Аннотация

Examines the life and career of one of the most prominent Russian navigators of the 1770—1780s when the distant lands of Kamchatka, the Kuril and Aleutian Islands and Alaska were surveyed by the Russians. New archive materials are used to recount the Ismailov's relationships with the aborigines whose customs and rituals he was obliged to report to the government. Ismailov's meeting with the members of the 3d round-the-world expedition of James Cook gave the author an opportunity to use British sources to speculate on Ismailov's personality.