"Russian geographers and travelers". A small message about little-known Russian geographers. The most famous travelers in the world

On August 18, we celebrate the birthday of the Russian Geographical Society - one of the oldest Russian public organizations, and the only one that has continuously existed since its inception in 1845.

Just think about it: neither wars, nor revolutions, nor periods of devastation, timelessness, and the collapse of the country did not stop its existence! There have always been daredevils, scientists, mad researchers who, both in prosperous and in the most difficult times, took any risk for the sake of science. And even now, at the moment, new full members of the Russian Geographical Society are on their way. "MIR 24" tells only about some of the great travelers who glorified the Russian Geographical Society.

Ivan Krusenstern (1770 - 1846)

Photo: unknown artist, 1838.

Russian navigator, admiral, one of the initiators of the creation of the Russian Geographical Society. He led the first Russian round-the-world expedition.

Even in his youth, fellow students in the Naval Cadet Corps noted the unbending, "sea" character of the future Russian admiral. His faithful colleague, friend and rival Yuri Lisyansky, who became the commander of the second ship in their legendary circumnavigation, noted that the main qualities of cadet Kruzenshtern were "reliability, commitment and lack of interest in everyday life."

It was then, during the years of study, that his dreams were born to explore distant lands and oceans. However, they did not come true soon, only in 1803. The first Russian round-the-world expedition included the ships "Nadezhda" and "Neva".
During this expedition, a new route was established to the Russian possessions in Kamchatka and Alaska. The western coast of Japan, the southern and eastern parts of Sakhalin were plotted on the map, and part of the Kuril ridge was comprehensively studied.

Photo: "I. F. Krusenstern in Avacha Bay, Friedrich Georg Veich, 1806

During his round-the-world trip, measurements of current speed, temperature at different depths, determination of salinity and specific gravity of water, and much more were carried out. Thus, Ivan Kruzenshtern became one of the founders of Russian oceanology.

Pyotr Semenov-Tyan-Shansky (1827 - 1914)

Photo: Alexandre Quinet, 1870

Vice-chairman of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society and its leading scientist - but not an armchair. He was a brave and stubborn pioneer. He explored Altai, Tarbagatai, Semirechensky and Zailiysky Alatau, Lake Issyk-Kul. Only mountaineers will be able to appreciate the way the brave traveler traveled through the hard-to-reach mountains of the Central Tien Shan, where Europeans have not yet been able to reach. He discovered and for the first time conquered the peak of Khan Tengri with glaciers on its slopes and proved that the opinion of the international scientific world that a range of volcanoes erupts in these places is erroneous. The scientist also found out where the sources of the Naryn, Sarydzhaz and Chu rivers come from, penetrated into the upper reaches of the Syr Darya, which had not been traveled before.

Semenov-Tyan-Shansky became the actual creator of the new Russian geographical school, offering the international scientific world a fundamentally new way of knowledge. Being at the same time a geologist, botanist and zoologist, he first began to consider natural systems in their unity. And he compared the geological structure of the mountains with the mountainous relief and revealed patterns on which the entire scientific world later began to rely.

Nikolai Miklukho-Maclay (1846-1888)

Photo: ITAR-TASS, 1963

The famous Russian traveler, anthropologist, explorer, who made a number of expeditions to the previously unexplored New Guinea and other Pacific islands. Accompanied by only two servants, he lived among the Papuans for a long time, collected the richest materials about primitive peoples, made friends with them, and helped them.

In his travels, Miklouho-Maclay also collected a lot of information about the peoples of Indonesia and Malaya, the Philippines, Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia and western Polynesia. He was ahead of his time. His work was not sufficiently appreciated in the 19th century, but anthropological researchers of the 20th and 21st centuries consider his contribution to science to be a real scientific feat.

Nikolai Przhevalsky (1839-1888)

Photo: ITAR-TASS, 1948

Russian military figure, major general, one of the greatest Russian geographers and travelers, who consciously prepared himself for travel since the gymnasium.

Przhevalsky devoted 11 years of his life to long expeditions. First, he led a two-year expedition to the Ussuri region (1867-1869), and after that, in 1870-1885, he made four trips to the little-known regions of Central Asia.

