Demid Pyanda
Demid Sofonowitsch Pjanda (Russian Демид Софонович Пянда; *; ? † after 1637 ) was a Cossack fur traders, one of the greatest explorers of Siberia. He was one of the first Russians who reached the Lena River. In the years 1620-1624 he explored some 2300 km of Lower Tunguska, 1400 km of Angara and around 2400 kms of Lena. Overall Pjanda traveled about 8000 km to previously unknown Siberian rivers. He discovered Yakutia and was probably the first Russian to both Yakuts as well as Buryats had contact. He proved that the Angara ( Buryat name) and Upper Tunguska which ( as the original Russian name ) are the same river.
To identity and name
Pjanda is obviously a nickname. He referred to the made of different colored skins fringes of Maliza ( Малица ), a Samoyed garment made of reindeer fur.
In the first third of the 17th century is reported by two men nicknamed Pjanda in Yakutia. One was Demid Safonowitsch ( son of Safon or Sofon ), called Pjanda - his name appears in documents from the year 1637 The other was Pantelej Demidowitsch Pjanda, probably a son of Pjanda Safonowitsch -. , His name is mentioned in 1643. The great explorer was probably Demid Sofonowitsch Pjanda.
There are only a few original documents relating to Pjanda. Most findings come from the Records of the Historian Gerhard Friedrich Müller, who has collected the stories of Pjanda some 100 years later, during his participation in the Great Northern Expedition in the regions of the Yenisei and Lena. Müller published his research results in the years 1732-1764 in the nine -volume monograph series collection of Russian history.
Navigation of the Yenisei and Lower Tunguska
Demid Pjanda came around 1619 from the Yeniseisk Ostrog by Mangaseya. He had little money and property of unknown origin. With 40 men he undertook a trip on the Yenisei after Turuchansk near the mouth of Lower Tunguska. When buying furs from the natives he heard stories about a major river in the east of the Lower Tunguska, called Elju -en, meaning in the language of the Evenki " big river ". The Russians walked the name to Lena (pronounced ljena ), a short form of Russian female name Jelena.
Many wanted this legendary Lena River and its fur riches find, but at the same time made a different kind of stories doing the rounds: It was related by a large river in the east, sailed on big ships with bells and cannons. This may have been associated with Chinese ships on the river Amur, not on the Lena, but the Russians did not know that there are two different major rivers east of the Yenisei. The stories of armed ships kept the Russian adventurer from an overly rapid and careless movement to the east.
Pjanda was the most determined among potential explorers, and made 1620 a very lengthy expedition. He sailed from Turuchansk with a great team and several Strug - booting the Lower Tunguska along. They came very rapidly between the taiga -covered banks of the river until the river turned south and narrowed. Logs that were floating down the river, impeding the way. Pjanda said that the Tungus tried to force him to turn back. To avoid risks or possibly to buy furs from the locals at this point of the journey, he ordered his men to stop and build a winter settlement ( зимовья ). ( Нижни Пяндино - Lower Pjandino ) Still in the middle of the 18th century, this place was called Nizhny Pjandino. He was at the point where the Lower Tunguska the Wiljui, a major tributary of the Lena, is closest. The winter camp was repeatedly attacked by the Tungus, but these attacks were the Russians with firearms easily repel.
In the spring of next year, 1621, Pjanda sailed only a few dozen kilometers upstream and let another winter settlement, Werchneje Pjandino ( Верхнее Пяндино - Upper Pjandino ) build. In 1622 he also sailed only a few hundred kilometers to the south, where he wintered again in a winter camp. This slow pace of his trip will be explained either by the resistance of the Tungus or by the successful fur trade with them.
Discovery and exploration of the Lena
The latter winter settlement of Pjanda expedition happened to be very close to the so-called Tschetschuiski Wolok ( Чечуйский волок ), a 20 km narrow portage between the Lower Tunguska and the upper Lena. So Pjanda discovered the Lena and put his ships on either 1623 or built new boats on the banks of the Lena, to finally explore this great East Siberian river. (Actually, he was not the first Russian on the Lena: Three years previously unnamed men from Mangaseya had the Lena discovered at the mouth of Wiljui, which is about 1800 km down the river lies to the north. )
After the ice melts the ice floes Pjanda followed several days down the river and sailed through rocky shore. Below the mouth of a right tributary called Vitim was the Lena wider, finally turned east and flowed around low sandbars and numerous islands. After Pjanda had the mouth of another right tributary, the Oljokma happens, the bank gave a view of the land of the Yakuts. Numerous Yakut yurts were on the wide plain, so that Pjanda and his crew turned back to avoid a winter in the midst of yet unknown tribe.
Exploration of the Angara
Pjanda returned to Tschetschuiski Wolok and decided to explore a different route back to the Yenisei. He sailed further up the Lena until it became too rocky and shallow, and then traveled west through the inhabited by nomadic Buryat steppes.
In the fall of 1623 Pjandas team reached the upper Angara. Here the men had a little time to build new boats, as the Angara freezes relatively late. After Pjanda and his men had successfully overcome the rapids of the Angara, they finally reached the mouth of the river Yenisei. Pjanda and his men discovered here that the Angara River is the same as the Upper Tunguska ( Верхняя Тунгуска - Verkhnaya Tunguska ), as the river was previously called by the Jeniseisker Cossacks. End of 1623 or beginning of 1624 reached Pjanda Yenisejsk where its 8000 km long journey ended.
1637 Demid Pjanda is mentioned again, his life is unknown.