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(c. 1605, Veliky Ustyug - early 1673, Moscow) - an outstanding Russian navigator, explorer, traveler, explorer of Northern and Eastern Siberia, Cossack ataman, and also a fur trader, the first of the famous European navigators, in 1648, for 80 years earlier than Vitus Bering, he passed the Bering Strait, which separates Alaska from Chukotka.
It is noteworthy that Bering did not manage to pass the entire strait, but had to limit himself to swimming only in its southern part, while Dezhnev passed through the strait from north to south, along its entire length.

Biography

Information about Dezhnev has reached our time only for the period from 1638 to 1671. Born in Veliky Ustyug (according to other sources - in one of the Pinega villages). When Dezhnev left from there to “seek happiness” in Siberia is unknown.

In Siberia, he first served in Tobolsk, and then in Yeniseisk. Among the great dangers of 1636-1646, he "humbled" the Yakuts. From Yeniseisk, in 1638, he moved to the Yakut prison, which had just been founded in the neighborhood of the still unconquered tribes of foreigners. Dezhnev's entire service in Yakutsk represents a series of tireless labors, often associated with danger to life: in 20 years of service here, he was wounded 9 times. Already in 1639-40. Dezhnev subjugates the native prince Sahey.

In the summer of 1641 he was assigned to the detachment of M. Stadukhin, got with him to the prison on the Oymyakon (the left tributary of the Indigirka).

In the spring of 1642, up to 500 Evens attacked Ostrozhek, Cossacks, Yasak Tunguses and Yakuts came to the rescue. The enemy retreated with losses. At the beginning of the summer of 1643, the detachment of Stadukhin, including Dezhnev, on the built koch went down the Indigirka to the mouth, crossed the sea to the Alazeya River and met the koch Erila in its lower reaches. Dezhnev managed to persuade him to take joint action, and the united detachment, led by Stadukhin, moved east on two ships.

In mid-July, the Cossacks reached the Kolyma delta, were attacked by the Yukagirs, but broke through up the river and in early August they set up an ostrog (now Srednekolymsk) on its middle course. Dezhnev served in Kolyma until the summer of 1647. In the spring, with three companions, he delivered a load of furs to Yakutsk, repelling an Even attack along the way. Then, at his request, he was included in the fishing expedition of Fedot Popov as a collector of yasak. However, the heavy ice situation in 1647 forced the sailors to return. It was not until the following summer that Popov and Dezhnev moved east with 90 people on seven koches.

According to the generally accepted version, only three ships reached the Bering Strait - two were lost in a storm, two were missing; another shipwrecked in the strait. Already in the Bering Sea in early October, another storm separated the two remaining koches. Dezhnev with 25 satellites was thrown back to the Olyutorsky Peninsula, and only ten weeks later they were able to reach the lower reaches of the Anadyr. This version contradicts the testimony of Dezhnev himself, recorded in 1662: six ships out of seven passed the Bering Strait, and five ships, including Popov's ship, died in the Bering Sea or in the Gulf of Anadyr in "bad weather".

One way or another, after crossing the Koryak Highlands, Dezhnev and his comrades reached Anadyr "cold and hungry, naked and barefoot." Of the 12 people who went in search of camps, only three returned; somehow 17 Cossacks survived the winter of 1648/49 on Anadyr and were even able to build river boats before the ice drifted. In the summer, having climbed 600 kilometers against the current, Dezhnev founded a yasak winter hut on the Upper Anadyr, where he met the new year, 1650. In early April, detachments of Semyon Motora and Stadukhin arrived there. Dezhnev agreed with Motoroy to unite and in the fall made an unsuccessful attempt to reach the Penzhina River, but, having no guide, wandered in the mountains for three weeks.
In late autumn, Dezhnev sent some people to the lower reaches of the Anadyr to purchase food from local residents. In January 1651, Stadukhin robbed this food detachment and beat the purveyors, while in mid-February he himself went south - to Penzhina. The Dezhnevites lasted until spring, and in the summer and autumn they were engaged in the food problem and reconnaissance (unsuccessfully) of "sable places". As a result, they got acquainted with the Anadyr and most of its tributaries; Dezhnev drew up a drawing of the pool (not yet found). In the summer of 1652, in the south of the Anadyr estuary, he discovered the richest walrus rookery with a huge amount of "dead tooth" - fangs of dead animals on the shallows.

Navigation map
and the campaign of S. Dezhnev in 1648–1649.

In 1660, at his request, Dezhnev was replaced, and with a load of "bone treasury" he crossed overland to Kolyma, and from there by sea to the Lower Lena. After wintering in Zhigansk, through Yakutsk, he reached Moscow in September 1664. For the service and fishing of 289 pounds (slightly more than 4.6 tons) of walrus tusks in the amount of 17,340 rubles, a full payment was made to Dezhnev. In January 1650, he received 126 rubles and the rank of Cossack ataman.

Upon his return to Siberia, he collected yasak on the Olenyok, Yana and Vilyui rivers, at the end of 1671 he delivered a sable treasury to Moscow and fell ill. He died early in 1673.

During the 40 years of his stay in Siberia, Dezhnev participated in numerous battles and skirmishes, had at least 13 wounds, including three severe ones. Judging by the written testimonies, he was distinguished by reliability, honesty and peacefulness, the desire to do the job without bloodshed.

A cape, an island, a bay, a peninsula and a village are named after Dezhnev. In the center of Veliky Ustyug in 1972 a monument was erected to him.

Since we are talking about Dezhnev, it is necessary to mention Fedot Popov- the organizer of this expedition.

Fedot Popov, a native of Pomor peasants. For some time he lived in the lower reaches of the Northern Dvina, where he acquired the skills of a sailor and mastered the letter. A few years before 1638, he appeared in Veliky Ustyug, where he was hired by the wealthy Moscow merchant Usov and established himself as an energetic, intelligent and honest worker.

In 1638, already in the position of clerk and confidant trading company Usova was sent with a partner to Siberia with a large consignment of "any goods" and 3.5 thousand rubles (a significant amount at that time). In 1642, both reached Yakutsk, where they parted ways. With a trading expedition, Popov moved on to the Olenyok River, but he failed to bargain there. After returning to Yakutsk, he visited Yana, Indigirka and Alazeya, but all was unsuccessful - other merchants were ahead of him. By 1647, Popov arrived in Kolyma and, having learned about the distant river Pogycha (Anadyr), where no one had yet penetrated, he planned to get to it by sea in order to compensate for the losses he had suffered during several years of vain wanderings.

In Srednekolymsky Ostrozhka, Popov gathered local industrialists and built and equipped 4 kochas with the money of the merchant Usov, as well as with the money of his companions. The Kolyma clerk, realizing the importance of the undertaking, gave Popov an official status, appointing him a kisser (a customs official whose duties also included collecting duties on fur transactions). At the request of Popov, 18 Cossacks were assigned to the fishing expedition under the command of Semyon Dezhnev, who wished to participate in the enterprise for the discovery of "new lands" as a yasak collector. But the head of the voyage was Popov, the initiator and organizer of the whole thing. Shortly after going to sea in the summer of 1647, due to the difficult ice conditions, the Kochi returned back to Kolyma. Popov immediately began preparing for a new campaign. Thanks to the newly invested funds, he equipped 6 koches (and Dezhnev hunted in the upper Kolyma in the winter of 1647-1648). In the summer of 1648, Popov and Dezhnev (again as collectors) went down the river to the sea. Here they were joined by the seventh coch Gerasim Ankudinov, who unsuccessfully applied for the place of Dezhnev. The expedition, consisting of 95 people, for the first time passed through the Chukchi Sea at least 1000 km of the northeastern coast of Asia and in August reached the Bering Strait, where Ankudinov's koch was wrecked. Fortunately for the people, he moved to Koch Popov, and the rest were accommodated on 5 other ships. On August 20, sailors landed somewhere between Capes Dezhnev and Chukotsky to repair ships, collect "vykidnik" (fin) and replenish fresh water. The Russians saw islands in the strait, but it was impossible to determine which ones. In a fierce skirmish with the Chukchi or the Eskimos, Popov was wounded. In early October, in the Bering Sea or in the Gulf of Anadyr, a strong storm scattered the flotilla. Dezhnev found out the further fate of Popov five years later: in 1654, on the shores of the Gulf of Anadyr, in a skirmish with the Koryaks, he managed to recapture a Yakut woman, Popov's wife, whom he took with him on a campaign. This first Russian Arctic navigator named Kivil informed Dezhnev that Popov's koch had been washed ashore, most of the sailors were killed by the Koryaks, and only a handful of Russians fled in boats, and Popov and Ankudinov died of scurvy.

