In a remote corner of the Smolensk region - the town of Sloboda - the famous traveler Przhevalsky met Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov, who was then serving in the office of a merchant.
Przewalski liked the curious young man. This chance meeting changed the life of the young clerk. Kozlov settled in the Przhevalsky estate and under his leadership began to prepare for exams for the course of a real school.
A few months later, the exams were passed. But Przhevalsky enrolled only the military in the expedition. And Pyotr Kuzmich had to enter military service. He served in the regiment for only three months, and then was enrolled in the Przewalski expedition.
This was the fourth expedition of the famous traveler to Central Asia.
On a warm, clear day in the fall of 1883, the expedition caravan left the city of Kyakhta. The young participant of the expedition, Pyotr Kuzmich, wrote in his diary at the very first halt:
"I bless you, the first day of my happiness, cloudless and bright, the only drawback of which was that it flew by so quickly."
The young man knew that the cold of the Mongol steppes, the sandy winds of the Gobi and snow storms on the mountain passes of Tibet awaited them ahead, but this did not darken his joyful mood. The expedition passed through the steppe, desert and mountain passes.
The caravan went down to the valley of the river. Tatunga, a tributary of the Yellow River - the great Yellow River.
"... Handsome Tatung, now formidable and majestic, now quiet and even, kept Przewalski and me on his bank for hours and plunged my teacher into the best mood, into the most sincere stories about the journey," Kozlov wrote.
In the upper reaches of the Yellow River, the expedition was attacked by robbers from a wandering tribe of Tanguts. At dawn, a horse gang of up to 300 people, armed with firearms, suddenly flew into the camp of travelers. It was here that the military routine on the expedition came in handy. In just a minute, the camp turned into a small fortress. The travelers, rifles in hand, hid behind the crates. And the arrows soon repulsed the attack of the robbers.
Petr Kuzmich learned a lot on his first trip. He conducted eye surveys, determined heights and was the first assistant to Przhevalsky in collecting zoological and botanical collections. Przhevalsky gave the young man sometimes difficult assignments and at the same time always demanded quick and accurate execution.
Returning from the expedition to St. Petersburg, Kozlov, on the advice of his friend and teacher, entered a military school. After his graduation, Pyotr Kuzmich, already in the rank of second lieutenant, was again enrolled in the new expedition of Przhevalsky.
While preparing for a campaign in the city of Karakol (now called Przhevalsk), Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky fell ill with typhus and died on November 1, 1888.
Kozlov took this loss hard.
“Tears, bitter tears choked each of us. It seemed to me that such a grief could not be experienced ... and even now it has not been experienced yet, ”wrote Pyotr Kuzmich many years later.
The expedition outlined by Przhevalsky was headed by M.V. Pevtsov. Kozlov made several independent trips this time. The main ones are on the river. Konchedaryu (left tributary of Tarim) and lake. Bagrashkul. He obtained interesting specimens for the zoological collection, described the relief of the area, vegetation, collected materials about the life and life of the population. For his fruitful work on the expedition, the Geographical Society awarded Pyotr Kuzmich with a silver medal named after V.I. Przhevalsky.
In 1893, a Russian expedition set out again deep into Central Asia. It was headed by the students of Przhevalsky - V. I. Roborovsky and P. K. Kozlov.
Officially, Pyotr Kuzmich was listed as Roborovsky's assistant, but he made 12 independent routes. In his rich zoological collection, there were three rare specimens of wild camel skins.
The work plan of the expedition had not yet been fulfilled when Roborovsky was suddenly paralyzed. Peter Kuzmich had to take over the leadership of the expedition.
Kozlov led the caravan through the mountain passes. More than once on the way, I had to fight off the bandit gangs, experience all sorts of hardships, but Kozlov safely completed the work of the expedition, without interrupting the research.
In the spring of 1899, Pyotr Kuzmich set off on a new journey to the Gobi Altai and Eastern Tibet. This was his first independent expedition.
Through the mountain ranges of the Mongolian Altai, the expedition descended into the Gobi Desert. For forty-five days the caravan traveled along the endless sandy sea. But the most important part of the work was the study of Eastern Tibet - the country of Kam. In the summer of 1900, the expedition caravan, replacing the camels with yaks, more adapted to travel in the mountains, reached the country of Kam.
Pyotr Kuzmich carefully explored the headwaters of the greatest Indochina river - the Mekong.
In the highland country, Kam Kozlov was struck by the extraordinary richness of vegetation and the diversity of the animal world. The travelers met new birds unknown to science.
From these places, Kozlov intended to head to the capital of Tibet, Lhasa, but the head of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, categorically opposed this. The expedition had to change the route.
Between the basins of the Mekong and Yangtze rivers, travelers discovered a watershed mountain range, which they named after the Russian Geographical Society.
During their journey, the expedition collected valuable material. The geological collection contained 1200 rock specimens, and the botanical one - 25 thousand plant specimens. The richest was the zoological collection, which contained eight birds unknown to science.
In 1907 Kozlov again led an expedition to the Gobi Desert. The traveler went in search of the ruins of the ancient city of Khara-Khoto, stories about which reminded of legends.
On the familiar path from Kyakhta to Urga (Ulan Bator) in the December days, an expedition caravan set out. One local prince, who made friends with Kozlov, gave his guide.
