Nikolay N. Miklouho-Maclay (1846-1888) was a Russian ethnographer, biologist, anthropologist and traveler, who studied the indigenous population of Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania.
The crucial merit of the scientist is that he raised the issue of the specific unity and relationship of human races. He compiled a description of the Melanesian anthropological type and proved its widespread in West Oceania and on the Islands of Southeast Asia. A good many of Nikolay Miklouho-Maclay’s observations up till now remain nearly the unique material on the ethnography of some regions of Oceania. In his lifetime, more than a hundred of Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay’s papers on ethnography, anthropology, zoology, anatomy, geography and other sciences were published.
The scientist’s name was assigned to the mountain and river in New Guinea, a stretch of the coastline in New Guinea (the Maclay Coast), an underwater mountain in the Pacific Ocean and the bay on the Wilkes Land in Antarctica. In 1947, the Institute of Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR was named after Miklouho-Maclay. In 2014, the Russian Geographical Society instituted the N.N. Miklouho-Maclay Gold Medal as the highest award of the Society for ethnographic researches and travelling.
The commemorative stamp provides a N. Miklouho-Maclay’s portrait, a field glass and a notebook; the main image features a drawing made by the scientist during his expedition to New Guinea.
| Denomination |
Paper |
Printing method |
Format of the postal card |
Edition |
| Letter “B” |
Chalk surfaced |
Offset |
105 × 148 mm |
7 500 pcs. |