section_path: History/Geography, geology and navigation studies
section_name: Geography, geology and navigation studies
paragraph_text: Geography, geology and navigation studies
  
  During the rule of Peter I the Great, Fedor I. Soimonov was a pioneering explorer of the sea. He was a hydrographer who charted and greatly expanded knowledge of the sea. He drew a set of four maps and wrote Pilot of the Caspian Sea, the first lengthy report and modern maps. These were published in 1720 by the Russian Academy of Sciences.