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After returning to Russia, Ashinov activated his supports to get an audience with [[Alexander III of Russia|Alexander III]], but it did not happen. To this purpose, he had brought gifts to the tsar, allegedly from the Abyssinian [[Negus]], among which was a live [[ostrich]]. These presents were handed over to the commander of the Imperial Apartment, General Richter; the ostrich was placed in a poultry house in [[Gatchina Palace|Gatchina]] park.<ref name="gatchinapalace"/> |
After returning to Russia, Ashinov activated his supports to get an audience with [[Alexander III of Russia|Alexander III]], but it did not happen. To this purpose, he had brought gifts to the tsar, allegedly from the Abyssinian [[Negus]], among which was a live [[ostrich]]. These presents were handed over to the commander of the Imperial Apartment, General Richter; the ostrich was placed in a poultry house in [[Gatchina Palace|Gatchina]] park.<ref name="gatchinapalace"/> |
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Ashinov tried to get government support |
Ashinov tried to get government support (i.e. money and weapons) to occupy a territory in Abyssinia. He first unsuccessfully acted through [[Ivan Shestakov]], the [[Minister of the Russian Navy]]. His second move was to reach [[Konstantin Pobedonostsev]], then Chief [[Procurator (Russia)|Prosecutor]] of the [[Most Holy Synod|Holy Synod]], who was championing the founding of an Orthodox mission in Abyssinia. Lastly, Nikolay secured the patronage of [[Nikolay Baranov (1837)|Nikolay Baranov]], the [[Nizhny Novgorod Governorate|governor of Nizhny Novgorod]] who enjoyed the trust of Alexander III. Eventually, the emperor agreed to a preliminary exploration in the area of the [[Horn of Africa]].<ref name="gatchinapalace"/> |
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In the spring of 1888, Ashinov with a small group of companions sailed on the steamship [[Voluntary Fleet|Voluntary Fleet]] "Kostroma" to Africa and on April 6, 1888 they landed on the shore of the [[Gulf of Tadjoura|Gulf of Tadjoura]]. He managed to establish friendly relations with the local tribal leader, soon after which he returned to Russia. He brought with him two Abyssinian monks from the [[Jerusalem]]monastery, passing them off as envoys of the Negus himself<ref name="autolink1" />. |
In the spring of 1888, Ashinov with a small group of companions sailed on the steamship [[Voluntary Fleet|Voluntary Fleet]] "Kostroma" to Africa and on April 6, 1888 they landed on the shore of the [[Gulf of Tadjoura|Gulf of Tadjoura]]. He managed to establish friendly relations with the local tribal leader, soon after which he returned to Russia. He brought with him two Abyssinian monks from the [[Jerusalem]]monastery, passing them off as envoys of the Negus himself<ref name="autolink1" />. |
Revision as of 12:57, 20 April 2024
Nikolay Ivanovich Ashinov | |
---|---|
Born | 1859 |
Died | 1902 |
Nationality | Russian |
Occupation | Explorer |
Known for | Russian exploration in Ethiopia and in the Gulf of Tadjoura |
Nikolay Ivanovich Ashinov (also Achinov or Atchinoff, Russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Ашинов) (1856[1]-1902[2]) was a Cossack[3], burgher[4] and adventurer-traveler.[4] He was also a Russian amateur linguist who published “The Abyssinian alphabet and the initial Abyssinian-Russian dictionary” (Russian: Абиссинскую азбуку и начальный абиссино-русский словарь) as well as the commanding officer of the Sagallo expedition in Abyssinia. His deeds contributed to a political and ecclesiastic rapprochement of this Christian country with the Russian Empire. Furthermore, Achinov participated in Nikolay Leontiev's colonial expeditions in the Horn of Africa.
Biography
Russian period
Nikolay Ivanovich Ashinov was born in 1856 in a hereditary merchant family of Tsaritsyn (present day Volgograd) in the Saratov Governorate.[1]. He studied at the Saratov Real school N.1.[5]
In 1883, Ashinov arrived in Saint Petersburg. He was convinced that Cossacks, originally from Russia, moved to the mountains of Anatolia -then part of the Ottoman Empire- and to Persian shores of the Caspian Sea where they have been living for the last three hundred years. He shared this alleged knowledge that these tribes retained not only their way of life and the Russian customs, but also their loyalty to the Orthodox Church and a desire to serve Russian Motherland. Ashinov presented himself as the elected Ataman of these “free Cossacks” and stated that he came to St. Petersburg in order to ask the Russian government to allow them to return to Russia and settle on the Black Sea coast. There, Nicolay offered to set up and lead a new "Black Sea Cossack army".[6]
Ashinov's speech seduced several influence figures:
- Valerian Panaev (1824-1899), an engineer and publicist ;
- General Otto Karl Peter von Richter (1830-1908), commander of the Imperial Main Headquarters;
- Ivan Aksakov (1823-1886), an intellectual and slavophile;
- Mikhail Katkov (1818-1887), an influential journalist.