Popov's name is undeservedly forgotten. He rightfully shares the glory of opening a passage from the Arctic to the Pacific Ocean with Dezhnev.

(1765, Totma, Vologda province - 1823, Totma, Vologda province) - explorer of Alaska and California, creator of Fort Ross in America. Totem tradesman. In 1787 he reached Irkutsk, on May 20, 1790 he signed a contract with the Kargopol merchant A. A. Baranov, who lived in Irkutsk, on a sea voyage to the American shores in the company of Golikov and Shelikhov.

The well-known explorer of the North American continent and the founder of the famous Fort Ross, Ivan Kuskov, even in his youth, enthusiastically listened to the stories and memories of travelers who came to their land from distant uncharted places, and even then he became seriously interested in navigation and the development of new lands.

As a result, already at the age of 22, Ivan Kuskov went to Siberia, where he signed an escort contract to the American shores. Great importance Ivan Kuskov had an extensive organizational activity on the island of Kodiak for the development and settlement of new lands, the construction of settlements and fortifications. For some time Ivan Kuskov acted as chief manager. Later, he commanded the Konstantinovsky redoubt under construction on the island of Nuchev in the Chugatsky Bay, went out to explore the island of Sitkha on the brig "Ekaterina" at the head of a flotilla of 470 canoes. Under the command of Ivan Kuskov, a large party of Russians and Aleuts fished on the west coast of the American mainland and was forced to fight with local Indians to assert their positions. The result of the confrontation was the construction of a new fortification on the island and the construction of a settlement called Novo-Arkhangelsk. It was he who in the future was destined to acquire the status of the capital of Russian America.

The merits of Ivan Kuskov were noted by the ruling circles, he became the owner of the medal "For Diligence", cast in gold and the title of "Advisor of Commerce".

Having led the sea voyage campaign to develop the lands of California, which was then under the rule of Spain, Ivan Kuskov opened a new page in his life and work. On the ship "Kodiak" he visited the island of Trinidad in Bodega Bay, and on the way back he went to Douglas Island. Moreover, everywhere the pioneers buried boards with the coat of arms of their country in the ground, which meant the annexation of territories to Russia. In March 1812, on the Pacific coast, north of San Francisco Bay, Ivan Kuskov laid the first major fortress in Spanish California - "Fort Slavensk" or otherwise "Fort Ross". The creation of a fortress and an agricultural settlement in favorable climatic conditions helped to provide northern Russian settlements in America with food. The areas of fishing for sea animals expanded, a shipyard was built, a forge, a locksmith, a carpentry and a fuller's workshop were opened. For nine years, Ivan Kuskov was the head of the fortress and the village of Ross. Ivan Kuskov died in October 1823 and was buried in the fence of the Spaso-Sumorin Monastery, but the grave of the famous researcher has not survived to this day.

Ivan Lyakhov- Yakut merchant-industrialist who discovered Fr. Boiler house of the Novosibirsk Islands. From the middle of the XVIII century. hunted Mammoth bone on the mainland, in the tundra, between the mouths of the Anabar and Khatanga rivers. In April 1770, in search of a mammoth bone, he crossed the ice from Svyatoy Nos through the Dmitry Laptev Strait to about. Near or Eteriken (now - Bolshoi Lyakhovsky), and from its northwestern tip - on about. Small Lyakhovsky. After returning to Yakutsk, he received from the government a monopoly right to trade on the islands he visited, which, by decree of Catherine II, were renamed Lyakhovsky. In the summer of 1773, with a group of industrialists, he went by boat to the Lyakhovsky Islands, which turned out to be a real "cemetery of mammoths". North of about. Maly Lyakhovsky saw the "Third" large island and crossed to it; for the winter in 1773/74 he returned to about. Near. One of the industrialists left a copper boiler on the "Third" island, which is why the newly discovered island began to be called Kotelny (the largest of the Novosibirsk Islands). I. Lyakhov died in the last quarter of the 18th century. After his death, the monopoly right to trade on the islands passed to the merchants Syrovatsky, who sent Ya. Sannikov there for new discoveries.

Yakov Sannikov(1780, Ust-Yansk - not earlier than 1812) Russian industrialist (XVIII-XIX centuries), explorer of the Novosibirsk Islands (1800-1811). He discovered the islands of Stolbovoy (1800) and Faddeevsky (1805). He expressed an opinion about the existence to the north of the Novosibirsk Islands of a vast land, the so-called. Sannikov Lands.

In 1808 Minister of Foreign Affairs and Commerce N.P. Rumyantsev organized an expedition to explore the recently discovered New Siberian Islands - the "Great Land". M.M. was appointed head of the expedition. Gedenstrom. Arriving in Yakutsk, Gedenstrom established that "it was discovered by the tradesmen Portnyagin and Sannikov, who live in the Ust-Yansk village." February 4, 1809 Gedenstrom arrived in Ust-Yansk, where he met with local industrialists, among whom was Yakov Sannikov. Sannikov served as a foreman (foreman of an artel) with the Syrovatsky merchants. He was an amazingly brave and inquisitive person, whose whole life was spent wandering through the vast expanses of the Siberian North. In 1800 Sannikov crossed from the mainland to Stolbovoy Island, and five years later he was the first to set foot on an unknown land, which later received the name of Faddeevsky Island, after the industrialist who built a winter hut on it. Then Sannikov participated in the trip of the industrialist Syrovatsky, during which the so-called Great Land was discovered, called New Siberia by Matvey Gedenstrom.

The meeting with Sannikov, one of the discoverers of the New Siberian Islands, was a great success for Matvey Matveyevich. In the face of Sannikov, he found a reliable assistant and decided to expand the area of ​​work of his expedition. Sannikov, following Gedenstrom's instructions, crossed the strait between the Kotelny and Faddeevsky islands in several places and determined that its width ranged from 7 to 30 versts.

“On all these lands,” Pestel wrote to Rumyantsev, “there is no standing forest; polar bears, gray and white wolves are found among animals; there are a great many deer and arctic foxes, also brown and white mice; from birds in winter there are only white partridges, in summer ", according to the description of the tradesman Sannikov, geese molt there a lot, also ducks, tupans, waders and other small birds are enough. This land, which Gedenstrom traveled around, he called New Siberia, and the shore where the cross was placed, Nikolaevsky. "

Gedenstrom decided to send a group of industrialists to New Siberia under the command of Yakov Sannikov.

Sannikov discovered a river that flowed northeast from the Wooden Mountains. He said that members of his artel walked along its shore "60 miles deep and saw water disputed from the sea." In Sannikov's testimony, Gedenstrom saw evidence that New Siberia in this place was probably not very wide. It soon became clear that New Siberia was not a mainland, but not a very large island.

March 2, 1810 the expedition, led by Gedenstrom, left the Posadnoe winter hut and headed north. Among the participants of the expedition was Yakov Sannikov. The ice in the sea turned out to be very shaken up. Instead of six days, the journey to New Siberia took about two weeks. The travelers crossed on sleds to the mouth of the Indigirka, and from there to the eastern coast of New Siberia. Another 120 miles to the island, the travelers noticed the Wooden Mountains on the southern coast of this island. Having rested, we continued the inventory of New Siberia, which we started last year. Sannikov crossed New Siberia from south to north. Coming to its northern shore, he saw blue far to the northeast. It was not the blue of the sky; During his many years of travel Sannikov saw her more than once. It was this blue that Stolbovoy Island seemed to him ten years ago, and then Faddeevsky Island. It seemed to Yakov that it was worth driving 10-20 versts, either mountains or the shores of an unknown land would emerge from the blue. Alas, Sannikov could not go: he was with one team of dogs.

Gedenstrom, after meeting with Sannikov, went on several sleds with the best dogs to the mysterious blue. Sannikov believed that this was land. Gedenshtrom later wrote: "The imaginary land turned into a ridge of the highest ice masses of 15 or more sazhens in height, spaced from one another at 2 and 3 versts. In the distance, as usual, they seemed to us a solid coast" ...

In the autumn of 1810 on Kotelny, on the northwestern coast of the island, in those places where not a single industrialist reached, Sannikov found a grave. Next to it was a narrow high sled. Her device said that "people dragged her with straps." A small wooden cross was placed on the grave. On one side of it, an illegible ordinary church inscription was carved. Near the cross were spears and two iron arrows. Not far from the grave, Sannikov discovered a quadrangular winter hut. The nature of the building indicated that it had been cut down by Russian people. Having carefully examined the winter hut, the industrialist found several things made, probably, with an ax from a deer antler.

