Grigory Potanin
Grigorij Nikolajaevich Potanin (often Grigory Potanin) (1835 - 1920) was a Russian explorer. He is the namesake of asteroid 9915 Potanin and the Potaninskaya Library.
Life
Potanin attended the Page corpus in Omsk, a military school for children from wealthy families.[1]
Potanin initially travelled to Siberia while serving with a Cossack division in Altaj in the 1850s. He returned to Saint Petersburg in 1858 to study Mathematical Physics. He was arrested for his participation in student demonstrations in 1861, and expelled from Saint Petersburg University. After spending three months in Petropavlovskaya fortress, he returned to Siberia.[2]
After leaving prison, he travelled to Siberia with Nikolaj Mikhailovich Yadrintsev, where he began to work as a publisher. Due to his support for regionality and rights for Siberian peoples, he was arrested on charges of supporting seperatism for Siberia in 1867. Convicted, he was sentenced to three years in prison and fifteen of hard labour. His hard labour was reduced to five years, and during those five years he wrote a book on the history of Siberia.[2]
In 1876, Potanin lead an expedition into Mongolia. The expedition spent the winter of 1876 - 1877 in Kobdo, with bitter cold and few provisions. While there, the expedition collected various biological specimens and conducted ethnological research. The expedition split into two parts upon leaving the city in the middle of March, 1877. Some members went to Han-Chai, while Potanin and some others left for Hami and Uliassutai.[3]
1884 - 1886 expedition
Potatin journeyed to northern China from 1884 to 1886 with Augustus Ivonovitch Skassi. His expedition departed Peking on May 13, 1884. The expedition travelled first over the U-tai-shan mountains, arriving in Kuku-Khoto. The expedition left Kuku-Khoto and travelled across the Yellow River into the Ordos dessert. They travelled to the ruins of Borobalgassun and from there on to Lang-chau. He encountered a Turkish people called the Salars, and Potanin recorded information about their language. He then spent time recording the cultural practices of the Amdos Mongols. The party then travelled to Si-ning and met its governor, who authorised their travel into eastern Tibet. They departed Si-ning and went to Ming-chau, crossing the high altitude Tibetan Plateau, where they recorded information on the native vegetation. There, the expedition visited Gui-dui, Bóunan, Labrang and Josi before reaching Ming-chau. The expedition ran out of supplies in Sung-pang-ting, and turned back towards Lang-chau, stopping in Lung-an-fu, Ven-hsien, Tse-chau, Hung-chang-fu and Di-dao. They spent the winter of 1885 in Kumbum, before returning to Russia.[4]
While there, he was the first westerner to report on the Yugur languages, making a glossary that was published in 1893.[5]
Later work
In 1889, Potanin lead the group that formed the first University is Russian Asia, Tomsk State University, in Tomsk.[1]
Potanin was arrested in 1905 for his support of the Revolution of 1905.[2]
References
- ^ a b "The Drawings. The Great Siberians -- Potanin".
- ^ a b c "Potaninskaya Library - Interview with Angelica Conner". Potaninskaya Library.
- ^ E. Delmar Morgan (1877). "Brief Notice of M. Prejevalsky's Recent Journey to Lob-Nor and Tibet, and Other Russian Explorations". Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London. 22 (1). The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers): 51–53.
- ^ "Potanin's Journey in North-Western China and Eastern Tibet". Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography, New Monthly Series. 9 (4): 233–235. April 1887.
- ^ "Yugurology".