Demid Sofonovich Pyanda () or, according to some sources, Panteley Demidovich Pyanda (),
[ also spelled Penda ()][ (? – after 1637) was among the first and most important ]Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
n explorers of Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
. According to few historical documents and later reconstructions based on them, Pyanda, in 1620–1623, while leading a party which was hunting for Siberian furs
Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...
and buying them from the locals, became the first known Russian to ascend the Lower Tunguska River
The Nizhnyaya Tunguska ( rus, Ни́жняя Тунгу́ска, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪjə tʊnˈɡuskə, meaning "Lower Tunguska") is a river in Siberia, Russia, that flows through the Irkutsk Oblast and the Krasnoyarsk Krai. The river is a right tribut ...
and reach the proximity of the Lena
Lena or LENA may refer to:
Places
* Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso
* Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada
* Lena, Norway, a village in ...
, one of the world's greatest rivers. According to later legendary accounts, collected a century after his journey, Pyanda allegedly discovered the Lena River, explored much of its length, and via the Angara River
The Angara ( Buryat and mn, Ангар, ''Angar'', "Cleft"; russian: Ангара́, ''Angará'') is a major river in Siberia, which traces a course through Russia's Irkutsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai. It drains out of Lake Baikal and is ...
returned to the Yenisey
The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук, ...
, whence he came.
Thus, in three and a half years from 1620 to 1624 Pyanda explored some 1,430 miles (2,300 km) of the Lower Tunguska
The Nizhnyaya Tunguska ( rus, Ни́жняя Тунгу́ска, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪjə tʊnˈɡuskə, meaning "Lower Tunguska") is a river in Siberia, Russia, that flows through the Irkutsk Oblast and the Krasnoyarsk Krai. The river is a right trib ...
's length, and possibly some 1,500 miles (2,400 km) of the Lena
Lena or LENA may refer to:
Places
* Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso
* Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada
* Lena, Norway, a village in ...
and some 870 miles (1400 km) of the Angara (the Lower Tunguska and Angara both are Yenisey
The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук, ...
's largest tributaries). In total, Pyanda may have discovered about 5,000 miles (8000 km) of hitherto unknown large Siberian rivers. He may have discovered Yakutia
Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far E ...
and was possibly the first Russian to meet Yakuts
The Yakuts, or the Sakha ( sah, саха, ; , ), are a Turkic ethnic group who mainly live in the Republic of Sakha in the Russian Federation, with some extending to the Amur, Magadan, Sakhalin regions, and the Taymyr and Evenk Districts ...
as well as Buryats. He also proved that the Angara (a Buryat name) and Upper Tunguska (Verkhnyaya Tunguska, as initially known by Russians) are one and the same river.
Name and identity
''Pyanda'' was a nickname, meaning a fur
Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...
brim of ''malitsa'', which was a kind of Samoyedic clothes made from reindeer
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 sub ...
skin. ''Pyanda'' was made from dog fur of different colours and was added to ''malitsa'' for beauty.
In the first third of the 17th century there were two men in Yakutia
Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far E ...
with the nickname ''Pyanda''. One was Pyanda Safonov (the son of Safon, or Sofon) named Demid – his name appeared in documents in 1637. The other was Panteley Demidovich Pyanda (probably a son of Pyanda Safonov) – his name was recorded in 1643. The great explorer most likely was named Demid Sofonovich Pyanda.[I.P. Magidovich, V.I. Magidovich. pp. 268-269]
Only a few original documents on Pyanda exist, and his deeds are mostly known by the records collected some 100 years later, in the 18th century, especially during the Great Northern Expedition
The Great Northern Expedition (russian: Великая Северная экспедиция) or Second Kamchatka Expedition (russian: Вторая Камчатская экспедиция) was one of the largest exploration enterprises in hi ...
, launched by the Russian government to establish the Arctic and Pacific coastline of Russia and find a way to the Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
. At the same time, the so-called Academic Squad of that expedition pioneered the research of the Siberian nature and history.
The German-born historian Gerhardt Friedrich Müller Gerhardt is a masculine name of Germanic origin. It can refer to the following:
As a first name
* Ants Eskola (1908–1989), Soviet-Estonian actor and singer born Gerhardt Esperk
* Gerhardt Laves (1906–1993), American linguist
* Gerhardt Neef ...
found a document in the Siberian archives, proving that the winter settlement ''Pyandino'' on the upper part of the Lower Tunguska already existed in 1624, which meant that it had been established at least a year before.
