They are always attracted by the horizon line, an endless strip that goes into the distance. Their faithful friends are ribbons of roads leading to the unknown, mysterious and mysterious. They were the first to push the boundaries, opening up new lands to humanity and the amazing beauty of metrics. These people are the most famous travelers.

Travelers who made the most important discoveries

Christopher Columbus. He was a red-haired guy with a strong build and slightly above average height. From childhood he was smart, practical, very proud. He had a dream - to go on a journey and find a treasure of gold coins. And he made his dreams come true. He found a treasure - a huge mainland - America.

Three-quarters of Columbus' life was spent sailing. He traveled on Portuguese ships, managed to live in Lisbon and the British Isles. Stopping for a short time in a foreign land, he constantly drew geographical maps, made new travel plans.

It still remains a mystery how he managed to plan the shortest route from Europe to India. His calculations were based on the discoveries of the 15th century and on the fact that the Earth is spherical.

Gathering 90 volunteers in 1492-1493, on three ships he set off on a journey across the Atlantic Ocean. He became the discoverer of the central part of the Bahamas, the Greater and Lesser Antilles. He owns the discovery of the northeast coast of Cuba.

The second expedition, which lasted from 1493 to 1496, already consisted of 17 ships and 2.5 thousand people. He discovered the islands of Dominica, the Lesser Antilles, the island of Puerto Rico. After 40 days of sailing, having arrived in Castile, he notified the government of the opening of a new route to Asia.

After 3 years, having collected 6 ships, he led an expedition across the Atlantic. In Haiti, because of the denunciation of the envious of his successes, Columbus was arrested and shackled. He received liberation, but he kept the chains all his life, as a symbol of betrayal.

He was the discoverer of America. Until the end of his life, he mistakenly believed that it was connected to Asia by a thin isthmus. He believed that it was he who opened the sea route to India, although history later showed the fallacy of his delusions.

Vasco da Gama. He was lucky to live in the era of the great geographical discoveries. Perhaps that is why he dreamed of traveling and dreamed of becoming a discoverer of uncharted lands.

He was a nobleman. The family was not the most noble, but had ancient roots. As a young man, he became interested in mathematics, navigation and astronomy. Since childhood, he hated secular society, playing the piano and French, which noble nobles tried to "shine".

Decisiveness and organizational skills made Vasco da Gama close to Emperor Charles VIII, who, having decided to create an expedition to open a sea route to India, appointed him the main one.

At his disposal were provided 4 new ships specially built for the voyage. Vasco da Gama was supplied with the latest navigational instruments and provided naval artillery.

A year later, the expedition reached the shores of India, stopping in the first city of Calicut (Kozhikode). Despite the cold meeting of the natives and even military clashes, the goal was achieved. Vasco da Gama became the discoverer of the sea route to India.

They discovered the mountainous and desert regions of Asia, made bold expeditions to the Far North, they "wrote" history, glorifying the Russian land.

Great Russian travelers

Miklouho-Maclay was born into a noble family, but experienced poverty at the age of 11, when his father died. He has always been a rebel. At the age of 15, he was arrested for participating in a student demonstration and imprisoned for three days in the Peter and Paul Fortress. For participation in student unrest, he was expelled from the gymnasium with a further ban on admission to any higher institution. After leaving for Germany, he received his education there.

The famous naturalist Ernst Haeckel became interested in the 19-year-old guy, inviting him to his expedition to study marine fauna.

In 1869, having returned to St. Petersburg, he enlisted the support of the Russian Geographical Society and went to study New Guinea. It took a year to prepare the expedition. He sailed to the shore of the Coral Sea, and when he stepped on the ground he did not even guess that the descendants of this place would call his name.

Having lived for more than a year in New Guinea, he not only discovered new lands, but also taught the natives how to grow corn, pumpkin, beans and fruit trees. He studied the life of the natives in Java, the Louisiades and the Solomon Islands. He spent 3 years in Australia.

He died at 42. Doctors diagnosed him with severe deterioration of the body.

Afanasy Nikitin is the first Russian traveler to visit India and Persia. Returning back, he visited Somalia, Turkey and Muscat. His notes "Journey Beyond Three Seas" have become valuable historical and literary aids. He simply and truthfully outlined medieval India in his notes.

A native of a peasant family proved that even a poor person can make a trip to India. The main thing is to set a goal.

The world has not revealed all its secrets to man. Until now, there are people who dream of opening the veil of unknown worlds.

Notable modern travelers

He is 60, but his soul is still full of thirst for new adventures. At the age of 58, he climbed to the top of Everest, conquered the 7 greatest peaks together with climbers. He is fearless, purposeful, open to the unknown. His name is Fedor Konyukhov.

And let the era of great discoveries be long behind us. It doesn't matter that the Earth has been photographed thousands of times from space. Let travelers and discoverers discover all the places of the globe. He, like a child, believes that there is still a lot of unknown things in the world.

He has 40 expeditions and ascents to his credit. He crossed the seas and oceans, was at the North and South Poles, made 4 round-the-world voyages, crossed the Atlantic 15 times. Of these, once on a rowboat. He made most of his travels alone.

