Nikolai Rezanov

(1764-1807)

Russian noble and explorer

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Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov (Russian: Николай Петрович Резанов) (28 March [O.S. 8 April] 1764 – 13 March [O.S. 1 March] 1807) was a Russian nobleman and statesman who promoted the project of Russian colonization of Alaska and California to three successive Emperors of All Russia—Catherine the Great, Paul, and Aleksander I. Aleksander I commissioned him as Russian ambassador to Japan (1804) to conclude a commercial treaty. In order to get there he was appointed co-commander of the First Russian circumnavigation (1803-1806), led by Adam Johann von Krusenstern. Rezanov departed the expedition when it reached Kamchatka after visiting Japan. He was also the author of a lexicon of the Japanese language and of several other works, which are preserved in the library of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, of which he was a member. Rezanov's biggest legacy was the Russian-American Company.