Research in Central Asia until the beginning of the 19th century did not carry any system and was carried out by individual missionaries. In the 19th century, the role of scientific societies and institutions in the research of the Asian continent sharply increases. In 1829, the outstanding German geographer, Alexander von Humboldt, at the invitation of the Russian government, visits the Urals, Altai, southwestern Siberia, and the Caspian Sea. From under his pen comes the three-volume "Central Asia" and the two-volume "Fragments on the Geology and Climatology of Asia."

In 1845, the Russian Geographical Society was created and immediately joined in the work on the study of Siberia and the Far East. The close interest of government and scientific circles from Central Asia was due to the fact that since the middle of the 19th century, tensions have been growing in Russia's relations with England and France. After the Crimean War of 1853-1856, trade relations with the leading European powers deteriorated sharply. Russia was forced to look for new markets, primarily in the East (as we see, history repeats itself). Due to the geopolitical situation, the Russian government is paying attention to its southern and eastern borders. There is a need to obtain reliable information about the natural resources of these territories, about the population, and the economy. It was necessary to study the area, put reliable information on maps, establish borders with neighbors, and find out the potential for expansion in this region. All this could contribute to both the economic and geopolitical goals of the Russian Empire in strengthening its prestige both in the region and on the world stage as a whole.

In 1853, the Russian scientist Pyotr Semyonov studied geography and geology at the University of Berlin. Here he was engaged in the translation of the huge work "Earth Science" (in particular "Earth Science of Asia") by the most authoritative European geographer Karl Ritter, whose lectures Semyonov listened to in Berlin. Semyonov also consulted with Humboldt. Trained in the Alps. Brainwork and physical training in Europe served the scientist as preparation for a grandiose expedition to Central Asia, to the Tien Shan. The territory of Central Asia in the middle of the 19th century was a huge white spot on the map, and the Tien Shan mountain system (translated from Chinese as “heavenly mountains”) was known mainly from Chinese sources. By that time, the Russian state had advanced its borders to the Aral Sea and Lake Issyk-Kul, and the gradual annexation of the Northern Tien Shan began. In 1854, the Russian settlement of Zailiyskoye was founded here (later names of the settlement were Verny and Alma-Ata). That is what served Starting point for Semyonov's expeditions in 1856-1857. But before this point, the traveler, having left St. Petersburg, managed to visit the Urals and Altai, Lake Balkhash and Dzungarian Alatau. Two trips to Lake Issyk-Kul were very fruitful from a scientific point of view: the ridges of the Trans-Ili Alatau, Terskey-Alatau, Kungei-Alatau, the valleys of the Chilik, Chu, Tyup and other rivers were studied. After wintering in Altai, Semyonov continued his research in the Northern Tien Shan, being the first European to visit many corners of this mysterious land and climb the slopes of the Khan Tengri massif.

The results of the expedition led by Semyonov were more than impressive: in two years it was possible to compile and establish the features of the orographic scheme of the entire Northern Tien Shan, to study the ridges of this mountain system for a considerable distance, to trace the altitudinal zonality and determine the position of the snow line of the ridges. The scientist was able to refute the opinion of the luminary of geographical science of that time, Humboldt, about the volcanic origin of the Northern Tien Shan.

Upon returning to the capital, Semyonov had to deal with important administrative issues of the state, in particular, together with other members of the Russian Geographical Society, he was involved in compiling the five-volume "Geographical and Statistical Dictionary of the Russian Empire" - the main reference book on geography, demography and the economy of Russia in the middle of the 19th century.

And in 1873, Pyotr Petrovich was elected vice-president of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. He was recommended for this post by Fyodor Petrovich Litke himself, a renowned sailor and scientist. Semenov remained in this post from 1873 to 1914 (until his death), in 1906, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the expedition to the Tien Shan, the prefix Tien Shansky was added to the surname of Semenov by royal decree in memory of the great merits of the scientist.

Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, due to his great employment in the capital, was no longer able to participate in large-scale geographical expeditions, however, thanks to him, expeditions of outstanding scientists N.M. Przhevalsky, Potanin, Kozlov, Roborovsky and others.

An outstanding Russian traveler was Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky, a military man (later a major general) and a geographer. The meeting with Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky in 1867 in St. Petersburg influenced his further research fate. It was Petr Petrovich who helped organize the Przhevalsky expedition to the Ussuri Territory in 1867-1869, the purpose of which was to explore the paths to the borders of Manchuria and Korea, and to study the local indigenous peoples. Przhevalsky during the expedition mapped Russian shores Lake Khanka, as well as the territory along the Amur and Ussuri rivers, brought information about the nature and peoples of the region.

Semyonov was also the inspirer of Przhevalsky's four expeditions to Central Asia in 1870-1888. The expeditions came at a turbulent time in military and political terms for these places. The territory served as a place big game between Russia and England.

In the first expedition to Central Asia in 1870-73, exploring Mongolia, China and Tibet, Przhevalsky found out that the Gobi is not an uplift, but a depression with a hilly relief. Nanshan is not a range, but a mountain system. He discovered the Beishan Highlands, the Qaidam Basin, three ridges in the Kunlun, and seven large lakes. The results of the expedition brought him world fame, Przhevalsky was awarded the highest award of the Geographical Society - the Great Konstantinovsky Medal.

In the second Central Asian expedition of 1876-77 Przhevalsky discovered the Altyntag mountains; the first description of the "wandering" lake Lobnor (now dried up) and the Tarim and Konchedarya rivers that feed it is given; the border of the Tibetan Plateau was “moved” by more than 300 km to the north.

In the third Central Asian expedition of 1879-80, which Przhevalsky himself called the First Tibetan, he identified a number of ridges in Nanshan, Kunlun and the Tibetan Plateau (including Tangla and Bokalyktag), photographed Lake Kukunor, the upper reaches of the Yellow River and the Yangtze.

Despite the illness, Przhevalsky went on the fourth (Second Tibetan) expedition of 1883-85, during which he discovered a number of new lakes and ridges in the Kunlun, having traveled 1800 km, outlined the Tsaidam basin, almost 60 years before the discovery of Pobeda Peak (7439 m) indicated to its existence.

In 1888, the great traveler, setting out on his fifth journey, covering a total of 31,500 km, having made many outstanding scientific discoveries, having collected the richest botanical, zoological and mineralogical collections in his campaigns, died suddenly in the city of Karakol near Issyk-Kul, according to the official version, from typhoid fever. On the grave of the scientist, according to his will, there is an inscription: “Traveler N.M. Przhevalsky.

The research of the outstanding scientist, honorary doctor of several universities, who received the highest awards from a number of geographical societies, was continued at the turn of the two centuries of the 19th and 20th by other Russian travelers, including the geographer Grigory Efimovich Grumm-Grzhimailo, the ethnographer Gombozhab Tsebekovich Tsybikov, Mikhail Vasilievich Pevtsov , and students and members of Przhevalsky's expeditions: Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov and Vsevolod Ivanovich Roborovsky.

After the sudden death of Przhevalsky, which delayed the start of the Tibetan expedition, Mikhail Vasilyevich Pevtsov was appointed its head. He already had experience of major travels - to Eastern Dzungaria in 1876 and to the Gobi Desert in 1878-1879. The expedition, which began during the life of Przhevalsky, ended in 1891 and turned out to be very fruitful: Kunlun was explored, the plateau of Northwestern Tibet was discovered, detailed orographic and hydrographic descriptions of the west of Central Asia were given. After this journey, Pevtsov was awarded the Konstantinovsky medal of the Geographical Society. Roborovsky and Kozlov participated in the expedition, they were also awarded high awards of the society.

Around the same time, together with the expeditions of Przhevalsky, expeditions of another outstanding scientist Grigory Nikolaevich Potanin were organized. A former anarchist, thanks to his acquaintance with P.P. Semyonov, who persuaded him to devote his life to science, after being pardoned at the request of the Geographical Society, upon arrival in St. Petersburg, under the guidance of Semyonov, he prepared additions to "Asia", the work of Karl Ritter. At the same time, he was engaged in equipping the expedition to Northern Mongolia. In 1876-1877 the traveler visited the Mongolian Altai, the Gobi Desert, the Eastern Tien Shan. The second Mongol expedition followed.

In 1884, Potanin visited Tibet, having reached by sea from Odessa to China. The expedition explored the cities and monasteries of the Sichuan province, crossed Nanshan and the Mongolian Altai.

In the fourth expedition of Potanin in 1892-1894, at the suggestion of the Russian Geographical Society, geologist Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev took part, who worked a lot in Central Asia, was engaged in the exploration of coal and gold deposits in Siberia, and whose merits were noted by society.

During the expedition, Potanin and Obruchev had independent routes: Potanin, together with his wife (an ethnographer and artist), went to the province of Sichuan, which he had explored on a previous expedition, and Obruchev had to study the geology of the regions of Northern China and the hard-to-reach ridges and deserts adjacent to them.

In two years, Obruchev covered almost 14 thousand km. Throughout the route, the traveler kept a diary, and was engaged in photography and daily mapping of the area. Almost half of the territory was not known to European man. Obruchev's diaries for a long time were the only documentary sources for a number of regions of Northwest China and Mongolia. An important discovery was the establishment of the geological origin of Central Asia. Obruchev proved the continental origin of this territory, refuting the theory of Richthofen, a German geographer who adheres to the theory of the maritime origin of the region.

Upon his return, Obruchev was awarded the Konstantinovsky gold medal of the Russian Geographical Society. The beautiful style of the scientist subsequently brought him wide popularity and as a writer: he wrote several works included in the golden fund of Russian science fiction.

In 1893, an expedition was organized to the Eastern Tien Shan, Nanshan, Northern Tibet and Sichuan. It was attended by Roborovsky (head of the expedition) and Kozlov, who had to split up due to multitasking and, at the same time, the small number of the expedition. In February 1894, scientists met and began to study Nanshan, which had previously been explored by Obruchev. Crossing this mountainous region many times, they established the boundaries of the ridges and intermountain valleys, refined the maps of Nanshan. For 2.5 years, travelers traveled about 17 thousand km, mapped about 250 thousand square kilometers of territory, collected the richest scientific collections.

Due to illness, Roborovsky could no longer participate in expeditions, and Kozlov carried out further research on his own. In 1899, under his leadership, the Mongol-Tibetan expedition took place, from which rich materials of a natural-scientific and ethnographic nature were also brought. Two subsequent expeditions (1907 and 1909) were mainly of an archaeological nature. In 1907, during the Sichuan-Mongolian expedition, Kozlov discovered the “black city” of Khara-Khoto, the finds from which are now kept in the Hermitage.

For their services, both Roborovsky and Kozlov were awarded the Konstantinovsky gold medal of the Russian Geographical Society.

The names of outstanding scientists, real travelers who have devoted themselves to serving science and the Fatherland are recorded on geographical maps.

In honor of P.P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky named a number of geographical objects in Central and Central Asia, the Caucasus, Alaska and Svalbard and about 100 new forms of plants and animals.

In honor of N.M. Przhevalsky are named: a city, a ridge in Kunlun, a glacier in Altai, several species of animals and plants.

Name V.A. Obruchev is worn by: a mountain, a mountain range in Siberia, the largest glacier in the Chersky Range at Pobeda Peak, an oasis in Antarctica.

Name G.N. Potanin is immortalized in the mountainous regions of Nanshan and Altai.

Teacher: Frolova I.K.

Subject: geography

Grade: 7

Topic: "Exploration of Central Asia by Russian travelers."

Tasks:

to form students' knowledge about Russian researchers of Central Asia;

to acquaint with the methods of expeditionary research and their geographical results;

set an example of selfless service of Russian researchers;

reveal the qualities of a person that a real researcher of nature should have;

to continue work on the formation of skills in working with additional literature.

Equipment:

physical map "Eurasia"

physical map " Overseas Asia»

portraits of scientists: P.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, N.M. Przhevalsky, V.A. Obruchev, P.K. Kozlova

Tables: "Tibet Highlands", "Gobi Desert", "Tien Shan", "Ordos Forest Plateau".

Atlases

statements of scientists

Books: Obruchev V.A. “Sannikov Land”, “Plutonia”, “100 Great Travelers”, series “People of Science”: P.P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, I.V. Kozlov, B.V. Yusova, N.M. Przhevalsky.

Words on the board: "And life is beautiful because you can travel."

N.M. Przhevalsky.

During the classes:

Org. moment. Greetings. Check readiness for the lesson.

Learning new material.

1. Transition: In the last lesson, we got acquainted with the physical and geographical position of Eurasia, the outline of the coast. Today we will talk about how we researched inner regions Eurasia.

The theme of the lesson: "The study of Central Asia by Russian travelers."

We will get acquainted with the concept of "Central Asia", find out which of the Russian travelers explored this territory, get acquainted with their methods of work, as well as with the results they have achieved.

Work with the atalas map and the wall map of Eurasia.

Guys, find on the map in the atlas the region of Asia where there are most deserts. Name these mountains and deserts.

Deserts: Gobi, Alashan, Takla-Makan, Tsaidam basin, Karakum, Kyzylkum.

Mountains: Tien Shan, Himalayas, Tibet, Altai, Sayans.

This territory, located far from the oceans and seas, is called Central Asia. The name is purely geographical, because near the city of Kyzyl in Altai is the center of Asia, a huge part of the world.

In the 19th century, all the continents were already discovered, distant Australia was known better than Central Asia. And in terms of area, it is slightly smaller than Australia (7 million km 2 ). The hard-to-reach territory began to be explored relatively late, only in the 19th century.

in the research of this territory, the merits of Russian travelers are especially high.

P.P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, N.M. Przhevalsky and his students, V.A. Obruchev, G.N. Potanin.

Gobi - Mong. waterless, lifeless area.

Karakum - black sands.

Kyzylkum - red sands.

Takla Makan - Turks. abandoned place

Tibet - from the name medieval state

Altai - Turks. high mountains

Sayans - from the name of the people

Today we will get acquainted with our outstanding travelers and their discoveries in Central Asia.

Working with the class after the message.

Who is P.P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky?

Information about P.P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky (3-5 min.)

Scientist-geographer, researcher of the Tien Shan, head of the Russian Geographical Society, the first European scientist-researcher who penetrated the Central Tien Shan.

