THE CONCEPT OF TOPOGENESIS OF THE EURASIAN DIMENSION IN THE SCIENTIFIC HERITAGE OF G.V. VERNADSKY AND P.N. SAVITSKY

This article is devoted to the scientific activities of historian G.V. Vernadsky (August 20, 1887 - June 13, 1973) and leader of the Eurasian movement P.N. Savitsky (May 15, 1895 - April 13, 1968), the author of the concept of ''topogenesis''. In the introductory part of the article the author draws attention to the emergence of the Eurasian direction of historical works of G.V. Vernadsky. G.V. Vernadsky expressed more patriotic views in his primary works, which proves by his first historical article ''Connection of churches in historical reality'' (1923) written for the anti-Catholic book ''Russia and Latins'' and ''Russian tribe's movement to the east''. However, in the mature period of his scientific creativity G.V. Vernadsky conceptually draws provisions of Eurasianism, despite emigration (1921) and moving to the U.S. (1927). The introduction and further cooperation with historian P.N. Savitsky certainly affected him (1923). The second part of the article sets out the basic tenets of the theory of ''topogenesis'' in the scientific heritage of G.V. Vernadsky and P.N. Savitsky, as well as focuses on the methodological approach in building the Eurasian ideas. Eurasians made an original historical and geopolitical model of the Eurasian continent through interdisciplinary research, and they proved the uniqueness of Russia-Eurasia, which is different from both Western and Eastern civilizations. Eurasians explained this by the fact that natural geographic, climatic and soil conditions form a special botanical ''topogenesis'' of the Eurasian continent (which occupies the central place in Russia territorially), as a result, they create an image of a vicious circle, a separate historical-geographical world with its own ''distinctive'' features. According to them, the political, economic, social and cultural spheres of life are closely related to ''topogenesis'', and they were criticised for it in the national historiography. It is important that G.V. Vernadsky and P.N. Savitsky did not ignore the ethnocultural formations and interethnic contacts in their writings, referring to them by the term ''ethnic symbiosis''. Paying tribute to G.V. Vernadsky in the development of the Eurasian provisions it can be said that the historian applied the concept of ''topogenesis'' to historical research. Furthermore, the historian elicited cyclic patterns and rhythmic changes in the historical process in the inland area, which allowed establishing the geopolitical characteristics of state formations. The third part contains the main conclusions of the article and provides a different perspective on the teaching of the Eurasians.