The first expedition in the region of Central Asia was devoted to the study of Mongolia, China and Tibet. Przhevalsky collected scientific evidence that the Gobi is not a plateau, and the Nanshan mountains are not a ridge, but a mountain system. The explorer owns the discovery of a whole series of mountains, ranges, and lakes.

During the second expedition, the scientist discovered new Altyntag mountains, and for the first time described two rivers and a lake. And the border of the Tibet highlands, thanks to his research, had to be moved more than 300 km to the north on the maps.

In the third expedition, Przhevalsky singled out several ranges in Nanshan, Kunlun and Tibet, described Lake Kukunor, as well as the upper reaches of the great rivers of China, the Huang He and Yangtze. Despite his illness, the discoverer also organized the fourth expedition to Tibet in 1883-1885, during which he discovered a number of new lakes and ridges.

He described more than 30 thousand kilometers of the path he traveled, collected unique collections. He discovered not only mountains and rivers, but also hitherto unknown representatives of the animal world: a wild camel, a Tibetan bear, a wild horse.
Like many prominent geographers of that time, Przhevalsky was the owner of a good and lively literary language. He wrote several books about his travels, in which he gave a vivid description of Asia: its flora, fauna, climate and the peoples inhabiting it.

Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky (1863-1944)

Photo: Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky, 1912

Ancestor of the era of color photography in Russia. He was the first to capture in color nature, cities and people's lives on a vast stretch from the Baltic Sea to the East of Russia.

He created a system of color reproduction for photography: from the recipe of the emulsion that is applied to glass plates for photography, to the drawings of special equipment for color photography and the projection of the resulting color images.

Since 1903, he has been constantly on trips: with the obsession of a real traveler, he takes pictures of the natural beauties of Russia, its inhabitants, cities, architectural monuments - all the true sights of the Russian Empire.

In December 1906-January 1907 Prokudin-Gorsky traveled to Turkestan with an expedition of the Russian Geographical Society to photograph the solar eclipse. It was not possible to capture the eclipse in color, but the ancient monuments of Bukhara and Samarkand, colorful local types of people and much more were filmed.

In the autumn of 1908, Nicholas II himself provided Prokudin-Gorsky with the necessary vehicles and gave permission to shoot in any place, so that the photographer could capture “in natural colors” all the main sights of the Russian Empire from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean. In total, it is planned to take 10 thousand pictures in 10 years.

A few days after meeting with the tsar, the photographer sets off along the Mariinsky waterway from St. Petersburg almost to the Volga itself. For three and a half years he has been constantly moving and taking pictures. First, he takes pictures of the northern part of the industrial Urals. Then he makes two trips along the Volga, capturing it from its very source to Nizhny Novgorod. In between, he shoots the southern part of the Urals. And then - numerous monuments of antiquity in Kostroma and the Yaroslavl province. In the spring and autumn of 1911, the photographer manages to visit the Trans-Caspian region and Turkestan twice more, where he tried color filming for the first time in history.

This is followed by two photo expeditions to the Caucasus, where he photographs the Mugan steppe, undertakes a grandiose trip along the planned Kama-Tobolsk waterway, conducts extensive surveys of areas associated with the memory of the Patriotic War of 1812 - from Maloyaroslavets to Lithuanian Vilna, photographs Ryazan, Suzdal, construction of the Kuzminskaya and Beloomutovskaya dams on the Oka.

Then financial difficulties begin, the financing of expeditions is interrupted. In 1913-1914. Prokudin-Gorsky is engaged in the creation of the first color cinema. But the First World War prevented the further development of this new project. None of Prokudin-Gorsky's experimental color films has yet been found.

Artur Chilingarov (born 1939)

Photo: Lev Fedoseev/ITAR-TASS

Famous polar explorer, Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of the Russian Federation, prominent Russian scientist, author of a number of scientific papers on the development of the North and the Arctic. Lives and works in Moscow.

Since 1963, he has been studying the Arctic Ocean and the oceanic atmosphere at the Arctic Research Observatory in the village of Tiksi. In 1969, he headed the North Pole-19 station, created on drifting ice, since 1971 he worked as the head of the Bellingshausen station, and since 1973 - the head of the North Pole-22 station. In 1985, he led an operation to rescue the expedition ship Mikhail Somov, which was covered in Antarctic ice. The icebreaker "Vladivostok" broke the ice around the diesel-electric ship and freed its crew from the blockade, which lasted as much as 133 days.