Lines from memoirs:

“To penetrate deep into Asia to the snowy peaks of this inaccessible ridge, which the great Humboldt considered volcanic, and bring him several samples from the fragments of the rocks of this ridge, and home a rich collection of flora and fauna of a country newly discovered for science - that seemed to me the most tempting feat” .

What goals did Semyonov set for himself before the trip?

Establish the size and depth of Lake Issyk-Kul.

Determine whether the Chu River flows out of the lake, i.e. to solve the question: "Is Issyk-Kul a sewage or drainless lake?"

Check if Khan Tengri is the highest peak of the Tien Shan.

Determine if the Tien Shan is of volcanic origin.

What did Semyonov P.P. do?

Tien Shan (from Chinese) - heavenly mountains.

Set the height of the snow line.

Discovered existence

Refuted the view of the volcanic origin of the mountains.

“The result of all my intensified searches was that I definitely did not find volcanoes, nor true volcanic phenomena, nor even volcanic rocks in the Sky Range,” the traveler wrote.

For the first time in the geographical literature, a description of altitudinal zonation appeared.

He collected the richest collections (about 300 rock samples, more than 1000 plant species). Quite deservedly for his scientific feat, he received the right to be called Tien Shan.

See cards with additions.

P.P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky I.V. Kozlova from the series “People of Science”.

What qualities should a person traveling in Central and Central Asia have?

On the table, a brilliant study of the Tien Shan only lifted the veil of obscurity over the nature of Central Asia, the vast expanses of which were depicted on the geographical maps of that time in the form white spot.

It is no coincidence that, being vice-president of the Russian Geographical Society, P.P. Semyonov-Tian-Shansky becomes one of the initiators of expeditions to Central Asia, incl. helps to organize the expedition to N.M. Przhevalsky.

Message about N.M. Przhevalsky (3-5 min.)

Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky spent a total of about 15 years in Central Asia, crossed 33 thousand km of space (the length of the equator is 40 thousand km.).

“Przhevalsky, with his eagle flight,” said Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, “cut through the most unknown parts of Inner Asia.”

Map work.

Let's look at the territories where Przhevalsky conducted research.

Deserts: Gobi, Alashan, Takla Makan, salt marshes of Tsaidam, mountain systems of Tsaidam, Nanshan, Kunlun, Northern Tibet. The region of Central Asia is deservedly considered to be one of the most severe.

Description of the Gobi Desert.

On the map used by the traveler, the segment of the route through the desert was 60 cm, on the map of the school atlas - 4 cm, but it took the expedition 44 difficult days to overcome it.

Gobi desert in summer.

Another time, during his 4th trip, Przhevalsky had to cross the Gobi in winter, and again the desert met travelers with all the severity, only this time, instead of unbearable heat, colds and winds that gave rise to sandstorms. The winds blew with such force that even small pebbles rose into the air, and larger pebbles rolled along the ground. Stones the size of a fist fell into a recess in the rocks and, rotated there by a storm, made potholes in them with a diameter of up to half a meter. What kind of character, will, and inflexibility do you need to have in order to conduct systematic observations under these conditions: it was difficult to write in the cold, because “you need to preheat the frozen ink and often bring the pen dipped in it to the fire so that it does not freeze.”

One of the discoveries of Przhevalsky was the establishment of the northern border of Tibet.

Notes from a diary about the highlands of Tibet.

See card number 4.

An excerpt from the book of Yusov B.V. "N.M. Przhevalsky" (series "People of Science" p. 41)

It is hard to imagine, but it was not the harsh nature that prevented the expedition from reaching its goal - the capital of Tibet - Lhasa, but the ignorance of the Tibetan officials, who forbade further advancement to the south.

It is no coincidence that Przhevalsky later admits:

“We then set off deep into the Asian deserts, having with us only one ally, courage; everything else stood against us: both nature and people. Przhevalsky became the first European to explore the upper reaches of the great Chinese rivers Yangtze and Huang He, it was he who was able to unravel the mystery of Lake Lop Nor.

Question for students.

What character traits did Przhevalsky possess, in your opinion?

Courage, bravery, determination… and a whole set of qualities that every “real traveler” certainly possesses.

There is a confession in the expedition diaries of Przhevalsky: “The storm of life, the thirst for activity and the cherished desire to explore the unknown countries of Inner Asia again tore me away from my native land. Many things, even very many things, rushed about, but the most difficult moment for me was always the parting with my mother. Her tears and the last kiss burned our hearts for a long time. More than once, among the wild desert or dense forests, an expensive image was drawn to my imagination and made me mentally carry away to my native hearth ... I loved my mother with all my soul. The stern and adamant traveler remained a loving son.

Many pages of Przhevalsky's diary can become a kind of cure for excessive romanticization of travel.

“A traveler in the Asian deserts must leave his home with all squeamishness, otherwise it is better not to travel,” he wrote. “For a fresh person, the mere sight of such a liquid would arouse disgust, but we, like the Mongols, are forced to drink it, having previously boiled it over a fire and brewed it with brick tea.”

And one more fact, very important, characterizing N.M. Przhevalsky: for all 5 travels (including travels around the Ussuri region), full of hardships, dangers, difficulties, he did not lose a single person from his expeditions.

His student, and later a well-known researcher of Central Asia, Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov, recalled how strictly and systematically he prepared him for special program N.M. Przhevalsky.

During the expeditions, Nikolai Mikhailovich observed the weather 3 times a day, conducted visual surveys, determined the latitude of the place, surveyed the height of the place above sea level, made descriptions and sketches of plants and animals, made descriptions of nature, collected ethnographic material about the peoples living on these data. territories.

N.M. Przhevalsky brought up a galaxy of students. Mikhail Alexandrovich Pyltsov participated in 1 and 2 trips (favorite student); Vsevolod Ivanovich Roborovsky - in 3 and 4, he also led the 5th expedition that failed for Przhevalsky.

Opened: wild horse, Asian camel, Tibetan bear.

Buried in Karakol.

The story about the monument to Przhevalsky.

Message about P.K.Kozlov.

Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov participated in the expeditions of Przhevalsky and his students, and also made 2 trips through the Mongolian Altai and the Gobi, discovering the dead city of Khara-Khoto in the Gobi, to the sources of the Yangtze, Huang He, and Mekong rivers.

Grigory Nikolaevich Potanin.

Simultaneously with the 2nd trip of Przhevalsky (1876), G.N. Potanin began his travels to Mongolia. He traveled through Northern China and Central Asia, explored the Greater Khingan mountain system. His wife Alexandra Nikolaevna (one of the first Russian travelers) traveled with him.

Message about V.A.Obruchev.

The famous Russian traveler and explorer Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev, the author of science fiction books Sannikov Land and Plutonia, and others, enriched science with important information about the nature of Central Asia and China.

Thanks to Russian research, a map of Central Asia was drawn up.

thanks to the research of Russians in Central Asia, Russian names appeared. For example, the Kremlin, the Cap of Monomakh, the Russian, Moscow, Przhevalsky ridges. At the source of the Huang He, 2 lakes were discovered - Russian and Lake Expeditions. And this is connected with the Przhevalsky expedition. And how many others?

Fixing the material.

Questions for consolidation:

What mountain system was explored by P.P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky?

What are his merits in this expedition?

What large natural territories did N.M. Przhevalsky explore?

What are the names of the students and followers of N.M. Przhevalsky.

What is the role of G.N. Potanin?

Who explored Central Asia in the 20th century?

Homework. Central Asian Studies.

MUSEUM OF THE TRAVELER P.K. KOZLOVA

HISTORY OF CENTRAL ASIA RESEARCH

History of Central Asian Studies

Central Asia: the region and its researchers

For the first time Central Asia (hereinafter CA) as separate region singled out by the German geographer and traveler, the founder of general geography, Alexander Humboldt (1841). By this term, he designated all the interior parts of the Asian continent, stretching between the Caspian Sea in the west and a rather indefinite border in the east. A more precise definition of Central Asia was given by another German geographer, Ferdinand Richthofen, who actually divided the region into two parts. Actually, CA, according to Richthofen, covers the space from Tibet in the south to Altai in the north and from the Pamirs in the west to Khingan in the east. Richthofen attributed the Aral-Caspian lowland to the transitional zone. In the Soviet geographical tradition, the entire Central Asian region was divided into Central Asia (the republics of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan) and Central Asia (Mongolia and Western China, including Tibet). The same approach was largely preserved in the 1990s and early 2000s.

At the same time, in modern Russia in last years the Western interpretation of the term CA, which goes back to Humboldt's definition, has become widespread. According to the authoritative UNESCO publication “History of civilizations of Central Asia” (Vol. I. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 1992), Central Asia is the territories lying within the borders of Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, Pakistan, North India, western China, Mongolia and the Central Asian republics of the former USSR.

Central Asia, which was studied by Russian expeditions in the XIX - early XX centuries, is, strictly speaking, Chinese Central Asia - Mongolia, Western China (Chinese Turkestan) and Tibet. were then part of the Chinese Empire. This region is also often referred to in English literature as Inner or Mountainous Asia ( Inner Asia, High Asia).

The total area of ​​Central Asia is about 6 million square meters. km. Its surface is formed by numerous gravelly or sandy plains, bordered or crossed by mountain ranges. According to its relief, Central Asia is divided into three belts, stretching from west to east:

1) northern mountain belt. Main mountain systems: Tien Shan, Mongolian Altai and Khangai;

2) the middle zone of the plains - the Gobi (Shamo) desert and the Kashgar depression, occupied by the Takla Makan desert;

3) the Tibetan Plateau (prevailing heights of 4-5 thousand meters), limited by: the Himalayas in the south, the Karakorum in the west, the Kunlun in the north and the Sino-Tibetan mountains in the east.

Originate in CA major rivers Asia - Huang He, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Brahmaputra, Indus, Amur, etc. There are many lakes, the largest of which is the high-mountain lake Kukunor (4,200 sq. km).

Start systematic research Central Asia laid two trips to the Tien Shan region - the "Heavenly Mountains" - in 1856 and 1857. P.P. Semyonov, better known as Semyonov Tyan-Shansky (1827–1914). Semyonov conducted the first comprehensive study of this mountain system, and his method was subsequently successfully used by other Russian travelers.

The Imperial Russian Geographical Society received the opportunity to organize expeditions in Central Asia only after the conclusion of the Tianjin and Beijing treaties between Russia and China (1858 and 1860). Initially, however, these were short trips for a general acquaintance with the natural features of the regions near the Russian border (Mongolia, Manchuria). The era of large - long-term - expeditions in Central Asia, covering vast territories inside the mainland with their routes, began in 1870, when N.M. Przhevalsky went on his first trip to Mongolia and China.

The period of the most intensive studies of Central Asia by Russian expeditions falls on the 1870s-1890s. The greatest contribution to the scientific development of the region was made by a brilliant galaxy of travelers - N.M. Przhevalsky, M.V. Pevtsov, G.N. Potanin, G.E. Grum-Grzhimailo, V.A. Obruchev, P.K. Kozlov, discoverers and pioneers of many hard-to-reach areas of Central Asia. The initiator and organizer of all expeditions in Central Asia has always been the Russian Geographical Society, established in St. Petersburg in 1845.

N.M. Przhevalsky is the most prominent Russian explorer of Central Asia. From 1870 to 1885 he made four large expeditions to Mongolia, China and the northern outskirts of Tibet. As a result of these travels, the then virtually unknown areas of the Tarim Basin and Northern Tibet were studied in detail for the first time, and large areas of Central Asia were explored. Przhevalsky surveyed more than 30 thousand km of the path he traveled and astronomically determined hundreds of heights and localities, giving their exact reference to geographical maps. In addition, he managed to collect extensive mineralogical, botanical and zoological collections.

He discovered and described a wild camel, a wild horse - the Dzungarian horse (Przewalski's horse) and other types of vertebrates.

Scientific results Przhevalsky's expeditions are presented by him in a number of books, giving a vivid picture of the nature and characteristics of the relief, climate, rivers, lakes of the studied territories. A city on the shore of Issyk-Kul (Karakol), a ridge in the Kunlun system, a glacier in Altai, as well as a number of animal and plant species discovered by the traveler are named after Przhevalsky.

Being an officer of the Russian army, Przhevalsky invariably traveled with a military escort of Cossacks (Russians and Buryats), and in the equipment of his expeditions, along with the Russian Geographical Society, the military department (General Staff) also participated, which thus got the opportunity to collect information about the countries adjacent to Russia .

Przhevalsky modestly called his travels "scientific reconnaissance", believing that with them he only paves the way deep into Asia for future "more trained and more specialized observers."

Unlike Przhevalsky, who traveled around Central Asia in the 1870s–1890s. G.N. Potanin did not have an escort, traveled in civilian clothes and with his wife, lived in one place for a long time. He knew how to win over people and win their trust, which helped him in studying the life and customs of the Asian peoples.

Potanin made five great trips to Mongolia, China and the eastern outskirts of Tibet. One of the ranges of Nanshan and the largest valley glacier of the Mongolian Altai are named after Potanin.

After the death of Przhevalsky in 1888, the study of Central Asia was continued by his companions - M.V. Pevtsov, V.I. Roborovsky and P.K. Kozlov, who were also military.

M.V. Pevtsov most thoroughly studied the Kunlun system - a giant mountainous country, the "vertebral column of Asia", and Kashgaria lying to the north of it.

IN AND. Roborovsky became famous mainly for his travels to Nanshan and the Eastern Tien Shan in 1893–1895. Following Pevtsov, Roborovsky combined "reconnaissance" route research with the organization of hub bases, from where radial and ring routes were carried out. He was the first to succeed in creating stationary points, where his companions regularly kept records.

PC. Kozlov is the most consistent student of Przhevalsky, who has mastered and developed his methods of work.

His first trip P.K. Kozlov made as part of the Fourth expedition of Przhevalsky in 1883-1885; the second - under the leadership of M.V. Pevtsov, the third, known as the "Expedition of Przhevalsky's Companions", as the first assistant to its chief V.I. Roborovsky.

After such a thorough preparation, P.K. Kozlov carried out three independent expeditions - Mongolian-Tibetan (1899-1901), Mongolian-Sichuan (1907-1909) and Mongolian (1923-1926). AT last trip PC. Kozlova was also attended by his wife, the famous ornithologist E.V. Kozlov-Pushkarev.

