Vladimir Klavdiyevich Arsenyev, (russian: Влади́мир Кла́вдиевич Арсе́ньев; 10 September 1872 – 4 September 1930) was a Russian explorer of the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The t ...

who recounted his travels in a series of books — "По Уссурийскому Краю" ("Along the Ussuri land") (1921) and "Дерсу Узала" ("Dersu Uzala") (1923) — telling of his military journeys to the

Ussuri The Ussuri or Wusuli (russian: Уссури; ) is a river that runs through Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais, Russia and the southeast region of Northeast China. It rises in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range, flowing north and forming part of the ...

basin with Dersu Uzala, a native hunter, from 1902 to 1907. He was the first to describe numerous species of

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 ...

n flora and the lifestyles of native ethnic peoples.

Early life

Arseniev was born in St. Petersburg,

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 ...

. His father, born a serf, became the chief of the Moscow District Railway. After a military education, Arseniev began his expeditions to the forests of the Far East. He lived in

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, ...

through the years of the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

and was a Commissar for Ethnic Minorities (Komisar po delam inrodcheskim) of the independent

Far Eastern Republic The Far Eastern Republic ( rus, Дальневосто́чная Респу́блика, ДВР, r=Dalnevostochnaya Respublika, DVR, p=dəlʲnʲɪvɐˈstotɕnəjə rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə), sometimes called the Chita Republic, was a nominally indep ...

. After the Far Eastern Republic was absorbed by

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

in 1922 Arsenyev refused to emigrate and stayed in Vladivostok.

Work

Arseniev is most famous for authoring many books about his explorations, including some 60 works on the geography, wildlife and ethnography of the regions he traveled. Arseniev's most famous book, ''Dersu Uzala'', is a memoir of three expeditions in the

an ''

taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, sp ...

'' (forest) of Northern Asia along the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...

and North to

. The book is named after Arseniev's guide, an Ussurian native of the

Goldi The Nanai people are a Tungusic people of East Asia who have traditionally lived along Heilongjiang (Amur), Songhuajiang (Sunggari) and Wusuli River on the Middle Amur Basin. The ancestors of the Nanai were the Jurchens of northernmost Manch ...

tribe (referred to as the Nanai people today). Eventually the book was made into two films, one by Soviet director

Agasi Babayan Agasi Babayan ( hy, Աղասի Բաբայան, 21 December 1921 in Azatavan, Armenian SSR, USSR – November 17, 1995) was an Armenian director, screenwriter, and actor.

in 1961, the other by Japanese filmmaker

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

in 1975. Kurosawa's ''Dersu Uzala'' won that year's

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

for Best Foreign-Language Film. The third book of Arsenyev's trilogy, ''In the Sikhote-Alin mountains'', was published posthumously in 1937. Arsenyev's books have been translated into multiple languages including English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese, and more. The "Dersu Uzala trilogy" was first translated in 1924 into German as a two-volume set (''In der Wildnis Ostsibiriens''). More recently, in 2016 an uncensored, annotated edition of 1921's ''Across the Ussuri Kray'' was translated to English.

Personal life

Arseniev died in 1930 in

at the age of 57. His widow, Margarita Nikolaevna Arsenieva, was arrested in 1934 and again in 1937 after being accused of being a member of an underground organization of spies and saboteurs allegedly headed by her late husband. The military court hearing of the case (21 August 1938) lasted ten minutes and sentenced her to death. She was executed immediately. Arsenyev's daughter Natalya also was arrested in April 1941 and sentenced to the

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the State Political Directorate, GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= ...

Legacy

Arsenyev’s family home in

has been made into a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

Arsenyev Arsenyev (russian: Арсе́ньев) is a town in Primorsky Krai, Russia, located about northeast of Vladivostok, the administrative center of the krai. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 56,750. It was previously known as ''Semyo ...

, a town located in

Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai (russian: Приморский край, r=Primorsky kray, p=prʲɪˈmorskʲɪj kraj), informally known as Primorye (, ), is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia, located in the Far East region of the country and is a part of t ...

, was named after him. In 2018 Vladivostok International Airport was renamed after him.

Works

*"По Уссурийскому краю (Дерсу Узала). Путешествие в горную область "Сихотэ-Алинь" (''Po Ussuriyskomu Krayu'') (Vladivostok 1921), the first book of Dersu Uzala trilogy. *"Дерсу Узала Из воспоминаний о путешествиях по Уссурийскому краю в 1907 г. Владивосток" (''Dersu Uzala'') (1923). *"Dersu Uzala" translated by Malcolm Burr as "Dersu the trapper." Kingston, N.Y.: McPherson & Company, 1996. *"В горах Сихотэ-Алиня" (In the Sikhote-Alin Mountains), the third book of the Dersu-Uzala trilogy, published posthumously in 1937 *"Мифы, легенды, предания и сказки народов Дальнего Востока" (''Mify, legendy, predaniya i skazki narodov Dal'nego Vostoka'') (Myths, legends, traditions, and fables of peoples of Far East). Monograph Series, International Institute of Ethnolinguistic and Oriental Studies (IIEOS), ; 10,

References

External links

Article about Vladimir Arsenyev
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arsenyev, Vladimir 1872 births 1930 deaths Writers from Saint Petersburg People from Sankt-Peterburgsky Uyezd Imperial Russian Army officers Russian travel writers Russian explorers Explorers of Siberia Primorsky Krai Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 3rd class Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 4th class Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 3rd class Russian people of the Boxer Rebellion Russian people of the Russo-Japanese War