Baron Balthasar von Campenhausen (russian: Барон Балтазар Балтазарович Кампенгаузен, lit=Baron Baltazar Baltazarovich Kampengauzen) (5 January 1772 – 11 September 1823) was a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

statesman who held the ranks of

Privy Councilor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

and

Chamberlain Chamberlain may refer to: Profession *Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure People *Chamberlain (surname) **Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

Personal life

Family

Balthasar Freiherr von Campenhausen was born in 1772, in Lenzenhof, into a

noble family Campenhausen residing in the province of

Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

(then part of

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

, now

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

and

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

). The ancestors of Balthasar Campenhausen served

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

and Russian sovereigns.

Education

He studied in the universities of

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

that he graduated with a thesis ''Entwürfe zu physikalischen Völker-, Religions— und Kulturkarten des russischen Reiches'' at the Royal Scientific Society.

Career

Balthasar Campenhausen served as ambassador to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, headed reorganization of the commercial school and medical surgery institution in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and during the rule of

Alexander I of Russia Alexander I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death. He was the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. The son of ...

, he was appointed director of the 3rd Department (medical dept.) at the Russian

Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

. In 1802, Russian Emperor

sent Campenhausen to the South Russian seaports on

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

and

Azov Sea The Sea of Azov ( Crimean Tatar: ''Azaq deñizi''; russian: Азовское море, Azovskoye more; uk, Азовське море, Azovs'ke more) is a sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, ...

to see the reasons for poor trade development and to provide quarantine conditions in the South of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

during the outbreak of

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium (''Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as well a ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. In 1805, Balthasar von Campenhausen was appointed

Governor of Taganrog The Governor of Taganrog (russian: Таганрогское градоначальство) was the head of the Taganrog ''borough'' or ''governorate'' (incorporated municipality with privileges given by royal charter), between October 8, 1802 and ...

, where he created the Taganrog Customs district; the new slope to the haven; new stone storehouses for goods; started construction of coasting vessels for transportation of goods to other Russian ports on

and

s; inaugurated the navigation school, the commercial gymnasium and the commercial court; opened the first drugstore and introduced the posts of the city doctor and city midwife; opened the construction and building committee that planned the future city architectural development; introduced oil lighting in the streets; started the paving and greening of the streets; in April 1806 founded the

City Park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to resi ...

. Two streets in

Taganrog Taganrog ( rus, Таганрог, p=təɡɐnˈrok) is a port city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, on the north shore of the Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov, several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don River. Population: History of Taganrog The ...

were later named after Campenhausen: Bolshoy Campenhausenskiy (now: Comsomolskiy) and Malo-Campenhausenskiy (now: Spartakovskiy). In 1809, Campenhausen was named the State Treasurer, Privy Councilor in 1810, member of the State Council and senator in 1811, and Minister of Internal Affairs in 1823. He died in

in 1823.

Bibliography

*''Versuch einer geographisch-statistischen Beschreibung der Statthalterschaften des russischen Reichs. I. Statthalterschaft Olouez'' (

, 1792); *''Elemente des russischen Staatsrechts, oder Hauptzüge der Grundverfassung des russischen Kaiserthums'' (

, 1792); *''Auswahl topographischer Merkwürdigkeiten des St. Peterburgischen Gouvernements'' (

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, 1797); *''Liefländisches Magazin, oder Sammlung publicistisch-statistischer Materialien zur Kenntniss der Verfassung und Statistik von Liefland'' (

Gota Gota or Gøta or Göta may refer to: People *Gotabaya Rajapaksa (born 1949), 8th President of Sri Lanka *, Japanese freestyle skier *Gota Yashiki (born 1962), both an independent acid jazz artist and drum/bass player, as a member of the band S ...

, 1803); *''Genealogisch-chronologische Geschichte des allerdurchlauchtigsten Hauses Romanow und seines vorälterlichen Stammhauses'' (

, 1805).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campenhausen, Balthasar von 1772 births 1823 deaths People from Pārgauja Municipality People from the Governorate of Livonia Baltic-German people Russian nobility Swedish nobility Politicians of the Russian Empire Governors of Taganrog