Talk:Nicolae Milescu
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Milescu, known in Russian as Nikolai Gavrilovich Spafariy, led the Russian embassy to Beijing in 1675-78. The embassy consisted of 150 men, including the guards. It was instructed to discuss incidents on the Amur River border between Russia and China, to establish trade relations with China, and to survey Russian lands along the Amur River.
Upon reaching Yeniseisk, Milescu sent one of his men, Ignatiy Milovanov, to the Chinese court in order to inform the emperor about the purpose of their embassy. Milovanov was the first European known to have crossed the Amur, reaching Beijing by the shortest route possible. Milescu followed in his steps until the Chinese border and established his camp on the Nungtsiang River , waiting for the news from Milovanov. The latter returned to the camp on February 18 and, taking Milescu's letter to the tsar with him, proceeded to Moscow. Milescu, on the other hand, crossed Manchuria and arrived to Beijing in the middle of May. His diplomacy proved unsuccessful, and he returned back to Siberia by the same route in Spring 1677.
In his road journal, Milescu correctly described the middle course of the Ob River, Irtysh, and Angara. He assumed that the Ob issued from Lake Teletskoye in the Altai. He was also the first person to describe Lake Baikal and all the rivers feeding the lake. He was the first to point out the Baikal's unfathomable depth.
On his way through Siberia, Milescu used astrolabe to establish coordinates of some setlements. His materials were later used by the Jesuits who took considerable interest in China. Upon returning to Moscow, he submitted to the Foreign Ministry three travelogues - "Travels through Siberia to the Chinese borders", "Travel notes", and "Description of China".
In his treatises, Milescu summed up the knowledge of Russian explorers pertaining to East Siberia. He believed that the Amur was the largest river in the world and correctly mentioned its main tributaries. His idea that there was a vast mountain chain stretching from Baikal Lake to the Okhotsk Sea, though fundamentally wrong, was given credit by many geographers until the mid-20th century. He also heard rumours about the Sakhalin, which he supposed to be the same island as the Hokkaido, thus considerably exaggerating its dimensions.
In 1674, Milescu was recorded as taking part in the tsar's negotiations with Moldavia and Wallachia as to their concerted actions against the Turks. In 1695, he participated in Peter the Great's Azov Campaign.