In the "Note on the things found by the tradesman Sannikov on Kotelny Island" in question and about something else, perhaps the most interesting fact: being on Kotelny Island, Sannikov saw "high stone mountains" in the north-west, about 70 versts away. On the basis of this story by Sannikov, Gedenstrom marked in the upper right corner of his final map the coast of an unknown land, on which he wrote: "The land seen by Sannikov." Mountains are drawn on its coast. Gedenstrom believed that the shore seen by Sannikov connected with America. It was the second Sannikov Land - a land that did not really exist.

In 1811 Sannikov, together with his son Andrei, worked on Faddeevsky Island. He explored the northwestern and northern coasts: bays, capes, bays. He advanced on sleds pulled by dogs, spent the night in a tent, ate venison, crackers and stale bread. The nearest dwelling was 700 miles away. Sannikov was finishing his survey of Faddeevsky Island when he suddenly saw the contours of an unknown land in the north. Without losing a moment, he rushed forward. Finally, from the top of a high hummock, he saw a dark stripe. It widened, and soon he distinctly distinguished a wide wormwood stretching along the entire horizon, and behind it - an unknown land with high mountains. Gedenshtrom wrote that Sannikov traveled "no more than 25 versts, when he was held back by a polynya that stretched in all directions. The earth was clearly visible, and he believes that it was then 20 versts away from him." According to Gedenstrom, Sannikov's report about the "open sea" testified that the Arctic Ocean, which lies behind the New Siberian Islands, does not freeze and is convenient for navigation "and that the coast of America really lies in the Arctic Sea and ends with Kotelny Island."

Sannikov's expedition completely explored the shores of Kotelny Island. In its hinterland, travelers found "in great abundance" the heads and bones of bulls, horses, buffaloes and sheep. This means that in ancient times the New Siberian Islands had a milder climate. Sannikov discovered "many signs" of the dwellings of the Yukaghirs, who, according to legend, retired to the islands from a smallpox epidemic 150 years ago. At the mouth of the Tsareva River, he found the dilapidated bottom of the ship, made of pine and cedar wood. Its seams were caulked with tar bast. On the west coast, travelers encountered whale bones. This, as Gedenstrom wrote, proved that "from Kotelny Island to the north, the vast Arctic Ocean stretches unhindered, not covered with ice, like the Arctic Sea under the mother land of Siberia, where whales or their bones have never been seen." All these finds are described in the "Journal of personal explanations of the tradesman Sannikov, non-commissioned officer Reshetnikov and notes kept by them during the survey and flying on Kotelny Island ..." Sannikov did not see the stone mountains of the land either in spring or in summer. She seemed to have vanished into the ocean.

January 15, 1812 Yakov Sannikov and non-commissioned officer Reshetnikov arrived in Irkutsk. This ended the first search for the Northern Continent undertaken by Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. The earth has taken on its true form. Four of them were discovered by Yakov Sannikov: these are the islands of Stolbovoy, Faddeevsky, New Siberia and Bunge Land. But, by the will of fate, his name gained great fame thanks to the lands that he saw from afar in the Arctic Ocean. Receiving nothing for his labors, except for the right to collect mammoth bones, Sannikov explored all the major New Siberian Islands on dogs. Two of the three lands seen by Sannikov in various places in the Arctic Ocean appeared on the map. One, in the form of a part of a huge land with mountainous shores, was plotted to the north-west of Kotelny Island; the other was shown in the form of mountainous islands stretching from the meridian of the eastern coast of Fadeyevsky Island to the meridian of Cape Vysokoe in New Siberia, and named after him. As for the land to the northeast of New Siberia, a sign was placed at the place of its alleged location, which denotes an approximate value. Subsequently, the islands of Zhokhov and Vilkitsky were discovered here.

Thus, Yakov Sannikov saw unknown lands in three different places in the Arctic Ocean, which then occupied the minds of geographers all over the world for decades. Everyone knew that Yakov Sannikov had made major geographical discoveries even earlier, which made his messages more convincing. He himself was convinced of their existence. As it appears from the letter of I.B. Pestelya N.P. Rumyantsev, the traveler intended to "continue the discovery of new islands, and above all the land that he saw north of the Kotelny and Faddeyevsky Islands," and asked to give each of these islands to him for two or three years.
Pestel found Sannikov's proposal "very beneficial for the government." Rumyantsev adhered to the same point of view, at whose direction a report was prepared on the approval of this request. There is no record in the archives whether Sannikov's proposal was accepted.

"Sannikov Land" was searched in vain for more than a hundred years, while Soviet sailors and pilots in 1937-1938. did not prove definitively that such a land does not exist. Probably, Sannikov saw the "ice island".

Russian and Soviet explorers of Africa.

Among the explorers of Africa, a prominent place is occupied by the expeditions of our domestic travelers. In the studies of Northeast and Central Africa, he contributed huge contribution mining engineer Egor Petrovich Kovalevsky. In 1848, he explored the Nubian desert, the Blue Nile basin, mapped the vast territory of Eastern Sudan and made the first suggestion about the location of the sources of the Nile. Kovalevsky paid much attention to the study of the peoples of this part of Africa and their way of life. He was indignant at the "theory" of the racial inferiority of the African population.

Travels Vasily Vasilyevich Junker in 1875-1886 enriched geographical science with accurate knowledge of the eastern region of Equatorial Africa. Juncker conducted research in the area of ​​the upper Nile: he made the first map of the area.

The traveler visited the rivers Bahr el-Ghazal and Uela, explored the complex and intricate system of rivers of its vast basin and clearly defined the previously disputed line of the Nile-Congo watershed for 1200 km. Juncker made a number of large-scale maps of this territory and paid much attention to descriptions of flora and fauna, as well as the way of life of the local population.

A number of years (1881-1893) spent in North and Northeast Africa Alexander Vasilievich Eliseev, who described in detail the nature and population of Tunisia, the lower reaches of the Nile and the coast of the Red Sea. In 1896-1898. traveled in the Abyssinian Highlands and in the Blue Nile basin Alexander Ksaverevich Bulatovich, Petr Viktorovich Shchusyev, Leonid Konstantinovich Artamonov.

In Soviet times, an interesting and important trip to Africa was made by the famous scientist - botanical geographer Academician Nikolay Ivanovich Vavilov. In 1926, he arrived from Marseilles in Algeria, got acquainted with the nature of the large Biskra oasis in the Sahara, the mountainous region of Kabylia and other regions of Algeria, traveled through Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Vavilov was interested in the ancient centers of cultivated plants. He conducted especially large studies in Ethiopia, having traveled more than 2 thousand km through it. More than 6,000 samples of cultivated plants were collected here, including 250 varieties of wheat alone, and interesting materials were obtained on many wild plants.

In 1968-1970. in Central Africa, in the Great Lakes region, geomorphological, geological-tectonic, geophysical studies were carried out by an expedition led by a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Professor Vladimir Vladimirovich Belousov, which specified data on the tectonic structure along the line of the great African fault. This expedition visited some places for the first time after D. Livingston and V. V. Juncker.

Abyssinian expeditions of Nikolai Gumilyov.

First expedition to Abyssinia.

Although Africa has attracted Gumilyov, the decision to go there came suddenly and on September 25 he went to Odessa, from there to Djibouti, then to Abyssinia. The details of this journey are unknown. It is only known that he visited Addis Ababa for a formal reception at the Negus. The friendly relations of mutual sympathy that arose between the young Gumilyov and the wise experience of Menelik II can be considered proven. In the article “Did Menelik Die?” the poet described the troubles that took place at the throne, as he reveals his personal attitude to what is happening.

Second expedition to Abyssinia.

The second expedition took place in 1913. It was better organized and coordinated with the Academy of Sciences. At first, Gumilyov wanted to cross the Danakil desert, study the little-known tribes and try to civilize them, but the Academy rejected this route as expensive, and the poet was forced to propose a new route:

I had to go to the port of Djiboutti<…>from there to railway to Harrar, then, having made a caravan, to the south, to the area between the Somali Peninsula and the lakes of Rudolf, Margarita, Zvay; cover as large a study area as possible.

Together with Gumilyov, his nephew Nikolai Sverchkov went to Africa as a photographer.

First Gumilev went to Odessa, then to Istanbul. In Turkey, the poet showed sympathy and sympathy for the Turks, unlike most Russians. There, Gumilyov met the Turkish consul Mozar Bey, who was on his way to Harar; they continued on their way together. From Istanbul they went to Egypt, from there to Djibouti. Travelers were supposed to go inland by rail, but after 260 kilometers the train stopped due to the fact that the rains washed out the path. Most of the passengers returned, but Gumilyov, Sverchkov and Mozar Bey begged the workers for a trolley and drove 80 kilometers of the damaged track on it. Arriving in Dire Dawa, the poet hired an interpreter and went by caravan to Harar.

