The journey of Afanasy Nikitin on the outline map. Afanasy Nikitin – Travel to India

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In the 15th century Novgorod, Tver, Moscow and other Russian cities conducted brisk trade with their distant eastern neighbors. Russian merchants traveled to Constantinople, they were met in Samarkand, they visited the Crimea, Asia Minor, and the countries on the coasts of the Caspian and Black Seas. To the south they carried goods with which the Russian land was rich - linen, leather, furs, and they brought silks, paints, pepper, cloves, Persian soap and sugar, Indian pearls and precious stones.
Traders in those days were brave, courageous people, skilled warriors: they encountered many dangers on the way.
In the summer of 1466, merchants from Tver set off on a long voyage for overseas trade. They sailed down the Volga to the Khvalypsky Sea, as the Caspian Sea was then called.

City of Tver. In the second half of the 15th century. the city of Tver was the capital of an independent principality. It was surrounded by a wooden wall coated with clay. There were many in the city big houses and churches.
(From an engraving of the 17th century. From the book of Olearius “Description of a Journey to Russia and Persia.”)

The merchants chose Afanasy Nikitin as the head of the caravan - an enterprising man who had traveled long distances and was literate. From the very first days he began to keep a diary.
At that time, the lower Volga was still occupied by the Tatar horde. And, fearing an attack by the Tatars, the Tver merchants, for safety, joined Nizhny Novgorod to the caravan of the ambassador who went to Moscow to visit the prince Ivan III from the ruler of Shamakhi, a small state located on the southwestern coast of the Caspian Sea. Together with the ambassador's caravan, Moscow merchants and teziki (merchants from Central Asia) who came to trade in Russian cities sailed along the Volga.
At the end of the river journey, when the ships were near Astrakhan, they were attacked by a detachment of the Tatar Khan Kasim.
During the battle, one ship of the caravan got stuck on a fishing hole 1, and the other ran aground. The Tatars plundered both ships and captured four Russians. Afanasy Nikitin was on the ship of the Shemakha ambassador. This ship and another from the caravan managed to escape from the attackers, but all of Afanasy Nikitin’s goods remained on the ship, captured by the Tatars.
The merchants continued sailing across the Caspian Sea. A smaller ship, on which six Muscovites and six Tver residents sailed, was washed up on a spit off the Dagestan coast during a storm. The Kaytaki who lived there plundered the goods and took the people captive.
Afanasy Nikitin with ten Russian merchants safely reached Derbent. There he began to work hard to rescue his comrades from captivity. Only a year later he managed to achieve their release. Some of the freed merchants returned to Rus', and Nikitin went to Baku, and then further to Persia (Iran). For overseas trade, while still in Tver, he borrowed goods and was afraid to return to his homeland as a debtor, where he would be brought to trial.
After spending six months in the seaside city of Chapakur and several months in Sari and Amoli, Afanasy Nikitin moved to the city of Ray, one of the most ancient Persian cities. From Rey, along the ancient caravan route, Afanasy Nikitin went to the southeast of Persia. In the spring of 1469, he reached the trading city of Hormuz, located on a small barren and waterless island in the Persian Gulf. Trade routes from Asia Minor, Egypt, India and China intersected in this Persian port.


The city of Hormuz in the 15th century. was the largest port in Asia. It is located on a small island in the Persian Gulf.
(Ancient engraving.)

“Gurmyz 2... is a great refuge, people from all over the world visit it and there are all sorts of goods in it, whatever is born in the whole world, then in Gurmyz there is everything...” Nikitin wrote in his diary.
Nikitin, getting acquainted with trade, stayed in Hormuz for a month. He learned that horses, which are very valuable there, are exported from here to India. Having bought a good horse, Nikitin sailed with him on a ship to India.
This voyage lasted for a month and a half. Afanasy Nikitin landed in the Indian port of Chaul, a harbor on the Malabar coast, south of Bombay.

In India, Afanasy Nikitin saw and learned a lot because the Indians trusted him. (Engraving by A. D. Goncharov.)

The Russian traveler was surprised at many things while examining the city: “...and here there is an Indian country, and people walk around all naked, and their heads are not covered, and their breasts are bare, and their hair is braided in one braid... And they have many children, and husbands and the wives are all black,” Nikitin wrote in his diary.
And the Russian himself aroused everyone's attention. In his notes you can read the following lines: “...I go wherever I go, but there are many people behind me, they are amazed at the white man...”
From Chaul, Afanasy Nikitin went into the interior of India. Although he had a horse, he took care of it and walked. He wanted to sell the horse for as much as possible.
In the city of Juneir, which, according to Nikitin’s description, stood on a high mountain and represented impregnable fortress, something happened to him. The Juneir Khan took the horse and promised to return it only on the condition that Nikitin accepted the Muslim faith.
At that time, for a Russian person to accept someone else’s faith meant to renounce his family. Nikitin refused to obey the khan and almost paid for it with his life. He was saved by the intercession of a Persian he knew, Khoja 3 Muhammad from Khorosan. We also managed to rescue the horse. Recounting this incident in detail in his diary, Nikitin did not forget to make a note about the climate in Juneira, where it rains for four months; He also made notes about agriculture, goods and the faith of the inhabitants.
As soon as the roads dried out after a long period of rain, Nikitin set off on a further journey through India.
He sold the horse at a profit in the city of Bidar.
Nikitin lived in this city for four months. The Russian person, respecting and appreciating the customs of the country, became very close to many Indian families. He told them frankly that he was not a Muslim and not Jose Isuf Khorosani, as he is called here, but a Christian, and his name was “Ofonasiy” (Athanasius). Treating him with confidence, the Indians introduced their Russian friend to their life and customs.
In the traveler's diary several pages are dedicated to Bidar. Along with the story of life ordinary people Nikitin described the Sultan’s magnificent excursions for walks, who were accompanied by 10 thousand horsemen and 50 thousand foot soldiers. This procession was attended by hundreds of trumpeters and drummers, 200 elephants dressed in golden armor, 300 horses harnessed to gilded carriages.
In the Sultan's palace, Nikitin further says, there are seven gates, and at each gate there are 100 guards and 100 scribes. Everyone who enters and everyone who leaves is recorded, and foreigners are not allowed into the palace at all.

