Nikolai Przhevalsky
Encyclopedia
Nikolai Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky ' onMouseout='HidePop("99696")' href="/topics/Polish_language">Polish
-style) and Prjevalsky, prʐɛˈvalʲskʲi; —), was a Russia
n geographer
of Polish background and explorer of Central
and Eastern Asia. Although he never reached his final goal, Lhasa
in Tibet
, he travelled through regions unknown to the west, such as northern Tibet
, modern Qinghai
and Dzungaria
. He significantly contributed to European knowledge on Central Asia
and was the first known European to describe the only extant species of wild horse
, which is named after him.
into a noble Polish family
(the original, 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
.
In 1867, Przhevalsky petitioned the Russian Geographical Society
to be dispatched to Irkutsk
in Eastern Siberia
. His intention was to explore the basin of the Ussuri River, a tributary of the Amur. This was his first expedition of importance; it lasted two years. Przhevalsky published the diary of the expedition as Travels in the Ussuri Region, 1867-69.
In the following years he made four journeys to Central Asia
:
The results of these expanded journeys opened a new era for the study of geography of Central Asia as well as the studies of the fauna and flora of this area that was relatively unknown to his Western contemporaries. Among other things, he reported on the wild population of Bactrian Camel
s as well as the Przewalski's Horse
and Przewalski's Gazelle
named after him in many European languages. Przhevalsky's writings include five major books written in Russian and two English translations: Mongolia, the Tangut Country (1875) and From Kulja, Across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor (1879).
Przhevalsky died of typhus
not long before the beginning of his fifth journey, at Karakol
on the lakeshore of Issyk-Kul in present day Kyrgyzstan
. He contracted typhoid from a river that was acknowledged already as being infected with the disease, the Chu river The Tsar immediately changed the name of the town to Przhevalsk
. There are monuments to him, and a museum about his life and work, there and another monument in St. Petersburg.
Less than a year after his premature death, Mikhail Pevtsov succeeded Przhevalsky at the head of his expedition into the depths of Central Asia. Przhevalsky's work was continued by his young disciple Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov.
.jpg)
There is another place named after him. Przhevalsky had been living in a small village called Sloboda, Smolensk Oblast
, Russia
since 1881 till 1887 (except the time of his travels). He really loved the place. The village was renamed after him in 1964, and now it is called Przhevalskoye
. There is a memorial complex here that includes the old and new houses of Nikolai Przhevalsky, his bust, pond, garden, birch alleys, and khatka (a lodge, watchbox). This is the only museum of the famous traveller in Russia.
He is commemorated by the plant genus Przewalskia (Solanaceae
)
Maxim.
His name is eponymic to more than eighty plant species as well.
feature his disdain for the Oriental—particularly the Chinese—civilization. Przhevalsky explicitly portrayed the Chinese as cowardly, dirty and lazy, in a metaphor of "the blend of a mean Moscow pilferer and a kike", in all respects inferior to the "European civilization". He purportedly argued that Imperial China's hold of its northern territories, in particular Xinjiang
and Mongolia, was very weak and uncertain, and 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."
Przhevalsky, as well as other contemporary explorers Sven Hedin
, Sir Francis Younghusband
, Sir Aurel Stein, were active players in the British-Russian struggle for influence in Central Asia, the Great Game.
Nikolai Przhevalsky on Asia
Nikolai's hatred extended to non Chinese asians as well, describing the Tajik Yaqub Beg in a letter as follows- "Yakub Beg is the same shit as all feckless Asiatics. The Kashgarian empire isn't worth a kopek." Nikolai also claimed Yaqub was "Nothing more than a political impostor." Nikolai also insulted the muslim subjects of Yaqub Beg in Kashgar
, claiming that they "constantly cursed their government and expressed their desire to become Russian subjects...The savage Asiatic clearly understands Russian power is the guarantee for prosperity." This was in a report in which Nikolai urged Russian troops to seize the Kashgarian emirate, but no action was taken, and China recaptured Kashgar, dashing all of Przhevalsky's dreams of taking land from China, none of which materialized.
Przhevalsky not only insulted Chinese, but he viewed the 8 million non Chinese peoples of Tibet, Turkestan, and Mongolia as uncivilized evolutionary backwards people who needed to be freed from Chinese rule. Przhevalsky was also reported to be a butcher, killing many ethnic Tibetan nomads.
He proposed Russia provoke rebellions of the Buddhist and Muslim peoples in these areas of China against the Confucianist Chinese regime, start a war with China, and with a small amount of Russian troops to seize control of Turkestan from China.