For a long time, the riders rode through completely deserted places. Only occasionally were there tamarisk and saxaul bushes on the hills. But then one day pointed turrets appeared on the horizon. They stood in twos and threes on the ancient caravan road. These were suburgans - ancient Mongolian gravestones.
Khara-Khoto was surrounded by city walls over 10 m high. In places, the sand almost completely covered them. One could freely ride a horse to the top of the wall and descend into the city. Inside it stretched only sandy hills, which from a distance looked like rows of yellow caps. A structure was hidden under each such hat.
Kozlov plotted Khara-Khoto on the map. The city lay at 41 ° 45 ′ s. NS. and 101 ° 05 ′ east. In ancient times, it was a large center of the Tangut state of Xi-xia, which existed in the XI-XII and early XIII centuries.
During the excavations, the travelers found money, carpets, fabrics, paintings, metal and pottery, gold jewelry, made with great skill.
The excavation was painfully difficult: there was no water nearby, and it had to be transported on donkeys from the nearest Mongolian camps, located dozens of kilometers from the excavation site. The strong wind carried clouds of dust and sand, making it difficult to breathe. The red-hot stones of ancient buildings at the excavations burned hands. More than once despair gripped Kozlov's companions. But he had a special skill - to encourage and carry everyone with work.
The most remarkable find found at Hara-Khoto was a library of 2,000 books, scrolls and manuscripts that had lain in the sand for seven centuries. There yage found up to three hundred paintings on paper, canvas and silk.
All shades of colors are wonderfully preserved in the paintings. Among the books, a dictionary of the Xi-xia language was discovered, which helped to read the books and parchment scrolls.
Thanks to these discoveries, scientists became aware of the true history of the state of Xi-xia.
Items found during excavations of the dead city of Khara-Hotr are of the greatest value. They are kept in a special section of the Museum of the Academy of Sciences in Leningrad.
The Khara-Khoto excavations brought Kozlov worldwide fame. The Russian Geographical Society elected him an honorary member.
Kozlov dreamed of a new expedition, but in 1914 the world imperialist war broke out, and the trip had to be postponed.
In 1923, the Soviet government instructed Kozlov to organize the Mongol-Tibetan expedition. Petr Kuzmich was already 60 years old, but with youthful fervor and great energy he began to prepare for his journey.
None of Kozlov's campaigns were as well equipped as this first expedition under Soviet rule. Many specialists took part in it.
Kozlov finally managed to get a pass from the Dalai Lama - a "saw" - a half of a silk card with teeth on the edge. The second half of the "saw" was at the mountain guards on the outskirts of the capital of Tibet. But Kozlov's dream of visiting Lhasa did not come true. The British, who were trying to seize Tibet into their own hands, took all measures to prevent the Russians from entering Lhasa.
Kozlov had to change the route. For three years, the expedition studied the nature and history of Mongolia.
In the cities of Northern Mongolia, travelers unearthed ancient burial mounds in which the warlords of the Eastern Huns were buried. Items found during excavations told about the culture of people who lived 2000 years ago.
During this expedition, Pyotr Kuzmich also visited “his brainchild,” as he called Khara-Khoto, in order to continue excavations there.
The Mongolian expedition gave a lot of value for science. In the collection of insects she collected alone, there were up to 30 thousand copies. On the river A previously unknown waterfall was discovered in Ulan.
The great merit of this expedition is the strengthening of cultural and scientific ties with the Mongolian People's Republic.
Returning from a trip, Kozlov lived most of the time in the village of Strechno, near the town of Staraya Russa. Despite his advanced years, he often traveled to different cities, giving reports on his travels. Kozlov was seventy-one years old, but he did not give up the thought of traveling to the Tien Shan.
In 1935 Kozlov died. An unfinished letter remained on the table in his office, in which Pyotr Kuzmich promised the editor of one magazine "to write something in connection, of course, with travel."
The traveler made a great contribution to science by his work. His most remarkable discovery was the dead city of Hara-Khoto in the Gobi Desert.
He led the Mongol-Tibetan (1899-1901 and 1923-1926) and Mongol-Sichuan (1907-1909) expeditions. Discovered the remains of the ancient city of Khara-Khoto, burial mounds of the Huns (including Noin-Ula); collected extensive geographical and ethnographic materials.
Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov was born on October 16, 1863 in the town of Dukhovshchina, Smolensk province. His father was a petty prasol. He was a simple and illiterate person, who did not pay attention to his children, did not care about their education and upbringing. The mother was constantly absorbed in the care of the household. Thus, the boy grew up practically outside the influence of the family. However, due to his inquisitive and inquisitive nature, he early became addicted to books, especially geographical and travel books, which he literally read.
At the age of twelve he was sent to school. At that time, the Russian traveler to Central Asia was in the aura of world fame. Newspapers and magazines were full of reports of his geographical discoveries. His portraits were published in almost all periodicals. Young people enthusiastically read the fascinating descriptions of Przewalski's travels, and more than one young man, reading about the discoveries and exploits of this wonderful traveler, caught fire with the dream of the same exploits. PC. Kozlov eagerly caught everything that was published about Przhevalsky. The articles and books of Przhevalsky himself sparked in him a romantic love for the vastness of Asia, and the personality of the famous traveler in the imagination of the young man took the form of an almost fairytale hero.
