When and how did the mention of Tartaria completely disappear from the freely available historical documents in Russian? Miller is considered one of the first falsifiers of history, along with Bayer and Schletzer, but he also mentioned Tartary. Let it be as if in passing, in passing, but nevertheless … It is about this unknown side of Miller, I decided to tell in my article. Also, his unknown for Russia in the literal sense of the word is that he did not write in Russian, and of all his many works, only a very small part of them has been translated into Russian. It’s even difficult to say how much it will be in percentage, according to official sources, on the strength of ten percent.
Not Miller, but Muller
Miller, and in fact Müller (because in German his name is spelled Gerhard Friedrich Müller) is one of the founders of Russian history. Müller was born in Germany in 1705 and came to Russia when he was 20 years old. At first he taught Latin, history and geography. 5 years later, in 1730, i.e. at the age of 25 he was appointed professor of history. A month after this appointment, he went abroad and stayed there for 2 years, visiting at that time Germany, Holland and England. On his return to Russia, in the same year (1732), he began to publish articles about Russia - "Sammlung Russischer Geschichte" (Collection of Russian history).
Perhaps it will seem strange that after spending two years in Europe, he began to write about Russia? But what was he doing these two years in Europe? Maybe he sat in local libraries, studying the information available there about Russia? After all, reading books in Latin, his native German, French and English was easier for him than studying Russian chronicles.
Collection of Russian history
He wrote his articles in German for 33 years, from 1732 to 1765. And although they were published in St. Petersburg, they were also in German. And apparently no one was going to translate them into Russian, in any case, I did not find any mention of the Russian translation of this collection. The German version is freely available on the Internet.
Promotional video:
The title page of the first volume of the collection (9 volumes in total).
For me personally, it is not possible to read this text, the digital translator of Old-German text also does not accept. But in his books there are references to the sources that he used. And excerpts from them, cited in the original language. One of them related to Tartary:
Page of the 4th volume (1761-1762).
It is written there:
Mention of the map of Little Tartary in the 6th volume.
Page of the 6th volume (1760).
New map of the empire of the Tsar of Great Russia
The map mentioned on this page is “Nouvelle carte de l'empire du czar de la Grande Russie avec les augmentations et corrections du capitaine Jean Perry / par Herman Moll; gravé par Berey (New map of the empire of the Tsar of Great Russia with additions and corrections by Captain Jean Perry from the map of Herman Moll; engraved by Berey)
New map of the empire of the tsar of Great Russia.
The year of issue of the map is not known. But I think it's either the end of the 17th or the very beginning of the 18th century. I did not find the name "Muscovy" on it at all. Only the Moscow Sea (now the Barents Sea). There is Great Tartary and Eastern or Chinean. Although China herself is shown in the lower right corner, fenced off from Tartaria by the Wall (muraille de la Chine). But there the entire Far East is a solid white spot. It can be seen that this territory was still unknown to the compilers of the map. In addition to the Great (Big), there are Independent Tartary on the map on the site of modern Tajikistan and Western China. Little Tartary on the territory of modern Southern Ukraine and Donbass, and in addition, Cherkassian tartars (Kuban Cossacks) and Ufa tartars between the Volga and Ural rivers (Ural Cossacks?). The fact that the Cossacks are Tartars, or rather, the warriors of Tartary, I already wrote in the articles:"Cossacks and the Cossack Horde", "Cossacks in the territories of the Golden Horde", "Who are the Kalmaks?" Siberia marks a relatively small area in the southern part of the modern West Siberian plain.
Müller mentions Nikolaas Witsen, but I did not find any mention of his map of Tartary. Perhaps he hadn't met her yet?
