Erik Laxmann
Eric (Kirill) Gustavovich Laxman (Russian: Эрик (Кирилл) Густавович Лаксман) (July 27, 1737 - January 6, 1796) was a Finland-Swedish clergyman, explorer and natural scientist born in Nyslott in Finland, then part of Sweden. He is remembered today for his taxonomic work on the fauna of Siberia and for his attempts to establish relations between Imperial Russia and Tokugawa Japan.
In 1757, Laxman started his studies at the Academy of Åbo and was subsequently ordnained a priest in St. Petersburg, the capital of Russia. In 1764, he was appointed as a preacher in a small parish in Barnaul in central Siberia, whence he undertook a number of exploratory journeys, reaching Irkutsk, Baikal, Kiakhta and the border to China. His collection of material on the fauna of Siberia made him famous in scientific circles and in 1770, he was appointed professor of chemistry and economy at the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1780, Laxman settled down in Irkutsk, where he spent the rest of his lofe.[1]
In 1789, while doing research in Irkutsk, Laxman came across a pair of Japanese who had been found in the Aleutian Islands by Russians, who were most likely fishermen or furriers. This was during a time when seafaring boats were banned in Japan, and leaving the country was forbidden; returning meant a death sentence. Nevertheless, the two castaways pleaded to be brought back to Japan. Instead, Laxman escorted them to St. Petersburg. In 1791, Tsarina Catherine the Great agreed to a plan conceived by Laxman, under which Laxman's son, Lt. Adam Laxman would command a voyage to Japan, where he would exchange the castaways for economic agreements and concessions. The elder Laxman remained in Russia.
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References
- McDougall, Walter (1993). Let the Sea Make a Noise: Four Hundred Years of Cataclysm, Conquest, War and Folly in the North Pacific. New York: Avon Books.