"In essence, a traveler must be born."
"The traveler has no memory" (about the need to keep a diary).
"Traveling would lose half of its charm if it were not for them to be told."
“And the world is beautiful because you can travel”. Przhevalsky Nikolai Mikhailovich(1839, Kimborovo village, Smolensk region - 1888). The Przhevalskys had their roots in the outback and belonged to the gentry family (gentry - the Polish nobility), which had the coat of arms "Silver Bow and Arrow turned up on the Red Field." This sign of high military distinction was once bestowed for military exploits in the battle with the Russian troops during the capture of Polotsk by the army of Stefan Batory (Grand Duke of Lithuania). In the village of Kimborovo, where the Przhevalskys' house stood, a memorial sign was erected in memory of Nikolai Mikhailovich.
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House of N.M. Przhevalsky in the estate of Sloboda
The ancestral roots of Nikolai Mikhailovich went to a distant ancestor, the warrior of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Kornila Perevalny, who distinguished himself in the battles of the Livonian War. Nikolai Mikhailovich had two brothers: - Vladimir - a well-known Moscow lawyer in those days and Evgeny - a scientist, mathematician. Przhevalsky's father died in 1846, and the boy was brought up by his uncle, who instilled in him a passion for hunting and travelling.
In adulthood, N. M. Przhevalsky was absolutely indifferent to ranks, titles and awards, and just as indifferent to live research work. The traveler's passion was hunting, and he himself was a brilliant shooter. N.M. Przhevalsky received his primary education at the Smolensk gymnasium and in 1855 he was determined in Moscow with the rank of non-commissioned officer in the Ryazan infantry regiment. Since from an early age he was disposed towards science and education, without much difficulty he entered the school of the General Staff, where he kept apart, although he attracted everyone's attention with his tall stature, impressive appearance, and independence of judgment. In 1860 he made a report "On the Essence of Life on Earth" (published in 1967), showing himself to be an adherent of evolutionary theory. After brilliantly graduating from the Academy, he taught geography and history at the Warsaw Junker School, cultivating humanism and love for truth: "... I know one people - humanity, one law - justice." He filled his leisure time with hunting and card games (thanks to his excellent memory, he often won). Soon after receiving an officer's rank, he was transferred to the 28th Polotsk Infantry Regiment. But not only military science seduced the young cadet. At this time, his first works appeared: “Memoirs of a Hunter” and “Military Statistical Review of the Amur Territory”, for which in 1864 he was elected a full member of the Russian Geographical Society. After graduating from the Academy, he volunteered for Poland to take part in the suppression of the Polish uprising.
Subsequently occupying the post of teacher of history and geography at the Warsaw Junker School, Przhevalsky studied the epic of African travels and discoveries, got acquainted with zoology and botany, compiled a geography textbook, soon published in Beijing.
During these years, Przhevalsky developed his own style of collecting knowledge and information that interested him - he kept a personal diary every day under any conditions, the records of which formed the basis of his books. N. M. Przhevalsky had a bright writing gift, which he developed through hard and systematic work. It was these notes that allowed him to create an excellent book about his four distant journeys. In 1867 Przhevalsky appealed to the Russian Geographical Society with a request to help organize an expedition to Central Asia, but, having no name in scientific circles, he did not receive understanding and support from the Council of the Society, which rejected his request. On the advice of P.P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, he decides to go to the Ussuri region, hoping to earn the long-awaited opportunity to assemble an expedition to Central Asia upon his return. The result of a two-year trip was the compositions “On the foreign population in the southern part of the Amur Region” and “Journey in the Ussuri Territory”, as well as about 300 species of plants and birds, many of which were discovered in the Ussuri for the first time. For the work done, the Russian Geographical Society awarded Przhevalsky a silver medal, but the main award for the born explorer was the approval and assistance of the Geographical Society in organizing his next trip - already to Central Asia. The travels of Nikolai Przhevalsky began with an official business trip to Eastern Siberia on November 29, 1870. For four years, he conducted a topographic survey of the Ussuri River, made meteorological observations, compiled a complete description of the Ussuri Territory, made significant amendments to the geographical map, and most importantly, gained valuable expeditionary experience. The time has come, and Przhevalsky received a business trip to the Ussuri Territory. Along the Ussuri River, he reached the Busse station, then to Lake Khanka, where the station employee helped him in every possible way during the flight of birds and gave him material for ornithological observations. In winter, he explored the South Ussuri region, covering about 1100 km in three months. In the spring of 1868, he again went to Lake Khanka, then pacified the Chinese robbers in Manchuria, for which he was appointed senior adjutant of the headquarters of the troops of the Amur Region. The results of his first trip were the essays "On the foreign population in the southern part of the Amur Region" and "Journey to the Ussuri Territory".
1870 – 1873
- During this period, Przhevalsky undertook the first (of three Asian) trips to Central Asia. The expedition members traveled a total of more than 11,000 km. through Moscow, Irkutsk, Kyakhta, Beijing and north to the Dalai-Nur lake. From Beijing, he moved to Lake Dalai-Nore, then, after resting in Kalgan, he explored the Suma-Khodi and Yin-Shan ridges, and the Zagadochny ridge discovered by him in these parts was later called the Przhevalsky ridge. The study of the Yin Shan ridge finally destroyed Humboldt's previous hypothesis about the connection of this ridge with the Tien Shan mountain system, about which there were many disputes between scientists - Przhevalsky decided this issue in his favor. From Beijing, he moved to the northern shore of Lake Dalai-Nor, then, after resting in Kalgan, he explored the Suma-Khodi and Yin-Shan ridges, rising for topographic observations to the highest points of the ridges, as well as the course of the Yellow River (Huang He), showing that she has no branching, as previously thought on the basis of Chinese sources, having passed through the Ala Shan desert and the same desert Alashan mountains, he returned to Kalgan, having traveled about 3,700 kilometers in 10 months. In 1872, he moved to Lake Kuku-Nor, intending to penetrate the Tibetan Plateau, then through the Tsaidam desert, he went to the upper reaches of the Blue River (Yangtze). After an unsuccessful attempt to cross Tibet, in 1873, through the central part of the Gobi, Przhevalsky returned to Kyakhta through Urga.
