Capítulo 44: Animals in cages? (July-September, 1874)
The Moscow Zoo]
Yakov Nikolaevich Kalinovsky, first Inspector (Director) of the Moscow Zoo met Emperor Alexander III at the Moscow Zoo. Founded on January 31 (NS: February 12), 1864 thanks to the initiative of the Russian Imperial Society for the Acclimatization of Animals and Plants, the zoo was barely a decade old a few months ago.
"I understand that there are proposals to lease the zoo to Mr. Ryabinin." Emperor Alexander III mentions.
"Yes, in the final years of Alexander II's reign we had financial problems, we had to sell some animals ... honestly it didn't work out all that well." Director Kalinovsky mentions.
"I offer to help." Emperor Alexander III responds calmly.
From the Imperial Russian Society for the Acclimatization of Animals and Plants, the Moscow Zoo was transferred to Alexander III (in exchange for a donation) and Alexander III transferred it to the Moscow city hall, effectively adding the "garden" (only started to call zoo until transfer) to city budget.
Donations from members of the royal family and important members of imperial society increased, allowing the number of animal species to rise from 300 to 500. An aquarium and a veterinary room were built for the animals.
The Ministry of Education under Alexander Vasilyevich Golovnin and Vice Minister Ivan Davidovich Delyanov began to promote trips of young students to the zoo, and students of veterinary-biology were able to start practicing.
Another of the new attractions of the Moscow zoo-garden was that the animals were placed in more open enclosures (with protective barriers but now not in narrow cages) with natural elements, which allowed them to better observe the animals from different regions of the world. world.
In particular, the Persian government donated an elephant to Tsar Alexander III, a tradition of diplomatic relations between Russia and the Muslim world.
(OOC: Seriously, it seems that Muslims used to give elephants to the Russian tsars.)
These opportunities, the new capabilities of the zoo and the new animal species could bring more attention to the zoo, ultimately bringing benefits from the fees that allow the Moscow Zoo to continue to exist.
Thanks to the patronage of the Moscow city council, the growing Russian middle class is serving more (partly motivated by the wishes of the family's youngest children to attend), creating a tourist attraction. Abroad the Moscow Zoo also has an appeal as one of the newest zoos in Europe (and in the future one of the oldest).
Future extensions of the Moscow Zoo are integrated into the urban planning of the city of Moscow.
*******
[Colonial success]
Karl Hagenbeck was a businessman from Hamburg, a showman so to speak, he had private collections of animals (inherited from his father relatively recently, in 1873) and in his private buildings he show these animals to the public to earn money.
Now the German was inspecting the Moscow zoo, interested in its reforms and had requested a meeting with the Moscow authorities to discuss business. As it happened, the Tsar was still watching the zoo's development, so Hagenbeck met the Emperor of All Russia in person.
"I must say that what has been done recently is admirable, although the spaces for the animals are still...somewhat tight." Hagenbeck happily mentions.
"Well, we had little time for immediate renovations, but there is still room for improvement and there will be more time in the future." Emperor Alexander III responds.
"Sounds like good news, but I have a proposal. Your highness, I am preparing an exhibition for next year, I plan to bring wildlife animals from the various countries of Europe. I would like to know if I could also get some of the natives of the Russian colonial empire. " Hagenbeck explains to Tsar Alexander III, for a moment he was susprised.
"A human zoo?" The tsar asked.
"Yes, people are very interested in the people of the European colonies. I have gotten some natives from Africa but I think it would be a good business opportunity to expand the exhibitions, I am still negotiating with other entrepreneurs to get specimens in German New Guinea and Southeast Asia." The businessman explains.
"... Excuse me for the inconvenience, but right now Russia is doing some research on the natives of Papua New Guinea, so I will have to decline the offer. But there is still opportunity to take some other species of native fauna ..." The Tsar responds as cordially as he can.
*******
Tsar Alexander III wasted no time in sending some orders to the Novaya Gvineya colony, a team of builders and miners were sent, as well as industrial equipment. Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay and Ivan Shestakov were notified, although the former had certain concerns, the situation of the possibility of danger to the Papuans was explained.
The team of miners searched for economically profitable minerals in the northeastern Russian part of New Guinea, while the builders on the other hand built a canning factory, better roads at Cape Maclay, a rudimentary hospital and a school.
The factory contracted mainly Papuan since there were still few Russians willing to go so far south, but it drastically increased the canning of dragon beans and therefore its export advantages (bringing greater profitability to the colony).
At the Miklouho-Maclay school he also became the first teacher-director, administering native Papuans to teach the younger ones mathematics and other sciences in the native languages. But Miklouho-Maclay was also ordered to teach "vital" adults Russian courses.
In the evenings mainly, Mikouho-Maclay had to teach the spoken language and very basic principles of Russian written in Cyrillic. Not a Russification process according to the orders, since it was not mandatory for everyone, only for those important in the administration and jobs in the colony.
The miners for their part found coal and copper, which could be extremely useful for the Russian navy and the island's exports.
Miklouho-Maclay proposed to the Tsar that he be in charge of teaching the mining tasks to the natives who work voluntarily, in order to give more humane treatment to the Papuan miners.
Tsar Alexander III accepted, reports of the results would come later.
*******
[Introspection]
"How would others act in my situation? Would they be much better?
Probably yes.
Many nights I wonder if I am doing the right thing for Russia. How many men and women are happy to be part of the empire?
The Holy Synod insists that I am the father of the nation, my wife says I shouldn't worry, the Okhrana says there are no major problems, and the ministers mention that everything is going well.
The numbers indicate that everything is growing, but that does not mean true happiness. How many people want to see me out of power?
How many people are unhappy with the great Russians ruling?
The autocracy has remained de-facto unchanged since my government began, but sooner or later that system will become obsolete. In my time of need, will people answer my call, whether I am a constitutional monarch or not?
At the moment I can avoid many evils ... but there will also be many that I cannot avoid, crimes in Africa, America, Asia, Europe or Oceania. Can I try to make a better nation for everyone? A better future for children? "
The emperor observes his writings once more, then he proceeds to stain them with ink, preventing the thoughts of him written about him from being permanent for too long.
*******
[International]
On July 24, the Carlist forces led by the brother of King Carlos VII, Don Alfonso de Borbón, after having taken parts of southern Catalonia, now consider themselves better prepared for an attack against the territories of Aragon.
And they are currently successful, waging a successful battle that results in the deaths of a ... considerably high number of Republicans who surrendered after days of fighting (on July 28).
Don Alfonso aims to advance towards Cuenca, in Castilla, just over 100 kilometers from Madrid.
In the north of the Iberian Peninsula, in August, the Republican forces wage a battle to distract the Carlist forces that were trying to surround them, producing a Carlist delay in the attempts to lift the Republican siege of Pamplona. The battle continues everywhere.
In addition, the first pecetas tickets are issued by the Bank of Spain.
In mid-September (on the 14th of the month), a group of Legitimist-Orleanist soldiers begin to investigate the origin of captured Republican weapons while the battles between Henry V and Napoleon IV continue.
The city of Paris "heroically resists" the Bonapartists in their repeated attempts to take it.
The Sholes and Glidden typewriter, which follows the QWERTY keyboard model, begins to be marketed in the United States.
Philadelphia's first public zoo also opens
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