Over three seas to India “Walking over three seas” - this was the title of the notes of the Tver merchant Afanasy Nikitin, who visited India in 1468-1474. “I swam down the Volga. And he came to the Kalyazinsky monastery. From Kalyazin I sailed to Uglich, and from Uglich they let me go without any obstacles. And, sailing away

- Russian traveler, merchant and writer, was born in 1442 (the date is not documented) and died in 1474 or 1475 near Smolensk. He was born into the family of the peasant Nikita, so Nikitin, strictly speaking, is not the traveler’s surname, but his patronymic: at that time, most peasants did not have surnames.

In 1468 he undertook an expedition to the countries of the East and visited Persia and Africa. He described his journey in the book “Walking across Three Seas.”

Afanasy Nikitin - Biography

Afanasy Nikitin, biography who is only partially known to historians, was born in the city of Tver. There is no reliable information about his childhood and youth. It is known that at a fairly young age he became a merchant and visited Byzantium, Lithuania and other countries on trade matters. His commercial enterprises were quite successful: he returned safely to his homeland with overseas goods.

He received a letter from the Grand Duke of Tver, Mikhail Borisovich, which allowed him to develop extensive trade in the area of ​​​​present-day Astrakhan. This fact allows some historians to consider the Tver merchant a secret diplomat and spy for the Grand Duke, but there is no documentary evidence for this assumption.

Afanasy Nikitin began his journey in the spring of 1468, traveling by water past the Russian cities of Klyazma, Uglich and Kostroma. According to the plan, having reached Nizhny Novgorod, the pioneer's caravan was supposed to join another caravan, led by Vasily Papin, the Moscow ambassador, for safety reasons. But the caravans missed each other - Papin had already gone south when Afanasy arrived in Nizhny Novgorod.

Then he waited for the arrival of the Tatar ambassador Hasanbek and, with him and other merchants, went to Astrakhan 2 weeks later than planned. Afanasy Nikitin considered it dangerous to set sail in a single caravan - at that time Tatar gangs ruled along the banks of the Volga. The caravans of ships safely passed Kazan and several other Tatar settlements.

But just before arriving in Astrakhan, the caravan was robbed by local robbers - these were Astrakhan Tatars led by Khan Kasim, who was not embarrassed even by the presence of his compatriot Khasanbek. The robbers took away all the goods from the merchants, which, by the way, were purchased on credit. The trade expedition was disrupted, two ships out of four were lost. Then everything turned out not in the best way either. The two remaining ships were caught in a storm in the Caspian Sea and washed ashore. Returning to their homeland without money or goods threatened the merchants with debt and shame.

Then the merchant decided to improve his affairs, intending to engage in intermediary trade.

Thus began the famous journey of Afanasy Nikitin, described by him in his literary work “Walking across Three Seas.”

Information about the travel of Afanasy Nikitin

Persia and India

Nikitin went through Baku to Persia, to an area called Mazanderan, then crossed the mountains and moved further south. He traveled without haste, stopping for a long time in villages and engaging not only in trade, but also studying local languages. In the spring of 1469, he arrived in Hormuz, a large port city at the intersection of trade routes from Asia Minor (), China and India.

Goods from Hormuz were already known in Russia, Hormuz pearls were especially famous. Having learned that horses were being exported from Hormuz to the cities of India, which were not bred there, he decided on a risky commercial venture. I bought an Arabian stallion and, in the hope of reselling it well in India, boarded a ship heading to the Indian city of Chaul.

The voyage took 6 weeks. India made a strong impression on the merchant. Not forgetting about the trade affairs for which he, in fact, arrived here, the traveler became interested in ethnographic research, recording in detail what he saw in his diaries. India appears in his notes as a wonderful country, where everything is not like in Rus', “and people walk around all black and naked.” Athanasius was amazed by the fact that almost all the inhabitants of India, even the poor, wear gold jewelry. By the way, Nikitin himself also amazed the Indians - local residents had rarely seen white people here before.

However, it was not possible to sell the stallion profitably in Chaul, and he went inland. He visited a small town on the upper reaches of the Sina River and then went to Junnar.

In my travel notes did not miss everyday details, and also described local customs and attractions. This was hardly the first truthful description of the life of the country not only for Rus', but even for the whole of Europe. The traveler left notes about what food is prepared here, what they feed domestic animals, how they dress and what goods they sell. Even the process of making local intoxicating drinks and the custom of Indian housewives to sleep with guests in the same bed are described.