The result of the trip was the composition "Mongolia and the country of the Tanguts". For three years, the Przhevalsky detachment traveled about 11,700 km.
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The first journey of Nikolai Przhevalsky in Central Asia began.
Summer 1873 Przhevalsky, having replenished his equipment, went through the Middle Gobi to Urga (as the Mongolian city of Ulaanbaatar was called in those days), and from Urga in September 1873 he returned to Kyakhta. Three years of the most difficult physical tests and as a result - 4000 plants (!). New species were discovered that received his name: for example, the Przewalski foot-and-mouth disease, (splittail), an unusually large and flowery Przewalski rhododendron, appeared. This journey brought Nikolai Mikhailovich world fame and the gold medal of the Russian Geographical Society. As a report on his journey, Przhevalsky writes the book "Mongolia and the country of the Tanguts."1876 The second Central Asian trip was conceived on a very large scale, it was supposed to explore Tibet and Lhasa. But due to the complication of the political situation (the conflict with China) and the illness of Przhevalsky himself, the route had to be shortened.
Having started his journey from Kulja, overcoming the Tien Shan ranges and the Tarim depression, he discovered the Altyn-Taga range to the south of Lake Lob-Nor.
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Thus, there is a continuous, gigantic wall of mountains from the upper Huang-he to the Pamirs. This wall encloses the highest rise in Central Asia from the north and divides it into two parts that differ sharply from each other: the Mongolian desert in the north and the Tibetan plateau in the south. In February 1877 Przhevalsky reached a huge reed swamp-Lake Lobnor. According to his description, the lake was 100 kilometers long and 20 to 22 kilometers wide. On the banks of the mysterious Lop Nor, in the "country of Lop", Przhevalsky was second ... after Marco Polo (!)
Spring 1877 he spent on Lob-Nor, watching the flight of birds and doing ornithological research, and then returned to Gulja through Kurla and Yuldus. The illness forced him to stay in Russia longer than planned, during which time he wrote and published the work “From Kulja beyond the Tien Shan and to Lob-Nor”. After some time, an entry appears in the diary of Nikolai Mikhailovich: "A year will pass, misunderstandings with China will be settled, my health will improve, and then I will again take the wanderer's staff and again head to the Asian deserts." One such reason for misunderstandings with the Chinese authorities was the behavior of the Chinese towards Russian travelers. One of the Chinese, in a moment of frankness, told Irinchinov and Kolomeitsev (participants of the expedition) that when he met us near the Cheng-fu-tung caves, our escorts from Sa-chzheu immediately announced to him that he should not dare to tell anything about the mountains in Otherwise, they threatened to cut off their heads. Our bosses and all the people say, the Chinese continued, that you go here to find gold, everything is ordered to be hidden from you, you should be constantly deceived. Thus, it was explained why the Sazhcheu authorities so stubbornly did not want to let the Przhevalsky expedition into the mountains and even resorted to deliberate deception, through the guides given to us. The fear about gold was joined by another fear that the Russians would not explore a new route to Tibet, which, as you know, was not too subordinate to China at that time. 1879 – 1880. The third, Asian journey, called "Tibetan" Przhevalsky makes with a detachment of 13 people. The path lay through the Khami desert and the Nan Shan ridge on the Tibet plateau.
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One of the glaciers on the southern slope of the Humboldt Ridge
This expedition turned out to be surprisingly rich in discoveries. Its participants explored the Huang He River, the northern part of Tibet, discovered two ridges. Using the right of the first researcher, Przhevalsky named the snow ridge stretching along the main axis of the Nan Shan - the Humboldt ridge, and the other, perpendicular to it - the Ritter ridge, in honor of two great scientists who worked so hard for the geography of Central Asia. Some peaks of the Humboldt Ridge rise to an absolute height close to 6000m. This ridge stretches to the west from the upper Huang-he and, consisting of several parallel chains, forms a mountainous alpine country, most extended to the north and north-west of Lake Kuku-nora.
Przewalski's wild horse. They gave a description of a new species of horse, previously unknown to science and later named after him (Equus przewalskii).
“The newly discovered horse,” writes Nikolai Mikhailovich, is called “kertag” by the Kirghiz, and “take” by the Mongols, lives only in the wildest parts of the Dzungarian desert. Here, the kertags are kept in small herds, grazing under the supervision of an experienced old stallion.. Having received after this trip several honorary titles and titles and many recognitions and degrees, Przhevalsky, perhaps because of his natural modesty and rejection of noisy, bustling city life, retires to the village, where he begins processing the collected material. Przhevalsky outlined his observations and research results in the book "From Zaisan through Hami to Tibet and to the headwaters of the Yellow River". In 1879, he set out from the city of Zaisan on his third Asian journey at the head of a detachment of 13 people. Along the Urungu River through the Khami oasis and through the desert to the Sa-Cheu oasis, through the Nan-Shan ranges to Tibet, and went to the Blue River valley (Mur-Usu).