In 1987, Chilingarov led the team of the nuclear-powered icebreaker Sibir, which reached the geographic North Pole in free navigation. In January 2002, the traveler proved the possibility of operating light aircraft in Antarctica: he reached the South Pole on a single-engine An-ZT aircraft.

Photo: Roman Denisov/ITAR-TASS

In the summer of 2007, the famous polar explorer led an Arctic expedition aboard the Akademik Fedorov, which proved that the Arctic Ocean shelf is a continuation of the Siberian continental platform. The Mir-1 and Mir-2 vehicles were submerged to the bottom of the ocean, one of which was carrying Chilingarov himself. He also set a kind of record as the first person in the world to visit both the South and North Poles within six months.

Nikolai Litau (born 1955)

Photo: from the archive

Honored Master of Sports, Russian yachtsman, who made three round-the-world trips on the Apostol Andrey yacht built under his leadership. Awarded with the Order of Courage. During three round-the-world trips, Apostol Andrew left 110,000 nautical miles astern, visited all the continents of the planet, passed all the oceans and set five world records.

Here is what Nikolai Litau told a MIR 24 correspondent: “I made three round-the-world voyages on the Apostle Andrey. The first is around the Eastern Hemisphere through the Northern Sea Route, the second is around the Western Hemisphere, through the straits of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and the third is the Antarctic: in 2005-06 we circled Antarctica, all the time being above 60 degrees of latitude, the invisible border of Antarctica. The latter has not yet been repeated by anyone. The fourth global voyage, in which I happened to take part, took place in 2012-13. It was an international round-the-world trip, its route passed mainly through warm and comfortable tropical latitudes. I was the captain-mentor on the Russian yacht Royal Leopard and covered half the distance. During this voyage, I crossed my jubilee - the tenth equator. In recent years, we have been engaged in memorial trips on the yacht "Apostol Andrei" in the Russian Arctic. We recall the names of outstanding Russian sailors: Vladimir Rusanov, Georgy Sedov, Boris Vilkitsky, Georgy Brusilov and others.”

Photo: from the archive

Exactly one year ago, Nikolai Litau traveled to the Arctic for the eleventh time on the yacht Apostol Andrey. The route of this journey passed through the White, Barents and Kara Seas, the islands of the Arctic Institute in the Kara Sea were explored. Ahead - new expeditions.

These people sailed to the horizon, crossed oceans, unknown lakes and uncharted valleys in search of new countries, riches and adventures. Among the most famous travelers in world history who explored our planet, discovering new lands, are Roald Amundsen, Christopher Columbus and 7 other outstanding personalities.

A Norwegian explorer who undertook several expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic and, together with his team, on December 14, 1911, after an exhausting race with a competitor, Robert Falcon Scott, became the first person to reach the geographic South Pole. Previously, Roal was the first to cross the Northwest Passage (1903-1906).

He was born on July 16, 1872 in the Norwegian city of Borg and died on June 18, 1928 at the age of 55 near Bear Island in the Arctic.

An English polar traveler, a naval officer, who reached the South Pole with his escort on 01/17/1912, about a month after Amundsen's competitor. Robert's first expedition, during which he explored Victoria Land and the Ross Ice Shelf, took place in 1901-1904.

He was born on June 6, 1868 in Devonport (Plymouth, England). He passed away on March 29, 1912 (aged 43) at the base camp in Antarctica.

3. . The famous British navigator and discoverer, who first mapped Newfoundland and became the first European to discover the eastern coast of Australia and Hawaii. In three voyages, James explored the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic coast to the Bering Strait.

Born November 7, 1728 in Marton (Middlesbrough, England). 02/14/1779 was killed at the age of 50 by the natives of Hawaii in Kileikkua (Big Island, United States).

4. . Portuguese navigator, who, on the instructions of the Spanish king in 1519, set off on a voyage around the world, following to the west. So Fernand discovered the Strait of Magellan, later named after him, located at the upper tip of South America. He was not destined to tell about the discovery at home. In 1522, only a few members of the team returned to Portugal.

He was born in 1480 in Sabroz (Vila Real). On April 27, 1521, at the age of 41, he died at the hands of aborigines on the island of Mactan in the Philippines.

