One of the most important trips in the region was the expedition of R. Maak. She was discussed above. With the formation in 1851 of the Siberian Department of the IRGS, it began to serve as the organizing and methodological center for most expeditions to study the productive forces of this territory. Later, a network of departments appeared; the West Siberian department was formed in 1877, the Amur department in 1894 and the Yakut department in 1913. The regions of the Baikal region, Transbaikalia, the Ussuri Territory, and less often the northern regions attracted particular attention of researchers.

In 1849-1852. in the southeastern part of Siberia, a topographic expedition under the command of N.Kh. Akhte. Its result was new maps of Baikal (1850) and Transbaikalia (1852). A member of the expedition, mining engineer N.G. Meglitsky discovered deposits of lead and silver.

In 1855-1859. in Transbaikalia, a detachment of L.E. Schwartz, who participated in the Akhte expedition as an astronomer. Based on the materials of the expedition, Schwartz compiled a detailed and accurate map of the southern part of Eastern Siberia. On it, in particular, a new ridge with alpine landforms appeared. It was named after one of the topographers, Lieutenant I.S. Kryzhina. Naturalist G.I. Radde on a boat made a circular detour of Lake Baikal and discovered a number of organisms unknown until that time. The name of Radde is associated with the study of Lake Gusinoe, climbing highest point Sayan-mountain Munku-Sardyk (3492 m), establishing the asymmetry of its slopes in terms of steepness and distribution of vegetation. He discovered the first glacier in the Eastern Sayan.

In 1862, a young graduate of the page corps arrived in Eastern Siberia, a prince who neglected his court career. Pyotr Alekseevich Kropotkin(1842-1921). He joined the study of a little-studied region. The first journey was made by Kropotkin in 1863 along the Shilka and the Amur up to its lower reaches. In the spring of the following year, Kropotkin crossed the Greater Khingan and traveled almost incognito through Manchuria, discovering and describing for the first time two cones of extinct volcanoes. In summer and autumn, he explored the banks of the Amur, Ussuri and Sungari to the city of Girin.

In 1865, P. A. Kropotkin worked in the southern Baikal region and in the Eastern Sayan. In the Tunka basin, he discovered two volcanic cones and a lava cover erupted by them in the Quaternary period. He described the lava plateau in the upper reaches of the Oka River (a tributary of the Irkut), revealed hot mineral springs, witnesses of troubled bowels. On the Oka plateau, Kropotkin noted traces of ancient glaciation.

In 1866 Kropotkin, together with the biologist I.S. Polyakov, laid out a route from the Olekminsky-Vitimsky gold mines to Chita in order to find a convenient cattle route. The Patom Highlands and one of its ranges, later named by V.A. The hoop name of Kropotkin, a system of steep-walled ridges (grooms said that they climb to “submit a petition to God”), named by Kropotkin Delyun-Uransky, North-Muysky and South-Muysky, Vitim Plateau. Traveling impressions and data from other researchers allowed Kropotkin to create a new, more perfect idea of ​​the orography of Asia. New evidence was obtained about the past glaciation of Transbaikalia. Kropotkin also expressed original ideas about the origin of the Baikal Basin.

In 1865, mining engineer I.A. Lopatin, who discovered traces of recent volcanism and forms associated with the widespread development of permafrost. In 1867-1868. Lopatin conducted a complex of geological studies on Sakhalin. In 1871, Lopatin continued the study of the trap covers of the Central Siberian Plateau, begun by Chekanovsky, going up the Podkamennaya Tunguska River for 600 km.

Since 1869, mining-geological and geographical research in Eastern Siberia was carried out Alexander Lavrentievich Chekanovsky(1833-1876), exiled to Siberia in connection with the Polish uprising of 1863. At the request of Academician F.B. Schmidt Chekanovsky was placed at the disposal of the Siberian Department of the Geographical Society. Since 1869, on the instructions of the department, he has completed a number of routes along the Irkutsk basin, the Baikal region, and the Eastern Sayan. But most significant results he received in the study of the basins of the Nizhnyaya Tunguska and Olenek rivers. Within three years (1872-1875), he was the first to describe in detail the lava covers of the Central Siberian Plateau with table-like relief forms separated by terraced ledges of river valleys, which, in turn, are associated with outcrops of layers of igneous rocks; mineral. According to F.B. Schmidt, Chekanovsky's expedition was "the richest in geological results that have ever been active in Siberia" up to that time. In the lower reaches of the Olenek, Chekanovsky discovered and preserved for posterity the grave of the Pronchishchevs, who gave their young lives to the study of the north. In the area of ​​the mouth of the Lena River, Chekanovsky singled out two asymmetric ridges; now these ridges bear the names of Pronchishchev and Chekanovsky. The life of Alexander Lavrentievich ended tragically. Released under an amnesty in 1875, he left for St. Petersburg, began to process the collected huge material, but during an attack of mental illness in the autumn of the following year he committed suicide.

Junior comrade Chekanovsky Ivan Dementievich (Jan Domenik) Tersky(1845 -1892), who also ended up in Siberia against his will, received the basics of field research from G.N. Potanin, Chekanovsky and other travelers. Since 1873, he conducted a complex of studies in Baikal and the Baikal region, established observations on changes in the level of the lake in its individual sections, which made it possible to judge various tectonic movements, compiled geological map coastline of the lake and published a detailed report on the research carried out. Chersky used the research data in compiling two volumes of supplements to K. Ritter's Geoscience of Asia.

In 1885, Chersky, on behalf of the Academy of Sciences, carried out geological observations along the Siberian tract, identified two altitudinal levels of the area: to the east of the Yenisei valley and to the west of it.

For five years, Ivan Dementievich lived with his family in St. Petersburg, processed materials from his collections, paleontological collections of other researchers. In 1891, on his own initiative, Chersky led the Kolyma expedition of the Academy. In addition to him, the expedition included his wife, a faithful companion in a number of his travels, Mavra Pavlovna, and 12-year-old son Alexander. Difficult way through the whole country, Yakutsk, Oymyakon... In September 1891 we reached Verkhne-Kolymsk. The transferred influenza and severe wintering undermined the health of the expedition leader. Nevertheless, with the beginning of navigation, Chersky went down the Kolyma in a boat, describing the geological outcrops along its shores. When the strength began to leave the researcher, Mavra Pavlovna took over the main work. One cannot but marvel at the courage and devotion to duty of these people. Feeling that the disease had become irreversible, Chersky prepared a will. Here is its content: “In the event of my death, wherever she finds me, the expedition led by my wife Mavra Pavlovna Cherskaya must still sail to Nizhne-Kolymsk this summer, engaged mainly in zoological and botanical collections and permits. solving those of the geological questions that are available to my wife. Otherwise, if the expedition of 1892 did not take place in the event of my death, the Academy would have to suffer large monetary losses and damage in scientific results; and on me, or rather on my name, still unsullied by anything, falls the whole burden of failure. Only after the expedition returns back to Sredne-Kolymsk should it be considered completed. And only then should the surrender of the remainder of the expeditionary amount and expeditionary property ”(Quoted by: Shumilov, 1998. P. 158) - July 7, 1892, Ivan Dementievich died. Mavra Pavlovna completed the rest of the expedition's program, delivered to Irkutsk its materials and collected collections, handed over them and unspent money to the person responsible for geological work in Siberia, E.V. Toll... How I would like the meaning of this deed of the Cherskys to reach the consciousness of those who settle in science, and do not live for science!

M.P. Cherskaya returned to St. Petersburg, then moved to relatives in Vitebsk. The last years, 1936-1940, she lived in Rostov-on-Don. Her son Alexander Chersky became, like his father, a traveler-zoologist, worked in the Far East, died on the Commander Islands.

Between the rivers Indigirka and Kolyma, Chersky on the route map outlined the beginning of three unknown mountain ranges. Described in 1927 by S.V. Obruchev, they made up the now well-known ridge (more precisely, the highlands) of Chersky.

Among the Polish exiles, Benedikt Dybowski and Viktor Godlevsky left a good memory in the study of Siberia. They carefully studied the organic life of Baikal, established its species richness and endemicity. They determined the main ecological parameters of the lake, including the depth of the lake, the temperature and density of water at all horizons. Dybovsky and Godlevsky conducted zoological studies of the Amur and Ussuri. And when the news of the long-awaited amnesty arrived, Dybovsky obtained permission for further research in Siberia and went to Kamchatka. Dybovsky returned to his homeland, more precisely to Lvov, only in 1884 and lived to a ripe old age.

In 1889-1898. a geologist worked in a number of regions of southern Siberia Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev(1863-1956). Together with mining engineers A.P. Gerasimov and A.E. Gedroits, he significantly refined the orographic appearance of Transbaikalia. The ridges of Yablonovy, Borshchovochny, Chersky and a number of others, previously unknown, were surveyed and put on the map. Obruchev revealed traces of Quaternary glaciation, expressed his own view on the problem of the origin of the Baikal Basin in the form of a graben. This hypothesis was supported by one of the largest scientists of that time, Eduard Suess, and up to the last quarter of the 20th century. was the main one until data on riftogenic processes in the Baikal zone appeared.

In 1898, on the Vitim plateau, Gerasimov discovered two volcanic cones, witnesses of Quaternary eruptions. They received the names of Obruchev and Mushketov.

In 1853 L.I. was sent by the Academy to the Far East. Schrenk. He traveled to Kamchatka on the Aurora frigate, then on another ship to De-Kastri Bay. In 1854 he arrived in Nikolaevsk-on-Amur. He met Sakhalin explorers Boshnyak and Rudanovsky. I visited Sakhalin myself. Then he explored the basin of the river Girin and returned to the Gulf of De-Kastri. The following summer, Schrenk and the botanist Maksimovich climbed up the Amur to the mouth of the Ussuri. In the winter of 1856, Schrenk again headed for Sakhalin, went to the Tym River, described the route and the life of the Orochs, and on March 12, with rich collections, returned to the Amur, to Nikolaevsk. In the same year, Schrenk returned to St. Petersburg, prepared a description of the journey, published on German in 1858-1895 He wrote the first book on the hydrology of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the Sea of ​​Japan. His Outline of the Physical Geography of the North Sea of ​​Japan was awarded the Gold Medal of the Geographical Society.