Przhevalsky, in a book, also suggested the mass killing all the Mongols and Tibetans, and colonizing Mongolia and Tibet with Cossacks, then provoking conflict with China.
. According to a legend, during their last meeting Tasya cut off her braid and gave it to him, saying that the braid will travel with him up until their marriage. Unfortunately, Tasya died of a sunstroke while Przhevalsky was in an expedition.
Another woman in his life was a mysterious young lady, whose portrait, along with a piece of poetry, has been found in Nikolai's album. In the poem, she asked 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 nesessary, I will return to desert...where I will be much happier than in gilded salons that can be acquired by marriage".
Some researchers claimed that Przhevalsky was a homosexual, who "despised women", and that his young male assistants that accompanied him on each of his journeys (including Nikolay Yagunov, aged 16, Mikhail Pyltsov, Fyodor Eklon, 18, and Yevgraf), could have been his lovers
that Joseph Stalin
was an illegitimate son of Nikolai Przhevalski. The legend is supported by the similar appearance of both men. However, Przhevalsky's visits to Georgia are not recorded. The humoristically developed version of this legend appears in book three of Vladimir Voinovich
— The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin
.
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
-style) and Prjevalsky, prʐɛˈvalʲskʲi; —), was a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n geographer
Geographer
A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...
of Polish background and explorer of Central
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
and Eastern Asia. Although he never reached his final goal, Lhasa
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
in Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, he travelled through regions unknown to the west, such as northern Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, modern Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
and Dzungaria
Dzungaria
Dzungaria, also called Zungaria, is a geographical region in northwest China corresponding to the northern half of Xinjiang. It covers approximately , lying mostly within Xinjiang, and extending into western Mongolia and eastern Kazakhstan...
. He significantly contributed to European knowledge on Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
and was the first known European to describe the only extant species of wild horse
Przewalski's Horse
Przewalski's Horse or Dzungarian Horse, is a rare and endangered subspecies of wild horse native to the steppes of central Asia, specifically China and Mongolia.At one time extinct in the wild, it has been reintroduced to its native habitat in Mongolia at the Khustain Nuruu...
, which is named after him.
Biography
Przhevalsky was born in SmolenskSmolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...
into a noble Polish family
Szlachta
The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...
(the original, Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
name is Przewalski), and studied there and at the military academy in St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. In 1864, he became a geography teacher at the military school in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
.
In 1867, Przhevalsky petitioned the Russian Geographical Society
Russian Geographical Society
The Russian Geographical Society is a learned society, founded on 6 August 1845 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.-Imperial Geographical Society:Prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917, it was known as the Imperial Russian Geographical Society....
to be dispatched to Irkutsk
Irkutsk
Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...
in Eastern Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. His intention was to explore the basin of the Ussuri River, a tributary of the Amur. This was his first expedition of importance; it lasted two years. Przhevalsky published the diary of the expedition as Travels in the Ussuri Region, 1867-69.
In the following years he made four journeys to Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
:
- 1870–1873 from KyakhtaKyakhtaKyakhta is a town in the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located on the Kyakhta River near the Russian-Mongolian border. Population: The town stands directly opposite the Mongolian border town of Altanbulag.-History:...
he crossed the Gobi desert to Peking (now Beijing), then exploring the upper YangtzeYangtze RiverThe Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
(Chang Jiang), and in 1872 crossed into TibetTibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
. He surveyed over 7000 sq mi (18,129.9 km²), collected and brought back with him 5,000 plants, 1000 birds, and 3,000 insect species, as well as 70 reptiles and the skins of 130 different mammals. Przehevalsky was awarded the Constatine Medal by the Imperial Geographical Society, promoted to lieutenant-general, appointed to the Tsar's General Staff, and received the Order of St Vladimir, fourth Class. During his expedition, the Dungan revolt (1862–1877) was raging in China. The journey provided the General Staff with important intelligence on a MuslimMuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
uprising in the kingdom of Yakub BegYakub BegMuhammad Yaqub Bek was a [Turkic peoples] adventurer who became head of the kingdom of Kashgaria.-Spelling variants:In English-language literature, the name of Yaqub Beg has also been spelt as Yakub Beg , Yakoob Beg , or Ya`qūb Beg...
in western ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and his lecture to the Imperial Geographical Society was received with "thunderous applause" from an overflow audience. The Russian newspaper GolosGolosGolos may refer to the following:* Jacob Golos, a Ukrainian-born Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet secret police operative in the USSR* Golos, a Russian 1982 psychological drama set in Russia...
called the journey "one of the most daring of our time". - 1876–1877 travelling through Eastern Turkestan through the Tian Shan range, he visited what he believed to be Lake Lop Nor, which had reportedly not been visited by any European since Marco PoloMarco PoloMarco Polo was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently...