5. . One of the most famous Portuguese navigators and discoverers, who in 1498 found a sea route to India on behalf of Henry the Navigator. On the flagship São Gabriel, accompanied by two more ships (São Rafael und Bérrio), Vasco rounded the Cape of Good Hope and returned in 1499 home to Lisbon. The sailors filled the holds to the top with sacks of spices.

Vasco was born in Sines (Setubal) in 1469 and died in Kochi (India) on December 24, 1524 at the age of 55.

6. . Florentine navigator, navigator, merchant and cartographer. For the first time he suggested that the part of the world found by Christopher Columbus and later called "America" ​​is a previously unknown continent. The name associated with the name "Amerigo" was proposed by the Freiburg im Breisgau cartographer Martin Waldseemüller.

A Florentine was born on March 9, 1451 in Florence (Republic of Florence, now Italy). He died at the age of 60 in Seville (Spain) on February 22, 1512.

7. . The most famous sea traveler from Genoa, who, on behalf of Spain, crossed the Atlantic Ocean four times in search of an easier sea route to India, eventually opening the continent America for Europeans (1492), which began the era of colonization. During the first expedition, in which the ships Pinta, Niña and Santa Maria participated, after 36 days Christopher accidentally discovered the island of San Salvador in the Caribbean Sea.

He was born in 1451 in Genoa (Republic of Genoa, now a province of Italy). He died on May 20, 1506 in Valladolid (Spain), when he was 55 years old.

8. . A Venetian merchant who documented his travels and often backed up what he saw with evidence. Thanks to him, Europeans learned about Central Asia and China. According to Marco, he lived at the court of the Chinese emperor Kubla Khan for 24 years, but historians doubt this. The name Polo inspired the discoverers of the following generations.

Born in 1254 in Venice (Republic of Venice, now Italy) and died there at the age of 70 on January 8, 1324.

Scandinavian navigator who reached the North American continent 5 centuries before Columbus. In the 11th century, he sailed to it on his ship and became the first European to set foot on this land. Leif dubbed the found territory Vinland. The Scandinavian established trade relations between Greenland, Norway and Scotland.

Ericsson had a fiery temperament. Born in Iceland in 970, and died on the island of Greenland at the age of 50 in 1020.

(nicknamed Red). Norwegian-Icelandic navigator and discoverer. For the murder in 982 he was expelled from Iceland for 3 years and, making a sea voyage, came across the western coast of Greenland, where he founded the first Viking settlement in 985. Eirik called the discovered territory "green land".

Although in Russian the nickname of the Norman is translated as "red", historians believe that in fact it means "bloody". Thorvaldson was born in 950 in Jären (Norway). He died in 1003 at the age of 53 in Brattalida (Greenland).

These people made important discoveries, influencing the course of history. They explored the Arctic and Antarctic, "gave" the Europeans North America, Greenland and other lands. Travelers paved new sea and land routes that facilitated trade between countries.

9 chose

If you think that with the departure of the Age of Discovery, outstanding travelers have sunk into oblivion, then you are mistaken! Our contemporaries also made the most amazing journeys. Among them are scientists who went in search of confirmation of their theories, explorers of the deep sea, and just adventurers who ventured to travel around the world alone or with like-minded people. Many documentaries have been created about their travels, and thanks to them, we can see the whole world through their eyes, real, alive, full of dangers and adventures.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Captain Cousteau is a famous French explorer of the World Ocean, author of books and films, inventor. The oceans revealed many of its secrets, showed the beauty of its depths still inaccessible to people for a huge number of diving enthusiasts. We can say that Captain Cousteau is the father of modern diving, because it was he who created the main apparatus for diving. Being engaged in research of the underwater world of our planet, Cousteau created the famous floating laboratory "Callisto" and the first apparatus for diving "Denise". Jacques-Yves Cousteau captivated millions of people, showing them on movie screens how beautiful the underwater world is, giving them the opportunity to see what was still inaccessible to man.

