Geographical objects visited by Athanasius Nikitin. Report: Nikitin Afanasy

, Merchant

Nikitin Athanasius (died 1475) - Tver merchant, traveler, the first European to visit India (a quarter of a century before Vasco da Gama opened the way to this country), author of the Journey across the Three Seas.

The year of birth of A. Nikitin is unknown. Information about what forced this merchant to undertake a risky and long journey to the East in the late 1460s, towards three seas: the Caspian, Arabian and Black, is extremely scarce. He described it in his notes, entitled Journey beyond the three seas.

And I went to Derbent, and from Derbent to Baku ... The Busurman dogs lied to me, they told me that there was a lot of all our goods, but it turned out that there was nothing on our land, all the goods were white on the Busurman land, pepper and paints - this cheap, but the duties are high and there are many robbers on the sea.

Nikitin Athanasius

The exact start date of the trip is also not known. In the 19th century I.I. Sreznevsky dated it 1466-1472, modern Russian historians (V.B. Perkhavko, L.S. Semenov) believe the exact date is 1468-1474. According to their data, a caravan of several ships, uniting Russian merchants, set off from Tver along the Volga in the summer of 1468. The experienced merchant Nikitin had previously visited distant countries more than once - Byzantium, Moldavia, Lithuania, Crimea - and returned safely home with overseas goods. This journey also began smoothly: Athanasius received a letter from the Grand Duke Tverskoy Mikhail Borisovich, intending to develop extensive trade in the area of modern Astrakhan (this message gave some historians reason to see the Tver merchant as a secret diplomat, a scout of the Tver prince, but there is no documentary evidence of this).

In Nizhny Novgorod, for security reasons, Nikitin was supposed to join the Russian embassy of Vasily Papin, but he had already gone south, and the trade caravan did not find him. Having waited for the Tatar ambassador Shirvan Khasan-bek to return from Moscow, Nikitin set off with him and other merchants two weeks later than planned. Near Astrakhan, a caravan of embassy and merchant ships was robbed by local robbers - the Astrakhan Tatars, not counting that one of the ships was sailing "his own" and, moreover, an ambassador. They took away from the merchants all the goods purchased on credit: returning to Russia without goods and without money threatened with a debt hole. Comrades Athanasius and he himself, in his words, “weeping, but they dispersed in some places: whoever has something in Russia, and he went to Russia; and who should, and he went where his eyes carried.

The desire to improve things with the help of intermediary trade drove Nikitin further south. Through Derbent and Baku, he got to Persia, crossed it from Chapakur on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea to Hormuz on the Persian Gulf and sailed across the Indian Ocean to India by 1471. There he spent three whole years, visiting Bidar, Junkar, Chaul, Dabhol and other cities. He did not make any money, but was enriched by indelible impressions.

I met many Indians and declared to them my faith that I was not a Busurman, but a Christian, and they did not hide from me either about their food, or about trade, or about prayers, and they did not hide their wives from me; I asked everyone about their faith, and they say: we believe in Adam, and Booth is Adam and his whole family. There are 84 faiths in India, and everyone believes in Bout, and faith with faith does not drink, does not eat, does not marry. India occupied a special place in his notes: “And here there is an Indian country, and people all go naked, but their heads are not covered, and their breasts are bare, and their hair is braided in one braid, and everyone walks around with their belly, and children are born every year, and they have many children. And the men and women are all naked, and all are black. Wherever I go, sometimes there are many people behind me, but they marvel at the white man ...

Nikitin Athanasius

On the way back in 1474, Nikitin happened to visit the coast of East Africa, in the "Ethiopian land", reach Trebizond, then end up in Arabia. Through Iran and Turkey, he reached the Black Sea. Arriving in Kafa (Feodosia, Crimea) in November, Nikitin did not dare to go further to his native Tver, deciding to wait for the spring merchant caravan. His health was undermined by the long journey.

Perhaps in India he acquired some chronic disease. In Kaffa, Afanasy Nikitin, apparently, met and became close friends with wealthy Moscow "guests" (merchants) Stepan Vasiliev and Grigory Zhuk. When their united caravan set off (most likely in March 1475), it was warm in the Crimea, but as they moved north, the weather became colder. The undermined health of A. Nikitin made itself felt and he died unexpectedly. The place of his burial is conventionally considered to be Smolensk.