. The expedition consisted of ten men, twenty-four camels, four horses, three tonnes of baggage and a budget of 25000 roubles, the expedition was beset by disease and poor quality camels. In September 1877 the caravan was refurbished with better camels and horses, 72000 rounds of ammunition and large quantities of brandyBrandyBrandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...
, teaTeaTea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
and Turkish DelightTurkish DelightTurkish delight or lokum is a family of confections based on a gel of starch and sugar. Premium varieties consist largely of chopped dates, pistachios and hazelnuts or walnuts bound by the gel; the cheapest are mostly gel, generally flavored with rosewater, mastic, or lemon...
, and set out for LhasaLhasaLhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
but did not reach its goal. - 1879–1880 via Hami and through the Qaidam basin to Lake Koko Nor. Then over the Tian ShanTian ShanThe Tian Shan , also spelled Tien Shan, is a large mountain system located in Central Asia. The highest peak in the Tian Shan is Victory Peak , ....
mountains into Tibet to within 260 km (161.6 mi) of LhasaLhasaLhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
before being turned back by Tibetan officials; - 1883–1885 from Kyakhta across the Gobi to Alashan and the eastern Tian Shan mountains, turning back at the Yangtze. Then back to Koko Nor, and westwards to Khotan and Lake Issyk KulIssyk KulIssyk Kul is an endorheic lake in the northern Tian Shan mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan. It is the tenth largest lake in the world by volume and the second largest saline lake after the Caspian Sea. Although it is surrounded by snow-capped peaks, it never freezes; hence its name, which means "hot...
.
The results of these expanded journeys opened a new era for the study of geography of Central Asia as well as the studies of the fauna and flora of this area that was relatively unknown to his Western contemporaries. Among other things, he reported on the wild population of Bactrian Camel
Bactrian camel
The Bactrian camel is a large, even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of central Asia. It is presently restricted in the wild to remote regions of the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts of Mongolia and Xinjiang. A small number of wild Bactrian camels still roam the Mangystau Province of southwest...
s as well as the Przewalski's Horse
Przewalski's Horse
Przewalski's Horse or Dzungarian Horse, is a rare and endangered subspecies of wild horse native to the steppes of central Asia, specifically China and Mongolia.At one time extinct in the wild, it has been reintroduced to its native habitat in Mongolia at the Khustain Nuruu...
and Przewalski's Gazelle
Przewalski's Gazelle
Przewalski's Gazelle is a member of the Bovidae family and, in the wild, is found only in China. Once widespread, its range has declined to six populations near Qinghai Lake. The Przewalski's Gazelle was named after Nikolai Przhevalsky, a Russian explorer who collected a specimen and brought it...
named after him in many European languages. Przhevalsky's writings include five major books written in Russian and two English translations: Mongolia, the Tangut Country (1875) and From Kulja, Across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor (1879).
Przhevalsky died of typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
not long before the beginning of his fifth journey, at Karakol
Karakol
Karakol , formerly Przhevalsk, is fourth largest city in Kyrgyzstan, near the eastern tip of Issyk Kul Lake in Kyrgyzstan, about from the Kyrgyzstan-China border and from the capital Bishkek. It is the administrative capital of Issyk Kul Province...
on the lakeshore of Issyk-Kul in present day Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
. He contracted typhoid from a river that was acknowledged already as being infected with the disease, the Chu river The Tsar immediately changed the name of the town to Przhevalsk
Pristan'-Przheval'sk
Pristan'-Przheval'sk is a village in the Issyk Kul District, Issyk Kul Province of Kyrgyzstan. The town was named after the Russian geographer, Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky, who is buried nearby. It lies 12km north west of Karakol....
. There are monuments to him, and a museum about his life and work, there and another monument in St. Petersburg.
Less than a year after his premature death, Mikhail Pevtsov succeeded Przhevalsky at the head of his expedition into the depths of Central Asia. Przhevalsky's work was continued by his young disciple Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov.
Smolensk Oblast
Smolensk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its area is . Population: -Geography:The administrative center of Smolensk Oblast is the city of Smolensk. Other ancient towns include Vyazma and Dorogobuzh....
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
since 1881 till 1887 (except the time of his travels). He really loved the place. The village was renamed after him in 1964, and now it is called Przhevalskoye
Przhevalskoye
Przhevalskoye is an urban locality in Demidovsky District of Smolensk Oblast, Russia. It is situated northeast of Demidov in the northwestern part of the oblast, on Lake Sapsho. Population: Area :...