Meeting the winner.
(Indian miniature of the 17th century)

Observing different aspects of the life of the Indian people, Nikitin emphasized in his diary social inequality people.
From Bidar, Nikitin and his Indian friends went to the sacred city of Parvat for the holiday “Night of the God Shiva.”
The Russian traveler very accurately and interestingly described this holiday, which was attended by up to 100 thousand people.
Speaking about the food of the people, Nikitin notes that Indians do not eat meat, and explains that this is done due to religious beliefs: “... Indians call the ox father, and the cow mother.”
While on foreign land, Nikitin noticed that many things there were unlike his homeland: it was warm “from dawn”, but it was cool here “from Whitsunday” 4 . Observing the starry sky, Nikitin noted that the stars in India are located differently.
More and more often, Afanasy Nikitin's dreams carried him to Rus', which was for him more beautiful than all countries. “There is no land like it in this world, although the boyars of the Russian land are not kind. Let the Russian land be settled,” we find in the traveler’s diary words imbued with patriotism about his native land.
Nikitin left Bidar and went to the Indian Ocean coast, to the port of Dabul.

Travel map of Afanasy Nikitin.

After a three-year stay in India, Afanasy Nikitin left Dabul for his homeland. He sailed again to the familiar Hormuz.
The stormy sea tossed the small ship for more than a month and brought it to the shores of Africa. Coastal residents wanted to plunder the ship, but the merchants managed to pay off with gifts.
Then the ship headed to the shores of Arabia, to the port of Muscat, and from there to Hormuz. Having joined the caravan of merchants, Afanasy Nikitin reached the Turkish city of Trebizond, on the Black Sea coast.
Ahead was the last - the third sea. After a successful voyage, the ship entered Balaklava Bay, and then headed to the large trading port of Kafu - as the city of Feodosia was called in the old days.
Russian merchants often visited here. Nikitin met with his fellow countrymen and went with them to their native places.
But the brave traveler did not have to return home. Nikitin died near Smolensk in 1472.
Nikitin's companions delivered his notes to Moscow and handed them over to the chief clerk of Ivan III, Vasily Mamyrev.
"Walking Beyond Three Seas" was highly appreciated by his contemporaries. It couldn’t have been any other way.

Excerpt from "Walking across the Three Seas by Afanasy Nikitin." Translated, this means: “I wrote my sinful journey across three seas: the first Derbent Sea - the Khvalynsk Sea, the second Indian Sea - the Hindustan Sea, the third Black Sea - the Istanbul Sea.”

India, which Russian people knew from legends and epics as a country where the sky meets the earth, where there are many fabulous riches, fantastic animals and birds, giants and dwarfs, was first explored by a Russian traveler and truthfully described by him.
The diary contained various information about caravan and sea ​​routes Persia and India, about the cities, economy, trade, customs, beliefs and morals of the peoples inhabiting these countries.
The notes of Afanasy Nikitin were the best description of India for its time.
...Centuries have passed. Afanasia Nikitin's diary was lost. Only in the 19th century, the famous historian and writer Karamzin found Nikitin’s diary “Walking across the Three Seas” copied into the chronicle (Trinity List) in the manuscripts of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Six more were subsequently discovered different lists, but the original has not yet been found.
On the banks of the Russian Volga River, in the city of Tver, in 1955 a monument to Afanasy Nikitin was unveiled. He reminds us of the first Russian explorer to India and of the unbreakable friendship of our people with the great Indian people. This is also evidenced by the words carved on the pedestal of the monument:
"To the brave
Russian traveler"
Afanasy Nikitin
in memory of the fact that he visited India for a friendly purpose in 1469–1472."

_____________
1 Yaz (ez) - a fence, a wattle fence made of twigs, arranged by fishermen on rivers to catch fish.
2 This is what Nikitin called Hormuz.
3 Khoja means “lord” in Persian.
4 “Veil Day” is in the fall, and “Trinity Day” is in the spring.

Afanasy Nikitin - Tver merchant mediocre, became the first European to study and describe medieval India a quarter of a century before the arrival of the Portuguese colonialists.

His notes “Walking across Three Seas” have become a most valuable literary and historical monument, in which the versatility of his observations is combined with religious tolerance and devotion to his native land.

Biography of Afanasy Nikitin. The beginning of the journey

It is unknown when the biography of Afanasy Nikitin begins. The fact is that he is the son of the peasant Nikita, which means that Nikitin is his patronymic, not his last name. How he became a merchant is also unknown. Now we only know that the Russian traveler Afanasy Nikitin by the mid-1460s was already a fairly wealthy man trading furs abroad. By this time, he had already become an experienced merchant who had visited Byzantium, Moldova, Lithuania and Crimea. And luck accompanied him everywhere.

Apparently, a competent merchant always secured relevant documents(letters) from the Tver prince. The large geography of trade trips of the traveler Afanasy Nikitin indirectly indicates that he knew a number of Turkic languages ​​and Farsi. In addition, one should not lose sight of the fact that the Tver Principality was then part of a large and powerful Tatar state Golden Horde, which allowed Russian merchants to trade freely with many Muslim countries. The most famous journey in the biography of Afanasy Nikitin also began quite smoothly.

Routes of Nikitinsky “walking”

It is now impossible to establish the exact date when the merchant caravan began to leave. Some historians date it to 1466, others shift it to 1468. Omitting exact dates and relying on specific facts, the following can be stated.
The trip that gave the world the discoveries of Afanasy Nikitin began in the spring. Then a group of Russian merchants equipped a caravan of ships for a trade trip to the Lower Volga and the North Caucasus. The caravan had two ships, loaded, among other things, with “soft junk”, i.e. furs, which were well valued in those parts.

The Grand Duke of Tver Mikhail Borisovich gave Nikitin a letter allowing him to begin extensive trade in the south of the Golden Horde near Astrakhan. For greater security, it was planned to join the caravan to the Russian embassy of Vasily Papin, but it left earlier. Then the caravan waited for the Tatar embassy of Shirvan Hasan-bek, with whom it went to the Lower Volga.