At the age of sixteen P.K. Kozlov graduated from a four-grade school and, since he had to earn a living, he entered the office of a brewery 66 kilometers from his native Dukhovshchina, in the town of Sloboda, Porechsky district. Monotonous, uninteresting work in the office of the plant could not satisfy the lively nature of the young man. He eagerly reached out to study and began to prepare for admission to the teacher's institute. But one summer evening in 1882, fate made a different choice. Subsequently, he himself wrote: "That day I will never, never forget, that day is one of the most significant for me."
The young man was sitting on the porch. The first stars flickered in the sky. The endless expanses of the Universe opened up to his eyes, and his thoughts, as always, soared in Central Asia. Immersed in his thoughts, P.K. Kozlov suddenly heard:
What are you doing here, young man?
He looked around and froze with amazement and happiness: in front of him stood Przhevalsky himself, whose image he so well imagined from his portraits. N.M. Przhevalsky came here from his Otradny estate in the same Smolensk province. He was looking for a cozy corner here, in which he could write his books in between travels.
What are you thinking so deeply about? - simply asked Przewalski.
With barely restrained excitement, with difficulty finding the right words, Kozlov replied:
I think that in distant Tibet these stars should seem even more sparkling than here, and I will never, never have to admire them from those distant desert heights ...
Nikolai Mikhailovich was silent, and then quietly said:
So this is what you are thinking, young man! .. Come to me. I want to tell you.
Feeling in Kozlov a person who sincerely loves the work to which he himself was selflessly devoted, Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky took an ardent part in the life of the young man. In the fall of 1882, he settled P.K. Kozlov at his place and began to supervise his training sessions. Przhevalsky enrolled only the military in the expedition, so Kozlov had to enter military service. He served in the regiment for three months, and then was enrolled in the Przewalski expedition. This was the fourth expedition to Central Asia.
The routes of P.K. Kozlov
First trip PC. Kozlov in the expedition of N.M. Przhevalsky's study of Kunlun, Northern Tibet and Eastern Turkestan was a brilliant practical school for him. Under the leadership of N.M. Przhevalsky, an experienced and enlightened researcher, he received a good training, so necessary to overcome the harsh conditions of the harsh nature of Central Asia, and even a baptism of fire in the fight against the outnumbered armed forces of the population, which was repeatedly pitted against a handful of Russian travelers by local lamas.Returning from his first trip (1883-1885), P.K. Kozlov entered a military school, after which he was promoted to officer.
Returning from the expedition to St. Petersburg, Kozlov, on the advice of his teacher, entered a military school. After his graduation, Pyotr Kuzmich, already in the rank of second lieutenant, was again enrolled in the new expedition of Przhevalsky.
In the fall of 1888 P.K. Kozlov went along with N.M. Przhevalsky in his second trip... However, at the very beginning of this journey near the city of Karakol (near Lake Issyk-Kul), the head of the expedition N.M. Przewalski fell ill and died soon after. He was buried, as requested, on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul.
P.K. Kozlov made detailed descriptions of numerous physical and geographical objects of the route - lakes (including Lake Kukunor, which lies at an altitude of 3.2 km and has a circumference of 385 km), the sources of the Mekong and Yalongjiang rivers (a large tributary of the Yangtze River) , a number of the greatest mountains, including two powerful ridges in the Kunlun system, until then unknown to science. One of them P.K. Kozlov named the Dutreil-de-Rance ridge, after the famous French traveler in Central Asia, who had died shortly before that at the hands of the Tibetans in these places, and the other - the Woodville-Rockhill ridge, in honor of the English traveler.
In addition, P.K. Kozlov gave brilliant sketches of the economy and life of the population of Central Asia, among which stands out a description of the curious customs of the Tsaidam Mongols with an extremely complex ritual of celebrating the most important events in life - the birth of a child, weddings, funerals, etc. From this expedition P.K. Kozlov brought out an abundant collection of fauna and flora of the traversed areas. During the expedition, travelers more than once had to fight their way through bloody battles with large armed detachments, up to 250-300 people, set on the expedition by local lamas. The almost two-year isolation of the expedition from the outside world was the reason for the persistent rumor about its complete death, which reached St. Petersburg.
After this trip, the name of Kozlov became widely known. The Russian Geographical Society awards him with the Constantine Gold Medal. In addition to major geographical discoveries and magnificent collections - botanical and zoological, he studied little-known and unknown East Tibetan tribes inhabiting the upper reaches of the Yellow River, Yangtzejiang and Mekong. This expedition is described by Kozlov in his two-volume work "Mongolia and Kam", "Kam and the Return Way".
In 1907-1909. PC. Kozlov did his fifth journey(Mongol-Sichuan expedition) on the route from Kyakhta to Urga (Ulan Bator) and further into the interior of Central Asia. It was marked by the discovery in the Gobi sands of the dead city of Hara-Khoto, which provided archaeological material of great value. Of exceptional importance is the library of 2000 books discovered during the excavations of Khara-Khoto, mainly in the "unknown" language of the state, Xi-Xia, which turned out to be a Tangut language. It was an exceptional discovery: none of the foreign museums or libraries has any significant collection of Tangut books. Even in such a large repository as the British Museum in London, there are only a few Tangut books. Other finds in Khara-Khoto are also of great historical and cultural significance, as they vividly depict many aspects of the culture and life of the ancient Tangut state of Xi-Xia.