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Nan Shan High Plateau
The Tibetan government did not want to let Przhevalsky into Lhasa, and the local population was so excited that Przhevalsky, having crossed the Tang-La pass and being only 250 miles from Lhasa, was forced to return to Urga. Returning to Russia in 1881, Przhevalsky gave a description of his third journey.
From 1883 to 1886 another expedition was carried out, known as the "Second Tibetan Journey". From Kyakhta, a detachment of 23 people moved through Urga along the old path to the Tibetan Plateau, explored the sources of the Yellow River and the watershed between the Yellow and Blue, and from there passed through Tsaidam to Lob-Nor and to the city of Karakol (Przhevalsk). And again Tibet! The Huang He River, dotted with spring lakes shining brightly in the rays of the setting sun, the swampy Yellow River, the sands of Alashan and Tarim, and new adventures and discoveries: the Orin-Nur and Dzharin-Nur lakes, the Moscow and Russian ridges, the Columbus ridge, the sources of the Huang He were explored . The journey ended only in 1886. New species of birds, mammals and reptiles, as well as fish appeared in the collection, and new species of plants appeared in the herbarium.
The result of this journey is another book written in the village silence of the Sloboda estate “From Kyakhta to the sources of the Yellow River, exploration of the northern outskirts of Tibet and the path through Lob-nor along the Tarim Basin”. For those who knew or are interested in the character of the tireless Nikolai Mikhailovich, there was nothing surprising in the fact that in his incomplete 50 years he decides to go on his fifth trip to Central Asia, which, alas, became the last for an outstanding scientist and researcher.
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Russian traveler Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky went down in history as a tireless explorer of Central Asia, who discovered previously unexplored lands with their unique nature, population and original culture to the Western world. On account of Nikolai Mikhailovich several expeditions to Central Asia and the Ussuri region.
short biography
The future naturalist was born on April 12, 1839 in the village of Kimborovo, Smolensk region. The Przhevalsky family belonged to an old gentry family, and had its own coat of arms, bestowed for valor during military battles.
After graduating from high school, Nikolai began to serve in the Ryazan Infantry Regiment, where he received an officer rank. Unlike most of his colleagues, he spent all his free time not in idle revelry, but on hunting, collecting herbarium, and studying ornithology.
Rice. 1. Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky.
After serving for five years, Przhevalsky continued his education at the Academy of the General Staff, where he closely studied the works of outstanding geographers. For excellent studies, a capable student was elected a full member of the Geographical Society.
Having decided on the Warsaw Junker School as a teacher of geography and history, Przhevalsky simultaneously studied botany, zoology, and even compiled a textbook on geography.
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Acquaintance with the Ussuri region
Przhevalsky always dreamed of traveling to distant countries, about which he read so much in books. Soon he had such an opportunity - in 1867, a promising specialist was sent to the Ussuri Territory for two years to study the local flora and fauna.
Arriving at the place, Przhevalsky began to closely study the nature of the Ussuri. During the study of the southern region, he covered more than a thousand miles in just three months: the naturalist approached the task entrusted to him very responsibly, and tirelessly carried out observations.
Rice. 2. Ussuri region.
During his expedition to the Ussuri region, Przhevalsky managed to collect about three hundred species of plants, to make the same number of stuffed birds. Moreover, many exhibits collected by him were discovered for the first time.
Traveling in Central Asia
Przhevalsky's famous travels in Central Asia date back to 1870, when the Russian Geographical Society appointed the researcher as head of the first expedition.
It is very difficult to overestimate the merits of the great traveler, because during the passage of all four expeditions in Central Asia, he made many important discoveries:
- Przhevalsky became the first white man who managed to penetrate deep into Northern Tibet, to the upper reaches of the great Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, and carefully explore these territories.
- He presented detailed descriptions of the deserts of Alashani, Ordos and Gobi, the highlands of Northern Tibet.
- He updated the maps of Central Asia, on which he plotted previously unknown ranges, large and small lakes.
- He explored the mysterious lake Lopnor - a muddy freshwater lake that changed its location.
- He discovered the lower reaches of the Tarim and the Altyntag ridge.
- He discovered a whole mountainous country - Kunlun, the existence of which in Europe no one even knew.
- He filmed several thousand kilometers of his journey through the regions of Central Asia.
During his expeditions, Przhevalsky collected an impressive herbarium - more than 1,500 different species, as well as large collections of various Central Asian animals. He discovered new species, which later received his name: rhododendron, split tail, lizard, wild horse.
Rice. 3. Przewalski's horse.
Nikolai Mikhailovich died in 1888, having accidentally swallowed river water and contracted typhoid fever during his trip to Karakol.
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Theaters Nikolai Mikhailovich did not tolerate, did not like fiction writers. Hunting replaced all the pleasures for him, but besides her and a good table, Przhevalsky loved gambling at cards and often won: the winning amount, along with the money received for a geography textbook, was his main fund when traveling to Siberia. Going to the intended goal, Przhevalsky began to fuss about transferring him to serve in Siberia, and finally, his dreams began to come true: on November 17, 1866, an order followed to include him in the General Staff, with an appointment for employment in. In January 1867, P. left, taking with him the preparator Robert Koecher, on the condition of dividing the collection in half, which would be collected for the expedition. At the end of March 1867, Przhevalsky arrived in Irkutsk, where, while awaiting his appointment, he worked hard in the library of the Siberian Department of the Geographical Society, studying the Ussuri region in detail.
Seeing the serious attitude to the Przhevalsky case, the Chief of Staff, Major General Kukol, took an ardent part in it, who, together with the Siberian Department of the Geographical Society, arranged for Przhevalsky to go on a business trip to the Ussuri Territory. The business trip took place already in April 1867; its official purpose was statistical research, but this made it possible for Przhevalsky to simultaneously study the nature and people of a new, little explored region. The prospect for the traveler was the most enviable; he went to, then to Ussuri, Lake Khanka and to the shores of the Great Ocean to the borders of Korea.
