GreyAtlas’s Reviews > Russian Exploration, from Siberia to Space: A History > Status Update

Severnaia Zemlia was the “last [discovered] big tract of land
in the world.” Finding it, in one Russian opinion, was “the greatest geographical discovery
of the first quarter of the 20th century

Farther north
still, particularly in the race to reach the Pole itself, Russians played a negligible role until
after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, by which time the main prizes had already been won
by other nations’ explorers

Miklukho-Maklai can be placed legitimately in the line of nineteenth-century campaigners for human dignity and freedom—including abolitionists, feminists, and the various champions
of the working class. incidentally, Soviet-era historiography
placed him, downplaying his noble background and emphasizing instead his solidarity
with the common man, his anti-imperialism, and so forth

Miklukho-Maklai’s place in history is hard to sum up simply. In the Anglo-American
world he is not especially well known outside of academic circles. This has been the fate of
many Russian explorers, of course. He is better known in the areas where he lived and
worked.

Another notable Russian discovery in the South Pacific is the Menshikov Atoll in the Marshall Islands in 1828 by L. A. Gagemeister. The same year, F. P. Lütke (a.k.a. Litke) discovered
the Senyavin Islands45—one of many proud achievements during a highly productive fouryear
sailing (1826–1829), much of which focused on the Marshalls and the Carolines.

Among all the Russian contributions to world exploration, the most completely forgotten,
at least in the English language, seem to be those concerning the vast southern
Pacific Ocean—including Australia and New Zealand, Polynesia, Melanesia, and
Micronesia.