ABSTRACT
Several figures who played a key role in the global circumnavigations organized by the Russian Empire in the first half of the 19th century belong to one German-speaking family from Estonia. These are Adam Johann von Krusenstern (1770–1846), his nephews Otto von Kotzebue (1787–1846) and Moritz von Kotzebue (1789–1861), and his son Paul Theodor von Krusenstern (1809–1881). The names of the circumnavigators are inscribed in the accounts of global history, while the toponyms “Krusenstern” and “Kotzebue” remain fixtures on the world map to this day. Encounters with the explorers continue to be part of the cultural memory of several world regions, including Oceania, Alaska, and the Aleutian Islands.
Despite their indisputable contributions to the history of science as expedition leaders and writers, there has so far been little research on the entanglements between the personal and professional networks of the Krusenstern and Kotzebue families. This chapter illuminates some of their impacts on the circulation of knowledge and the imagination of the global world around 1800 by examining the accounts of the voyages published with the help of writer and publicist August von Kotzebue (1761–1819).