On May 26, Przhevalsky set off, having stocked up with everything necessary. Having cut, and then having driven non-stop a thousand versts on postal lines across everything, on June 2 he arrived in the village of Sretenskoye, on Shilka. Next, we had to go by steamer to the Amur. But the ship crashed, and Przhevalsky and his companion rode in a simple boat, which made it possible for the traveler to observe the flight of birds and study the banks of the Ussuri. The journey along the Ussuri in this order lasted 23 days, since Przhevalsky walked more along the coast, collecting plants and shooting birds. Having reached the village of Busse, Przhevalsky went to Lake Khanka, which was of great interest in botanical, and especially in zoological terms, since it served as a station for migratory birds and insects. Then he went to the coast, and from there, already in winter, he undertook a difficult expedition to the still unknown part of the South Ussuri Territory. Wandering along unknown paths, spending the night in the forests in the cold, the travelers endured many hardships and, despite this, they covered 1,060 km within three months. On January 7, 1868, the travelers returned to the village of Busse.
The official part of the trip had an unfavorable effect on Przhevalsky's personal studies: for half a year, due to collecting statistical materials, he had to live in Nikolaevsk at the mouth of the Amur and the whole summer of 1868 to participate in hostilities against Chinese robbers in different counties. And, of course, this time of the two years of Przhevalsky's stay in the Ussuri Territory was lost for him. In addition, meteorological observations, shooting, drying plants, shooting birds, making stuffed animals from them, a diary, and so on, took a lot of time.
In the spring of 1868, Przhevalsky again went to Lake Khanka in order to study its ornithological fauna and observe the passage of birds - and achieved excellent results in this regard. For the pacification of the Chinese robbers, Przhevalsky was promoted to captain and transferred to the General Staff, which, as he said, due to various intrigues, was not done for a long time. In general, at that time many people did not like him for his self-confident tone with which he spoke about the results of the expedition he was undertaking. Then all this was brilliantly justified, but so far the young captain irritated with his confidence. At the same time as production, Przhevalsky received the appointment of senior adjutant of the headquarters of the Primorsky region and moved to Nikolaevsk on the Amur, where he lived in the winter of 1868-69.
"Letter on research on the Ussuri River and Lake Khanka", placed in the "Izvestia" of the Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, was met with interest by the scientific world, and for the article published in the same body "Foreign population in the southern part of the Primorsky region" Przhevalsky received the first scientific award - a silver medal.
Having replenished his research with new excursions during the spring and summer of 1869, the researcher went to Irkutsk, where he lectured on the Ussuri region, and from there to St. Petersburg, where he arrived in January 1870. The results of the journey were a major contribution to the available information about the nature of Asia, enriched the collections of plants and gave the Geographical Society a unique ornithological collection, to which, due to its completeness, later research could not add much. Przhevalsky delivered a lot of interesting information about the life and customs of animals and birds, about the local population, Russian and foreign, explored the Ussuri course, the Khanka basin and the eastern slope of the Sikhote-Alin ridge, and finally collected thorough and detailed data on the climate of the Ussuri region.
Here he published his first Journey in the Ussuri Territory. The book was a huge success with the public and scientists, especially since it was accompanied by: tables of meteorological observations, statistical tables of the Cossack population on the banks of the Ussuri, the same table of the peasant population in the South Ussuri Territory, the same table of 3 Korean settlements in South Ussuri Territory, a list of 223 species of birds in the Ussuri Territory (of which many were first discovered by Przhevalsky), a table of spring migration of birds on Lake Khanka for two springs, a map of the Ussuri Territory by the author. In addition, Przhevalsky brought 310 specimens of different birds, 10 skins of mammals, several hundred eggs, 300 species of different plants in the amount of 2,000 specimens, 80 species of seeds.
From the very first days of his stay in St. Petersburg, Przhevalsky began to fuss about a new expedition. The success produced by the reading of his messages in the meeting of the Geographical Society, the thunder of applause did not mist him, he wanted to do business, further work to continue the boiled work. His book had not yet finished printing, when the plan for a new expedition to regions unknown to Europeans matured completely in him and this time was sympathetically received by the Geographical Society. On July 20, 1870, the Highest order was issued to send Przhevalsky and Pyltsov to Northern Tibet for three years and, and on October 10 he was already in Irkutsk, then arrived in Kyakhta, and from there on November 17 he went on an expedition. Through the Eastern part of the great Przhevalsky went to Beijing, where he had to stock up on a passport from the Chinese government and on January 2, 1871 arrived in the capital of the Heavenly Empire.
The entire Przhevalsky detachment consisted of 4 people; in addition to both officers, it included two Cossacks. However, the latter turned out to be of little use; while they were being replaced by others, Przhevalsky made an expedition north from Beijing to Lake Dalai-Nor, in southeastern Mongolia. During the two months spent on this expedition, 100 versts were covered, the entire area was mapped, the latitudes were determined: Kalgan, Dolon-Nor and Dalai-Nor lakes; the heights of the traversed path were measured and significant zoological collections were collected. After resting in Kalgan for several days, the expedition, upon the arrival of new Cossacks, set off on its way to the West.
This time the purpose of the expedition was to visit the capital of the Dalai Lama - Lhasa, where no European had yet penetrated. Przhevalsky outlined a path for himself through Kuku-Khoto to Ordos and further to Lake Kuku-Nor. On February 25, 1871, a small expedition set out from Beijing, and exactly a month later the travelers arrived on the shores of Lake Dalai Nor. The expedition moved slowly, making transitions of 20 - 25 kilometers, but the lack of reliable guides greatly hampered the matter.
