Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky (; – ) was a Russian geographer and a renowned explorer of Central and East Asia. Although he never reached his ultimate goal, the holy city of Lhasa in Tibet, he traveled through regions then unknown to the West, such as northern Tibet (modern Tibet Autonomous Region), Amdo (now Qinghai) and Dzungaria (now northern Xinjiang). He contributed significantly to European knowledge of Central Asia and was the first known European to describe the only extant species of wild horse, which is named after him: Przewalski's horse.