The legend of Pyanda and his journey on the Lena and Angara was recorded by naturalist Johann Georg Gmelin
Johann Georg Gmelin (8 August 1709 – 20 May 1755) was a German naturalist, botanist and geographer.
Early life and education
Gmelin was born in Tübingen, the son of a professor at the University of Tübingen. He was a gifted child and began ...
(another German in the Russian service), while he was travelling in the regions of the Yenisey
The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук, ...
and Lena
Lena or LENA may refer to:
Places
* Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso
* Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada
* Lena, Norway, a village in ...
.[The discovery of the Lena River, part 2]
at arctic.izvestia.ru Müller also recorded some legends about Pyanda in Siberia.[Panteley Pyanda. The journey from Turukhansk to Turukhansk]
at turuhansk-region.ru
On the basis of the Cossack hearsay stories, the document about Pyandino and a few mentions of Pyanda's name in other documents academician Alexey Okladnikov
Alexey Pavlovich Okladnikov (russian: Алексе́й Па́влович Окла́дников; 1908–1981) was a Soviet archaeologist, historian, and ethnographer, an expert in the ancient cultures of Siberia and the Pacific Basin. He was elec ...
reconstructed Pyanda's alleged journey, as it is presented in the sections below.[Okladnikov A. P. (1949)]
Ascent of the Yenisey and Lower Tunguska
Demid Sofonovich Pyanda came to prominence in Mangazeya
Mangazeya (russian: Мангазе́я) was a Northwest Siberian trans- Ural trade colony and later city in the 17th century. Founded in 1600 by Cossacks from Tobolsk, it was situated on the Taz River, between the lower courses of the Ob and Ye ...
around 1619, coming there from the Yeniseysk
Yeniseysk ( rus, Енисейск, p=jɪnʲɪˈsʲejsk) is a town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located on the Yenisei River. Population: 20,000 (1970).
History
Yeniseysk was founded in 1619 as a stockaded town—the first town on the Yenise ...
y ostrog. He had some money and riches of unknown origin. Taking about 40 men with him, he went to Turukhansk
Turukhansk (russian: Туруха́нск) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') and the administrative center of Turukhansky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located north of Krasnoyarsk, at the confluence of the Yenisey and Nizhnyaya Tu ...
on the Yenisey
The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук, ...
near the mouth of the Lower Tunguska
The Nizhnyaya Tunguska ( rus, Ни́жняя Тунгу́ска, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪjə tʊnˈɡuskə, meaning "Lower Tunguska") is a river in Siberia, Russia, that flows through the Irkutsk Oblast and the Krasnoyarsk Krai. The river is a right trib ...
(or Nizhnyaya Tunguska in Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
). While buying fur
Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...
s from the locals there, he heard stories about a large river to the east of the Lower Tunguska, called ''Elyu-ene'', which in Evenk language
Evenki (Ewenkī), formerly known as Tungus or Solon, is the largest member of the northern group of Tungusic languages, a group which also includes Even, Negidal, and the more closely related Oroqen language. The name is sometimes wrongly given ...
means ''"large river"''. Russians, in their own manner, rendered it to ''Lena'' (a shorter form of the Russian feminine name Yelena Yelena or Jelena is a feminine given name. It is the Russian language, Russian form of Helen (given name), Helen, written Елена in Russian.
Notable people called Yelena
*Yelena Afanasyeva (born 1967), former Russian athlete who competed in t ...
, corresponding to Helen
Helen may refer to:
People
* Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world
* Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress
* Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
Places
* Helen, ...
).
According to some notes made by Englishmen in Pustozersk in 1611–1612, Siberian Cossacks knew about the existence of Lena already in 1611–1612.[ Many wanted to find this yet legendary Lena River and its plentiful fur riches, however at the same time another kind of story appeared, telling of a great river to the east, where large ships with bells and cannons were sailing. This may have referred to Chinese ships on the Amur River, not the Lena, but the Russians were still unaware that there were two different major rivers east of ]Yenisey
The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук, ...
. The tales of armed ships made the Russian adventurers more careful and slow in their movement eastward.
