Nikolay Przhevalsky

About Nikolay Przhevalsky

Who is it?: Geographer, Explorer
Birth Day: April 12, 1839
Birth Place: Smolensk, Russia, Russian
Died On: November 1, 1888(1888-11-01) (aged 49)\nKarakol, Russian Empire (Now Kyrgyzstan)
Birth Sign: Taurus
Occupation: explorer, geographer
Known for: exploration of Central Asia
Awards: Vega Medal (1884)

Nikolay Przhevalsky Net Worth

Nikolay Przhevalsky was born on April 12, 1839 in Smolensk, Russia, Russian, is Geographer, Explorer. Nikolay Przhevalsky was a Russian explorer who contributed significantly to European knowledge of Central Asia. Even though he was unable to reach his ultimate goal, the holy city of Lhasa in Tibet, he successfully explored many areas in Northern Tibet, including many places hitherto unknown to the Western world. With the help of his meticulously drafted route surveys and vast plants and animals collections, he greatly enriched the geographic knowledge of east-central Asia in the European nations. Born into a noble family in Russian Empire, he studied at the military academy in St. Petersburg following which he became a geography teacher at the Warsaw Military School. His love for geography was so intense that he also gave public lectures on the history of geographical discoveries. Determined to explore the world, he successfully petitioned the Russian Geographical Society to send him on an expedition to Irkutsk, in central Siberia. His first expedition was immensely successful following which the Russian Geographical Society sent Przhevalsky to Mongolia and northern China on a three-year expedition. He explored many areas then unknown to the West and was determined to reach the holy city of Lhasa in Tibet, a feat he could not accomplish. He fell ill and died of typhus in 1888 after he drank contaminated water from a river.
Nikolay Przhevalsky is a member of Miscellaneous

💰 Net worth: Under Review

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Famous Quotes:

Here 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 civilisation 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.

— Nikolay Przhevalsky on Asia

Biography/Timeline

1862

During his expedition, the Dungan Revolt (1862–77) was raging in China. The journey provided the General Staff with important intelligence on a Muslim uprising in the kingdom of Yaqub Beg in western China, and his lecture to the Russian Imperial Geographical Society was received with "thunderous applause" from an overflow audience. The Russian newspaper Golos Prikazchika called the journey "one of the most daring of our time".

1864

Przhevalsky was born in Smolensk into a noble polonized Belarusian family (Polish name is Przewalski), and studied there and at the military academy in St. Petersburg. In 1864, he became a geography Teacher at the military school in Warsaw.

1867

In 1867, Przhevalsky successfully petitioned the Russian Geographical Society to be dispatched to Irkutsk, in central Siberia. His intention was to explore the basin of the Ussuri River, a major tributary of the Amur on the Russian-Chinese frontier. This was his first expedition of importance. It lasted two years, after which Przhevalsky published a diary of the expedition under the title, Travels in the Ussuri Region, 1867-69.

1875

The results of these expanded journeys opened a new era for the study of Central Asian geography as well as studies of the fauna and flora of this immense region that were relatively unknown to his Western contemporaries. Among other things, he described Przewalski's horse and Przewalski's gazelle, which were both named after him. He also described what was then considered to be a wild population of Bactrian camel. In the 21st century, the Wild Bactrian camel was shown to be a separate species from the domestic Bactrian camel. Przhevalsky's writings include five major books written in Russian and two English translations: Mongolia, the Tangut Country, and the Solitudes of Northern Tibet [1] (1875) and From Kulja, Across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor (1879). The Royal Geographical Society awarded him their Founder's Gold Medal in 1879 for his work.

1881

There is another place named after Przhevalsky: he had lived in a small village called Sloboda, Smolensk Oblast, Russia from 1881-7 (except the period of his travels) and he apparently loved it. The village was renamed after him in 1964 and is now called Przhevalskoye. There is a memorial complex there that includes the old and new houses of Nikolay Przhevalsky, his bust, pond, garden, birch alleys, and khatka (a lodge, watch-house). This is the only museum of the famous traveler in Russia.

2014

According to David Schimmelpenninck Van Der Oye's assessment, Przhevalsky's books on Central Asia feature his disdain for the "Oriental"— particularly Chinese civilization. Przhevalsky explicitly portrayed Chinese people as cowardly, dirty and lazy in his metaphor, "the blend of a mean Moscow pilferer and a kike", in all respects inferior to Western culture. He purportedly argued that imperial China's hold on its northern territories, in particular Xinjiang and Mongolia, was tenuous and uncertain, and Przhevalsky openly called for Russia's annexation of bits and pieces of China's territory. Przhevalsky said one should explore Asia "with a carbine in one hand, a whip in the other."