In the study of Central Asia, Kozlov was most attracted to the problems of geography and natural science. In hydrological terms, he studied in detail the region of the lower reaches of the Edzin-Gol and the lakes of Sogon-nor and Gashun-nor, and carried out the first limnological work on Lake Kuku-nor.

The first of the Europeans, P.K. Kozlov visited and described the northeastern corner of the Tibetan Plateau - the provinces of Amdo and Kam, the region of the northern Gobi near the Holt valley, studied the southeastern Khangai in detail, collected rich natural-geographical collections, including very valuable new species and genera of animals and plants.

However, worldwide fame was brought to the traveler primarily by his sensational archaeological discoveries made during the excavations of the “dead city” of Khara-hoto on the outskirts of the Gobi (1908) and burial mounds in Noin-ul, north of Ulaanbaatar (1924-1925) .

Unique archaeological finds PC. Kozlov are stored in the Hermitage, ethnographic items, including examples of Buddhist iconography, are in the Russian Ethnographic Museum (REM) and the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (MAE). Zoological and botanical collections are concentrated in the Zoological Museum and the Botanical Garden, where there are similar collections of other Russian travelers.

A significant contribution to the study of Central Asia was also made by Western travelers, in whose books one can find valuable geographical, historical and ethnographic information. A whole galaxy of researchers of Tibet deserves special mention. In the first half of the 19th century, these were the British: T. Manning, who visited Lhasa and Gyantse in 1811, and W. Moorcroft, who, according to some information, lived in Lhasa for 12 years, G. and R H. and R. Strachey (1846–1848); French Lazarist missionaries E. Huc and J. Gabet (1844–1846), German travelers brothers Herman, Adolf and Robert Schlagintveit (1855–1857). In the 2nd half of the XIX century. after Tibet (the possession of the Dalai Lama) became completely inaccessible to Europeans, research was carried out mainly in China by individual travelers, among whom should be mentioned the American geologists R. Pompelli (R. Pumpelli) and A. David (1846), a German geologist F. Richthofen (1868–1872), Hungarian c. Section (1877-1880), American diplomat W. Rockhill (1889, 1891), Frenchmen G. Bonvalo and Henry d'Orleans (G. Bonvalot, Henry d'Orlean, 1889-1890), J. Dutreuil de Rense and F. Grenard (J.L. Dutreil de Rins, F. Grenard, 1892). In the 1860s - 1890s. On the initiative of the Indian Geodetic Survey (Great Trigonometrical Survey), specially trained scouts, the so-called “pandits” (Nain Sing, Kishen Sing, etc.), were sent to Tibet from the Himalayas under the guise of pilgrims, who were engaged in route shooting and other instrumental observations. Their work has contributed huge contribution in CA cartography. Russian travelers, including N.M. Przhevalsky.

Three trips across Tibet (in 1893-1896, 1899-1901, and 1905-1908) were made by the outstanding Swedish traveler Sven Hedin (Sven Hedin, 1865-1952). The first two expeditions, which brought Hedin world fame, were carried out from the territory of Russian Central Asia with the support of the tsarist government. S. Gedin actively collaborated with the Russian Geographical Society, repeatedly spoke within the walls of the Society in St. Petersburg (For more details about S. Gedin and his contacts with Russia, see A.I. Andreev. Russian letters from the Sven Gedin archive in Stockholm // Ariavarta (S.- Petersburg), 1997 (1), pp. 28-76).

In the 1920s Museum natural history in New York organized several expeditions in Central Asia (Northern China, Inner Mongolia, southern Gobi within the MPR), led by paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews (Roy Chapman Andrews, 1884–1960). Field geological and paleontological studies in Mongolia were also carried out by Andrews's collaborators Ch.R. Burkey, F.K. Morris and archaeologist Henry Osborne. The material obtained by these researchers was of great scientific importance. The works of the expeditions of R. Andrews were published in the 1930s. in a 4-volume edition in the series "Natural History of Central Asia".

The two largest expeditions in Central Asia in the prewar years, which received a great response in the world press, are the Sino-Swedish expedition of Sven Hedin (1926-1935) and the Asian automobile expedition of Andre Citroen (1931-1932) with the participation of a group of scientists (archaeologists, historians, geologists ), cinematographers and one Russian émigré artist A.E. Yakovlev.

A major role in the organization of geographical expeditions, in the study of the territory of Russia in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. played by the Russian Geographical Society (RGO), established in 1845 in St. Petersburg. Its departments (hereinafter - branches) were organized in Eastern and Western Siberia, Central Asia, the Caucasus and other regions. A remarkable constellation of researchers has grown up in the ranks of the Russian Geographical Society who have received worldwide recognition. Among them were F.P. Litke, P.P. Semenov, N.M. Przhevalsky, G.N. Potanin, P.A. Kropotkin, R.K. Maak, N.A. Severtsov and many others. Along with the geographical society, natural scientists' societies that existed in a number of cultural centers of Russia were engaged in the study of nature. A significant contribution to the knowledge of the territory of a vast country was made by such government agencies as the Geological and Soil Committees, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Committee of the Siberian railway and others. The main attention of researchers was directed to the study of Siberia, the Far East, the Caucasus, Central and Central Asia.

Central Asia Studies

In 1851 P.P. Semenov, on behalf of the Council of the Russian Geographical Society, began translating the first volume of Ritter's Geoscience of Asia into Russian. The large gaps and inaccuracies that Ritter had necessitated special expeditionary studies. This task was undertaken by Semyonov himself, who personally met Ritter and attended his lectures during his stay in Berlin (1852-1855). Semyonov discussed with Ritter the details of the translation of Asia's Geosciences, and after returning to Russia, in 1855 he prepared the first volume for publication. In 1856-1857. a very fruitful journey of Semenov to the Tien Shan took place. In 1856, he visited the Issyk-Kul basin and went to this lake through the Boom Gorge, which made it possible to establish the insufficiency of Issyk-Kul. After wintering in Barnaul, in 1857 Semenov crossed the Terskey-Alatau ridge, reached the Tien Shan syrts, discovered the upper reaches of the river. Naryn - the main source of the Syr Darya. Further, Semenov crossed the Tien Shan on a different route, went into the basin of the river. Tarim to the river. Saryjaz, saw the Khan-Tengri glaciers. On the way back Semenov explored the Zailiysky Alatau, Dzhungarsky Alatau, Tarbagatai and Alakul Lake ranges. Semenov considered the main results of his expedition to be: a) establishing the height of the snow line in the Tien Shan; b) the discovery of alpine glaciers in it; c) refutation of Humboldt's assumptions about the volcanic origin of the Tien Shan and the existence of the Bolor meridional ridge. The results of the expedition provided rich material for corrections and notes to the translation of the second volume of Ritter's Geoscience of Asia.

In 1857-1879. N.A. was engaged in the study of Central Asia. Severtsov, who made 7 major trips to different areas Central Asia, from desert to high mountains. Severtsov's scientific interests were very wide: he studied geography, geology, studied flora and especially fauna. Severtsov penetrated into the deep regions of the central Tien Shan, where no European had been before him. Comprehensive characteristics altitudinal zoning Tien Shan Severtsov dedicated his classic work "Vertical and Horizontal Distribution of Turkestan Animals". In 1874, Severtsov, heading the natural history detachment of the Amu Darya expedition, crossed the Kyzylkum desert and reached the Amudarya delta. In 1877, he was the first European to reach the central part of the Pamirs, gave accurate information about its orography, geology and flora, showed the isolation of the Pamirs from the Tien Shan. Severtsov's work on the division of the Palearctic into zoogeographic regions based on physical and geographical zoning and his "Ornithology and ornithological geography of European and Asian Russia" (1867) allow us to consider Severtsov the founder of zoogeography in Russia.

In 1868-1871. the highlands of Central Asia were studied by A.P. Fedchenko and his wife O.A. Fedchenko. They discovered the grandiose Zaalai Range, made the first geographical description Zeravshan valley and other mountainous regions of Central Asia. Studying the flora and fauna of the Zeravshan valley, A.P. Fedchenko for the first time showed the faunistic and floristic community of Turkestan with the countries of the Mediterranean. For 3 years of travel, the Fedchenko spouses have collected a large collection of plants and animals, among which there were many new species and even genera. Based on the materials of the expedition, a map of the Ferghana Valley and the mountains surrounding it was compiled. In 1873 A.P. Fedchenko died tragically while descending from one of the Mont Blanc glaciers.

Friend A.P. Fedchenko V.F. Oshanin in 1876 made an expedition to the Alay valley and in 1878 to the valleys of the Surkhoba and Muksu rivers (Vakhsh basin). Oshanin discovered one of the largest glaciers in Asia, which he named the Fedchenko Glacier in memory of a friend, as well as the Darvazsky and Peter the Great ranges. Oshanin owns the first complete physical and geographical description of the Alai Valley and Badakhshan. Oshanin prepared for publication a systematic catalog of the Palearctic hemipterans, published in 1906-1910.

In 1886, Krasnov, on the instructions of the Russian Geographical Society, explored the Khan-Tengri Range in order to identify and substantiate the ecological and genetic relationships of the mountain flora of the Central Tien Shan with the adjacent floras of the Balkhash steppes and sandy deserts of Turan, as well as to trace the process of interaction between the relatively young flora of the Quaternary alluvial plains of the Balkhash region and much more ancient (with an admixture of tertiary elements) flora of the highlands of the Central Tien Shan. This problem, evolutionary in its essence, was developed and the conclusions from it are well stated in Krasnov's master's thesis "Experience in the history of the development of the flora of the southern part of the Eastern Tien Shan".

Fruitful was the expedition led by Berg, who studied in 1899-1902. and in 1906 the Aral Sea. Berg's monograph "The Aral Sea. The experience of a physical-geographical monograph" (St. Petersburg, 1908) was a classic example of a complex regional physical-geographical characteristic.

Since the 80s of the XIX century. much attention was paid to the study of the Central Asian sands. This problem arose in connection with the construction of a railway to Central Asia. In 1912, the first permanent integrated research geographical station for the study of deserts was founded at the Repetek railway station. In 1911 and 1913 Expeditions of the Resettlement Administration operated in Central Asia and Siberia. Most interesting geographical information received a detachment of Neustruev, who made the transition from Ferghana through the Pamirs to Kashgaria. Clear traces of ancient glacial activity have been discovered in the Pamirs. Summary results of studies of Central Asia in the 19th - early 20th centuries. are set out in great detail in the publication of the Resettlement Administration "Asian Russia".

Central Asia Studies

The beginning of its research was laid by N.M. Przhevalsky, who from 1870 to 1885 made 4 trips to the deserts and mountains of Central Asia. At the beginning of his fifth journey, Przhevalsky fell ill with typhoid fever and died near the lake. Issyk-Kul. The expedition started by Przhevalsky was completed under the leadership of M.V. Pevtsova, V.I. Roborovsky and P.K. Kozlov. Thanks to Przhevalsky's expeditions, reliable data on the orography of Central Asia were obtained and mapped for the first time. During the expeditions, meteorological observations were regularly made, which provided valuable data on the climate of this region. Przhevalsky's writings are replete with brilliant descriptions of landscapes, flora and fauna. They also contain information about the Asian peoples and their way of life. Przhevalsky brought to St. Petersburg 702 specimens of mammals, 5010 specimens of birds, 1200 reptiles and amphibians, 643 fish. Among the exhibits were a previously unknown wild horse (named the Przewalski's horse after him) and a wild camel. The herbarium of the expeditions consisted of up to 15 thousand specimens belonging to 1700 species; among them there were 218 new species and 7 new genera. From 1870 to 1885, the following descriptions of Przhevalsky's travels, written by himself, were published: "Journey in the Ussuri Territory 1867-1869." (1870); "Mongolia and the country of the Tanguts. A three-year journey in East mountainous Asia", vol. 1-2 (1875-1876); "From Kulja beyond the Tien Shan and to Lob-Nor" (Izv. Russk. Geogr. ob-va, 1877, v. 13); "From Zaisan through Khami to Tibet and to the headwaters of the Yellow River" (1883); "Investigations of the northern outskirts of Tibet and the route through Lop-Nor along the Tarim Basin" (1888). Przhevalsky's works were translated into a number of European languages ​​and immediately received universal recognition. They can be put on a par with the brilliant writings of Alexander Humboldt and are read with exceptional interest. The London Geographical Society in 1879 awarded Przhevalsky its medal; in his decision, it was noted that the description of Przewalski's Tibetan journey surpasses everything that has been published in this area since the time of Marco Polo. F. Richthofen called the achievements of Przhevalsky "the most amazing geographical discoveries." Przhevalsky was awarded awards from geographical societies: Russian, London, Paris, Stockholm and Rome; he was an honorary doctor of a number of foreign universities and an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, as well as many foreign and Russian scientific societies and institutions. The city of Karakol, where Przhevalsky died, later received the name Przhevalsk.

G.N. Potanin (who did a lot of ethnography), V.A. Obruchev, M.V. Pevtsov, M.E. Grum-Grzhimailo and others.

Studies of Siberia and the Far East

The development of Russia urgently required the study of all the Asian outskirts, especially Siberia. A quick acquaintance with the natural wealth and population of Siberia could only be carried out with the help of large geological and geographical expeditions. Siberian merchants and industrialists, interested in studying the natural resources of the region, financially supported such expeditions. The Siberian Department of the Russian Geographical Society, organized in 1851 in Irkutsk, using the funds of commercial and industrial companies, equipped expeditions to the basin of the river. Amur, on about. Sakhalin and the gold-bearing regions of Siberia. They were attended for the most part by enthusiasts from various strata of the intelligentsia: mining engineers and geologists, gymnasium teachers and university professors, army and navy officers, doctors and political exiles. Scientific leadership was carried out by the Russian Geographical Society.

In 1849-1852. The Trans-Baikal Territory was explored by an expedition consisting of the astronomer L.E. Schwartz, mining engineers N.G. Meglitsky and M.I. Kovanko. Even then, Meglitsky and Kovanko pointed out the existence of gold deposits and hard coal in the river basin Aldana.

