The postcard depicts three travelers in field clothes — Pyotr Kropotkin and his associates on an expedition to explore rocks. Kropotkin was a revolutionary, geographer, publicist, and one of the most influential theorists of anarchism. His portrait can also be seen on the stamp and postmark. Such envelopes were printed in 2017 to commemorate the 175th anniversary of Kropotkin’s birth.
Pyotr Kropotkin was born in Moscow in 1842. He was a representative of the ancient aristocratic family, which traced its history back to the Rurikids, the first princes in Russia. In 1862 Kropotkin graduated from the Corps of Pages in St. Petersburg and was made an officer, but gave up a brilliant court career. Instead, he went to Siberia of his own free will and joined the Amur Cossack Army.
‘The Amur region had just been annexed to Russia at that time. I read about this Mississippi of the Far East, about the mountains punctuated by the river, about the subtropical vegetation along the Ussuri; I admired the drawings attached to Maak’s Ussuri voyage, and was mentally carried further, to the tropical belt so wonderfully described by Humboldt. Besides, I thought that Siberia was an endless field for applying those reforms that were worked out or conceived, ’ Kropotkin wrote in ‘Notes of a Revolutionary’.
During this period, he undertook a number of expeditions to unexplored areas of Eastern Siberia and the Far East. This made it possible to prepare scientific works that later made him famous worldwide.
In 1867 Kropotkin retired and entered the physics and mathematics department of St. Petersburg University, and a year later he was elected a member of the Russian Geographical Society. Among the geographical works he presented to the organization there was a report on the existence of the Ice Age, which became a sensation in the scientific community.
However, Kropotkin was soon arrested on charges of participation in the revolutionary movement and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. On the personal directive of Alexander II, he was able to continue his scientific work in prison. The result was the book ‘Studies on the Ice Age’. Where the scientist substantiated his theory.
Soon, for health reasons, Kropotkin was moved to a hospital, from which he escaped in the summer of 1876. He managed to leave Russia and lived in emigration for more than 40 years. He did not return until June, 1917, but turned down an offer from the new government to become a minister. Kropotkin died in Dmitrov in 1921.
Pyotr Kropotkin was born in Moscow in 1842. He was a representative of the ancient aristocratic family, which traced its history back to the Rurikids, the first princes in Russia. In 1862 Kropotkin graduated from the Corps of Pages in St. Petersburg and was made an officer, but gave up a brilliant court career. Instead, he went to Siberia of his own free will and joined the Amur Cossack Army.
‘The Amur region had just been annexed to Russia at that time. I read about this Mississippi of the Far East, about the mountains punctuated by the river, about the subtropical vegetation along the Ussuri; I admired the drawings attached to Maak’s Ussuri voyage, and was mentally carried further, to the tropical belt so wonderfully described by Humboldt. Besides, I thought that Siberia was an endless field for applying those reforms that were worked out or conceived, ’ Kropotkin wrote in ‘Notes of a Revolutionary’.
During this period, he undertook a number of expeditions to unexplored areas of Eastern Siberia and the Far East. This made it possible to prepare scientific works that later made him famous worldwide.
In 1867 Kropotkin retired and entered the physics and mathematics department of St. Petersburg University, and a year later he was elected a member of the Russian Geographical Society. Among the geographical works he presented to the organization there was a report on the existence of the Ice Age, which became a sensation in the scientific community.
However, Kropotkin was soon arrested on charges of participation in the revolutionary movement and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. On the personal directive of Alexander II, he was able to continue his scientific work in prison. The result was the book ‘Studies on the Ice Age’. Where the scientist substantiated his theory.
Soon, for health reasons, Kropotkin was moved to a hospital, from which he escaped in the summer of 1876. He managed to leave Russia and lived in emigration for more than 40 years. He did not return until June, 1917, but turned down an offer from the new government to become a minister. Kropotkin died in Dmitrov in 1921.