Digression: Map of Tartary by Nikolaas Witsen, 1690
The map of Tartary was published by Nikolaas Witsen in 1690, and even then it was more detailed than the one discussed above:
Map of Tartary, Nikolaas Witsen, 1690
At the very top of the map it says "Tartaria sive Magni Chami Imperium", which Google translator translated to me as "The Government of Tartaria or the Great Ham". Still, the ruler of Tartaria was called a boor, not a khan. And Nikolaas Witsen was called, simply and modestly, just like in Russian - Nikolai. It seems illogical, in my opinion: many sources claim that the capital of the Great Khan was Beijing, but on the map it is fenced off from Tartary by a wall. Andrey Kadykchansky has an article in which he substantiates that the residence of the Great Khan was in Kamblalu, which has nothing to do with Beijing ("The cities of Tartary. They are returning")
There may also be such options that the great khan had two capitals: summer and winter, and they were at some distance from each other, as described by Marco Polo, who does not mention China in his narrative at all, but two Tartar provinces located on the territory of modern China: Katai and Mangi. In his narration, the entire territory of Present Siberia, the Near and Far East, Central Asia, India and China is called Tartary. Roughly speaking, everything that was not Europe on the continent of Eurasia, Marco Polo called Tartaria. I talk about this in more detail in the series of articles "Unknown Tartary"
Therefore, it is quite possible that the wall supposedly separating Tartary from China was actually expensive? A fragment of this map:
It shows double dashed lines clearly reminiscent of roads (highlighted in green) labeled as "extra muros" - highlighted in red. And an additional confirmation that the Cossacks are tartars is the inscription (highlighted in blue) "kasaki tartari".
I think that either there may be inaccuracies with the dating of the maps, or due to the difficulty in communication, the knowledge of the cartographers of that time was very different from each other. For example, a map taken from the 1st volume of Charles Rollin's book "The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Macedonians and Greeks," published in London in 1768:
Unfortunately, I did not find it in the larger format. But even here it is clear that the card was issued in 1740. Although it says that this is the world known to the ancients: "The world as known to the antients". There is still no trace of Tartaria on it, instead of it Scythia, and instead of Muscovy Sarmatia and Roksolana, in the place of the Baltic - the Wends, in the place of the Far East - Serica. Cina is a white spot. But the Caspian Sea, nevertheless, has a modern shape …
Map of Muscovy, Poland, Little Tartary and the Black Sea, 1715
But I digress from the main story. The next map mentioned by Müller, also performed by Herman Moll, is called "A map of Moscovie, Poland, little Tartary and the Bleak sea" (Map of Muscovy, Poland, Little Tartary and the Black Sea).
To His Most Serene and August Majesty Peter Alexovitz… (to the most gracious and august Majesty Peter Alexeevich) 1715.
In addition to Little Tartaria, this map also contains inscriptions: Kuban Tartaria, Territory of the Don Cossacks. And above this inscription, the entire space between the Don and the Volga is shown as a desert. And in the same place is the region called Maly Novgorod (now the Nizhny Novgorod region). The desolation, or rather the desolation of this place and other places of Tartary, was described by many authors of that time, which I talked about on our website in the article "About the ancient ruins of Siberia" and also in the article "Who are the Kalmaks?"
Mueller goes on to describe this card as follows:
An involuntary question arises: were there any Russians at all surrounded by Peter 1? This is the first question, and the second: how did all these foreign admirals and vice admirals communicate with their subordinates? Or were they all foreigners too? I doubt very much that these generals themselves knew Russian, given that even Mueller, who wrote and taught the history of Russia, did not know Russian. This, for example, is stated in the preface to the publication of the 1st volume of the History of Siberia:
New Map of Muscovy, 1720
Another map from Muller's description: “Nouvelle Carte de Moscovie ou sont Representes les differents Etats de Sa Maieste Czarienne En Europe et en Asie, et le Chemin d'un de ses ambassadeurs a Peking, ville capitale de l'empereur de la Chine, et son sejour ordinaire (New Map of Muscovy, where various States of His Imperial Majesty are represented in Europe and Asia, and the path of one of his ambassadors to Beijing, the capital of the Emperor of China, and his usual stay):
Amsterdam, 1720
On this map, in contrast to the previous map he mentioned (New map of the empire of the Tsar of Great Russia with additions and corrections by Captain Jean Perry on the map of Herman Moll), the entire territory colored in yellow is shown as "States of the empire of Muscovy and Asia." Although there is an inscription "Great Tartary" in the same place, it has already been attributed to Muscovy, since below, along the entire border, there is an inscription "frontiere des stats de Moscovie" (borders of the states of Muscovy). The name "Siberia" has been relegated to the Far East. In addition to Bulgaria, located in Uzbekistan, there is also Olgaria - south of Tobolsk. It is written that the Kalmyks are nomadic peoples, nothing is said about the nomadism of other peoples. Kamchatka is not yet on the map, and the Caspian Sea still has an antediluvian shape.