Alas! The merchants' cover did not help. Near Astrakhan, a caravan of ships was attacked by local robbers, who did not even look at the embassy's cover, and took away all the merchant's goods. Returning back without money and without goods entailed dire consequences, so the ruined merchants scattered in all directions. Nikitin headed south to Baku, then part of Persia, and further to Mazanderan. Thus began the geographical discoveries of Afanasy Nikitin.

The way to India and back

Nikitin lived in Persia for over two years, trying to somehow make up for the goods lost near Astrakhan. Having learned that in India, thoroughbred stallions cost good money, he headed there. Afanasy Nikitin's journey to India began in 1471, when he, with a horse purchased in Persia, loaded onto a ship heading to the Indian port of Chaul.

Unfortunately, the merchant was unable to immediately sell the animal at a decent price, and then Nikitin’s path took him through Indian cities. In the capital of the Bahmani state, Bidar, he finally sold his horse and went to Parvat, the holy city, where he lived for a year and a half. From there, Afanasy Nikitin’s route led to the “diamond” province of Raichur, where he spent another six months, earning money for the return journey.

Three years of Afanasy Nikitin's travels around India disappointed him. He saw almost nothing useful there for his homeland. They were not allowed to export cheap goods without duty, and there were many robbers at sea, which made trade extremely difficult. Having not been particularly successful in Indian trade, the Russian traveler began to get ready to go home.

This route of Afanasy Nikitin ran through the Arabian and Somali peninsulas, Hormuz, Tabriz, Trabzon. Here, suspecting him to be a Turkmen spy, all his goods were seized, leaving Nikitin only with his notes. From Trabzon he reached Kafa, where he spent the winter, waiting for the Russian merchant caravan. In the Cafe he became friends with Moscow merchants, with whom he went home in the spring of 1475.

Unfortunately, Nikitin’s health, weakened by years of travel, failed him, and he suddenly died not far from Smolensk. His notes were brought to Moscow and subsequently glorified the merchant

Afanasy Nikitin is a traveler, an experienced merchant and the first European to visit India. Nikitin is also known for his notes “Walking across Three Seas.” Afanasy Nikitin is known to his contemporaries as a navigator and merchant. This merchant became the first of the inhabitants European countries who have visited India. The traveler discovered the eastern country 25 years before Vasco da Gama and other Portuguese travelers.

From the biography of Afanasy Nikitin:

History has preserved little information about Athanasius, the date and place of his birth, parents and childhood. The first historical records relate to his journey to the three seas of the Black, Caspian and Arabian, which are described in his notes. +Little is also known about the childhood years of the Russian traveler, since the biography of Afanasy Nikitin began to be written down during the merchant’s expeditions. It is only known that the navigator was born in the mid-15th century in the city of Tver. The traveler's father was a peasant, his name was Nikita. At that time there were no surnames, so “Nikitin” is a patronymic, not a surname.

Biographers know nothing more about the family, as well as about the traveler’s youth. Afanasy became a merchant at a young age and managed to see many countries, for example, Byzantium and Lithuania, where the traveler promoted trade. Afanasy's goods were in demand, so it cannot be said that the young man lived in poverty.

Scientists do not know about the personal life of Afanasy Nikitin, because the biography of the Russian navigator was compiled thanks to the merchant’s notes. Whether Nikitin had children, whether his faithful wife was waiting for him, also remains a mystery. But, judging by the merchant’s manuscripts, Afanasy Nikitin was a purposeful and resilient person who was not afraid of difficulties in unfamiliar countries. During three years of travel, Afanasy Nikitin mastered foreign languages; Arabic, Persian and Turkic words were found in his diaries.

There are no photographic portraits of Nikitin; only primitive drawings reached his contemporaries. It is known that the merchant had a simple Slavic appearance and wore a square beard.

Wandering through sunny countries, Afanasy Nikitin lived with the dream of returning to his homeland. The navigator got ready for the return journey and went to the trading port of Hormuz, from where the journey to India began. From Hormuz the merchant traveled north through Iran and ended up in Trabzon, a Turkish city. Local Turkish residents mistook the Russian navigator for a spy, so they took Nikitin prisoner, taking away everything that was on the ship. The only thing that the navigator had left with him was the manuscripts.

And when Afanasy was released from arrest, the merchant went to Feodosia: there he was supposed to meet with Russian merchants to borrow money and pay off his debts. Closer to the autumn of 1474, the merchant arrived in the Feodosian city of Kafa, where he spent the winter.

And having stopped in Cafe (Crimea), in November 1474 he decided to wait for the spring trade caravan, because his poor health did not make it possible to travel in winter. During his long stay at the Cafe, Nikitin managed to meet and establish close relationships with wealthy Moscow merchants, among whom were Grigory Zhukov and Stepan Vasiliev. In the spring, Nikitin intended to travel along the Dnieper to Tver.

When it became warm in Crimea, their united large caravan set off. Afanasy's poor health was becoming more and more evident. Because of this, he died and was buried near Smolensk. The cause of Afanasy Nikitin’s death remains a mystery, but scientists are confident that the long journey across different countries with various climatic conditions sharply deteriorated the navigator's health.

The desire to share his impressions, observations and experiences resulted in his travel notes. Here one can clearly see well-readness and competent command of not only Russian business speech, but also a good understanding of foreign languages.

Nikitin's notes were delivered to Moscow by merchants who accompanied the wanderer. Nikitin's diary was handed over to the adviser of Prince Ivan III, and in 1480 the manuscripts were included in the chronicle.

In his travel notes “Walking across Three Seas,” the Russian traveler described in detail the life and political structure of the eastern countries. Athanasius's manuscripts were the first in Rus' to describe a sea voyage not from the point of view of pilgrimage, but for the purpose of telling a story about trade. The traveler himself believed that his notes were a sin. Later, in the 19th century, Afanasy’s stories were published by the famous historian and writer Nikolai Karamzin and included in the “History of the Russian State.”

2. “Walkings” were included by Prince Vasily Mamyrev in the chronicle.

*Dates from the biography of Afanasy Nikitin:

*1468 the beginning of the journey across 3 seas.

*1471 arrival in India.

*1474 returned to Crimea.

*1475 died.