Pyanda happened to be the most resolute of the potential explorers, and in 1620 he became the leader of a very protracted expedition. He sailed from Turukhansk up the Lower Tunguska
The Nizhnyaya Tunguska ( rus, Ни́жняя Тунгу́ска, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪjə tʊnˈɡuskə, meaning "Lower Tunguska") is a river in Siberia, Russia, that flows through the Irkutsk Oblast and the Krasnoyarsk Krai. The river is a right trib ...
with many men on several ''strug'' boats. They moved rather quickly amid the taiga-covered banks of the river, until the river's course turned south and the valley narrowed. Tree trunks, floating down the river, impeded the way – Pyanda thought the Tunguses
The Evenks (also spelled Ewenki or Evenki based on their endonym )Autonym: (); russian: Эвенки (); (); formerly known as Tungus or Tunguz; mn, Хамниган () or Aiwenji () are a Tungusic people of North Asia. In Russia, the Eve ...
were trying to force him to turn around. Wanting either to avoid excessive risks or to buy furs from the locals right at the point they had already reached, Pyanda ordered his men to stop and build a winter settlement, later called Nizhneye Pyandino (Lower Pyandino). It was in the region where the Lower Tunguska
The Nizhnyaya Tunguska ( rus, Ни́жняя Тунгу́ска, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪjə tʊnˈɡuskə, meaning "Lower Tunguska") is a river in Siberia, Russia, that flows through the Irkutsk Oblast and the Krasnoyarsk Krai. The river is a right trib ...
is close to Vilyuy
The Vilyuy ( rus, Вилю́й, p=vʲɪˈlʲʉj; sah, Бүлүү, ''Bülüü'', ) is a river in Russia, the longest tributary of the Lena. About long, it flows mostly within the Sakha Republic. Its basin covers about .
History
The river is fi ...
, a major tributary of the Lena. Tunguses indeed soon made several attacks, however the Russians easily repelled them with firearms.
The next year, 1621, Pyanda sailed only several dozen kilometers up the river, and at 62°N he built Verkhneye Pyandino (Upper Pyandino), another winter settlement. In 1623 he sailed south several hundred kilometers more and yet again stayed at the winter settlement, at 58°N. Such slow pace of his journey is explained either by the resistance of Tunguses or by successful fur trade with them.
Discovery and exploration of the Lena
The latter winter settlement of Pyanda's party happened to be very close to the so-called ''Chechuysky volok'', a 12-mile (20 km) portage between the Tunguska and the upper Lena. Finally, in 1623, Pyanda either carried his strugs to the Lena
Lena or LENA may refer to:
Places
* Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso
* Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada
* Lena, Norway, a village in ...
or built new boats where he was, soon reaching this great river of Eastern Siberia.
After the ice on Lena had cracked and floated down the river, Pyanda followed it and for several days sailed through rocky banks. After passing the mouth of the right tributary called the Vitim
Vitim (russian: Витим) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia.
Modern localities
*Vitim, Sakha Republic, an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Lensky District of the Sakha Republic
* Vitim, Republic of Buryatia, a ...
, the Lena became wider and soon turned east, flowing amid the low banks and numerous islands. After passing the mouth of another southern tributary, the Olyokma
, image = Olyokma river.jpg
, image_size =
, image_caption = View of the river
, pushpin_map = Russia Sakha Republic
, pushpin_map_size =
, pushpin_map_caption= Location in the Sakha Republic, Ru ...
, the banks again became rocky. Pyanda reached the lands inhabited by the Yakuts
The Yakuts, or the Sakha ( sah, саха, ; , ), are a Turkic ethnic group who mainly live in the Republic of Sakha in the Russian Federation, with some extending to the Amur, Magadan, Sakhalin regions, and the Taymyr and Evenk Districts ...
and turned back, avoiding a wintering amid the yet unknown race of people.
Exploration of the Angara
Pyanda returned to ''Chechuysky volok'' and decided to explore another way back to Yenisey
The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук, ...
. He sailed up Lena until it became too rocky and shallow, and then journeyed westward through the steppes inhabited by nomadic
A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...
Buryats.
In autumn of 1623 Pyanda's party reached the upper Angara and still had some time to build new boats, since Angara usually freezes rather late. Pyanda and his men successfully passed the Angara rapids and finally reached the mouth of the river at Yenisey
The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук, ...