Travels and discoveries made by the Russians along the coast of the Ice Sea and the Eastern Ocean, 1743
In 1733, on behalf of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Müller went to Siberia as part of the Second Kamchatka Expedition. Not getting to Kamchatka, Mueller spent 10 years in Siberia, exactly as long as this expedition lasted in aggregate. All this time, he was engaged in a thorough study of local archives and extracting all important documents from them, which he then took to St. Petersburg. Upon his return from Siberia in 1743, Müller wrote a book entitled Voyages et découvertes faites par les Russes le long des côtes de la mer Glaciale & sur l'océan Oriental, tant vers le Japon que vers l'Amérique [microforme]: on ya joint L'histoire du fleuve Amur et des pays adjacens, depuis la conquête des Russes; avec la nouvelle carte qui présente ces découvertes & le cours de l'Amur, dressée sur les mémoires authentiques,publiée par l'Académie des sciences de St. Pétersbourg, & corrigée en dernier lieu "(Travels and discoveries made by Russians along the coast of the Ice Sea and the Eastern Ocean, both Japan and America [form of microrelief]: as well as the history of the Amur River and neighboring countries annexed by the conquest of the Russians; with a new map, in which these discoveries and the course of the Amur are presented, compiled on reliable records, published by the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, and corrected by it). The book was published in 2 volumes, with a total content of 676 pages in Amsterdam, in 1766:as well as the history of the Amur River and neighboring countries annexed by the Russian conquest; with a new map, which presents these discoveries and the course of the Amur, compiled on reliable records published by the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, and corrected by it). The book was published in 2 volumes, with a total content of 676 pages in Amsterdam, in 1766:as well as the history of the Amur River and neighboring countries annexed by the Russian conquest; with a new map, which presents these discoveries and the course of the Amur, compiled on reliable records published by the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, and corrected by it). The book was published in 2 volumes, with a total content of 676 pages in Amsterdam, in 1766:
Title page of the 1st volume.
Müller does not mention Tartaria in this book, except for references to the book by Nikolaas Witsen "Northern and Eastern Tartaria". The map that is mentioned in the title of this book is called "Nouvelle Carte des Decouvertes faites par des Vaisseaux Russiens aux cotes inconnues de l'Amerique Septentrionale avec les Pais Adiacents dressée fur des Memoires authentiques de ceux qui ont afte a ces dances Decouvetres et furno conances dont on rend raifon dans”(A new map of discoveries made by Russian ships of unknown measurements of North America together with neighboring countries, compiled from the present records of those who made these discoveries and separate memories of others in the know). This map was published by the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg in 1758.
Nouvelle Carte des Decouvertes faites par des Vaisseaux Russiens, 1758.
It is written that it was composed by Müller. The map was published 15 years after the end of the expedition. Or have no earlier editions of this map survived? This map shows the routes of the Russian expeditions:
Green color denotes “Route par ancciennement fort frequentee voyage fait par mer en 1648 par trois vaisseaux russiens dont un est parvenu jusqu a la Kamchatka” (An ancient route taken by sea in 1648 by three Russian ships, one of which reached Kamchatka).
In red - “Route du vaisseau St. Pierre commandi par le capitain Commandeur Bering en 1741 (Route of the ship of St. Peter under the command of Captain Bering in 1741).