The first Russian traveler who climbed up the Ussuri River in 1855 was K.I. Maksimovich. In 1855 and 1859. in the Amur Region” and the Ussuri Territory, R.K. Maak, explored the nature of the Aehtsir ridge. Detailed studies of Primorye in 1857-1859. conducted by M.I. Venyukov. He not only passed along the Ussuri, but also crossed the Sikhote-Alin ridge from its sources, went to the seashore and returned the same way.

But the most remarkable result was a trip to the Ussuri region Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky(1839-1888). The name and work of Przhevalsky occupies a special place in the history of travel and geographical discoveries. Early in childhood, Przhevalsky, who was left without a father, was taken care of by his uncle, his mother's brother, a passionate hunter. Together with him, the boy repeatedly wandered around the neighborhood of the family estate in the Smolensk region, became addicted to hunting, and this, obviously, played an important role in choosing the life path of the great traveler. When he studied at the Academy of the General Staff, he completed the term paper "Military Statistical Review of the Primorsky Territory." He taught history and geography at the Warsaw Junker School. There prepared tutorial by geography. And he dreamed of traveling to Central Asia. With this thought and a detailed development of the plan in 1866, he appeared in the Geographical Society for support. Here is how it is written in the report of P.P. Semenov about half a century of activity of the society: “It was enough to talk with this man to make sure that he had no shortage of enterprise, energy and courage. A passionate hunter, he was obviously a good ornithologist, and in general showed a great inclination towards the natural history sciences ... but he did not have any scientific merit in the field of geographical sciences then ... P.P. Semyonov advised the young future traveler, first of all, to try his hand at exploring ... a little-known region ... namely the Ussuri. At the same time, P.P. Semenov promised N.M. Przhevalsky that if he fulfills his task quite satisfactorily and shows his talents as a traveler and naturalist, then the Department of Physical Geography will already take care of his equipment for an expedition to Central Asia ”(Semenov, 1896, p. 214).

P.P. Semenov provided Przhevalsky with a flattering description of the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia M.S. Korsakov, and the expedition took place. Przhevalsky spent two and a half years in the Far East. With the student Yagunov, he went down the Amur, explored the Khekhtsir ridge, climbed the Ussuri to Lake Khanka, whose shores he visited twice, walked along the coastal steeps from the Posyet Bay to the Olga Bay, crossed the Sikhote-Alin and returned to the Ussuri. Hundreds of specimens of plants, stuffed birds were collected, a route survey was compiled, a meaningful diary was prepared with detailed characteristics of nature, in particular, with the results of observations of animals and birds, with descriptions of the life and life of the Golds, Orochs, Korean and Chinese colonists. Przhevalsky learned a lot of information from communication with the natives.

Returning to St. Petersburg, in 1870, at his own expense, Przhevalsky published his work “Journey in the Ussuri Territory”, testifying to the originality of the naturalist and traveler, to the undoubted gift of a literary record of what he saw. Przhevalsky was struck by the diversity of manifestations of nature (“... the Khekhtsirsky Range represents such a wealth of forest vegetation, which is rarely found in other even more southern parts of the Ussuri Territory” (p. 51). Przhevalsky not only captures the richness of nature, but also evaluates it from the point of view of colonization of the region: "In general, the Khanka steppes are the best place in the entire Ussuri region for our future settlements. Not to mention the fertile, chernozem and loamy soil, which does not require special labor for the initial development, about the vast , beautiful pastures, - the most important benefit is that the steppes are not subject to floods, which are everywhere in the Ussuri

this is such a huge hindrance to agriculture” (p. 73). How the scientist Przhevalsky sees the relationship of natural components: “Such a special character of the climate also determines the special nature of the Ussuri Territory, which represents an original mixture of northern and southern forms in the flora and fauna” (p. 218). Przhevalsky treated the indigenous population with respect: “... The naturally good-natured disposition of this people leads to the closest family connection: parents passionately love their children, who, for their part, pay them the same love” (p. 87). And how unfavorable against the background of the aborigines the Russian pioneers looked. Przhevalsky noted with bewilderment that Ussuri is full of fish and meat, but most of the Russians are “satisfied with shult and wineskins, that is, such dishes that a fresh person cannot look at without disgust. The results of such horrendous poverty are, on the one hand, various diseases, and, on the other hand, the extreme demoralization of the population, the most vile debauchery and apathy for any honest work ... ”(S. 45). In the person of Przhevalsky, geography found one of the smartest and most honest researchers.

Completing the history of the study Far East, it is impossible not to mention two more travelers, whose research activities developed especially fruitfully in the 20th century.

Vladimir Leontievich Komarov(1869 - 1945) in 1895 was involved in surveys in the area of ​​the proposed construction of the Amur railway. By that time, the young scientist had already received training in field research in the Karakum desert, in the foothills and mountains of Gissar-Alay. Komarov got to the Far East in a roundabout way: from Odessa by steamboat through the Suez Canal, with visits to Singapore and Nagasaki, until he arrived in Vladivostok. And from there, to the Amur region. He conducted research on the Zeya-Bureinsky plain, on the Bureinsky ridge, in the basins of the Tunguska and Bira rivers. Based on the materials of these travels, the article "Conditions for the further colonization of the Amur" was written, published in Izvestia of the Geographical Society. Assessing the features of nature, Komarov noted the desirability of resettling people here from places with similar conditions, from the European North, accustomed to cool, rainy summer weather and waterlogged soils. They were given recommendations for a more productive use of local land resources. He wrote about the strong swampiness of the territory. Along Bira, “a completely flat area stretches with rare woods of oak in dry areas and larch in wetlands, meadows and meadow swamps ...” To the south of Bira, “a significant part ... of the surface is covered with deciduous, in places even with oaks and grapes, forests "... In the upper part of the Khingan valley, "the soil layer is quite trustworthy, and this area, combining lands, comfortable arable land, with wonderful meadows and an abundance of forests, seems to suggest itself for a settlement" (Gvozdetsky, 1949. pp. 27-28). In 1896 studies were carried out in the south of the Ussuri region with a completely different type of landscape. “The tall trees of the Manchurian walnut were showered with flower earrings, venus slippers bloomed among the grasses of the oak forest ... the meadow and the forest, as it were, mutually permeate each other ... The virgin forests of this region are known among the local population under the name of cedar forests, according to the dominant species, But their composition is very diverse, some maples ... there are six of them ... ". In the same year, they worked on the territory of Manchuria. The way back to St. Petersburg also passed by sea through Odessa. In 1897, Komarov conducted research in North Korea and Manchuria. The capital three-volume work of Komarov was awarded the Przhevalsky Geographical Society Prize and the Baer Prize of the Academy of Sciences.

In the summer of 1902, Komarov directed research within the Eastern Sayan and Northern Mongolia. The route was laid around Lake Ubsugul and along the Tunkinsky graben. A number of forms of glacial relief have been identified. The materials of the expedition were included in the book "Introduction to the floras of China and Mongolia", published in 1908-1909. and defended as a doctoral dissertation.

In 1908, Komarov was in Kamchatka, explored the Paratunka valley, went by boat from the headwaters to the mouth of the Bolshaya River and in the opposite direction on a horse ... The following summer, he explored the Kamchatka River valley to the village of Shchapino, made the transition to Kronotsky lake, made observations in the craters of the Uzon and Krasheninnikov volcanoes. In 1912, Komarov's book "Journey through Kamchatka in 1908-1909" was published. The fundamental result of the trip was the three-volume book "Flora of Kamchatka", the publication of which was delayed until 1927-1930. Komarov identified six physical and geographical regions in Kamchatka: the plain of the western coast; western or stanovoy ridge; longitudinal dislocation valley; eastern ridge (Valaginskiye mountains); volcanic area; coast of the Bering Sea. This structure of the territorial division of the peninsula is also used in modern geographical descriptions.

In 1913, on the instructions of the Resettlement Administration, Komarov again visited the Ussuri Territory. He formulated a number of interesting conclusions about the history of the formation of vegetation in the Far East.

V.L. Komarov worked a lot and fruitfully in the Geographical Society, being its secretary for many years. He was also president of the Academy of Sciences.

Since 1902, a very enthusiastic person and a famous local historian have been studying Primorye, taiga forests and the mountains of Sikhote-Alin Vladimir Klavdievich Arseniev(1872 -1930). At first it was an acquaintance with the Southern Primorye. In 1906, he went to Sikhote-Alin, met Dersu Uzala, a wise Gold, who became Arseniev's guide and comrade in his wanderings through the Far Eastern taiga. In six months, Arseniev crossed the mountain range nine times, collected numerous collections of minerals, plants and animals, archaeological finds, compiled detailed map routes traveled. In 1907, Arseniev explored the central part of Primorye, the Bikin River basin, in 1908, the North of Sikhote-Alin. I had to endure cold and hunger, to escape from a forest fire.

In subsequent years, Arseniev processed the collected materials, organized a local history museum in Khabarovsk, and wrote books. “Across the Ussuri taiga”, “Dersu Uzala”, “In the wilds of the Ussuri region” enjoyed wide popularity. After civil war Arseniev visited Kamchatka and Komandory, popularized local history excursions and tourism.

yn boyarsky Semyon Ulyanovich Remezov, cartographer, historian and ethnographer, can rightfully be considered the first explorer of the Trans-Urals. Traveling on behalf of the Tobolsk authorities to collect dues in the central part of the West Siberian Plain and some other regions of the eastern slope of the Urals, that is, being, in his words, in "parcels", he created a scheme for studying these territories, which was later implemented in an expanded form during the work of the Academic detachments of the Great Northern Expedition.