Thor Heyerdahl

The name of the most famous Norwegian of the 20th century is spelled "Thor" in his native language, just like the name of one of the main gods of Norse mythology, Thor. He made many trips on makeshift watercrafts of contacts between ancient civilizations. Heyerdahl proved in practice his theory that the inhabitants of South America visited the islands of Polynesia, since the scientific world did not perceive his ideas. Together with his team, in 101 days, having sailed 4300 miles, he reached the atoll of Raroia. It was one of his most famous voyages, the Kon-Tiki Expedition, on a makeshift raft. The film he shot during his trip won an Oscar in 1951. And in 1969, he went on a new dangerous expedition on a papyrus boat to prove, to prove the possibility of crossing the Atlantic Ocean by African peoples. However, the first journey of Thor Heyerdahl on the boat "Ra" ended in failure, the boat sank, not reaching just 600 miles from the island of Barbados. A year later, the stubborn Norwegian repeated his journey and sailed from Morocco to Barbados in 57 days. By the way, our compatriot Yuri Senkevich was the doctor on this expedition. Heyerdahl later traveled to the Maldives, Peru and Tenerife.

Yuri Senkevich

The popular TV presenter of the "Club of Travelers" program Yuri Senkevich was included in the list of the most famous travelers not only as the doctor of the Thor Heyerdahl expedition. His "track record" of the traveler is respected:

as a medical researcher, Senkevich was trained to participate in a space flight, participated in the 12th Antarctic expedition to the Vostok station in order to study human behavior in extreme conditions, traveled on the papyrus boat "Ra", then on the "Ra-2" and in the Indian Ocean on the Tigris. Millions of Soviet TV viewers were able to see the world, as they joked then "through the eyes of Senkevich." By the way, the program "Cinema Travel Club", the program was listed in the Guinness Book of Records.

Nikolai Drozdov

More than 40 years ago, Nikolai Nikolaevich Drozdov became the host of the popular TV show "In the Animal World". An avid traveler, a "gallant know-it-all", who spends hours talking about animals as the most wonderful and beautiful creatures in the world - be it an elephant, a bug, or even a poisonous snake. An amazing and wonderful person, the idol of millions of viewers of our country, listening to stories about interesting facts from the life of birds, reptiles, domestic and wild animals, about the beauty of our nature - and incomparable pleasure, because only a person in love with life can tell like that. An interesting fact about Nikolai Nikolayevich himself is that his great-great-great-grandfather was Metropolitan Filaret of Moscow, and his maternal great-great-grandfather Ivan Romanovich von Dreiling was an orderly of Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov.

Nikolai Drozdov traveled the whole world, all zoological and national parks, studying the habitats and habits of animals in natural conditions, climbed Elbrus, participated from a long expedition on the Callisto research vessel and in the first Soviet expedition to Everest, twice went to the North Pole, passed along the Northern Sea Route on the icebreaker "Yamal", sailed along the coasts of Alaska and Canada on the "Discoverer".

Fedor Konyukhov

A lone traveler who cut what seemed impossible to conquer, more than once overcame a path that could not be walked alone - the great contemporary Fyodor Konyukhov. The first among travelers who conquered the North and South Poles, seas, oceans and the highest peaks of the world, which is proved by more than 40 expeditions made by him to the most inaccessible places on our planet. Among them are five round-the-world trips, a solo voyage across the Atlantic (which, by the way, he crossed more than once) on a rowboat. Konyukhov was the first to cross the Pacific Ocean from continent to continent. But the life of our distinguished compatriot is not filled with travel alone - Fedor Konyukhov became the youngest member of the Union of Artists of the USSR and the author of twelve travel books. There were also new plans ahead: flying around the world in a balloon and circumnavigating the world in 80 days for the Jules Verne Cup, as well as diving into the Mariana Trench. However, having received the priesthood in 2010, Fedor Konyukhov decided not to travel anymore, but ... the ways of the Lord are inscrutable and the famous traveler is again at the helm. In the spring of this year, he "beat" the Russian record and stayed in the air on a balloon for 19 hours and 10 minutes.

Bear Grylls

Fame came to the young English traveler thanks to the highest-rated TV show on the Discovery channel, Survive at Any Cost, which first aired in October 2006. The TV presenter and traveler does not just "entertain" the audience with beautiful views of the most amazing places on the planet, his goal is to bring to the audience life recommendations that can come in handy in unforeseen situations.

His list of travels is respected: he sailed around the British Isles in thirty days, crossed the North Atlantic in an inflatable boat, flew a steam-powered plane over Angel Falls, paraglided over the Himalayas, led an expedition to one of the furthest unclimbed peaks in Antarctica and arranged ... a gala dinner in a balloon at an altitude of more than seven thousand meters! Most of Grylls' expeditions are for charitable purposes.