Remarkable is the collection of woodcuts (cliches) for printing books and cult images found in Khara-Khoto, indicating the familiarity of the East with book printing hundreds of years before its appearance in Europe.
Of great interest is the collection of printed paper money opened in Khara-Khoto, which is the only collection of paper money of the 13th-14th centuries in the world. Excavations at Hara-Khoto also yielded a rich set of statues, figurines and all kinds of cult figurines and more than 300 Buddhist images, painted on wood, silk, linen and paper.
After the discovery of the dead city of Khara-Khoto, the expedition of P.K. Kozlova carefully studied Lake Kukunor with Koisu Island, and then the vast, little-known area of Amdo in a bend in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. From this expedition, as well as from the previous one, P.K. Kozlov, in addition to valuable geographical material, brought out numerous collections of animals and plants, among which there were many new species and even genera. The fifth journey of P.K. Kozlova is described by him in a large volume entitled "Mongolia and Amdo and the Dead City of Khara-Khoto".
During sixth journey, committed by him in 1923-1926, P.K. Kozlov explored a relatively small area of Northern Mongolia. However, even here he received major scientific results: in the Noin-Ula mountains (130 km north-west of the Mongolian capital Urga, now Ulan Bator) P.K. Kozlov discovered 212 burial grounds, which, according to the research of archaeologists, turned out to be Hunnic burials of 2000 years ago. This was the greatest archaeological discovery of the 20th century. Numerous items were found in the burial grounds, which can be used to restore the economy and life of the Huns during at least the 2nd century. BC NS. to the 1st century n. NS. Among them there was a large number of artistically executed fabrics and carpets from the times of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, which existed from the 3rd century. BC NS. until the II century. n. NS. in the northern part of the modern territory of Iran, in Afghanistan and the northwestern part of India. In terms of the abundance of samples of Greco-Bactrian art, the Noin-Ula collection has no equal in the whole world.
The sixth journey of P.K. Kozlov was the last. After that, he lived in retirement, first in Leningrad, and then 50 km from Staraya Russa (Novgorod region), in the village of Strechno. In this place he built a small two-room log cabin and settled there with his wife. Soon P.K. Kozlov became very popular among local youth. He organized a circle of young naturalists, whom he began to teach the collection of collections, the exact scientific definition of animals and plants, the dissection of birds and animals.
PC. Kozlov was an excellent storyteller and lecturer. In between travels, he often spoke to various audiences with captivating stories about his travels. His appearances in print are no less interesting. Peru P.K. Kozlov owns over 60 works.
Petr Kuzmich Kozlov was world famous as a researcher of Central Asia. The Russian Geographical Society awarded P.K. Kozlov medal named after N.M. Przhevalsky and elected him an honorary member, and in 1928 he was elected a full member by the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. Among the explorers of Central Asia, Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov occupies one of the most honorable places. In the field of archaeological discoveries in Central Asia, he is positively unique among all researchers of the 20th century.
Sources of
Literature
Zhitomirsky S.V. Researcher of Mongolia and Tibet P.K. Kozlov. M., 1989.
Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov was born on October 15, 1863 in the town of Dukhovshchina, Smolensk province, into a poor large family. His father, Kuzma Yegorovich, was engaged in driving cattle from Ukraine to the central provinces of the Russian Empire. Many years later, having become a traveler, Pyotr Kuzmich, recalling joint trips with his father, will say that it was from this that it all began: he was possessed by a dream to visit distant countries. In his autobiography, Kozlov noted: "As far back as I can remember, from my adolescence I was possessed by one dream - of a free wandering life in the wide expanses of deserts, mountains of the great Asian continent."
Peter Kozlov. 1882-1883
After graduating from the city six-grade school in 1878, the young man got a job at the office of a local distillery in the village of Sloboda (now the village of Przhevalskoye, Smolensk region), not far from the estate of Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky, a famous traveler.
N.M. Przhevalsky. 1883 g.
Thanks to a lucky chance, Kozlov met Przhevalsky, who had just returned from his third Central Asian expedition (1879-1880). He saw a kindred spirit in young Peter Kozlov and offered to participate in his new expedition to Central Asia with a visit to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, which was forbidden for Europeans at that time. In the fall of 1882, Kozlov moved to the Przewalski's house and began to prepare for the trip. Since Przhevalsky formed his expeditionary detachment exclusively from the military, Kozlov had to enlist in military service - in 1883, as a volunteer in the 2nd Sofia Infantry Regiment in Moscow. At the age of 19, he set off on his first trip to Central Asia - together with Przhevalsky, which lasted from 1883 to 1885.
4th Central Asian expedition N.M. Przhevalsky. In the foreground are: V.I. Roborovsky, N.M. Przhevalsky and P.K. Kozlov.