The real geographical discovery was the results of the expedition to the basin of the river. Vilyui, organized by the Russian Geographical Society in 1853-1854. The expedition was headed by the natural science teacher of the Irkutsk gymnasium R. Maak. The expedition also included topographer A.K. Zondhagen and ornithologist A.P. Pavlovsky. In the difficult conditions of the taiga, with complete impassibility, the expedition of Maak examined the vast territory of the Vilyui basin and part of the basin of the river. Olenek. As a result of the research, a three-volume work by R. Maak "Vilyuysky District of the Yakutsk Region" (parts 1-3. St. Petersburg, 1883-1887) appeared, in which the nature, population and economy of a large and interesting region of the Yakutsk Region are described with exceptional completeness.

After the completion of this expedition, the Russian Geographical Society organized Siberian expedition(1855-1858) in two parties. The mathematical party led by Schwartz was to determine astronomical points and form the basis of a geographical map. Eastern Siberia. This task has been successfully completed. The botanist K.I. Maksimovich, zoologists L.I. Shrenk and G.I. Rudd. Reports by Rudde, who studied animal world environs of Baikal, steppe Dauria and mountain group Chokondo, were published on German in two volumes in 1862 and 1863.

Another complex expedition - the Amur one - was headed by Maak, who published two works: "Journey to the Amur, made by order of the Siberian Department of the Russian Geographical Society in 1855." (St. Petersburg, 1859) and "Journey through the valley of the Ussuri River", vol. 1-2 (St. Petersburg, 1861). Maak's work contained much valuable information about the basins of these Far Eastern rivers.

The most striking pages in the study of the geography of Siberia were written by the remarkable Russian traveler and geographer P.A. Kropotkin. The journey of Kropotkin and the natural science teacher I.S. Polyakov to the Leno-Vitim gold-bearing region (1866). Their main task was to find ways to drive cattle from the city of Chita to the mines located along the Vitim and Olekma rivers. The journey started on the banks of the river. Lena, ended in Chita. The expedition overcame the ridges of the Olekmo-Charsky highlands: the North-Chuysky, South-Chuysky, Okrainny and a number of hills of the Vitim plateau, including the Yablonovy ridge. The scientific report on this expedition, published in 1873 in the Notes of the Russian Geographical Society (vol. 3), was a new word in the geography of Siberia. Vivid descriptions of nature were accompanied in it by theoretical generalizations. In this regard, Kropotkin's "General Sketch of the Orography of Eastern Siberia" (1875) is of interest, summing up the results of the then studied Eastern Siberia. The scheme of the orography of East Asia compiled by him differed significantly from Humboldt's scheme. The Schwartz map served as the topographic basis for it. Kropotkin was the first geographer to pay serious attention to traces ancient glaciation Siberia. The famous geologist and geographer V.A. Obruchev considered Kropotkin one of the founders of geomorphology in Russia. Kropotkin's companion, the zoologist Polyakov, compiled an ecological and zoogeographic description of the path traveled.

Member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences Schrenk in 1854-1856. led the expedition of the Academy of Sciences to the Amur and Sakhalin. The range of scientific problems covered by Schrenk was very wide. The results of his research were published in the four-volume work "Travel and Research in the Amur Territory" (1859-1877).

In 1867-1869. studied the Ussuri region Przhevalsky. He was the first to note an interesting and unique combination of northern and southern forms of fauna and flora in the Ussuri taiga, showed the originality of the nature of the region with its harsh winters and wet summers.

The largest geographer and botanist (in 1936-1945, President of the Academy of Sciences) V.L. Komarov began researching the nature of the Far East in 1895 and retained his interest in this region until the end of his life. In his three-volume work "Flora Manschuriae" (St.-P., 1901-1907), Komarov substantiated the allocation of a special "Manchurian" floristic region. He also owns the classic works "Flora of the Kamchatka Peninsula", vols. 1-3 (1927-1930) and "Introduction to the floras of China and Mongolia", no. 1, 2 (St. Petersburg, 1908).

He painted living pictures of the nature and population of the Far East in his books famous traveler VK. Arseniev. From 1902 to 1910, he studied the hydrographic network of the Sikhote-Alin ridge, gave a detailed description of the relief of Primorye and the Ussuri Territory, and brilliantly described their population. Arseniev's books "On the Ussuri Taiga", "Dersu Uzala" and others are read with unflagging interest.

A significant contribution to the study of Siberia was made by A.L. Chekanovsky, I.D. Chersky and B.I. Dybovsky, exiled to Siberia after the Polish uprising of 1863. Chekanovsky studied geology Irkutsk province. His report on these studies was awarded a small gold medal of the Russian Geographical Society. But the main merit of Chekanovsky lies in the study of previously unknown territories between the rivers Lower Tunguska and Lena. He discovered a trap plateau there, described the river. Olenek and compiled a map of the northwestern part of the Yakutsk region. The geologist and geographer Chersky owns the first summary of theoretical views on the origin of the lake depression. Baikal (he expressed his own hypothesis about its origin). Chersky came to the conclusion that the oldest part of Siberia is located here, which has not been flooded by the sea since the beginning of the Paleozoic. This conclusion was used by E. Suess for the hypothesis of the "ancient crown of Asia". Deep thoughts were expressed by Chersky about the erosive transformation of the relief, about leveling it, smoothing out sharp forms. In 1891, already being terminally ill, Chersky began his last great journey to the basin of the river. Kolyma. On the way from Yakutsk to Verkhnekolymsk, he discovered a huge mountain range, consisting of a series of chains, with heights up to 1 thousand meters (later this range was named after him). In the summer of 1892, during a trip, Chersky died, leaving a completed "Preliminary report on research in the area of ​​the Kolyma, Indigirka and Yana rivers." B.I. Dybovsky and his friend V. Godlevsky explored and described the peculiar fauna of Baikal. They also measured the depth of this unique reservoir.

Of great interest are the scientific reports of V.A. Obruchev about his geological research and his special articles on the nature of Siberia. Along with the geological study of gold-bearing placers of the Olekma-Vitim country, Obruchev dealt with such geographical problems as the origin permafrost, glaciation of Siberia, orography of Eastern Siberia and Altai.

Western Siberia, with its flat relief, attracted little attention from scientists. Most of the research was carried out there by amateur botanists and ethnographers, among whom N.M. Yadrintseva, D.A. Clemenza, I.Ya. Slovtsov. Of fundamental importance were the studies carried out in 1898 by L.S. Berg and P.G. Ignatov's studies of salt lakes, set out in the book "Salt lakes of Selety-Dengiz, Teke and Kyzylkak of the Omsk district. Physical and geographical sketch". The book contains a detailed description of the forest-steppe and the relationship between the forest and the steppe, essays on flora and relief, and so on. This work marked a transition to a new stage in the study of Siberia - from route studies to semi-stationary, complex, covering a wide range of physical and geographical features of the territory.

At the turn of the XIX and XX centuries. and in the first decade of the 20th century. geographical research of Siberia was subordinated to two problems of great national importance: the construction of the Siberian railway and the agricultural development of Siberia. The Committee of the Siberian Road, established at the end of 1892, attracted a large number of scientists to the study of a wide strip along the route of the Siberian Railway. Studied geology and minerals, terrestrial and ground water, vegetation, climate. Of great importance were the studies of Tanfiliev in the Baraba and Kulunda steppes (1899-1901). In the book "Baraba and the Kulunda Steppe" (St. Petersburg, 1902), Tanfiliev, having considered the views of previous researchers, expressed convincing considerations about the origin of the ridge relief of the Baraba steppe, about the regime of numerous lakes in the West Siberian lowland, about the nature of soils, including chernozems. Tanfiliev explained why forests in the steppes of European Russia are located closer to river valleys, while in Baraba, on the contrary, forests avoid river valleys and are located on watershed ridges. Before Tanfilyev, the Baraba lowland was studied by Middendorf. His small work "Baraba", published in 1871 in the "Appendix" to the "Notes of the Imperial Academy of Sciences", is of great interest.

From 1908 to 1914, soil-botanical expeditions of the Resettlement Administration of the Ministry of Agriculture operated in the Asian part of Russia. They were led by an outstanding soil scientist, a student of Dokuchaev, K.D. Glinka. Expeditions covered almost all regions of Siberia, the Far East and Central Asia. The scientific results of the expeditions are set out in the 4-volume work "Asiatic Russia" (1914).

Studies of European Russia, the Urals and the Caucasus

At the same time, the attention of scientists and the Ministry of Agriculture was attracted by the search for the reasons for the depletion of soils, the drying up of rivers, the decrease in fish catches and the often repeated crop failures in densely populated European Russia. Research for this purpose was carried out in the European part of the country by natural scientists of various specialties: geologists, soil scientists, botanists, hydrologists, who studied individual components of nature. But every time when trying to explain these phenomena, researchers inevitably came to the need to consider and study them on a wide scale. geographical basis, taking into account all natural factors. Soil and botanical studies, caused by the need to establish the causes of recurring crop failures, resulted in a comprehensive study of the territory. Studying the Russian chernozems, Academician F.I. Ruprecht proved that the distribution of chernozems is closely related to the geography of plants. He determined that the southern border of spruce distribution coincides with northern border Russian black soil.

A new stage in the field of soil and botanical research was the work of Dokuchaev, who led in 1882-1888. Nizhny Novgorod soil expedition, which resulted in a scientific report ("Materials for land assessment Nizhny Novgorod province. Natural history part...", issue 1-14. St. Petersburg, 1884-1886) with two maps - geological and soil. This work discusses the climate, relief, soils, hydrography, flora and fauna of the province. This was the first such a complex study of a large agricultural area, which allowed Dokuchaev to formulate new natural-historical ideas and substantiate the genetic trend in soil science.

Tanfiliev summed up the results of a 25-year study of the swamps of Russia, organized by the Ministry of State Property. In his articles "On the swamps of the St. Petersburg province" (Proceedings of the Free Economic Society, No. 5) and "Swamps and peat bogs of Polesie" (St. Petersburg, 1895), he revealed the mechanism for the formation of swamps and gave their detailed classification, thus laying the foundations scientific marsh science.

In studies conducted in the second half of the XIX century. in the Urals, the main attention was paid to the study of its geological structure and the distribution of minerals. In 1898-1900. The Orenburg branch of the Russian Geographical Society organized barometric leveling of the southern part of the Ural Range. The leveling results were published in the "Izvestia of the Orenburg Branch of the Russian Geographical Society" for 1900-1901. This contributed to the emergence of special geomorphological studies. The first such work in the Urals was made by P.I. Krotov. He critically reviewed the history of orographic research in the Middle Urals, gave a general picture of the structure of its relief, described many characteristic surface forms and explained the geological conditions for their occurrence.

A thorough study of the climate of the Urals began in the 80s of the 19th century, when 81 meteorological stations were established there. By 1911, their number increased to 318. The processing of meteorological observation data made it possible to reveal the pattern of the distribution of climatic elements and to determine the general features of the climate of the Urals.

With mid-nineteenth in. work began to appear on a special study of the waters of the Urals. From 1902 to 1915, the Department of Inland Waterways and Highways of the Ministry of Communications published 65 issues of "Materials for the Description of Russian Rivers", which also contained extensive information about the rivers of the Urals.

By the beginning of the XX century. the flora of the Urals (except for the Northern and Polar ones) has already been studied quite well. In 1894, the chief botanist of the St. Petersburg Botanical Garden S.I. Korzhinsky first drew attention to traces of ancient vegetation in the Urals. An employee of the Petrograd Botanical Garden I.M. Krasheninnikov was the first to express his thoughts on the relationship between the forest and the steppe in the Southern Trans-Urals, thereby posing important botanical and geographical problems. Soil research in the Urals was considerably late. Only in 1913 did Dokuchaev's colleagues Neustruev, Krasheninnikov and others begin a comprehensive study of the soils of the Urals.

In the second half of the XIX century. systematic work began on triangulation and topographic surveys of the Caucasus. Military topographers in their reports and articles reported a lot of general geographical information. Using geodetic data and geological research G.V. Abikha, N. Salitsky in 1886 published "Essay on the Orography and Geology of the Caucasus", in which he outlined his ideas about the geography of this mountainous region. Much attention was paid to the study of the glaciers of the Caucasus. The work of K.I. Podozersky, who gave high-quality and quantitative characteristic glaciers of the Caucasus Range ("Glaciers of the Caucasus Range". - Notes of the Caucasian Department of the Russian Geographical Society, 1911, book 29, issue I).

Voeikov, studying the climate of the Caucasus, was the first to draw attention to the relationship between the climate and vegetation of the Caucasus, and in 1871 made the first attempt at natural zoning of the Caucasus.

Dokuchaev made an important contribution to the study of the Caucasus. It was during the study of the nature of the Caucasus that his doctrine of latitudinal zonality and altitudinal zonality finally took shape.

Along with these well-known scientists, dozens of geologists, soil scientists, botanists, zoologists, etc. have studied the Caucasus. A large number of materials about the Caucasus are published in the Izvestia of the Caucasian Department of the Russian Geographical Society and special trade journals.

Research in the Arctic

In 1882-1883. Russian scientists N.G. Yurgens and A.A. Bunge participated in research under the program of the First International Polar Year. Russia then organized polar stations on the islands of Novaya Zemlya (South Island, the village of Malye Karmakuly) and in the village. Sagastyr at the mouth of the river. Lena. The creation of these stations laid the foundation for Russian stationary research in the Arctic. In 1886, Bunge and the young geologist Toll explored the New Siberian Islands. Toll characterized the geology of the islands and proved that the north of Siberia was subjected to powerful glaciation. In 1900-1902. Toll led the Polar Expedition of the Academy of Sciences, which tried on the Zarya yacht to find the Sannikov Land, rumors about the existence of which had been kept since 1811. In two summer seasons, Zarya passed from Kara Sea in the area of ​​the Novosibirsk Islands. The first wintering near the Taimyr Peninsula was used to collect geographic materials. After the second wintering at about. Kotelny Toll with three companions on dog sleds went towards about. Bennett. On the way back, the travelers died. The existence of "Sannikov Land" was not confirmed by subsequent searches.

In 1910-1915. hydrographic surveys were carried out on the icebreakers "Taimyr" and "Vaigach" from the Bering Strait to the mouth of the river. Kolyma, which ensured the creation of sailing directions for the seas washing Russia in the north. In 1913 "Taimyr" and "Vaigach" discovered the archipelago, now called Severnaya Zemlya.

