![CEM-19-Asiae-nova-description-1610-Jodocus-Hondius-2538](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/CEM-19-Asiae-nova-description-1610-Jodocus-Hondius-2538.jpg)
Ivan Petlin (russian: Иван Петлин; 17th-century diminutive form, russian: Ивашко Петлин, Ivashko (Evashko) Petlin), a
Siberian Cossack, was the first Russian to have reached China on an official mission (1618-1619). His expedition may have been the second European expedition to reach China from the west by an overland route (after that of
Bento de Góis
Bento de Góis (1562 – 11 April 1607), was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary and explorer. His name is commonly given in English as Bento de Goes"Bento de Goes", in: or Bento de Goës;Gallagher (trans.) (1953), pp. 499–500. in the past, it has ...
) since the fall of the
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
. For background, see
Russia-China relations.
Although sent by the Czar he was not officially an ambassador. The mission was outfitted by the
Tobolsk
Tobolsk (russian: Тобо́льск) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1590, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, and i ...
and
Tomsk
Tomsk ( rus, Томск, p=tomsk, sty, Түң-тора) is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, located on the Tom River. Population:
Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. The city is a not ...
voyevoda
Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the m ...
s. Petlin was originally appointed as translator and scribe under Maksim Trupcheninov, but at the last minute Trupcheninov was unable to go so Petlin became leader. His traveling companion was named Andrei Mundov (Mundoff).
[Lach & Van Kley (1994), pp. 1756.-1757. Lach & Van Kleyn give the name of the second Cossack as "Mundoff", but Purchas (p. 272) phonetically transcribes it as "Andrushko Madigene", which could possibly be "Madigin" or "Motygin" in a modern standard transcription.]
Accompanied by two returning envoys from the
Altyn Khan who was one of leader of Western Mongolia, Petlin and Mundov left
Tomsk
Tomsk ( rus, Томск, p=tomsk, sty, Түң-тора) is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, located on the Tom River. Population:
Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. The city is a not ...
on 9 May 1618 and went south up the
Ob River
}
The Ob ( rus, Обь, p=opʲ: Ob') is a major river in Russia. It is in western Siberia; and together with Irtysh forms the world's List of rivers by length, seventh-longest river system, at . It forms at the confluence of the Biya (river), Biya ...
, crossed the
Abakan Range
Abakan Range (russian: Абаканский хребет) is a mountain range in Southwestern Siberia, located mainly in Khakassia, Russia: It is mostly covered by taiga, up to , followed by mountainous tundra. The range also consists sparse are ...
, went south to
Tuva
Tuva (; russian: Тува́) or Tyva ( tyv, Тыва), officially the Republic of Tuva (russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, r=Respublika Tyva, p=rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva; tyv, Тыва Республика, translit=Tyva Respublika ...
and around
Lake Ubsa to the court of the
Altyn Khan. (This route was rarely used in later times.)
From there he traveled east across Mongolia to the Great Wall and reached
Peking
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
in late August. He was not allowed to see the
Wanli Emperor
The Wanli Emperor (; 4 September 1563 – 18 August 1620), personal name Zhu Yijun (), was the 14th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1572 to 1620. "Wanli", the era name of his reign, literally means "ten thousand calendars". He was the ...
because he did not bring proper tribute. He returned some time before November 1619. He brought with him a letter in Chinese inviting the Russians to open trade, but no one in Russia was able to read it until 1675.
Petlin's report is quite vague. He mentions: the upper Ob; rivers flowing into Lake Ubsa; the local rulers across Mongolia; a Princess Malchikatun who rules the towns of Mongolia and issues permits to cross the Great Wall; the Black Mongols west of the wall and the Yellow Mongols east of it; an 'Iron Tsar' near
Bukhara
Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region.
People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...
who sends diamonds to China (probably, a reference to the
Kashgaria
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. ...
n
jade
Jade is a mineral used as jewellery or for ornaments. It is typically green, although may be yellow or white. Jade can refer to either of two different silicate minerals: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in the amphibole group of ...
tribute trade); the
Great Wall
The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand Li (unit), ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against Eurasian noma ...
