fl. 1466-1472

Earliest known Russian visitor to India. During the period 1466-1472, Nikitin traveled south from his homeland, through the Indian subcontinent and Persia. His account of his travels, Khozhdeniye za tri morya (Journey Beyond Three Seas), became one of the early classics in the then-nascent Russian literary tradition. Known as the "Russian Marco Polo," Nikitin was celebrated with a monument in his hometown of Tver on the Volga River, as well as a commemorative coin issued by the Russian government in 1997.