Wanting to tell others what he had seen himself, A. Nikitin kept travel notes, which he gave a literary form and gave the title Journey beyond the Three Seas. Judging by them, he carefully studied the life, life and occupations of the peoples of Persia and India, drew attention to the state system, government, religion (he described the worship of the Buddha in the sacred city of Parvat), spoke about diamond mines, trade, weapons, mentioned exotic animals - snakes and monkeys, the mysterious bird “gukuk”, supposedly foreshadowing death, etc. His notes testify to the breadth of the author’s outlook, friendly attitude towards foreign peoples and the customs of those countries where he visited. A businesslike, energetic merchant and traveler not only looked for goods needed by the Russian land, but carefully observed and accurately described life and customs.

O faithful Christians! Who often swims in many lands, falls into many sins and loses the Christian faith.

Nikitin Athanasius

He vividly and interestingly described the nature of exotic India. However, as a merchant, Nikitin was disappointed with the results of the trip: “The infidel dogs deceived me: they talked about a lot of goods, but it turned out that there was nothing for our land ... Pepper and paint were cheap. Some carry goods by sea, while others do not pay duties for them, but they will not let us carry [anything] without duty. And the duty is large, and there are many robbers on the sea.

Missing his native land, feeling uncomfortable in foreign lands, A. Nikitin sincerely urged to admire the “Russian land”: “God save the Russian land! There is no country like it in this world. And although the nobles of the Russian land are not just, may the Russian land be settled and may there be [enough] justice in it! Unlike a number of European travelers of that time (Nicola de Conti and others), who adopted Mohammedanism in the East, Nikitin was faithful to Christianity to the end ("he did not leave his faith in Russia"), he gave all moral assessments of mores and customs, based on the categories Orthodox morality, while remaining religiously tolerant.

The walk of A. Nikitin testifies to the author's erudition, his command of business Russian speech and at the same time very receptive to foreign languages. He cited in his notes many local - Persian, Arabic and Turkic - words and expressions, gave them a Russian interpretation.

The walking, delivered by someone in 1478 to Moscow to the deacon of the Grand Duke Vasily Mamyrev, after the death of their author, was soon included in the chronicle of 1488, which in turn was included in the Sofia Second and Lvov Chronicles. Walking has been translated into many languages of the world. In 1955, a monument was erected to its author in Tver on the banks of the Volga, at the place where he set off "over the three seas." The monument was erected on a round platform in the form of a boat, the bow of which is decorated with a horse's head.

In 2003, the monument was opened in Western India. The seven-meter stele, lined with black granite, on four sides of which inscriptions in Russian, Hindi, Marathi and English are engraved with gold, was designed by a young Indian architect Sudip Matra and built with local donations with the financial participation of the administrations of the Tver region and the city of Tver.

Afanasy Nikitin - quotes

O faithful Christians! Who often swims in many lands, falls into many sins and loses the Christian faith.

Nikitin Athanasius (d. 1475, ca. Smolensk) - Tver merchant, traveler. In 1466 he went with the goods to the "Shirvan land" to the North. Caucasus. Near Astrakhan, the caravan Nikitin Athanasius was robbed by the Nogai Tatars. Not wanting to return home to become a serf for debts, Nikitin Athanasius "went from many troubles to India", where he got after many hardships in 1469. Often without funds and at the risk of his life, he traveled around the country for three years, talking about its management, -ve, religion, life, nature in the essay "Journey Beyond the Three Seas", which has become not only an accurate source of information about India, but also a monument of ancient Russian. literature, translated into many languages. The circumstances of the death of Nikitin Afanasy on the way back to his homeland are unknown.

There is no other biographical information about Afanasy Nikitin, except that he was a merchant from the city of Tver. Traveled to Persia, India (1466-1474). On the way back I visited the African coast (Somalia), Muscat, Turkey. Travel notes "Journey beyond three seas" (the exact name of the diary) is a valuable geographical document and a literary and historical monument. In them, the author tells the story of his wanderings along the Caucasian coast of the Caspian Sea, Persia, India, Turkey, Crimea and southern Russia.

In the summer of 1466, merchants from Tver set off on two ships for overseas trade on a long voyage: down the Volga across the Derbenskoye or Khvalynskoye sea - as the Caspian Sea was called in the old days.

