Nikolay Karamzin

Nikolay Karamzin was a Russian writer, poet, critic, and historian whose literary works helped establish sentimentalism in Russian literature. He is best known for *The History of the Russian State*, a twelve-volume account that drew on archival sources and made Russia’s past accessible to a broad readership. Appointed official historiographer by Alexander I in 1803, Karamzin devoted the later part of his career chiefly to this unfinished historical work.