I had to stay in the Junnar fortress no longer of my own free will. The “Junnar Khan” took the stallion from him when he learned that the merchant was not an infidel, but an alien from distant Rus', and set a condition for the infidel: either he converts to the Islamic faith, or not only will he not receive the horse, but will also be sold into slavery. Khan gave him 4 days to think. The Russian traveler was saved by chance - he met an old acquaintance Muhammad, who vouched for the stranger to the khan.

During the 2 months spent by the Tver merchant in Junnar, Nikitin studied the agricultural activities of the local residents. He saw that in India they plow and sow wheat, rice and peas during the rainy season. He also describes local winemaking, which uses coconuts as a raw material.

After Junnar, he visited the city of Alland, where there was a large fair. The merchant intended to sell his Arabian horse here, but again it didn’t work out. At the fair, even without his stallion, there were many good horses for sale.

Only in 1471 Afanasy Nikitin I managed to sell my horse, and even then without much benefit for myself, or even at a loss. This happened in the city of Bidar, where the traveler arrived after waiting out the rainy season in other settlements. He stayed in Bidar for a long time, becoming friends with the local residents.

The Russian traveler told them about his faith and his land, the Hindus also told him a lot about their customs, prayers, and family life. Many entries in Nikitin's diaries concern issues of Indian religion.

In 1472, he arrived in the city of Parvat, a sacred place on the banks of the Krishna River, where believers from all over India came for the annual festivals dedicated to the god Shiva. Afanasy Nikitin notes in his diaries that this place has the same meaning for Indian Brahmins as Jerusalem for Christians.

The Tver merchant traveled around India for another year and a half, studying local customs and trying to conduct trade business. However, the traveler’s commercial endeavors failed: he never found goods suitable for export from India to Rus'.

Africa, Iran, Türkiye and Crimea

On his way back from India, Afanasy Nikitin decided to visit the east coast of Africa. According to entries in his diaries, in the Ethiopian lands he barely managed to avoid robbery, paying off the robbers with rice and bread.

He then returned to the city of Hormuz and moved north through war-torn Iran. He passed the cities of Shiraz, Kashan, Erzincan and arrived in Trabzon (Trebizond), a Turkish city on the southern shore of the Black Sea. It seemed that the return was close, but then the traveler’s luck turned away again: he was taken into custody by the Turkish authorities as an Iranian spy and deprived of all his remaining property.

According to the traveler himself, which has come down to us in the form of notes, all that was left with him at that time was the diary itself, and the desire to return to his homeland.

He had to borrow money on his word of honor for the journey to Feodosia, where he intended to meet fellow merchants and with their help pay off his debts. He was able to reach Feodosia (Cafa) only in the fall of 1474. Nikitin spent the winter in this city, completing notes on his journey, and in the spring he went along the Dnieper back to Russia, to his hometown of Tver.

However, he was not destined to return there - he died in the city of Smolensk under unknown circumstances. Most likely, the years of wandering and hardships suffered by the traveler undermined his health. Afanasy Nikitin's companions, Moscow merchants, brought his manuscripts to Moscow and handed them over to clerk Mamyrev, adviser to Tsar Ivan III. The records were later included in the chronicles of 1480.

In the 19th century, these records were discovered by the Russian historian Karamzin, who published them in 1817 under the author’s title. The three seas mentioned in the title of the work are the Caspian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Black Sea.

A merchant from Tver ended up in India long before representatives of European states arrived there. The sea route to this country was discovered by a Portuguese merchant several decades later than the Russian trade guest arrived there. What did he discover in distant lands and why are his records so valuable to posterity?

Although the commercial goal that prompted the pioneer to undertake such a dangerous journey was not achieved, the result of the wanderings of this observant, talented and energetic man was the first real description of an unknown distant country. Before this, in Ancient Rus', the fabulous country of India was known only from legends and literary sources of that time.

A man of the 15th century saw the legendary country with his own eyes and managed to talentedly tell his compatriots about it. In his notes, the traveler writes about the state system of India, the religions of the local population (in particular, about the “belief in the buts” - this is how Afanasy Nikitin heard and wrote down the name of Buddha, sacred to the majority of the inhabitants of India at that time).

