich Herzen was a Russian pro-Western writer and thinker known as the "father of Russian socialism", and one of the main fathers of agrarian populism...
, "the colossal ideas of Karazin were downscaled to a provincial German
Education in Germany
The responsibility for the German education system lies primarily with the states while the federal government plays only a minor role. Optional Kindergarten education is provided for all children between three and six years of age, after which school attendance is compulsory, in most cases for...
Hochschule
Vocational university
A vocational university is an institution of higher education and sometimes research, which provides both tertiary and sometimes quaternary education and grants academic degrees at all levels in a variety of subjects...
". Forced to return to his village, Karazin did not give up on all his plans, and established a school for local children. In November 1808, Karazin wrote a letter to the emperor titled On non-intervention in European affairs for which he was arrested for the second time.
Karazin continued his academic work. He was a member of 7 academies, published more than 60 articles in different fields of science, primarily agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, pharmacology
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...
, chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, and physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
. As an example of his innovative spirit, in 1810 in his village he opened Ukraine's first weather station
Weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...
.
Karazin repeatedly voiced critiques of what he viewed as colonial exploitation
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
of Ukraine by the Russian Empire, and was a proponent of constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
as a form of government organization. In 1820–21 he was imprisoned in Shlisselburg
Shlisselburg
Shlisselburg is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated at the head of the Neva River on Lake Ladoga, east of St. Petersburg. From 1944 to 1992, it was known as Petrokrepost...
fortress. He died in Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv , also known as Nikolayev , is a city in southern Ukraine, administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv is the main ship building center of the Black Sea, and, arguably, the whole Eastern Europe.-Name of city:...
.
The Russian painter and writer Nikolay Karazin
Nikolay Karazin
Nikolay Nikolaevich Karazin was a Russian military officer, painter and writer. He is mostly known for his paintings depicting wars and exotic places.-Biography:...
was his grandson.
See also
- Kharkiv UniversityKharkiv UniversityThe University of Kharkiv or officially the Vasyl Karazin Kharkiv National University is one of the major universities in Ukraine, and earlier in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union...
(V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University), University in KharkivKharkivKharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
named in his honour
External links
/ "An Enthusiastic 'Ukrainian Lomonosov'", Zerkalo NedeliZerkalo Nedeli
Zerkalo Nedeli , usually referred to in English as the Mirror Weekly, is one of Ukraine’s most influential analytical newspapers published weekly in Kiev, the nation's capital. It was founded in 1994, and as of 2006 its print circulation was 57,000. It offers political analysis, original...
, #1(376), January 5, 2002 Available online in Russian and in Ukrainian. Vasyl Karazin. Bibliography A.M Peskov Boratynsky