At first (since 1682 - the first "premise") the description of the places visited was a secondary matter for S. Remezov. But since 1696, when he spent half a year as part of a military detachment (April - September) in the "waterless and impassable [hard-to-pass] stone steppe" beyond the river. Ishim, this occupation has become the main one. In the winter of 1696/97, with two assistants, he completed a survey of the Tobol basin (426 thousand km²). He drew the main river from the mouth to the top (1591 km), photographed its large tributaries (from 600 to 1030 km long) - the Tura, Tavda, Iset and a number of rivers flowing into them, including the Miass and Pyshma.

The cartographic image was also received by the river. Irtysh from the confluence of the Ob to the mouth of the river. Tara (about 1000 km) and its three tributaries, including the river. Ishim almost to the source (length 2450 km).

In 1701, Remezov finished compiling the "Drawing Book of Siberia" - a summary of geographical materials of the 17th century collected by many Russian knowledgeable people, including merchants and ambassadors, immediately before the era of Peter I. The "Drawing Book" played a huge role not only in history Russian, but also world cartography.

a special place in the history of the Russian state and science is occupied by the era of Peter I - the period of overcoming the economic and cultural backwardness of Rus'. The tsar was clearly aware that knowledge of the geography of the country and adjacent territories was indispensable for solving political and economic problems. He considered the compilation of general, that is, general maps, to be one of the priority measures. And the graduates of the School of Navigation and the Naval Academy created by Peter began the first instrumental surveys of Russia. At the initiative of Peter I, the scientific expeditionary method of research began to be applied in Russia for the first time.

A geodesist became a pioneer of survey work in Siberia Petr Chichagov, who graduated in 1719 from the Naval Academy. Large (more than 100 people) military unit led by a captain Andrey Urezov, from the mouth of the Irtysh on light ships rose with shooting to Lake Zaisan (August 21). Along the main river they went by oars, towline or under sail; 24 relatively large tributaries were examined by boats at a distance of 100–150 km. At the mouth of the river Uby, according to A. Urezov, is the western border of Altai - this also corresponds to our ideas. Then the detachment reached the mouth of the river. Kaba (near 86 ° E) and on September 3 returned to the lake, and on October 15 arrived in Tobolsk. The result of the work of P. Chichagov was the first map of the river. Irtysh for over 2000 km and, therefore, the first map of Western Siberia based on astronomical definitions.

In early May 1721, P. Chichagov was again sent to Western Siberia to continue surveying the basin of the river. Obi. It has not yet been established whether he had assistants and what was the size of his detachment. For three years - up to 1724 - P. Chichagov described the course main river from about 60° N. sh. to the mouth and its tributaries, including on the right the Vakh, Agan, Nazim, Kunovat, Poluy (on his map - the Obdorskaya River), on the left Vasyugan, Bolshoy Yugan and Bolshoi Salym.

Of the tributaries of the Irtysh, which were not studied in 1719, the Ishim was mapped 200 km from the mouth. He examined the Tobol system in great detail. In the south of the Baraba lowland, P. Chichagov photographed many lakes, among them Chany (near 55 ° N) with brackish water, as well as numerous swamps.

In 1727, he compiled a map of the Ob basin based on astronomical determinations of 1302 points; it is included in the atlas of I. K. Kirilov. The territory north of 62° N. sh., Drained pp. Nadym, Pur and Taz, as well as the Ob and Taz bays are depicted according to interrogation data - P. Chichagov did not shoot in these places.

In 1725–1730 he continued filming in the basin of the upper Ob, putting it on the map for 1000 km. Thus, the total length of the Ob current photographed by him was 3000 km. Above the mouth of the Chumysh, which flows out of the mountains (Salairsky Ridge), the course of the Ob, supposedly originating from Lake Teletskoye, was apparently plotted according to inquiries. In fact, the river follows from it. Biya, the right component of the Ob. Absence on the map Katun, the left component, and the Ob knee near 52° N. sh. allows us to conclude that P. Chichagov did not reach Lake Teletskoye. South of the characteristic column of the Ob near 54° N. sh. P. Chichagov showed the Kalmyk steppe (the Kulunda steppe and the Ob plateau of our maps). North of the river Chumysh he mapped many right tributaries of the Ob, including Inya, Tom, Chulym, Ket and Tym.

In the same years (1725–1730), P. Chichagov completed the first survey of the Yenisei basin: he filmed 2500 km of the main river from the confluence of the river. Oya near 53° N. sh. to the mouth. Upper Yenisei south of 53° N. sh. (up to 51 °) he inflicted but on inquiries. He continued surveying to the north and east, for the first time putting on the map 500 km of the coast of the Taimyr Peninsula to the mouth of the Pyasina - now this area is called the Petr Chichagov Coast. An inventory of the left tributaries of the Yenisei, including pp. Sym, Elogui and Turukhan, he completed the mapping of the territory of more than 2 million km², which is part of the West Siberian Plain, and clearly established that its eastern border is the Yenisei, the right bank of which is mountainous. True, he erroneously showed the bifurcation of the Taz and Yeloguy - in reality, the sources of the two tributaries of these rivers are nearby.

P. Chichagov completed the first surveys of the Minusinsk Basin, the Eastern Sayan and the Central Siberian Plateau, mapping the lower reaches of the Abakan, the left tributary of the Yenisei, a number of its right tributaries, including the Oyu, Tuba, Manu and Kan, as well as the Angara (filmed on 500 km above the mouth) with Taseeva and its components Chuna and Biryusa. More northern tributaries were examined by him only in the lower reaches - this is eloquently evidenced by their configuration. At 68° N. sh. P. Chichagov correctly showed the Norilsk Stone (Putorana Plateau), from which pp. Pyasina and Khatanga, as well as a number of tributaries of the Yenisei; all of them are applied by inquiries. The map of the Yenisei basin, based on 648 astronomical points, was completed by P. Chichagov in early August 1730. It was used in compiling a number of general maps of Russia until 1745 (Atlas Russian Empire). In 1735–1736 P. Chichagov took part in the expedition of I. K. Kirilov.

a white spot in the first quarter of the 18th century. represented the basin of the upper Yenisei, considered "disputed lands" between Russia and China. To map this mountainous country, located in the very center of Asia, Now it is the territory of the Tuva Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Khubsugul aimag of the MPR surveyors were sent Alexey Kushelev And Mikhail Zinoviev included in the embassy to China of the Russian diplomat Savva Lukich Raguzinsky-Vladislavich. In 1727, surveyors completed survey work: they mapped the upper course of the Yenisei, formed, according to their data, from the confluence of the Biy-Khem (right component) and Ka-Khem (left component, called by them "Shishkit"), for the first time correctly deciding the question of its origins.

The system of Biy-Khem, traced for more than 400 km from the source of the lake, In fact, the river originates 30 km to the northeast from Topographov Peak (3044 m) and passes through the lake. depicted correctly; photographed its large tributaries Azas, flowing through Lake Tot (Todzha), and Khamsara. The sources of Ka-Khem are correctly shown to the west of Lake Kosogol (Khubsugul), for the first time quite accurately - with a slight exaggeration - mapped. The length of Ka-Khem before the confluence with Biy-Khem according to their map practically corresponds to modern data (563 km). In the interfluve of the components of the upper Yenisei near 52 ° N. sh. surveyors traced the ridge, stretching for 350 km in the latitudinal direction (the ridge of Akademik Obruchev). From the left tributaries of the upper Yenisei, they filmed the Khemchik, Kantegir and Abakan, and from the right - Oya and Tuba. As a result of the work of A. Kushelev, M. Zinoviev and P. Chichagov, the entire Yenisei (about 4.1 thousand km), from its sources to its mouth, was put on the map for the first time.

Raguzinsky-Vladislavich, who was preparing an agreement with China on the Russian-Chinese delimitation, sent four surveyors to Transbaikalia - Peter Skobeltsyn, Vasily Shetilov, Ivan Svistunov And Dmitry Baskakov(it has not yet been established which parts of the region were filmed by each of them). By 1727, they mapped the middle and upper Argun with the tributaries Gazimur and Uryumkan, the entire course of the Shilka and its components, the Onon and Ingoda. Of the tributaries of the Ingoda, pp. Chita and Nercha. Thus, surveyors have studied, though far from completely, the systems of both components of the Amur. They also photographed the drainless lake Tarei (Zun-Torey, at 50 ° N and 116 ° E) from the river flowing into it. Uldzoy. 160 versts southwest of Tareus, they struck Lake Dalaynor and the Kerulen flowing through it with a tributary of the Hailar. Obviously, during the survey period, the water content of the Kerulen was increased, due to which the flow to the Argun appeared. Such cases are observed in our time. In the upper reaches, located on the territory of the PRC, the Argun is called Hailar; in rainy years, the river has a connection with Dalainor, whose area in the 20th century. increased significantly - to almost 1100 km². From the rivers of the Selenga system, the Khilok (almost two times shorter) with the Uda tributary was photographed.

from the "tales" of the first Russian explorers and the data of archaeological research of the XX century. we can conclude that in the middle of the XVII century. on the territory of the Amur region there was no developed agricultural and pastoral sedentary culture. The population of the region was very weak: Russian fur merchants and merchants, Cossacks and tramps - some in search of furs, others - freedom and peace - went there for a short or longer time, and a few settled permanently. The Moscow authorities, worried about the possibility of an invasion by the Manchus, rightly considered such a rate of settlement to be completely insufficient. In order to identify new "arable places" and accelerate the economic development of the region, Moscow sent a letter to Nerchinsk with instructions to examine and describe in detail the Zeya valley and its tributary Selemdzha.