The area explored by the expedition was so rich in botanical and zoological material that Przhevalsky stopped in some places for several days, such as, for example, in Suma-Khoda, Yin-Shan, which were first explored by Przhevalsky. However, most of the way ran through the waterless desert of the southern outskirts of the Gobi, where the foot of a European had not yet set foot, and where travelers endured unbearable torment from the scorching heat. In the city, Baut Przhevalsky had to endure a lot of trouble: the local authorities took away his passport from him, and only the bribe he gave to the mandarin in the form of a watch gave him the opportunity to continue the journey. Passing through the Ordos, Przhevalsky managed to collect many legends about Genghis Khan, interesting for the reason that they were in close connection with the Russians and were of historical significance. Near each well that came across, the expedition settled down to rest and, with the help of dry camel dung, made a fire and warmed the kettles; after tea drinking, its members were engaged in disassembling the collected plants, dissecting birds, and Przhevalsky, if circumstances allowed, worked on a map.
The study of the Yin Shan ridge finally destroyed the previous hypothesis about the connection of this ridge with, about which there were many disputes between scientists - Przhevalsky resolved this issue. For 430 kilometers, Przhevalsky explored the Yellow River, meandering among the hot sands of the Ordos, and determined that the Yellow River () does not represent branches, as they thought about it before.
Having plotted the river on the map, the expedition crossed it a second time and set out for Ala Shan. Arriving in the city of Dyn-Yuan-Ying on September 14, Przhevalsky was very cordially greeted by the Alashan prince and his sons, sold the goods seized from Beijing with a profit, presented the prince and his sons with weapons and various trinkets, and thus bought their full favor. Unfortunately, by this time the expedition's stock of funds was about one hundred rubles, which made it impossible to continue the journey. Przhevalsky decides to return. Having said goodbye cordially to the young princes, Przhevalsky, Poltsov and their companions left Ala Shan on October 15th.
On the way back, the expedition captured a vast unexplored area along the right bank of the Yellow River, partly went the old way; but now the cold pursued the travelers. To top it off, Pyltsov fell ill with typhus, and camels disappeared during one of the nights. Having sent a Cossack to buy new ones, Przhevalsky had to stand near Kuku-Khoto for 17 days and only on the eve of the new year he arrived in Kalgan, where, to the delight of all travelers, the expedition was met by Russian merchants. Leaving his companions in Kalgan, Przhevalsky went to Beijing to secure money and a new passport, which was expiring. The ten-month journey through Mongolia was completed, and its result was the exploration of almost completely unknown places in the Ordos desert, Ala Shan, the Southern Gobi, the In Shan and Ala Shan ridges, the determination of the latitudes of many points, the collection of the richest collections of plants and animals, and an abundant meteorological material.
The route of the expedition, outlined by Przhevalsky, lay past Ulungura Lake through the city of Bulun-Tokhoi and up the Urungu River, and from there straight to the cities of Barkul and Khami.
On the morning of March 21, 1879, the expedition set out from Zaisan. Having explored Lake Ulungur, which has 130 km. in a circle, the expedition reached the Bulgun River by April 24, passing 616 km from Zaisan. across a barren, completely uninhabited area. Now the expedition was faced with difficult transitions through the uninhabited Zhungar desert, completely devoid of it, but on the other hand, passing it, Przhevalsky was destined to make a very valuable discovery for science: he met a completely unknown species of a wild horse, which was delivered by Nikolai Mikhailovich to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, where it is located under the name of Przewalski's horse. This animal constitutes, as it were, the transition from the donkey to the horse, but has much more features of the latter.
Finally, on May 18, the caravan reached a vast area and stopped near the Chinese village of Syanto-Khouza, 20 kilometers from the city of Barkul. After Barkul, the expedition climbed the Tien Shan, beyond which lay the Khami oasis, where they arrived at the end of May, having made 1,067 km from Zaisan. From Hami the expedition went to the city of Sa-Zheu through such a desert that all those who had gone through earlier paled in front of its dead nature. Nothing was found here: no animals, no birds, no lizards, no insects, no plants, and only whirlwinds swept by every minute, dragging whole columns of salty sand.
Having hardly achieved a guide to Sa-Zheu, on June 21 Przhevalsky moved further through the unknown ridges of the Nan Shan, but the Chinese translator led him into such wilds of the desert that the expedition had difficulty getting out of there. The path of the expedition ran past Lake Lob Nora to Khotan. Here, along the way, Przhevalsky examined and filmed very interesting Chinese caves with huge Buddha idols.
A whole series of ridges of the Tibetan Plateau was first discovered by Przhevalsky, and despite all the burden of the situation, he actively made surveys and measurements, putting them on a map. In one of these ridges, the expedition almost found its grave. Finally, the way was found and, having crossed three more ridges, the expedition got out of the mountains and entered the Mur-Usu valley, up which the caravan road to Lhasa passed.
The hardships of the journey made everyone tired, and many of the members of the expedition had a complete cold. In the Dumbure mountains, the expedition met a very convenient road, while Przhevalsky managed to kill two bears, one of which is now in the Museum of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Here Nikolai Mikhailovich hunted wild yaks and almost died during this hunt. In the Tan-La mountains, on November 7, 1879, the expedition was attacked by a local bandit tribe of egrays. The position of 12 Russians was critical.
