Overview

Between 1869 and 1884, Russian explorer Nikolay Przhevalsky (1839-1888) conducted a number of expeditions of exploration into central Asia. During these expeditions he helped to chart the interior of Siberia, Mongolia, and China. He made a number of important natural history discoveries, including the last discovered species of wild horse and wild camel. He became the first European since Marco Polo (1254-1324) to visit Lop Nor in China and he was the first European to explore the upper portions of the Huang Ho River, a river important in Chinese history and folklore for over three thousand years.

Background

During the first part of the nineteenth century Russia was not a large nation. However, like the United States, it had a large expanse of land, stretching to the...