About the expeditions and travels of Afanasy Nikitin:

Scientists were unable to reconstruct the exact date of departure for the journey.

Afanasy Nikitin, like a real merchant, sought to expand trade in what is now Astrakhan. The navigator received permission from the Tver prince Mikhail Borisovich III, so Nikitin was considered as a secret diplomat, but historical data does not confirm these guesses. Having received the support of the first government officials, Afanasy Nikitin set off on a long journey from Tver.

Russian traders, who were traveling in the same direction as Athanasius, set off from Tver on several ships. Afanasy by that time was an experienced merchant and traveler, because he had to visit such countries as Byzantium, Lithuania, Moldova and Crimea more than once. And the safe return home was accompanied by the import of overseas goods.

The navigator sailed across the Volga River. Initially, the traveler stopped in the city of Klyazin and went to the monastery. There he received a blessing from the abbot, and also prayed to the Holy Trinity so that the journey would go well. Next, Afanasy Nikitin went to Uglich, from there to Kostroma, and then to Ples. According to the traveler, the route passed without obstacles, but in Nizhny Novgorod the navigator’s expedition dragged on for two weeks, since there the merchant was supposed to meet with the ambassador of the Shirvan state, Hasan Beg. Initially, Nikitin wanted to join the Russian embassy of Vasily Papin, but he had already sailed south.

Trouble happened when Afanasy’s team sailed past Astrakhan: the sailors were overtaken by Tatar robbers and plundered the ship, and one ship completely sank.

Returning to Russia promised to fall into a hole of debt obligations. Therefore, Afanasy’s comrades were divided: those who had at least something at home returned to Rus', and the rest went in different directions, some remained in Shemakha, some went to work in Baku.

Then the merchants who had lost their goods went on two ships to the fortified city of Derbent. Afanasy Nikitin hoped to improve financial situation, so he decided to set sail towards the south: from Derbent the resilient navigator set off for Persia, and from Persia he reached the busy port of Hormuz, which was the intersection of trade routes: Asia Minor, India, China and Egypt. In manuscripts, Afanasy Nikitin called this port “the haven of Gurmyz”, known in Rus' for the supply of pearls.

A shrewd merchant in Hormuz learned that rare stallions were supplied from there, which were not bred in the Indian country, and they were highly valued there. The merchant bought a horse, and with the hope of selling the goods at an exorbitant price, he went to the Eurasian continent of India, the territory of which, although it was then on the maps, remained unexplored by Europeans. Nikitin spent 3 years in India. He visited many cities in India, saw a lot, but failed to make any money. The Russian traveler described in detail the life and structure of the sunny country in his manuscripts.

Afanasy was amazed at how Indian residents walked along the street: women and children walked naked, and the prince had his thighs and head covered with a veil. But almost every person had gold jewelry in the form of bracelets, which surprised the Russian merchant. Nikitin did not understand why Indians could not sell precious jewelry and buy clothes to cover their nakedness. He was also impressed that India had a large population, and almost every second woman in the country was expecting a child.

Afanasy Nikitin sailed to the city of Chaul in 1471. In Chaul, Afanasy did not sell the stallion for favorable price, so at the beginning of spring the navigator went to the very depths of India. The merchant reached the northwestern fortress of Junnar, where he met with Asad Khan, its owner. The governor liked Afanasy's goods, but he wanted to get the horse for free and took it away by force. During the conversation, Assad learned that the Russian traveler professes a different religion and promised to return the animal with gold in addition if the merchant converts to Islam. The governor gave Nikitin 4 days to think; in case of a negative answer, Assad Khan threatened the Russian merchant with death.

According to the book “Walking across the Three Seas,” Afanasy Nikitin was saved by chance: the governor of the fortress met an old man he knew, Muhammad, to whom the ruler showed mercy and released the stranger, returning his horse. However, historians are still arguing: Afanasy Nikitin accepted the Mohammedan faith or remained faithful to Orthodoxy. The merchant left such doubts because of the original notes, which were full of foreign words.

It was a long journey back to Crimea. Athanasius traveled through Africa, he also visited the Ethiopian lands, and reached Trebizond and Arabia. Then, having overcome Iran, and then Turkey, he returned to the Black Sea.

Interesting facts from the life of Afanasy Nikitin:

* Afanasy Nikitin was the first Russian traveler to visit Persia and India. Returning from these countries, the traveler visited Turkey, Somalia and Muscat.

*Nikitin opened eastern countries 25 years before the travels of Vasco da Gama and many other travelers.

* Nikitin was amazed at the customs of India and exotic animals; in a foreign country he saw snakes and monkeys for the first time.

*The journey to unprecedented lands was colorful and vibrant, but Afanasy was dissatisfied, because the merchant never saw any trade benefits.

* According to the navigator, the sunny country traded in paints and cheap pepper - there was nothing to take home to make a profit.

* Nikitin's Indian stay was interesting, but poor: the sale of a single horse cost the merchant a loss and a fine.

* Afanasyev’s famous travel notes “Walking across Three Seas”, this is a wayward reference book, which describes in detail the life, as well as the political structure of countries in the East.

* In Rus', these manuscripts were the first to describe maritime ones for the purpose of narrating trade.

* For scientists, Nikitin’s personal life still remains a mystery. It is unknown whether he had a wife and children.

* Nikitin is not the traveler’s surname at all. There were no surnames then. This is his patronymic, that is, Afanasy, son of Nikita.

* He described Calcutta, Ceylon and Indochina, which were previously unknown.

* Afanasia Nikitin came from poor family. AND main reason, along which he went on travels - correct financial situation families through trade with foreign merchants.

*The biggest surprise that Nikitin experienced in India was that the locals walked around naked, but in gold jewelry. *Streets and alleys in Russia, as well as an embankment in the city of Tver, were named after the Russian navigator.

* In 1958, Mosfilm produced the film “Walking across Three Seas.”

* In 1955, a monument to Nikitin was erected in Tver at the place where his journey began.

*There are also monuments to the Russian merchant in Cafe and in the state of Maharashtra.

*This fact is curious: a Tver merchant had the right to bear a patronymic, while in the Vladimir and then Moscow principalities only boyars and nobles had this right.

