Nikolay Przhevalsky

Nikolay Przhevalsky (born March 31 [April 12, New Style], 1839, Smolensk, Russia—died October 20 [November 1], 1888, Karakol, Russian Empire [now in Kyrgyzstan]) was a Russian traveler, who, by the extent of his explorations, route surveys, and plant and animal collections, added vastly to geographic knowledge of east-central Asia.

About 1869 Przhevalsky went to Irkutsk in central Siberia and in 1870 set out from the region around Lake Baikal, traveled through to Urga (now Ulaanbaatar), Mongolia, and crossed the Gobi to reach Kalgan (Zhangjiakou), China, 100 miles (160 km) from Beijing. His second journey began in 1876 at Kuldja in westernmost Xinjiang province, China, and took him southeastward across the peaks of the Tien Shan and the drifting sands of the Takla Makan to the foot of the Altun Mountains. His third journey brought him within 170 miles (270 km) of his goal, Lhasa, Tibet, but he was forbidden to enter the area. On his fourth and last trip, begun at Urga in 1883, he crossed the Gobi into Russian Turkistan and visited one of the largest mountain lakes in the world, Ysyk-Köl. He died on the shores of the lake, at Karakol, which for a time was renamed Przhevalsk after him. His natural history discoveries include the wild camel and the wild horse, known as Przewalski’s horse. 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).