Lorenz Lange

Lorenz Lange was a Swedish explorer and diplomat in the 18th century.

He entered Russian service and was sent as a special envoy of Peter the Great to China in 1715. His mission was to promote Russian commercial interests. He travelled through Tobol'sk, Tomsk, Yeniseysk, Irkutsk and the region of Lake Baikal, and was one of the most important early Europeans to describe the Gobi Desert. His journey ended in Beijing, where he lived until returning to Russia in 1717.

His journal of his 1715 travels was first published in German as part of Friedrich Christian Weber's "Veraenderte Russland", and translated into English as "Journal of Laurence Lange's Travels to China" in 1723.

The Tsar was pleased with his report and sent him back to China in 1719 to oversee Russian caravan traders, until a dispute over Mongol hegemony led to the Russian trade concession being cancelled. During this second period in China he became probably the first Swede to meet with Koreans, also diplomats, on whose country he produced another report.

Lange was later made vice-governor of Irkutsk and met many of the famous explorers of the time, including Vitus Bering, Johann Georg Gmelin and Georg Wilhelm Steller.