Pyotr Fyodorovich Anjou (; 15 February 1796 – 12 October 1869) was an

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

and an admiral of the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from ...

.Анжу Пётр Фёдорович

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...

Background

Anjou's grandfather was a

French Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Beza ...

who entered the service of Russia in the middle of the 18th century. His father became a Russian citizen and worked as a doctor. Anjou was born in

Vyshny Volochyok Vyshny VolochyokThe more-regular spelling Vyshny Volochok ( rus, Вы́шний Волочо́к)—with instead of after an unpaired " hush consonant"—is seen but is not official; the two spellings are pronounced the same in Russian. ( rus, ...

, near

Tver Tver ( rus, Тверь, p=tvʲerʲ) is a city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is northwest of Moscow. Population: Tver was formerly the capital of a powerful medieval state and a model provincial town in the Russian ...

. He graduated from the Marine Cadet Corps. As a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

, Anjou was given a task to describe the northern coast of

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

in 1820. He and his assistants (P.Ilyin, I. Berezhnykh, and A. Figurin) described the coastline and the islands between the rivers

Olenyok Olenyok or Olenek may refer to: *Olenyok (river), a river in Russia *Olenyok (rural locality), a rural locality (a ''selo'') in the Sakha Republic, Russia * Olenyok Airport, an airport in the same rural locality * Olenyok Gulf, a gulf in the Laptev ...

and Indigirka and made a map of the

New Siberian Islands The New Siberian Islands ( rus, Новосиби́рские Oстрова, r=Novosibirskiye Ostrova; sah, Саҥа Сибиир Aрыылара, translit=Saña Sibiir Arıılara) are an archipelago in the Extreme North of Russia, to the north o ...

. In 1825–1826, Anjou participated in describing the northeastern coast of the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

and the western coast of the Aral Sea. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Navarino as a lieutenant of the line of battle ship "Gangut". Later on, he held a few commanding posts and also served in administrative and scientific establishments of the

Russian Admiralty Board of Admiralties (russian: Адмиралтейств-коллегия, ''Admiralteystv-kollegiya'') was a supreme body for the administration of the Imperial Russian Navy and admiralty shipyards in the Russian Empire, established by Peter the ...

. One of the groups of the New Siberian Islands bears Anjou's name (the

Anjou Islands The Anzhu Islands or Anjou Islands ( rus, Анжу Oстрова, r=Anzhu Ostrova; sah, Анжу Aрыыларa, translit=Anju Arıılara) are an archipelago and geographical subgroup of the New Siberian Islands archipelago. They are located betwe ...

References

1796 births 1869 deaths People from Vyshny Volochyok Russian and Soviet polar explorers Explorers from the Russian Empire Imperial Russian Navy admirals Explorers of the Arctic New Siberian Islands Russian people of French descent 19th-century explorers Russian people of the Greek War of Independence Russian nobility Naval Cadet Corps alumni {{Explorer-stub