This first trip was a serious test for the aspiring explorer. The "winter expedition" to the northern Tibetan plateau, performed with great exertion of physical strength, turned out to be especially difficult. “Colds, storms, thin air made themselves felt even to our strong organisms, recalled Pyotr Kozlov. Only geographical discoveries of great importance - the discovery of new colossal ridges, lakes, which, by the right of the first explorer, Przhevalsky gave his names; successful replenishment of zoological collections with large forms of mammals, only the awareness of the importance of the task eased all difficulties and hardships and helped to explore a significant area not visited before us by any of the Europeans. " Kozlov also took part in a real combat battle for the first time, when the expedition camp was attacked by the Tangut nomads. For his courage, Przhevalsky awarded his assistant with the St.George Cross. Remembering this journey, Kozlov would later write in his autobiographical essay: “From that time on, the study of Central Asia became for me the guiding thread that determined the whole course of my future life. I devoted the years of my settled life in my homeland to improvement in the natural sciences, ethnography and astronomy. "
Upon his return from the expedition, Kozlov graduated from the infantry cadet school in St. Petersburg (1886-1887) and later was closely connected with St. Central and Central Asia.
View of the building of the Russian Geographical Society in St. Petersburg (10 Grivtsova lane).
After Przhevalsky's death in 1888, Kozlov took part in two more travels under the leadership of Mikhail Vasilyevich Pevtsov (1889 - 1890) and Vsevolod Ivanovich Roborovsky (1893 - 1895).
Portraits of M.V. Pevtsov and V.I. Roborovsky.
On behalf of the Russian Geographical Society and the General Staff, in 1905, Kozlov made another very important trip - to Urga (the modern name of Ulan Bator), where he met the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, who fled from his capital city of China to Mongolia after the invasion of Tibet by the British military expedition of Younghusband (Sir Francis Edward Younghusband). Kozlov managed to establish friendly relations with the Buddhist high priest, who openly sought the protection of Tsarist Russia, and, in particular, he had the idea of forming a "Russian convoy" under the Dalai Lama to accompany him back to Lhasa. If this project was implemented, Kozlov became the first Russian traveler to visit the "forbidden Lhasa", but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire unexpectedly rejected this project for political reasons. Four years later, Kozlov managed to meet again with the Dalai Lama - this time at the Gumbum monastery during the Mongol-Sichuan expedition.
Later, Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov led three large independent expeditions - the Mongol-Kama (1899-1901), Mongol-Sichuan (1907-1909) and Tibeto-Mongol (1923-1926). These travels brought Kozlov worldwide fame and wide international recognition. The traveler was elected an honorary member of the geographical societies of Holland (1896) and Hungary (1911), awarded the great gold medal of the Italian Geographical Society, the medal of the Founder of the British Royal Geographical Society, one of the most prestigious in Europe (1911), and the P.A. Chikhachev of the French Academy of Sciences (1913). For its part, the Russian Geographical Society awarded Kozlov with a silver medal of N.M. Przhevalsky for his works on studying the nature of Central Asia, based on the results of the expedition of M.V. Pevtsov in 1891 and then his highest award - the Konstantinovskaya gold medal in 1902, presented to him at the end of the Mongol-Kama expedition.
Petr Kuzmich Kozlov was married twice. The first time was on Nadezhda Stepanovna Kamynina, from whom he had two children - Vladimir and Olga. The second time Kozlov married in 1912, Elizaveta Vladimirovna Pushkareva, daughter of the St. Petersburg doctor Vladimir Iosifovich Pushkarev.
Peter Kuzmich and Elizaveta Vladimirovna Kozlov. 1912 g.
After marrying Elizaveta Vladimirovna, Kozlov finally moved to St. Petersburg from Moscow. The young people settled in house no. 6 on Smolny prospect, near the Smolny Institute, in a small three-room apartment (apt. No. 18), next to the apartment of Elizabeth's parents (apt. No. 32). Later, in 1916, both families united in a spacious seven-room apartment of the Pushkarevs, the same one where the P.K. Kozlov.
After the revolution, Kozlov was actively involved in environmental protection. In 1917 - 1919. he served as the government commissioner for the protection of the Askania-Nova zoo-reserve in the Kherson steppes in southern Russia. The reserve was created at the end of the 19th century by F.E. Falz-Fein on his own estate to preserve endangered species of rare animals. In 1899, thanks to Kozlov's assistance, several individuals of the wild "Przewalski's horse" ( EquusPrzrwalskii) for breeding them in captivity. Currently, such horses can be seen, in addition to Askania-Nova, in zoos in Moscow and Berlin and in the Khustain-Nuruu National Park in Mongolia.
Askania-Nova. 1912-1914
Kozlov's last expedition, the Mongol-Tibetan expedition, took place in 1923-1926, funded and with the active support of the state. This was the first Soviet expedition to Mongolia, which laid the foundation for Soviet-Mongolian scientific cooperation. The traveler's wife, a novice ornithologist, E.V. Kozlova (Pushkareva).
In 1927, shortly after the end of the Mongo-Tibetan expedition, despite his advanced age, P.K. Kozlov began to prepare for a new journey - again to Tibet, to the headwaters of the Blue Yangtze River, in order to erase the "last white spot" on the map of Asia. He was going to go to this lost mountain world in an unusual way - on two airplanes. His ideas, however, were not destined to come true. At the beginning of the winter of 1935, Kozlov fell seriously ill, in the summer he was placed in a sanatorium in Stary Peterhof, where he died of a heart attack a few months later - on September 26, 1935.The famous traveler was buried at the Smolensk Lutheran cemetery, on the site set aside for the burial of prominent figures Soviet science.
