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Grigory Nikolayevich Potanin (Russian:Григорий Николаевич Потанин; 4 October 1835 – 6 June 1920) was a Russianbotanist,ethnographer, andnatural historian. He was an explorer ofInner Asia and was the first to catalogue many of the area's native plants. Potanin was also an author and a political activist who aligned himself with theSiberian regionalist movement.
Potanin attended aPage Corps inOmsk, a military school for children from wealthy families.[1]
Potanin initially travelled toSiberia while serving with aCossack division inAltai in the 1850s. He returned toSaint Petersburg in 1858 to studyMathematical Physics. He was arrested for his participation in student demonstrations in 1861, and expelled fromSaint Petersburg University. After spending three months inPetropavlovskaya fortress, he returned to Siberia.[2]
After leaving prison, he travelled to Siberia withNikolai M. Yadrintsev, where he began to work as a publisher. Due to his support for regionality and rights forSiberian peoples, he was arrested on charges of supportingseparatism for Siberia in 1867. Convicted, he was sentenced to three years in prison and fifteen ofhard labour. His hard labour was reduced to five years, and during those five years he wrote a book on the history of Siberia.[2]
In 1876, Potanin led an expedition intoMongolia. The expedition spent the winter of 1876–1877 inKobdo, with bitter cold and few provisions. While there, the expedition collected variousbiological specimens and conductedethnological research. The expedition split into two parts upon leaving the city in the middle of March 1877. Some members went toHan-Chai, while Potanin and some others left forHami andUliastai.[3]
Potanin journeyed to northern China from 1884 to 1886 withAugustus Ivonovitch Skassi. His expedition departedPeking on 13 May 1884. The expedition travelled first over theU-tai-shan mountains, arriving inHohhot. The expedition left Hohhot and travelled across theYellow River into theOrdos Desert. They travelled to the ruins ofBorobalgassun and from there on toLang-chau. He encountered aTurkic people called theSalars, and Potanin recorded information abouttheir language. He then spent time recording the cultural practices of theAmdos Mongols. The party then travelled toSi-ning and met its governor, who authorised their travel into easternTibet. They departed Si-ning and went toMing-chau, crossing the high altitudeTibetan Plateau, where they recorded information on the native vegetation. There, the expedition visitedGui-dui,Bóunan,Labrang andJosi before reaching Ming-chau. The expedition ran out of supplies inSung-pang-ting, and turned back towardsLang-chau, stopping inLung-an-fu,Ven-hsien,Tse-chau,Hung-chang-fu andDi-dao. They spent the winter of 1885 in theKumbum Monastery, before returning to Russia.[4]
While there, he was the first foreigner to report on theEast Yugur andWest Yugur languages, making a glossary that was published with assistance fromVasily Radlov in his book on the expedition,The Tangut-Tibetan Borderlands of China and Central Mongolia in 1893.[5][6][7][8][9][10] The book also contains a language glossary for theSalar language.[4][11][12][13]
In 1889, Potanin led the group that formed the first University in Russian Asia,Tomsk State University, inTomsk.[1]
Potanin was arrested in 1905 for his support of theRevolution of 1905.[2]
Potanin was a leading light in theoblastniki which aimed at some degree of regional self-government for Siberia, but this movement lacked any party or regional organisation, and was limited to a small group of intellectuals mainly based at Tomsk University. It was here that they organised a Regional Conference in August 1917, and a Congress in October to draft a constitution for an autonomous Siberia. Potanin was elected chairman of theProvisional Siberian Council 8 December 1918 at Tomsk by delegates from the major centres of Siberia. But this assembly was largely dominated by theEsery (Social Revolutionaries, SRs), and Potanin resented being used as a mere figurehead and resigned in protest 12 January 1918 as the firstSiboduma convened. Subsequently he abandoned the idea of Siberian autonomy in favour of a strong central authority able to restore order and defeat theBolsheviks.[14] The members ofSiboduma dispersed or were rounded up by localRed Guards on the night of 25–26 January 1918. Potanin died at Tomsk in June 1920.
Potaninskaya Street inNovosibirsk, Russia, is named after him.
Aspecies of Chineseskink,Scincella potanini, is named in his honor.[15]
The fishGymnocypris potaniniHerzenstein, 1891 was named after him.[16]
In 1882, botanistKarl Maximovich publishedPotaninia, a genus offlowering plants fromMongolia, belonging to the familyRosaceae and it was named in his honour.[17]
In 1889, Maximovich also published the Chinese treeRhus potaninii,[18] which glows like a red banner in autumn also bears his name.[19]
Also the asteroid9915 Potanin, discovered in 1977, bears his name.[citation needed]
