Matvei Gedenschtrom
Matvei Matveyitch Gedenstrom (Russian Матвей Матвеевич Геденштром; actually Mathias of Hedenström; * 1780 in Riga, † September 20, 1845 in Tomsk ) was a Swedish- Russian explorers. He named the New Siberian Islands and produced the first accurate maps of the region.
Early years
Gedenstrom came in 1780 as the son of a political refugee from Sweden in Riga to the world. He first worked as a translator for the Governor-General of the Baltic Provinces. Later, he was condemned as a customs official for bribery and banished to Siberia.
Expedition to the north coast of Siberia
Due to his good education was Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev, the time Russian Minister of Commerce, attentive to him. Rumyantsev was just putting a funded his own expedition to the north coast of Siberia together, and in particular was still looking for a suitable manager. The geography of the area at that time was largely unknown, but seal hunters had repeatedly reported to have sighted land off the coast of Siberia. It has been suggested that a large peninsula would extend into the Arctic Ocean up to the northern coast of Siberia from the North American continent, and Rumyantsev wanted to go to this theory on the ground. He offered Gedenstrom that this would be pardoned and allowed to return to Riga, when he would take over the leadership of the expedition, and Gedenstrom agreed. Since he had no experience in the Arctic, the sealers Yakov Sannikov he was put to the side, who had traveled to the area since 1800 several times. In addition, the surveyor P. Pshenkitsin and IE Kozhevin took part in the expedition.
Gedenstrom broke on towards Irkutsk in August 1808. From there he went on 18 November to Ust- Jansk, which he reached on February 5, 1809. In Ust- Jansk he established his main camp and then traveled on to the Liakhov Islands. There he divided his team into three groups. A group under the leadership of Sannikov explored the bay between the island and the Kotelny Faddejewski Peninsula, another under Kozhevin explored Faddejewski and the third, led by himself, drove further north and explored New Siberia.
When at the beginning of the summer the ice melted, all groups returned back to Ust- Jansk. Gedenstrom charted in the following months, the coastline of the mainland between the rivers Yana and Indigirka and wintered in Ust- Jansk.
On March 2, 1810 Gedenstrom broke again by dogsled after New Siberia and continued exploring the island. On March 16, he sighted supposedly more land off the northeast coast of the island. Sannikov, who was separated from him by a separate group on the road, the next day confirmed the sighting. Both were of the opinion to recognize a bluish shimmering mountains on the horizon. Gedenstrom made in the following days several shorter trips across the ice pack in the direction of the island, but without reach. They called the land Sannikov.
After he had completed the exploration of the New Siberian Islands largely, was his next target the " Andreyev country". The Russian explorer Stepan Andreyev had reported after his expedition in 1764 from an island off the mouth of the river Kolyma. Gedenstrom broke to March 24, from New Siberia from eastwards along, but had to stop after about 80 km, because he came up with Open Water, a polynya. He went then to the south, reaching the area of Kolyma the mainland. On April 18, he launched a new attempt and put the Kapp Great Barnov from more than 240 km towards north back, but without sight land. With rising temperatures and decreasing ice thickness he returned on May 13 back to Kolymadelta and devoted himself in the aftermath of the mapping of the coastal zone.
After returning to the main camp in Ust- Jansk Gedenström was ordered back to Irkutsk to report on his findings. The leadership of the expedition took the surveyor P. Pshenkitsin who completed the mapping of the New Siberian Islands in the following year, and proved that it was not a stand-alone island but a peninsula of Kotelny Island at Faddejewski.
Other years
Gedenstrom remained after his pardon in Siberia. In 1813 he joined Vasily Golownins expedition to Japan and later worked in various positions for the governor of Irkutsk. In 1819 he was again, this time due to theft, sentenced, along with the entire staff of the Governor. While the other officers were forced to leave Siberia, was allowed to remain Gedenstrom and work again in 1826 in the civil service. He died penniless in 1845 in Tomsk.
Aftermath of the expedition
Having existed in the past only vague reports about the geographical features of the region, the expedition provided the first accurate maps. The New Siberian Islands were named by Gedenstrom and explored. From 1820 to 1824 Pyotr Fyodorovich Anschu and Ferdinand von Wrangel took again an expedition into the area and built on more cards.
The supposed Sannikov Land, according to which in the following years many expeditions set out on the search, but does not exist. Only Eduard Toll said in 1900 to have rediscovered it. Very likely it was in both cases a mirage or an optical illusion. However, the sighting of land east of the New Siberian Islands seemed to support the theory of a huge peninsula of North America up to the northern Siberian coast.
In addition, the report received by Gedenstroms a polynya in the Arctic Ocean ice-free Arctic Ocean the theory of a new lift.