He described the trade of India, the armament of the army of this country, talked about exotic animals (monkeys, snakes, elephants), local customs and Indian ideas about morality. He also recorded some Indian legends.

The Russian traveler also described cities and areas that he himself had not visited, but which he had heard about from the Indians. So, he mentions Indochina, places that at that time were still completely unknown to Russian people. The information carefully collected by the pioneer allows us today to judge the military and geopolitical aspirations of the Indian rulers of that time, the state of their armies (down to the number of war elephants and the number of chariots).

His “Walking across Three Seas” was the first text of its kind in Russian literary literature. The fact that he did not describe only holy places, as pilgrims did before him, gives the work a unique sound. It is not the objects of the Christian faith that fall into the field of his attentive vision, but people with a different religion and a different way of life. His notes are devoid of any officiality and internal censorship, and this is why they are especially valuable.

A story about Afanasy Nikitin and his discoveries - video

Journey Afanasia Nikitina began in Tver, from there the route ran along the Volga River through Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan to Astrakhan. Then the pioneer visited Derbent, Baku, Sari, and then moved overland through Persia. Having reached the city of Hormuz, he again boarded the ship and arrived on it at the Indian port of Chaul.

In India, he visited many cities on foot, including Bidar, Junnar and Parvat. Further along the Indian Ocean he sailed to Africa, where he spent several days, and then, again by water, returned to Hormuz. Then on foot through Iran he came to Trebizond, from there he reached the Crimea (Feodosiya).

The world fame of the outstanding representative of our country Afanasy Nikitin rightfully belongs to this great traveler and explorer of Russian territories, although very, very little information about him has reached our time. Contemporaries know Afanasy Nikitin as a famous navigator who was the first European to visit India, discovering it 25 years earlier than the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gamma got there.

There is no information left about the place and date of his birth; it is unknown what he did before he began research. His early biography is partially known to historians. Some scientists, based on fragmentary information, believe that Athanasius was born around 1440, into a peasant family. Afanasy's father's name was Nikita, hence his last name. What made Afanasy leave peasant work is unknown, but at a fairly young age he entered the service of a merchant in a trading caravan and at first carried out various small assignments, gradually gaining experience. Soon, he manages not only to gain experience, but also to gain great authority among traders and merchants. And soon Nikitin began leading trade caravans on his own. On trade matters, he had to visit different states - Lithuania, Byzantium, Crimea. Afanasy's commercial campaigns were always accompanied by success, and he returned to his homeland with ships full of overseas goods.

The beginning of the Indian campaign

In 1446, at the most opportune time for travel, at the beginning of summer, merchants from the city of Tver gathered for “overseas countries”, a dangerous and distant voyage. An expensive product was prepared for sale - fur, which was highly valued in the markets along the banks of the Volga and the North Caucasus. The merchants took a long time to decide who to put in charge of the caravan. In the end, the choice fell on Afanasy Nikitin, a responsible and honest person with a reputation as an experienced traveler, with vast experience and who has seen a lot in his life.

Already in those distant times, the Volga River became the center of an international trade route. The ships, under the leadership of Nikitin, were supposed to sail along the river to the “Khvalynsky Sea” (this is an outdated name for the Caspian Sea).

Since this path was no longer new for Nikitin and had been traveled more than once, the traveler’s travel notes to Nizhny Novgorod are very meager and brief. In the city, the caravan joined the Shirvan ships led by Hasanbek, which were returning from Moscow.

The caravan successfully passed the city of Kazan and other Tatar settlements. In the Volga River delta, merchants breathed a sigh of relief. But here an unexpected attack of the Astrakhan Tatars under the leadership of Khan Kasim took place. Nikitin's notes briefly describe the battle with the Tatars. Several people were killed on both sides. Unfortunately, one vessel ran aground and the other got caught in fishing gear. These ships were completely plundered, and four people were taken prisoner.

The remaining ships moved on. Not far from Tarkha (the region of modern Makhachkala), the ships found themselves in the epicenter of a storm and found themselves washed up on the coast, people were captured, and the remaining goods were plundered by the local population. Afanasy, by chance, sailed on the ambassador's ship, so he managed to safely reach the next city - Derbent. Immediately, he and his remaining comrades began to seek the release of the prisoners. Their petitions were successful, and a year later the people were free. But the goods were lost irretrievably, and no one was going to return them.

