Students, faculty and community members gathered to hear Catherine Clay talk about her book “Empires of the Bee” at the Dolphin Humanities Center on April 14.  

Over a thousand years of beekeeping history in Ukraine and Russia is explored throughout her book. As a historian of imperial Russia and a beekeeper, Clay has been compiling information for the book over decades. 

Clay said the honeybee has been providing essential resources for the region, giving rise to economic and cultural impacts.

Honey and wax were a key source of trade from the very beginning. Outsiders from the area, like Vikings and Muslim traders, would visit the area to trade for honey and wax, vital commodities used for food, drink and traditional medicine for treating colds and infections. Between 900 and 1020, Vikings sought out wax for use in metalworking to create weaponry and ornaments Clay said.

Beeswax was purchased in large quantities by Christians in the area for sealing documents and candles used in church, as it was seen as pure while also providing needed light.

Archaeological records show that, initially, Eastern Slavic people moved into the region in the 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries to establish beekeeping in an area with minimal resources Clay said. Ecological poverty made honey stand out.

Beekeeping was crucial to the military expansion of the Kyivan Rus and the later Muscovite empires, as it became imperial Russia. 

Bee forests were used to stabilize military lines, using tree hollow and tree log hives because of deforestation in Russia according to Clay. Bee hives provided crucial food supplies to keep soldiers alive. Soldiers held lines that were rich in beehives, which were designated to keep maintained. 

Since the fragmentation of the Kyivan Rus trading empire, the lands of present-day eastern and western Ukraine were ruled very differently.  

Ukrainian culture had key distinctions that divided its connection to imperial Russia. Ukraine was noted as having mead that was not known to other areas and documentation for distinctive ways. Ukraine optimized bee husbandry, fishing, and practiced local rituals that separated their culture and traditions, providing a distinction between Ukraine and imperial Russia. 

During the Ukrainian revolution and war of independence in the 1920s, Russia refused to acknowledge them, striving to be recognized as a different area with a different history and core ideals.

Clay said that during World War I and World War II, Ukraine and Russia began to focus on updating their beekeeping methods, as rational beekeeping was deemed necessary because honey and wax were needed to create items such as field medical kits and candles. Bee’s wax was used to waterproof canvas and to seal metallic joints and block dust from getting into circuitry.

Bees were even used as bioindicators for chemical agents and toxins on the battlefield, Clay said.  

Clay said Lenin claimed box hives needed to be kept safe, having 10 million bee colonies on the eve of World War II in the USSR. Beekeepers were given awards by the military for their service.

From 2000 to the present, Russian textbooks have erased Ukraine’s separateness from their history, and museums in Russia have removed Ukrainian beekeeping history, giving contributions to imperial beekeeping science for centuries Clay said. 

By the 2010’s, Ukraine was regularly producing 75 thousand tons annually, Clay said, noting how the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was the greatest producer of bee colonies during the time of the USSR. 

In 2014, Russia invaded and seized Crimea, and there has been a continual fight over the zone. Crimea was a perfect habitat for bees. Ukrainian writers told of how bees demonstrate how to bring about unity, Clay said. 

Overarchingly, as Andrei Kurkov wrote in the book “Grey Bees” in 2018, Russia is seen to have a more collective mentality, and Ukrainian values personal autonomy and individual responsibility, not obedience to a centralized state.

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