Everyone knows his name. His programs had millions of viewers. He is the great man who gave this world the unusual beauty of nature, hidden from view in the bottomless depths. Fedor Konyukhov visited different places on our planet, including the hottest place in Russia, which is located in Kalmykia. The site has Jacques-Yves Cousteau, perhaps the most famous traveler in the world

Even during the war, he continued his experiments and studies of the underwater world. He decided to devote the first film to sunken ships. And the Germans, who occupied France, allowed him to engage in research activities and filming.

He dreamed of a ship that would be equipped with modern technology for filming and observation. He was helped by a complete stranger who gave Cousteau a small military minesweeper. After repair work, it turned into the famous ship "Calypso".

The crew of the ship were researchers: a journalist, a navigator, a geologist, a volcanologist. His assistant and companion was his wife. Later, 2 of his sons also took part in all expeditions.

Cousteau is recognized as the best specialist in underwater research. He received an offer to head the famous Oceanographic Museum in Monaco. He not only studied the underwater world, but also engaged in activities to protect the marine and ocean habitats.
Subscribe to our channel in Yandex.Zen

Travel has always attracted people, but before they were not only interesting, but also extremely difficult. The territories were not explored, and, setting off on a journey, everyone became an explorer. Which travelers are the most famous and what exactly did each of them discover?

James Cook

The famous Englishman was one of the best cartographers of the eighteenth century. He was born in the north of England and by the age of thirteen he began to work with his father. But the boy was unable to trade, so he decided to take up navigation. In those days, all the famous travelers of the world went to distant countries on ships. James became interested in maritime affairs and moved up the career ladder so quickly that he was offered to become a captain. He refused and went to the Royal Navy. Already in 1757, the talented Cook began to manage the ship himself. His first achievement was the compilation of the fairway of the river. He discovered the talent of a navigator and cartographer. In the 1760s he explored Newfoundland, which attracted the attention of the Royal Society and the Admiralty. He was assigned to travel across the Pacific Ocean, where he reached the shores of New Zealand. In 1770, he did something that other famous travelers had not achieved before - he discovered a new continent. In 1771, Cook returned to England as the famous pioneer of Australia. His last journey was an expedition in search of a passage connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Today, even schoolchildren know the sad fate of Cook, who was killed by cannibal natives.

Christopher Columbus

Famous travelers and their discoveries have always had a significant impact on the course of history, but few have been as famous as this man. Columbus became a national hero of Spain, decisively expanding the map of the country. Christopher was born in 1451. The boy quickly achieved success because he was diligent and studied well. Already at the age of 14 he went to sea. In 1479, he met his love and began life in Portugal, but after the tragic death of his wife, he went with his son to Spain. Having received the support of the Spanish king, he went on an expedition, the purpose of which was to find a way to Asia. Three ships sailed from the coast of Spain to the west. In October 1492 they reached the Bahamas. This is how America was discovered. Christopher mistakenly decided to call the locals Indians, believing that he had reached India. His report changed history: two new continents and many islands, discovered by Columbus, became the main travel destination of the colonialists in the next few centuries.

Vasco da Gama

Portugal's most famous traveler was born in Sines on September 29, 1460. From a young age, he worked in the Navy and became famous as a confident and fearless captain. In 1495, King Manuel came to power in Portugal, who dreamed of developing trade with India. For this, a sea route was needed, in search of which Vasco da Gama had to go. There were also more famous sailors and travelers in the country, but for some reason the king chose him. In 1497, four ships sailed south, rounded and sailed to Mozambique. I had to stay there for a month - half of the team had scurvy by that time. After a break, Vasco da Gama reached Calcutta. In India, he established trade relations for three months, and a year later he returned to Portugal, where he became a national hero. The opening of the sea route, which made it possible to get to Calcutta past the east coast of Africa, was his main achievement.

Nikolay Miklukho-Maclay

Famous Russian travelers also made many important discoveries. For example, the same Nikolai Mikhlukho-Maclay, who was born in 1864 in the Novgorod province. He could not graduate from St. Petersburg University, as he was expelled for participating in student demonstrations. To continue his education, Nikolai went to Germany, where he met Haeckel, a naturalist who invited Miklouho-Maclay to his scientific expedition. So the world of wanderings opened up for him. His whole life was devoted to travel and scientific work. Nikolai lived in Sicily, in Australia, studied New Guinea, implementing the project of the Russian Geographical Society, visited Indonesia, the Philippines, the Malay Peninsula and Oceania. In 1886, the naturalist returned to Russia and proposed to the emperor to establish a Russian colony across the ocean. But the project with New Guinea did not receive royal support, and Miklouho-Maclay fell seriously ill and soon died, without completing his work on a travel book.