*Mentioned exotic animals in the entries, as well as the mysterious feathered “gukuk”.

*“Walking” has been translated into many languages.

*2003 A monument was erected in Western India, the inscriptions on which are engraved in Hindi, Marathi, Russian and English.

*The Old Russian original text of his “Walking across the Three Seas” was written in four languages.

*Nikitin ends his travel diary with a prayer to Allah.

*In his notes, Afanasy often uses local expressions of the countries he visited, and after them gives his interpretation in Russian.

*His notes indicate not only differences in nature and strange animals, but also differences in morals, way of life and political system.

* Athanasius also visited the sacred city of Parvata, where Buddha is worshiped. He studied local religion and government. His notes testify to the author's broad outlook and friendliness towards foreign countries and peoples.

*Despite the beautiful and interesting descriptions India, Persia and other countries, his records do not hide his disappointment at the lack of the promised variety of goods.

* Missing the Russian land, Afanasy could not feel comfortable in foreign lands. *Despite the injustice of the Russian nobles, Nikitin glorified the Russian land.

* Until the last, the traveler kept the Christian religion, and all assessments of morals and customs were based on Orthodox morality.

Mysteries in the history of the life and travels of Afanasy Nikitin:

Russian traveler Afanasy Nikitin is a mysterious figure.

For some researchers, the lack of biographical information about Afanasy Nikitin in chronicles and other ancient Russian documents is grounds to believe that the “Walk” was falsified at the end of the 18th century.

Indeed, the Russian traveler mysteriously ended up in India several years before Vasco da Gama, which was supposed to indicate Russia’s priority in the discovery of India. This version is also supported by certain inaccuracies in the description of the countries through which the merchant Afanasy passed.

Afanasy is silent about many things, for example, about what actually prompted him to go on an expedition to distant lands. This version is also supported by the fact that Athanasius managed to keep his travel diary during his many years of travel, although during the journey he had to suffer shipwrecks, be attacked by robbers and endure other troubles that did not contribute to the preservation of the birch bark scroll. Moreover, a stranger writing something down in incomprehensible signs was to be mistaken for a spy, the list was destroyed, and the scribe himself was executed.

However, historians agree that the text of the life is authentic, since it is known not in a single copy, as, for example, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” but in several, and excerpts from the original “Walk” are contained in several chronicles dating back to the 15th century, in particular in the Lviv Chronicle, the reliability of which is not questioned, which means that the text of the “Walk” itself is reliable.

Another thing is that it is not the Tver merchant’s manuscript that has survived to this day, but its copies made by subsequent copyists who could distort the text: involuntary typos, replacement of incomprehensible words with similar ones - all this made the text less authentic.

Another hypothesis suggests that Afanasy Nikitin visited only Hormuz, a large Arab port on the border of the Persian Gulf, and all evidence about India was gleaned from the stories of sailors who had actually been there.

Indeed, some descriptions of India seem fantastic, and events (battles, changes of rulers) and dates are poorly synchronized with each other. This version is also supported by the fact that “Walking” included an episode of sailing to the shores of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. These shores were well known to the sailors of Hormuz, but they lie far from the route from India to the Persian Gulf. But along with such fantastic sketches, many descriptions of India are so accurate that they could only have been made by an eyewitness.

Nothing is known for certain about Afanasy Nikitin’s occupation. Historians and encyclopedic reference books unanimously call him a “merchant,” and some researchers, striving for historical accuracy, say differently: “presumably a merchant.” What is hidden behind this?

On the territory of Rus' and in distant southern countries, Afanasy was treated not as a simple merchant, but as an ambassador. It is possible that Athanasius had secret diplomatic missions to the rulers of the Lower Volga and the Caspian Sea basin. The death of Athanasius is also mysterious. Returning to Rus', he, a subject of the Great Prince of Tver, mysteriously dies near Smolensk, which was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the diary falls into the hands of the subjects of the Prince of Moscow, who transport it to Muscovy. Moreover, the sexton managers of the Moscow prince immediately understand that this is a document of exceptional importance. Based on this, it can be argued that the agents of the Moscow prince tracked down Afanasy on the territory of another state and took away from him important document, which for some reason they needed.

The time in which Afanasy Nikitin went to India was difficult and tragic in the history of Rus'. It was especially difficult for Afanasy’s native Tver. In 1462, Ivan III Vasilyevich ascended the throne of Tver's eastern neighbor - the Grand Duchy of Moscow. He, like his descendant and full namesake Ivan IV Vasilyevich, also bore the nickname Grozny. The Moscow princes sought to subjugate all neighboring Russian states. At that time in Rus' there were three independent principalities: Moscow, Tver and Ryazan - and three independent republics: Novgorod, Pskov and Vyatka. It was Ivan III Vasilyevich who, during his reign, subjugated these principalities and cities to his power, passing through independent principalities and republics with fire and sword, drowning in blood the freedom of the Novgorodians and Tver, Vyatichi and Pskov residents. However, this will be a little later, and now, in 1466, the Tver prince Mikhail Borisovich, trying to preserve the independence of his state, sends the inconspicuous merchant Afanasy to distant lands in the hope that he will be able to put together some kind of coalition.

Historians also disagree on the date of the beginning of Nikitin’s journey. Some call it 1458, others - 1466. Perhaps there is some kind of mystery here too. Perhaps Athanasius made two trips - one in 1458 to Kazan and Astrakhan, and the second, which began in 1466, led him to India. However, we do not have reliable information about this first journey, so we will assume that the “walking” began in 1466.

So, in 1466, Afanasy Nikitin left his native Tver for the Shirvan land (modern Dagestan and Azerbaijan). He, (we emphasize - he looks like a simple merchant), has travel documents from the Grand Duke of Tver Mikhail Borisovich and from Archbishop Gennady of Tver. Afanasy is not going alone, other merchants are going with him - they have two ships in total. It is interesting that Afanasy does not mention the names of his fellow Russians anywhere, and this is quite strange. Either Afanasy did not want to give out the names of those who went with him on an important mission, or, on the contrary, the clerk-scribe of the Grand Duke of Moscow decided not to include the Tver merchants in the list. They move along the Volga, past the Klyazma Monastery, pass Uglich and get to Kostroma, which was in the possession of the Moscow prince Ivan III. In principle, relations between Moscow and Tver are tense, but war has not been officially declared, and the Moscow governor allows Afanasy to continue with a safe conduct.

