Nikolay Przhevalsky's photo portrait and signature from the book "From Kyakhta to the Yellow River Sources, the Northern Edge of Tibet and the Route Through the Lob-Nor and Along the Tarim Basin Investigation".
School period
Gallery of Nikolai Przhevalsky
Smolensk Gymnasium, Smolensk, Russia
Przhevalsky studied at the Smolensk Gymnasium from 1849 to 1855.
College/University
Gallery of Nikolai Przhevalsky
1860
Nikolay Przhevalsky at the age of 21.
Career
Gallery of Nikolai Przhevalsky
1876
Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky
Gallery of Nikolai Przhevalsky
1876
A photo of Przhevalsky carrying prey after hunting.
Gallery of Nikolai Przhevalsky
1887
Sketch of Nikolay Przhevalsky in Popular Science Monthly, Volume 30.
Gallery of Nikolai Przhevalsky
1892
Alexander Garden, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Monument erected to the memory of Nikolay Przhevalsky. The monument to Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky in the Alexander Gardens was sculpted by Ivan Shreder and installed in 1892. At the top of a granite base, representing a cliff face, which is looking straight ahead. His hair is worn straight back and he is wearing a double-breasted uniform with a medal on the right side and high collar. Braids are wrapped over his right shoulder. An inscription on the granite base is written in Cyrillic and identifies the subject buy last name.
Gallery of Nikolai Przhevalsky
A group of the participants of the second expedition to Tibet (1883-1885). Przhevalsky is seated in the center of the group.
Gallery of Nikolai Przhevalsky
Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky
Gallery of Nikolai Przhevalsky
Head of expeditions, Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky, Russian geographer and a renowned explorer of Central and East Asia.
Gallery of Nikolai Przhevalsky
Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky
Gallery of Nikolai Przhevalsky
A memorial medal dedicated to Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky, a most outstanding Russian geographer, naturalist, and explorer.
Achievements
Przewalski's horse (Equus przewalskii or Equus ferus przewalskii, also called the Mongolian wild horse or Dzungarian horse, is a rare and endangered horse native to the steppes of central Asia. It is named after the Russian geographer and explorer Nikołaj Przewalski.
Membership
Berlin Geographical Society
Berlin Geographical Society, Berlin, Germany
Przhevalsky was a corresponding member of the Berlin Geographical Society.
Russian Geographical Society
Russian Geographical Society, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Przhevalsky was an honorary member of the Russian Geographical Society.
Awards
Order of Saint Stanislaus
1866
Przhevalsky was awarded the Order of Saint Stanislaus, third class.
Austrian Imperial Order of Leopold
1874
Przhevalsky was awarded the Austrian Imperial Order of Leopold, which was founded by Franz I of Austria on 8 January 1808.
Gold Constantine Medal
1875
Przhevalsky was awarded the Gold Constantine Medal, which was the highest award granted by the Russian Geographical Society.
Société de Géographie Golden Medal
1876
Przhevalsky was awarded the Société de Géographie Golden Medal.
Royal Geographical Society's Gold Medal
1879
Przhevalsky was awarded the Royal Geographical Society's Gold Medal, which was the most prestigious of the society's award given for "the encouragement and promotion of geographical science and discovery."
Order of Saint Vladimir
1881
Nikolay Przhevalsky was awarded the Order of Saint Vladimir, third class.
Russian Geographical Society Silver Medal
Przhevalsky was awarded the Russian Geographical Society Silver Medal for his research regarding ethnic groups of Primorsky Krai (Far Eastern Coastal Territory of Russia).
Order of Academic Palms
Przhevalsky was awarded the Ordre des Palmes académiques (French for "Order of Academic Palms"), which is a national order bestowed by the French Republic to distinguished academics and figures in the world of culture and education.
Przhevalsky was awarded the Royal Geographical Society's Gold Medal, which was the most prestigious of the society's award given for "the encouragement and promotion of geographical science and discovery."
