Nicholas Maclay was born in a village near the town of Christmas Borovichi Novgorod province July 17, 1846. His father, Nikolai Ilyich Miklukho was civil engineer. By the end of his life, he was promoted to the rank of Commandant Nicholas station in St. Petersburg. Not entirely clear how or why, a second part names - Maclay. " In the literature there are reflections on some Scottish ancestry. But they seem utterly groundless. Ogets it was from a poor Cossack family. Mother, nee Becker, a family chronicle, a German-Polish origin. Maybe the right grand-niece of the great explorer who claimed the name "Maclay" wore one of the ancestors in branching kind Meek Luha. One thing is clear, namely Nicholas after the death of his father made his name double. For the first time the prefix appears in his letters from abroad since 1866, and later as the manor is often the title of "de Maclay", "Von Maclay." In 1863, the next great traveler, a volunteer entered the Physics and Mathematics at St. Petersburg University, but six months later was expelled from there "without the right to enroll in other Russian universities. With great difficulty managed to get permission to travel abroad to continue their education. Then he knew what he wanted. In the notebook in 1863, found a list of books read: K. Vogt. The Natural Theory of the Universe "by IM Sechenov. "Reflexes of the Brain, AN Beketov. "Renewal and transformation in the plant world" ... After receiving permission to leave, Maclay sent to Germany. In Jena he attended lectures by renowned biologist Ernst Haeckel, and in the years 1866-1867, together with him went to the Canary Islands, where he studied the anatomy of sponges, studied the brains of cartilaginous fishes. Then Maclay worked in zoological museums in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and France. And after graduation went to Sicily to Messina. In March 1869 he was first sent to the independent travel, exploring the fauna of the Red Sea. In 1859 Charles Darwin published "Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection." Darwin argued that no god created the world around us: plants, animals and humans. If there is a God, you name it - natural selection. Initially Maclay studying simple animals - sponges - in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Red seas. Five years later he returned to Russia and began to study the northern sponge on the theory of variability in Darwin. While anthropology - the study of the origin and evolution of man - only still its infancy. The question of the unity of the human race was one of the most important. Monogenisty thought. all the human race evolved from common ancestors. Poligenisty tried to prove that from the different. White, black, yellow race - is independent species. Even some of the Darwinians, among them teacher Maclay Ernst Haeckel, considered culturally backward peoples of the kind of intermediary between the monkey and the Europeans. Miklukho-Maclay understood that the dispute can only be solved in practice, direct observation of the life of the peoples of Africa, Southeast Asia and Oceania. He makes a report at a meeting of the Russian Geographical Society, sets out its plans and seeking to send to New Guinea, which is still not to the extent recognized adverse effects of civilization and colonization. Soon the couple was brought there by the military corvette "Vityaz". September 27, 1871, he stepped on the land of New Guinea. Only twelve years later, in August 1882, Maclay returned to Russia. He was terribly sick because of what it was hard to find: the yellow-pale face bore the imprint of the tested grief. And lean cheeks, and eyes dim and sunken chest, and barely audible voice, and often grabbing his side went to the traveler as an eternal, unquenchable signs, which imposed on him tested their deprivation and disease. Miklukho-Maclay gave a report message on the results of his expedition. He opened a completely different audience, unknown, exotic world. He proved by concrete examples, that the natives are the same people, as well as Europeans. And what of all men, representatives of more advanced civilization is the task of salvation of this unique diversity in the human world. Miklukho-Maclay wanted to form an independent Papuan Union. He believed that he could prevent the invasion of the colonialists. He sent letters, telegrams: Governor-General Netherlands East Indies, Secretary of State British colonies, Lord Derby, Prime Minister of Great Britain, William Gladstone, Chancellor Otto Bismarck ... But he knew that his pleas to spare the Papuans - a request to the shark not be so bloodthirsty. During the trip, Maclay has visited Sydney in 1881. There he met Marguerite Clark Robertson, whose father was once prime minister of the British colony of New South Wales, and helps travelers in the organization of the Marine Zoological Station. After some time Maclay makes a proposal to Rita and she agrees. However, parents and friends were against Rita. Demanded that he presented a marriage license to the Protestant rite. Only the 27 February 1884 the wedding. And the young almost one after another had two sons. In the summer of 1887 Maclay moved his family to St. Petersburg. But winter has come. Sick children, fell ill himself Maclay. On January 1, 1888 Margaret starts and keeps a diary. According to these records one can understand the tragedy of the situation in which there was a family. Died great traveler, 2 April 1888 and was buried in the Volkov Cemetery. At the grave of his laid slab on which the mysterious letters - N. V. D. S. S. U. For a long time, they remained a mystery. But in the 70 years of 20 century, wife of the grandson of Maclay - Rob Maclay - Alice conjectured that it is in English is nothing but death can not separate us. "
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