In the following list of foreign observers of Russia dates are normally date of first publication, or other appropriate date where this is not possible
- 922: Ahmed ibn Fadlan travelled from Bagdad to near Kazan, saw Vikings
- c. 950: Ahmad ibn Rustah went to Novgorod
- c. 1241: Snorri Sturluson described Rus chieftains as typical Vikings
- c. 1300: Marco Polo mentioned Russia as a distant country in the far north
- 1476: Ambrogio Contarini Venetian ambassador to Persia, passed through Moscow. Early (earliest?) printed source
- 1486: Iurii Trakhaniot Muscovite ambassador to Milan, interviewed by Milanese officials, their report possibly not published
- 1487: Giosafat Barbaro Venetian to Sea of Azov, published 1543
- 1515 Jacob Piso: Polish anti-Russian propaganda, never in Russia
- 1517: Maciej Miechowita "first accurate geography of Eastern Europe"
- 1519 Christian Bomhover: Teutonic Knight, first book solely on Russia, very hostile, never visited Russia, little cited by later authors.
- 1525–1543: Albert Compense, Paolo Giovo, Johan Fabri: Favorable accounts in interest of church union. Never in Russia.
- c. 1527: Sigismund von Herberstein, Habsburg ambassador to Moscow. Saw government as despotic. Much copied by later writers.
- 1553: Richard Chancellor reached Muscovy via the White Sea, wrote Booke of the Great and Mighty Emperor of Russia
- 1561–1583: During the Livonian War a number of anti-Russian pamphlets published in the German lands.
- 1578: Heinrich von Staden German soldier, in oprichnina
- 1586: Antonio Possevino Papal diplomat
- 1589: Richard Hakluyt published voyages of the Muscovy Company
- 1589: Anthony Jenkinson, with Muscovy Company, to Moscow, Astrakhan, Bukhara and Persia, published in Hakluyt
- 1591: Giles Fletcher, the Elder English ambassador to Muscovy, wrote Of the Russe Common Wealth
- 1607: Jacques Margeret French mercenary, 'first printed French book on Russia'
- 1610: Isaac Massa Dutch merchant and envoy, via White Sea
- 1615: Peter Petreius Swedish diplomat, wrote History of the Grand Duchy of Moscow
- 1617: Conrad Bussow German involved in Time of Troubles
- 1621: Jerome Horsey with Muscovy Company
- 1647: Adam Olearius Holstein ambassador to Persia via Muscovy and the Volga
- 1653: Paul of Aleppo favorable view of an Orthodox theocracy. In Arabic, English translation 1829
- 1663: Juraj Križanić Croat and proto pan-slav. Advocated liberalizing reforms similar to the later enlightened despotism
- 1671: Samuel Collins (physician) physician to the Czar
- c. 1678: Nicolae Milescu Moldavian in Siberia and China
- c. 1680: Patrick Gordon: Scots soldier, left diary
- 1682: John Milton A Brief History of Muscovy compiled from other sources
- 1687: Foy de la Neuville possibly travelled in Russia
- 1701: Dembei Japanese castaway taken to St Petersburg
- 1712: Tulishen Manchu ambassador to Russia and the Kalmycks
- 1721: Friedrich Christian Weber German diplomat
- c. 1723: Lorenz Lange Swede in Siberia and China
- 1729–1732: Two Chinese embassies to Russia[1]
- c. 1733: Johan Gustaf Renat Swede captured by Russians and then Dzungars. Mapped Siberia and Dzungaria
- 1746? Georg Wilhelm Steller journals of the Bering expedition
- 1751: Johann Georg Gmelin, with Bering, botany of Siberia
- 1757: Gerhard Friedrich Müller, with Bering, examined Siberian archives
- 1771: Peter Simon Pallas German natural historian
- 1784: William Richardson (classicist) Scots traveler
- c. 1829: Alexander von Humboldt German naturalist
- 1839: Marquis de Custine very hostile
- 1847: August von Haxthausen publicized the peasant commune
- 1870: George Kennan (explorer) in eastern Siberia
- 1876: Edward Delmar Morgan British traveler and translator
- 1877: Donald Mackenzie Wallace British journalist
- 1894: Constance Garnett translated Russian novels
- 1909: Jeremiah Curtin visited Buryats
- 1913–1919: Arthur Ransome English author, journalist and translator; witnessed revolution
- 1919: John Reed (journalist) witnessed revolution
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Ibn_Fadhlan_manuscript.jpg/220px-Ibn_Fadhlan_manuscript.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Sigismund_von_Herberstein_in_russian_dress1.jpg/220px-Sigismund_von_Herberstein_in_russian_dress1.jpg)
See also
edit- For the Soviet period see Category:Writers about the Soviet Union
References
edit- Marshall T. Poe, "A People Born to Slavery: Russia in Early Modern European Ethnography, 1476–1748", 2000
- Anthony Cross, "In the Lands of the Romanovs: An annotated bibliography of first-hand English-language accounts of the Russian Empire (1613–1917), 2014
- ^ Clifford M Foust, Muscovite and Mandarin, 1967, pages 57–67