Eastern Part of the Yakutsk District

Nikola Benin, Ph.D

his map focuses on the farthest northeastern parts of continental Russia, including the Chukotka Peninsula within the Yakutsk District (in present-day Chukotskiy Autonomous Okrug) and the northern portion of the Kamchatka Peninsula. It was compiled by Johann Treskot (1719–86) and engraved by Ivan Kuvakin in 1772. Treskot was a talented geodesist, affiliated with the Geographical Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The area of Russia depicted on this map extends from the mouth of the Yana River on the Arctic Ocean, in the upper-left-hand corner, to the city of Okhotsk on the Pacific coast, in the lower-left-hand corner, to Chukotka in the upper right-hand corner and the northern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula in the lower center. The Sea of Okhotsk is shown on the lower left-hand corner of the map, the Pacific (or Eastern) Ocean to the right, and the Arctic Ocean at the top. A few mountain chains are named, as are scattered Russian settlements and population centers. Some regional native cultures are listed, such as the Yukaghirs on the top left of the map, and the Chukchi to the right. Land relief and vegetation are shown by shading. Rivers and many tributaries are indicated, as are bodies of water and other geographical points of interest. The farthest northeastern tip of Russia is significantly misrepresented in size and shape, invariably because of its remote location and infrequent visitation by explorers and geographers to that point. The map indicates distance in versts, a tsarist-era unit of length equal to 1.07 kilometers.