In the spring of 1884, Nikolay began to collect volunteers from the Poltava Governorate to be resettled to the Sukhumi district. There, Ashinov had obtained a territory where he intended to set up the village of "Nikolaevskaya". However, more than half of the settlers immediately left the colony and returned back. In this activity, though, Ashinov had kept personally the money allocated by the local administration for the project.
In December 1884, after an investigation, a criminal case was opened against him: Ashinov having fled to Moscow, he presented himself as the victim. He got the support from Mikhail Katkov and by Aleksey Suvorin, an influencing journalist from St. Petersburg.[6]
Activities in Africa
In 1885, Ashinov reached the northern port of Massawa, then in Italian Eritrea, located on the coast of the Red Sea. He presented himself as an Ataman whose goal was to travel to the province of Tigray, part of the Ethiopian Empire. Once in the area, Nikolay set out a plan to promote a rapprochement of the Christian country with the Russian Empire. Part of his political engagements led him to approach the Emperor of Ethiopia Yohannes IV, posing as a representative of the Tsarist authorities.
After returning to Russia, Ashinov activated his supports to get an audience with Alexander III, but it did not happen. To this purpose, he had brought gifts to the tsar, allegedly from the Abyssinian Negus, among which was a live ostrich. These presents were handed over to the commander of the Imperial Apartment, General Richter; the ostrich was placed in a poultry house in Gatchina park.[6]
Ashinov tried to get government support (i.e. money and weapons) to occupy a territory in Abyssinia. He first unsuccessfully acted through Ivan Shestakov, the Minister of the Russian Navy. His second move was to reach Konstantin Pobedonostsev, then Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod, who was championing the founding of an Orthodox mission in Abyssinia. Lastly, Nikolay secured the patronage of Nikolay Baranov, the governor of Nizhny Novgorod who enjoyed the trust of Alexander III. Eventually, the emperor agreed to a preliminary exploration in the area of the Horn of Africa.[6]
In the spring of 1888, Ashinov with a small group of companions sailed on the steamship Voluntary Fleet "Kostroma" to Africa and on April 6, 1888 they landed on the shore of the Gulf of Tadjoura. He managed to establish friendly relations with the local tribal leader, soon after which he returned to Russia. He brought with him two Abyssinian monks from the Jerusalemmonastery, passing them off as envoys of the Negus himself[7].
- 1888 published The Abyssinian alphabet and the initial Abyssinian-Russian dictionary” (Russian: Абиссинскую азбуку и начальный абиссино-русский словарь)
- Sagallo expedition [8] Абиссинская миссия архимандрита Паисия и Н. И. Ашинова (Рассказ участника экспедиции Л. Николаева). Одесса. 1889. who settled with voluntary Russian colonists from the Terek Cossacks in the abandoned Egyptian forte Sagallo (Sagallu, fr. Sagallou) at the beginning of 1889a and assigned the specified territory to the Russian Empire under the name New Moscow[9] [10]
- having come into contact with the Ethiopian emperor - negusom John IV (Amharic: ንጉሠ-ነግስት ዮሐንስ አራተኛ), - and as atamana, contributed political and church rapprochement of this Christian country with the Russian Empire[11]
The informers were impressed and began to prepare to send a spiritual mission to Abyssinia. Alexander III, on Pobedonostsev’s next letter about Ashinov dated October 9, 1888, put forward the resolution “I’ll see what can be done about this.” It was decided to send, together with Ashinov, a spiritual mission led by Archimandrite Paisius, a small batch of weapons for the Abyssinians, and to establish a coal station on the shore to supply Russian ships. A recruitment of volunteers for the expedition and collection of donations began, and Ashinov was given a batch of weapons from the arsenals of the Odessa Military District. However, on November 7, 1888, Alexander III learned from the ambassador in Constantinople Nelidova that Ashinov simply abandoned his companions in Africa without achieving anything. Government support for Ashinov ceased, the weapons and coal given to him were taken away from him, and now his expedition became only his private initiative[7].