This work was entrusted to the Cossack foreman Ignatius Mikhailovich Milovanov, from the 50s. who served in Transbaikalia. He set off from Nerchinsk in April 1681, examined the western outskirts of the Zeya-Bureya plain with forest-steppe landscapes, and recommended this virgin lands, now sometimes called "Amur prairies", for arable land. “And from the Zeya and from the Amur beyond the meadows below the Tom-river [Tom] the elani [virgin lands] are strong, big…”.

I. Milovanov also explored the southern part of the Amur-Zeya plateau, overgrown with larch and pine forests, birch and shrub oak: "... and along the Zeya and Selinba [Selemdzha] ... there is a lot of forest, you can melt [raft] on water." At the beginning of 1682, he completed an inventory of the "Zeya land", drew up its drawing and strengthened the prisons built earlier by the Russians. At the confluence of the Zeya into the Amur - on the Zeya Spit - he chose a place to lay the city. However, only in 1856 a military post arose here, which became the city of Blagoveshchensk two years later - upon the conclusion of the Aigun Treaty, which served as an impetus for the mass movement of Russian settlers in the Amur region.

Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt, doctor of medicine, a native of the city of Danzig (Gdansk), in 1716 was invited to Russia by Peter I to study "all three kingdoms of nature" in Siberia. In 1720, he went on the first government scientific expedition "to find all sorts of rarities and pharmaceutical things: herbs, flowers, roots and seeds."

In March 1721, from Tobolsk, he rode on a sleigh up the Irtysh to the mouth of the Tara and noted that the entire area he had traveled was "a continuous plain covered with forest." Quotations here and further from the work of D. Messerschmidt “Scientific Journey through Siberia. 1720-1727". Parts I–III and V, published in Berlin 1962–1977. On him. lang. He correctly pointed out that the city of Tara lies on a hill - indeed, there is a somewhat elevated northwestern edge of the Baraba steppe. D. Messerschmidt crossed it at approximately 56°N. sh. and, crossing the Ob, reached Tomsk. He described Baraba as a large plain with small lakes and swamps; near the Ob appeared "small hills, which cannot be found either in the middle or at the beginning of Baraba."

In July, on three skiffs, D. Messerschmidt climbed up the Tom, tracing almost its entire course, and found a mammoth skeleton in one of the coastal outcrops. Through the Kuznetsk Alatau and the northern part of the Abakan Range on horseback, he reached the river. Abakan (September 1721) and went to Krasnoyarsk (early 1722).

The result of the work in 1722 was the first study of the Kuznetsk Alatau and the Minusinsk depression. D. Messerschmidt described it as a pure steppe, hilly to the south and southwest, mountainous in some places, with a large number of small lakes, mounds and burial grounds. He discovered there the writing of the Khakass of the 7th-18th centuries. and the first to carry out archaeological excavations of a number of kurgans of the region.

In the summer of 1723, D. Messerschmidt sailed down the Yenisei to Turukhansk and ascended the Lower Tunguska to its upper reaches (near 58°N). He described the rapids, rapids (shivers), noted the mouths of 56 tributaries, determined the geographical latitude of 40 points and characterized the banks of the river for more than 2700 km, highlighting three sections.

On the latitudinal segment to the mouth of the river. Ilimpei Lower Tunguska flows among the rocks covered with forest (southern end of the Syverma plateau). On the meridional segment (up to about 60 ° N), both coasts first become flat-hilly, and then very flat - the eastern edge of the Central Tunguska plateau. In this area (near 60 ° 30 "N. Lat.), D. Messerschmidt discovered layers of coal. Beyond 60 ° N. Lat. and further south, the terrain again acquired a mountainous character - the northern end of the Angarsk Ridge. So, the route along the Lower Tunguska passed through the central part of the Central Siberian Plateau, and, consequently, D. Messerschmidt became its first scientific researcher.

September 16 D. Messerschmidt moved to carts and four days later reached the river. Lena at 108° E. From there, he went up in boats to its upper reaches, shooting, and arrived in Irkutsk by winter route. D. Messerschmidt was convinced that the flow of the upper Lena, shown on the map of N. Witsen, is completely untrue. On the left bank of the river, he noted the presence of the Berezovy Ridge (the notion of this most southern, as for a long time it was considered, upland of the Central Siberian Plateau, playing the role of the watershed of the Angara and Lena, existed until the 30s of the XX century).

In March 1724, D. Messerschmidt drove along the shore of Lake Baikal to the mouth of the Selenga on a sledge track. He noted that the river passes through the Baikal Mountains (the junction of the Khamar-Daban and Ulan-Burgasy ridges), and until the beginning of May he spent in Udinsk (Ulan-Ude). Then he crossed Transbaikalia to Nerchinsk at approximately 52°N. sh. with parking at small lakes or in prisons. Along the way, he examined the mines and springs, described several species of animals, including the steppe sheep, and on the banks of the Ingoda, he was the first in Siberia to discover crayfish, unknown to the inhabitants of the region.

From Nerchinsk, in mid-August, he headed southeast to Lake Dalainor (Khulunchi) "along a completely flat steppe, in which ... not a mound, a tree, or a bush is visible to the very horizon." He correctly noted that the lake is elongated to the southwest; its shores are "everywhere ... very flat and ... swampy ... the bottom is muddy, the water is white and contains a lot of lime ...". At Dalainor, interpreters and guides fled from Messerschmidt; he got lost, and had to starve. Having decided, he moved to the north-west along the bare hilly steppe, but was detained by the Mongol detachment. Two weeks later he was released and under pp. Onon and Ingoda, he reached Chita, and in April 1725 he returned to Irkutsk.

The route from Irkutsk to Yeniseisk took about three weeks: while sailing along the Angara, D. Messerschmidt photographed the entire river, determining its length at 2029 versts, that is, it overestimated it by almost a quarter: the true one is 1779 km. He described all its rapids, relatively easily overcome by him (except for Padun), - the water in the Angara was high that year.

In mid-August, D. Messerschmidt from Yeniseisk reached the river. Keti and swam along it to the Ob. He used the descent along the Ob for shooting, fixing the numerous bends of the river. At the beginning of October he reached Surgut; the onset of frost and freezing forced him to wait a whole month under the open sky for a toboggan run. In November, along the Ob, he arrived in Samarov (Khanty-Mansiysk) on the Irtysh near its mouth. On behalf of D. Messerschmidt, a captured Swedish officer Philipp Johan Tabbert (Stralenberg) made an inventory of the Ob between the mouths of the Tom and Keti, and thus the length of the river flow they photographed was more than 1300 km. F. Tabbert took part in archaeological excavations in the Minusinsk Basin and photographed the Yenisei on the segment Krasnoyarsk - Yeniseisk. But his main work is the compilation of a map of Siberia, based mainly on interrogation data.

In March 1727, D. Messerschmidt returned to St. Petersburg, having completed a seven-year journey that marked the beginning of a systematic study of Siberia, he showed exceptional diligence: traveling mostly alone, he collected large botanical-zoological, mineralogical, ethnographic and archaeological collections (most of them died during a fire in the building of the Academy of Sciences in 1747). In Siberia, he was the first to discover permafrost - a very large geographical discovery. According to his surveys, he established that the images of the Ob, Angara, Lower Tunguska on previous maps were far from reality. The result of the trip was the ten-volume "Review of Siberia, or Three tables of simple kingdoms of nature" - a Latin manuscript, which is stored in the Academy of Sciences. Although this "Overview..." was not translated or published in Russian, it was used by many Russian explorers of Siberia of various specialties.

When Peter I found out that the "sea route" between Okhotsk and Kamchatka was established, he decided to organize an expedition to search for the coast of North America "neighboring" the peninsula. The tsar's erroneous idea of ​​​​their proximity can obviously be explained by the fact that he got acquainted with the map of M. Friz, who discovered the "Land of the Company" (O. Urup of the Kuril ridge), which he took for the western ledge of the North American continent.

In 1719, Peter I ordered that surveyors Ivan Mikhailovich Evreinov And Fyodor Fyodorovich Luzhin, who studied at the Naval Academy, passed the exams ahead of schedule full course training, and sent them at the head of a detachment of 20 people to the Far East with a secret mission "...to Kamchatka and beyond, where you are indicated, and describe the places where America and Asia converged ...". Crossing Siberia along a route about 6,000 km long, surveyors measured distances and determined the coordinates of 33 points.

In Okhotsk, in the summer of 1720, a feeder joined them. Kondraty Moshkov. In September 1720, they crossed on lodia to Kamchatka at the mouth of the Icha, and from there to the south, to the river. Kolpakova, where they spent the winter. In May–June 1721, they sailed from Bolsheretsk to the southwest and for the first time reached the central group of the Kuril Islands up to and including Simushir. I. Evreinov and F. Luzhin mapped 14 islands, but did not find a continuous coast of the continent. They could not continue to work to the north, as well as “east and west”, as required by the instructions of Peter I, they could not: their ship was badly damaged by a storm. Therefore, they were forced to return to Siberia. From there, I. Evreinov went to Kazan, where at the end of 1722 he presented Peter I with a report and a map of Siberia, Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands. It was the second map of Siberia, based on accurate - for that time - measurements.

almost before his death, at the end of 1724, Peter I remembered “... what he had been thinking about for a long time and that other things prevented him from doing, that is, about the road through the Arctic Sea to China and India ... Shall we not happier than the Dutch and the English in exploring such a path?...”. We emphasize that it is precisely “research”, and not “discovery”, that is, discovery: on the geographical drawings of the beginning of the 18th century. Chukotka was shown as a peninsula. Consequently, Peter I and his advisers knew about the existence of a strait between Asia and America. He immediately drew up an order for an expedition, the head of which was appointed captain of the 1st rank, later - captain-commander, Vitus Johnssen (aka Ivan Ivanovich) Bering, a native of Denmark, forty-four years old, has been in the Russian service for twenty-one years. According to a secret instruction written by Peter I himself, Bering had to "... in Kamchatka or in another ... place to make one or two boats with decks"; on these boats to sail "near the land that goes to the north [north] ... to look for where it met with America ... and to visit the coast ourselves ... and put it on the map, come here."

