Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt

He studied the natural history collections of Johann Philipp Breyne (1680–1764) and through Robert Erskine, superintendent of the Kunstkamera he was invited to St Petersburg.

By decree of November 5, 1718, Peter gave Messerschmidt the task to "collect rarities and medicinal plants" from Siberia and he reported to L. Blumentrost.

Messerschmidt set out from Moscow on September 5, 1719, through Nizhny Novgorod, Khlynov, Solikamsk, Turinsk, Tyumen, Tobolsk, Tomsk, Kuznetsk, Abakan, Krasnoyarsk, Achinsk, the Sayan Mountains, Mangazeya, the Lower Tunguska, Irkutsk, Nerchinsky Zavod and back.

Messerschmidt used two simple utensils for collecting data and artefacts, written diary notes and boxes, establishing a tradition for naturalist exploration to last a century.

[1] In Tobolsk, Messerschmidt met the Swedish lieutenant colonel Philip Johan von Strahlenberg, who had been taken prisoner at the Battle of Poltava and exiled to Siberia.