Master’s thesis of V.I. Lamansky

The article discusses the master’s thesis of Vladimir Ivanovich Lamansky (1833–1914), a prominent Russian slavist, titled “On the Slavs in Asia Minor, in Africa and in Spain”, published in 1859 and defended in 1860. We present the critique of Lamansky’s views given in the review by Pypin. It is shown that the significance of Lamansky’s work is that the history of the Slavic peoples was considered from Slavophile positions for the first time. Lamansky not only posed new scientific questions and formulated hypotheses, but also realized a non-Eurocentric point of view on history in his study. In his book, Lamansky proceeded from the ideas of Slavic unity, the commonality of the Slavic languages and of the historical destinies of the Slavic peoples. Lamansky’s thesis put forward one of the first versions of his civilizational concept of the “three worlds”, and substantiated the historical and cultural originality of the Greco-Slavic or middle world.