Monument at the grave of P.K. Kozlov. Smolenskoe cemetery in St. Petersburg.
Petr Kuzmich Kozlov was remembered by his contemporaries as an unusually courageous and strong-willed man, purposeful and at the same time ambitious, deeply in love with nature, a patriot of his homeland. All his life he remained a zealous follower of his teacher N.M. Przhevalsky, his principles of organizing expeditions and the method of field research - route reconnaissance. Kozlov's military career ended at the end of 1916, when he was awarded the rank of major general, and thus he stood on a par with his famous teachers "geographical generals" - Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky and Mikhail Vasilyevich Pevtsov.
The scientific merits of Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov are great. His main achievements in the field of geography are the mountain ranges, lakes and rivers of the Tibetan Plateau, Amdo and Kama, Mongolia and East Turkestan (Xinjiang) that he discovered, described and mapped. His scientific and natural collections (zoological and botanical) are no less valuable. The zoological collection alone numbers more than 1400 specimens of mammals, some of which are quite rare or unique, such as the wild camel, the wild yak, the Tibetan pik-eater bear, the Chinese mountain deer; and over 5000 specimens of birds. In addition, this collection includes hundreds of reptiles, fish, molluscs and tens of thousands of insects. According to zoologists A.I. Ivanova and A.A. Shtakelberg, “Together with the collections of N.M. Przhevalsky, P.K. Kozlov constitute a completely unique collection on the fauna of Central Asia and thanks to them the Zoological Museum, now the Zoological Institute of the Academy of Sciences, gained world fame. "
P.K.Kozlov and the discovery of the Dead City
Kozlov Pyotr Kuzmich (1863-1935), Russian Soviet researcher of Central Asia, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. Member of expeditions N.M. Przhevalsky, M.V. Pevtsova, V.I. Roborovsky. He led the Mongol-Tibetan and Mongol-Sichuan expeditions. He discovered the remains of the ancient city of Khara-Khoto, burial mounds of the Huns, collected extensive geographical and ethnographic materials.
Petr Kuzmich Kozlov was born in the town of Dukhovshchina, Smolensk province. He learned to read even before school, where he was sent only at the age of twelve. I read books about travel and adventure, read geographical literature with great interest. This was the time of Przewalski's worldwide fame. Newspapers and magazines constantly reported on his travels and discoveries. The wind of distant wanderings took possession of the soul of a teenager, who avidly read books and articles of the great compatriot and newspaper materials about his wanderings in Central Asia.
The work in the office of the brewery, where Petya Kozlov got a job after school, was boring and uninteresting. Dreams took the romantic clerk into the wilds of the Indian jungle, the mountains of Tibet and the deserts of Asia, and this certainly happened on expeditions under the command of the great Przewalski. But to make the dream come true, it was necessary to study, and Kozlov began to prepare for admission to the teacher's institute. However, it so happened that on one of the summer evenings in 1882 he met with Przhevalsky. The general saw in the young romance a serious and reliable companion. He settled P.K. Kozlova in his estate and helped prepare for the exam for the full course of a real school. Having a secondary education that did not differ much from a gymnasium, P.K. Kozlov entered the military service as a volunteer and three months later was enrolled in the Przewalski expedition.
During his life P.K. Kozlov made six trips to Central Asia, where he explored Mongolia, the Gobi and Kam Desert (the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau). The first three trips took place under the guidance of N.M. Przhevalsky, M.V. Pevtsov and V.I. Roborovsky, respectively.
The first trip on an expedition to explore Northern Tibet and Eastern Turkestan was for Kozlov an enviable school of wandering and survival. He received not only the physical and spiritual training necessary for traveling in the harsh conditions of the harsh nature of Central Asia, but also a baptism of fire in skirmishes with outnumbered armed bands of robbers. Returning from his first trip (1883–1885), P.K. Kozlov entered a military school, after which he was promoted to officer.
In the fall of 1888 P.K. Kozlov again went on a journey with N.M. Przhevalsky. But this expedition, interrupted by the death of Przhevalsky, resumed only in the fall of 1889. Kozlov conducted research in the regions of East Turkestan. His work provided a substantial share of the rich geographical and natural-historical material that the expedition collected.
The third expedition, of which Kozlov was a member, was led by V.I. Roborovsky. On this journey P.K. Kozlov independently, separately from the caravan, conducted surveys of the surroundings, passing along some routes up to 1000 km, in addition, he collected the vast majority of samples from the zoological collection. When Roborovsky fell seriously ill, Kozlov took over the leadership of the expedition and safely, bringing it to the end, presented “The report of the assistant to the head of the expedition P.K. Kozlov ".
P.K. Kozlov committed as the head of the Mongol-Tibetan expedition. The 1899 expedition was attended by 18 people, of which 14 were the Cossacks of the horse convoy. The route started from the Altai post station near the Mongolian border, went along the Mongolian Altai, then along the Central Gobi and Kama - practically unknown to scientists of the eastern part of the Tibetan plateau.
