Sibiriakov, Aleksandr Mikhailovich

Sibiriakov, Aleksandr Mikhailovich 

Born Sept 26 (Oct. 8), 1849, in Irkutsk; died 1893. Russian gold-mine owner and explorer of Siberia.

Sibiriakov graduated from the polytechnic in Zürich. He financed the polar expeditions of N. A. E. Nordenskjöld (1878–79) and A. V. Grigor’ev (1879–80) and the publication of works on the history of Siberia. In 1880, Sibiriakov made an attempt to cross the Kara Sea by schooner to the mouth of the Enisei. In 1884 he reached the mouth of the Pechora on the steamer Nordenskjöld; he then took a steamboat up the river, crossed the Urals by reindeer and proceeded along the Tobol River to Tobol’sk. This route is known as Sibiriakov’s Route to the North. Sibiriakov made an important contribution to the economic development of Siberia. An island in the Kara Sea and an icebreaker are named after him.

WORKS

Ocherk iz Zabaikal’skoi zhizni, 2nd ed. St. Petersburg, 1878.
“Plavanie parokhoda Oskar Dikson k ust’iam Eniseia ν 1880 g.” Izv. Russkogo geograficheskogo obshchestva, 1881, vol. 17, issue 1.
K voprosu o vneshnikh rynkakh Sibiri. Tobol’sk, 1894.