Iosif Goshkevich

Iosif Goshkevich was a Russian diplomat who served in China for ten years, and later became the first Russian resident consul in Hakodate.

During his lengthy time in China, Goshkevich is said to have mastered both spoken and written Chinese. In 1854, he traveled to Ryûkyû and Japan as interpreter aboard a fleet headed by Yevfimy Vasilyevich Putyatin.

He later became an official in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Far East Department, and following the opening of Hakodate to foreign settlement and trade in the 1850s, Goshkevich served for a time as Russia's resident consul there.

References

• Maehira Fusaaki, Ryûkyû shisetsu no ikoku taiken 琉球使節の異国体験, Kokusai kôryû 国際交流 59 (1992), 65-66.