Knowing about the attack that was being prepared for him and having brought people into battle order, P. set off. Ahead lay a gorge, which was occupied by egrarians, and several shooters were placed on the rocks. Having approached the robbers at 700 steps, Przhevalsky commanded: “please!” Twelve bullets of a friendly volley hit the nearest group of egrays, and before they had time to come to their senses, the second and third volleys flew after the first. The robbers scattered.
An absurd rumor, spread in Tibet, that the Russians were going to Lhasa to kidnap the Dalai Lama, caused a terrible excitement there, and a whole militia gathered there from the surrounding cities, ready to repel the imaginary Russian attack on the city. Pickets were posted everywhere. Residents were forbidden to enter into negotiations with the Russians and sell them anything. There were no more than 250 versts left to Lhasa when they had to stop behind the Tan-La pass, as the Tibetan government decided not to let the expedition through. Neither the Chinese passport, nor the papers that Przhevalsky presented to the visiting officials led to any result, and the negotiations dragged on for a very long time.
The persistence of Przhevalsky frightened the Tibetans, they refused the traveler everything, even the issuance of a document indicating their refusal to allow the expedition to pass; seeing the energetic determination of Nikolai Mikhailovich to go ahead, they became more compliant, and their sharp, demanding tone was replaced by a pleading one. At first they offered him a lot of money in the form of compensation, but when this did not work, they decided to issue a formal document, which was signed by many different stewards and issued to Przhevalsky on the 17th day of his stay. Reluctantly, Przhevalsky announced that he was leaving, took off from the bivouac and set off on his way back. Once again, he failed to get into this city inaccessible to Europeans, but no matter how difficult such a failure was for Przhevalsky, the scientific results of the expedition did not suffer from it at all. A visit to Lhasa would have given the expedition more brilliance, which was already enough in the colossal results of the research of the indefatigable traveler. The return journey, due to the depletion of supplies and forces, was very difficult.
The return of Przhevalsky to St. Petersburg was accompanied by great applause in his honor: members of the Geographical Society headed by Vice-President P.P. Semenov, academicians, scientists, writers, in a word, all those who learned about his return, gathered to meet the famous traveler. made a speech, to which the touched Przhevalsky replied, saying "that the sympathy of Russian scientists gave him energy and strength." On the same evening, the traveler began to draw up a note to the Chief of the General Staff, in which he petitioned for a reward for his associates. The petition was granted: all personnel received a life pension and were awarded the insignia of the military order for the bravery shown in repelling the natives.
Przhevalsky received the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd degree. Petersburg Duma elected him an honorary citizen of St. Petersburg. Moscow University elected him an honorary doctor, and the city of Smolensk - its honorary citizen. On January 10, Przhevalsky presented himself to Emperor Alexander II and the Heir Tsarevich, and on January 14 there was an extraordinary meeting of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society in the palace of Grand Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna, chaired by the August President of the Society, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich. Many scientists of the Society, both in Russia and abroad, elected the famous traveler as their honorary member.
Przhevalsky donated his rich zoological collection to the Academy of Sciences, and donated his botanical collection to the Botanical Garden. In March, a special exhibition of the results of Nikolai Mikhailovich's journey was organized at the Academy of Sciences, which introduced the public to the fruits of his expeditions. After that, Przhevalsky left for the village, where he set to work on a new essay describing travels to Tibet. In January 1883, his work was completed, and he went to St. Petersburg to print it under his supervision. This book was published in 1883 in an excellent edition of "The 3rd Journey to: from Zaisan through Hami to Tibet and to the upper reaches of the Yellow River."
Meanwhile, Przhevalsky was preparing for the fourth trip. “Now that the results of the perfect expedition have already been partly embodied,” he wrote to the Geographical Society, “let me raise the question of a new journey ... Inside the Asian continent, precisely on the high plateau of Tibet, there still remains an area of more than 20,000 square meters. geogr. miles, almost completely unknown ... Most of the western part is occupied by the plateau of northern Tibet raised to a terrible absolute height; the smaller, eastern half is a grandiose country of transitional ledges from Tibet to its own China.
Everything that Nikolai Mikhailovich asked for was given to him, all the benefits that he demanded for his employees, weapons and tools - everything was placed at his disposal. In early August 1883, Przhevalsky left St. Petersburg, and on September 26, he and his companions arrived in Kyakhta, where he was preparing his detachment, which consisted of 21 people. In addition to the traveler himself and Roborovsky, the expedition included: volunteer P.K. Kozlov, senior constable Irinchinov, 9 Cossacks, 7 line soldiers and translator Abdulla-Yusupov.
On October 21, 56 camels were loaded and the expedition set off. Having received a Chinese passport in Urga, the expedition set off. In the caravan there were 40 camels under packs, 14 under Cossacks, 2 spare and 7 riding horses. With this rather large convoy, the expedition headed across the Gobi, in the same way, where it had already passed twice in 1873 and 1880.
The entry into Tibet was marked by the arrest of the sovereign prince Dzun-Zasak, who prevented the inhabitants from selling sheep to the Russians and so on. His assistant was put on a chain, and another of the nobles, who hit the interpreter Abdullah, was flogged with whips. Such a measure turned out to be expedient, and the prince and his entourage suddenly became very helpful. Finally, having crossed the gigantic ridge of Burkhan-Buddha, the travelers entered the plateau of Tibet and reached the source of the Yellow River. “Our long-standing aspirations were crowned with success, we saw with our own eyes the cradle of the great Chinese river and drank water from its sources. There was no end to our joy,” wrote Przhevalsky On July 3, the travelers reached the watershed of the Yellow and Blue rivers. Moving on, the expedition was twice attacked by a gang of Tangut robbers, up to 300 people. After the successful repulsion of the attack on July 11, Prezhavalsky promoted all the Cossacks and soldiers to sergeants and non-commissioned officers for military distinction.
