Sannikov Land ( Russian : Земля Санникова , Zemlya Sannikova ) was a phantom island in the Arctic Ocean . Its supposed existence became something of a myth in 19th-century Russia .
24-619: Yakov Sannikov and Matvei Gedenschtrom claimed to have seen the land mass during their 1809–1810 cartographic expedition to the New Siberian Islands . Sannikov was the first one to report the sighting of a "new land" north of Kotelny Island in 1811 (hence the name Sannikov Land ). In 1886, the Baltic German explorer in Russian service Baron Eduard von Toll reported observing the elusive land during an expedition to
48-718: A science fiction film based on Obruchev's book, called The Land of Sannikov , was released in the Soviet Union . Sannikov Land is used as a location in British horror podcast The Magnus Archives in Episode 101, "Another Twist". It is described as a place that does not exist and has never existed, in association with an entity known as "The Spiral," which personifies madness and deceit. 80°N 140°E / 80°N 140°E / 80; 140 Yakov Sannikov Yakov Sannikov ( fl. 1800 )
72-691: The Bering Sea on kochs made from timber adjacent to the Sea of Okhotsk . The first Russian promyshlennik to travel east was Emelian Basov, who sailed to Bering Island in 1743. Promyshlenniki based out of Okhotsk or Petropavlovsk , made provisions for their yearly operations in the Aleutians by killing sea cows of the Commander Islands to extinction. The Sea otters of the Aleutians were progressively exploited by Russians, until by 1759
96-555: The Fox Islands were visited by Russian trappers. As these early trappers had "no knowledge of navigation", they consequently "took no observations, made no surveys..." and greatly limited geographical information for outsiders. The Lebedev-Lastochkin Company sent the first Russian promyshlennik to investigate the resources of the lower Yukon River in 1790. The party, led by the hunter Ivanov, traveled from Iliamna Lake to
120-626: The Kuskokwim and Yukon rivers. Ivanov reported on the extensive fish and game resources and the many people inhabiting the region. At first the traders returned to Kamchatka after every season but eventually trading posts were established in the territory. These posts began in the Aleutians and moved eastward toward the Alaska Peninsula rather than north to the Yukon delta and Bering Strait . Many promyshlenniki became employees of
144-527: The Russian Empire expanded its bureaucratic network into Siberia, Russian colonists were able to be placed under Imperial regulations. Fur operations ran by promyshlenniki were altered with the oversight by the officials, as they now had to "bring all his catch or his purchase to the town in proper season, submit his furs to the tsar's agents for sorting, appraisal, and taxation (usually, as we noted, 10 per cent). He must not trade with natives except in
168-607: The Russian-American Company , and their duties and activities became less involved in the company's fur-gathering activities. Initially, the phenomenon arose in the Novgorod Republic . In the Novgorod dialect , they are called povolnik ( Russian : повольник ), a person who is not bound by constant obligations with any guild, principality, city, monastery, diocese or boyar. Their region of activity
192-524: The Zarya and travelled south on loose ice floes, away from Bennett Island , and vanished forever. A search by the Soviet icebreaker Sadko was announced in 1936 and carried out in 1937 but found no trace of the land. Some historians and geographers, judging from other successes of Sannikov and the presence of shallow sand shoals at Sannikov Land's mapped location, postulate that it indeed once existed, but
216-666: The 17th century, so did its price; making many promyshlenniki partake in caravans headed to the Qing Empire , or selling their furs the border town of Kyakhta . Promyshlovik began to gather sable pelts located in the Amur basin during the early 17th century. Trappers based out of Nerchinsk regularly crossed the Qing border into what became Russian Manchuria by the 1730s to pursue sable populations residing there. Russian officials were aware of these operations, but "tolerated any breach of
240-796: The New Siberian Islands. In August 1901, during the Russian Polar Expedition , also led by Toll, the Russian Arctic ship Zarya headed across the Laptev Sea , searching for the legendary Sannikov Land. It was soon blocked by floating pack ice in the New Siberian Islands. Attempts to reach Sannikov Land, deemed to be beyond the De Long Islands , continued in 1902 while the Zarya was trapped in fast ice . In November, Toll and three companions left
264-463: The RAC, and played a key role in RAC expansion into California, was Timofei Nikitich Tarakanov . The promyshlenniki were adept at hunting on land but they lacked the skills to hunt on water, where sea otters lived. The promyshlenniki then turned to the native Aleut and Alutiiq men to do their hunting for them. These Alaska Natives were trained at a young age to hunt sea otters. The Russians took
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#1732772000062288-494: The Russian-American Company (RAC) after it was established in 1799. Under the RAC promyshlenniki performed tasks such as hunting, supervision of sea otter hunting parties, carpentry, shipbuilding, farming and ranching at Fort Ross, California , guard duty, and a variety of other work. An example of an important RAC employee who was born into serfdom near Kursk , sold to the RAC, called a promyshlennik by
