Johann Anton Güldenstädt (26 April 1745 in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

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– 23 March 1781 in St. Petersburg,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

) was a

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

in Russian service. Güldenstädt lost both his parents early, and from 1763 onwards studied

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. At the age of 22, he obtained his doctorate in

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

at the University of Frankfurt in 1767. In the following year, he joined the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences' expedition sent by

Catherine II of Russia Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

to explore the Russian empire's southern frontier. Güldenstädt travelled through

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and the

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

region, as well as the northern

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

and

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, both of which were almost entirely beyond the borders of the Russian empire. In March 1775 he returned to

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. The results of the expedition and Güldenstädt's edited expedition journal were published after his death by

Peter Simon Pallas Peter Simon Pallas Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (22 September 1741 – 8 September 1811) was a Prussia, Prussian zoologist, botanist, Ethnography, ethnographer, Exploration, explorer, Geography, geographer, Geology, geologist, Natura ...

in ''Reisen durch Russland und im Caucasischen Gebürge'' (Travels in Russia and the Mountains of the Caucasus) (1787–1791). The expedition contributed greatly to the fields of

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

, and particularly

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

. Güldenstädt took detailed notes on the languages of the region. After the expedition, which definitively established Güldenstädt's reputation at the Academy, he continued to work as a naturalist. Güldenstädt's expedition was the first systematic study of the Caucasus. As was typical of contemporary expeditions organized in the spirit of the Enlightenment (including the later American

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...

), it was tasked with the observation and description of virtually every aspect of the region under study. This included both its "natural" attributes —

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

, geography, and

— and its peoples, economy, and government. In this sense it was both a scientific expedition and a mission of reconnaissance to learn more about a region that was important in the simultaneous Russian war with the Ottomans, of which the Caucasus was a theater, with the Georgians acting as Russian allies. Immediately following the expedition, Russian interest in the region, particularly Georgia, grew markedly, culminating in the Treaty of Georgievsk, which made East Georgia a Russian protectorate. In 1781, he died from an outbreak of fever in St. Petersburg.

Legacy

Güldenstädt first described the jungle cat in 1776 in his article ''Chaus – Animal feli adfine descriptum''.Güldenstädt, J.A. (1776) ''Chaus – Animal feli adfine descriptum''. Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae, Vol 20, St. Petersburg. Pp. 483
He is commemorated in the names of: *

Güldenstädt's redstart Güldenstädt's redstart (''Phoenicurus erythrogastrus'') also sometimes called the white-winged redstart, is a species of bird in the genus ''Phoenicurus'', family Muscicapidae. It is found in the high mountains of the southwestern and central P ...

Publications

* ''Chaus – Animal feli adfine descriptum''. Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae Volume 20, St. Petersburg 1776. Pp. 483 * ''Reisen durch Rußland und im Caucasischen Gebürge.'' Russisch-Kayserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften (Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences). St. Petersburg
Volume 1, 1787Volume 2, 1791

Путешествие по Кавказу в 1770–1773 гг
(''Puteshestvie po Kavkazu v 1770-1773 gg''). Translated by T. K. Shafranovskaia. St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoe Vostokovedenie, 2002.

References

* Gnucheva, V. F. et al. 1940. ''Materialy dlia istorii ekspeditsii Akademii nauk v XVIII i XIX vekakh: khronologicheskie obzory i opisanie arkhivnykh materialov.'' Moscow: Izdatelstvo Akademii nauk SSSR. * Kopelevich, Iudif’ Khaimovna 1997. ''Iogann Anton Gil’denshtedt, 1745-1781''. Moscow: Nauka. * Kosven, Mark Osipovich 1955. “Materialy po istorii etnografii Kavkaza v russkoi nauke”. Kavkazskii etnograficheskii sbornik. Vols. I, III. Ed. V. K. Gardanov. Moscow: Izdatelstvo Akademii nauk SSSR. I, Pp. 272–290. II, Pp. 267–281 * Lavrov, L. I. 1976. “K 250-letiiu akademicheskogo kavkazovedeniia v Rossii.” Kavkazskii etnograficheskii sbornik. Vol. VI. Ed. V. K. Gardanov. Moscow: Izdatelstvo Akademii nauk SSSR. Pp. 3–10 {{DEFAULTSORT:Guldenstadt, Johann Anton 1745 births 1781 deaths 18th-century scientists from the Russian Empire 18th-century Latvian people Ornithologists from the Russian Empire Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire Scientists from Riga Biologists from the Russian Empire Explorers of the Caucasus Kurdologists Caucasologists from the Russian Empire

Legacy

Publications

See also

References