Ferdinand Magellan

Many famous navigators and travelers lived in the era of the Great Magellan is no exception. In 1480 he was born in Portugal, in the city of Sabrosa. Having gone to serve at court (at that time he was only 12 years old), he learned about the confrontation between his native country and Spain, about traveling to the East Indies and trade routes. So he first became interested in the sea. In 1505, Fernand got on a ship. Seven years after that, he plied the sea, participated in expeditions to India and Africa. In 1513, Magellan went to Morocco, where he was wounded in battle. But this did not curb the craving for travel - he planned an expedition for spices. The king rejected his request, and Magellan went to Spain, where he received all the necessary support. Thus began his world tour. Fernand thought that from the west the route to India might be shorter. He crossed the Atlantic Ocean, reached South America and discovered the strait, which would later be named after him. became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean. On it, he reached the Philippines and almost reached the goal - the Moluccas, but died in battle with local tribes, wounded by a poisonous arrow. However, his journey opened up a new ocean for Europe and the realization that the planet is much larger than scientists had previously thought.

Roald Amundsen

The Norwegian was born at the very end of an era in which many famous travelers became famous. Amundsen was the last of the navigators who tried to find undiscovered lands. From childhood, he was distinguished by perseverance and self-confidence, which allowed him to conquer the South Geographic Pole. The beginning of the journey is connected with 1893, when the boy left the university and got a job as a sailor. In 1896 he became a navigator, and the following year he went on his first expedition to Antarctica. The ship was lost in the ice, the crew suffered from scurvy, but Amundsen did not give up. He took command, cured the people, remembering his medical background, and brought the ship back to Europe. After becoming a captain, in 1903 he went in search of the Northwest Passage off Canada. Famous travelers before him had never done anything like this - in two years the team covered the path from the east of the American mainland to its west. Amundsen became known to the whole world. The next expedition was a two-month trip to the South Plus, and the last venture was the search for Nobile, during which he went missing.

David Livingston

Many famous travelers are connected with seafaring. he became a land explorer, namely the African continent. The famous Scot was born in March 1813. At the age of 20, he decided to become a missionary, met Robert Moffett and wished to go to African villages. In 1841, he came to Kuruman, where he taught local people how to farm, served as a doctor, and taught literacy. There he learned the Bechuan language, which helped him in his travels in Africa. Livingston studied in detail the life and customs of the locals, wrote several books about them and went on an expedition in search of the sources of the Nile, in which he fell ill and died of a fever.

Amerigo Vespucci

The most famous travelers in the world were most often from Spain or Portugal. Amerigo Vespucci was born in Italy and became one of the famous Florentines. He received a good education and trained as a financier. From 1490 he worked in Seville, in the Medici trade mission. His life was connected with sea travel, for example, he sponsored the second expedition of Columbus. Christopher inspired him with the idea of ​​trying himself as a traveler, and already in 1499 Vespucci went to Suriname. The purpose of the voyage was to study the coastline. There he opened a settlement called Venezuela - little Venice. In 1500 he returned home with 200 slaves. In 1501 and 1503 Amerigo repeated his travels, acting not only as a navigator, but also as a cartographer. He discovered the bay of Rio de Janeiro, the name of which he gave himself. Since 1505, he served the king of Castile and did not participate in campaigns, only equipped other people's expeditions.

Francis Drake

Many famous travelers and their discoveries have benefited humanity. But among them there are those who left behind a bad memory, since their names were associated with rather cruel events. An English Protestant, who had sailed on a ship from the age of twelve, was no exception. He captured local residents in the Caribbean, selling them into slavery to the Spaniards, attacked ships and fought with Catholics. Perhaps no one could equal Drake in terms of the number of captured foreign ships. His campaigns were sponsored by the Queen of England. In 1577 he went to South America to defeat the Spanish settlements. During the journey, he found Tierra del Fuego and the strait, which was later named after him. Rounding Argentina, Drake plundered the port of Valparaiso and two Spanish ships. When he reached California, he met the natives, who presented the British with gifts of tobacco and bird feathers. Drake crossed the Indian Ocean and returned to Plymouth, becoming the first British citizen to circumnavigate the world. He was admitted to the House of Commons and awarded the title of Sir. In 1595 he died in the last campaign in the Caribbean.

Afanasy Nikitin

Few famous travelers in Russia have achieved the same heights as this native of Tver. Afanasy Nikitin became the first European to visit India. He made a trip to the Portuguese colonizers and wrote "Journey Beyond the Three Seas" - the most valuable literary and historical monument. The success of the expedition was ensured by the merchant's career: Athanasius knew several languages ​​and knew how to negotiate with people. On his journey, he visited Baku, lived in Persia for about two years and reached India by ship. After visiting several cities in an exotic country, he went to Parvat, where he stayed for a year and a half. After the province of Raichur, he headed to Russia, paving the route through the Arabian and Somali Peninsulas. However, Afanasy Nikitin never made it home, because he fell ill and died near Smolensk, but his notes survived and provided the merchant with world fame.

A person, all his life, from birth to death, living in his own homogeneous cultural environment, may not be able to understand at all that he lives "in culture", and even more so to thematize, objectify culture as a subject of study. The question of the need to study what distinguishes my life and the life of my compatriots, compatriots, contemporaries from the life of other large groups of people of the past and present time, with all the apparent uniformity of universal life characteristics, such as birth, growing up, death, systems of social status, power relationships, family structures and so on - can arise when there is a collision with this other, when you can see it with your own eyes and experience it. From such a collision and experience, the sciences of culture arose in ancient times.

