Joseph-Napoléon Martin (russian: Жозеф Наполеон Мартен; 15 August 1848 in

Vienne, Isère Vienne (; frp, Vièna) is a town in southeastern France, located south of Lyon, at the confluence of the Gère and the Rhône. It is the fourth largest-commune in the Isère department, of which it is a subprefecture alongside La Tour-du-Pin. ...

– 23 May 1892 in Novy Margelan, now Fergana, Turkestan Krai,

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, present-day

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

) was a French explorer, topographer and geologist. He is known for his pioneering exploration and research in the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...

.A. Allemand-Martin, ''Un viennois célèbre. L'Explorateur Joseph Martin (1848-1892). Ses voyages en Chine, en Sibérie et au Thibet.'' Martin et Ternet, 1931

Biography

After finishing his studies in railway engineering Joseph Martin went to the Russian Empire and participated in the

Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 ( tr, 93 Harbi, lit=War of ’93, named for the year 1293 in the Islamic calendar; russian: Русско-турецкая война, Russko-turetskaya voyna, "Russian–Turkish war") was a conflict between th ...

. He was awarded the II Degree

Order of Saint Stanislaus The Order of Saint Stanislaus ( pl, Order Św. Stanisława Biskupa Męczennika, russian: Орден Святого Станислава), also spelled Stanislas, was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Ponia ...

for his engineering work near

Pleven Pleven ( bg, Плèвен ) is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. Following the end of the war he went to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive 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 part of ...

, where he would stay for about two years. He returned again twice in the following decade, in 1882-1883 and 1889-1892. Joseph Martin picked up the threads of the explorations made previously by

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activis ...

to find a route between 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 the

Amur The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's List of longest rivers, tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China, Northeastern China (Inne ...

basins, surveying the then little-known Stanovoy Highlands. He made a significant contribution to the cartography of Eastern Siberia and was awarded the gold medal of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. On his last journey Joseph Martin wished to explore the Russian Turkestan, but he fell ill while traveling westwards across China and died in May 1892 in Novy Margelan. His tomb is in the

Fergana Fergana ( uz, Fargʻona/Фарғона, ), or Ferghana, is a district-level city and the capital of Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan. Fergana is about 420 km east of Tashkent, about 75 km west of Andijan, and less than 20 km fr ...

graveyard,

Posthumous honors

Pik Martena (russian: Пик Мартена) in the

Kodar Range The Kodar Mountains ( rus, Кода́р) are a mountain range in the Transbaikal region of Siberia, Russia. The name Kodar is derived from "khada", an Evenki word for rock. The range is part of the Udokan Ore Region that includes the Kalar and ...

, part of the Stanovoy, was named in his honor.У самой высокой горы Иркутской области появилось название - пик Мартена
/ref> A street in Vienne, the town of his birth, bears his name.

References

External links

*
Le Viennois Joseph Martin, explorateur de la Sibérie et de l’extrême-Orient
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Joseph 1848 births 1892 deaths Expatriates in the Russian Empire Explorers of Siberia French explorers French topographers French geologists

Biography

Posthumous honors

See also

References

External links