Author
Shchusev, Petr Viktorovich (1871-1934)
Title
K istokam Golubogo Nila, “Izvestiia russkogo geograficheskogo obshchestva”, 1900, 36, pp. 198-217
Towards the Blue Nile’s Springs
Keywords
Summary
Ethnographic and naturalistic observations by Shchusev during his journey to North Ethiopia. Descriptions of Ethiopian society and customs, of Menelik and Taitu, the Blue Nile, lake Tana, the cities of Gondar and Aksum.
Bio
Born in Chișinău, Petr Shchusev was the brother of the famous Russian and Soviet architect Aleksei Shchusev. He was a military doctor and traveller, who took part in two expeditions to Ethiopia. The first time (1896-1897) he joined the Russian Red Cross, which decided to send aids to the Ethiopians suffering during the fights against Italians. The expedition, impeded by the Italians, consisted of 61 people, among which K. Zviagin, A. Bulatovich, G. Fedorov, N. Brovtsyn. The contingent arrived firstly in Djibouti by boat; from there, they travelled through the Somalia desert to Harar, where they waited for Menelik’s permission to proceed towards Addis Abeba. The contigent split in two: some went back to Harar, where they set up a hospital; the others settled in Addis Abeba, where another hospital was set up. After his return to Saint Petersburg, Shchusev gave a talk at the Russian Geographical Society. At the end of 1897 he was sent again to Ethiopia, this time as a member of the first Russian diplomatic mission (1897-1899), alongside P. Vlasov, A. Orlov, L. Artamonov, A. Bulatovich, K. Arnol’di and others. They were accompanied by a convoy of 20 Cossacks under the guidance of P. Krasnov. In 1898, during his return home, he opted for a detour in order to visit the ruins of the ancient city of Aksum. This journey can be considered an expedition to North Ethiopia of its own, recollected in his account Towards the Blue Nile’s Springs.
Sources
M. Zabrodskaia, Russkie puteshestvenniki po Afrike, Moskva 1955;
M. Rait, Russkie ekspeditsii v Efiopii v seredine XIX-nachale XX vv. i ikh etnograficheskie materialy, “Afrikanskii etnograficheskii sbornik”, 1956, 1, p. 220-281.
A.F.