In December 1888, Ashinov's expedition set off for Africa. There were only about 150 people of various origins, including women with children and about 40 people of the spiritual mission. Having then returned to Russia, he, calling himself a “free Cossack”, started in 1889 together with the monk Paisius an expedition to Abyssinia[12]. At the head of a detachment of 150 Terek Cossacks, he temporarily stopped at Fort Sagallo on the coast of the French Somali coast (now Djibouti) in order to then go to Abyssinia. In Abyssinia he planned to create a colony “New Moscow”. Ashinov's expedition caused a lot of noise in the press due to false rumors about a significant number of its participants.
In the same 1889, Fort Sagallo, where Ashinov and his companions stayed, was destroyed by French troops[13]. Ashinov and the settlers were arrested and sent to Russia[12].
On the personal instructions of the Tsar Alexander III, after a short investigation, all members of the expedition were sent to their place of residence in a staged manner. Archimandrite Paisius was assigned to a monastery in Georgia. Ashinov was exiled under police supervision for three years to one of the remote districts of Saratov province[14].
Later, Ashinov showed up in Paris, and then in London, from where in August 1891he sent a letter to the Tsar, offering his services for the development of a vast territory in Africa.
The question of the last years of N. I. Ashinov’s life remains open. According to the memoirs of Ashinov’s peer, published in 1911, Ashinov ended his last days “in his homeland, in the Kamyshinsky district of the Saratov province”[15].
Despite the failure, Ashinov’s adventure was important for the development of Russian-Ethiopian relations, as interest in this African country increased both in Russian society and in government circles. Ashinov also left his mark in science, publishing in 1888 in Petersburg the “Abyssinian alphabet and the initial Abyssinian-Russian dictionary”[7].
Ashinov is one of the characters in Leskova’s essay “Inspired Vagrants.”
See also
References
- ^ a b Budge, E. A. Wallis (1928). A History of Ethiopia, Nubia & Abyssinia : According to the Hieroglyphic Inscriptions of Egypt and Nubia, and the Ethiopian Chronicles. Methuen: Taylor & Francis.
- ^ Böll, Verena (2005). Ethiopia and the Missions: Historical and Anthropological Insights. Münster: LIT.
- ^ Пикуль, Валентин Саввич (2002). Исторические миниатюры, Вольный казак Ашинов [Historical miniatures, Free Cossack Ashinov.] (in Russian). Saint-Petersburg: АСТ, Вече. p. 188. ISBN 5170106661.
- ^ a b Ашинов, Николай Иванович. доп. т. I: Аа — Вяхирь. Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона [Ashinov, Nikolai Ivanovich. add. vol. I: Aa - Wood Pigeon. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron] (in Russian). Saint-Petersburg: Brockhaus and Efron. 1905. p. 188.
- ^ Государственный архив Саратовской области, ф. 407 — Саратовская губернская ученая архивная комиссия, оп. 1, д. 942 [State Archives of the Saratov Region, f. 407 - Saratov provincial scientific archival commission, op. 1, d. 942] (in Russian). Saratov: Министерствo народного просвещения. 1873.
- ^ a b c d Родионов, Е. А. (20 February 2023). "Абиссинские вещи в Гатчинском дворце". gatchinapalace.ru. Cобраниe ГМЗ Царское Село. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
autolink1
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Abyssinian mission of Archimandrite Paisius and N. I. Ashinov (Tale of expedition member L. Nikolaev). Odessa. 1889.
- ^ Jean Robert Constantin. L'Archimandrite Paisi et l'ataman Achinoff. Paris, 1891.(in French)
- ^ Forgotten history: 129 years ago Russia tried to gain a foothold in Africa Archived 2018-02-24 at the Wayback Machine. InoSMI RU (registered with the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) on April 8, 2014. Certificate of registration EL No. FS77-57642).
- ^ Rostislav Nikolaev. The first Russian landing in Africa.
- ^ a b "Ashinov, Nikolai Ivanovich". Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary: In 86 Volumes (82 Volumes and 4 Additional Volumes). St. Petersburg. 1890–1907.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "Forgotten history: 129 years ago Russia tried to gain a foothold in Africa". InoSMI.Ru (in Russian). 2018-02-23. Archived from the original on 2018-02-23. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
- ^ "Ethiopian Prohindiad". Archived from the original on 2011-08-08. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
- ^ Nikolai Scourgetail. Conquest of Africa. Possessed Ataman Ashinov
Bibliography
- (in Polish) Konieczny, Jerzy (1981). Adam Grzymała-Siedlecki: życie i twórczość. Bydgoszcz: Wydawn. Uczelniane WSP.