In 1912, Lieutenant of the Navy G.L. Brusilov decided to go from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok along the Northern Sea Route. The schooner "Saint Anna" was equipped with private funds. Off the coast of the Yamal Peninsula, the schooner was covered with ice and carried away by currents and winds to the northwest ( north of the earth Franz Joseph). The crew of the schooner died, only the navigator V.I. survived. Albanov and sailor A.E. Konrad, sent by Brusilov to mainland for help. The ship's log, preserved by Albanov, gave rich materials. After analyzing them, the famous polar traveler and scientist V.Yu. Wiese in 1924 predicted the location of an unknown island. In 1930 this island was found and named after Vize.

G.Ya. did a lot for the study of the Arctic. Sedov. He studied approaches to the mouth of the river. Kolyma and Krestovaya Bay on the islands of Novaya Zemlya. In 1912, Sedov reached Franz Josef Land on the ship "Saint Foka", then wintered on Novaya Zemlya. In 1913, the Sedov expedition again came to Franz Josef Land and wintered on about. Hooker in Tikhaya Bay. From here, in February 1914, Sedov, with two sailors on sledges, headed towards the North Pole, but did not reach it and died on the way to the pole.

Rich hydrobiological materials were received by the Murmansk scientific and fishing expedition led by N.M. Knipovich and L.L. Breitfuss. During its activity (1898-1908), the expedition aboard the ship "St. Andrew the First-Called" carried out hydrological observations at 1,500 points and biological observations at 2,000 points. As a result of the expedition, a bathymetric map of the Barents Sea and a map of currents were compiled. In 1906, Knipovich's book Fundamentals of the Hydrology of the European Arctic Ocean was published. A lot of new information about the Barents Sea was obtained by the scientists of the Murmansk Biological Station, founded in 1881.

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1870 The Russian Geographical Society organized an expedition to Central Asia. A talented officer of the General Staff was appointed its head Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky, already known for his research of the Ussuri region. In November 1870 with an assistant Mikhail Alexandrovich Pyltsov and with two Cossacks he moved from Kyakhta to Urga and, on the way to Beijing, crossed the Mongolian steppes and the Gobi desert in a southeasterly direction, establishing that it is lower on average and its relief is more difficult than previously thought.

From Beijing, Przhevalsky moved north at the beginning of 1871, to Lake Dalainor, and made a complete survey of it. In the summer, he traveled to the city of Baotou and, having crossed the Huang He (110 ° E), entered the Ordos Plateau, which "lies as a peninsula in the knee formed by the bends of the middle reaches of the Huang He." Quotations here and further from the work of N. M. Przhevalsky “Mongolia and the country of the Tanguts”. In the northwest of Ordos, he described "bare hills" - the sands of Kuzupcha. “It becomes hard for a person in this ... sandy sea, devoid of any life ... - all around is grave silence.” Following the course of the Huang He up from Baotou to Dingkouzhen (40 ° N, about 400 km), Przhevalsky moved southwest through the “wild and barren desert” Alashan, covered with “bare loose sands”, always ready to “strangle the traveler with their scorching heat", and reached the large, high (up to 1855 m), but narrow meridional ridge Helanshan, stretched along the Huang He valley at 106 ° E. e., "like a wall in the middle of the plain."

Winter came, besides, Poltsov became seriously ill, and they were forced to turn back. To the north of the Huang He bow, Przhevalsky went to the treeless, but rich in springs, Lanshan ridge, which stands as a "sheer wall, occasionally cut through by narrow gorges," and traced it along its entire length (300 km), and to the east discovered another ridge, smaller and lower - Sheiten -Ula. Travelers met the New Year in Zhangjiakou. The Cossacks assigned to the detachment were replaced by two others; one of them, Buryat Dondok Irinchinov. accompanied Przhevalsky on all other Central Asian travels.

In the spring of 1872, Przhevalsky reached the southern part of the Alashan desert by the same route. “The desert ended ... extremely abruptly [;] a majestic chain of mountains rose behind it” - the eastern Nanshan, which turned out to be a mountain system, and Przhevalsky singled out three powerful ranges in it: Marginal (Maomaoshan, up to 4053 m), Malinshan (Lenglonglin, up to 5243 m) and Qingshilin (up to 5230 m). After staying there for about two weeks, he went to the endorheic salt lake Kukunor (about 4200 km²), lying at an altitude of 3200 m. “The cherished goal of the expedition ... has been achieved. True, success was bought at the price of ... hard trials, but now all the hardships experienced are forgotten, and we stood in complete delight ... on the shores of the great lake, admiring its wonderful dark blue waves.

Having completed the survey of the northwestern shore of Lake Kukunor, Przhevalsky crossed the powerful Kukunor ridge and went to the village of Dzun, located on the southeastern outskirts of the marshy Tsaidam plain. He established that it was a basin and that it southern borders it is served by the Burkhan-Buddha ridge (up to 5200 m high), constituting a “sharp physical border countries lying on its northern and southern sides ... On the south side ... the terrain rises to a terrible absolute altitude... In the west, the plain of Tsaidam goes beyond the horizon with a boundless expanse ... ". To the south and south-west of Burkhan-Buddha, Przhevalsky discovered the Bayan-Khara-Ula mountains (up to 5445 m) and the eastern section of Kukushili, and between them he discovered a “wavy plateau”, which is a “terrible desert”, raised to a height of more than 4400 m So Przhevalsky was the first European to penetrate into the deep region of Northern Tibet, to the upper reaches of the Huang He and Yangtze (Ulan Muren). And he correctly determined that Bayan-Khara-Ula is the watershed between the two great river systems.

Travelers met a new one there, 1873. “Our life was in the full sense of the struggle for existence”: food ran out, severe cold set in, and clothes were worn out, boots were especially affected; long stay began to affect high altitude. Having met spring on Lake Kukunor, he went the same way without a guide to the southern outskirts of the Alashan desert. "The boundless sea lay ... loose sands before us, and not without timidity we stepped into their grave kingdom." Along the Helanshan ridge (already with a guide), they moved north in a terrible heat and crossed the eastern part of the desert, and almost died of thirst: the guide lost his way. Passing the western foothills of the Lanshan ridge, Przhevalsky passed through the most waterless, “wild and deserted” part of the Gobi and at 42 ° 20 "N discovered the Khurkh-Ula ridge (peak - 1763 m, extreme southeastern spur of the Gobi Altai). He returned to Kyakhta in September 1873.

In the deserts and mountains of Mongolia and China, Przhevalsky traveled more than 11,800 km and at the same time took off by eye (on a scale of 10 versts in 1 inch) about 5700 km. The scientific results of this expedition amazed contemporaries. Przhevalsky gave detailed descriptions of the deserts of the Gobi, Ordos and Alashani, the highlands of Northern Tibet and the Tsaidam basin (discovered by him), for the first time mapped more than 20 ridges, seven large and a number of small lakes on the map of Central Asia. Przhevalsky's map was not accurate, because due to very difficult travel conditions, he could not make astronomical determinations of longitudes. This significant defect was later corrected by himself and other Russian travelers.

The two-volume work "Mongolia and the country of the Tanguts" (1875-1876), in which Przhevalsky described his journey and published materials, brought the author world fame and was fully or partially translated into a number of European languages.

1876–1877 Przhevalsky made his second trip to Central Asia. At the same time, he walked a little more than 4 thousand km - the war in Western China prevented, the aggravation of relations between China and Russia, and, finally, his illness. And yet this journey was marked by two major geographical discoveries - the lower reaches of the Tarim with a group of lakes and the Altyntag ridge. These achievements are an outstanding connoisseur of China Ferdinand Richthofen rightly called the greatest discoveries.

Arriving in Gulja (at 44 ° N) in July 1876, Przhevalsky, together with an assistant Fedor Leontievich Eklon in mid-August moved up the "smooth as the floor", Quotations here and further from the book by N. M. Przhevalsky “From Kulja beyond the Tien Shan and to Lop Nor”. the Ili valley and its tributary Kunges and crossed the main watershed chain of the Eastern Tien Shan. Przhevalsky proved that this mountain system branches in the middle part; between the branches, he discovered two isolated high plateaus - Ikh-Yulduza and Baga-Yulduza in the upper reaches of the river. Khaidyk-Gol, which flows into Lake Bagrashkel. To the south of the lake, he crossed the western end of the “waterless and barren” Kuruktag ridge (up to 2809 m) and correctly identified it as “the last spur of the Tien Shan to the Lobnor desert.” Further to the south stretched "the vast expanse of the Tarim and Lop Nora deserts. Lobnorskaya... the wildest and most barren of all... even worse than Alashanskaya." Having reached the lower reaches of the Tarim, Przhevalsky described them for the first time. On his map, Konchedarya received the correct image; The Konchedarya, flowing out of Lake Bagrashkel, was then the lower left tributary of the Tarim; now in high water it flows into the northern part of Lake Lobnor. appeared "new", the northern branch of the Tarim - r. Inchikedarya. The route through the sands of Tak-la-Makan to the Charklyk oasis, in the lower reaches of the river. Cherchen (Lobnor basin), also first described by Przhevalsky, allowed him to establish the eastern border of the Takla-Makan desert.

Still at the crossing of the river. Tarim at 40° N. sh. Przhevalsky saw far to the south "a narrow obscure strip, barely visible on the horizon." With each passage, the outlines of the mountain range became more and more distinct, and soon it was possible to distinguish not only individual peaks, but also large gorges. When the traveler arrived in Charklyk, the Altyntag ridge, previously unknown to European geographers, appeared before him "an enormous wall, which further to the south-west rose even more and passed beyond the limits of eternal snow ...". In the deep winter of 1876/77. (December 26 - February 5) Przhevalsky explored the northern slope of Altyntag more than 300 km east of Charklyk. He established that "in all this space, Altyntag serves as the edge of a high plateau to the side of the lower Lop Nor desert." Due to frost and lack of time, he could not cross the ridge, but correctly guessed: the plateau south of Altyntag is probably the northernmost part of the Tibetan Plateau. It turned out that its boundary is located not at 36, but at 39 ° N. sh. In other words, Przhevalsky "moved" this border more than 300 km to the north. To the south of Lake Lobnor (90° E), according to local residents, the southwestern extension of Altyntag stretches without any interruption to Khotan (80° E), and to the east the ridge goes very far, but where exactly ends - lobnortsy did not know.

Second outstanding achievement This expedition, which, according to Przhevalsky himself, was inferior to the previous trip to Mongolia, was the scientific discovery of the Lop Nor basin, "which remained in the dark for so long and stubbornly." In February 1877 he reached Lake Lobnor. “I myself managed to explore only the southern and western shores of Lop Nor and make my way in a boat along the Tarim to half the length of the entire lake; further it was impossible to go through shallow and dense reeds. These latter cover the entire Lop Nor, leaving only a narrow (1-3 versts) strip of clear water on its southern coast. In addition, small, clean areas are located, like stars, everywhere in the reeds ... The water is everywhere bright and fresh ... "

This description of Lobnor confused geographers-sinologists, in particular Richthofen: according to Chinese sources, Lobnor is a salt lake, and lies to the north than shown on the map of Przhevalsky. They assumed that instead of Lop Nor, he described another lake - not drainless, but flowing and therefore fresh. “This is how the problem of Lobnor arose, a problem that has received a satisfactory solution only in our days ... Przhevalsky was absolutely right when he claimed that he discovered, described and correctly determined the coordinates of Lobnor, but Richthofen was right ... Lobnor turned out to be a nomadic reservoir , because it is completely dependent on the position of the rivers that supply it with water ”(E. Murzaev).

To the east of Lop Nor, Przhevalsky discovered a wide strip of Kumtag sands. Returning to Gulja, he went to the village of Zaisan southeast of Lake Zaisan, and from there - to the southeast past the sands of Dzosotyn-Elisun (Dzhungaria) to the Guchen oasis (Tsitai, 44 ° N. Lat.) and returned to Zaisan in the same way .

In the summer of 1876, an expedition of the Russian Geographical Society under the command of Grigory Nikolaevich Potanin passed from Zaisan through the Mongolian Altai to the city of Kobdo. His companions were a topographer Petr Alekseevich Rafailov and Alexandra Viktorovna Potanina, ethnographer and artist, who accompanied her husband on all major expeditions. From Kobdo, Potanin moved southeast along the northern slopes of the Mongolian Altai, discovering the short ridges of Batar-Khairkhan and Sutai-Ula, and again crossed the Mongolian Altai into southbound near 93° E. e. Then he crossed the Dzungarian Gobi and found that it was a steppe with low ridges, stretched parallel to the Mongolian Altai and isolated from the Tien Shan. Further south at 44° N. sh. Potanin and Rafailov discovered two parallel ridges - Mechin-Ula and Karlyktag, and accurately marked these very eastern spurs of the Tien Shan on the map. Having crossed them, they went to the Khami oasis, then moved to the north-northeast, again crossed in the opposite direction the spurs of the Eastern Tien Shan, the Dzungarian Gobi and the Mongolian Altai (east of the previous path) and finally established the independence of the Altai and Tien Shan mountain systems . At the same time, they discovered several ranges, southern and northern spurs of the Mongolian Altai - Aj-Bogdo and a number of smaller ones. Crossing the river Dzabkhan, they climbed the foothills of the Khangai to the city of Ulyasutai. As a result of crossing the Mongolian Altai three times, the expedition established the general features of the orography of the ridge and its great extent from the northwest to the southeast. In fact, Potanin laid the foundation scientific discovery Mongolian Altai.

From Ulyasutai, the travelers went to the northeast, crossed the Khangai Range, crossed the basin of the upper Selenga (Ider and Delger-Muren), clarified its position, mapped Lake Sangiin-Dalai-Nur for the first time, and in the fall of 1876 reached the southern shore of Lake Khubsugul. Having passed from here to the west approximately along the 50th parallel along the mountainous terrain, in mid-November they reached the bitter-salty lake Ubsu-Nur. On this way, they discovered the Khan-Khuhei ridge and the sands of Borig-Del, and also mapped the Tannu-Ola ridge (now they distinguish Western and Eastern Tannu-Ola).

At Lake Ubsu-Nur, the expedition split up: Potanin headed south through the Great Lakes Basin to Kobdo, while Rafailov, continuing the route along the 50th parallel, crossed and explored for the first time the short mountain ranges between the western part of the Mongolian Altai and Tannu-Ola. All members of the expedition united in Biysk at the beginning of 1878. Rafailov compiled a fairly accurate map of Western Mongolia.

