Joseph Judah Yakovlevich Chorny (russian: Иосиф Иуда Яковлевич Чёрный; 20 April 1835 – 28 April 1880) was a Russian traveller and scholar.
His parents arranged for him to start working in the
wine-growing
Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...
industry, but his real passion was for travel and
exploration
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians.
Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
, and he soon abandoned wine-growing. For eight years Chorny, with practically no finance, explored a great part of the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
,
Transcaucasia
The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...
, and many
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
tic countries; studying everywhere the life, customs, and history of the inhabitants, and chiefly those of the Jews.
In 1875, on returning from his travels, he endeavored to publish his studies on the Jews of the countries he had visited, but failed to find the necessary money. He resumed the life of an explorer; and after five years of hardships and privations returned, in ill health and poverty, to
Odessa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
, where he died, on 28 April 1880, shortly after his arrival.
Chorny was highly appreciated by the officials of the Russian government, and his studies on the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, published in various Russian papers, attracted the attention of the minister of the interior,
Mikhail Loris-Melikov
Count Mikhail Tarielovich Loris-Melikov (, hy, Միքայել Լորիս-Մելիքյան; – 24 December 1888) was a Russian-Armenian statesman, General of the Cavalry, and Adjutant General of H. I. M. Retinue.
The Princes of Lori - Loris-M ...
, who recommended Chorny to the protection of the governor-general of Odessa. The most noteworthy of Chorny's studies were:
*''Kratkiya Istoricheskiya Svyedeniya o Gorskikh Yevreyakh Terskoi Oblasti'', ''Terskiya Vyedomosti'', 1869;
*''Gorskie Yevrei'', in ''Kavkaz'', 1870, volume 3;
*''On the Caucasian Jews'', in ''Den'', 1870, No. 38.
Chorny bequeathed his manuscripts to the
Society for Promoting Culture Among the Russian Jews
A society is a Social group, group of individuals involved in persistent Social relation, social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same Politics, political authority an ...
; and the latter commissioned
Abraham Harkavy
Abraham (Albert) Harkavy (, russian: Авраа́м Я́ковлевич Гарка́ви, translit=Avraám Yákovlevich Garkávi; 17 October 1835 – 15 March 1919) was a Russian historian and orientalist.
Biography
Harkavy was born in 1835 ...
to edit them. They were published with Harkavy's notes under the title ''Sefer ha-Massa'ot'' (''Book of Travels''), at
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, in 1884.
1835 births
1880 deaths
Writers from Minsk
People from Minsky Uyezd
Belarusian Jews
19th-century explorers
{{Explorer-stub