
This article examines in the view of historiography the campaign of Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky to Khiva khanate in 1714-1717 and his research in historical and geographical studies of the first scientific map of the Caspian sea created during this campaign. The article briefly covers the history of the campaign and the process of creating a map. The process of subsequent loss of the map over a long period of time and its re-introduction in the Soviet era into scientific circulation was studied. The topic was covered by a historical analysis of studies of the Russian Empire, the Soviet period, and the period of independence.