Monument erected to the memory of Nikolay Przhevalsky. The monument to Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky in the Alexander Gardens was sculpted by Ivan Shreder and installed in 1892. At the top of a granite base, representing a cliff face, which is looking straight ahead. His hair is worn straight back and he is wearing a double-breasted uniform with a medal on the right side and high collar. Braids are wrapped over his right shoulder. An inscription on the granite base is written in Cyrillic and identifies the subject buy last name.
Przhevalsky's grave on the bank of Karakol Bay Przhevalsk. Before his death, Przhevalsky asked to be buried on the shores of Issyk-Kul in his hiking clothes. The testament of the deceased executed. On the eastern shore of the lake, twelve kilometers from the city in two days (due to the hardness of the ground), a grave was dug out. The coffin was delivered on the gun of a field gun.
Przhevalsky was awarded the Russian Geographical Society Silver Medal for his research regarding ethnic groups of Primorsky Krai (Far Eastern Coastal Territory of Russia).
Przhevalsky was awarded the Ordre des Palmes académiques (French for "Order of Academic Palms"), which is a national order bestowed by the French Republic to distinguished academics and figures in the world of culture and education.
Przewalski's horse (Equus przewalskii or Equus ferus przewalskii, also called the Mongolian wild horse or Dzungarian horse, is a rare and endangered horse native to the steppes of central Asia. It is named after the Russian geographer and explorer Nikołaj Przewalski.
Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky was a famous Russian Empire geographer, naturalist, zoologist who made significant contributions in the field of natural science. He traveled through regions then unknown to the West, such as northern Tibet, Amdo (Qinghai), and Dzungaria (northern Xinjiang). He is highly regarded for his explorations, route surveys, plant and animal collections, which added vastly to geographic knowledge of east-central Asia.
Background
Ethnicity:
Przhevalsky descended from an old Polish noble family who even had its own coat of arms. His Polish last name spelled Przewalski.
Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky was born on April 12, 1839, in Kimbory in the Smolensk district, in a family of small landowners. After Przhevalsky’s father died in 1846, the boy was brought up by his uncle.
Education
Przhevalsky studied at the Smolensk Gymnasium from 1849 to 1855 before entering the army as a cadet. From 1861 to 1863 he studied at the General Staff Academy in St. Petersburg. His graduation thesis, "A Military-Statistical Survey of the Amur Region” (1862), attracted the attention of the Russian Geographical Society.
Commissioned with a rank of lieutenant upon graduation from the Academy in St. Petersburg, Przhevalsky was appointed in 1864 to the Warsaw Military School, where he taught history and geography. While in Warsaw he also gave public lectures on the history of geographical discoveries and published a textbook on general geography (1867). In it he divided geography into physical and political geography; the former he considered as the science of the phenomena and processes of the three spheres of the earth’s surface: lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. To prepare himself for travel he studied the works of Humboldt and Karl Ritter on Asia, mastered avian taxidermy, and acquired a sound knowledge of plants.
At the end of 1866 Przhevalsky was assigned to eastern Siberia; and the following May he was sent by the Russian Geographical Society to the Ussuri region, where he remained until 1869 studying the area and correcting existing maps. In exploring the southern part of the Maritime Territory, he traveled by foot and boat along the Ussuri River and its tributaries, visited Lake Khanka, reached the Sea of Japan, and explored the Poseta and Amur bays, from which he went on foot along the shore to the Gulf of Olga and the lower reaches of the Tadusha River. Returning to the Ussuri he crossed the Sikhote-Alin mountain range. In his account of the expedition (1870), Przhevalsky described in detail the natural history, climate, and population of the area. He amassed a collection of great scientific interest, comprising 310 bird specimens, about 2,000 plants, 552 eggs of 42 bird species, and seeds of 83 plant species.