What land stretching to the north did Peter I have in mind? According to B.P. Polevoy, the king had at his disposal a map of Kamchadalia, compiled in 1722 by a Nuremberg cartographer I. B. Goman(more correctly Homan). On it near the coast of Kamchatka, a large landmass is plotted, stretching in a northwestern direction. Peter I wrote about this mythical "Land of João da Gama".

The first Kamchatka expedition initially consisted of 34 people. The number of participants, including soldiers, artisans and workers, sometimes reached almost 400 people. From St. Petersburg, having set off on the road on January 24, 1725, through Siberia, they walked for two years to Okhotsk on horseback, on foot, on ships along the rivers. The last part of the journey (more than 500 km) - from the mouth of the Yudoma to Okhotsk - the most bulky things were carried on sleds drawn by people. The frosts were severe, provisions were depleted. The team was freezing, starving; people ate carrion, gnawed leather things. 15 people died on the way, many deserted.

Biographical index

Behring, Vitus Johansen

Russian navigator of Dutch origin, captain-commander, explorer of the northeast coast of Asia, Kamchatka, seas and lands of the northern part of the Pacific, northwestern coasts of America, leader of the 1st (1725–1730) and 2nd (1733) –1743) Kamchatka expeditions.

The advance detachment led by V. Bering arrived in Okhotsk on October 1, 1726. Only on January 6, 1727 did the last group of the lieutenant get there Martin Petrovich Shpanberg, a native of Denmark; she suffered more than others. There was nowhere for the expedition to stay in Okhotsk - they had to build huts and sheds in order to survive until the end of winter.

During a journey of many thousands of miles through Russia, Lieutenant Alexei Ilyich Chirikov determined 28 astronomical points, which made it possible for the first time to reveal the true latitudinal extent of Siberia, and, consequently, the northern part of Eurasia.

At the beginning of September 1727, on two small ships, the expedition moved to Bolsheretsk. From there, a significant part of the cargo before the start of winter was transported to Nizhnekolymsk on boats (boats) along pp. Bystraya and Kamchatka, and in winter the rest was transferred by dog ​​sled. Dogs were taken away from the Kamchadals, and many of them were ruined and doomed to starvation.

In Nizhnekamchatsk, by the summer of 1728, the construction of the boat “St. Gabriel", on which the expedition went to sea on July 14. Instead of passing from Kamchatka to the south (this direction was the first in the instructions) or to the east, V. Bering sent the ship north along the coast of the peninsula (wrong - he himself soon admitted this - having understood Peter's thought), and then to the north - east along the mainland. As a result, more than 600 km of the northern half of the eastern coast of the peninsula were photographed, the Kamchatsky and Ozernoy peninsulas, as well as the Karaginsky Bay with the island of the same name (these objects were not named on the map of the expedition, and their outlines were greatly distorted). The sailors also put on the map 2500 km of the coastline of Northeast Asia. Along most of the coast they marked high mountains, and covered with snow in summer, approaching in many places directly to the sea and towering above it like a wall.

On the southern coast of the Chukchi Peninsula, on July 31 - August 10, they discovered the Gulf of the Cross (secondarily after K. Ivanov), Providence Bay and about. St. Lawrence. V. Bering did not land on the island and did not approach the Chukchi coast, but moved to the northeast.

The weather was windy and foggy. The sailors saw the land in the west only on the afternoon of August 12. On the evening of the next day, when the ship was at 65 ° 30 "N. latitude, i.e. south of the latitude of Cape Dezhnev (66 ° 05"), V. Bering, not seeing either the American coast or the turn to the west of the Chukchi, called to to the cabin of A. Chirikov and M. Spanberg. He ordered them to write down their opinion as to whether the presence of a strait between Asia and America could be considered proven, whether to move further north and how far.

A. Chirikov believed that it is impossible to know for certain whether Asia is separated from America by the sea, if you do not reach the mouth of the Kolyma or to the ice "... that they always walk in the North Sea." He advised to go "near the earth ... to the places shown in the decree" of Peter I. L. Chirikov had in mind that part of the instruction, where it was instructed to go to the possessions of European states. If the coast extends to the north or contrary winds begin, then on August 25 it is best to look for a place "against the Chukchi Nose, on the ground ... [where] there is a forest." In other words, Chirikov advised to move without fail along the coast, if the ice does not interfere or it does not turn to the west, and to find a place for wintering on the American coast, that is, in Alaska, where, according to the testimony of the Chukchi, there is a forest and, therefore, you can prepare firewood for the winter.

M. Shpanberg proposed, due to the late time, to go north until August 16, and then turn back and spend the winter in Kamchatka. Bering decided to move further north. On the afternoon of August 14, when it cleared up for a while, the sailors saw land in the south, obviously, about. Ratmanov, and a little later almost to the west - high mountains (most likely Cape Dezhnev). On August 16, the expedition reached latitude 67 ° 18 ", and according to calculations A. A. Sopotsko, - 67 ° 24 "N. In other words, the sailors passed the strait and were already in the Chukchi Sea. In the Bering Strait and (earlier) in the Gulf of Anadyr, they performed the first depth measurements - a total of 26 measurements. Then Bering turned back, showing a reasonable He officially justified his decision by the fact that everything was done according to the instructions, the coast does not extend further to the north, and “nothing came to the Chukchi, or Eastern, corner [cape] of the earth.” The return journey took only two weeks; On the way, the expedition discovered one of the Diomede Islands in the strait.

Bering spent another winter in Nizhnekamchatsk. In the summer of 1729, he made a feeble attempt to reach the American coast, but on June 8, three days after going to sea, having traveled a little more than 200 km to the east in general, due to strong wind and fog ordered to return. Soon, however, clear weather set in, but the captain-commander did not change his decision, went around Kamchatka from the south and arrived in Okhotsk on July 24. In the summer of 1977, the yachts "Rodina" and "Russia" passed along the routes of V. Bering. During this voyage, the expedition described the southern half of the eastern and a small part of the western coast of the peninsula for more than 1000 km between the mouths of Kamchatka and Bolshaya, revealing the Kamchatka Bay and Avacha Bay. Taking into account the work of 1728, the survey for the first time covered over 3.5 thousand km of the western coast of the sea, later called the Bering Sea.

Bering arrived in Petersburg seven months later after a five-year absence. He did not solve the main problem, but nevertheless completed the discovery of the northeastern coast of Asia. He compiled the final navigation map together with A. Chirikov and midshipman Pyotr Avraamovich Chaplin. This map, highly appreciated by such a specialist as D. Cook, significantly exceeded its predecessors in terms of accuracy and reliability of depicting the coast in cases where the ship was moving near the coast. Of course, the map had a number of errors. Kamchatka, for example, is greatly shortened, the Gulf of Anadyr is very small, and the outlines of the Chukotka Peninsula are incorrect. It "not only influenced European cartography, but became a solid basis for depicting the northeast of Asia on all ... Western European maps" (E. G. Kushnarev).

The ship's journal, which was kept by A. Chirikov and P. Chaplin ("Journal of being in the Kamchatka expedition"), is an important primary source on the history of the first marine scientific expedition in Russia.

about the decision of the Senate for the "calling to citizenship" of the Koryaks and Chukchi, survey and accession to the Russian possessions of new lands in the Pacific Ocean in June 1727, an expedition headed by the Yakut Cossack head (colonel) headed from St. Petersburg Afanasy Fedotovich Shestakov. In Tobolsk, a surveyor joined him Mikhail Spiridonovich Gvozdev, navigator Ivan Fedorov and captain Dmitry Ivanovich Pavlutsky with a detachment of 400 Cossacks. The expedition arrived in the Okhotsk prison in 1729. From there, in the autumn of that year, Shestakov crossed by sea to the Taui Bay and, at the head of a large party (more than 100 people, including only 18 servicemen), set out to the northeast at the end of November. He moved along southern slopes Kolyma Highlands, collecting yasak from the Koryaks who had not yet fallen under the "royal hand", and according to the old "tradition" he took amanats. On the way, he learned that shortly before the arrival of the Russians, the inhabitants, now subjects of the Russian sovereign, were attacked by "non-peaceful" Chukchi. Shestakov hurried in pursuit and, not far from the mouth of the Penzhina, died in battle on May 14, 1730. He traveled more than 1000 km through unexplored places.

A member of the Great Northern Expedition, translator Yakov Ivanovich Lindenau in 1742 compiled a map of the Northeast of Asia and Kamchatka. On the basis of the materials of A. Shestakov, the yasak collector A. Pezhemsky, who worked on behalf of J. Lindenau, and his own data between the Okhotsk prison and the top of the Penzhinskaya Bay, i.e., for more than 2000 km, he inflicted the Taigonos Peninsula, and about 30 short rivers flowing into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, as well as into the river. Penzhin. The watershed between them and the Kolyma basin is clearly shown - the Kolyma Highlands and the mountains to the south-west, located in the upper reaches of the Kolyma.

A. Shestakov's successor was D. Pavlutsky, who committed in 1731-1746. at the head of a military detachment, three campaigns but the Chukchi Plateau and the coast of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. The first campaign (March-October 1731): from Nizhnekolymsk, through the upper reaches of the tributaries of the Great Anyui and Anadyr, D. Pavlutsky arrived in the Anadyr prison. His detachment of 435 people, including 215 servicemen, went from there to the northeast to the mouth of the Belaya, the left tributary of the Anadyr. Along its valley, Pavlutsky ascended to the sources (moving very slowly - no more than 10 km per day) and, having crossed into the basin of the rapids Amguema, in early May, he reached the coast of the Chukchi Sea near 178 ° W. e. He planned to bypass the entire Chukchi Peninsula and turned east along the coast. Soon he discovered a small bay, which for some reason had to be bypassed at night, and then another, much larger, with steep banks (Kolyuchinskaya Bay) - it was crossed on ice.