Then the expedition continued its work, and Przhevalsky discovered another lake, which he called "Russian"; while exploring, his expedition was again attacked by the Golyks, also a Tangut tribe who lived along the Yellow River. Seeing the hostile intent of the golyks, the traveler decided to provoke an attack in the daytime in order to use the Berdanks. For this purpose, he undertook a maneuver that was supposed to show the Golyks that the Russians were afraid of them. The maneuver succeeded. When the robbers approached 500 steps, Przhevalsky opened fire. The Tanguts continued to ride on a handful of travelers. Their commander, approving with the cries of the gallopers, rushed from the left side, but suddenly his horse fell, killed on a tumble, and he, apparently wounded, ran back. Seeing the running chief, the whole gang turned back and disappeared behind the nearest ridge. Then Przhevalsky decided to knock out the robbers from there by storm and thereby solve the battle. Seeing the Russians running towards the ridge, the Tanguts abandoned their position, picked up the dead and wounded and fled for the second ridge, but were also driven out from there. Meanwhile, a gang of 50 people, hoping to take possession of the bivouac, left without cover, rushed there, but was also beaten off with great damage by Roborovsky left there. This skirmish lasted two hours and during its time 800 rounds were fired. For this case, Przhevalsky procured to his comrades insignia of a military order.
Having learned that it was impossible to cross the Yellow River, upon its exit from the Russian Lake, by camels, Przhevalsky returned to the warehouse in Tsaidam, to Lob-Nor. Having reached the Tibet plateau and explored this area, Przhevalsky discovered many snowy peaks, lakes, oases here, which were mapped. At the end of January 1885, the expedition returned to Lob-Nor, where it remained until March 20th. On October 29, 1885, the expedition finally reached the Russian border, from where it headed for the city of Karakol (later called Przhevalsky). Here Nikolai Mikhailovich received a congratulatory telegram from the Heir to the Tsarevich, and on November 16 he left Karakol through Verny, Omsk and headed for St. Petersburg.
Having stayed in St. Petersburg until March, P. went to his Smolensk estate - Sloboda, bought by him after the second trip, where he indulged in rest. In November, he returned to St. Petersburg and donated his ornithological collection to the Museum of the Academy of Sciences. On November 29, Przhevalsky was present at the annual meeting of the Academy, which presented him with a gold medal knocked out in his honor, according to the decision of the conference. In 1887, during an exhibition of his collection to the public, the Emperor and his August family visited it and thanked Nikolai Mikhailovich several times.
Returning to the village and working on processing the description of the trip, P. again made a new plan for the expedition. “I think,” he wrote to Fateev in November 1887, “to once again go to Tibet, now see the Dalai Lama. We need 20-30 shooters and I guarantee with my head that I will be in Lhasa.
Przhevalsky presented to the Geographical Society the program of a new, fifth journey, the period of which he determined to be 2 years, and the starting point was the city of Karakol, from where in the autumn of 1888 he intended to move through the Tien Shan to Ak-Su and along the Khotan River to Khotan, from there through Kariya in Cherchen and in Gas, and then, according to the study of Sev. Tibet to Lhasa. Upon approval of his project, Przhevalsky began to prepare for the expedition.
Having finished with the printing of the book “The Fourth Journey in Central Asia. From Kyakhta to the sources of the Yellow River. Exploration of the northern outskirts of Tibet and the route through Lop-Nor along the Tarim Basin ”, Przhevalsky, on August 10, was in St. Petersburg and presented himself to the Sovereign Emperor in Peterhof. On the same day, his health deteriorated. For several months, Nikolai Mikhailovich was tormented by illness, and on October 20, at 8 o'clock, the agony began - he was delirious, at times he came to his senses and lay, covering his face with his hand; he seemed to be crying. Then he suddenly stood up to his full height, looked around at those present and said, "Well, now I'll lie down" .... Roborovsky and Kozlov helped him lie down, and after a few moments Przhevalsky was gone.
In 1915, the work of V.P. Semenov-Tian-Shansky (1870 - 1942) “On powerful territorial possession in relation to Russia” was published. Essay on political geography. One of the main methodological advantages of the book is the departure from the rather simplified thesis of British geographers about the dichotomy and the eternal opposition of Land and Sea (thalassocracies and tellurocracies). Semenov-Tyan-Shansky believed that historical development followed the path of synthesis of the marine and continental parts of the globe. A one-sided geopolitical idea led to the fragility of existence and the decline of powers (states).
The scientist singled out three forms of “territorial systems of political power” that existed in history:
- ring system;
- ragged system;
- system "from sea to sea".
As an exemplary example of a ring-shaped system of power, Semenov-Tyan-Shansky cites the Mediterranean. At the same time, he explains the formation of the system not by natural, but by natural-historical reasons. He said that the saying “ex oriente lux” (light (comes) from the East) is quite applicable to the European Mediterranean. In parallel to the fact that powerful religious ideas were born in the East and then moved to the West, political dominations were moving in the same way.
With the Spaniards and the Portuguese in the Middle Ages, a test of a new system of powerful possession began - a system of separate islands and pieces of continents scattered across the seas and oceans. However, this system was also destroyed. "The mighty forces at the beginning were scattered, the energy of the population was completely exhausted and broken, ... the metropolises themselves fell into deep decline." Among other countries that applied a ragged system of political expansion (Holland, France), only England, which became the head of all seafaring technology, managed to withstand this ragged system for more than a hundred years without harming itself.
Russia and the USA, as well as England in Canada, applied the system of Alexander the Great "from sea to sea". A significant part of the author's work is devoted to the analysis of this system as applied to Russia.
