A Journey Beyond the Three Seas - Definition

A Journey Beyond the Three Seas ("Хождение за три моря" in Russian, or Khozhdeniye za tri morya) is a Russian literary monument in the form of travel notes, made by a merchant from Tver Afanasiy Nikitin during his journey to India in 1466-1472.

A Journey... was the first Russian literary work to depict a strictly commercial, non-religious trip. The author visited the Caucasus, Persia, India and the Crimea. However, most of the notes are dedicated to India, its political structure, trade, agriculture, customs and ceremonies. The work is full of lyrical digressions and autobiographic passages.

In 1475, the manuscript found itself in Moscow in the hands of a government official Vasili Mamyrev. Later on, it was incorporated into the annalistic code of 1489, the Second Chronicle of Sofia and the Chronicle of Lvov.