The route along the coast continued until the beginning of June, possibly to the vicinity of Cape Dezhnev. The first clash with a large detachment of the Chukchi, who lost the battle and suffered heavy losses, also dates back to this time.

D. Pavlutsky left the seashore and for three weeks walked to the south-west through a deserted and treeless mountainous area. On June 30, a new, larger detachment of Chukchi unexpectedly appeared. In the ensuing battle, having lost many soldiers, the Chukchi retreated. From the prisoners, D. Pavlutsky learned about the location of a very large herd of deer and captured up to 40 thousand heads. Without "adventures" he reached the Gulf of Anadyr at about 175° W. and turned west. Near a mountainous cape in mid-July, the Chukchi attacked the Russians again and were again defeated.

The detachment of D. Pavlutsky rounded the Gulf of the Cross and along the northern outskirts of the Anadyr lowland returned to the Anadyr prison on October 21, having completed the first survey of the inland regions of the Chukotka Peninsula (an area of ​​​​about 80 thousand km²). Upon his return, the captain sent a report to the Tobolsk authorities, in which he gave a very unflattering description of the territory he had examined: “Chukhotia [Chukotka Peninsula]... empty land; there are no forests, no other lands, no fish and animal industries, but quite [many] stone mountains [Chukotka highland] and sherlobs [rocks, cliffs] and water, and more ... there is nothing ... ". Quotations from A. Sgibnev's article "Shestakov's Expedition" (Marine collection, g. 100. . No. 2, February. Sbp., 1869). He spoke very respectfully about his opponent: “The Chukchi people are strong, tall, brave ... strong build, reasonable, fair, warlike, loving freedom and not tolerating deceit, vengeful, and during the war, being in a dangerous situation, they kill themselves” .

After a long break, in the summer of 1744, D. Pavlutsky made a second trip across Chukotka to pacify the Chukchi: from the Anadyr prison, at the head of a detachment, he proceeded through the top of the Krest Bay to the east - to the Mechigmen Bay, and then "around" the Chukchi Peninsula, i.e. along the coast, to the Kolyuchinskaya Bay. They returned home by the old (1731) way. During the campaigns of 1731 and 1744. his detachment for the first time completed a quadruple crossing of the Chukchi Plateau.

In 1746, D. Pavlutsky made a third trip: he climbed to the sources of Anadyr, crossed the mountains (the Ilirney ridge of our maps) and went to the Chaun Bay along one of the rivers. Along its eastern shore, the detachment proceeded to Cape Shelagsky: from there they managed to see an island (Ayon) lying at the entrance to the bay. Along the coast of the ocean D. Pavlutsky went east for some distance and turned back.

Ensign took part in all three campaigns Timofey Perevalov, who, with some interruptions, surveyed the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula, the shores of the Chukchi and East Siberian Seas over a distance of more than 1500 km. He first mapped the Mechigmen Bay (Tenyakha Bay), the Kolyuchinskaya Bay (Anakhya), several small lagoons and the Chaun Bay from about. Ayon. True, there is an opinion that Tenyakha Bay is a smaller Gulf of Lawrence, located a little to the north.

The drawing drawn up by T. Perevalov clearly shows a mountainous peninsula ending with Cape Shelagsky. He filled the interior regions of Chukotka (the Chukotka Highlands) with mountains and showed the Anadyr with several left tributaries, as well as many short rivers of the basins of the Pacific and Arctic Oceans - of the largest, we note pp. Amguemu and Palyavaam.

Gvozdev and Fedorov - the discoverers of Northwest America

E

Back in 1730, D. Pavlutsky sent two ships from Okhotsk to impose yasak on the inhabitants of the “Great Land”, which was supposed to be located east of the mouth of the Anadyr. One ship crashed off the coast of Kamchatka. After two winterings on the peninsula (in Bolsheretsk and Nizhnekamchatsk), the expedition on the surviving boat “St. Gabriel "(V. Bering sailed on it in 1728) on July 23, 1732, she went to explore the" Big Earth ". The surveyor M. Gvozdev led the campaign, For a long time it was believed that I. Fedorov and M. Gvozdev had equal morals on board. This seemed to be confirmed by the facts - the reports of M. Gvozdev himself. But in 1980, L.A. Goldenberg discovered D. Pavlutsky’s order dated February 11, 1732, according to which M. Gvozdev was appointed the sole leader of the voyage. the navigator was seriously ill with scurvy I. Fedorov, transferred to the ship "against his will." There were 39 people on board the boat, including the navigator K. Moshkov, the sailor I. Evreinova and F. Luzhina.

On August 15, the boat entered the Bering Strait. Gvozdev landed on the Asian coast of the strait and on the Diomede Islands, completing their discovery. August 21 "St. Gabriel" with a fair wind approached " big earth- Cape Prince of Wales, the northwestern tip of America. On the coast, sailors saw residential yurts. There is conflicting information about the further route of the expedition. Lagbukh, ie. the sailing log, and the reports of M. Gvozdev, submitted to D. Pavlutsky upon his return, have not been preserved. A number of researchers, referring to a later - September 1, 1743 - report by M. Gvozdev (I. Fedorov died in February 1733), believe that on August 22, 1732, heading strictly south from Cape Prince of Wales, on the way back at 65° N. sh. and 168° W. d. "St. Gabriel" discovered a small piece of land - Fr. King (the name was later given by D. Cook), but due to strong seas, it was not possible to land on the shore. The boat arrived in Kamchatka on September 28, 1732.

However, the testimony of Cossack Ivan Skurikhin, a participant in the voyage, recorded, however, 10 years after the end of the expedition, is in clear contradiction with the above version. According to I. Skurikhin, from Cape Prince of Wales “St. Gabriel "moved" near that land [along the coast] to the left side [southeast] ... for five days, but [we] could not see the end of that land ... ". He also reported on the wooded shores of the newly discovered country - “the forest on that great land: larch, spruce and poplar forests, and there are many deer” - the coast of the Bering Strait is treeless, trees grow along the shores of Norton Bay. Thus, the conclusion suggests itself: the expedition rounded the Seward Peninsula from the southwest and entered Norton Bay, and from there moved to Kamchatka.

So, the opening of the strait between Asia and America, begun by Popov and Dezhnev, was completed, not by V. Bering, whose name this strait is named, but by Gvozdev and Fedorov: they examined both banks of the strait, the islands located in it, and collected all the materials necessary for this to put the strait on the map.

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It was in the 17th century that it became widespread. Enterprising merchants, travelers, adventurers and Cossacks were heading east. At this time, the oldest Russians were founded, some of them are now megacities.

Trade in Siberian furs

The first detachment of Cossacks appeared in Siberia during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The army of the famous ataman Yermak fought with the Tatar Khanate in the Ob basin. It was then that Tobolsk was founded. At the turn of the XVI and XVII centuries. Time of Troubles began in Russia. Due to the economic crisis, famine and the military intervention of Poland, as well as peasant uprisings, the economic development of distant Siberia was suspended.

Only when the Romanov dynasty came to power, and order was restored in the country, did the active population again direct their gaze to the east, where vast spaces were empty. In the 17th century, the development of Siberia was carried out for the sake of furs. Fur was valued in European markets worth its weight in gold. Those wishing to cash in on trade organized hunting expeditions.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Russian colonization mainly affected the taiga and tundra regions. Firstly, it was there that valuable furs were located. Secondly, the steppes and forest-steppes were too dangerous for the settlers because of the threat of invasions by local nomads. Fragments of the Mongol Empire and Kazakh khanates continued to exist in this region, the inhabitants of which considered the Russians to be their natural enemies.

Yenisei expeditions

On the northern route, the settlement of Siberia was more intense. At the end of the 16th century, the first expeditions reached the Yenisei. In 1607, the city of Turukhansk was built on its shore. For a long time it was the main transit point and springboard for the further advancement of Russian colonists to the east.

Industrialists were looking for sable fur here. Over time, the number of wild animals has decreased significantly. It became an incentive to move on. The Yenisei tributaries Nizhnyaya Tunguska and Podkamennaya Tunguska were guiding arteries deep into Siberia. At that time, cities were just winter quarters where industrialists stopped to sell their goods or wait out severe frosts. In spring and summer, they left the camps and hunted for furs almost all year round.

Pyanda's journey

In 1623, the legendary traveler Pyanda reached the banks of the Lena. Almost nothing is known about the identity of this man. A few information about his expedition was passed by industrialists by word of mouth. Their stories were recorded by the historian Gerard Miller already in the Petrine era. The exotic name of the traveler can be explained by the fact that he belonged to the Pomors by nationality.

In 1632, on the site of one of his winter quarters, the Cossacks founded a prison, which was soon renamed Yakutsk. The city became the center of the newly created voivodeship. The first Cossack garrisons faced the hostile attitude of the Yakuts, who even tried to besiege the settlement. In the 17th century, the development of Siberia and its most distant frontiers was controlled from this city, which became the northeastern border of the country.

Character of colonization

It is important to note that colonization at that time was of a spontaneous and popular nature. At first, the state practically did not interfere in this process in any way. People went east on their own initiative, taking all the risks on themselves. As a rule, they were driven by the desire to make money on trading. Also, peasants who fled from their native places, fleeing from serfdom, rushed to the east. The desire to gain freedom pushed thousands of people into unexplored spaces, which made a huge contribution to the development of Siberia and the Far East. The 17th century gave the peasants the opportunity to start a new life in a new land.