(which he thinks runs from the Pacific to
Bukhara
Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region.
People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...
); several Chinese cities on the way to Peking; Peking; and an 'Ob River' which he seems to think flows from western Mongolia to the Yellow Sea. He mentions
lama
Lama (; "chief") is a title for a teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term ''guru'', meaning "heavy one", endowed with qualities the student will eventually embody. The Tibetan word "lama" means "hi ...
s, temples with gilded statues, city walls and gates, paved streets and officials who go about with yellow sunshades over their heads. Throughout he emphasizes the remarkable fact that cities are built of stone.
An account of Petlin's expedition was translated into English and published in
Samuel Purchas
Samuel Purchas ( – 1626) was an England, English Anglican cleric who published several volumes of reports by travellers to foreign countries.
Career
Purchas was born at Thaxted, Essex, England, Essex son of an English yeoman. He graduated fr ...
' "Pilgrims" (vol. XIV) (1625);
[ it was apparently well known in the 17th century England: e.g., ]John Milton
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...
is thought to have drawn on it in his description of Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
.[GEOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF MILTON]
, BY ALLAN H. GILBERT, PH.D. ''CORNELL STUDIES IN ENGLISH'', 1919. Page 200. (Gilbet on p. 200 of his book actually quotes the text that appears in Purchas on p. 277)
Notes
References
* Mark Mancall, ''Russia and China: Their Diplomatic Relations to 1728'', 1971.
* . Volume III, "A Century of Advance", Book Four, "East Asia".
* "A Relation of two Russe Cossacks travailes, out of Siberia to Catay, and other Countries adjoyning thereunto. Also a Copie of the last Patent from the Muscovite. A Copie of a Letter written to the Emperour from his Governours out of Siberia". Published as Chapter XI in: Samuel Purchas
Samuel Purchas ( – 1626) was an England, English Anglican cleric who published several volumes of reports by travellers to foreign countries.
Career
Purchas was born at Thaxted, Essex, England, Essex son of an English yeoman. He graduated fr ...
, ''Haklutyus Posthumus'' (or, ''Purchas His Pilgrimes''), vol. XIV, pp. 272–291. 1625
Full Text
on archive.org
(''Description of the State of Cathay itay Itay or Itai ( he, איתי) is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
*Itai Anghel, Israeli news correspondent
*Itai Maggidi, Israeli long-distance runner
*Itay Margalit, retired Israeli high jumper
*Itay Segev (born 1995), Israeli ba ...
and the Mongolian Lands, compiled by the Tomsk Kazak I. Petlin''), in: Н. Ф. Демидова (N.F. Demidova), В. С. Мясников (V.S. Myasnikov),
' (''Sino-Russian Relations in the 17th century. Materials and Documents. Vol. 1: 1608-1683''). Moscow, Nauka Publishers, 1969. This publication includes two versions of the ''Description'', both published a number of times previously.
** The first version, created in Tobolsk between May 16 and July 6, 1619, had been published e.g. in:
*** Ф. И. Покровский (F.I. Pokrovsky), "Путешествие в Монголию и Китай сибирского казака Ивана Петлина в 1618 г." ("The travels of the Siberian Cossack Ivan Petlin to Mongolia and China in 1618"), ''Известия отделения русского языка и словесности имп. Академии наук 1913 г.'' (''Reports of the Department of Russian Language and Literature of the ussianImperial Academy of Sciences''), Vol. 18, Book 4, St. Petersburg, 1914, pp. 287–295;
*** J. F. Baddeley, Russia, Mongolia, China, vol. II, London, 1919, pp. 73–86;
** The second version, created in Moscow between September 23 and November 10, 1619, had been published in:
*** Н. Ф. Демидова (N.F. Demidova), В. С. Мясников (V.S. Myasnikov), ''Первые русские дипломаты в Китае'' (''First Russian Diplomats in China''), Moscow, 1966, pp. 41–55.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petlin, Ivan
Russian diplomats
Russian explorers
Cossack explorers