Abby Sunderland

Not only men can boast of friendship with the wind of wandering - Abby Sunderland, a young traveler who at the age of 16 alone made a trip around the world on a yacht, will give odds to many men. The determination of Abby's parents is surprising, because they not only allowed her to participate in such a dangerous enterprise, but also helped to prepare for it. Alas, the first start on January 23, 2010 was unsuccessful and Abby made a second attempt on February 6. The journey turned out to be more dangerous than expected: between Australia and Africa, 2 thousand miles from the coast, the yacht's hull was damaged and the engine failed. After this message, communication was interrupted, the search for Abby's yacht was unsuccessful, and she was declared missing. A whole month later, Australian rescuers in the zone of the most severe storm found the lost yacht and Abby alive and unharmed. Who then will say that a woman has no place on a ship?

Jason Lewis

And, finally, the most original of modern travelers, who spent 13 years on a round-the-world trip! Why so long? The simple fact is that Jason refused any kind of technology and all sorts of achievements of civilization. The former janitor, along with his friend Steve Smith, went around the world on a bicycle, boat and rollerblades! The expedition started from Greenwich in 1994, in February 1995 the travelers reached the shores of the United States and after 111 days of sailing decided to cross America separately on roller skates. Lewis had to interrupt the journey for 9 months after an accident. After recovering, Lewis goes to Hawaii, from where he sails on a pedal boat to Australia, where he had to spend some time earning money for his further trip ... selling T-shirts. In 2005, he reaches Singapore, then crosses China and India on a bicycle. By March 2007, he reached Africa and also crossed all of Europe on a bicycle: Romania, Bulgaria, Austria, Germany and Belgium. Having crossed the English Channel, in October 2007, Jason Lewis returned to London.

Apr 26, 2016

The age of great geographical discoveries has long ended, the world map is fully formed and full of tourist routes. Traditional holiday lovers enjoy. But there are those who do not stop at the known and constantly strive for new heights. the site tells about contemporaries for whom travel is not a vacation, but the meaning of life associated with the constant overcoming of the elements.

Russia owns a lot of both domestic and world geo- and ethnographic discoveries and research. At one time, the country was glorified by many travelers who explored unknown lands. Centuries later, their exploits inspire our compatriots to new achievements - to repeat the historical route or create their own special one.

The heroes of our time set themselves a very realistic goal and approach it from a young age, or after a significant career path. Passion for travel generates project after project, inspiring people around the world for personal travel, and our heroes wholeheartedly share their successes by publishing books, participating in exhibitions of paintings and photos, uniting like-minded people.

Fedor Konyukhov was born and raised on the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov. He began to conquer the sea with his father on a fishing boat, and then on his own. Sport, military service and study hardened character and brought up endurance, resourcefulness and courage, which will later manifest itself in expeditions to conquer the highest mountain peaks, water, air and land travel.

In the biography of Fyodor Konyukhov there is a significant moment when he receives from his grandfather the pectoral cross of the great conqueror of the north Georgy Sedov. The Russian explorer left him before his last trip to the North Pole in the hope that Mikhail Konyukhov would give the cross to the child who could reach the Arctic.

Fedor was able to achieve his cherished goal three times: following the route of the legendary Vitus Bering and recreating the conditions of that period; as part of the Soviet-Canadian transantarctic ski expedition, as well as having made a solo 72-day trek to the North Pole in 1990.

Subsequently, Fedor conquered the South Pole in 59 days, participated in land and bicycle expeditions, carried out solo sea voyages, 6 round-the-world voyages; climbed 7 peaks of the world, and this year he plans to return back, bypassing 33-35 thousand km through the Tasman Sea, the Pacific Ocean, Chile, Argentina, the Atlantic Ocean, the Cape of Good Hope, the Indian Ocean.

Wherever the Russian traveler is, his trips are connected with research activities and the development of Russian science, as well as creativity. He is the author of 17 books and 3000 paintings.

Successful Russian businessman Sergey Dolya called the fear of air travel the main reason for traveling.

Overcoming oneself led to a passion, which Sergey talks about in the Virtual Travelers Page blog, trying to introduce the uniqueness of each place visited, whether it be a village in the Russian outback, or a fishing village in Tanzania.