. There is a memorial complex here that includes the old and new houses of Nikolai Przhevalsky, his bust, pond, garden, birch alleys, and khatka (a lodge, watchbox). This is the only museum of the famous traveller in Russia.
He is commemorated by the plant genus Przewalskia (Solanaceae
Solanaceae
Solanaceae are a family of flowering plants that include a number of important agricultural crops as well as many toxic plants. The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear...
)
Maxim.
Carl Maximowicz
Carl Johann Maximowicz was a Russian botanist. Maximowicz spent most of his life studying the flora of the countries he had visited in the Far East, and naming many new species...
His name is eponymic to more than eighty plant species as well.
Imperialism
According to David Schimmelpenninck Van Der Oye's assessment, Przhevalsky's books on Central AsiaCentral Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
feature his disdain for the Oriental—particularly the Chinese—civilization. Przhevalsky explicitly portrayed the Chinese as cowardly, dirty and lazy, in a metaphor of "the blend of a mean Moscow pilferer and a kike", in all respects inferior to the "European civilization". He purportedly argued that Imperial China's hold of its northern territories, in particular Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
and Mongolia, was very weak and uncertain, and 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."
Przhevalsky, as well as other contemporary explorers Sven Hedin
Sven Hedin
Sven Anders Hedin KNO1kl RVO was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, and travel writer, as well as an illustrator of his own works...
, Sir Francis Younghusband
Francis Younghusband
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband, KCSI, KCIE was a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer...
, Sir Aurel Stein, were active players in the British-Russian struggle for influence in Central Asia, the Great Game.
Conquest
"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."
Nikolai Przhevalsky on Asia
Nikolai's hatred extended to non Chinese asians as well, describing the Tajik Yaqub Beg in a letter as follows- "Yakub Beg is the same shit as all feckless Asiatics. The Kashgarian empire isn't worth a kopek." Nikolai also claimed Yaqub was "Nothing more than a political impostor." Nikolai also insulted the muslim subjects of Yaqub Beg in Kashgar
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
, claiming that they "constantly cursed their government and expressed their desire to become Russian subjects...The savage Asiatic clearly understands Russian power is the guarantee for prosperity." This was in a report in which Nikolai urged Russian troops to seize the Kashgarian emirate, but no action was taken, and China recaptured Kashgar, dashing all of Przhevalsky's dreams of taking land from China, none of which materialized.
Przhevalsky not only insulted Chinese, but he viewed the 8 million non Chinese peoples of Tibet, Turkestan, and Mongolia as uncivilized evolutionary backwards people who needed to be freed from Chinese rule. Przhevalsky was also reported to be a butcher, killing many ethnic Tibetan nomads.
He proposed Russia provoke rebellions of the Buddhist and Muslim peoples in these areas of China against the Confucianist Chinese regime, start a war with China, and with a small amount of Russian troops to seize control of Turkestan from China.
Przhevalsky, in a book, also suggested the mass killing all the Mongols and Tibetans, and colonizing Mongolia and Tibet with Cossacks, then provoking conflict with China.
Personal life
Przhevalsky is known to have had a relationship with Tasya Nuromskaya, whom he met in SmolenskSmolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...
. According to a legend, during their last meeting Tasya cut off her braid and gave it to him, saying that the braid will travel with him up until their marriage. Unfortunately, Tasya died of a sunstroke while Przhevalsky was in an expedition.
Another woman in his life was a mysterious young lady, whose portrait, along with a piece of poetry, has been found in Nikolai's album. In the poem, she asked 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 nesessary, I will return to desert...where I will be much happier than in gilded salons that can be acquired by marriage".
Some researchers claimed that Przhevalsky was a homosexual, who "despised women", and that his young male assistants that accompanied him on each of his journeys (including Nikolay Yagunov, aged 16, Mikhail Pyltsov, Fyodor Eklon, 18, and Yevgraf), could have been his lovers
Urban legend
There is an urban legendUrban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
that Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
was an illegitimate son of Nikolai Przhevalski. The legend is supported by the similar appearance of both men. However, Przhevalsky's visits to Georgia are not recorded. The humoristically developed version of this legend appears in book three of Vladimir Voinovich
Vladimir Voinovich
Vladimir Nikolayevich Voinovich is a Russian writer and a dissident...
— The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin
The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin
The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin and its sequels, Pretender to the Throne: The Further Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin , and Displaced Person , constitute the magnum opus of a Soviet dissident writer...
.
External links
- Kyrill Kunakhovich, "Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky and the Politics of Russian Imperialism", in "IDP News", Issue No. 27 (accessed 2007-01-31)