Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/39522

The aim of the Witsen Project is to publish a Russian translation of Noord en Oost Tartarije [North and East Tartary] written in 1705 by Nicolaas Witsen. For thirty years this Amsterdam mayor had collected data on the physical appearance, the fauna and flora and also, more in particular, on the peoples of the northern and eastern parts of Europe and Asia. For this article we used text fragments related to the border areas of Russia with Japan and to the people living there in the 17th century. We quote some relevant parts of the book, give our comments on these texts and clarify these with a number of annotations.