The villagers had to go to a real labor feat in order to start a farm in Siberia. The steppe was occupied by nomads, and the tundra turned out to be unsuitable for cultivating the land. Therefore, the peasants had to arrange arable land in dense forests with their own hands, winning plot after plot from nature. Only purposeful and energetic people could cope with such work. The authorities sent detachments of service people after the colonists. They did not so much discover lands as they were engaged in the development of those already open, and were also responsible for security and tax collection. That is how a prison was built in the southern direction, on the banks of the Yenisei, to protect civilians, which later became the rich city of Krasnoyarsk. This happened in 1628.

Dezhnev's activities

The history of the development of Siberia imprinted on its pages the names of many brave travelers who spent years of their lives on risky ventures. One of these pioneers was Semyon Dezhnev. This Cossack ataman was from Veliky Ustyug, and went east to engage in fur hunting and trade. He was a skilled navigator and spent most of his active life in the northeast of Siberia.

In 1638 Dezhnev moved to Yakutsk. His closest associate was Pyotr Beketov, who founded such cities as Chita and Nerchinsk. Semyon Dezhnev was engaged in collecting yasak from the indigenous peoples of Yakutia. It was a special type of tax imposed by the state for the natives. Payments were often violated, as local princes periodically rebelled, not wanting to recognize Russian power. It was for such a case that detachments of Cossacks were needed.

Ships in the Arctic seas

Dezhnev was one of the first travelers who visited the banks of rivers flowing into the Arctic seas. We are talking about such arteries as Yana, Indigirka, Alazeya, Anadyr, etc.

Russian colonists penetrated into the basins of these rivers in the following way. First, the ships descended along the Lena. Having reached the sea, the ships went east along the continental coasts. So they fell into the mouths of other rivers, rising along which, the Cossacks found themselves in the most uninhabited and outlandish places in Siberia.

Opening of Chukotka

Dezhnev's main achievements were his expeditions to Kolyma and Chukotka. In 1648 he went to the North to find places where he could get a valuable walrus bone. His expedition was the first to reach here Eurasia ended and America began. The strait separating Alaska from Chukotka was not known to the colonialists. Already 80 years after Dezhnev, Bering's scientific expedition, organized by Peter I, visited here.

The journey of desperate Cossacks lasted 16 years. It took another 4 years to return to Moscow. There, Semyon Dezhnev received all the money due to him from the tsar himself. But the importance of his geographical discovery became clear after the death of the brave traveler.

Khabarov on the banks of the Amur

If Dezhnev conquered new frontiers in the northeast direction, then in the south there was a hero. They became Erofey Khabarov. This discoverer became famous after he discovered salt mines on the banks of the Kuta River in 1639. was not only an outstanding traveler, but also a good organizer. The former peasant founded the salt production in the modern Irkutsk region.

In 1649, the Yakut governor made Khabarov the commander of a Cossack detachment sent to Dauria. It was a remote and poorly explored region on the borders with the Chinese Empire. Natives lived in Dauria, who could not offer serious resistance to Russian expansion. Local princelings voluntarily passed into the citizenship of the king, after a detachment of Erofei Khabarov turned out to be on their lands.

However, the Cossacks had to turn back when the Manchus came into conflict with them. They lived on the banks of the Amur. Khabarov made several attempts to gain a foothold in this region by building fortified fortresses. Due to the confusion in the documents of that era, it is still not clear when and where the famous pioneer died. But, despite this, the memory of him was alive among the people, and much later, in the 19th century, one of the Russian cities based on the Amur was named Khabarovsk.

Disputes with China

The South Siberian tribes, passing into the citizenship of Russia, did this in order to escape the expansion of the wild Mongol hordes, who lived only by war and the ruin of their neighbors. Duchers and Daurs suffered especially. In the second half of the 17th century, the foreign policy situation in the region became even more complicated after the restless Manchus captured China.

The emperors of the new Qing Dynasty began aggressive campaigns against the peoples living nearby. Russian government tried to avoid conflicts with China, because of which the development of Siberia could suffer. In short, diplomatic uncertainty in the Far East persisted throughout the 17th century. It wasn't until the next century that states entered into a treaty that formally defined the borders of countries.

Vladimir Atlasov

In the middle of the 17th century, Russian colonists learned about the existence of Kamchatka. This territory of Siberia was shrouded in secrets and rumors, which only multiplied over time due to the fact that this region remained inaccessible even to the most daring and enterprising Cossack detachments.

"Kamchatsky Ermak" (in the words of Pushkin) was the explorer Vladimir Atlasov. In his youth, he was a yasak collector. public service was given to him easily, and in 1695 the Yakut Cossack became a clerk in the distant Anadyr prison.

His dream was Kamchatka... Having found out about it, Atlasov began to prepare an expedition to a distant peninsula. Without this enterprise, the development of Siberia would be incomplete. The year of preparation and collection of the necessary things was not in vain, and in 1697 the trained detachment of Atlasov set off.

Exploration of Kamchatka

The Cossacks crossed the Koryak Mountains and, having reached Kamchatka, were divided into two parts. One detachment went along the western coast, the other studied the east coast. Having reached the southern tip of the peninsula, Atlasov saw from afar the islands previously unknown to Russian explorers. It was the Kuril archipelago. In the same place, among the Kamchadals in captivity, a Japanese named Denbey was discovered. was shipwrecked and fell into the hands of the natives. The liberated Denbey went to Moscow and even met with Peter I. He became the first Japanese that the Russians had ever met. His stories about his native country were popular subjects of conversation and gossip in the capital.

Atlasov, having returned to Yakutsk, prepared the first written description of Kamchatka in Russian. These materials were called "fairy tales". They were accompanied by maps compiled during the expedition. For a successful campaign in Moscow, he was awarded a reward of one hundred rubles. Atlasov also became a Cossack head. A few years later he returned to Kamchatka once again. The famous pioneer died in 1711 during a Cossack riot.

Thanks to such people, in the 17th century, the development of Siberia became a profitable and useful enterprise for the whole country. It was in this century that the distant land was finally annexed to Russia.

Kapustyan Xenia

Travelers who studied Siberia and the Far East:

BERG LEV SEMENOVICH

DEZHNEV SEMEN IVANOVICH

Przhevalsky Nikolai Mikhailovich

SEMENOV-TIAN-SHANSKY PETER PETROVICH

FERSMAN ALEXANDER EVGENIEVICH

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Theme: Travelers,

studied Siberia and the Far East.

Completed by: student 5A

class MBOU lyceum №1

Kapustyan Xenia

1. BERG LEV SEMENOVICH……………………………………………...1
2. DEZHNEV SEMEN IVANOVICH……………………………………….2
3. PRZHEVALSKY NIKOLAI MIKHAILOVICH…………………………..3
4. SEMENOV-TIAN-SHANSKY PETER PETROVICH…………………….....5
5. FERSMAN ALEXANDER EVGENIEVICH…………………………...…..7

BERG LEV SEMENOVICH (1876-1950)

Domestic biologist and geographer, created classic works on ichthyology (the study of fish), lake science, and the theory of the evolution of life.

L.S. Berg traveled a lot and participated in expeditions,explored the lakes of Western Siberia, Ladoga, Balkhash, Issyk-Kul, Baikal , Aral Sea. He was the first to measure the temperature at different depths of this large lake-sea, studied the currents, the composition of the water, geological structure and relief of its coasts. He established that standing waves - seiches - are formed in the Aral Sea.

L.S. Berg wrote more than 1000 works; the largest of them are "Nature of the USSR", "Geographical zones of the USSR", thanks to which the doctrine of natural zones was raised to a high scientific level. “... And when did he manage to find out all this and think it over so seriously?” - Professor of Moscow University D.N. Anuchin wrote about his friend and student L.S. Berg. Berg's work "The Aral Sea" was presented by the author in 1909 to Moscow University as a master's thesis. At the suggestion of D.N. Anuchin L.S. Berg was awarded the degree of Doctor of Geographical Sciences;

He devoted a lot of time to pedagogical and social work, was an honorary member of many scientific societies, foreign and Russian.

Berg's name was given to a volcano on the Kuril Islands, glaciers in the Pamirs and in the Dzungarian Alatau.

DEZHNEV SEMYON IVANOVICH (c. 1605 - 1673)

Russian polar sailor.

S.I. Dezhnev was probably born in Veliky Ustyug. In the early 1940s he went to Siberia and with a detachment of Cossacks he ended up in Yakutsk, from where he made long trips to the rivers Yana, Kolyma, etc .; sailed by sea from the mouth of the Kolyma to the mouth of the Lena River. But he was especially attracted to the Anadyr River, where, according to rumors, there were many walrus tusks. The Cossacks more than once tried to go by sea to Anadyr, but the harsh ocean met people with impenetrable ice. The first attempt, made by Dezhnev's detachment in the summer of 1647, ended in failure.

In June 1648, a detachment under the command of S.I. Dezhnev decided to repeat his last year's path. At first, the voyage was successful, but beyond Shelagsky Cape, sailors got into a severe storm, two kochas (small ships) were washed ashore. The remaining five ships managed to reach the cape, later named after Dezhnev.

The sailors made their next stop at the Chukchi Cape, but the Chukchi met the sailors unfriendly. Then on September 20 they went to sea and again fell into a storm. The ships were scattered in the roaring sea. The ship on which Dezhnev was on October 1 was thrown ashore in the region of Olyutorsky Bay. 25 people went ashore. Soon they set off in search of the Anadyr River. On the way there, half of the explorers died, and only 13 people reached the mouth of the Anadyr.

At the mouth of the Anadyr River, S.I. Dezhnev founded a prison, where he lived for 10 years. Not far from this place, he found a scythe studded with walrus tusks. Twice S.I. Dezhnev traveled to Moscow to deliver furs and tuskswalrus. During his first stay there, in 1665, he was "turned over for blood and wounds" to chieftains and appointed clerk in Olenyok. During the second journey, in 1673, he fell ill and died.