The father of ethnology, or cultural anthropology (as this science is called in some countries), is considered the ancient Greek geographer and historian Herodotus. Descriptions of foreign countries and lands in the writings of ancient authors naturally turned into descriptions of the peoples inhabiting them, their appearance, habits, and way of life. As a rule, these descriptions cannot yet be called culturological. They are, as it were, pseudo-naturalistic in nature. Features of customs and way of life, which subsequently, hundreds of years later, began to be understood as cultural, that is, in a certain sense, functional, in ancient descriptions (and not only in ancient ones - this approach was accepted until the 19th century) was understood as belonging to the very nature of the described people or tribe. Travelers, observing life in foreign countries, were convinced that they were dealing with another people, different from themselves, but which differences were of a cultural nature, and which were natural, they still could not understand sufficiently. Therefore, for example, such characteristics as "people with dog heads eating their dead" were of a syncretic, undifferentiated nature, there was no sense of the commonality of humanity, and the differences that were directly manifest served as the basis for understanding the other as an abstract other; there were no criteria for classifying and understanding the nature of otherness*.

A more scientific, systematic nature of ideas about culture began to acquire in the Middle Ages, and then in modern times, that is, in the 17th - 18th centuries. It was the time of merchants, sailors, conquerors, missionaries; the names of Captain James Cook, merchant Marco Polo, conquistador Fernando Cortez, navigator Christopher Columbus have remained for centuries. It was an era of real exploration and discovery of the world, the discovery of new cultures. Travelers and conquerors in their writings described the manners and customs of the native peoples. Depending on their powers of observation, inclinations and abilities, these descriptions can (with greater or lesser justification) be regarded as ethnographic, although, of course, the authors themselves, as a rule, did not consider them as such. Of course, these descriptions were not a product of scientific activity, but a by-product of other kinds of activity, although they soon became a source of data for science.

At the end of the 18th century, Immanuel Kant, in the Preface to Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View, published in 1798, wrote that "Traveling is one of the means of expanding anthropology, even if it is only reading travel books" . And in the 19th century, travel began to be made not for the purpose of religious preaching, trade or conquest, or, better, not only for the purpose of religious preaching, trade or conquest, but also for the purpose of scientific research. Then the notes of travelers began to be read not just out of curiosity, but with the aim of expanding and systematizing ideas about the diversity of forms of human existence, which testified to the emergence of a full-fledged science of "culture *.

The first on this path were the German scientists Johann Gottfried Herder and Johann Forster, who are simultaneously called philosophers of culture and anthropologists. Their works already contain the foundations for posing questions that are characteristic of modern cultural anthropological knowledge. Forster, who sailed the southern seas on the ships of the famous Captain Cook, left rich diaries of observations and theoretical books, raised the question of the active adaptation of tribes and peoples to their natural environment, considered cultural creativity as a response of an imperfect and naturally deficient human being to the challenge

you of nature, he also wondered about self-knowledge through the knowledge of others as one of the main goals of anthropology.

These problems were analyzed in even more detail by Herder in his book Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind. In this famous work, an integral program of the sciences of culture is fixed and its detailed development is given. The program can be summarized in three main points:

the most accurate description of cultures and peoples,

analysis of different cultures as alternative responses to the demand for the adaptation of human nature to the environment,

knowledge of themselves, that is, their own culture, through the knowledge of other cultures.

This first program is a giant leap in the development of anthropology compared to its state at the previous stage, when, as mentioned above, firstly, there was no understanding of the commonality of humanity and the unity of human nature, and, secondly, they were not differentiated and acted in a certain syncretic unity of natural and cultural aspects of human existence. In Herder's work, the unity of mankind is stated as the unity of human nature, the natural in man is opposed to culture as a function of the adaptation of human nature to the various conditions in which people live, and, finally, a step is taken beyond the boundaries of their own, closed world, where for many centuries the European humanity. "Knowing oneself through knowing others" meant the recognition of the equality of oneself to others. For Europeans, this was quite new and unusual, so Herder and Forster were among the founders of European humanism.

* Let us give an example of such a syncretic vision of nature and culture (Catalogue of mountains and seas. Shan Hai Jing / Translation by E.M. Yangshina. M .: Nauka, 1977, p. 62-64):

"From Suchu Mountain to Bamboo Mountain, there are twelve mountains with a length of three thousand six hundred li. All their spirits have human bodies and dragon heads. They sacrifice a living dog, pray and sprinkle its blood on the ground ...

Another three hundred li to the south is a mountain called Straight (Geng), there are no plants there ... An animal that looks like a fox, but with fish fins, lives there, called zhuzhu. It calls out its own name. In the kingdom where he is met, fear will settle.

Another three hundred li to the south, the mountain is called Luci; there is neither grass nor trees on it, it is entirely sand and stone. A sandy river flows from it, flows south and flows into the river Tsen. It has a lot of dashing, like mandarin ducks, but with human legs. They call out their own name. In the kingdom where they are seen, there will be a lot of earthen public works...

