Otto von Kotzebue (; 30 December 1787 – 15 February 1846) was a Baltic German naval officer in the Imperial Russian Navy. He commanded two naval expeditions into the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

for the purposes of exploration and scientific investigation. The first expedition explored

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

and the western coast of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and passed through the Bering Strait in search of a passage across the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

. His second voyage was intended as a military resupply mission to

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...

but again included significant explorations of the west coast of North America and Oceania.

Early life and education

Kotzebue was born and raised in Reval (Tallinn), in the

Governorate of Estonia The Governorate of Estonia, also known as the Esthonia (Estland) Governorate, was a province (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire. It was located in the northern Estonia with some islands in the West Estoni ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. He was the second son of German writer and diplomat August von Kotzebue. The Kotzebue family was of Brandenburgish origin; his earliest known patrilineal ancestors were from Kossebau in Altmark. After attending the

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

school of cadets, he accompanied Adam Johann von Krusenstern on his voyage of 1803–1806. Both attested to the prominence of Baltic Germans in Imperial Russia's naval expeditions around 1800.

First voyage, 1815 to 1818

On promotion to lieutenant, Kotzebue was placed in command of an expedition fitted out at the expense of the imperial chancellor, Count Nikolay Rumyantsev, on the

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...

Rurik Rurik (also spelled Rorik, Riurik or Ryurik; ; ; died 879) was a Varangians, Varangian chieftain of the Rus' people, Rus' who, according to tradition, was invited to reign in Veliky Novgorod, Novgorod in the year 862. The ''Primary Chronicle' ...

''. In this vessel, with only twenty-seven men, including the naturalists

Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz Johann Friedrich Gustav von Eschscholtz (1 November 1793 – 7 May 1831)Sterling (1997) was a Baltic German physician, naturalist, and entomologist. He was one of the earliest scientific explorers of the Pacific region, making significant collec ...

and Adelbert von Chamisso, and the artist Louis Choris, Kotzebue set out from Kronstadt on July 30, 1815 to find a passage across the Arctic Ocean and explore the less-known parts of

. Proceeding via Cape Horn, he visited the Chilean coast and arrived at Easter Island on March 29, 1816. From there he sailed west and reached the Tuamotu Archipelago around April 16 where he sighted several islands, some of which he named: Doubtful, so named because he thought it might be the Dog Island ( Pukapuka); Romanzoff ( Tikei); Spiridoff; the

Palliser Islands The Palliser Islands or Pallisers are a subgroup of the Tuamotus, Tuamotu group in French Polynesia. They are located in the very northwest of the main group of atolls. Atolls The group includes: *Apataki *Arutua *Fakarava *Kaukura *Mataiva *Rang ...

discovered by Cook; Rurick's chain ( Arutua); and Krusenstern ( Tikahau). He reached Penrhyn atoll on May 1 and was greeted by the natives who came out in canoes. After leaving Polynesia, Kotzebue came upon the Radak and Ralik chains of the Marshall Islands in Micronesia. Kotzebue then headed north for the Kamchatka Peninsula where he anchored at the harbor of St. Peter and St. Paul on June 18. From there he explored Bering Strait and the coast of Alaska. A sound north of Bering Strait was named Kotzebue Sound. In September he sailed south to California. Returning by the coast of Asia, he again sailed to the south, sojourned for three weeks at the Sandwich Islands during the Schäffer affair, an attempt by the Russian-American Company to seize

Kauai Kauai (), anglicized as Kauai ( or ), is one of the main Hawaiian Islands. It has an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), making it the fourth-largest of the islands and the 21st-largest island in the United States. Kauai lies 73 m ...

. On January 1, 1817, Kotzebue discovered New Year Island. After further cruising in the Pacific Ocean, he proceeded north. Severe illness compelled him to return to Europe, and he reached the Neva River in Russia on August 3, 1818, bringing home a large collection of previously unknown plants and new ethnological information.

Second voyage, 1823 to 1826

In 1823 Kotzebue, now a captain, was entrusted with the command of an expedition of two ships of war, the main object of which was to take reinforcements to Kamchatka and patrol the northwest American coast to protect Russian settlements from the smuggling by foreign traders. A staff of scientists on board the Russian sailing sloop ''Enterprise'' collected much valuable information and material in geography,

ethnography Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

and natural history. Naturalist Eschscholtz again accompanied Kotzebue along with geologist Ernst Reinhold von Hofmann, astronomer Ernst Wilhelm Preuss and physicist Emil Lenz. The expedition left Kronstadt on July 28, 1823, and rounded Cape Horn on December 23. Kotzebue visited Chile and then sailed west through the Tuamotu Archipelago on the way to Tahiti. The expedition reached Matavai Bay, Tahiti, on March 14. Kotzebue met various members of the London Missionary Society before leaving the island on March 24. Kotzebue reached Petropavlovsk in July 1824. That same year he visited Mission Santa Clara and noted the conditions of the '' monjerío.'' Many positions along the coast were rectified, the Navigator islands visited, and several discoveries made. The expedition returned by the

Marianas The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly Volcano#Dormant and reactivated, dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

and the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...

, reaching Kronstadt on July 10, 1826. When he returned, Kotzebue was promoted to command of the fleet squadron at Kronshtadt, but he left the service in 1830 because of failing health. Kotzebue spent the last years of his life at his Triigi Manor near Kose. He died in Reval in 1846. Both of Kotzebue's narratives: ''A Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea and Bering’s Straits for the Purpose of exploring a North-East Passage, undertaken in the Years 1815–1818'' (3 vols. 1821), and ''A New Voyage Round the World in the Years 1823–1826'' (1830), have been translated into English.

Legacy and honors

* Kotzebue Sound and the city of Kotzebue, Alaska are named after him. *Kotzebue Street in the Kalamaja area of northern

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

is named after him and after his father August von Kotzebue, who both lived on the street. *The butterfly '' Pachliopta kotzebuea'' was named after him by

, a botanist aboard the ''Rurik''.

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

* *
Overview of Triigi (Kau) manor (owned by the von Kotzebue's) in Estonian Manors Portal

genealogy of the family Kotzebue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotzebue, Otto Von 1787 births 1846 deaths Military personnel from Tallinn People from Kreis Harrien Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire Baltic-German nobility Imperial Russian Navy officers 19th-century explorers from the Russian Empire Russian polar explorers Russian explorers of the Pacific Explorers of Alaska People from Russian America Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz Adelbert von Chamisso