Filipp Efremov

Born 1750; died after 1811. Russian traveler.

In 1774, Efremov was captured in the Orenburg Steppes, taken to Bukhara, and sold into slavery. After escaping, he disguised himself as a merchant and journeyed through the almost inaccessible regions of Central Asia (Kashgar, Karakorum, Ladakh) to India. In 1782 he returned to Russia by sea, rounding Africa from the south. He wrote a 1)ook about his journey entitled Nine Years of Wandering (1774–1782), which was published in St. Petersburg in 1786. The book contains valuable geographical, ethnological, and historical information on the countries and peoples of Middle Asia, Tibet, and India.