In total... from Hollow Mulberry Mountain to Yin Mountain, there are seventeen mountains with a length of six thousand six hundred and forty li. All their spirits have animal bodies and human heads with horns. They are sacrificed with live animals of the same color. After they kill one rooster, they pray; according to the rite of fertility, one jade disc (bi) is buried.

However, even a century and a half after Kant, reading the notes of travelers did not lose its meaning, rather the opposite. As E. Canetti wrote: “The more accurate the reports of travelers about “simple” peoples, the sooner one wants to forget about the arguing dominant ethnological theories and start thinking in a completely new way. The most important thing, which is most expressive, these theories just miss ... The old traveler was simply curious... The modern ethnologist is methodical; years of study make him a skillful observer, however, incapable of creative thinking; he is equipped with the finest net, into which he himself is the first to come across... Notes of old travelers should be kept more securely than the most priceless treasures" (Canetti E. Die Provinz des Menschen. Aufzeichnungen 1942-1972. München: Hanser, 1973. S. 50-51).

On August 18, we celebrate the birthday of the Russian Geographical Society - one of the oldest Russian public organizations, and the only one that has continuously existed since its inception in 1845.

Just think about it: neither wars, nor revolutions, nor periods of devastation, timelessness, and the collapse of the country did not stop its existence! There have always been daredevils, scientists, mad researchers who, both in prosperous and in the most difficult times, took any risk for the sake of science. And even now, at the moment, new full members of the Russian Geographical Society are on their way. "MIR 24" tells only about some of the great travelers who glorified the Russian Geographical Society.

Ivan Krusenstern (1770 - 1846)

Photo: unknown artist, 1838.

Russian navigator, admiral, one of the initiators of the creation of the Russian Geographical Society. He led the first Russian round-the-world expedition.

Even in his youth, fellow students in the Naval Cadet Corps noted the unbending, "sea" character of the future Russian admiral. His faithful colleague, friend and rival Yuri Lisyansky, who became the commander of the second ship in their legendary circumnavigation, noted that the main qualities of cadet Kruzenshtern were "reliability, commitment and lack of interest in everyday life."

It was then, during the years of study, that his dreams were born to explore distant lands and oceans. However, they did not come true soon, only in 1803. The first Russian round-the-world expedition included the ships "Nadezhda" and "Neva".
During this expedition, a new route was established to the Russian possessions in Kamchatka and Alaska. The western coast of Japan, the southern and eastern parts of Sakhalin were plotted on the map, and part of the Kuril ridge was comprehensively studied.

Photo: "I. F. Krusenstern in Avacha Bay, Friedrich Georg Veich, 1806

During his round-the-world trip, measurements of current speed, temperature at different depths, determination of salinity and specific gravity of water, and much more were carried out. Thus, Ivan Kruzenshtern became one of the founders of Russian oceanology.

Pyotr Semenov-Tyan-Shansky (1827 - 1914)

Photo: Alexandre Quinet, 1870

Vice-chairman of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society and its leading scientist - but not an armchair. He was a brave and stubborn pioneer. He explored Altai, Tarbagatai, Semirechensky and Zailiysky Alatau, Lake Issyk-Kul. Only mountaineers will be able to appreciate the way the brave traveler traveled through the hard-to-reach mountains of the Central Tien Shan, where Europeans have not yet been able to reach. He discovered and for the first time conquered the peak of Khan Tengri with glaciers on its slopes and proved that the opinion of the international scientific world that a range of volcanoes erupts in these places is erroneous. The scientist also found out where the sources of the Naryn, Sarydzhaz and Chu rivers come from, penetrated into the upper reaches of the Syr Darya, which had not been traveled before.

Semenov-Tyan-Shansky became the actual creator of the new Russian geographical school, offering the international scientific world a fundamentally new way of knowledge. Being at the same time a geologist, botanist and zoologist, he first began to consider natural systems in their unity. And he compared the geological structure of the mountains with the mountainous relief and revealed patterns on which the entire scientific world later began to rely.

Nikolai Miklukho-Maclay (1846-1888)

Photo: ITAR-TASS, 1963

The famous Russian traveler, anthropologist, explorer, who made a number of expeditions to the previously unexplored New Guinea and other Pacific islands. Accompanied by only two servants, he lived among the Papuans for a long time, collected the richest materials about primitive peoples, made friends with them, and helped them.

Here is what his biographers write about the scientist: “The most characteristic of Miklouho-Maclay is an amazing combination of traits of a brave traveler, tireless enthusiastic researcher, widely erudite scientist, progressive humanist thinker, energetic public figure, fighter for the rights of the oppressed colonial peoples. Such qualities separately are not particularly rare, but the combination of all of them in one person is a completely exceptional phenomenon.

In his travels, Miklouho-Maclay also collected a lot of information about the peoples of Indonesia and Malaya, the Philippines, Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia and western Polynesia. He was ahead of his time. His work was not sufficiently appreciated in the 19th century, but anthropological researchers of the 20th and 21st centuries consider his contribution to science to be a real scientific feat.