Haile Selassie I

In Harrar, Gumilyov bought mules, not without complications, and there he met Ras Tafari (then governor of Harar, later Emperor Haile Selassie I; adherents of Rastafarianism consider him the incarnation of the Lord - Jah). The poet presented the future emperor with a box of vermouth and photographed him, his wife and sister. In Harare, Gumilyov began to collect his collection.

From Harar, the path lay through the little-studied lands of the Gaul to the village of Sheikh Hussein. On the way, they had to cross the fast-flowing Uabi River, where Nikolai Sverchkov was almost dragged away by a crocodile. Soon there were problems with provisions. Gumilyov was forced to hunt for food. When the goal was achieved, the leader and spiritual mentor Sheikh Hussein Aba Muda sent provisions to the expedition and warmly received it. Here is how Gumilyov described the prophet:

Fat ebony recreated on Persian carpets
In a dark, untidy room,
Like an idol, in bracelets, earrings and rings,
Only his eyes sparkled wonderfully.

There Gumilyov was shown the tomb of Saint Sheikh Hussein, after whom the city was named. There was a cave from which, according to legend, a sinner could not get out:

I had to undress<…>and crawl between the stones into a very narrow passage. If someone got stuck, he died in terrible agony: no one dared to lend him a hand, no one dared to give him a piece of bread or a cup of water ...
Gumilyov climbed there and returned safely.

Having written down the life of Sheikh Hussein, the expedition moved to the city of Ginir. Having replenished the collection and collected water in Ginir, the travelers went west, on the hardest path to the village of Matakua.

The further fate of the expedition is unknown, Gumilyov's African diary is interrupted at the word "Road ..." on July 26. According to some reports, on August 11, the exhausted expedition reached the Dera valley, where Gumilyov stayed at the house of the parents of a certain H. Mariam. He treated the mistress of malaria, freed the punished slave, and the parents named their son after him. However, there are chronological inaccuracies in the Abyssinian's story. Be that as it may, Gumilyov safely reached Harar and was already in Djibouti in mid-August, but due to financial difficulties he was stuck there for three weeks. He returned to Russia on September 1.

LISYANSKY Yuri Fedorovich(1773-1837) - Russian navigator and traveler Yu.F. Lisyansky was born on August 2 (13), 1773 in the city of Nizhyn. His father was a priest, archpriest of the Nizhyn church of St. John the Theologian. From childhood, the boy dreamed of the sea and in 1783 he was assigned to the Naval Cadet Corps in St. Petersburg, where he became friends with I.F. Krusenstern.

In 1786, at the age of 13, having finished the corps ahead of schedule, second on the list, Yuri Lisyansky entered the midshipman on the 32-gun frigate Podrazhislav, which was part of Admiral Greig's Baltic squadron. On the same frigate, he received his baptism of fire in the battle of Gogland during the Russian-Swedish war of 1788-1790, in which the 15-year-old midshipman participated in several naval battles, including at Eland and Reval. In 1789 he was promoted to midshipman.

Until 1793 Yu.F. Lisyansky served in the Baltic Fleet, and in 1793 he was promoted to lieutenant and sent as a volunteer among the 16 best naval officers in England. There, for four years, he improved his seafaring practice, participated in the battles of the Royal Navy of England against Republican France (distinguished himself during the capture of the French frigate Elizabeth, but was shell-shocked), fought with pirates in the waters of North America. Lieutenant Lisyansky plowed the seas and oceans almost all over the globe. He traveled around the United States, met with the first US President George Washington in Philadelphia, then was on an American ship in the West Indies, where at the beginning of 1795 he almost died from yellow fever, accompanied English caravans off the coast of South Africa and India, examined and described St. Helena, studied colonial settlements in South Africa and other geographic features.

March 27, 1797 Yu.F. Lisyansky was promoted to lieutenant commander, and in 1800 he finally returned to Russia, enriched with great experience and knowledge in the field of navigation, meteorology, naval astronomy, and naval tactics; significantly expanded his knowledge in the field of natural sciences. In Russia, he immediately received the post of commander of the Avtroil frigate in the Baltic Fleet. In November 1802, for participation in 16 naval campaigns and two larger battles, Yuri Lisyansky was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree. Returning from abroad, Lisyansky brought to Russia not only great experience navigation and conduct naval battles. He also supported his experience theoretically. So, in 1803, Clerk's book "Movement of the Fleets" was published in St. Petersburg, in which the tactics and principles of naval combat were substantiated. It should be noted that the translation of this book from English was made personally by Lisyansky.

At this time, the Russian-American Company (a trade association established in July 1799 in order to develop the territory of Russian America, the Kuril Islands and other islands) expressed support for a special expedition to supply and protect Russian settlements in Alaska. This was the beginning of the preparation of the 1st Russian round-the-world expedition. The project was handed over to the Minister of the Navy, Count Kushelev, but did not meet with his support. The count did not believe that such a complex enterprise would be within the power of domestic sailors. He was echoed by Admiral Khanykov, who was involved in the evaluation of the project as an expert. He strongly recommended hiring sailors from England for the first circumnavigation of the world under the flag of Russia. Fortunately, in 1801 Admiral N.S. Mordvinov. He not only supported Kruzenshtern, but also advised to purchase two ships for sailing, so that if necessary they could help each other in a long and dangerous voyage. The Naval Ministry appointed Lieutenant Lisyansky as one of its leaders and in the fall of 1802, together with the shipmaster Razumov, sent him to England to purchase two sloops and some equipment. The choice fell on the 16-gun sloop Leander with a displacement of 450 tons and the 14-gun sloop Thames with a displacement of 370 tons. The first sailboat was renamed "Nadezhda", the second one - "Neva".

By the summer of 1803, the Neva and Nadezhda sloops were ready for shipment. The leadership of the entire expedition and the command of the Nadezhda sloop were entrusted to Lieutenant Commander I.F. Kruzenshtern. His classmate in the Naval Corps, Lisyansky, commanded the Neva sloop. Almost half a century after the first circumnavigation of the world, the famous Russian hydrographer N.A. Ivashintsov called Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky exemplary preparation of ships and crews for travel. This does not mean, however, that the voyage passed without serious problems. Already the first severe storm that the ships had to endure showed that only the courage and skill of the Russian sailors prevented the tragedy. In the port of Falmouth, on the English Channel, the ships had to be re-caulked. But the main thing, as Lisyansky wrote, both he and Kruzenshtern were convinced of how skillful and agile Russian sailors are in the most cruel alterations. "There was nothing left for us to wish for," remarks Yury Fedorovich, "but the ordinary happiness of seafarers for the accomplishment of their undertaking."

At 10 am on July 26 (August 7), the expedition left Kronstadt for a long journey, "not experienced before by the Russians." November 14, 1803 in the Atlantic Ocean "Nadezhda" and "Neva" under the flag of Russia for the first time in the history of the Russian fleet crossed the equator. Captains Lisyansky and Kruzenshtern brought their sloops closer together, standing on the bridges in full dress with swords. Over the equator, the Russian "hurrah!" thundered three times, and the sailor from the sloop "Nadezhda" Pavel Kurganov, depicting the sea god Neptune, greeted the Russian sailors with a trident raised high with the entry into Southern Hemisphere. A significant detail: the British and French, as well as representatives of other maritime nations who had visited the equator before our compatriots, passed by an important scientific discovery made by Russian sailors: Lisyansky and Kruzenshtern discovered equatorial currents that had not been described by anyone before them.

Then, in February 1804, "Nadezhda" and "Neva" rounded South America(Cape Horn) and went to the Pacific Ocean. Here the sailors divided. Lisyansky went to Easter Island, mapped and compiled detailed description its shores, nature, climate, collected rich ethnographic material about its aborigines. At the island of Nukuhiwa (Marquesas Islands), the ships connected and proceeded together to the Hawaiian archipelago. From there, their paths diverged again. In the fog, they lost each other: the sloop "Nadezhda" under the command of Kruzenshtern headed towards Kamchatka, and "Neva" Lisyansky - to the shores of Alaska: on July 1, 1804, she came to Kodiak Island and was off the coast of North America for more than a year.