In the spring of 1866, a grain caravan left Zaisan for the Guchen oasis guarded by hundreds of Cossacks. They were commanded by an officer of the General Staff Mikhail Vasilievich Pevtsov. The expedition first went south along a rocky plain with a uniform relief between the Tarbagatai and Saur ranges. Pevtsov established that earlier it represented a deep intermountain depression, later filled with deposits of mountain streams. Having crossed a low border ridge, the caravan proceeded along the southern slopes of Saur to the east to the large lake Ulungur. Pevtsov explored its basin for two weeks, plotted the bitter-salty Lake Baga-Hyp on an accurate map, establishing that relatively recently it was fresh, and much larger in area and that both lakes occupy part of a vast depression.

In June, the expedition continued its journey to the southeast along the left bank of the river. Urung. Pevtsov was the first to explore and put it on the map - up to the foothills of the Mongolian Altai. Here (near 90° E) the caravan turned south, crossed the eastern part of Dzungaria, described by Pevtsov, and reached Guchen, passing about 700 km, 500 km of them through previously unexplored terrain. The results of this journey - a description of the route and a map of Eastern Dzungaria - were published by Pevtsov in 1879 in the work Travel Sketches of Dzungaria.

In 1878, Pevtsov went to Mongolia as part of another trade caravan to explore the route along the northern slopes of the Mongolian Altai. From the upper reaches of the Bukhtarma (Irtysh system) in early August, he went east and crossed the Sailyugem border ridge, and established that the Tabyn-Bogdo-Ola mountain range represents the node of the entire Altai system. Turning then to the southeast, Pevtsov passed through the city of Kobdo to the bend of the river. Dzabkhan, explored its middle course and moved further to the southeast along the southern slope of the Khangai ridge. He crossed a number of significant rivers (Baydrag-Gol, Tuin-Gol, Tatsyn-Gol, Argyn-Gol, Ongin-Gol) and found that they all originate in the Khangai Range. This discovery radically changed the idea of ​​the region's hydrography.

To the south, Pevtsov discovered and described a long (about 500 km) and narrow drainless depression between Khangai and Altai, calling it the Valley of the Lakes. As he correctly concluded, this depression is the western wedge-shaped arm of the Gobi. With his hydrographic research and the discovery of the Valley of the Lakes, he proved that the Khangai ridge nowhere connects with the Mongolian Altai, which was first correctly shown on his map in the form of a long (about 1000 km) ridge, elongated in a southeasterly direction.

The further route of the caravan ran along the outskirts of the Valley of Lakes along the eastern part of the Gobi Altai. Pevtsov discovered here two short, almost parallel mountain ranges rising above 3.5 thousand m: Ikh-Bogdo-Ula with signs of modern glaciation and Baga-Bogdo-Ula. To the southeast of the Valley of the Lakes, he discovered a low (up to 3 thousand m) marginal ridge of the Gobi Altai (Gurvan-Saikhan, 150 km) and showed that the southeastern spurs of Altai beyond 42 ° N. sh. finally disappear in the vast Galbyn-Gobi plain (intersects 107 ° E). So Pevtsov established the direction and extent (more than 500 km) of the Gobi Altai and by this basically completed the discovery of the entire system of the Mongolian Altai.

From Gurvan-Saikhan the caravan continued to move to the southeast and crossed the Mongolian Gobi. Pevtsov discovered that its northern part is a hilly country with low ridges, while the southern part is higher and belongs to another mountainous country with an approximately latitudinal strike - the Yinshan Range. Thus, he proved the isolation of the Gobi Altai from Yinshan.

After a two-month rest, the Pevtsov in the spring of 1879 again passed through the Gobi, but now to the northwest along the caravan route to Urga (since 1924, Ulaanbaatar). He gave the first comparative characteristic northern and southern regions of the Gobi, noted the youthfulness of the country's relief and the gradual drying up of the rivers and lakes of the region, once abundantly irrigated.

After spending more than a month in Urga, Pevtsov moved west in early May, crossed over and struck mountain map, stretching from Urga to the river. Orkhon, and found out that they are the western continuation of the Khentei system. Then he crossed the southern part of the Selenga basin, several northern spurs of the Khangai and the main ridge. As a result, for the first time he correctly determined not only the direction, extent (about 700 km) and height of the third major orographic unit of Mongolia - Khangai, but also identified its most important northern and southern spurs.

Even further to the west, Pevtsov explored the lower reaches of the river. Dzabkhana and established that this river (more than 800 km) flows into Lake Airag-Nur, the southern basin of the large lake Khirgis-Nur, and that it connects two others with Khirgis-Nur large lakes- Khara-Nur and Khara-Us-Nur. And Pevtsov correctly assumed that earlier this entire part of Northwestern Mongolia - the Great Lakes Basin - was covered with water and represented a single fresh lake. Having reached Lake Achit-Nur, Pevtsov discovered its connection through the river. Kobdo with the Great Lakes Basin. In the summer of 1879, he completed work in the village of Kosh-Agach, on the river. Chuya.

The overall result of the second expedition is the establishment of the main features of the orography and hydrography of the northwestern part of Central Asia. In his “Essay on a Journey through Mongolia and the Northern Provinces of Inner China” (1883), Pevtsov, by the way, gave the first comparative description of the landscapes of the Mongolian and Russian Altai. And he compiled fundamentally new maps of Central Asia on the basis of the route survey.

having set out from Kosh-Agach in June 1879 to the east, to Lake Ubsu-Nur. Potanin, on the way, studied in detail the mountains near 50°N. sh. Having covered the entire Great Lakes Basin with his research, he also came to the conclusion that Khirgis-Nur, Khara-Nur and Khara-Us-Nur are mutually connected by a river system. All three lakes, according to Potanin, are located on wide flat plains - “steps” that go down from south to north and are separated by low mountains and hills, but Lake Ubsu-Nur has no connection with the rest. Potanin, thus, completed the study of the Great Lakes Basin - a huge (more than 100 thousand km²) depression in the north-west of Mongolia. From Kobdo in September he returned to Ubsu-Nur. Expedition member topographer P. D. Orlov made the first complete survey of the lake - it turned out to be the largest body of water in Mongolia (3350 km²). In addition, Orlov independently tracked in the south and accurately mapped the Khan-Khuhei-Ula ridge (length about 250 km, peaks up to 2928 m).

Climbing from Ubsu-Nur to the mountains, the travelers saw the wooded ridge Tannu-Ola in the north. “The mountains seemed to be a solid wall,” wrote A.V. Potanina, “the peaks were covered with spots of snow and smoked with fog in the mornings ...”. At the end of September, having crossed the ridge, the expedition descended into the central part of the Tuva basin - into the valley of the river. Ulug-Khem (upper Yenisei) - and, moving east, traced it for more than 100 km and for the same amount - the valley of the river. Small Yenisei (Ka-Khem) to the mouth of the river. Ulug-Shiveya. As a result of crossing the Tannu-Ola and the 200-kilometer route along the Tuva basin, the expedition accurately mapped the outlines of the main ridge and its northern spurs, and also refined the cartographic image of the upper reaches of the Yenisei. It ascended the Ulug-Shivei to the upper reaches, crossed the Sangilen ridge and, turning east, to the upper reaches of the Delger-Muren, reached the western bank of the Khuvsgul, along which the Bayan-Ula ridge extends with heights of more than 3 thousand meters.

The journey ended in Irkutsk. The diaries of Potanin's two expeditions comprised four volumes of Essays on North-Western Mongolia (1881–1883), of which two volumes of ethnographic materials were collected mainly by A. V. Potanina.

In March 1879, Przhevalsky began his third journey through Central Asia, which he called the "First Tibetan". From Zaisan, he headed southeast, past Ulungur Lake and along the river. Urungu to its upper reaches, crossed the Dzungarian Gobi - "a vast undulating plain" - and quite correctly determined its size. Having passed Lake Barkel, Przhevalsky reached the Khami oasis, near 93°E. e. He crossed further the eastern outskirts of the Gashunskaya Gobi and reached the lower reaches of the river. Danhe (left tributary of the lower Sulehe), and to the south of it he discovered the “huge ever-snowy” Humboldt Range (Ulan-Daban, about 250 km long, peaks 5300–5400 m). Through the Danjin Pass (3519 m) - at the junction of Altyntag and Humboldt - Przhevalsky went south to the Sartym plain, crossed it and established the beginning of the Ritter ridge (Daken-Daban, length about 200 km, peaks more than 5 thousand m). Crossing over two other, smaller ridges, he descended into southeastern part Tsaidam, in the village of Dzun.

From Dzun, Przhevalsky moved to the southwest and found out that Kullun here has a latitudinal direction and consists of two, sometimes three parallel chains (from 64 to 96 km wide), having different names in its various parts. According to the nomenclature adopted for Soviet maps, Przhevalsky identified the following ridges: at 36 ° N. lat., between 94–96° east. e., - Sasun-Ula and the western part of Burkhan-Buddha; somewhat to the south, between 91 and 96 ° E. - Bokalyktag, which he called the Marco Polo ridge (with a peak of 6300 m). South of Bokalyktag, at the Kukushili pass, Przhevalsky discovered the Bungbura-Ula ridge, which stretches along the left bank of the Ulan-Muren (upper Yangtze), between 92 and 94 ° E. (peak 5800 m).

Farther south, Tibet itself stretched out before the traveler, representing “a grandiose, nowhere else on the globe in such dimensions, a table-like mass, raised ... to a terrible height, is not repeated in such sizes. And on this gigantic pedestal ... vast mountain ranges are piled up ... As if these giants are guarding here the hard-to-reach world of transcendental highlands, unfriendly to humans by their nature and climate, and for the most part still completely unknown to science ... "For the 33rd Przhevalsky discovered the Yangtze and Salween watershed - the Tangla latitudinal range (with peaks up to 6096 m) by parallel. From a gentle, barely noticeable pass at an altitude of about 5000 m, going south to about 32 ° N. sh., Przhevalsky saw the eastern part of the Nyenchen-Tangla ridge. He found his way to forbidden Lhasa and was about 300 km away from it, but was forced to turn back: a rumor spread in Lhasa that a Russian detachment was coming with the aim of kidnapping the Dalailama. Przhevalsky went the same way to the upper reaches of the Yangtze and somewhat west of the previous route - to the Dzun. From there, he turned to Lake Kukunor, bypassed it from the south, almost closing the survey, and south of 36 ° N. sh. (at 100 ° E) for the first time explored the upper course of the Yellow River (Huang He) for more than 250 km; in this area, he discovered the Semenov and Ugutu-Ula ridges. An attempt to penetrate to the sources of the Huang He was unsuccessful due to the impossibility of crossing the river.

Returning to Dzun, Przhevalsky reached Kyakhta through the desert of Alashan and the Gobi. During this journey, he traveled about 8 thousand km and photographed more than 4 thousand km of the way through regions of Central Asia completely unexplored by Europeans. He found two new species of animals - the Przewalski's horse and the pika-eating bear. Przhevalsky's assistant, Vsevolod Ivanovich Roborovsky, collected a huge botanical collection: about 12 thousand specimens of plants - 1500 species. Przhevalsky outlined his observations and research results in the book “From Zaisan through Khami to Tibet and to the upper reaches of the Yellow River” (1883), from which we have taken the above quotes. The result of his three expeditions were fundamentally new maps of Central Asia.

November 1883 Przhevalsky went on his fourth journey. In addition to V. I. Roborovsky, he took as assistants a 20-year-old volunteer Peter Kuzmich Kozlov, previously a brewery clerk, in which Przhevalsky guessed the real researcher. By May 1884, by May 1884, the expedition proceeded from Kyakhta to Dzun. In the southeast of Tsaidam, beyond the Burkhan-Buddha ridge, Przhevalsky discovered a barren saline "wavy plateau, often covered with small ... disorderly heaped mountains", continuing far to the southeast. Innumerable herds of wild yaks, kulans, antelopes and other ungulates grazed on the plateau. Having passed this animal kingdom, Przhevalsky went to the eastern part of the Odontala intermountain basin, covered with "many hummocky swamps, springs and small lakes"; along the basin “small rivers wind, partly formed from the same springs, partly running down from the mountains. All these rivers merge into two main streams, "connecting to the northeast corner of Odontala. “From here, that is, from the confluence of all the waters of Odontala, the famous Yellow River is born” (Huang He). The good weather, which delighted travelers for several days, “suddenly gave way to a strong snowstorm, and by morning the temperature had dropped to -23°C. We had to wait two days for the snow that had fallen so inopportunely to melt.” Finally, the detachment was able to move further south. Przhevalsky crossed the watershed of the sources of the Huang He and the Yangtze (the Bayan-Khara-Ula ridge), imperceptible from the side of the Tibetan Plateau, and found himself in a mountainous country: “Here the mountains immediately become high, steep and difficult to access.” Having examined a small segment of the upper reaches of the Yangtze, Przhevalsky decided not to waste time and effort on reaching Lhasa, dear to his heart. On the way back, east of Odontala, he discovered two lakes - Dzharin-Nur and Orin-Nur, through which the "newborn Yellow River" flowed.

Returning to Tsaidam, Przhevalsky proceeded along its southern outskirts, discovered a narrow but powerful Chimentag ridge in the southwest and, thus, almost completely outlined the huge (more than 100 thousand km) Tsaidam plain. Having crossed the Chimentag and the northwestern spur of the newly discovered Kayakdygtag, the detachment reached the large wide Kultala plain, which went "to the east beyond the horizon." Far to the south, in front of Przhevalsky, a giant ridge of a latitudinal direction opened up, which he called Mysterious, and the perceived peak - Monomakh's Cap (7720 m). Later Zagadochny was given the name of the discoverer (the local name is Arkatag; the length is about 650 km, the height is up to 7723 m). Turning back and reaching approximately the 38th parallel, Przhevalsky passed her west with the vast intermountain Valley of the Winds, which he named so because of the constant winds and storms (the valley of the Yusupalik River). To the north of it stretched Aktag, and to the south - Kayakdygtag and the previously unknown Achchikköltag (Moscow). On the southern slope of Kayakdygtag, at an altitude of 3867 m, Przhevalsky discovered a salt lake, not covered with ice even at the end of December, and called it Non-freezing (Ayakkumkel). Further movement to the south was impossible because of the approaching winter and the great fatigue of pack animals; The detachment headed north, descended into the basin of Lake Lobnor and met the spring of 1885 on its shore.