In 1870 the Russian Geographical Society sent Przhevalsky to Mongolia and northern China on a three-year expedition that covered about 12,000 kilometers. Setting out from Irkutsk, he passed through Kyakhta, Urga (now Ulan Bator), and Kalgan (Changkiakow) and visited Peking. From there he traveled to Lake Dalai Nor (Hulun Nor) in the north. He then explored the Ordos, the valley of the Yellow River, and the desert and mountains of Ala Shan, stopping at Lake Kuku Nor before reaching the upper Yangtze-T’ien-shui. On the return journey from Ala Shan to Urga, the expedition crossed the eastern Gobi. The published results of the expedition (1875-1876) brought Przhevalsky an international reputation as an authority on Asia and attracted worldwide scientific attention.
Przhevalsky’s second journey to central Asia (1876-1877) - to Lob Nor - began from Kuldja. Traveling along the valleys of the Hi and Tarima rivers to Lake Lob Nor and the Astin Tagh Mountains, the expedition returned to Kuldja after having explored Dzungaria. Przhevalsky intended to travel to Lhasa across Khama and Tsaidam, but illness prevented him from continuing and he returned to Zaisan. After having recovered he was ordered to postpone the expedition because of deteriorating relations with China. Przhevalsky wrote that although the ultimate purpose of the expedition, to reach Lhasa, was not achieved, the trip yielded rich results in both physical geography and natural history. One of the most important was the discovery and description of Lake Lob Nor, which, it later became clear, had changed position because of the migration of the channels that fed it. Przhevalsky described in detail his studies and discoveries (1877) and was subsequently elected an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
In the spring of 1879, Przhevalsky embarked on his first Tibetan expedition, which lasted until the late autumn of 1880. He went on foot across Dzungaria, the western part of the Nan Shan (Kunlun) system, the eastern Tsaidam, the upper reaches of the Yangtze-T’ien-shui, and a series of mountain ranges to central Tibet. On the return journey, the expedition again explored the upper Yangtze-Tien-shui, the Yellow River, and Lake Kuku Nor, before returning by caravan road across Urga into Kyakhta. Przhevalsky’s skilled and original description of the trip (1883) confirmed his reputation as one of the most distinguished explorers of central Asia.
As a leader of the second Tibetan expedition (1883-1885) Przhevalsky paid special attention to the sources of the Yellow River on the borders of northern Tibet and Kozhgaria. The expedition discovered an entire mountain area that included the Tsaidam, Marco-Polo, Zagadochnaya (now Przhevalsky), Russian, and Moscovite ranges. After his return, Przhevalsky immediately began to prepare the results of the expedition for publication (1888).
In October 1888 Przhevalsky was in the foothills of the Tien Shan, at Lake Issyk Kul, Karakol (now Przhevalsk) had been chosen as the starting point for the expedition. But the indefatigable explorer was soon dead of typhus, contracted by drinking water from a river. Following his request, he was buried on the banks of Lake Issyk Kul, and the exploration was continued under the leadership of M. V. Pevtsov.
Przhevalsky amassed an impressive herbarium of more than 15,000 plants (1,700 species), including 218 new species and seven new genera. His zoological collection consisted of 702 specimens of small mammals, 5,010 birds, 1,200 reptiles and amphibians, and 643 specimens of fish. He discovered and described a wild camel and a wild horse, now named after him, and studied the growth conditions of plants and the habitats and habits of animals.
His meteorological observations provided the first basis for a climatology of central Asia. He obtained empirical data on maxim and minima and amplitudes of variation of temperature and winds in the Gobi Desert and northern Tibet, and by describing certain regularities of atmospheric processes he increased knowledge of the atmospheric circulation patterns. He also pointed out the influence of Indian and Chinese monsoons and western winds on the climate of central Asia.
Although he did not conduct systematic geological research, Przhevalsky collected rock samples, described the composition of mountain-forming rocks, and studied topography and the activity of the exogenous factors that alter the contours of the earth’s surface. His conclusions on the aeolian origin of the Kuzupchi Hills in Or Dos are especially interesting.
