Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay/ Facebook
Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay, a great-grandnephew and the full namesake of the famous Russian traveler, repeated the expedition of his relative. After 150 years Miklouho-Maclay stepped again to Papua New Guinea. Maclay Jr. returned back with a delegation of islanders who visited Russia for the first time in recent history, TASS reports.
Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay Sr. lived in Papua New Guinea for two years and a half; locals called him a Man from the Moon due to his white skin. The Papuans asked a guest from a distant country to show them his "village". After a century and a half their descendants fulfilled their desire. The visit of the delegation from Papua New Guinea to Moscow and Saint Petersburg was held with the support of the Miklouho-Maclay Foundation and in the framework of the New Generation presidential program.
Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay Jr. launched the Foundation in 2016. In 2017 he went on a scientific expedition to Papua New Guinea where his relative lived and made research. It turned out that it is not easy to get to the country. There is not the Russian embassy, so it was a multiple-leg journey.
About three thousand inhabitants of the island came to meet the Russian traveler bearing a surname familiar to the Papuans and researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences. It turned out that local residents were not in touch with the Russians since the 1970s.
Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay is a Russian ethnographer and scientist. He traveled to many islands of Oceania, Southeast Asia and Australia, studied the languages and customs of the local population. Some nations became known in European science grace to the writings of Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay. Many ethnographers from around the world consider his birthday a professional holiday.
Russkiy Mir