Having accumulated a huge debt, Nikitin could not even think about returning to his homeland. There, shame and debt awaited him. There is only one way out - to become a reluctant traveler and go to a foreign land, hoping only for the success of a new enterprise. Therefore, he continued his journey, heading to Baku, from there, the traveler goes to the Mazanderan fortress, and stays there for a long time. All this time he kept his notes, telling about the nature, cities and life of the population of Transcaucasia.

Afanasy Nikitin in India

At the beginning of 1469, Athanasius goes to the fabulous city of Hormuz, famous for its gems, with a population of more than forty thousand people. Having heard about fabulous India and its wealth, he, wanting to get rich and pay off his debts, goes there. Here he decides to take a dangerous step - he buys an Arabian stallion, hoping to find a profitable home for the Indians.

Already on April 23, 1471, he managed to reach an Indian city called Chaul. Here he cannot sell the horse profitably, and the traveler sets off deeper into the country. Gradually he passes through the whole of India, stopping for a long time in places he likes. So he lived for several weeks in Junnar, then in Bidar and Alland. Afanasy enjoys studying the life, customs, architecture and legends of the indigenous population. He diligently takes notes, fascinated by ethnographic research, and carefully records his observations. In Nikitin's stories about India, this country is presented as fabulous; everything here is not the same as on Russian soil. It was very surprising that everyone wore gold, even the poorest. It is worth saying that Nikitin himself also surprised the Indians - they had never met white-skinned people with blond hair before. Among the indigenous population, he was known as “Jose Isuf Khorosani,” who often lived for a long time in the houses of ordinary Indians, without pretensions to luxury.

In 1472, the researcher reaches a place sacred to every Indian - the city of Parvata, where he studies with interest the religion of the Indian Brahmins, their religion, holidays and rituals. A year later, Afanasy will visit Raichul, the “diamond region” of India. In general, the traveler spent a little more than three years in a foreign land. He spent this time with great benefit, exploring an unknown country and its features. He carefully records the customs, laws, and life of the local population, and witnesses several internecine wars. Soon, Afanasy Nikitin decides to return to his homeland.

The way home

Having decided to return home, Nikitin carefully prepares for departure. With the money he has, he buys goods - local precious stones and jewelry. At the beginning of 1473, he went to Dabul, to the sea, where he boarded a ship, which took him almost three months to reach Hormuz. Trading spices along the way, he reaches Trabzon, visiting nomadic Turkmen along the way. Trabzon authorities confused the researcher with a Turkmen and seized all the goods he had with him, including Indian gems. The diary and notes did not interest them. Having reached Feodosia, the traveler found Russian merchants, with whom he left the foreign land. But he never made it home. Leaving his notes to his fellow travelers, he died quietly near Smolensk, somewhere on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This happened in the spring of 1475. Priceless diaries were delivered by merchants to the Grand Duke.

The meaning of Afanasy Nikitin's journey

This is how the “walk across three seas” of Afanasy Nikitin, the first Russian traveler, ended. The travel notes handed over to the Grand Duke were appreciated very highly, since before Nikitin not a single European had been to India. The notebook with the traveler's observations was included in the historical chronicles of the country. Over the next centuries, Nikitin's notes were rewritten and supplemented more than once.

The scientific feat of this research cannot be overstated. This work is considered the first description of unknown countries. It contains observations about the political, economic and cultural structure of “overseas” countries, including India.

The commercial trip turned out to be a great study. Economically, the trip to India turned out to be unprofitable, because there were no goods suitable for Russian people, and gems and jewelry were subject to a huge duty.

The most important result of the trip is that Afanasy Nikitin became the first Russian traveler to visit medieval India and give a true picture of it. Only thirty years later would the Portuguese colonialists come to India.

History of the Tver region Vorobiev Vyacheslav Mikhailovich

§ 15. AFANASY NIKITIN’S TRIP TO INDIA

§ 15. AFANASY NIKITIN’S TRIP TO INDIA

The well-being of the Tver principality largely depended on the development of trade. Active and enterprising Tver merchants were known throughout Rus', in Lithuania, the Golden Horde, and the Genoese colonies in the Crimea.

