Tsenkovskii, L.S.: Report on the Journey in North-Eastern Sudan

Title

Otchet o puteshestvii v Severo-Vostochnyi Sudan, “Vestnik Russkogo Geograficheskogo obshchestva”, Sankt-Peterburg 1850, 3, p. 202-226

Report on the Journey in North-Eastern Sudan

Keywords

Summary

Lev Tsenkovskii’s account of his journey to Sudan was published in the third Report of the Russian Geographical Society for 1850, in the section titled “Readings at the Assembly”. In the introduction, the author states that two years prior, the Russian Geographical Society had commissioned him to accompany Colonel Kovalevskii on a journey to Central Africa. Kovalevskii’s goal was to study the region’s ethnography, while the author received the task of studying the area from a natural-historical perspective and bringing back biological and botanical collections. The journey was initially planned to last one year but was extended to two years due to climatic challenges. The author notes that this is only the first part of his account, covering the journey from Odessa to Alexandria, and across the Nile to Aswan, Egyptian Nubia, Korosko, and Abu Hamad in Sudan, then on to the Sukkot area. Along the way, the author records observations about the natural environment, the customs and appearance of the local population, and takes some notes about local languages. He also provides a geographical description of Nubia, including information on its size, climate, and geology, followed by a brief historical overview of the region.

Bio

Lev Tsenkovskii was a botanist and bacteriologist. After graduating from the Warsaw Gymnasium in 1839, he enrolled at St. Petersburg University. He graduated from the Faculty of Natural Sciences in 1844 and continued to work at the university. A year later, Tsenkovskii embarked on a research expedition with Colonel Kovalevskii to northeastern Sudan, where he spent two years. During this expedition, he collected materials on the flora and fauna of Sudan. His findings were published in “Geograficheskie vedomosti” (1850) and “Gazeta Warszawska” (1853). From 1850 to 1855, Tsenkovskii worked as a professor in the Department of Natural Sciences at the Yaroslavl’ Demidov Lyceum before taking up the chair of botany at St. Petersburg University. After obtaining the degree of Doctor of Botany, he worked in Europe from 1859 to 1864. Upon his return to Russia, he was invited to the Novorossiysk University as a professor. In Odessa he played an active role in founding the Novorossiysk Society of Naturalists and the Sevastopol Biological Station. In 1869, he moved to Kharkiv University, where Tsenkovskii focused on studying lower organisms. During the last years of his career, Tsenkovskii became deeply involved in bacteriology, contributing to the development of practical bacteriology in Russia. He authored numerous scientific works and was a distinguished resident professor at Kharkiv University. In 1881, the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences elected Tsenkovskii as a corresponding member.

Sources

N. Terenin, “Tsenkovskii, Lev Semenovich”, in Russkii biograficheskii slovar’, t. 21, Sankt-Peterburg 1896-1918, p. 477-479;

N. Bazilevskaia, K. Meier, S. Stankov, A. Sherbakova, Vydaiushchiesia otechestvennye botaniki, Moskva 1957, p. 16-24;

B. Raikov, Russkie biologi-evoliutsionisty do Darvina. Materialy k istorii evoliutsionnoi idei v Rossii, t. 4. Moskva 1959, p. 552-611.

M.E.