Afanasy Nikitin was chosen as the head of the caravan. The caravan sailed past Kalyazin, Uglich, Kostroma, Plyos. The short lines of the diary say that the path along the Volga was familiar to Nikitin. In Nizhny Novgorod - a long stop. It was not safe to sail along the Volga at that time: the Tatars attacked.

In Nizhny Novgorod, Russian merchants joined the Shirvan embassy returning from Moscow to their homeland, headed by Hasanbek.

The caravan sailed "watchfully and cautiously." Safely passed Kazan and other Tatar cities, but in the Volga delta they were attacked by a detachment of the Astrakhan Khan Kasim. The merchants took up arms. The Tatars "shot one of ours, and we shot two of them," Nikitin reports. Unfortunately, one boat got stuck in a fishing lane and the other ran aground. The Tatars plundered these ships and captured four Russians.

The surviving two ships entered the Caspian Sea. A smaller vessel, on which there were "6 Muscovites and 6 Tver", was wrecked during a storm and thrown aground near Tarkha (Makhachkala). The inhabitants of the kaitaki coast plundered the goods, and captured the people.

Afanasy Nikitin with ten Russian merchants, being on the embassy ship, safely reached Derbent. First of all, he began to fuss about the release of prisoners. His troubles were crowned with success: a year later the merchants were released. But the kaytaki goods were not returned.

Nikitin was one of those merchants who borrowed goods for overseas trade, and the loss of goods threatened him in his homeland not only with disgrace, but also with a debt hole.

In September 1468, Nikitin sailed from Baku to the Caspian Persian region of Mazanderan, and then, having crossed the Elburz mountains, moved south. He traveled slowly, sometimes for a month he lived in some village, engaged in trade. In the spring of 1469, he reached the "shelter of Gurmyz", as he calls Hormuz - a large and busy port where trade routes from Asia Minor, Egypt, India and China intersected. Goods from Hormuz also reached Russia, the "Gurmyzh grains" (pearls) were especially famous. Having learned that horses are being exported from here to India, which are "not born" there and are very expensive, the tverik bought a good horse and from Gurmyz "... you went beyond the Indian Sea ..." On April 23, 1471, Nikitin boarded a ship and across six weeks arrived in the Indian city of Chaul.

India amazed him. Not even the earth itself, so unlike his native places, but people - dark-skinned, naked, barefoot. Only those who are richer and more knowledgeable have a veil on their heads and hips - a piece of matter, but everyone, even the poor, has either gold earrings or bracelets on their arms and legs, and around the neck - jewelry is also made of gold. Nikitin was perplexed: if there is gold, why don't they buy at least some clothes to cover their nakedness? But in Chaul he failed to profitably sell his horse, and in June he went through the Western Ghats inland, 200 miles from the sea, to the east, to a small town in the upper Sina (Krishna basin), and from there to the northwest, to Junnar - a fortress standing on a high mountain, east of Bombay. Asad Khan, the governor of Junnar, was seduced by an excellent horse and ordered to take it by force. In addition, having learned that the stallion belonged to a non-Christian, Asad Khan summoned the Rusin to his palace and promised to return the stallion and weigh a thousand gold coins in addition if the stranger agreed to convert to the Mohammedan faith. But no, you won’t see a stallion like that, and he will sell himself into slavery.

Khan took four days to think. Nikitin was saved by chance - an old acquaintance, Mohammed, who happened to meet by chance, helped with his petition. Khan showed that he could be merciful: he did not force him to change his faith and returned the stallion.

Nikitin went to India in the hope of taking goods to Russia, "but there is nothing on our land."

After waiting for the roads to dry up after the rainy season, in September, he led the stallion even further, over 400 versts, to Bidar, the capital of the Besermen (Muslim) state of Bahmani, which then owned almost the entire Deccan to the Krishna River in the south - "a large, crowded city" . Then he went further - to Alland, where a large fair opened and where he hoped to profitably sell the stallion. Only in vain did he count on this: twenty thousand horses gathered at the fair, and Nikitin did not succeed in selling his stallion.

Only in Bidar, in December 1471, did he finally sell the stallion. In 1472, Athanasius went from Bidar to the sacred city of Parvat, on the right bank of Krishna, where the pilgrims went to the festival of the night dedicated to the god Shiva (Siva). The traveler notes that this city is as sacred for the Brahmin Indians as Mecca is for the Muslims, and Jerusalem is for the Orthodox. Up to 100 thousand people gathered for this big holiday.