During the expedition P.K. Kozlov made detailed descriptions of numerous physical and geographical objects - Lake Kukunor with a circumference of 385 km, lying at an altitude of 3.2 km, the sources of the Mekong and Yalongjiang rivers (a tributary of the Yangtze), a number of the greatest mountains, including two previously unknown to science powerful ridges in the system Kunlun. PC. Kozlov named them after Dutreil-de-Rance (a famous French explorer of Central Asia who died in these places) and Woodville-Rockhill, an English traveler.
In addition, P.K. Kozlov gave brilliant essays on the economy and everyday life of the population of Central Asia, including a description of the complex rituals of the Tsaidam Mongols celebrating the most important events of life from birth to death. He collected a huge collection of fauna and flora of the traversed places. During the expedition, Cossacks and travelers more than once had to engage in battles with armed detachments of up to 300 people, set against foreigners by local lamas. For almost two years, the expedition could not report itself to Russia, which was the reason for rumors at home about the death of Kozlov's detachment. The expedition was described by P.K. Kozlov in two large books "Mongolia and Kam" and "Kam and the Way Back". During this journey P.K. Kozlov was awarded a gold medal by the Russian Geographical Society.
In 1907-1909 P.K. Kozlov led the Mongol-Sichuan expedition. This fifth journey for him along the route from Kyakhta to Urga (Ulan Bator) and further into the depths of Central Asia brought him the fame of an outstanding archaeologist. He discovered in the sands of the Gobi the dead city of Hara-Khoto, which gave archaeological material of great value. Of particular importance is the library of 2000 books discovered during the excavations of Khara-Khoto in the Tangut language unknown at that time. The collection of woodcuts (boards for printing books and cult images) discovered there speaks of the acquaintance of the East with typography hundreds of years before its appearance in Europe. Until now, none of the libraries of foreign museums (including the British Museum in London) has a collection of Tangut books of a similar importance. The collection of printed paper money of the 13th – 14th centuries opened in Khara-Khoto is the only one in the world. Excavations at Hara-Khoto also yielded a rich set of statues, figurines and all kinds of cult figurines and more than 300 Buddhist images, painted on wood, silk, linen and paper. All finds in Khara-Khoto, characterizing the culture and life of the ancient Tangut state of Xi-Xia, are of great historical and cultural significance.
After the discovery of Khara-Khoto, the expedition of P.K. Kozlova explored Lake Kukunor with Koisu Island and the vast Amdo area in a bend in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. From this expedition Kozlov took out numerous collections of animals and plants, among which there were many new species and even genera. The fifth journey of P.K. Kozlova is described by him in the book "Mongolia and Amdo and the Dead City of Khara-Khoto".
The sixth journey of P.K. Kozlova took place in 1923-1926 through a small area of Northern Mongolia. In the Noin-Ula mountains (130 km north-west of Ulan Bator), he discovered 212 Hunnic burials of 2000 years ago. This became the greatest archaeological discovery of the 20th century. Numerous objects were found in the burial grounds, using which it is possible to restore the economy and life of the Huns of those times - artistically executed fabrics and carpets of the era of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, which then existed in the northern part of the modern territory of Iran, in Afghanistan and the northwestern part of India.
After completing the sixth journey, P.K. Kozlov lived first in Leningrad, and then 50 km from Staraya Russa (Novgorod region), in the village of Strechno. There he organized a circle of young naturalists, whom he taught in the collection of collections, the scientific definition and dissection of the animals and plants that were caught.
Peru P.K. Kozlov owns over 60 works.
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(1863 - 1935)
The name of P.K. Kozlov is among the names of the greatest figures of Russian geographical science, whose works contributed to the worldwide recognition of Russian studies in Central Asia and glorified our travel geographers. We owe to Kozlov, as well as to his predecessors and contemporaries from the galaxy of N.M. Przhevalsky, for scientific knowledge of the most remote, remote and inaccessible interior regions of the central part of the Asian continent.
PK Kozlov's expeditions are of exceptional importance for the knowledge of Asia. They also shed light on the history of the outlying regions of the Chinese state. XI- XIIIcenturies and delivered collections of objects of worship and everyday life of the peoples inhabiting Central Asia, unique in their significance, as well as materials on geology, relief, composition of flora and fauna.
A distinctive feature of Kozlov is persistence in achieving the intended goal. His travels and their results, he widely, with his characteristic skill, popularized in numerous lectures and books.
Kozlov was born on October 3, 1863 in the town of Dukhovshchina, Smolensk Region. The chance brought him to N.M. Przhevalsky, already then a world famous traveler. This acquaintance determined the whole future life and work of Kozlov. In order to get the opportunity to go with Przhevalsky, who formed his expeditions in the form of a general rule from the military, Kozlov had to join the army as a volunteer. After serving the prescribed period of service, Kozlov took part in the fourth expedition of Przhevalsky to Central Asia. Kozlov made his first trip in 1883 - 1885, when he passed through the Gobi Desert, the Nanshan ridges and the upper reaches of the Yellow River. Travelers were the first Europeans to visit the headwaters of this great Chinese river. He then visited Tibet, Kunlun, in Kashgaria (Oinjiang province) (And crossed the vast sandy Takla-Makan desert, returning home through the Tien Shan ridges to Kyrgyzstan.
Already during this expedition, which lasted more than two years, Kozlov showed himself as an energetic explorer traveler who did not stop at any difficulties and dangers.