, having discovered that the Angara is the same river as the Upper Tunguska (Verkhnyaya Tunguska), as it was previously named by Yeniseyan Cossacks. In the late 1623 or in early 1624 Pyanda reached Yeniseysk
Yeniseysk ( rus, Енисейск, p=jɪnʲɪˈsʲejsk) is a town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located on the Yenisei River. Population: 20,000 (1970).
History
Yeniseysk was founded in 1619 as a stockaded town—the first town on the Yenise ...
where his 5,000 mile (8000 km) long journey ended.
Later Pyanda's name was once mentioned in the Cossack documents, however his further life is unknown.
Pyanda's priority in the Lena discovery
Raymond Henry Fisher wrote in his 1943 work (before the 1949 publication of Okladnikov), that the Lena had been reached in 1620 by men from Mangazeya, who descended the Vilyuy River to its confluence with the Lena. This corresponds to the first year of Pyanda's journey as reconstructed by Alexey Okladnikov
Alexey Pavlovich Okladnikov (russian: Алексе́й Па́влович Окла́дников; 1908–1981) was a Soviet archaeologist, historian, and ethnographer, an expert in the ancient cultures of Siberia and the Pacific Basin. He was elec ...
, but there is no conclusive evidence that Pyanda or his men reached Lena that early, while the existence of the Pyandino settlement near the confluence of the Lower Tunguska and Lena suggests that Pyanda more likely discovered Lena that way.
While many sources name Pyanda or Penda as the first known explorer of Lena, others start the account of Lena's exploration from Vasily Bugor's name. Bugor was not the first Russian on the Lena, but his journey was the first well attested one, and the very first via the Angara and Kirenga River
The Kirenga () is a river in Irkutsk Oblast in Russia. The name originated in an Evenki word. The length of the river is . The area of its basin is .
There are many settlements in the river valley. The Baikal Amur Mainline follows and crosses ...
s. Between Pyanda's journey in 1620-24 and Bugor's voyage in 1628–30, attempts to reach the Lena were made by several other explorers. Grigory Semyonov sought the Lena in 1625 (one of his men, Matvey Parfyonov is thought to have reached the river); Bazhen Kokoulin traveled to the Lena in 1626 and Martemyan Vasilyev in 1627–28. All of them descended to the Lena via its tributary the Vilyuy, unlike Pyanda or Bugor.[ Since 1632, when ]Yakutsk
Yakutsk (russian: Якутск, p=jɪˈkutsk; sah, Дьокуускай, translit=Djokuuskay, ) is the capital city of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one ...
was established in the central Yakutia
Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far E ...
by Pyotr Beketov
Pyotr Beketov (russian: link=no, Пётр Иванович Бекетов, c. 1600 – c. 1661) was a Cossack explorer of Siberia and founder of various fortified settlements in the region, which later developed into modern cities such as Yakutsk, ...
, the presence of Russians in the Lena region became continuous.
Sources
*И.П. Магидович, В.И. Магидович ''Очерки по истории географических открытий''. Издание в 5 томах. Том 2, стр. 268–271. Москва, "Просвещение", 1983 // I.P. Magidovich, V.I. Magidovich. ''Notes on the History of Geographical Discoveries'' in 5 volumes. Vol.2, pp. 268–271. Moscow, Prosvescheniye, 1983.
*Окладников А.П. ''Пенда - забытый русский земплепроходец XVII века''. - В сб.: Летопись Севера. М., Изд-во Главсевморпути, 1949, т. 1. // Okladnikov A. P. ''Penda - the forgotten Russian explorer of the 17th century''. A part of: ''Northern Chronicle''. Moscow, the publishing house of the Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route
The Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route (russian: Главное Управление Северного Морского Пути , translit=Glavnoe upravlenie Severnogo morskogo puti), also known as Glavsevmorput or GUSMP (russian: ГУ ...
, 1949, vol. 1.
External links
The chapter on the 17th century Siberian exploration from the ''Notes on the History of Geographical Discoveries'' by I.P. Magidovich, V.I. Magidovich
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pyanda, Demid
Russian explorers
Explorers of Siberia
Russian Cossacks
17th-century Russian people
History of Siberia
Tsardom of Russia people