Sannikov Yakov 
(1780? –The beginning of the XIX century)

Yakut industrialist, served as the head of the cooperative of the merchants Seeds and Lev Syrovatskikh. He was a very courageous, enterprising and inquisitive person who had spent his whole life wandering around the Arctic. With them or with his participation four islands of arch were discovered. Novosibirsk Islands. 
Born in Ust-Jansk in the Russian family of the embattled. From a young age, Sannikov began to be engaged in a vital business for northerners - the trade of fur-bearing animals on the coast and islands. 
In 1800, returning from the island of Small Lyakhovsky, he discovered and described the island of Stolbovoy in the Laptev Sea. This island was discovered in 1690-1691 by Yakut Cossack Maxim Mukhoplyov, who found many crosses there - evidence of his earlier visits by Russian sailors. The name of the island is given on high mountains and its small area.

In 1805, Sannikov discovered the Faddeevsky Island, initially called the “Land Opened by Sannikov”. Then they wanted to call him the “Land of Rumyantsev” in honor of the State Chancellor N. P. Rumyantsev, who initiated the organization in 1808 of an expedition to the Novosibirsk Islands under the command of M.M. Hedenstrom. The final name is given by the name of industrialist Stepan Faddeev, who organized the first winter hut there. 
In 1806, together with Syrovatsky, Sannikov took part in a trip to the east of Faddeevsky Island, during which a large island was discovered, later called Hedenstrom New Siberia. 
Since 1808, Sannikov was part of the Hedenstrom expedition. Sannikov became the right hand of the expedition's head, who taught him how to handle the compass and the visual observation of the terrain, and instructed him to explore the strait between Kotelny and Faddeyevsky islands. In the spring of 1809, he crossed it in several directions and determined the width, but did not establish that the space between the islands was not a strait. The summer of 1809 was devoted to exploring the island of New Siberia. In 1811, with the surveyor P. Pshenitsyn, Sannikov walked around Faddeevsky Island and only then established that it was connected to the Kotel'niy island by lowland, surprisingly flat sandy space, which in winter time was taken by them as the sea strait. This area was called "Sand", later renamed the Land of Bunge. 
After 1811, the traces of Sannikov are lost, and his further fate remains unclear. The only information not verified by anyone about the possible burial site of Sannikov is contained in the book of the polar pilot Alexei Nikolaevich Gratsiansky “Lessons of the North”. In 1935, he performed flights in the lower reaches of the Lena:

“Once we waited bad weather in Kyusyur. There was nothing to do, and Lisovskiy (the head of the airbase — note of Avetisov) proposed to take a short excursion to the tundra along the Bulunka river. We were accompanied by two of his boys and a riding dog-leader, who enjoyed special privileges and this time running without a leash. Our owners looked at each other as conspirators, apparently decided to surprise us with something. Zaitsev and Mokhov (the mechanic and radio operator) and I obediently followed them, squinting from the harsh wind, looking at the broods of birds scurrying around in the bushes. But now Lisovsky spread the branches, and we saw the stone tombstone of the old work and the inscription "Yakov Sannikov". So here it is, the grave of the pioneer Sannikov, who at the end of the nineteenth century began to explore the far polar lands”. 

Unfortunately, having received such unique information, the honored pilot didn’t give further progress, and now go and check .... Approximately the same situation was when searching for the grave of S.A. Levanevskiy.

The historical paradox is that, having made a great contribution to the discovery and description of real geographical objects, Sannikov first of all went down in history thanks to the non-existent “Sannikov Land”. 
In 1810, he “saw land with high mountains” from the northern coast of the island of New Siberia, but because of the polynya he could not reach it. Perhaps it was the island of Bennett, discovered in 1881 by the expedition of J. De Long. 
In 1811, from the northern coast of the Faddeyevsky Island, he “saw unknown land” at a distance, in his opinion, 45 miles away. Subsequent expeditions did not confirm its existence. 
In the same year, 1811, already from the northern shore of the Kotel'niy Island in the northwestern direction, he “saw” that very land, which was named “Sannikov Land” and glorified it. Many outstanding researchers believed in its existence for many years. The question of Sannikov Land was finally removed from the agenda only in the 1930s. 
Sannikov’s appreciation was given by many well-known polar researchers and geographers. He was the one who commissioned the completion of the expedition to Gödenström.  The first Russian round-the-world navigatorI.F. Krusenstern and Academician V.A. Obruchev.  spoke of him with admiration.

Strait between the islands of Anjou and Lyakhovsky. Initially, a member of the expedition E.V. Toll  in 1902, F.A.Mathisen called him the name of the expedition doctor Viktor Nikolayevich Katin-Yartsev. This name did not stick. The modern name first appeared on the map of K.A. Vollosovich in 1909. In 1935, the Soviet government approved it. 
The river in the north of the island Kotel'niy archipelago Novosibirsk Islands. It first appeared in 1811 on the map of the expedition of M. M. Gedenstrom. 
Mountain (Sannikov-Taga) on the Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island of the Novosibirsk Islands archipelago.