After that, Kozlov devoted his whole life to the study of Asia. One trip spawned another. The years passed in a difficult way. The greatest desert of Asia - the Gobi was replaced by the icy mountains of the Eastern Tien Shan, Nanshan, rocky plateaus of Mongolia and the cold expanses of Tibet.
In 1888 Kozlov took part in the new expedition of Przhevalsky. At the beginning of this expedition, Przhevalsky died.
Then Kozlov was only 25 years old. A year later, the expedition was headed by another well-known explorer of China and Mongolia, M.V. Pevtsov, from whom Kozlov learned a lot, especially in terms of geodetic work. In the writings of this Tibetan expedition, Kozlov published his first account of travels in Western China and northern Tibet.
In 1893 Kozlov hit the road again. An unknown distance attracts a tireless explorer. Together with V.I. Roborovsky, he left for a new expedition - to the regions of Nanshan and northeastern Tibet.
In 1899, Kozlov headed a large expedition organized by the Geographical Society to the upper reaches of the Yellow, Yangtze and Mekong rivers, which surpassed all previous ones both in difficulty and in its scientific results. A huge amount of material on geography, zoology, botany and ethnography was brought to Russia. New rivers, mountains, ridges appeared on the map of Asia. This expedition is known under the name Kama (after the name of the Kam. Region of eastern Tibet). Its scientific results were published in St. Petersburg in many issues, of which two volumes were written by Kozlov himself.
In 1907 Kozlov went on a new large expedition, which made his name famous throughout the world. This time, the middle and southern parts of Mongolia and other regions of Central Asia were explored. But this is not the main merit of this expedition. GN Potanin heard from the Mongols that there is a buried city, the dead city of Khara-Khoto. The sands of the Asian deserts covered the remains of this once vibrant city,
hid the wealth stored there from the eyes of inquisitive scientists. Having learned about the existence of Khara-Khoto, Kozlov decides at all costs to find and excavate it, to solve the riddle of the "dead city" - the ancient capital of the cultural state of Sisia.
This task, despite all the difficulties, was brilliantly solved by Kozlov. The Dead City was found east of the lower reaches of the Edzin-Gol River. The results of the excavations have surpassed the wildest expectations. An enormous archaeological material was collected, the value of which for modern historical science cannot be disputed by anyone. Items of Buddhist cult, art, coins, utensils, weapons, the only copies of banknotes of the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty in the world were found. The greatest value was, of course, a rich library, consisting of two thousand books and manuscripts, some of which were written in the language of the Sisia people, unknown until that time. The library was brought to St. Petersburg and donated to the Russian and Asian museums. The excavations of the dead city of Hara-Khoto have thus revealed a whole culture of the era. XIII- XIV centuries.
Like all previous studies by Kozlov, this expedition was a comprehensive geographical expedition that provided great materials on zoology, botany, geology, climate, etc. Note that in the northern part of the Gobi Desert, remains of skeletons of a rhinoceros, giraffe, three-toed horse and others were found. animals.
This expedition entered the history of the geographical study of Asia under the name of the Mongol-Sichuan (after the name of the province of China - Sichuan).
After the Mongol-Sichuan expedition, Kozlov could not get funds from the tsarist government for further research. Only the Soviet government provided him with this opportunity.
After the revolution, Kozlov, despite his advanced years - he was then already 60 years old, went on yet another, his last Mongolian expedition, where in the Ulaanbaatar region he was engaged in archaeological excavations that provided materials on the history of Mongolia and Central Asia.
He also explored the central part of the Mongolian People's Republic, the Khangai Range and the Gobi Desert within this country. The travel diaries were published in Moscow under the title "Travel to Mongolia 1923 - 1926". This was the last expedition of P.K.Kozlov.
Kozlov died on September 26, 1935 near Leningrad. He bequeathed to his homeland, the Soviet Union, the richest and unique collection of gilded bronze figurines of the Buddhist cult. This unique collection numbers up to 200 figures ranging in size from one centimeter to half a meter. The second collection - artfully made of jade figurines of people, animals, birds, jewelry and other objects - is an illustration of the skill of Mongolian and Chinese carvers. This meeting has also been transferred to the state.
Kozlov was a brave traveler who knew no obstacles, an excellent social activist and an energetic organizer. He took an active part in the work of the Geographical Society, which elected him an honorary member.
With his numerous reports and lively written and fascinating articles, Kozlov managed to arouse great interest among Soviet youth in Central Asia.
The significance of Kozlov's six expeditions for Russian science is very great. It seems that there is no such natural history discipline that would not use his materials. Zoological collections alone have been used in the works of over a hundred researchers. Kozlov's expeditions enriched the herbarium of the Botanical Garden in Leningrad with the most valuable collections.
Kozlov has earned the world name of a geographer-traveler and scientist. He was elected an honorary member of many foreign geographic societies. The Ukrainian Academy of Sciences elected him as its honorary member. At the end of the last century, he received a medal named after N.M. Przhevalsky from the Russian Geographical Society. A glacier in the mountains of the Mongolian Altai and many species of animals and plants are named after Kozlov.
- A source-
Domestic physical geographers and travelers. [Essays]. Ed. NN Baransky [et al.] M., Uchpedgiz, 1959.
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