Vasily Tatishchev, Russian ethnographer and politician (d. 1750)
Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev (Russian: Васи́лий Ники́тич Тати́щев) (19 April 1686 – 15 July 1750) was a prominent Russian Imperial statesman, historian, philosopher, and ethnographer, best remembered as the author of the first full-scale Russian history and founder of three Russian cities: Stavropol-on-Volga (now Tolyatti), Yekaterinburg, and Perm. Throughout this work, he advocates the idea that autocracy is the perfect form of government for Russia.