Lorenz Lange

Who was Lorenz Lange?

Lorenz Lange was a Swedish engineer, diplomat and explorer in the 18th century.

He entered Russian service in 1712 and was sent as a special envoy of Peter the Great to China in 1715. His mission was to promote Russian commercial interests. He travelled through Tobol'sk, Tomsk, Yeniseysk, Irkutsk and the region of Lake Baikal, and was one of the most important early Europeans to describe the Gobi Desert. His journey ended in Beijing, where he lived until returning to Russia in 1717.

His journal of his 1715-1717 travels was first published in German as part of Friedrich Christian Weber's "Das veränderte Russland", and translated into English as "Journal of Laurence Lange's Travels to China" in 1723.

The Tsar was pleased with his report and sent him back to Qing China in 1719 to oversee Russian caravan traders, until a dispute over Mongol hegemony led to the Russian trade concession being cancelled. He served as secretary of the Izmailov mission on which Georg Johann Unverzagt reported. When the mission returned to Russa Lange stayed in Beijing as Russian first diplomatic agent. During this second period in China, that lasted almost two years, Lange became probably the first Swede to meet with Koreans, also diplomats, on whose country he produced another report. A French report of his sojourn appeared in 1726, an English translation in 1763.