The long journeys of merchants beyond the Russian lands were a dangerous and risky business. Few dared to go to foreign lands. And yet, such trade expeditions, if successful, gave merchants goods that were rare in Rus', and therefore large profits.

In 1468, an embassy from the Shirvand Khanate, located in Transcaucasia, came to Moscow. The reciprocal Moscow mission was headed by Vasily Papin, a native of Tver. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Russian merchants assembled a caravan for a trading expedition to the Caucasus and Persia. Several Tverites also gathered for the journey, among them “Ophonas Tveritin merchant” - Afanasy Nikitin. A poor Tver merchant had to take goods to travel to credit.

Afanasy began the description of his journey with these words: “I died from the golden-domed Savior and by his mercy, from my sovereign from the Grand Duke Mikhail Borisovich Tversky, and from Bishop Gennady Tversky.” The trade caravan set off with the Shirvandian embassy along the Volga to the Caspian Sea. However, first, near Astrakhan, the Tatars attacked the caravan and plundered some of the goods, and then a storm scattered the ships in the Caspian Sea. The merchants had to interrupt their journey in Derbent.

“And we cried and went to different places: whoever has something in Rus', and he went to Rus'; and whoever should, and he went wherever his eyes took him.” The Tverite could not return to Rus', since he could not pay for the goods he had borrowed. In search of luck, Afanasy went further to the East, through Baku to Persia, where he spent about two years.

In 1471 Afanasy Nikitin went by sea to India. He lived there for three years and visited many cities and states, seeing what had not previously been revealed to the eyes of a European. Tired of long wanderings in foreign lands, Afanasy decided to return to his homeland and set off on a difficult and dangerous journey across the Indian Ocean. The ship washed up on the shores of Ethiopia. From there, the Tverite passed through Persia and Turkey and reached the shores of the Black Sea. On a passing ship, Afanasy crossed the sea and ended up in Crimea. In the port of Kafa, he joined the Russian merchants traveling to their homeland. However, after long wanderings in a foreign land, Afanasy Nikitin failed to get home to his native Tver. On the way, he fell ill and died in 1475 near Smolensk.

The amazing journey of a Tver merchant to distant India was unheard of for Europeans. Only a quarter of a century later, the Portuguese Vasco da Gama managed to reach these lands by sea. Afanasy Nikitin managed to see the life of India through the eyes of an interested and thoughtful observer. He also turned out to be the first Russian to reach Africa.

Rice. 25. Monument to Afanasy Nikitin in Tver

The events that Afanasy Nikitin became a witness and participant in are known from his travel notes. After the death of the traveler, these notes ended up in the Moscow Ambassadorial order, and in 1475 they were included as an integral part of the chronicle.

The Tverite called his work “Walking across the Three Seas.” In such works, known since the 12th century, the authors talked about pilgrimages to holy places, about the activities of embassies and trade missions abroad.

In "Walking the Three Seas" Cairo and Damascus, Ethiopia, Ceylon, Burma, China are mentioned. The reports about the life, customs, and government structure of unknown countries are detailed and truthful. They do not contain fantastic exaggerations, multi-armed stags, dog heads, as the inhabitants of India were depicted on the pages of the European “Tales of the Indian Kingdom.” These are normal people, with their own worries, problems, way of life and way of life: “The Indians do not eat any meat, neither cowhide, nor boran, nor chicken, nor fish, nor pork, but they have a lot of pigs... And They eat and cover themselves with a cloth so that no one can see it." Afanasy Nikitin combined a calm and respectful attitude towards other people's customs and faith with a firm commitment to Orthodoxy. The Russian land and the Christian faith are inseparable for the author of “Walking Across Three Seas”: “May the Russian land be protected by God! God save it! There is no country like it in this world, although the nobles of the Russian land are unjust. May the Russian land become comfortable and there will be justice in it."

“Walking” is written in clear, uncomplicated language. It contains lively folk speech, characteristic of Rus' in the second half of the 15th century.

The notes of the Tver merchant have retained their outstanding significance to this day as a monument of Russian literature, one of the rare sources for the study of the medieval East.

5. 2. 1. Where was China during the time of Afanasy Nikitin Today two names are used: China and China - China. It is believed that this is the same country. We're used to it. Has it always been like this? No, not always. Let’s take the famous “Walking across Three Seas” by Afanasy Nikitin and