From Parvat, Afanasy Nikitin again returned to Bidar, which he left in April 1473. After spending five months in one of the cities of the "diamond" region of Raichur, he decided to return "to Russia".

Nikitin was disappointed with the results of the trip: “The infidel dogs deceived me: they talked about a lot of goods, but it turned out that there was nothing for our land ... Pepper and paint are cheap. Some carry goods by sea, while others do not pay duties for it. But they won’t let us carry it without a duty. And the duty is large, and there are a lot of robbers on the sea" , died [at the end of 1474 - beginning of 1475], and wrote the scripture with his own hand, and his handwritten notebooks were brought by guests [merchants] to Moscow ... "The notebooks, written by Nikitin's hand, ended up in Moscow, to the clerk of the Grand Duke Vasily Mamyrev. He immediately realized what value they represent - after all, before Nikitin, Russian people were not in India. In the 16th-17th centuries, The Journey was repeatedly copied: at least six copies have come down to us.

Date of Birth: --
Date of death: 1472 (1475) year.
Place of birth: Russian Empire.

Afanasy Nikitin- traveler, experienced merchant and the first European to visit India. Also Nikitin known for his notes "Journey Beyond the Three Seas".

History has preserved little information about Athanasius, the date and place of his birth, parents and childhood. The first historical records refer to his journey to the three seas of the Black, Caspian and Arabian, which is described in his notes.

It was not possible to restore the exact date of departure for the trip. Russian traders who traveled in the same direction as Athanasius set out on their journey from Tver in several ships.

Athanasius by that time was an experienced merchant and traveler, because he had to visit such countries as Byzantium, Lithuania, Moldova and Crimea more than once. A safe return home was accompanied by the importation of overseas goods.

Athanasius had big plans for the development of trade in the areas of present-day Astrakhan, for which he received support and a letter from Prince Mikhail Borisovich of Tverskoy. In this regard, he could be considered as a secret diplomat or scout of the prince, but there is no historical data on this subject.

After arriving at Nizhny Novgorod travelers were supposed to join Vasily Papin and the Russian embassy, but the trade caravan did not have time for their departure to the south.

The continuation of the journey was delayed for two weeks and continued with the Tatar ambassador Shirvan Hasan-bek. And near Astrakhan, all the ships were looted by Tatar robbers.

Returning to Russia promised to fall into a debt hole. Therefore, the comrades of Athanasius were divided: those who had at least something at home returned to Russia, and the rest dispersed wherever their eyes looked.

Nikitin, on the other hand, did not give up hope of improving his affairs and continued his journey to the south. He passed through Baku and Persia, then reached the Indian Ocean. But already in India, Nikitin spent 3 years. He visited many cities in India, saw a lot, but failed to make money.

It was a long journey back to the Crimea. Athanasius traveled through Africa, he also visited the Ethiopian lands, reached Trebizond and Arabia. Then, having overcome Iran, and then Turkey, he returned to the Black Sea.

And having stopped in Cafe (Crimea), in November 1974 he decided to wait for the spring trade caravan, because poor health made it impossible to travel in winter.

During a long stay in the Cafe, Nikitin managed to get to know and establish close relations with wealthy Moscow merchants, among whom were Grigory Zhukov and Stepan Vasiliev. When it became warm in the Crimea, their united large caravan set off. The undermined health of Athanasius made itself felt more and more. Because of what he died and was buried near Smolensk.

The desire to share his impressions, observations and experiences resulted in his travel notes. Here one can clearly see well-read and competent knowledge of not only Russian business speech but also a good perception foreign languages.

In his notes, Athanasius often uses local expressions of the countries he managed to visit, and after them he gives his interpretation in Russian.

His notes indicate not only the differences in nature and outlandish animals, but also the differences in customs, way of life and political system. Athanasius also visited the sacred city of Parvata, where Buddha is worshipped. Studied local religion and government. His notes testify to the broad outlook and friendliness of the author to foreign countries and peoples.

Despite the wonderful and interesting descriptions India, Persia and other countries his records do not hide his disappointment at the lack of the promised variety of goods. Missing the Russian land, Athanasius could not feel comfortable in foreign lands.

Despite the injustice of the Russian nobles, Nikitin glorified the Russian land. Until the last, the traveler kept the Christian religion, and all assessments of manners and customs were based on Orthodox morality.

