Begichev, Nikifor

Begichev, Nikifor Alekseevich

 

(also N. A. Bigi-chev). Born Feb. 7 (19), 1874; died May 18, 1927. Russian sailor and polar explorer.

Between 1900 and 1902, Begichev took part in the polar expedition of E. V. Toll’. After 1906, he lived mainly in the lower Enisei region, engaged in the fur trade, and traveled widely in the Taimyr Peninsula. In 1908 he made a trip to the mouth of the Khatanga and the Anabar, where he discovered two islands. In 1922, together with N. N. Urvantsev, he took part in the search for the members of R. Amundsen’s expedition on the ship Maud who had been left on the Taimyr Peninsula. He died while wintering at the mouth of the Piasina River. In 1964 a monument to Begichev was unveiled in the Dikson urban-type settlement.

REFERENCE

Bolotnikov, N. Ia. Nikifor Begichev [2nd ed.]. Moscow, 1954.