Having received disturbing news from the ruler of Russian settlements in America, A. Baranov, Lisyansky went to the Alexander archipelago to provide military support against the Tlingit Indians. The sailors helped the inhabitants of Russian America defend their settlements from the attack of the Tlingit, participated in the construction of the Novo-Arkhangelsk (Sitka) fortress, conducted scientific observations and hydrographic work. In 1804-1805, Lisyansky and the navigator of the Neva, D. Kalinin, explored Kodiak Island and part of the islands of the Alexander Archipelago. At the same time, the islands of Kruzov and Chichagov were discovered.

In August 1805, Lisyansky sailed on the Neva from Sitka Island with a cargo of furs to China, and in November he arrived at the port of Macau, discovering Lisyansky Island, the Neva Reef and the Kruzenshtern Reef along the way. Three months took the passage from Alaska to the port of Macau. Severe storms, fogs and treacherous shoals required caution. On December 4, 1805, in Macau, Lisyansky again connected with Kruzenshtern and Nadezhda. After selling furs in Canton and accepting a cargo of Chinese goods, the ships weighed anchor and proceeded together to Canton (Guangzhou). Having replenished their supplies of provisions and water, the sloops set off on the return journey. Through the South China Sea and the Sunda Strait, travelers entered the Indian Ocean. Together they reached the southeast coast of Africa. But because of the thick fog at the Cape of Good Hope, they again lost sight of each other.

It was agreed that the Neva would meet with the Nadezhda near St. Helena, but the meeting of the ships did not take place. Now, until the very return to Kronstadt, the navigation of the ships took place separately. Kruzenshtern, upon arriving on the island of St. Helena, learned about the war between Russia and France and, fearing a meeting with enemy ships, proceeded to his homeland around the British Isles with a stop at Copenhagen. Well, Lisyansky's "Neva" never entered the island. Having carefully checked the supplies of water and food, Lisyansky decided on a non-stop passage to England. He was sure that "such a brave enterprise will give us great honor; for no other navigator like us has ventured on such a long journey without going somewhere for rest. We got the opportunity to prove to the whole world that we deserve to be fully least of the trust we have been given."

Lisyansky was the first in the world to decide on such an unprecedented non-stop transition, having carried it out on a sailing sloop in a surprisingly short time for those times! For the first time in the history of world navigation, a ship covered 13,923 miles from the coast of China to English Portsmouth in 142 days without calling at ports and parking. The Portsmouth public enthusiastically greeted the crew of Lisyansky and, in his person, the first Russian sailors around the world. During this time, the Neva explored little-known areas of the Pacific Ocean, observed sea currents, temperature, specific gravity of water, compiled hydrographic descriptions of the coast, and collected extensive ethnographic material. During the voyage, Lisyansky corrected numerous inaccuracies in marine descriptions and on maps. On the world map, the name of Lisyansky is mentioned eight times. The glorious Russian sailor opened desert island in the central Pacific Ocean. And Lisyansky is also credited with the fact that he was the first to pave the way across the seas and oceans from Russian America, which belonged to Russia until 1867, and then sold to the United States, to the banks of the Neva.

On July 22 (August 5), 1806, Lisyansky's "Neva" was the first to return to Kronstadt, completing the first circumnavigation of the world in the history of the Russian fleet, which lasted 2 years 11 months and 18 days. The sloop "Nadezhda" of the expedition commander Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern returned to Kronstadt fourteen days later. Throughout the journey, Lisyansky conducted oceanographic research and collected valuable ethnographic material about the peoples of Oceania and North America. Of particular value are his observations of sea currents, which allowed him, together with Kruzenshtern, to make corrections and additions to the maps of sea currents that existed at that time.

Lisyansky and his crew became the first Russian sailors around the world. Only two weeks later "Nadezhda" arrived safely here. But the glory of the circumnavigator went to Kruzenshtern, who was the first to publish a description of the journey (three years earlier than Lisyansky, who considered duty assignments more important than publishing a report for the Geographical Society). Yes, and Kruzenshtern himself saw in his friend and colleague, first of all, "an impartial, obedient, zealous person for the common good," extremely modest. True, Lisyansky's merits were nevertheless noted: he received the rank of captain of the 2nd rank, the Order of St. Vladimir of the 3rd degree, a cash bonus and a lifetime pension. For him, the main gift was the gratitude of the officers and sailors of the sloop, who endured the hardships of navigation with him and gave him a golden sword with the inscription: "Gratitude of the crew of the Neva ship" as a keepsake.

The scrupulousness with which the navigator made astronomical observations, determined longitudes and latitudes, established the coordinates of harbors and islands where the Neva had anchorages, brings his two-century-old measurements closer to modern data. The traveler rechecked the maps of the Gaspar and Sunda Straits, specified the outlines of Kodiak and other islands adjacent to the northwestern coast of Alaska. Along the way, he discovered a small island at 26 ° N. sh., northwest of the Hawaiian Islands, which, at the request of the crew of the Neva, was named after him.

During his wanderings, Lisyansky collected a personal collection of objects, utensils, clothes, and weapons. It also contained shells, pieces of lava, corals, debris rocks from the Pacific Islands, North America, Brazil. All this became the property of the Russian Geographical Society. The voyage of Krusenstern and Lisyansky was recognized as a geographical and scientific feat. A medal with the inscription: "For a trip around the world 1803-1806" was knocked out in his honor. The results of the expedition were summarized in the extensive geographical works of Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky, as well as natural scientists G.I. Langsdorf, I.K. Gorner, V.G. Tilesius and other members. During the period of his remarkable voyage, Lisyansky led astronomical determinations of latitudes and longitudes of visited points and observations of sea currents; he not only corrected inaccuracies in the descriptions of currents compiled by Cook, Vancouver and others, but also (together with Kruzenshtern) discovered inter-trade countercurrents in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, compiled a geographical description of many islands, collected rich collections and extensive material on ethnography.

So - in complete triumph - the first round-the-world voyage in the history of the Russian fleet ended. Its success was also caused by the extraordinary personalities of the commanders - Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky, progressive people for their time, ardent patriots who tirelessly cared for the fate of the "servants" - sailors, thanks to whose courage and diligence the voyage went extremely well. The relations between Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky - friendly and trusting - decisively contributed to the success of the case. A popularizer of domestic navigation, a prominent scientist Vasily Mikhailovich Pasetsky, cites a letter from his friend Lisyansky in his biographical sketch about Kruzenshtern during the preparation of the expedition. “After dinner, Nikolai Semenovich (Admiral Mordvinov) asked if I knew you, to which I told him that you were a good friend of mine. He was glad about this, spoke about the dignity of your pamphlet (that was the name of Kruzenshtern’s project for his freethinking! - V. G.), praised your knowledge and intelligence, and then ended up saying that I would consider it a happiness to be acquainted with you. For my part, in front of the whole meeting, I did not hesitate to say that I envy your talents and intelligence.

However, in the literature about the first voyages, at one time, the role of Yuri Fedorovich Lisyansky was unfairly belittled. Analyzing the Journal of the Neva ship, the researchers of the Naval Academy made curious conclusions. It was found that out of 1095 days of historical navigation, only 375 days the ships sailed together, the remaining 720 Neva sailed alone. The distance covered by the Lisyansky ship is also impressive - 45 083 miles, of which 25,801 miles - independently.This analysis was published in the Proceedings of the Naval Academy in 1949. Of course, the voyages of the Nadezhda and the Neva are, in essence, two round-the-world voyages, and Yu. F. Lisyansky is equally involved in the great feat in the field of Russian naval glory, like I.F. Kruzenshtern.

The first Russian circumnavigation of the world opened up a whole era of brilliant success for our sailors. Suffice it to say that in the first half of the 19th century, Russian navigators made 39 round-the-world voyages, which significantly exceeded the number of such expeditions by the British and French combined. And some Russian navigators made these dangerous round-the-world voyages on sailboats twice and thrice. The legendary discoverer of Antarctica Thaddeus Bellingshausen was a midshipman on Krusenstern's sloop Nadezhda. One of the sons of the famous writer August Kotzebue - Otto Kotzebue - led two round-the-world expeditions in 1815-1818 and in 1823-1826. And he truly became a pioneer in discovering: he managed to put more than 400 (!) Islands in the tropical Pacific Ocean on world maps.