Nikolai Przhevalsky (1839-1888)

Photo: ITAR-TASS, 1948

Russian military figure, major general, one of the greatest Russian geographers and travelers, who consciously prepared himself for travel since the gymnasium.

Przhevalsky devoted 11 years of his life to long expeditions. First, he led a two-year expedition to the Ussuri region (1867-1869), and after that, in 1870-1885, he made four trips to the little-known regions of Central Asia.

The first expedition in the region of Central Asia was devoted to the study of Mongolia, China and Tibet. Przhevalsky collected scientific evidence that the Gobi is not a plateau, and the Nanshan mountains are not a ridge, but a mountain system. The explorer owns the discovery of a whole series of mountains, ranges, and lakes.

During the second expedition, the scientist discovered new Altyntag mountains, and for the first time described two rivers and a lake. And the border of the Tibet highlands, thanks to his research, had to be moved more than 300 km to the north on the maps.

In the third expedition, 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, the discoverer also organized the fourth expedition to Tibet in 1883-1885, during which he discovered a number of new lakes and ridges.

He described more than 30 thousand kilometers of the path he traveled, collected unique collections. He discovered not only mountains and rivers, but also hitherto unknown representatives of the animal world: a wild camel, a Tibetan bear, a wild horse.
Like many prominent geographers of that time, Przhevalsky was the owner of a good and lively literary language. He wrote several books about his travels, in which he gave a vivid description of Asia: its flora, fauna, climate and the peoples inhabiting it.

Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky (1863-1944)

Photo: Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky, 1912

Ancestor of the era of color photography in Russia. He was the first to capture in color nature, cities and people's lives on a vast stretch from the Baltic Sea to the East of Russia.

He created a system of color reproduction for photography: from the recipe of the emulsion that is applied to glass plates for photography, to the drawings of special equipment for color photography and the projection of the resulting color images.

Since 1903, he has been constantly on trips: with the obsession of a real traveler, he takes pictures of the natural beauties of Russia, its inhabitants, cities, architectural monuments - all the true sights of the Russian Empire.

In December 1906-January 1907 Prokudin-Gorsky traveled to Turkestan with an expedition of the Russian Geographical Society to photograph the solar eclipse. It was not possible to capture the eclipse in color, but the ancient monuments of Bukhara and Samarkand, colorful local types of people and much more were filmed.

In the autumn of 1908, Nicholas II himself provided Prokudin-Gorsky with the necessary vehicles and gave permission to shoot in any place, so that the photographer could capture “in natural colors” all the main sights of the Russian Empire from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean. In total, it is planned to take 10 thousand pictures in 10 years.

A few days after meeting with the tsar, the photographer sets off along the Mariinsky waterway from St. Petersburg almost to the Volga itself. For three and a half years he has been constantly moving and taking pictures. First, he takes pictures of the northern part of the industrial Urals. Then he makes two trips along the Volga, capturing it from its very source to Nizhny Novgorod. In between, he shoots the southern part of the Urals. And then - numerous monuments of antiquity in Kostroma and the Yaroslavl province. In the spring and autumn of 1911, the photographer manages to visit the Trans-Caspian region and Turkestan twice more, where he tried color filming for the first time in history.

This is followed by two photo expeditions to the Caucasus, where he photographs the Mugan steppe, undertakes a grandiose trip along the planned Kama-Tobolsk waterway, conducts extensive surveys of areas associated with the memory of the Patriotic War of 1812 - from Maloyaroslavets to Lithuanian Vilna, photographs Ryazan, Suzdal, construction of the Kuzminskaya and Beloomutovskaya dams on the Oka.

Then financial difficulties begin, the financing of expeditions is interrupted. In 1913-1914. Prokudin-Gorsky is engaged in the creation of the first color cinema. But the First World War prevented the further development of this new project. None of Prokudin-Gorsky's experimental color films has yet been found.

Artur Chilingarov (born 1939)

Photo: Lev Fedoseev/ITAR-TASS

Famous polar explorer, Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of the Russian Federation, prominent Russian scientist, author of a number of scientific papers on the development of the North and the Arctic. Lives and works in Moscow.

Since 1963, he has been studying the Arctic Ocean and the oceanic atmosphere at the Arctic Research Observatory in the village of Tiksi. In 1969, he headed the North Pole-19 station, created on drifting ice, since 1971 he worked as the head of the Bellingshausen station, and since 1973 - the head of the North Pole-22 station. In 1985, he led an operation to rescue the expedition ship Mikhail Somov, which was covered in Antarctic ice. The icebreaker "Vladivostok" broke the ice around the diesel-electric ship and freed its crew from the blockade, which lasted as much as 133 days.

In 1987, Chilingarov led the team of the nuclear-powered icebreaker Sibir, which reached the geographic North Pole in free navigation. In January 2002, the traveler proved the possibility of operating light aircraft in Antarctica: he reached the South Pole on a single-engine An-ZT aircraft.

