Editing Dmitry Laptev

{{Short description|Russian Arctic explorer (1701–1771)}}
{{for|the steamship|SS Dmitry Laptev}}
'''Dmitry Yakovlevich Laptev''' ({{langx|ru|Дмитрий Яковлевич Лаптев}}) (1701 – {{OldStyleDate| January|1771|10 January}}) was a Russian [[Arctic]] [[explorer]] and [[Vice Admiral]] (1762).  The [[Dmitry Laptev Strait]] is named in his honor and the [[Laptev Sea]] is named in honor of him and his cousin, and fellow Arctic explorer, [[Khariton Laptev]].

==Early life==
Dmitry Laptev was born in the village of Bolotovo, near [[Velikie Luki]], in 1701.  A year earlier his cousin [[Khariton Laptev]] was born in nearby Bolotovo.<ref name="Russian Source">{{cite web|title=Двоюродные братья Дмитрий Яковлевич и Харитон Прокофьевич Лаптевы or The cousins Dmitry Yakovlevich and Khariton Prokofyevich Laptev|url=http://vluki.library.ru/region/famous_people/laptev.php|access-date=September 10, 2012}}</ref>    He and his cousin were some of the first students at the School of Mathematics and Navigational Sciences in [[Saint Petersburg]], established by [[Peter the Great]]. After graduation, he quickly moved up naval ranks and became a ranking naval officer on a number of different vessels.<ref name="Russian Source" />

==Arctic exploration==
Dmitry Laptev was a lieutenant in the Navy assigned to the [[Second Kamchatka Expedition]] in 1735 under [[Vitus Bering]]. With the death of the head of the ''Yakutsk'' captain [[Vasili Pronchishchev]] in 1736, Bering appointed Laptev to be the head of the ''Yakutsk'' crew and chart the coast of the [[Arctic Ocean]] from the [[Lena River]] eastward.<ref name=Frost>{{cite book|last=Frost|first=Orcutt|title=Bering: The Russian Discovery of America|url=https://archive.org/details/beringrussiandis0000fros|url-access=registration|year=2003|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven, CT|pages=[https://archive.org/details/beringrussiandis0000fros/page/77 77]}}</ref>  With permission from Bering, Laptev returned to Saint Petersburg for the winter.  A second attempt the next year similarly failed to reach the eastern fleets of the expedition.<ref name=Haywood>{{cite book|last=Haywood|first=A.J.|title=Siberia: A Cultural History|year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London|isbn=9780199754182|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YKPaLi1d1O4C&pg=PA133 }}</ref>

In 1739, Laptev was the commander of an expedition to chart the [[Chukotka Autonomous Okrug|Anadyr region]] in the far east of the continent.  The expedition went poorly at first and the ''Yakutsk'' became trapped by ice very quickly.  That winter the crew, led by Laptev, were the first Russians to live amongst the indigenous population of the lower [[Indigirka River]].<ref name=Rasputin>{{cite book|last=Rasputin|first=Valentin|title=Siberia, Siberia|url=https://archive.org/details/siberiasiberia00rasp|url-access=registration|year=1996|publisher=Northwestern University Press|location=Evansville, IL|pages=[https://archive.org/details/siberiasiberia00rasp/page/300 300–301]}}</ref> Villagers from [[Russkoye Ustye]] provided crucial food, assistance, and even moved the ship to open water when spring came.<ref name=Rasputin /> Although sea travel never yielded much, Laptev and the crew provided significant mapping of the areas, often through overland treks and expeditions.<ref name=Haywood />

After the expedition, he continued his military service in the [[Baltic Fleet]]. Laptev was promoted to [[Vice Admiral]] rank in  1762, and retired the same year.<ref name="Russian Source" />

==Legacy==

A cape in the [[river delta|delta]] of the Lena River and a [[strait]] between the [[Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island]] and Asian mainland bear his name. The [[Laptev Sea]] is also named after Dmitry Laptev and his cousin, and arctic explorer, [[Khariton Laptev]].

== References ==
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{{Polar exploration|state=collapsed}}

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[[Category:1701 births]]
[[Category:1771 deaths]]
[[Category:Explorers of the Arctic]]
[[Category:Russian polar explorers]]
[[Category:Laptev Sea]]
[[Category:18th-century explorers from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Great Northern Expedition]]
[[Category:Imperial Russian Navy personnel]]