Vasily Tatishchev

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Vasily Tatishchev
Василий Татищев
Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev, a portrait by an unknown painter, 1800s.
Born	19 April 1686 Boredki, Ostrovsky Uyezd, Pskov Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	15 July 1750 (aged 64) Boldino, Dmitrovsky Uyezd, Moscow Governorate, Russian Empire
Nationality	Russian
Alma mater	Jacob Bruce Moscow Artillery and Engineering School
Occupation(s)	historian, geographer, ethnographer, linguist, statesman
Known for	Book on Russian history
Spouse	Anna Vasilyevna Andreevskaya
Children	Eupraksiya Tatishcheva (1715–1769) Eugraf Tatishchev (1717–1781)
Parents	Nikita Alekseevich Tatishchev (d. 1706) (father) Fetinya Andreevna Arshenevskaya (mother)
Family	Tatishchev family

Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev (Russian: Васи́лий Ники́тич Тати́щев, sometimes spelt Tatischev; 19 April 1686 – 15 July 1750) was a prominent Russian Imperial statesman, historian, philosopher, and ethnographer. He is known as the author of a book on Russian history titled The History of Russia (Russian: История Российская, romanized: Istoriia Rossiiskaia), posthumously published in 1767. Throughout this work, he advocates the idea that autocracy is the perfect form of government for Russia.^{[citation needed]} He also founded three cities in the Russian Empire: Stavropol-on-Volga (now Tolyatti), Yekaterinburg, and Perm.

Tatishchev often did not cite his sources, which required later critical historians to find out where he got his information from. After several sources were discovered, the texts of Tatishchev which remained unaccounted for (such as the alleged Ioachim Chronicle, which has never been found) became known as "Tatishchev information" (Russian: Татищевские известия, romanized: Tatishchevskie izvestiya), which is not to be trusted until it is supported by another extant source.^[1][2][3]