Photo: Roman Denisov/ITAR-TASS

In the summer of 2007, the famous polar explorer led an Arctic expedition aboard the Akademik Fedorov, which proved that the Arctic Ocean shelf is a continuation of the Siberian continental platform. The Mir-1 and Mir-2 vehicles were submerged to the bottom of the ocean, one of which was carrying Chilingarov himself. He also set a kind of record as the first person in the world to visit both the South and North Poles within six months.

Nikolai Litau (born 1955)

Photo: from the archive

Honored Master of Sports, Russian yachtsman, who made three round-the-world trips on the Apostol Andrey yacht built under his leadership. Awarded with the Order of Courage. During three round-the-world trips, Apostol Andrew left 110,000 nautical miles astern, visited all the continents of the planet, passed all the oceans and set five world records.

Here is what Nikolai Litau told a MIR 24 correspondent: “I made three round-the-world voyages on the Apostle Andrey. The first is around the Eastern Hemisphere through the Northern Sea Route, the second is around the Western Hemisphere, through the straits of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and the third is the Antarctic: in 2005-06 we circled Antarctica, all the time being above 60 degrees of latitude, the invisible border of Antarctica. The latter has not yet been repeated by anyone. The fourth global voyage, in which I happened to take part, took place in 2012-13. It was an international round-the-world trip, its route passed mainly through warm and comfortable tropical latitudes. I was the captain-mentor on the Russian yacht Royal Leopard and covered half the distance. During this voyage, I crossed my jubilee - the tenth equator. In recent years, we have been engaged in memorial trips on the yacht "Apostol Andrei" in the Russian Arctic. We recall the names of outstanding Russian sailors: Vladimir Rusanov, Georgy Sedov, Boris Vilkitsky, Georgy Brusilov and others.”

Photo: from the archive

Exactly one year ago, Nikolai Litau traveled to the Arctic for the eleventh time on the yacht Apostol Andrey. The route of this journey passed through the White, Barents and Kara Seas, the islands of the Arctic Institute in the Kara Sea were explored. Ahead - new expeditions.

§ 3. THE ROLE OF THE OUTSTANDING RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS AND TRAVELERS IN THE STUDY OF THE NATURAL RESOURCES OF THE REGION

Russian scientists have made a significant contribution to the study of the natural resources of the region. They discovered deposits of coal, oil, copper, lead. Outstanding research in Central and Central Asia was carried out by the famous geographer, botanist, entomologist L.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky (1827-1914). Another major scientist and tireless traveler was N. M. Przhevalsky.

Here are examples convincingly testifying to this noble activity of Russian progressive scientists and travelers.

In the second half of the XIX century. P. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky published the first reliable information about the composition and structure of a significant part of the Tien Shan mountain ranges and the nature of its botanical and geographical zones. In the remarkable book by Semenov-Tian-Shansky "Journey to the Tien Shan" we find many interesting observations of the scientist about Kyrgyzstan and the Kirghiz, about their way of life and culture, customs and traditions. Noteworthy are the lines of a remarkable traveler about how in 1856, during the Tien Shan expedition, he had a chance to experience cordial Kirghiz hospitality. At that moment, a tribal struggle took place between the Kyrgyz tribes Sarybagish and Bugu. In such circumstances, it was not safe to continue the advance of the expedition. However, P.P. Semenov wrote: “I was convinced that the Kara-Kyrgyz would remain impeccable to the sacred custom of hospitality in their eyes.” Indeed, the Russian traveler visited the Kirghiz. As a token of friendship between the Russian and Kyrgyz peoples, he presented a gift to the representative of the Sarybagish people of Umbet-Ala and immediately received in response from the owner of the house three excellent horses, which turned out to be very useful on a hike through the hard-to-reach mountain Tien Shan.

In 1856-1857. as a result of the expedition, P.P. Semenov collects valuable material on botany, zoology and geology of the region. He explores the Issyk-Kul Basin, the upper reaches of the Naryn and Sary-Dzhaz rivers, up to the Khan-Tengri mountain range. As a result of these studies, he showed the features of the change of landscapes in the mountains, gave the first information about the vegetation of Kyrgyzstan and the patterns of its vertical distribution. For outstanding scientific achievements, Petr Petrovich Semenov in 1906 received the honorary right to add a second name to his surname - Tyan-Shansky.

Kirghiz SSR. Monument to the outstanding scientist-traveler

Another expedition to Asia, organized by the scientist as a member of the Russian Geographical Society in 1888, brings new remarkable results. Summing up his work, he comes to the important conclusion that when describing geographical areas, it is important not only to register the natural features of the area under study, but also to study the distribution of the relationship to the land of man - "the ruler of nature, who subjugated its forces."

To commemorate the merits of Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, on August 15, 1982, a monumental monument was erected on the shore of Lake Issyk-Kul, in the city of Rybachy - a majestic bronze figure of a scientist holding a horse by the bridle. His gaze is fixed on the blue expanse of Issyk-Kul, spreading in the distance, on the mountain peaks rising above the lake.