On the road, Afanasy Nikitin wanted to join Vasily Papin, the ambassador of the Grand Duke of Moscow in Shirvan, but he had already passed down the river. Why the Moscow merchant did not wait for the Tver merchant remains a mystery. What kind of goods did Afanasy bring to Shirvan? He doesn't mention this anywhere. Historians suggest that it could have been fur. In Nizhny Novgorod, Afanasy had to stay for two weeks in order to wait for the ambassador of the Shirvanshah named Hasan Bek, who was taking with him to Shirvan 90 gyrfalcons, birds of prey - a gift from the Moscow prince. However, such a number of game birds was either greatly exaggerated or was a figure of speech understandable only to the initiated. Some historians suggest that the word “gyrfalcons” in “Walking” was replaced by the word warriors, i.e. the ambassador went with a detachment of Moscow mercenaries, which, according to the agreement between the Moscow principality and the Horde, Muscovy was supposed to deploy to help the Horde states. The Shirvan ambassador boards the larger of the two ships and they head down the river.

The further path of the heroes is very mysterious. In his travel diary, Afanasy notes that they safely passed Kazan, Orda, Uslan, and Sarai. The description of this part is cursory and gives the impression that sailing along the Volga was an everyday thing for Russian merchants. Despite the fact that they are walking in the retinue of Ambassador Shirvan, they choose a roundabout path - along Akhtuba, trying to bypass Astrakhan. Somewhere at the very confluence of the Volga into the Caspian Sea, during one of the stops, the ships are attacked by the Tatars. A situation that, to put it mildly, does not fit into any framework.

After all, we are talking about an attack on the ambassador of another state. However, this attack, if it took place, testifies against the presence of 90 vigilantes (“gyrfalcons”) in the ambassador’s retinue. What kind of mysterious Tatars attacked the embassy, ​​Afanasy or the later copyist is silent about this, but later on the way to Shirvan, the Russians and Afanasy’s companions had to face troubles again. Near the city of Tarkhi (near present-day Makhachkala), the ships were caught in a storm, and when the smaller of the ships either washed ashore or landed on its own, all the merchants were captured. Afanasy was on the embassy ship at that time.

In Derbent, Afanasy asks Vasily Panin and Hasan-bek to help those captured near Tarkha. The prisoners were indeed released, but the goods were not returned to them, because according to the law, all the property of a ship that crashed at sea washed ashore belongs to the owner of the shore. Such relations between Afanasy and the ambassadors of the Prince of Moscow and Shirvanshah further convince us that Nikitin was far from being a simple merchant.

Some of the merchants, as Nikitin reports, tried to return to Rus', others remained in Shirvan. In the text of “Walking,” Afanasy tries to explain his further wanderings by the fact that he borrowed goods in Rus' and now, when the goods were lost, he could be made a slave for debts. However, this is not the whole truth or not the truth at all. In the future, Nikitin will twice try to return to Rus', but for some unknown reason he will not be allowed to pass beyond Astrakhan twice. Therefore, Afanasy ultimately returns to Rus' not along the Volga, but along the Dnieper. But if he had borrowed goods, the debt would have remained so even after a few years when he decided to return a few years later. For some time Afanasy remains in Shirvan, first in Derbent, and then in Baku, “where the fire burns unquenchable.” What he was doing all this time is unknown. One gets the impression that he was either expecting some important news from Tver, or, on the contrary, he was hiding from his enemies. A reason unknown to us drove Afanasy further, across the sea - to Chenokur. Here he lives for six months, but he is forced to leave here too, he lives for a month in Sari, another month in Amal - and again the road, a short rest and again on the road. This is how he himself talks about this part of his journey: “And I lived in Chanakur for six months, and I lived in Sari for a month, in the land of Mazandaran. And from there he went to Amol and lived here for a month. And from there he went to Damavand, and from Damavand - to Ray. Here they killed Shah Hussein, one of the children of Ali, the grandchildren of Muhammad, and the curse of Muhammad fell on the killers - seventy cities were destroyed. From Rey I went to Kashan and lived here for a month, and from Kashan to Nain, and from Nain to Yazd and lived here for a month. And from Yazd he went to Sirjan, and from Sirjan to Tarom, livestock here is fed with dates, batman dates are sold for four altyns. And from Tarom he went to Lar, and from Lar to Bender, then the Hormuz pier. And here is the Indian Sea, in Persian Daria of Gundustan; It’s four miles to walk from here to Hormuz-grad.”

It seems that he is traveling around Iran, moving from one city to another, as if he is hiding from someone. And he doesn’t list all the cities in his notes; there are “many more large cities,” he writes, which he visited, but he doesn’t even give their names. It is interesting that in “Walking” he talks about ancient city Rey, where Hussein, the grandson of Muhammad, was once killed. Soon after, the city was captured and destroyed by the conquerors, and by the time of Athanasius only ruins remained of it. It is difficult to say whether Nikitin was hiding in the ruins of Rey from unknown enemies or was looking for something to sell there, but this city is specifically mentioned in his notes. The legend about the destroyed city is consonant with his gloomy thoughts about his homeland - a war is brewing there between two great principalities, at the same time the troops of the Grand Duke of Moscow are destroying Vyatka and Novgorod. And the history of the city of Rhea is intertwined with modernity.

But in his wanderings he reaches the Strait of Hormuz, which separates the Persian Gulf from the “Indian Sea”. Here, for the first time among the Rusyns (as he calls himself), he sees the ebb and flow of the tides. Interestingly, it is here that he meets Christians and celebrates Easter with them. This is very important fact for historians, because from the long descriptions of his wanderings one can clearly conclude that he wandered around Iran for more than a year, but since he did not have the opportunity to perform Easter rituals and did not even have the opportunity to calculate the onset of Easter, he did not celebrate this holiday.