In early April, Przhevalsky climbed up the valley of the river. Cherchen to the Cherchen oasis, and from there moved south, at 37 ° N. sh. discovered the Russian Range (up to 6626 m) and traced it to the west along its entire length (about 400 km) - to the oasis of Keriya, and on the parallel of 36 ° N. sh. he discovered a short but powerful Muztag ridge (peak 7282 m), adjacent to the Russian. Then the detachment went to the Khotan oasis, crossed the Takla-Makan, the Central Tien Shan in the northern direction and returned to Issyk-Kul in November 1885. quoted above).

In 1883, the third expedition of Potanin was organized with the participation of A.V. Potanina and A.I. Skassi. They crossed by sea around Europe through the Suez Canal to the port of Chifu (Yantai, Northeast China) and then by land - to Beijing for the final outfit. In the summer of 1884, they headed west from Beijing to the city of Guisui (Huhhot), crossed the Ordos Plateau and arrived in Lanzhou (on the Yellow River) for the winter. In the spring of 1885, the travelers moved to Xining (at 102 ° E), moved south and through the mountainous treeless region of the upper reaches of the river. Huang He, southeastern spurs of Kunlun and eastern slopes The Sino-Tibetan mountains reached the upper reaches of the river. Minjiang (a large northern tributary of the Yangtze). After traveling east from there for about 150 km, they turned north and through the mountain ranges of the Qinling system returned to Lanzhou, where they wintered again. As a result of this double crossing of the "Tangut-Tibetan margin" of China, Potanin subdivided it into two parts: the northern one (between 36 and 34 ° N) is a highland over 3000 m high with rare ridges and shallowly incised river valleys; the southern one (between 34–32° N) is characterized by a complex mountainous relief with deep river valleys.

In April 1886, the expedition went west to Lake Kukunor, turned north from there and, having crossed several nameless ridges, reached the headwaters of the river. Zhoshuy, precisely established by her. At the same time, Potanin and Skassi discovered the first chain of the Nanynan system, the structure of which turned out to be more complex than Przhevalsky showed. Having traced the entire course of the Zhoshui to the lower reaches (about 900 km), they went to the endorheic lake Gashun-Nur and accurately marked it on the map. Moving further north through the Gobi, the expedition, when crossing the Gobi Altai, identified four of its southern low spurs of the latitudinal direction (including Tost-Ula), correcting Pevtsov's map. Potanin described the Gobi strip he crossed as follows: the southern part - as a flat hill with low ridges; central - as a desert depression no more than 900 m; northern - as a low mountainous country, a continuation of the Mongolian Altai. From Lake Orog-Nur, the expedition went north along the valley of the river. Tuin-Gol to its upper reaches, crossed the Khangai ridge and, turning to the northeast, through the basin of the river. Orkhon reached Kyakhta at the beginning of November 1886. At the same time, the watershed of the Selenga and Orkhon - the Buren-Nuru ridge - and a number of small spurs of the Khangai were put on the map.

Potanin's expedition crossed Central Asia approximately along the 101st meridian, and the mountain ranges were passed across their main direction, which made it impossible to establish the length and strike of individual ridges. The results of the expedition are described in the work "The Tangut-Tibetan outskirts of China and Central Mongolia" (1893, 1950).

1888 Przhevalsky organized a new expedition to Central Asia. This time, too, V. I. Roborovsky and P. K. Kozlov were his assistants. They reached the village of Karakol, near the eastern shore of Issyk-Kul. Here Przhevalsky fell ill with typhoid fever and died on November 1, 1888. Before his death, he asked to be buried "by all means on the shore of Issyk-Kul in a marching expedition uniform." In 1889 Karakol was renamed Przhevalsk. AT world history discoveries Przhevalsky entered as one of the greatest travelers. The total length of its working routes in Central Asia exceeds 31.5 thousand km. Having made a number of major geographical discoveries, he radically changed the idea of ​​the relief and hydrographic network of Central Asia. He initiated the study of its climates and paid much attention to the study of flora: personally, he and his colleagues, mainly Roborovsky, collected about 16 thousand plant specimens belonging to 1700 species, including more than 200 species and seven genera unknown to botanists. He also made a huge contribution to the study of the Central Asian fauna, having collected collections of vertebrates - about 7.6 thousand specimens, including several dozen new species.

After the death of Przhevalsky, M.V. Pevtsov was placed at the head of the expedition, who invited K.I. Bogdanovich. This third - Tibetan - expedition of Pevtsov turned out to be the most fruitful. And earlier he acted as a subtle observer, an outstanding geographer who made a number of important generalizations, an accurate geodesist and a good cartographer, now he has shown himself to be an excellent organizer. He entrusted his employees with long-distance independent routes, and they became outstanding explorers of Central Asia.

In the summer of 1889, the expedition, leaving Przhevalsk to the south, crossed the Terskey-Ala-Too and Kakshaal-Too ridges and descended to the river. Yarkand, establishing that r. Kashgar, which was considered a tributary of the Yarkand, is lost in the sands south of the Kelpincheltag ridge. Further, the expedition traced the western border of the Takla-Makan desert, climbing along the river valley to the city of Yarkend.

Back in the spring, Pevtsov sent Bogdanovich on a route that lasted a month and a half. From the western edge of Issyk-Kul, Pevtsov went south along mountain paths to a small village at 38 ° 30 "N, 76 ° E, and from there turned west, crossed the Kashgar Range south of the Kongur massif (7719 m) and bypassed from the north, west and south another massif of this ridge - Muztagata (7546 m), discovering a group of glaciers there, the presence of which was previously denied. Proceeding east through several passes at about 38 ° N., Bogdanovich descended along the river valleys to Yarkand , where he met with Pevtsov.From there, the expedition moved along

caravan road along the southern edge of the Takla-Makan desert and in mid-October stopped for the winter in the Niya oasis. Bogdanovich earlier from the Kargalyk oasis went south to the foot of the Tiznaf ridge (peak - 5360 m), turned to the west, overwhelmed the Tokhtakorum ridge and went to the upper Yarkend, and from there to Niya. He gave a brief description of the part of the Western Kunlun he explored: “Sharp peaks, peaked snow groups, occasionally a clearly defined snow ridge, the main lines of river valleys, noticeable by the strong lowering of mountains towards them - such is the general character of the mountain panorama here.” During wintering (February - March 1890) Bogdanovich continued to explore the Western Kunlun, regardless of B. G. Grombchevsky opening to the south of Khotan a heavily dissected Karangutag ridge about 200 km long with a peak of 7013 m, and to the east of it, in the basin of the river. Yurunkash, on both sides of the Muztag ridge, discovered a complex system of small mountain ranges. Through the Yurunkasha valley he descended to Khotan and returned to Nya. As a result of three routes, Bogdanovich found out the main features of the orography of the Western Kunlun, established the arched bend of its ridges, their strong dissection, the presence of a number of "diagonally transverse valleys" and discovered the connection between Kunlun and the Pamirs.

In March, Roborovsky traveled from Niya to the northeast along the caravan road to the Cherchen oasis. Turning from there to the south, up the river valley. Cherchen, he crossed the sands of Kumkatta and found that here the river. Cherchen made her way in the powerful Tokkuzdavantag ridge (peak 6303 m). Moving east, up the Cherchen valley and its right tributary, the Dimnalyk, to the Gulchadavan pass (4313 m, 88° E), Roborovsky discovered the complexity of the structure of the Western Altyntag.

By May, everyone had moved from Niya to the southeast, to the Karasai tract, on the northern slope of the Russian Range, behind which “a completely unknown area” was shown on the Przhevalsky map. Sent in search of ways to Tibet, Roborovsky climbed the valley of the river. Tulankhodzha, crossing the Russian Range, to its source and reached the Atyshdavan Pass (4976 m), from which I saw a huge snow ridge (Ustyuntag) in the southwest. Passing to the southwestern tip of the Russian Range, he saw from another pass “... for the second time, and already much clearer... a ridge stretching ... to the southeast. The great glaciers of this gigantic range fill its majestic gorges, and the peaks, rising probably more than 20,000 feet above the sea, were shrouded in thick, dark clouds. Undoubtedly, he already saw another ridge - Lyushishan (peak 7160 m), at 35 ° 20 "N, stretching for 200 km (between 80 and 82 ° E) to the head of the Keriya River. But because of lack of food, he was forced to return to Karasai.

Soon, in order to further study the routes to Tibet, Pevtsov sent Kozlov and Roborovsky along different routes. Kozlov to the south-east of Karasai crossed the Russian Range and discovered behind it an intermountain depression, and in it at an altitude of 4258 m - a small lake. Along the valley of the river flowing into this lake, Kozlov went to its upper reaches along the foot of the Russian Range and from the Dzhapakaklyk pass (4765 m) saw the eastern tip of the range. Thus, Kozlov and Roborovsky established the length of the Russian Range (about 400 km) and completed its discovery.

Before Roborovsky, again moving through the Atyshdavan pass, and then turning south, a lifeless rocky plateau opened up, along which he walked about 80 km and at the same time crossed two rivers. “For the first time I had to be in such a wild and terrible desert. The complete absence of any life, bare, black slate ridges ... are extended by sharp jagged skeletons in a northeasterly direction. Roborovsky found that to the east of his route “no mountains are visible; flat plain, slightly lowering, goes beyond the horizon. These were the first data on the rocky high-mountainous desert of Northwestern Tibet.

In June, the expedition moved to the lake discovered by Kozlov. Pevtsov climbed the Kozlov pass in the Przhevalsky ridge (5085 m) and from the top saw the same rocky alpine desert in the south. Passing through the highlands to 36 ° N. sh., Pevtsov turned back because of the extraordinary, even for experienced travelers, difficulty of movement. At the same time, Kozlov climbed the Przhevalsky Ridge much further to the east and observed the same rocky desert from the pass.

Later, everyone joined in the Cherchen oasis. Roborovsky in August climbed up the valley of the river. Cherchen and its left tributary Ulugsu and at the source of the river reached Mount Ulugmuztag (7723 m), the highest point of the Przhevalsky ridge. From here Roborovsky turned east. He walked along the intermountain basin discovered by Przhevalsky along the northern slopes of the ridge for more than 100 km, discovered the high-mountain drainless lake Achchik-Kol and the rivers flowing into it, and completed the discovery of Lake Ayakkum-Kol and the rivers of its basin. Here he connected the shooting of the expeditions of Pevtsov and Przhevalsky. As a result of this route, Roborovsky established the dimensions of the Kultala intermountain basin (about 20 thousand km²), described its rivers and lakes, and specified the position of the eastern section of the Przhevalsky and Uyakdyg ridges.

The expedition passed along the already explored path along the valleys of Cherchen and Dimnalyk, moved to the sources of the river. Charklyk and completed the discovery of the Aktag ridge (peak 6161 m). Along the Charklyk valley, she descended to Lake Karaburankol (southwest of Lop Nor) and found that it consists of several small lakes. Here Roborovsky caught up with the expedition. As a result of the joint work, the opening of the entire Altyntag was basically completed.

Kozlov explored the second wandering river of the Lop Nor basin - the Konchedarya, and Bogdanovich first established the nomadism of Lake Lop Nor: “... along the entire course of the Tarim from the Lop Nor to the confluence of the Ugen Darya (the northern branch of the Tarim) begins to be clearly detected ... the process of reduction of the Tarim ... to put it figuratively, then Lop Nor slowly begins to move up the river.

Pevtsov, having summarized the materials of his own and previous expeditions, made a conclusion about the size, boundaries and topography of the Tarim Basin, while noting the process of drying up of Lop Nor. From the large freshwater lake Bagrashkel (1.4 thousand km), first described by the expedition, it passed through the eastern spurs of the Tien Shan and found instead of a simple ridge shown on the Przhevalsky map, several relatively low (up to 4230 m) and short ridges , including Bogdo-Ula. To the northeast of it, the Toksun depression was discovered, the western part of one of the deepest continental depressions of the Earth - the Turfan depression. From there, the detachment went to the north-west in the foothill zone between the Eastern Tien Shan and the sands of Dzosotyn-Elisun, discovered and went around Lake Telli-Nur (Manas) from the west, then crossed, moving north, the Sevenistai ridge (2621 m) and went to village of Zaisan at the beginning of 1891.

The results of the last expedition of Pevtsov, described in the work "Proceedings of the Tibetan expedition of 1889-1890 ..." The above quotes are taken from this work.(1892–1897) were very large: the boundaries and dimensions of the Takla-Makan desert were established; the Kunlun mountain system from 76 to 90 ° E was explored. and for the first time compiled (Bogdanovich) a schematic map of the entire Kunlun; the high plateau of Northwestern Tibet was discovered and its approximate dimensions were clarified; the discovery of the Russky, Przhevalsky, Altyntag ranges and the Kultala intermountain basin was completed; a number of new ridges have been discovered; the characteristics of the relief and hydrography of the western part of Central Asia are given; the solution of the “riddle of Lopnor” has made great progress.

practically completely unexplored area - the junction of Kunlun, Karakorum and Hindu Kush - the Russian Geographical Society sent a small detachment in the summer of 1888. It was headed by Captain Bronislav Lyudvigovich Grombchevsky, an officer for special assignments under the Governor-General of Fergana. From Margilan, the traveler went south, crossed several Tien Shan and Pamir ranges, and on September 1, along a mountain path, reached Baltit, the capital of a small khanate located in the basin of the river. Gilgit (Indus system). cholera epidemic in neighboring locality and the sickness of the khan forced Grombchevsky to hasten his return.

The way back passed along the same path, partly going along ovrings (balconies), in a number of places destroyed by snow avalanches. At the end of October, Grombchevsky explored the Muztagata massif, one of constituent parts almost meridional powerful ridge Kongurmuztag (Kashgar) with rocky steep slopes. Difficulties of the road, frost and lack of food killed almost all the horses, and travelers had to walk about 850 km. Nevertheless, Grombchevsky photographed a number of left tributaries of the river. Raskemdarya (in the lower reaches - the river Yarkand, one of the components of the Tarim), including the river. Tashkurgan.