In 1807-1808, Lisyansky continued to serve on the ships of the Baltic Fleet, commanded the ships "Conception of St. Anna", "Emgeiten" and a detachment of 9 ships of the Baltic Fleet. He participated in the fighting against the fleets of England and Sweden. In 1809, Lisyansky received the rank of captain of the 1st rank and was assigned a life boarding school, the only means of subsistence, since he had no other sources of income. Almost immediately, Lisyansky, who was then only 36 years old, retired. And, probably, he left not without resentment. The Admiralty Board refused to finance the publication of his book "Journey around the world in 1803, 1804, 1805 and 1806 on the Neva ship under the command of Yu. Lisyansky." Outraged, Lisyansky left for the village, where he set about putting his travel records in order, which he kept in the form of a diary. In 1812, at his own expense, he published in St. Petersburg his two-volume Journey, and then, also at his own expense, the Album, a collection of maps and drawings belonging to the journey. Not finding proper understanding in the domestic government, Lisyansky received recognition abroad. He himself translated the book into English language and released in London in 1814. A year later, Lisyansky's book was published on German in Germany. Unlike Russians, British and German readers appreciated it highly. The work of the navigator, containing a lot of interesting geographical and ethnographic data, contains a lot of originality, in particular, he described Sitka and the Hawaiian Islands for the first time, became a valuable study and was subsequently reprinted several times.

The traveler died on February 22 (March 6), 1837 in St. Petersburg. He was buried at the Tikhvin Cemetery (Necropolis of Masters of Arts) in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The monument on the navigator's grave is a granite sarcophagus with a bronze anchor and a medallion depicting a token of a participant in the round-the-world voyage on the Neva ship (sk. V. Bezrodny, K. Leberecht).

Three times in his life Lisyansky was the first: he was the first to commit under Russian flag travel around the world, the first to continue the journey from Russian America to Kronstadt, the first to discover an uninhabited island in the central Pacific Ocean. Now a bay, a peninsula, a strait, a river and a cape on the coast of North America in the region of the Alexander Archipelago, one of the islands of the Hawaiian archipelago, a seamount in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and a peninsula on the northern coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk are named after him.

Kruzenshtern Ivan Fyodorovich(1770–1846), navigator, explorer of the Pacific Ocean, hydrograph scientist, one of the founders of Russian oceanology, admiral, honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Born in northern Estonia in a poor noble family. He graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps ahead of schedule. From 1793-1799 he served as a volunteer on English ships in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, as well as in the South China Sea. Upon his return, Kruzenshtern twice presented projects for a direct trade link between Russian ports in the Baltic and Alaska. In 1802 he was appointed head of the first Russian round-the-world expedition.

In the summer of 1803, he left Kronstadt on two sloops - Nadezhda (a mission to Japan headed by N. Rezanov was on board) and Neva (captain Yu. Lisyansky). The main goal of the voyage is to explore the mouth of the Amur and adjacent territories in order to identify convenient bases and supply routes for the Pacific Fleet. The ships rounded Cape Horn (March 1804) and separated after three weeks. A year later, Kruzenshtern on the "Nadezhda", "closing" the mythical lands southeast of Japan along the way, arrived in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Then he brought N. Rezanov to Nagasaki and, returning in the spring of 1805 to Petropavlovsk, described the northern and eastern shores of the Gulf of Patience. In the summer he continued filming, for the first time he photographed about 1000 kilometers of the eastern, northern and partly western coast of Sakhalin, mistaking it for a peninsula. At the end of the summer of 1806 he returned to Kronstadt.

The participants of the first Russian round-the-world expedition made a significant contribution to science by removing a non-existent island from the map and specifying the position of many geographical points. They discovered inter-trade countercurrents in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, measured the water temperature at depths of up to 400 meters, determined its specific gravity, transparency and color; found out the cause of the glow of the sea, collected numerous data on atmospheric pressure, ebbs and flows in the waters of the oceans.

At the beginning Patriotic War In 1812, Krusenstern donated a third of his fortune (1000 rubles) to the people's militia. He spent almost a year in England as part of the Russian diplomatic mission. In 1809-1812 he published the three-volume "Journey Around the World...", translated in seven European countries, and "Atlas for a Journey...", which included more than 100 maps and drawings. In 1813 he was elected a member of the academies and scientific societies of England, France, Germany and Denmark.

In 1815, Kruzenshtern went on indefinite leave for treatment and scientific studies. Compiled and published a two-volume "Atlas of the South Sea" with extensive hydrographic notes. In 1827-1842 he was the director of the Naval Cadet Corps, initiated the creation of a higher officer class under him, later transformed into the Naval Academy. On the initiative of Krusenstern, the round-the-world expedition of O. Kotzebue (1815–1818), the expeditions of M. Vasilyev - G. Shishmarev (1819–1822), F. Bellingshausen - M. Lazarev (1819–1821), M. Stanyukovich - F. Litke (1826–1829).

Kruzenshtern put the good of Russia above all else. Not afraid of the consequences, he boldly condemned the feudal order in the country and the cane discipline in the army. Respect for human dignity, modesty and punctuality, extensive knowledge and talent as an organizer attracted people to the researcher. Many prominent domestic and foreign sailors and travelers turned to him for advice.

13 geographical objects in different parts of the planet are named after Kruzenshtern: two atolls, an island, two straits, three mountains, three capes, a reef and a bay. In St. Petersburg in 1869 a monument to Krusenstern was erected.

Shelikhov Grigory Ivanovich

In the 80s of the XVIII century, there were already several Russian settlements on the northwestern coast of America. They were founded by Russian industrialists who, hunting for fur-bearing animals and fur seals, undertook long-distance voyages across the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. However, the industrialists did not yet have a fully conscious goal to found Russian colonies. For the first time this idea arose from the enterprising merchant Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov. Understanding the economic importance of the coast and islands of North America, which were famous for their fur wealth, G. I. Shelikhov, this Russian Columbus, as the poet G. R. Derzhavin later called him, decided to annex them to Russian possessions.

G. I. Shelikhov was from Rylsk. As a young man, he went to Siberia in search of "happiness". Initially, he served as a clerk for the merchant I. L. Golikov, and then became his shareholder and partner. Possessing great energy and far-sightedness, Shelikhov persuaded Golikov to send ships "to the Alaska land called America, to the known and unknown islands for the production of fur trade and all sorts of searches and the establishment of voluntary bargaining with the natives." In company with Golikov, Shelikhov built the ship "St. Paul" and in 1776 set off for the shores of America. After spending four years at sea, Shelikhov returned to Okhotsk with a rich cargo of furs totaling at least 75 thousand rubles at the prices of that time.

To implement his plan for the colonization of the islands and coast of North America, Shelikhov, together with I. L. Golikov and M. S. Golikov, organizes a company for the exploitation of these territories. Kodiak Island attracted special attention of the company with its fur riches. At the end of the 18th and at the beginning of the 19th centuries (from 1784 to 1804), this island became the main center of Russian colonization of the Pacific coast of North America. During his second expedition, begun in 1783 on the galliot "Three Saints", Shelikhov lived for two years on this island, the largest of the islands adjacent to the coast of Alaska. On this island, Shelikhov founded a harbor named after his ship, the Harbor of the Three Hierarchs, and also erected fortifications.

A small fortification was built on the island of Afognak. Shelikhov also got acquainted with the coast of Alaska, visited Kenyoke Bay and visited a number of islands surrounding Kodiak.

In 1786 Shelikhov returned from his voyage to Okhotsk, and in 1789 to Irkutsk.

The news of his activities off the American coast and the founding of colonies there reached Catherine II, on whose call he went to St. Petersburg.

Catherine II perfectly understood the significance of Shelikhov's activities and received him very favorably. Returning to Irkutsk, Shelikhov equips two ships for research Kuril Islands and the coast of America and instructs their commanders, navigators Izmailov and Bocharov "to assert the power of Her Majesty in all newly opened points." During these expeditions, a description of the North American coast from the Chugatsky Bay to the Ltua Bay was completed and a detailed map of it was compiled. At the same time, the network of Russian settlements off the coast of America is expanding. The head of the Russian colony, left by Shelikhov, Delarov, founded a number of settlements on the shores of the Kenai Bay.

Shelikhov, with his various activities, sought to expand and strengthen the network of Russian settlements in Kodiak and the Aleutian Islands.

He developed a number of projects to bring the Russian colonies into a "decent form". Shelikhov instructed his manager, Baranov, to find a suitable place on the coast of the American mainland for the construction of a city, which he proposed to call "Slavorossia".

Shelikhov opened Russian schools on Kodiak and other islands and tried to teach crafts and agriculture to local residents, Tlingit Indians, or koloshes, as the Russians called them. For this purpose, at the initiative of Shelikhov, twenty Russian exiles, who knew various crafts, and ten peasant families were sent to Kodiak.

In 1794, Shelikhov organized a new "Northern Company", one of the main goals of which was the establishment of Russian colonies on the coast of Alaska.