In blue - “Route du vaisseau St. Paul commandi par le capitain Tschirikow en 1741 (The route of the ship of St. Paul under the command of Captain Chirikov in 1741)
On the protruding part of North America it is written: "Terre dont on pretent avoir des indices suivant le raport des habitans de Kamchatka quelques uns soutien nent qu'on la peut voir de l'isle de Bering" (The land, which, according to the stories of the inhabitants of Kamchatka, can be seen from Bering Island). On the part of America closest to Chukotka it is written: "Cote decouverte par le geodesiste Gwosdew, 1730" (Coast discovered by geodesist Gvozdev, 1730). Further: the coast discovered by Captain Commander Bering in 1741), the coast discovered by Captain Chirikov in 1741, and the further south, the dates of the discovery of the North American coast are more and more ancient: in 1640, in 1599, 1603, 1542.
On this card, the name "Tartaria" is already completely absent. There is only an inscription "Tatars" between Tomsk and Krasnoyarsk, on the map it is circled in red:
Retreat: continued exploration of the Kamchatka region after the Kamchatka expedition
In 1773, I don't know by Mueller or not, a map was issued on which the configuration of the western part of North America was changed, and instead of the extended part of the mainland, many small islands appeared. The rest is the same card:
All the routes of the previous expeditions marked there remained the same, but one more was added: "Voyage du lieutnant Syndo 1764, 65, 66, 67 Lusqu a la Kamchatka, retour du lieutenant Syndo 1768" (Voyage of Lieutenant Sindo 1764, 65, 66, 67 Before Kamchatka, the return of Lieutenant Sindo 1768). His route is shown in blue on the map:
Fragment of the map Nouvelle Carte des Decouvertes faites par des Vaisseaux Russiens, 1773.
All the islands on the map are signed, and these are clearly not the Aleutian Islands, which are located below. Names I could read: Kutschuk, Tuhidan, Unaman, Semidok, Samaha, Usohilis, Schihaustani, Antschalha, Unalaschka, St. Illarion, Nadiajak Rochers luisant (shining rocks), Irnaska, Klowa, Adachot, Unjalha, Amatihni, Buldir, Aleuts. From the bottom are familiar Unalaschka and Aleuts. About Lieutenant Shindou (aka Sindh):
Another mention of this discovery:
It is difficult to imagine how the relatively small island of St. Lawrence can be mistaken for a whole archipelago of islands, several dozen times larger than it? Considering that he was engaged in research in that area for 4 years - from 1764 to 1768. And another description made before Lieutenant Sindh's expedition:
Here he describes the Aleutian Islands, and some other dubious, in his opinion, "Campanian or Campanian land". I have already mentioned this land in the article "Giants of Easter Island". She was marked on the sailing route map of the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggewein in 1721. There it is called "Compagnies land" and occupies almost the entire space between Eurasia and America in the region of Alaska and Chukotka. This is what this place looks like now:
There are no islands in that area now.
The conquest of Siberia by Yermak
Another book, credited to Mueller, is entitled Conquest of Siberia, and the history of the transactions, wars, commerce, carried on between Russia and China, from the earliest period. (The conquest of Siberia and the history of agreements, wars, trade between Russia and China from the earliest period). Translated from Russian by G. F. Müller, historiographer of Russia and Peter Simon Pallas, advisor to the collegium of mines of the Empress of Russia, member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, etc.
The title page of a book published in London in 1842.
I only wonder how Mueller and Pallas could translate from Russian, the first of whom wrote all of their books in German (of which only two volumes have been translated into Russian), and the second in French?
Title page of one of Pallas's volumes.
Tartary is mentioned in this book (Conquest of Siberia). For example:
Could Müller have written this? Rather, translate from Russian? First, it means that the non-existent Tatar-Mongols ravaged all of Russia, and part of Europe at the same time, and then Russia destroyed all Siberian peoples in revenge? They just forgot to add that when the Russians (and were they Russians, given the names of some generals?) Began to conquer Siberia (or rather Tartary, because this territory was named Siberia only later - I met such information in several sources), the local population only began to recover after some kind of global catastrophe. Little is known about that catastrophe that claimed many lives and changed the face of the planet, although a lot has been written, including on our website, in particular by me, according to the descriptions of Nikolaas Witsen and the already mentioned Peter Simon Pallas.
Author: i_mar_a