The outstanding researcher of Central Asia N. M. Przhevalsky (1839-1888) collected very important scientifically reliable information about the composition and structure of a significant part of the Tien Shan mountain ranges and the nature of its botanical and geographical zones. This information has not yet lost its relevance. In the city of Karakol, later renamed Przhevalsk in honor of the scientist-traveler, he completed his fourth trip to Central Asia. Having fallen in love with the mountainous region for life, N. M. Przhevalsky at the end of his life bequeathed to bury himself in expeditionary form on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul. Now, near the city of Przhevalsk, on the shore of Lake Issyk-Kul, a monument to the great traveler has been erected and a memorial museum dedicated to him has been opened.

Other Russian researchers also made a great contribution to the study of the natural resources of Central Asia.

The remarkable scientist-researcher of Central Asia A.P. Fedchenko (1844-1873) rightly wrote: “The peoples of Central Asia should be aware of the most important achievements of Russian science, and especially those studies that are being conducted by us, Russian scientists, in Central Asia.”

Russian scientist-traveler N. M. Przhevalsky.

A.P. Fedchenko together with his wife O.A. Fedchenko in the period from 1868 to 1871 did a lot for the study of the flora of the Fergana and Alai valleys. They revealed the richness of the region's plant resources. The extensive botanical collections collected by scientists formed the basis for further research in this direction.

No less important research on the study of flora, especially the fauna of Kyrgyzstan, was carried out by N. A. Severtsov (1827-1885). He revealed the richness of the flora and fauna of the Pamir-Alai mountain system, predicted the possibilities of the region's winter pastures for the development of distant pastures.

I. V. Mushketov (1850-1902) carried out a deep geological study of the Tien Shan and the Pamir-Alai mountain system, which made it possible to draw important conclusions on the geomorphology and ecology of this part of Central Asia. Together with G. D. Romanovsky, he compiled the first geological map of the Turkestan region. The numerous deposits of gold, iron ore, oil, coal, and sulfur discovered and described by Mushketov subsequently facilitated the development of the natural resources of the Central Asian republics.

A new stage in geobotanical research in Central Asia is associated with the name of the outstanding botanist and geographer A. N. Krasnov (1862-1915). In 1886, he laid the foundation for a comprehensive geobotanical study of the eastern part of the Central Tien Shan. Prior to his publications, the botanical study of the region proceeded along the line of floristic collections and landscape descriptions, without a broad generalization of botanical material. In his book “Experience in the history of the development of the flora of the southern part of the Eastern Tien Shan”, A. N. Krasnov first developed the question of the genesis and evolution of vegetation, pointed out a number of patterns in the formation of vegetation cover. The works of A. N. Krasnov were recognized by scientists in Russia and other countries of the world.

Speaking about the beneficial activities of Russian scientists in the Turkestan region, one should note the great merits of the remarkable Russian horticultural botanist A. M. Fetisov. Exploring the western part of the Tien Shan in the period from 1877 to 1882, the areas of the Son-Kul and Chatyr-Kul lakes, the Susamyr valley, visiting Barskoun, Arpa, Aksai, Dzhumgal, Kochkorka, he performed a scientific description of subalpine and alpine meadows, discovered many new types of plants. Some of them were named after him. In order to improve the culture of agriculture in 1888 in Przhevalsk and in 1890 in Pishpek (now the city of Frunze), a lower agricultural school was established. A. M. Fetisov becomes the head of this educational institution. The famous scientist gave a lot of strength and energy to the teaching of local residents the basics of agriculture, gardening and horticulture. And now it is impossible to read the following lines from the Turkestan Vedomosti without excitement: “With the opening of horticultural schools for the Kirghiz in the region

A. M. Fetisov was instructed to manage the school in Pishpek. We can safely say that this school was set by Fetisov better than other similar schools in the region. Under his guidance, the Kyrgyz boys were thoroughly acquainted with all the practical methods for the care and cultivation of various plants. But, in addition to purely practical information, Fetisov gives them a lot of theoretical information as well. Being already very ill, shortly before his death, he gathered his students to his apartment and in a weak, interrupted voice gave them the necessary information.

A. M. Fetisov was also the organizer of the planting of the elm grove in Pishpek, which still adorns the vicinity of the city of Frunze. Wonderful green spaces in the oak park, on the boulevard. Dzerzhinsky - now the most favorite places for the workers of the capital of the republic - were planted and grown by the students of A. M. Fetisov.

Here are a few more examples of the activities of the Russian progressive scientific intelligentsia in Turkestan. The well-known Russian Turkologist and ethnographer Academician V. V. Radlov was one of the first to record an abridged version of the heroic epic Manas and first published it in 1885 in German and Russian. Thus, the world learned about the wonderful monuments of the ancient epic culture of the peoples of Central Asia. The prominent historian, academician V. V. Bartold dedicated to the peoples of Central Asia, along with his other works, “Essay on the history of Semirechie ...” (1898), written on the basis of studying the history and ethnography of the region. This work formed the basis of many subsequent scientific studies in this direction.

These are some examples of the invaluable contribution to science of the tireless Russian scientists-researchers of Central Asia and Kazakhstan in the second half of the 19th century. Their activities made it possible for the peoples of Turkestan to see the real Russia - a noble, free, cultural country. This was reflected in the enormous historical progressive significance of the annexation of Turkestan to Russia.