Alexander Mikhaylovich Sibiryakov () ( in

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

– 2 November 1933) was a Russian

gold mine Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to more comple ...

and factories owner and explorer of

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

Biography

Sibiryakov graduated from the Zurich polytechnic institute in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Later in life, he financed the polar expeditions of

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (; 18 November 183212 August 1901) was a Finland-Swedish aristocrat, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer. He was a member of the noble Nordenskiöld family of scientists and held the title of a friherre (ba ...

(see Vega Expedition) and A.V. Grigoriev. He also sponsored the publication of works on Siberia's history. In 1880, he made an attempt to enter the Yenisei estuary through the

Kara Sea The Kara Sea is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. Ultimately the Kara, Barents and Laptev Seas are all ...

on a

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

. In 1884, Sibiryakov reached the

Pechora Pechora (; ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in the Komi Republic, Russia, located on the Pechora (river), Pechora River, west of and near the northern Ural Mountains. The area of the town is . Population: History Pechor ...

estuary on the "Nordenskjöld" steamer and proceeded up the river. He then crossed the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

using

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

s and reached

Tobolsk Tobolsk (, ) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1587, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, and was the historic capita ...

by the

Tobol River The Tobol (, ) is a river in Western Siberia (in Kazakhstan and Russia) and the main (left) tributary of the Irtysh. Its length is , and the area of its drainage basin is . History The Tobol River was one of the four important rivers of the ...

. Sibiryakov contributed significantly to Siberia's economic development. After the Russian revolution in 1917, Sibiryakov left Russia and spent the rest of his life in exile. He died in Nice, France, in poverty, aged 84. His funeral was paid for by Swedish government, as a sign of gratitude for Sibiryakov's friendly relations with Sweden. The news reports at the time stated that only the consul of Sweden and two other members of the Swedish diplomatic mission in France attended Sibiryakov's funeral.

Legacy

Sibiryakov Island, an island in the Kara Sea at the mouth of the

Yenisei River The Yenisey or Yenisei ( ; , ) is the list of rivers by length, fifth-longest river system in the world, and the largest to drain into the Arctic Ocean. Rising in Mungaragiyn-gol in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course through Lake Baikal a ...

, is named after him, as well as icebreakers ''A. Sibiryakov'' and ''Sibiryakov''.

References

*Yurii Semenov. ''Siberia: Its Conquest and Development.'' (Translated from the German by J.R. Foster). Helicon Press, Baltimore, 1963. Explorers from the Russian Empire Explorers of Siberia Explorers of the Arctic Businesspeople from the Russian Empire Kara Sea 1849 births 1933 deaths Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd class Commanders First Class of the Order of the Polar Star {{russia-bio-stub

Biography

Legacy

See also

References