Photo reports are collected by exhibition halls, publications are formed into two full-fledged books, and Dolya sets herself new tasks: she fights against garbage dumps for the sake of the country, is rapidly losing weight for the sake of health, and visits the mystical Dyatlov Pass. Exprussia is considered the most patriotic project: in 2014 Share with like-minded people.

The founder of the Academy of Free Travel society, Anton Krotov, is the author of about 40 books about visiting the cities of Russia, Europe, Africa, Asia, America, as well as the features of a safe stay and hitchhiking, finding fellow travelers and sights of the usual way of life in these places.

The most important project of the traveler is the "House for All" that has existed since 2006 and has become a base for explorers in various countries.

The founder of the Ethical Ecological Movement (EDEM), Vladislav Ketov from St. Petersburg, considers the preservation of life on earth and environmental protection to be global values. For this, he received from the United Nations Organization for the Environment (UNEP) in 1995 the official status of a representative.

The bicycle, as an ecological mode of transport, and the desire to go through a unique route helped to put into practice the very first ever trip around the earth (along the coastline of the continents) from May 14, 1991 to June 3, 2012.

Having traveled 167,000 km and visited 86 countries, without passing through the war zones (Yugoslavia, the Middle East, Western Sahara, Angola, Mozambique, Northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, Cambodia, Colombia), mainly in difficult places, Ketov communicated with the local population, gave press conferences and drew graphic portraits for memory.

Vladimir Nesin

Vladimir has always been fond of a healthy lifestyle, sports (sambo) and hiking, so after retiring he took up hiking around the world barefoot. Currently, I have traveled more than 100 countries using only GPS gadgets and devices without a map. In 1999, he received the passport "Citizen of the World" in Australia and strives to pass on the experience to the younger generation.

Anatoly Khizhnyak

Sports hobbies prompted Anatoly Khizhnyak to travel alone. At the age of fourteen, he had already crossed the Kola Peninsula, and in 1991 he went to South America, where he walked 500 km through the Amazon jungle. Considered the best connoisseur of Peru in Russia.

He is called the Russian Indiana Jones, because he began his journey through South America without any understanding of the language, practically without a map, during a real war between the local population and almost died after staying in an Inca cave.

Leonid Kruglov

The traveler and documentarian Leonid Kruglov, based on the latest facts and research, repeated the path of the first Russian round-the-world trip of I.F. Krusenstern to create a complete reconstruction and a documentary. For 13 months, three oceans were crossed again on the legendary barque "Sedov".

Text: Olga Mikhailova

Russian geographers and travelers.

Russian geographers and travelers have contributed many glorious pages to the history of the geographical study of the globe.

Anuchin Dmitry Nikolaevich. 1843-1923

The largest Russian scientist in the field of anthropology, ethnography, archeology and geography. The first doctor of geographical sciences in Russia. Founder of the Department of Geography of Moscow State University. Founder of the school of Russian geographers and limnologists. He explored the sources of the main rivers of European Russia and the lake in the upper reaches of the Volga.

Baer Karl Maksimovich. 1792-1876.

Academician. In 1837 One of the first to carry out scientific research on Novaya Zemlya, and in 1840. - at the Kola p / o. In 1851-1856. engaged in the study of fisheries on Lake Peipus and the Caspian Sea. Studies have established the suitability for consumption of Caspian herring, previously used only for fat burning. In excellent geographical descriptions, Baer characterized the peculiar hilly relief of the Caspian coast (Baer hillocks) and was the first to explain the uneven inclination of river banks as a result of water deflection as a result of the Earth's rotation around its axis (Baer's law). He was the first chairman of the ethnography department of the Geographical Society.

Wrangel Ferdinand Petrovich. 1796-1870.

Admiral and famous navigator. In 1817-1819. circumnavigated the world on the sloop "Kamchatka" under the command of Captain Golovin. He spent four years in the north of Eastern Siberia, where he made an inventory of the coast from the mouth of the Kolyma to the Kolyuchenskaya Bay. According to a number of signs, he predicted the existence of a large island, subsequently discovered by De Long and named Wrangel Island. In 1825-1827. circumnavigated the world on the military transport "Krotkiy". He was the main ruler of the Russian North American colonies (Alaska). Then the director of the Hydrographic Department. He compiled a very valuable description of his journey to the northeast of Siberia, translated into many languages.