It is possible that it was at this time that Afanasy Nikitin began to have thoughts about the legitimacy of other faiths. It was in Hormuz, in his own words, that Athanasius began to keep his diary. But the descriptions of his previous travels are quite detailed, so the idea arises that in Hormuz (or somewhat earlier) he lost his previous notes and now here, on the shores of the Persian Gulf, before sailing to India, he restored his memories.

Soon Athanasius sails to India on an Indian ship (tava). It is difficult to say whether India was the immediate goal of his journey or whether he got there by accident, in search of wealth. In his own words, he learned that horses are not bred in India, so they are very expensive there, and decided to go to India with a stallion, which he hoped to sell there. On the tawa, Nikitin reached the North Indian port of Cambay, “where paint and varnish are born” (the main export products, except spices and fabrics), and then went to Chaul, located on the Hindustan Peninsula. India amazed the traveler. This land was so different from his native places, lush greenery and fertile soils produced harvests unprecedented in his homeland. People in India - dark-skinned, naked, barefoot - were also different. They lived a different life, served different gods.

And he is also surprised by various Indian wonders, for example, war elephants: “Battles are fought more and more on elephants, in armor and on horses. Elephants have large forged swords tied to their heads and tusks.<…>Yes, the elephants are dressed in damask armor, and turrets are made on the elephants, and in those turrets there are twelve people in armor, and all with cannons and arrows.” And Afanasy probably thought: “Oh, if only my Grand Duke had such elephants, he would be invincible!” But bringing even one elephant to Rus' is impossible. It’s far away and the path is dangerous. About 700 years before Nikitin, the Arab ruler Harun al-Rashid gave an elephant to the Frankish king Charlemagne, and it was transported from Palestine to Aachen with great difficulty. But that was a gift from one great ruler to another.

Many things surprise the traveler: “Their winter began on Trinity Day (May-June). Every day and night - for four whole months - there is water and mud everywhere. These days they plow and sow wheat, rice, peas, and everything edible. They make wine from large nuts, they call it Gundustan goats, and they call them mash from tatna. Here they feed the horses peas, and cook khichri with sugar and butter, and feed the horses with them, and in the morning they give them hornets. There are no horses in the Indian land; bulls and buffaloes are born in their land - they ride on them, carry goods and carry other things, do everything.<.>Junnar-grad stands on a stone rock, is not fortified by anything, and is protected by God. And the path to that mountain day by day is walked by one person at a time: the road is narrow, it is impossible for two to pass.<…>Their spring began with the Intercession of the Holy Virgin (October)<…>At night, the city of Bidar is guarded by a thousand guards under the command of a kuttaval, on horses and in armor, and each holding a torch.<.>In Bidar, snakes crawl along the streets, two fathoms long.”

Some of Afanasy’s sketches are funny and rather reminiscent of Arabian fairy tales, however, this is not surprising; much of what Nikitin could not see with his own eyes, he took from the stories of Arab merchants: “And there is also a bird called gukuk in that Aland, flies at night, shouts: "kuk-kuk"; and on whose house she sits, the person will die, and whoever wants to kill her, she lets fire out of her mouth at him. Mamons walk at night and grab chickens, and they live on hills or among rocks. And those monkeys live in the forest. They have a monkey prince who goes about with his army. If someone offends monkeys, they complain to their prince, and he sends his army against the offender, and when they come to the city, they destroy houses and kill people. And the army of monkeys, they say, is very large, and they have their own language<.>They cut the navels of domestic deer - musk will be born in them, and wild deer drop their navels across the field and forest, but they lose their smell, and the musk is not fresh.”

Every time, faced with a different way of life, a different faith and value system, Athanasius became convinced that one can live in different ways and that each faith is correct in its own way. He is interested in questions of faith of other peoples, which, in general, for an Orthodox Christian is almost a sin, because the truth, from the point of view of Orthodoxy, is contained only in the Gospels and the teachings of the Church Fathers, and all other religions are from Satan. But Athanasius, together with the Hindus, visits the main Buddhist center of that time - the city of Parvat, which he calls this: “That is their Jerusalem, the same as Mecca for the Besermen.” However, the Buddhist monks failed to interest Nikitin in their faith, and such a variety of faiths surprises and frightens Afanasy: “But people of different faiths do not drink, do not eat, and do not marry each other.” But the sight of Parvat struck the imagination of Athanasius: “In Parvat<…>everyone comes naked, only a bandage on their hips, and the women are all naked, only a veil on their hips, and the others are all in veils, and there are a lot of pearls on their necks, and yahonts, and gold bracelets and rings on their hands. And inside, to the butkhana, they ride on bulls, the horns of each bull are shod with copper, and there are three hundred bells on its neck and its hooves are shod with copper. And they call the bulls achche.”

“I asked them about their faith,” writes Afanasy Nikitin, which in itself is surprising for a Christian who, according to dogma, should not learn “demonic beliefs,” but preach the word of Jesus himself.

Athanasius's trade and historical observations are very accurate and reliable, he not only writes down what he saw with his own eyes, but also what traders told about other ports from Egypt to the Far East, he indicates where “silk will be born”, where “diamonds will be born ", indicates to future travelers what dangers may await them in these parts, describes the wars in the countries through which he passed. Did he believe that Russian merchants would soon be able to travel with trade caravans to India? It's hard to say, but the information provided by Nikitin could really help merchants who could come to India after him. Afanasy is interested in Indian goods and comes to the conclusion that they would not be in demand in Rus'. “They told [me] that there are a lot of goods [in India] for us, but [it turned out] there is nothing for our land: all the goods are white for the Besermen land, pepper and paint,” Nikitin saddened in his “Walking.” In Bidar, he writes in his diary: “At the auction they sell horses, damask (fabric), silk and all other goods and black slaves, but there is no other goods here. The goods are all from Gundustan, but only vegetables are edible, and there are no goods here for the Russian land.”