Afanasy Nikitin's achievements:

Dates from the biography of Afanasy Nikitin:

1468 start of journey across 3 seas
1471 arrival in India
1474 returned to Crimea
1475 died

Interesting facts from the life of a Tver merchant and traveler are presented in this article.

Afanasy Nikitin interesting facts

1. Afanasy Nikitin was the first Russian traveler to visit Persia and India. Returning from these countries, the traveler visited Turkey, Somalia and Muscat.

2. Nikitin discovered the eastern countries 25 years before the travels of Vasco da Gama and many other travelers.

3. Afanasiev's famous travel notes "Journey Beyond Three Seas", this is a wayward reference book that describes in detail the way of life, as well as the political structure of countries in the East. In Russia, these manuscripts were the first to describe the sea for the purpose of narrating about trade. Interestingly, the author considered his notes a sin.

4. Three years of travel for Afanasy Nikitin were not in vain - he learned foreign languages. In his notes there are Persian, Arabic and even Turkic words.

5. Nikitin's personal life is still a mystery to scientists. It is unknown if he had a wife and children.

6. Nikitin is not the name of a traveler at all. There were no surnames back then. This is his patronymic, that is, Athanasius, son of Nikita.

7. He described Calcutta, Ceylon and Indochina, which were not previously known.

8. Afanasia Nikitin came from a poor family. And the main reason why he went on trips was to improve the financial situation of the family through trade with foreign merchants.

Afanasy Nikitin (born in 1433 - died around 1474, near Smolensk) - Russian traveler, Tver merchant, writer.

life path

It is believed that Athanasius comes from a peasant family. Note that "Nikitin" is a patronymic, not a surname.

From 1468 to 1474 Afanasy Nikitin traveled in India, Persia and Turkey. Thanks to these wanderings, the famous travel records appeared, known as "Journey beyond the three seas." These notes became the first description of a commercial trip in Russian literature. In this work, you can find many interesting observations about the economy, political structure and culture. Eastern countries. In addition, Nikitin describes the beauties of nature, the splendor of palaces, the manners and appearance of the locals.

Nikitin set off on a journey from Tver. He was carrying Russian goods, hoping to profitably sell them on the shores of the Caspian Sea. But already at the mouth of the Volga, he was robbed by the Astrakhan Tatars. Despite this, he decided to continue his wanderings. In addition, the goods were borrowed. The Tver merchant went to overseas lands to earn enough money to repay his debts. First he went to Baku, then moved to the south, where he traded and studied languages. Around 1469, Nikitin reached Hormuz, a major port located at the crossroads of trade routes from Asia Minor, India, Egypt, and China. He then traveled around India for several years.

In the Journey you can find a lot Muslim prayers and Arabic-Persian vocabulary, so some scholars have put forward the opinion that Athanasius converted to Islam in India. But the traveler himself in his notes always denied this. Note that as a merchant Athanasius was not successful. Nikitin returned to his homeland through Persia and Trebizond. He also visited Kafa (Feodosia). But Nikitin never made it home, dying near Smolensk.

In 1475 Nikitin's manuscript ended up with Vasily Momyrev, a Moscow clerk. Subsequently, its text was included in the Chronicle of 1489 and duplicated in the Lvov and Sofia chronicles. In addition, Nikitin's notes were preserved in the Trinity collection of the 15th century. Later, in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, Nikitin's notes were discovered by N. Karamzin. It was he who published their excerpts in 1818 in the notes to the 6th volume of the History of the Russian State. And in 1821, the full text of Nikitin's notes was published by P. Stroev in the edition of the Sofia Chronicle.

Memory of the great Russian traveler

In 2008, a monument to A. Nikitin was erected in Feodosia. In addition, in this city there is a street and lane named after him.

In Tver there is an embankment of Athanasius Nikitin. In 1955, a monument to Nikitin was erected here (sculptors A. Zavalov and S. Orlov).

The name of Afanasy Nikitin is the name of the top of the mountain range, which is located in the waters of the Indian Ocean (not far from the equator).

The name of Afanasy Nikitin is carried by a motor ship, branded passenger train Russian Railways and Airbus A320 VP-BQU (Russian Airlines).

The Aquarium group wrote the song "Afanasy Nikitin Boogie".

Since 1994, Afanasy beer has been produced in Tver. Its label depicts a merchant.

In 1958, the film "Journey Beyond Three Seas" was released, the role of Nikitin was played by O. Strizhenov.