Grumm-Grzhimailo Grigory Efimovich. 1860-1936.

Famous traveler. Researcher of nature, peoples, history of Central and Central Asia. Author of numerous major works on the Pamirs, Tuva, Mongolia, China. He made six large expeditions to the mountainous regions of Central Asia (Tien Shan, Pamir, Alai) and Central Asia. He collected vast material on zoology, physical geography, and ethnography of the peoples of Asia. He discovered the deepest depression in Central Asia - the Turfan depression. In recent years, he worked on the history of the nomadic peoples of Asia. From 1914 to 1930 He published the monograph "Western Mongolia and the Uryankhai Territory", which is still a reference book for everyone working on Central Asian issues.

Knipovich Nikolay Mikhailovich. 1862-1939

Organizer of scientific and commercial research in the Barents and White Seas. The result of many years of research in the Barents Sea was an extensive monograph "Fundamentals of Hydrology of the European Arctic Ocean". He organized and led numerous scientific and fishing expeditions in the Black, Azov and Caspian Seas.

Krasheninnikov Stepan Petrovich 1711-1755

Outstanding geographer. One of the first Russian academicians, a contemporary of Lomonosov. Explorer of Kamchatka, author of the first complete description of this peninsula. Participated in Bering's second Kamchatka expedition. He worked in Siberia - in the basins of the Shilka and Barguzin rivers, along the Lena River from the upper reaches to Yakutsk. He carried out research on Kamchatka from the autumn of 1737 to the spring of 1742. Traveled more than 27,000 km in Siberia and Kamchatka. In 1743 Returned to Petersburg. At first he was a student of the Academy of Sciences, then he was appointed adjunct. Since 1747 - Head of the Botanical Garden. In 1750 Elected Professor of the Academy of Sciences and Rector of the Academic University. His classic "Description of the Kamchatka Land", published in 1755, after the death of the author, was repeatedly reprinted both in Russian and in many foreign languages.

Lepekhin Ivan Ivanovich 1740-1802

Academician, traveler and botanist. The son of an ordinary soldier, Lepekhin, thanks to his exceptional abilities and love for science, made his way on his own, graduated from an academic gymnasium and a university, and then from the University of Strasbourg. In 1768-1772. traveled through the northern and southeastern regions of European Russia. "Journey Diaries" is the summary of the description of this journey. In 1773 Produced studies of the western regions of European Russia. During the trip, he collected the richest botanical collection and organized the Botanical Garden.

Middendorf Alexander Fedorovich. 1815-1894

Academician and remarkable researcher of Siberia. In 1843-1844, at the suggestion and project of K.M. Bera carried out comprehensive studies of Siberia and the Far East, covering 30,000 km. In very difficult conditions and once exposed to mortal danger. On expeditions, he collected the richest collections. The first explored the "permafrost" in Yakutia. In 1870, during a trip to Novaya Zemlya and the White Sea, he was engaged in temperature measurements and the study of the warm Gulf Stream. Later, he explored the Baraba steppe and gave its description. Organized agricultural exhibitions. Led an expedition to study cattle breeding in Russia.

Mushketov Ivan Vasilievich 1850-1902

One of the biggest travelers. At the same time a geologist and geographer, who created a large school of Russian geologists. He explored the Lower Volga region, the Urals, the Caucasus, but made the most outstanding trips to Turkestan in 1874-1880. The first one illuminated the geological structure of the vast regions of Turkestan, compiled their first geological maps. For a long time he studied the earthquakes of Russia and compiled their first catalog. Mushketov is one of the first explorers of the ore resources of the Urals. Author of the classic course "Physical Geology" and the monograph "Turkestan".

Roborovsky Vsevolod Ivanovich 1856-1910

Famous Russian traveler of Central Asia. Member of the last two expeditions of N.M. Przhevalsky. after the death of Przhevalsky, he worked in the Tibetan expedition of the Russian Geographical Society. Then he led a large expedition to Central Asia. He visited the Tien Shan mountain systems, visited Tibet, Kashgaria. With his works, Roborovsky greatly contributed to the expansion of geographical knowledge in Central Asia, I continue the best traditions of famous Russian travelers in this distant country.