Isn't it a mysterious fragment? The merchant carefully writes down what is sold in different cities, makes many useful notes for subsequent merchants, and suddenly cuts from the shoulder: “Yes, there are no goods useful for Rus' here!” Maybe in this way he is trying to scare off competitors? It is quite possible that “Walking” was intended specifically for the Tver merchants, but the Tver residents had to say to everyone else: look, Afanasy Nikitin himself, the pioneer of that land, wrote that in India there is no good product for Rus'. Speaking of goods. It was from India that pearls and ivory, gold and silver came to Rus'. So the merchant Afanasy is disingenuous. However, another explanation is also possible: this crafty passage is a product of the processing of the text by the clerks of the Grand Duke of Moscow, saying that why should you, merchants, go to India, it’s better to stay in Rus'. Centralization state power, which began under Ivan III Vasilievich and continued under his grandson Ivan IV, was accompanied by the closure of external borders, so that no one would run away from the will of the Tsar.

A thoughtful reading of the text of “The Walk” suggests that Afanasy Nikitin, over the years of his stay in Muslim countries, nevertheless converted to Islam, either this time or later in Bidar, when the local nobleman Malik Hasan Bahri, who bore the title of nizam-al-mulk, opened Nikitin's faith, suggested that he change it to Islam. Modern Russian historian Zurab Gadzhiev published an article on the pages of the online magazine “Islamic Civilization” in which he convincingly proves that even after numerous edits by Orthodox scribes, the text of the “Walk” retained a lot of evidence of Nikitin’s adoption of Islam.

Indeed, Athanasius is shown on the pages of “The Walk” as a deeply religious person; the text begins with the glorification of Jesus and the blessings he received for the journey from his spiritual mentors. Subsequently, his wary attitude towards Islam gradually disappears; as we have already mentioned, he even cites in his travel diary a Sunni legend about the punishment of the city of Rey for the murder of Imam Hussein.

In Indian Bidar, Nikitin reflects on the fate of the Russian land. Having listed the advantages of the lands he visited - Crimea, Georgia, Turkey, Moldova and Podolia - he prays for the Russian land, but at the same time adds: “There is no country like it in this world, although the emirs of the Russian land are unjust. May the Russian land be established and may there be justice in it!” Here is an interesting point: Afanasy calls the rulers of Rus' emirs. It seems that during the journey he actually gradually turned into an Arab merchant.

The text of the “Walk” ends with lengthy Islamic prayers. If we assume that the last lines of his travel diary were written by Afanasy before his death, then it turns out that in the last hours of his life he prayed to Allah as a devout Muslim. + After spending several years in India, he decides to return to Rus'. The real reasons This is not entirely clear. In “Walking,” he claims that this happened after a conversation with an Islamic official who suggested that Athanasius change his faith and justified this by the fact that Athanasius did not observe Christian rituals while away from his homeland. But how true this was is unknown. The fact is that the return of Athanasius to Rus' is also surrounded by mysteries, and the text of the “Walk” itself, no doubt, was subject to numerous edits.

Unlike the journey to India, the return journey was short and quick. At the port of Dabhol, he boards a ship that goes through Ethiopia, Muscat and Hormuz and reaches Persia. In Persia, he stops in the cities of Lar, Shiraz, Yazd, Isfahan, Qom, Tabriz. Next it comes to Erzincan in Turkey, from there to Trabzon. So, having passed two seas, the Caspian and the “Indian”, he gets to the third - the Black. In Trabzon, a Turkish official mistakes Nikitin for a spy and takes away his goods.

It was on arrival in Caffa in 1472 that the text of the “Walk” ends. Afanasy Nikitin's son, Tveritin, disappears from history. It is only known that in the winter of 1474/1475 he dies or is killed under mysterious circumstances near Smolensk, literally a hundred kilometers from hometown. It is believed that all this time he was getting to his native Tver. More than two years. Even on foot it is very slow. Therefore, there is reason to assume that the two years of the traveler’s life that “fell out of history” were as intense as the previous ones.

Despite the disagreement among scientists regarding Nikitin’s religion, the most amazing fact, which became clear during their disputes, became Nikitin’s unusual approach to religion for its time. Brought up in an orthodox environment, but a tolerant merchant, having arrived in another country, he was able not only to come to terms with foreign religions, but also to accept them and extract the most important ideas contained in both Orthodoxy and Islam - the monotheistic ideals of goodness and love.

When was in Tver, then I saw monument to Afanasy Nikitin. I immediately remembered from my school geography course that this was a great traveler from the Middle Ages. It turns out that he was born in Tver. After that I started getting acquainted with this famous person.

Afanasy Nikitin - great Russian explorer

Do you know that Nikitin lived in the 15th century and then there were no surnames? His father's name was Nikita. The nickname Afoni came from the name of the pope. He was born into the family of an ordinary peasant, so patronymic became surname.

There is no reliable information about the first half of a man’s life. It is known that he became a merchant. To trade, he had to travel far away Byzantium, Lithuania and Crimea. Thanks to his commercial spirit, Nikitin became rich. From each trip he brought goods that were in demand. But this is not his main merit:

• Nikitin first visited India;
• Russian merchant first in detail described India. Europeans first learned from his stories about elephants and monkeys, religion and the way of life of the Hindus;
• in his writings he mentioned new territories: island of Ceylon, a trading city and described in general outlineHindustan Peninsula;
• the result of staying in new lands was work “Walking across Three Seas”.

Travel route of A. Nikitin

The geography of Nikitin's travels is significant. The merchant explored many new territories:

• Nikitin left Tver. Then he came to Persia. Afterwards I went even further south. During the trip, he learned new languages, became acquainted with local culture and practiced the arts;
• it is known for sure that in 1 In 449 he visited the city of Hormuz. It was located at the crossroads of trade routes of India, China and Egypt. Then I went to Indian Chaul city:
• in 1450 visited East Africa, visited Ethiopian highlandse and returned to his homeland;
• in 1468 a new long time has begun exploration of Persia, India and Africa;
• in 1474 he returned back through Turkey, Kafa () and along the Dnieper swam back.

A characteristic feature of all his travels is their duration. He was in no hurry; he lived for months with local residents. Along the way, I bought and resold things that were in demand. There are no clear dates for the study. We can glean information about his journey from his work "Walking across three seas".

Afanasy Nikitin never returned to his homeland. He died in Smolensk. It is unknown what caused his death. Although Nikitin lived only a short time, he left an invaluable contribution to geographical science. A simple merchant from Russia was the first European to visit India, Persia and Africa.