Dezhnev's main merit is that he opened the strait between Asia and America; the extreme point of Eurasia on the Chukchi Peninsula, Cape Dezhnev, is named after him; a ridge in Chukotka, a bay on the coast of the Bering Sea.

Przhevalsky Nikolai Mikhailovich

(1839-1888) - Russian traveler who participated in the exploration of Central Asia.

At the age of sixteen, after graduating from high school, N.M. Przhevalsky volunteered for military service, and after 6 years he was enrolled as a student at the Academy of the General Staff. Having brilliantly finished it, the young officer began to teach geography and history at the Warsaw Junker School. All his free time he prepared for travel: he studied botany, zoology, and compiled herbariums.

His first trip was toUssuri region,where he studied nature and population. Przhevalsky saw amazing places. After all, no step, no look - everything is new, unusual. A northern spruce stands entwined with southern grapes, like a New Year's garland, a mighty Siberian cedar is next to a cork tree, a sable darts in search of prey, and a tiger immediately hunts - this can only be seen in the Ussuri taiga. N.M. Przhevalsky spoke about the results of his expedition in a book-report. During the journey, he collected the richest collection of plants and animals. It was very difficult to keep it: either it rained on the neck in the taiga day and night and moisture penetrated everywhere, or the cold chilled, hindered movement, not letting go far from the fire.

After a successful Ussuri journey, the Russian Geographical Society sends N.M. Przhevalsky to Central Asia. From 1867 to 1888, he led five large expeditions, during which 33 thousand km were covered. the giant ridge Ti-Altyn-Tag, the northern outskirts of the Tibetan Plateau, was discovered. Przhevalsky himself later described the difficulties of the route: giant mountains, frosts, storms, snowfall, which not only blinded the eyes of travelers, but also hid the sparse vegetation - food for camels. And yet, no matter how difficult it was, scientific work did not stop for a day: observations were made of the weather, maps were compiled, heights were determined, rare plants were collected, calendars were drawn up.

Przhevalsky was the first of the scientists to visit Lake Lobnor. Geographers have been tormented by the mystery of this lake for centuries. They knew about him only by hearsay. It turned out that it was located in the desert lands, where the Tarim River was losing strength and spread widely over the sands. Lopnor turned out to be a shallow lake, on the banks of which nomads lived. If you look for a lake modern maps, then it may not be found. In the hundred years that have passed since then, the lake has migrated a hundred kilometers to the north and has become even larger. This happens because the Tarim River, unable to fight the desert, changes its course, flows in a different way and overflows in a new place.

In his studies of Central Asia, N.M. Przhevalsky visited both the sources of the Huang He and the upper reaches of the Yangtze, passed through the sandy Takla-Makan desert. At the beginning of the fifth expedition on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul in 1888, Przhevalsky died of typhoid fever. The city where this happened is now called Przhevalsk.

The expeditions of N.M. Przhevalsky had great importance and enriched science with knowledge about the regions of Central Asia by discovering, describing and mapping many of the ridges of Asia, rich collections of flora and fauna. He discovered in Asia a wild camel and a wild horse, previously unknown. From his companions, Przhevalsky brought up major researchers (M.P. Pevtsov, P.K. Kozlov, etc.). The works of the scientist were published in many languages.

Many geographical objects are named after the Russian traveler.

SEMENOV-TIAN-SHANSKY PETER PETROVICH

(1827-1914) - Russian geographer, zoologist, statistician, public and statesman, one of the greatest travelers of the mid-19th - early 20th centuries.

The Russian Geographical Society offered P.P. Semenov to translate the work of the German geographer K. Ritter "Geography of Asia". As he worked on the translation, his interest in the endless expanses of Asia flared up more and more. He was attracted by the then unexplored Tien Shan. European explorers have long been planning a trip to the Tien Shan. dreamed about it and great Alexander Humboldt. But in the middle of the 19th century, little was known about the Tien Shan mountain range (in Chinese - “Heavenly Mountains”), it was even assumed that these were mountains of volcanic origin.

Young P.P. Semenov, who studied at the University of Berlin in 1853-1854, shared with A. Humboldtwith his project of organizing a trip there. 27-year-old Semenov was already quite well known in scientific circles: he made a great trip across European Russia, was the secretary of the physical geography department of the Russian Geographical Society. A conversation with A. Humboldt finally strengthened him in his decision to go to the Heavenly Mountains.

The expedition required careful preparation, and only in the autumn of 1856 did Semyonov and his companions reach the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul. Thanks to this expedition, it was established that this lake is drainless (it was previously believed that the river, Chu, flows out of this lake). Research has made it possible to map its exact outlines. The following year, on June 21, 1857, P.P. Semenov with a large detachment set off on an unexplored path along the Tien Shan. This expedition, perhaps, was unique in the entire history of geographical discoveries. It lasted less than three months, but its results are truly amazing: 23 mountain passes were surveyed, the heights of 50 peaks were determined, 300 rock samples were collected, insect collections, 1000 specimens of plants (many of them were unknown to science), natural areas were described in detail , two transverse geological sections of the Tien Shan were obtained, which helped a deeper study of geology Central Asia. It was also possible to determine the height of the snow line in the mountains, to refute the idea of ​​A. Humboldt about the volcanic origin of the mountains.

Returning to St. Petersburg, he actively participates in the preparation for publication of a map of European Russia and the Caucasus, edits the fundamental "Geographical and Statistical Dictionary" and writes important articles for it; develops the project of the All-Russian population census (1897), heads the Russian Geographical Society. With the direct participation of P.P. Semenov, many large expeditions were organized and carried out: N.M. Przhevalsky, G.N. Potanin, P.K. Kozlov.

In 1899, the first volume of the multi-volume detailed geographical description of the country “Russia. A complete geographical description of our fatherland”, in the preparation of which P.P. Semenov and his son participated. Of the planned 22 volumes, only 13 were published, but even in an unfinished form, this fundamental work remains unsurpassed.

In 1906, 50 years have passed since the first trip of P.P. Semenov to the Tien Shan. In a special decree, it was reported that "from now on, he and descending offspring are allowed to continue to be called Semyonov-Tien-Shansky."

He completed his journey as a world famous scientist. More than 60 academies in Europe and Russia have elected Semenov-Tien Shan as its honorary member. His name is immortalized in 11 geographical names in Asia, North America and Svalbard, and one of the peaks of the Mongolian Altai bears the name "Peter Petrovich".

Accidental pneumonia on February 26, 1914 brought the scientist and traveler to the grave.

FERSMAN ALEXANDER EVGENIEVICH

(1883-1945) - a well-known geochemist who devoted his life to discovering the riches of the subsoil, active member Academy of Sciences since 1919.

In 1902, he entered Moscow University, where the famous V.I. Vernadsky, the founder of a new, genetic direction in mineralogy, which revealed the origin of minerals, became his teacher. Since Fersman entered the university, teacher and student have been working together; they create a new science - geochemistry, study the chemical composition of the Earth.

A.E. Fersman devotes his life to revealing the riches of the earth's bowels of his homeland. He seeks to know the laws of the occurrence and distribution of minerals in various types pegmatite bodies, the results of which are reflected in his generalizing classic work - "Pegmatites" (1931).

A.E. Fersman did not conceive of a science divorced from practice. As early as 1917, he took part and was the leader of many expeditions to the Urals, Central Asia and other regions. Under his leadership, since 1920, the study of the Khibiny Mountains began, where a deposit of apatite was discovered - a raw material for obtaining phosphorus fertilizers, which are of great importance in agriculture. On the Kola Peninsula, the scientist also discovered deposits of copper, iron and nickel ores. Since 1924, A.E. Fersman organizes expeditions to the Karakum desert, where he discovers deposits of sulfur in its center, later in 1932 in Kyzylkum he discovers deposits of ores with various rare metals.

Geochemical ideas completely changed the idea of ​​minerals - the riches of Central Asia. Being the scientific director of the Tajik-Pamir expedition, Fersman skillfully directs its detachments, which discover deposits of non-ferrous and rare metals where, as previously thought, they should not be. It is difficult to find a corner in our country where there is no scientist.

AE. Fersman wrote about 700 works. For the development of geochemistry as a science, the four-volume work of the academician "Geochemistry" is of particular importance.

Biography Dezhnev S.I. Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev (from 1605, Veliky Ustyug, early 1673, Moscow) Russian traveler, explorer, navigator, explorer of Northern and Eastern Siberia, Cossack ataman, fur trader. The first known navigator who passed through the Bering Strait, which connects the Arctic Ocean with the Pacific and separates Asia and North America, Chukotka and Alaska, and did this 80 years before Vitus Bering, in 1648.

During the 40 years of his stay in Siberia, Dezhnev participated in numerous battles and strikes, received at least 13 wounds. In 1646, S. Dezhnev had to Once again to face in battle with the enemy, surpassing him in strength. However, from the Siberian tribes, the Yukaghirs, decided to attack the prison, guarded by a garrison of only a dozen and a half people. But the brave Cossack managed to defend Nizhnekolymsk from five hundred attackers.

CHUKOTA EXPEDITION - in 1648 Dezhnev joined the fishing expedition of Fedot Popov. In the summer they went to the Arctic Ocean. The expedition was difficult, only three ships managed to get to the eastern end of the coast and go around the BIG STONE NOSE.

In 1662, Dezhnev returned to Yakutsk, and then left for Moscow with the tribute collected in Siberia. Here he received the rank of Cossack chieftain. In 1665, Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev went back to Yakutsk, and in 1670 he again brought tribute to Moscow. At the beginning of 1672, he arrived in the capital, where, apparently, he fell ill, and a year later, at the beginning of 1673. , died.