In the summer of 1889 Grombchevsky led a new expedition. The tense political situation greatly complicated the movement of the detachment. Nevertheless, he managed to re-penetrate the Raskemdarya basin: in October - November, he first explored and mapped the intricately branched Raskem Range. (Now two ridges are distinguished here - a short and powerful Raskem and a less high, longer one - about 300 km - Tokhtakorum.) Then Grombchevsky went up the left large tributary of the Raskemdarya to the Chogori region, the second highest eight-thousander of the planet (at 36 ° N. latitude) .), and discovered the northern part of the significant (400 km) Agyl-Karakorum ridge.

At the end of November, with frosts up to 30 ° C, Grombchevsky crossed to the headwaters of the river. Tiznaf to connect his shooting with the shooting of Pevtsov's expedition. And at the end of the year, with frosts intensifying to -35 ° C and significant winds, sometimes reaching hurricane force, along the river. Karakash rose to the Tibetan Plateau. On the right bank of the river, he discovered and traced almost the entire length of the powerful Karangutag ridge, the watershed of both components of the river. Hotan. On the highlands, the wind raised clouds ached, salty in taste; it penetrated everywhere, hitting the eyes especially hard. According to Grombchevsky, the part of the Tibetan Plateau he visited is an undulating terrain, crossed in different directions by smoothed mountain ranges; often there are deep hollows with lakes.

From starvation and lack of water (all springs and lakes were frozen), the death of horses began. The detachment retreated and, having crossed into new year's eve Karangutag, descended to the foot of the Kunlun, and then went along the caravan road to Kashgar. Here Grombchevsky received financial assistance from the Russian consul, bought about 30 horses, and in the spring of 1890 continued to work. In early March, in the Niya oasis, he met with Pevtsov, which made it possible to link the shooting together.

From Niya Grombchevsky went west to the river. Keriya and along its valley on May 10 again ascended the Tibetan Plateau, which met it with severe (up to -24 ° C) frosts - below the heat reached 31 ° C. The beginning of the death of pack animals forced him to hurry. But nevertheless, he advanced along the solonetzic-sandy high-mountain desert to the south much further than the members of the Pevtsov expedition: he discovered most of the Ustyuntag ridge on the right bank of the river. Kerii, discovered its sources, and on the left bank, undoubtedly, saw the meridional segment of the Lushishan ridge. In early June, he returned to the plain, to Khotan, and on October 15 completed the expedition in the city of Osh.

Through the hard-to-reach mountains of Kunlun, Karakorum and the high desert of Western Tibet, Grombchevsky covered 7,700 km with filming, of which almost 5,500 were in areas not visited by any of the Europeans. He made significant changes to the cartography of the upper basins of the Yarkand, Khotan and Keriya rivers, collected large botanical and zoological collections, as well as interesting ethnographic material.

To study the Eastern Tien Shan, the region between the Takla Makan and Gobi deserts, as well as the mountainous country of Nanshan, the Russian Geographical Society organized a small expedition. It was headed by the geographer and entomologist G. E. Grumm-Grzhimailo, the duties of the topographer, as before, were performed by his brother, artillery officer Mikhail Efimovich. At the end of May 1889, the detachment set out from Dzharkent (Panfilov, 80 ° E), crossed the Borohoro Range at 83 ° E. and headed east. G. Grumm-Grzhimailo found out that these mountains and their continuation (the Iren-Khabyrga ridge) have a very steep northern slope and are drained by numerous small rivers.

In search of a pass to the southern slopes of the Tien Shan, travelers climbed to the upper reaches of the river. Manas, at the foot of a mountain junction with glaciers giving rise to a number of rivers. Not finding a passage, they retreated and, continuing the route to the east, by the end of September traced the entire ever-snowy Bogdo-Ula ridge (about 300 km). Then the expedition crossed the depression between it and the mountains stretching further to the east, among which G. Grumm-Grzhimailo singled out two ridges - Barkeltag with rocky northern spurs and Karlyktag with snow spots shining on the tops. Having traveled to the southwest, he discovered and in October - November examined the deepest continental depression in Central Asia - the Turfan; its height turned out to be negative, i.e. below the level of the ocean (according to the latest data - 154 m).

At the same time, M. Grumm-Grzhimailo headed south for reconnaissance - towards the "white spot". He crossed the low latitudinal Choltag ridge and instead of the “Khami desert” shown on previous maps, he discovered a plain with steppe vegetation, bounded in the south by the Kuruktag ridge.

From Turfan, the expedition went along the caravan road to the east and met the new one, 1890, in the city of Khami. From there, at the end of January, she headed southeast, crossing the low and short ridges of Beishan along the way. G. Grumm-Grzhimailo intended to conduct a study of the territory south of the city of Siniy, beyond the bend of the upper Yellow River. But plans had to be drastically changed due to misfortune with one of the Cossacks. In the middle of summer, the detachment bypassed Lake Kukunor from the south and west, overcoming Nanshan, and in September again crossed Beishan about 100 km east of the previous route. G. Grumm-Grzhimailo singled out this mountainous country as an independent orographic unit of Central Asia (although overestimating its area by more than two times).

Further, the route of the detachment ran along the southern slopes of the Eastern Tien Shan, examined for the first time for about 500 km. Then G. Grumm-Grzhimailo re-examined about 800 km of the northern slopes of this mountain system and completed the expedition in mid-November in Dzharkent, having traveled more than 7 thousand km, of which 6 thousand km were in areas that had not been visited by researchers before. He delivered a large collection of insects and brought the first four specimens of Przewalski's horse.

Potanin's fourth expedition as a geologist was enlisted Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev who received an independent task. Leaving Kyakhta at the end of September 1892, he reached Beijing through Mongolia, where he prepared for his further journey. In 1893, bypassing the Ordos plateau from the south and following along the Great Chinese wall, he moved to the city of Suzhou (now Jiuquan on the lower reaches of the left tributary Zhoshui). From there, he began exploring the mountainous country of Nanshan and discovered or completed the discovery of a number of previously unidentified or completely incorrectly mapped ranges with peaks over 5 thousand meters. 500 km on the northeastern outskirts of Nanshan; to the southwest - parallel to it Taolaishan; in the south, near 38 ° N. sh., - the ridge of Zyuss (Sulenanynan), where the sources of the river are located. Sulehe; downstream along its right bank - Taolainanshan, and on the left bank - Yemashan and Daxueshan (with a peak of 6209 m). Obruchev also completed the discovery and named the Mushketov Ridge, Now there are two ridges. separating from the south the Syrtym plain from Tsaidam, and to the southeast from Tsaidam - the Semenov ridge, crossed by the 36th parallel. Between them, he discovered the ever-snowy Kurlyk-Daban (length 250 km) and the shorter and lower Sarlyk-Ula. And he explored, attributed to the Nanshan system and united under the common name Longshoushan low, almost latitudinal mountains (top 3658 m), stretching along the southwestern outskirts of the Alashan desert.

Having bypassed the Alashan desert from the north, he went to the northern bow of the Huang He, to the city of Ningxia (Yinchuan). In 1894, having crossed the Qinling Range, he penetrated the Sichuan depression, turned to the northwest, returned to Suzhou again and reached the Hami oasis through Beishan. Although his path along Beishan coincided with the route of G. Grumm-Grzhimailo, Obruchev specified the position of the northern and southern borders of this mountainous country. He found out that Beishan is not connected with either Nanshan or Tien Shan. From Khami he reached Gulja, following through Turfan and along the southern strip of Dzungaria.

Obruchev established that Central Asia is a very ancient mountainous country, not covered by the sea for a long time and leveled by the processes of weathering and demolition. He gave a more correct idea of ​​the relief and geological structure of this region. Based on the collected materials, he developed a hypothesis about the eolian origin of the loess. V. Obruchev described his journey in the books “From Kyakhta to Kulja” (2nd edition, 1950) and “Central Asia, Northern China and Nanshan” (two volumes, 1900–1901).

Dzungaria - the "great gate" of the Asian continent - was a high road for a number of famous expeditions of the second half of the 19th century, striving for the unsolved expanses of Central Asia, but part of Dzungaria itself remained, but essentially, a "blank spot" until the beginning of the 20th century, until Obruchev did not enter this area. During the summer months of 1905, 1906 and 1909. For the first time he studied or studied in detail two almost parallel pairs of ridges of the Western Dzungaria, stretching in a northeast direction - Maylitau and Dzhair, Birlyktau and Urkashar, two parallel latitudinal ridges - Saur and Semistay, to which Urkashar approaches from the west, as well as valleys and depressions between these chains, a small hill south of Semistaya and the eastern section of Tarbagatai. It turned out that these heights are not mountain ranges, "but simple and complex plateaus ... single or combined into complexes in the form of steps of different heights, forming a single whole." Quotations from his work "Border Dzungaria", vol. I (Tomsk), 1915; t 2 (M. - L.), 1953 They have the appearance of wide, even ridges of an unusual wedge-shaped shape, located below the surrounding mountain systems.

In June 1893, V. Roborovsky, taking P. Kozlov as his assistant, set out from Przhevalsk to the east and passed along the Eastern Tien Shan, following through the least explored areas. After descending into the Turfan depression, Roborovsky and Kozlov crossed it in various directions and outlined it. In different ways they went from there to the basin of the river. Sulehe, in the village of Dunhuang (near 40 ° N, at the foot of Nanshan). Kozlov moved south, to the lower reaches of the Tarim, and studied the Lop Nor basin. He discovered the dried up ancient bed of the Konchedarya, as well as traces of the ancient Lop Nor 200 km east of its then location, and finally proved that the Konchedarya is a wandering river, and Lop Nor is a nomadic lake. Roborovsky went east, to the Khami oasis, turned south and reached Dunhuang along the eastern outskirts of the Gashun Gobi, where Kozlov also arrived by February 1894.

Now the travelers have begun to explore the Western Nianshan. Through different routes during 1894 they crossed it in many places, traced a number of longitudinal intermountain valleys, accurately established the length and boundaries of individual ridges, correcting and often greatly changing the maps of their predecessors. In the winter of 1894–95, intending to pass through a high-mountainous country to the southeast, into the Sichuan depression, they reached the Amne-Machin ridge south of Kukunor, beyond the 35th parallel (up to 6094 m) and crossed it with a wild rocky gorge. But Roborovsky suddenly fell seriously ill, and a week later, in February 1895, Kozlov, who took over the leadership of the expedition, turned back. Roborovsky, in those days when he felt better, with the greatest efforts continued geographical and ethnographic observations, even made independent trips and botanical collections. During all this time, mainly thanks to him, the expedition collected about 25 thousand plants belonging to 1300 species. (Kozlov made mainly entomological collections - about 30 thousand specimens of insects.) Returning to the Turfan depression, they headed northwest and for the first time crossed the sands of Dzosotyn-Elisun (about 45 thousand km²). Instead of many ridges shown on old maps at 46° N. sh., Kozlov discovered the sands of Kobbe. Having finished their journey in Zaisan at the end of November 1895, Roborovsky and Kozlov traveled a total of about 17 thousand km.

Kozlov's third trip to Central Asia (1899-1901) was at the same time his first independent expedition. It was called Mongol-Tibetan: it can be defined as geographical, in contrast to the next two, which are mainly archaeological. In the middle of the summer of 1899, the expedition proceeded from the border along the Mongolian Altai to Lake Orog-Nur (45 ° N, 101 ° E) and at the same time made the first accurate survey and detailed study of this mountain system. Kozlov himself walked along the northern slopes of the main ridge, and his companions, a botanist Veniamin Fedorovich Ladygin and topographer Alexander Nikolaevich Kaznakov, several times they crossed the ridge and from 92 ° e. also traced the southern slopes. It turned out that the main ridge extends southeast to 98 ° E. e. in the form of a single mountain range, gradually lowering, and ends with the Gichgeniin-Nuru ridge, and then the Gobi Altai stretches, consisting only of a chain of small hills and short low spurs. Then all three crossed the Gobi and Alashan deserts in different ways; united, they climbed to the northeastern outskirts of the Tibetan Plateau, bypassed the country of Kam, located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze and Mekong rivers, from the north. Here Kozlov discovered four parallel ridges of the southeast direction: on the left bank of the Yangtze - Pandittag (200 km), on the right - of the Russian Geographical Society - the watershed between the upper Yangtze and the Mekong (length about 450 km, peak up to 6 thousand m), on the right bank of the Mekong - the Woodville-Rockhill Range (400 km), to the south - the Dalai Lama (400 km, on our maps - unnamed) - the watershed of the upper Mekong and Salween basins.

On the way back, after a detailed description of Lake Kukunor, the travelers again crossed the Alashan and Gobi deserts and reached Kyakhta on December 9, 1901. Kozlov's telegram dispelled persistent rumors about their death: for almost two years no information was received from them. This expedition is described by Kozlov in the two-volume work "Mongolia and Kam", "Kam and the way back".

In 1907–1909 Kozlov led the so-called Mongolian-Sichuan expedition. His assistants were a topographer Petr Yakovlevich Napalkov and geologist Alexander Alexandrovich Chernov. Following from Kyakhta through the Gobi desert, they crossed the Gobi Altai and in 1908 reached Lake Sogo-Nur, in the lower reaches of the right arm of the river. Zhoshuy. Turning south, Kozlov after 50 km (at 41 ° 45 "N and 101 ° 20" E) discovered the ruins of Khara-Khoto, the capital of the medieval Tangut kingdom Si Xia (XIII century AD). During excavations, he found big library(2000 books) in the Tangut language, more than 300 examples of Tangut painting, etc.

From Khara-Khoto, the expedition moved to the southeast and crossed the Alashan desert to the Alashan ridge, and Napalkov and Chernov explored the territory between the river. Zhoshui and the middle Yellow River and the western strip of the Ordos. In particular, they established that the Zhoshui is the same meandering river as the Tarim, and that the Arbiso Range, on the right bank of the Yellow River, is the northeastern spur of the Helanshan Range. Turning to the southwest, the expedition penetrated the upper bend of the Yellow River - into the high-mountainous (up to 500 m) country of Amdo (34–36 ° N, 100–102 ° E) - and for the first time comprehensively explored it. In the spring of 1909, Kozlov arrived in Lanzhou, and from there returned to Kyakhta by the same route, completing his outstanding archaeological journey in the middle of 1909. Kozlov described it in his work “Mongolia and Amdo and the Dead City of Khara-Khoto”; it was already published Soviet power(1923, 2nd ed., 1947).

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