The main disadvantage of this type of system is the following:
“Given the vast extent of such a system in the latitudinal direction, there is always a much more densely populated and economically more developed territory from the end where colonization began than at the opposite end.”
In the case of Russia, the weakened eastern end, wedged between the climatically harsh territories of northern Asia and the ancestral lands of the vast state of the multi-million yellow race, will pose threats to the existence of the system itself *from sea to sea* in the event of an attempt by the yellow race to cut off the eastern end (the end of the eastern sword Russia).
Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky believed that the way out for Russia was to increase the population and the level of economic development of the geographical center of the territory. “Then the extreme eastern part will by itself approach several thousand miles to a strong population and cultural middle part of the state and, relying on such a direct neighbor, will be able to withstand the fight against an external enemy much more successfully.” In the absence of such an alignment, the author writes, the psychology of the local Russian inhabitants, who often considered themselves “temporary residents” there, is quite understandable.
The integrity of the Russian state also presupposes a change in the usual geographical representation, when the state is artificially divided by the Ural Range into completely unequal European and Asian parts in area. The geographer believed that it was necessary to single out a cultural and economic unit in the form of Russian Eurasia in the space between the Volga and the Yenisei from the Arctic Ocean to the southernmost edges of the state, not to consider it in any way as a margin, but to speak of it already as a root and equal in everything Russian land, as we used to talk about European Russia.
There are two ways to move the cultural and economic center to the true geographical center:
- use the method of Peter the Great and move the capital, in this case to Yekaterinburg;
- to form new cultural and colonization bases. The transfer of the capital is suitable, as the author notes, for the primitive times of the state, when such experiments are relatively cheap, but it is completely unsuitable "in our complex age of high prices."
The formation of cultural and economic centers, which, "sending their rays in all directions, truly maintain the strength of the state territory and contribute to its more uniform settlement and cultural and economic development."
Speaking about the possibility of a federal structure in Russia, Semenov-Tian-Shansky believed that it "would be unconditional death for her in the sense of a powerful possession." It must be said that it was about the preservation of the empire, while democratic states, as a rule, assume federation as a form of state administrative-territorial division.
Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky (1839-1888) is one of the greatest Russian geographers and travelers. Born in March 1839, in the village of Kimbolovo, in the Smolensk region. The parents of the future traveler were small landowners. Nikolai Przhevalsky studied at the Smolensk gymnasium, after which he entered the service in the Ryazan Infantry Regiment with the rank of non-commissioned officer. Having served and received basic military experience, Przhevalsky entered the Academy of the General Staff, where he wrote a number of sensible geographical works, for which he was accepted into the ranks of the Russian Geographical Society. The end of the Academy fell on the period of the rebellion, in the suppression of which Przhevalsky himself took part. Participation in the suppression of the Polish uprising forced Nikolai Mikhailovich to stay in Poland. Przhevalsky also taught geography at the Polish cadet school. The great geographer devoted his free time to gambling entertainment - hunting and playing cards. As Przhevalsky's contemporaries noted, he had a phenomenal memory, which is probably why he was so lucky in the cards.
Przhevalsky devoted 11 years of his life to long expeditions. In particular, he led a two-year expedition to the Ussuri region (1867-1869), and in the period from 1870 to 1885 he led four expeditions to Central Asia.
The first expedition in the region of Central Asia lasted three years from 1870 to 1873 and was devoted to the study of Mongolia, China and Tibet. Przhevalsky collected scientific evidence that the Gobi is not a plateau, but is a hollow with a hilly relief, that the Nanshan Mountains are not a ridge, but a mountain system. Przhevalsky owns the discovery of the Beishan Highlands, the Qaidam Basin, three ridges in the Kunlun, as well as seven large lakes. In the second expedition to the region (1876-1877), Przhevalsky discovered the Altyntag mountains, for the first time described the now dried-up Lobnor Lake and the Tarim and Konchedarya rivers that feed it. Thanks to Przhevalsky's research, the border of the Tibet highlands was revised and moved more than 300 km to the north. In the third expedition to Central Asia, which took place in 1879-1880. Przhevalsky singled out several ranges in Nanshan, Kunlun and Tibet, described Lake Kukunor, as well as the upper reaches of the great rivers of China, the Huang He and Yangtze. Despite his illness, Przhevalsky also organized the fourth expedition to Tibet in 1883-1885, during which he discovered a number of new lakes, ridges and basins.
Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky and his companions before the last expedition (www.nasledie-rus.ru)
The total length of Przhevalsky's expedition routes is 31,500 kilometers. Przhevalsky's expeditions also resulted in rich zoological collections, which included about 7,500 exhibits. Przhevalsky owns the discovery of several species of animals: a wild camel, a pika-eating bear, a wild horse, later named after the researcher himself (Przhevalsky's horse). The herbariums of the Przhevalsky expeditions contain about 16,000 flora samples (1,700 species, 218 of which were described by science for the first time). The mineralogical collections of Przhevalsky are also striking in their richness. The outstanding scientist was awarded the highest awards of several geographical societies, became an honorary member of 24 scientific institutes of the world, as well as an honorary citizen of his native Smolensk and the capital St. Petersburg. In 1891, the Russian Geographical Society established a silver medal and the Przhevalsky Prize. The name of the great Russian scientist, who made a huge contribution to the study of Central Asia and world geographical science as a whole, until recently was borne by the city of Przhevalsk (Kyrgyzstan), but was renamed to please the ideological costs of the era of the parade of sovereignties in the CIS. Name N.M. Przhevalsky continues to wear the mountain range, the Altai glacier, as well as some species of animals and plants.
