Maria Pronchishcheva (russian: Мария Прончищева; before 1713 – ), also known as Tatiana Fyodorovna Pronchishcheva (russian: Татьяна Фёдоровна Прончищева), was a Russian explorer. She is considered the first female polar explorer.

Life

Tatiana Kondyreva was born in Beryozovo near

Aleksin Aleksin (russian: Але́ксин) is a town and the administrative center of Aleksinsky District in Tula Oblast, Russia, located northwest of Tula, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: History It was founded at the end of th ...

in the family of Fyodor Stepanovich Kondyrev. In 1721, her family moved to

Kronstadt Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for "crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of ...

, where Tatiana met

Vasili Pronchishchev Vasili Vasilyevich Pronchishchev (russian: Василий Васильевич Прончищев) (1702–) was a Russian explorer. In 1718, Vasili Pronchishchev graduated from Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation and was promoted to nava ...

. They married in May 1733. Soon Tatiana joined her husband in 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 ...

. In 1735, Pronchishcheva and her husband Vasili Pronchishchev went down the

Lena River The Lena (russian: Ле́на, ; evn, Елюенэ, ''Eljune''; sah, Өлүөнэ, ''Ölüöne''; bua, Зүлхэ, ''Zülkhe''; mn, Зүлгэ, ''Zülge'') is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean ...

from

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 of ...

on Vasili's

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

''Yakutsk'', doubled its delta, and stopped for wintering at the mouth of the

Olenyok River The Olenyok (russian: Оленёк, sometimes spelled ''Оленек'', ''Olenek''; sah, Өлөөн, Ölöön) is a major river in northern Siberian Russia, west of the lower Lena and east of the Anabar. It is long, of which around is navigable. ...

. Many members of the crew fell ill and died, mainly owing to

scurvy Scurvy is a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, feeling tired and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, changes to hair, and bleeding ...

. Despite the difficulties, in 1736, they reached the eastern shore of the

Taymyr Peninsula The Taymyr Peninsula (russian: Таймырский полуостров, Taymyrsky poluostrov) is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of the mainland of Eurasia. Administrati ...

and went north along its coastline. However, Pronchishcheva and her husband succumbed to scurvy and died on the way back.Historical data
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Name

Pronchishcheva is not mentioned in either her husband's reports or the ones of Chelyuskin, Bering or Chirikov. Even the record of her death in the logbook of ''Yakutsk'' does not contain her first name. In 1913, the

Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition The Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition (GESLO) (1910–1915) was a scientific expedition organized by Russia for the purpose of the development of the Northern Sea Route. This expedition accomplished its goal of exploring the uncharted areas ...

named the cape at the entrance to one of the nameless bays on the Taymyr coast in her honor. It was marked on maps as "m. Pronchishchevoy" (where "m." stands for ''mys'', Russian for cape, and "-oy" ending denotes

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...

). When preparing the map for publication, it was perceived as belonging to the bay and transformed into “ M. Pronchishcheva Bay”. The letter M was decoded into "Maria". Her real name, Tatiana, was revealed in 1983 research by V.V. Bogdanov.

References

1710s births 1736 deaths People from Tula Oblast Explorers of the Arctic Explorers from the Russian Empire Explorers of Asia Explorers of Siberia Laptev Sea 18th-century people from the Russian Empire Female polar explorers Great Northern Expedition 18th-century women from the Russian Empire 18th-century explorers Deaths from scurvy {{Explorer-stub