explorer of Central Asia and of Afghanistan in particular. Masson also
described the Kushan city of Begram and, no doubt inXuenced by the
archaeology of British India (Chapter 8), discovered many stupas, some
of which he excavated (Hammond & Allchin 1978: 5; Singh 2004: 18–19).
It is at the end of the period this section deals with that the interest of
Germany and France in the area around the Black Sea became noticeable.
Germany limited itself exclusively to philology, with scholars such as Franz
Bopp (1791–1867), a professor at the University of Berlin, who published
an inXuentialVergleichende Grammatik(Comparative Grammar) (1833–52),
in which he demonstrated the links between the Indo-European languages.
In a study he published in 1846 he (wrongly) linked Georgian to them.
France’s role was more directly related to archaeology, although theWrst
expedition was in factWnanced by a wealthy Russian aristocrat who had
spent most of his life in Paris. In 1837, Anatoly Nikolayevich Demidov
(1813–70), Nikita AkinWevich Demidov’s grandson,Wnanced a scientiWc
expedition to Southern Russia and the Crimea. Anatoly Demidov had
largely been brought up and educated in France and it seems that it is
principally in the context of French scholarship that his expedition can be
framed. His adventure followed the model of French expeditions (Napo-
leon’s Egyptian expedition of 1798–1801, the expedition of Morea in
1829–30 and, especially, Texier’s expedition to Turkey in 1833–7). He put
together a group of twenty-two French artists, journalists, scientists and
archaeologists. An impressive scientiWc output followed, with six volumes
describing theXora, fauna, geology, history, archaeology, and racial pecu-
liarities of the native population. Yet, it is important to bear in mind the
political context within which this expedition should be understood. From
the start of the century France had been trying to gain advantages in an
area relatively close to Crimea, Georgia, in an attempt to control the old
silk route connecting the Black and the Caspian seas. In the early 1820s a
French envoy, Jacques-Franc ̧ois Gamba (1763–1833), had been able to
obtain conditions advantageous to French business in Tbilisi. Fre ́de ́ric
Dubois de Montpe ́reux (1798–1850), a Frenchman of Swiss origin, visited
the Caucasus in 1833. He publishedLe voyage autour du Caucase, chez les
tche ́rke`sses et abkhazes, en Colchide, en Ge ́orgie, en Arme ́nie et en Crime ́ein
several volumes, in which he identiWed several archaeological sites. It is
worth noting that, given the French interest in the area, the Tsar Nicholas
I was less than impressed by its exclusive French character, and this despite
Demidov’s dedication of the expedition results to him. He most probably
saw it as a French attempt at cultural colonization at the time Russia was
trying to impose her rule over the whole of the area.
Russian Empire and French North Africa 255