Chikhachev, Petr Aleksandrovich

Chikhachev, Petr Aleksandrovich 

Born Aug. 16 (28), 1808, in Gatchina; died Oct. 1 (13), 1890, in Florence. Russian geographer and geologist. Honorary member of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1876) and of the Russian Geographical Society (1890).

Chikhachev spent most of his life outside Russia, mainly in Paris and Florence. As a result of his travels through Italy and southern France between 1839 and 1841, he compiled a geological map of the Italian Peninsula. In 1842 he journeyed through the Altai and Northwest China; in 1845 he used the information gathered during his travels to compile a geographic and geological description of the Altai, Northwest China, and the Kuznetsk Coal Basin. From 1847 to 1863, he undertook a number of expeditions through Asia Minor. In 1877 and 1878, he traveled through Spain, Algeria, and Tunisia.

Chikhachev’s main works dealt with the geology and geography of Asia Minor, the Altai, Italy, southern France, Spain, Algeria, and Tunisia. Chikhachev wrote several works devoted to the political life and economy of the Ottoman Empire and to the policies of the European powers regarding the Eastern Question.

A range in the Altai is named after Chikhachev.

WORKS

Asie mineure, vols. 1–8. Paris, 1853–69.
In Russian translation:
Pis’ma o Turtsii. Moscow, 1960.
Velikie derzhavy i Vostochnyi vopros. Moscow, 1970.
Puteshestvie v Vostochnyi Altai. Moscow, 1974.
Ispaniia, Alzhiri Tunis. Moscow, 1975.

REFERENCES

Tsybul’skii, V. V. P. A. Chikhachev—vydaiushchiisia issledovatel’ Altaia. Kemerovo, 1959.
Tsybul’skii, V. V. P. A. Chikhachev—issledovatel’, puteshestvennik. Moscow, 1961.

V. V. TSYBUL’SKII