The results of Przhevalsky’s scientific expeditions were prepared for publication after his death by members of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and the Russian Geographical Society. Six volumes on the zoology, botany, and meteorology of central Asia, based on the accounts of his travels, appeared between 1888 and 1912. His accounts of his first two journeys were both published in English translations: Mongolia, the Tangut Country, and the Solitudes of Northern Tibet (1876) and From Kulja, Across the Tian Shan to Lop Nor (1879).
In his religious affiliation, Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky was a Russian Orthodox.
Views
Przhevalsky was influenced by Humboldt and shared his ideas on the universal interrelationship of natural phenomena and processes.
Quotations:
”Like a free bird who cannot live in a cage, I can’t live in civilization, where everyone is, first of all, a slave of social life conditions. But the scope of a desert is what I dream about day and night. Give me piles of gold - I will not exchange my wild freedom for it.”
"You can penetrate anywhere, only not with the Gospels under your arm, but with money in your pocket, a carbine in one hand and a whip in the other. Europeans must use these to come and bear away in the name of civilization all these dregs of the human race. A thousand of our soldiers would be enough to subdue all Asia from Lake Baykal to the Himalayas... Here the exploits of Cortez can still be repeated."
Membership
Nikolay Przhevalsky was a member of the following: honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Science, honorary member of the Imperial St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists, honorary member of the Ural Society of Naturalists, honorary member of the Russian Geographical Society, honorary member of the Geographical Society of Vienna, honorary member of the Geographical Society of Italy, honorary member of the Geographical Society of Dresden, and honorary member of the Moscow Society of Devotees of Natural Science, Anthropology, and Ethnography.
Berlin Geographical Society
,
Germany
Russian Geographical Society
,
Russia
Personality
Przhevalsky grew up in the Siberian wilderness, where he learned to hunt in thick forests filled with wild boar and black bear. Even though he was said to have a photographic memory, Przhevalsky's passion for outdoor activities made him a restless student. Inspired by the African travels of British explorer David Livingstone (1813-1873), Przhevalsky devoured books about botany and zoology while studying navigation at the St. Petersburg Academy.
Interests
Philosophers & Thinkers
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt, Carl Ritter
Writers
David Livingstone
Connections
Throughout his entire life, Przhevalsky was so deeply involved in his scientific research that he didn't have a chance to conceive a family. He died unmarried and left no descendants.
Przhevalsky is known to have had a personal relationship with Tasya Nuromskaya, whom he met in Smolensk. According to one legend, during their last meeting, Nuromskaya cut off her braid and gave it to him, saying that the braid would travel with him until their marriage. She died of sunstroke while Przhevalsky was on an expedition.
Another woman in Przhevalsky's life was a mysterious young lady whose portrait, along with a fragment of poetry, was found in Przhevalsky's album. In the poem, she asks him to stay with her and not to go to Tibet, to which he responded in his diary: "I will never betray the ideal, to which is dedicated all of my life. As soon as I write everything necessary, I will return to the desert...where I will be much happier than in the gilded salons that can be acquired by marriage".
Alexander von Humboldt Grand Golden Medal,
Germany
In 1878 Przhevalsky was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Grand Golden Medal issued by the Berlin Geographical Society.
In 1878 Przhevalsky was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Grand Golden Medal issued by the Berlin Geographical Society.
Royal Geographical Society's Gold Medal,
United Kingdom
1879
1879
Italian Geographical Society Grand Gold Medal,
Italy
Russian Academy of Sciences Gold Medal,
Russia
Przhevalsky was awarded the custom-engraved Russian Academy of Sciences Gold Medal which stated: "Granted to the First Explorer of the Flora and Fauna of Central Asia."
Przhevalsky was awarded the custom-engraved Russian Academy of Sciences Gold Medal which stated: "Granted to the First Explorer of the Flora and Fauna of Central Asia."