Gerhard Müller (1705-1783) was the first historian to specialise in the history of Siberia. His co-author Peter Simon Pallas (1741-1811) served on several expeditions to Siberia. This volume, first published in English in 1842, contains one of the first scholarly accounts of Siberia published in western Europe.

Gerhard Müller (1705-1783) is renowned as the first historian to specialise in the history and culture of Siberia. Born in Westphalia, Müller was invited to teach at the newly founded Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg in 1725. He joined the Second Kamtchatka Expedition to western Siberia in 1735, and on his return spent the remainder of his life publishing works on the history of Siberia. His co-author Peter Simon Pallas (1741-1811) also served on several expeditions to Siberia. This volume, first published in English in 1842, contains the English translation of these authors' detailed description of the Russian colonisation of Siberia and tensions with China. Combining ethnographic material with accounts of Russia's trade with indigenous Siberian peoples and China, this volume presented one of the first scholarly accounts of Siberia to western Europe at a time when the region was little known outside of Russia.