After the death of Shelikhov (in 1795), his activities to expand Russian colonization off the coast of Alaska and exploit its wealth were continued by the Kargopol merchant Baranov. Baranov turned out to be no less persistent and enterprising leader of the new Russian colonies than Shelikhov himself, and continued the work begun by Shelikhov to expand and strengthen Russian possessions on the northwestern shores of America.

ALEXANDER ANDREEVICH BARANOV - THE FIRST PRINCIPAL RULER OF RUSSIAN AMERICA

Shelikhov's successor in Russian America was the first Chief Ruler of Russian possessions in America, the Kargopol merchant, Irkutsk guest Alexander Andreevich Baranov, who was invited back in 1790 to manage the Northeast American Company.

Baranov was born on November 23, 1747 in Kargopol into a bourgeois family. At that time, his surname was written - Boranov. By adulthood, he married the merchant widow Matryona Alexandrovna Markova with two young children. At the same time, he entered the class of merchants and until 1780 had business in Moscow and St. Petersburg. At the same time, he began to write his last name as Baranov. He continued his education by self-taught, knew quite well chemistry and mining. For his articles on Siberia in 1787 he was admitted to a free economic society. He had a vodka and glass farm, from 1778 he had permission to trade and trade in Anadyr. In 1788 Baranov and his brother Peter were instructed by the government to settle in Anadyr. In the winter of 1789, Baranov's production was ruined by non-peaceful Chukchi.

Three years ago, in 1787, Shelikhov persuaded Baranov to join his company, but Baranov refused. Now Shelikhov invited Baranov to take the place of the manager of the North-Western Company, which was temporarily occupied by the manager of Shelikhov's affairs, Yevstrat Ivanovich Delarov.

Shelikhov and his people visited about. Kodiak, in Kenai Bay, in Chugach Bay, near Afognak Island, passed through the strait between Kodiak Island and Alaska. Shelikhov, step by step, expanded Russia's sphere of interests in the Pacific. On the northern shore of the Kodiak, closest to Alaska, in the Pavlovsk Harbor, a fortress was built and a village grew, fortresses were built on Afognak and near the Kenai Bay. After a two-year stay on Kodiak, Shelikhov went to Russia and left the Yenisei merchant K. Samoilov as his first successor. In 1791 Shelikhov published a book about his travels. Shelikhov sent his manager Yevstrat Ivanovich Delarov to Kodiak, who replaced Samoilov at the beginning of 1788. By agreement with Shelikhov, Delarov demanded to be replaced as the ruler of the company on the spot, in Pavlovsk harbor. Shelikhov had known Baranov since 1775. Upon his arrival from Alaska in 1787, Shelikhov offered Baranov the management of the company, but Baranov refused, so Shelikhov sent Delarov. Finally, after the looting of the factory in Anadyr, Baranov was forced by circumstances to enter the service of the company.

On August 15, 1790, Shelikhov in Okhotsk concluded an agreement with Alexander Andreevich Baranov, according to which the "Kargopol merchant Irkutsk guest" agreed to manage the company on favorable terms for 5 years. The contract was approved in Okhotsk on August 17, 1790. The terms of the contract financially provided for his wife and children.

With the personality of A.A. Baranov, who became legendary in the history of Alaska, an entire era in the life of Russian America is connected. Although many reproaches were made against Baranov, even the most cruel critics could not accuse him of pursuing any personal goals: having enormous and almost uncontrolled power, he did not amass any fortune. In 1791, Baranov took over a small artel in the Three Saints Harbor of Kodiak Island, he left in 1818 the main trading post in Sitkha, permanent offices for managing affairs in Kodiak, Unalaska and Ross, and separate industrial councils on the Pribylov Islands, in the Kenai and Chugatsky bays.

By order of the company, the Chief Ruler of Russian America A.A. Baranov in 1798 founded a settlement on about. Sitkha, whose indigenous people call themselves by the name of the island, and the Russians call themselves Koloshi. Koloshi are a brave, warlike and ferocious people. The US ships that buy beaver skins from them for the Chinese market supply the goloshes with firearms, which they are very good at. Nevertheless, Baranov managed to instill respect in them with gifts, justice and personal courage. He wore thin chain mail under his dress and was invulnerable to the arrows of the ears, and, having knowledge in chemistry and physics, he amazed the imagination and was revered as a hero. "The firmness of his spirit and the constant presence of mind are the reason that the savages respect him without love for him, and the glory of Baranov's name thunders among all the barbarian peoples inhabiting the northwestern shores of America to the Juan de Fuca Strait. Even those living in remoteness sometimes come to watch him , and marvel that such enterprising deeds can be performed by a person of such small stature. Sheep are below average growth, blond, dense and have very significant facial features that have not been smoothed out either by labor or by years, although he is already 56 years old, "wrote midshipman G.I. Davydov, who served on one of the ships that arrived from Okhotsk. After spending some time on Sith, Baranov left the settlement with a garrison. For two years everything was calm, but one night the garrison was attacked a large number ears, among whom were several American sailors who incited the attack. They killed all the inhabitants of the settlement with immense cruelty. Only a few Aleuts, who were hunting at that time, managed to escape. They brought the news of the destruction of the settlement on Sith.

Baranov himself equipped three ships and, accompanied by the Neva, set off for Sitkha. When the Koloshi learned that Baranov, whom they called the "hero Nonok", was returning, they were so afraid that they did not even try to prevent the Russians from landing on the shore, left their fortification and gave amanats. After negotiations, when the Koloshes were given the opportunity to freely withdraw, they quietly left at night, having previously killed all the old people and children who could delay their flight.

The settlement was rebuilt. It was called Novo Arkhangelsk and was the main city of Russian possessions in America, stretching from 52 N. latitude. to the Arctic Ocean.

For his merits, Baranov, by decree of 1802, was awarded a nominal gold medal on the ribbon of St. Vladimir and was promoted to collegiate advisers - class 6 of the table of ranks, giving the right to hereditary nobility. The decree was implemented in 1804. In 1807 he received the Order of Anna, 2nd class.

In relations with the indigenous people, the Russians did not oppose themselves to either the Aleuts, or the Eskimos, or the Indians; not only genocide, but also racism were alien to them. By the mid-1810s, the RAC faced the problem of the Creole population of the Russian colonies. Its numbers grew at a fairly rapid pace, and by 1816 there were more than 300 Creoles in Russian America, including children. Their fathers were Russians from various provinces and estates. Creole mothers were mainly Kodiak and Aleut Eskimos, but there were also Russian-Indian mestizos. Sam A.A. Baranov was married to the daughter of one of the Indian tribes - Tanaina, who was taken as an amanat at the beginning of Baranov's stay in Alaska. In baptism, her name was Anna Grigorievna Kenaiskaya (Baranov's mother was also called Anna Grigorievna). Baranov had three children from her - Antipater (1795), Irina (1804) and Catherine (1808). In 1806 Baranov's first wife died. Baranov, through Ryazanov, sent a petition to the Tsar dated February 15, 1806, asking for the adoption of Antipater and Irina. In 1808 he marries the mother of Antipater and Irina.

Baranov's assistant - Kuskov was also married to the daughter of one of the Indian toen in baptism - Ekaterina Prokofievna. She followed her husband to Totma, Vologda province, when his service in America ended.

The RAC took care of the Creoles, their upbringing and education. Schools operated in Russian America. Particularly gifted children were sent to study in St. Petersburg and other Russian cities. 5-12 children were sent annually. The main board of the RAC instructed Baranov: "When the Creoles enter the legal age, try to equip them with families, delivering them wives from native families, if there were no Creoles ..." Almost all adult Creoles were taught to write and read and write. The son of a teacher of the Kodiak and New Arkhangelsk schools and a Creole, a famous traveler, and later the head of the Ayan port and Major General Alexander Filippovich Kashevarov, was educated in St. Petersburg. Among the famous travelers there are the names of A.K. Glazunova, A.I. Klimovsky, A.F. Kolmakova, V.P. Malakhov and others. Creole Ya.E. became the first priest of the Athinsky department. Not flowers, the son of a Russian industrialist and an Aleutian, who was educated at the Irkutsk Theological Seminary. Baranov's children also received a good education. Antipater knew English and navigation well and served as a supercargo on the company's ships, Irina married lieutenant commander Yanovsky, who arrived in Novo Arkhangelsk on the Suvorov ship and left for Russia with her husband. In 1933, the US Forest Service named two lakes in the Alexander Archipelago in honor of Baranov's children - Antipater and Irina.

