Stepan Krasheninnikov



Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov (Степан Петрович Крашенинников) (1711 - 1755) was a Russian explorer and geographer who gave the first full description of Kamchatka in the early eighteenth century. He was elected to the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1750. The Krasheninnikov Volcano on Kamchatka is named in his honor.

Krasheninnikov was educated in the Slavic Greek Latin Academy of Moscow (1724-32), where Lomonosov was his class-mate. He furthered his education in St Petersburg before embarking upon extensive travels in Siberia (1733-36) and Kamchatka Peninsula (1737-41).

On his return to the Russian capital, Krasheninnikov wrote detailed accounts of the plants and animals of the region, and also the language and culture of the indigenous Itelmen and Koryak peoples, who he reportedly got along extremely well with. His book "An Account of the Land of Kamchatka" was published after his death.