KRUSENSTERN

krusenstern, adam ivan (1770-1846), russian navigator, hydrographer and admiral, was born at haggud in esthonia on the 19th of november 1770. in 1785 he entered the corps of naval cadets, after leaving which, in 1788, with the grade of midshipman, he served in the war against sweden. having been appointed to serve in the british fleet for several years (1793-1799), he visited america, india and china. after publishing a paper pointing out the advantages of direct communication between russia and china by cape horn and the cape of good hope, he was appointed by the emperor alexander i. to make a voyage to the east coast of asia to endeavour to carry out the project. two english ships were bought, in which the expedition left kronstadt in august 1803 and proceeded by cape horn and the sandwich islands to kamchatka, and thence to japan. returning to europe by the cape of good hope, after an extended series of explorations, krusenstern reached kronstadt in august 1806, his being the first russian expedition to circumnavigate the world. the emperor conferred several honours upon him, and he ultimately became admiral. as director of the russian naval school krusenstern did much useful work. he was also a member of the scientific committee of the marine department, and his contrivance for counteracting the influence of the iron in vessels on the compass was adopted in the navy. he died at reval on the 24th of august 1846. krusenstern's _voyage round the world in 1803-1806_ was published at st petersburg in 1810-1814, in 3 vols., with folio atlas of 104 plates and maps (eng. ed., 2 vols. 1813; french ed., 2 vols., and atlas of 30 plates, 1820). his narrative contains a good many important discoveries and rectifications, especially in the region of japan, and the contributions made by the various savants were of much scientific importance. a valuable work is his _atlas de l'ocean pacifique_, with its accompanying _recueil des memoires hydrographiques_ (st petersburg, 1824-1827). see _memoir_ by his daughter, madame charlotte bernhardi, translated by sir john ross (1856). krushevats (or krusevac), a town of servia, lying in a fertile region of hills and dales near the right bank of the servian morava. pop. (1900), about 10,000. krushevats is the capital of a department bearing the same name, and has an active trade in tobacco, hemp, flax, grain and livestock, for the sale of which it possesses about a dozen markets. it was in krushevats that the last servian tsar, lazar, assembled his army to march against the turks, and lose his empire, at kosovo, in 1389. the site of his palace is marked by a ruined enclosure containing a fragment of the tower of queen militsa, whither, according to legend, tidings of the defeat were brought her by crows from the battlefield. within the enclosure stands a church, dating from the reign of stephen dushan (1336-1356), with beautiful rose windows and with imperial peacocks, dragons and eagles sculptured on the walls. several old turkish houses were left at the beginning of the 20th century, besides an ancient turkish fountain and bath.