During the reign of Baranov, the territory and the company's income increased significantly. If in 1799 the total capital of PAK was 2 million 588 thousand rubles, then in 1816 - 4 million 800 thousand rubles. (including those in circulation - 7 million rubles). RAK fully paid off its debts and paid dividends to shareholders - 2 million 380 thousand rubles. From 1808 to 1819, more than 15 million rubles worth of furs came from the colonies, and another 1.5 million were in warehouses during Baranov's shift. For its part, the Main Board sent goods there for only 2.8 million rubles, which forced Baranov to purchase goods from foreigners for about 1.2 million rubles. The RAC lost no less than 2.5 million rubles as a result of shipwrecks, mismanagement and attacks by the natives. The total profit amounted to a huge amount of more than 12.8 million rubles, of which a third (!) went to the maintenance of the company's bureaucracy in St. Petersburg. From 1797 to 1816 the state received more than 1.6 million rubles in taxes and duties from the RAC.

It can be argued that if the Russian possessions were not headed by Baranov, then they, like the RAC itself, would inevitably have collapsed back in the early 1800s, when the colonies were actually left to fend for themselves. Baranov, being in the extreme, had to extract things from local products for payments, as well as provide the entire population of the colonies with food supplies. The Eskimos and Aleuts did not have the habit and custom of stocking up for the famine season, the industrialists had to organize hunting parties and force them to work. These are the main articles on which Baranov's accusers based their evidence, and the reason for removing him from office. But the lives of many people were on his hands, and the company did not fulfill his requests and did not provide Russian America with goods and food.

In addition to Alaska, Russian America also included southern territories. Fort Ross was founded in 1812 in California. On May 15, 1812, Baranov's assistant Kuskov founded a village and a fortress on lands purchased from coastal Indians with their consent and with their voluntary help. The Indians counted on the help and patronage of the Russians in their relations with the Spaniards. The Ross Colony was sold in 1841.

During the first world travel The Neva entered the Hawaiian Islands, and trade relations began between the crew and the islanders. Upon learning that the Russian colonies were experiencing a shortage of food, King Kamehamea let Baranov know that he was ready to send a merchant ship to Novo Arkhangelsk every year with a cargo of pigs, salt, sweet potatoes and other food products if "skins of sea beavers" were received in exchange at a reasonable price." In 1815, Baranov sent a ship to Hawaii with Dr. G.A. Schaeffer, who was instructed to act as a representative of the company. Together with Schaeffer on the "Ilmen" was Baranov's son - Antipater. Schaeffer received permission to set up a trading post, as well as land plots on the islands of Hawaii and Oahu.

From 1807 to 1825, at least 9 RAC merchant ships visited Oahu, not counting a number of round-the-world expeditions equipped with food. After 1825, contacts became less and less frequent.

Baranov spent 28 years in America and in November 1818, 72 years old, forced by Golovnin, who had previously taken Baranov's son Antipater with him, sailed on the ship "Kamchatka" to Russia.

But he was not destined to see the Motherland. November 27, 1818 Baranov sailed with Gagemeister on the "Kutuzov" to St. Petersburg for the company's report. Since March 7, 1819, the ship has been in Batavia for repairs, and Baranov, alone on the shore in the hotel, is very ill. While still on the ship, he fell ill with a fever, but he was not provided with proper medical care. (schemamonk Sergius, 1912). The ship has been under repair for 36 days. Immediately after going to sea, on April 16, 1819, Baranov dies on board. The ship has just left the shore, but Baranov is buried at sea, in the waters of the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra. He took with him all the documents that he had to report to the Main Board, but there was no one who would have seen these materials after the return of the Kutuzov ship to St. Petersburg. They disappeared without a trace.

To the 250th anniversary of the birth of Baranov, a monument was erected in Kargopol (July 1997).

In the future, the main rulers of Russian America, appointed from honored naval officers, famous sailors and scientists, held this post, as a rule, for five years. Many of them were associated with the Russian-American Company through previous service.

Stadukhin Mikhail Vasilievich(?–1666), explorer and Arctic navigator, Cossack ataman, one of the discoverers of Eastern Siberia.

A native of the Arkhangelsk North. In his youth, he moved to Siberia and served for 10 years as a Cossack on the banks of the Yenisei, then on the Lena. In the winter of 1641, he set off at the head of a detachment "to visit new lands." Having made a transition on horseback through the northern part of the Suntar-Khayat ridge, he ended up in the Indigirka basin. In the Oymyakon region, he collected yasak from the surrounding Yakuts, went on a koch to the mouth of the Moma and explored its lower reaches. Then the detachment went down to the mouth of the Indigirka and in the summer of 1643 was the first to reach the delta of the "big river Kovami" (Kolyma) by sea, having discovered 500 kilometers of the coast of North Asia and the Kolyma Bay.

During the voyage, as it seemed to the navigator, he observed "a huge land". Thus was born the legend of the great land on the Arctic Ocean against the shores of Eastern Siberia. More than 100 years after the voyage of Stadukhin, servicemen and industrialists believed that they would find valuable “soft junk” (fox fur), “slaughter bone” (mammoth tusks), “corgis” (spits) with the richest rookeries " animal walrus", giving no less valuable "fish tooth" (walrus tusks).

Along the Kolyma, Stadukhin went up to its middle course (opening the eastern outskirts of the Kolyma lowland), by autumn he set up the first Russian winter hut on the shore for collecting yasak, and in the spring of 1644 - the second, in the lower reaches of the river, where the Yukaghirs lived. Founded by an explorer, Nizhnekolymsk became the starting point for further colonization of the north-east of Siberia and the coast of the Lama (Okhotsk) Sea. For two years in the Kolyma, Stadukhin collected "eight forty sables" (320) and brought this "sovereign yasak collection" in November 1645 to Yakutsk. In addition to furs, he delivered the first news of the newly discovered river: "Kolyma ... is great, there is with Lena" (which was an obvious exaggeration). But instead of gratitude and payment for the service, on the orders of the governor, his own "four forty sables" were taken away from him.

For about two years, the discoverer lived in Yakutsk, preparing for a new journey to the north in order to explore the lands that he had collected information about during wintering in Kolyma. In 1647 he rode a koche down the Lena. In March 1648, having left some of his companions to spend the winter on the Yana River "in a winter hut", Stadukhin with several servicemen set off on sledges to Indigirka. They built a koch on the river, went down to the mouth and by sea reached the Nizhnekolymsky prison.

In the summer of 1649, the explorer moved further east to reach the "Chukotsky Nose". But the lack of food supplies, the lack of good trades and the fear of "starving service and industrial people to death" forced him to turn back, apparently from the Diomede Islands (in the Bering Strait). He returned to Kolyma in September and began to prepare for an overland campaign against Anadyr. This new journey, stretching for a decade, Stadukhin undertook not only at his own peril and risk, but also at his own expense. On Anadyr, he met S. Dezhnev, with whom he had a dispute over the collection of yasak. Having smashed the Yukaghirs on Anadyr, depriving them of as much sable as he could, in the winter Stadukhin crossed on skis and on sleds to the Penzhina River.

At its mouth, the explorers "made kochi" and in the nearby areas of the western coast of Kamchatka they prepared timber for the construction of ships. By sea, they moved for the winter to the mouth of the Gizhiga ("Izigi"). Fearing an attack by the Koryaks, in the summer of 1652 Stadukhin headed southwest along the rocky coastal strip of the Gizhiginskaya Bay and Shelikhov Bay. In autumn, he arrived at the mouth of the Taui River, built a prison there, collected yasak and hunted sable.

In the summer of 1657, Stadukhin and his companions reached the fort at the mouth of the Okhota, in the summer of 1659 they returned to Yakutsk through Oymyakon and Aldan, completing the giant ring route along Northeast Asia. From the trip, Stadukhin brought not only a large "sable treasury", but also a drawing of his journey along the rivers and mountains of Yakutia and Chukotka, as well as sailing off the coast of the East Siberian and Okhotsk Seas (this important cartographic document, apparently, has not been preserved). During the expedition, he also collected information about the islands in the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Strait.

Stadukhin was the first to visit Kamchatka.

For 12 years, he traveled over 13 thousand kilometers - more than any explorer of the 17th century. The total length of the northern shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk discovered by him was at least 1,500 kilometers. His geographical discoveries were reflected on the map of P. Godunov, compiled in 1667 in Tobolsk.

For his service, Stadukhin was promoted to atamans. In 1666, the Yakut authorities instructed him to undertake a new campaign, but on the way the ataman was killed in a fight with "non-peaceful" natives. He died not a rich man, but a debtor.

Map-scheme of M. Stadukhin's campaigns in 1641–1659

( ) - proposed trip