312-568: The Russian-Chinese treaties which might occur." The Great Northern Expedition expanded Russian geographical knowledge to many of the Aleutian Islands and the mainland of Alaska from the Alaska Peninsula to near the later site of New Archangel . News of the many Sea otter populations along these lands quickly drew the attention of many Siberia-based promyshlenniki . Few had naval experience, though many began to travel
336-631: The Siberian governor Ivan Pil sent instructions that managers of Shelikhov-Golikov Company at Kodiak Island should "encourage" single Russian men to marry native women. While the Vancouver Expedition was exploring the northern Pacific, the explorers visited several Russian fur posts. Joseph Whidbey visited a Lebedev-Lastochkin Company station at Tyonek , with Vancouver describing the promyshlenniki located there as: [The Promyshlenniki appeared to be perfectly content to live after
360-489: The gathered furs at various markets. The promyshlenniki were free men who made their living any way they could. When petitioning the tsar, a service-man would call himself 'your Kholop ' and a promyshlennik 'your orphan'. These people were often called Cossacks, because they did not pay any personal taxes to the state. They paid only the trading tariff, and were required to participate in wars with their weapons and ammunition, food and fodder, similarly to American rangers. As
384-407: The island and eventually stranded at it. Obruchev provided a reasonable justification of the possibility of the described things and events. The island turned out to contain a caldera of a volcano , which made the island a warm place and habitable. It also hosted a tribe of Neanderthals (called "Vampoo") and mammoths . In the end of the story the volcano erupts and destroys the land. In 1973,
408-698: The state serf and townsman class who engaged in the Siberian , maritime , and later fur trades . Initially, the Russians in Russian America were Siberian fur-hunters, river-merchants, and mercenaries, although many later worked as sailors , carpenters , artisans , and craftsmen. The promyshlenniki formed the backbone of Russian trading-operations in Russian Alaska . Some of them worked on preliminary request contracts, including for
432-458: The story, the island provided the last escape for a tribe of Onkilons [ ru ] , pushed away from the mainland by other Siberian peoples. The Onkilons are a hypothetical extinct people known from the legends of Chukchi people . Some researchers hypothecised that Onkilongs could have been a tribe of Yuits . In the novel the Onkilons were discovered by a small expedition looking for
456-407: The town and then only in certain seasons; he must not ply natives with liquor; he must return his remaining furs to European Russia along approved routes and submit them to continual inspection." The fierce competition between promyshlenniki led to the overexploitation of sable populations, continually forcing them to go further east. With the decline of European demand for sable furs at the end of
480-444: The women and children hostage and forced the men to hunt for them to ensure the safety of their families. The offspring of Russian men and Native women gave rise to a small but influential population of Alaskan Creoles . As time passed many of the Russian promyshlenniki took Aleut partners, had children, and adopted a native lifestyle during their time in the Aleutian Islands . In 1794, with direct authorization from Catherine II,
504-494: Was Perm, the Irtysh River, and Northwestern Siberia. Following the Russian conquest of Siberia, as a part of the regional fur trade , the opportunities offered by this newly available luxury product drew many Russians eager to make a profit in newly conquered territories. Service-men that arrived, rarely able to receive a stable salary from the state. Merchants began to visit the Russian settlements, interested in selling
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#1732772000062528-407: Was a Russian promyshlennik and explorer of the New Siberian Islands . In 1800, Sannikov discovered and charted Stolbovoy Island , and in 1805 Faddeyevsky Island . In 1809–1810, he took part in the expedition led by Matvei Gedenschtrom . In 1810, Sannikov crossed the island of New Siberia and a year later explored Faddeyevsky Island. He also discovered Bunge Land , and suggested that there
552-627: Was a vast land north of the Kotelny Island . This hypothetical island has become known as Sannikov Land . A strait between Maly Lyakhovsky and the Kotelny islands bears Sannikov's name. This article about an explorer is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Promyshlennik The promyshlenniki ( Russian : промышленники , sg. промышленник, promyshlennik ) were Russian and Indigenous Siberian artel members, or self-employed workers drawn largely from
576-645: Was destroyed by coastal erosion and became a submerged sand shoal, like many other islands formed either of fossilized ice or of permafrost . This process of Arctic islands disappearing continues within the New Siberian Islands archipelago . Other historians and geographers hypothesize that Sannikov Land might have been a miraged image of Bennett Island. Such mirages occur frequently in the Arctic region. Russian geologist and science fiction writer Vladimir Obruchev fictionalized this phantom island in his novel Sannikov Land ( ru:Земля Санникова (роман) , 1926). In
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