Demid Pyanda

Who is Demid Pyanda?

Demid Sofonovich Pyanda or, according to some sources, Panteley Demidovich Pyanda, also spelled Penda was among the first and most important Russian explorers of Siberia. According to few historical documents and later reconstructions based on them, Pyanda, in 1620-1623, while leading a party which was hunting for Siberian furs and buying them from the locals, became the first known Russian to ascend the Lower Tunguska River and reach the proximity of the Lena, one of the world's greatest rivers. According to later legendary accounts, collected a century after his journey, Pyanda allegedly discovered the Lena River, explored much of its length, and via the Angara River returned to the Yenisey, whence he came.

Thus, in three and a half years from 1620-24 Pyanda explored some 1,430 miles of the Lower Tunguska's length, and possibly some 1,500 miles of the Lena and some 870 miles of the Angara. In total, Pyanda may have discovered about 5,000 miles of hitherto unknown large Siberian rivers. He may have discovered Yakutia and was possibly the first Russian to meet Yakuts as well as Buryats. He also proved that the Angara and Upper Tunguska are one and the same river.