Russia's Eastward Exploration Alaska State Museum ~ Juneau, Alaska
*Early Russian Map, 1773
Depicts the known coasts of Siberia & Alaska
*Interieu d'une Cabane de Caloches Interior of a Kolosh (Tlingit) Hut
By A.F. Postels, Sitka, 1827 From Frederick Von Lutke's (Litke)
voyage around the world.
In the 1700s, scientists hoped to find a sailing route from Europe to East Asia through the north, but didn't know if water separated Asia & North America.
Russia explored going eastward, having expanded east into Siberia in the 1400s. The first Russians to sail through the waters now called Bering Strait landed at the Diomede Islands, led by Semeon Dezhnev. By 1710, some Russian & European maps depicted Alaska, but its geography remained an open question. Tsar Peter the Great sent the first Russian scientific expedition, under Vitus Bering, to confirm the strait, from 1725 to 1730. Bering mapped the strait but did not venture to the American side. (He landed in Alaska on a later trip.) In 1732, the Russian navigator Ivan Fedorov made the first recorded landing in Aleska at the westernmost point in North American, now called Cape Prince of Wales.
Litke's Scientific Findings
Captain Fydor P. Litke, who had sailed around the world as a midshipmen with Golovnin, led his own globe-circling voyage during 1826-1829, including Russian America. His first-rate scientific team produced 1,250 drawings & collected an enormous number of specimens for the Russian Academy of Sciences. Litke's account of the expedition, in a three-volume publication & atlas, won him recognition as one of the outstanding geographers of his time. Litke went on to be commander & military governor of the Port of Kronstadt during the Crimean war & was promoted to Admiral in 1855.
Foreign Voyagers: Russian's Exploration
Valuable sea otter fur caught the attention of Joseph Billings as an officer under Captain James Cook exploring Alaska in 1778. He sought to return as a captain for Russian. With navigator Andreyevich Sarychev & naturalist Carl Heinrick Merck, Billings was sent with two ships to study the geography of the Aleutian Islands, the Bering Sea & Bering Straits. One of the vessels soon sank, but the remaining ship, The Glory of Russian, voyaging 1790 to 1792, brought back a wealth of information, correcting geographical mistakes & filling in details about the North Pacific.
The Neva's Voyage Around the World
In 1803, Russia set out to find a better way to supply & exploit its Alaska colonies than the difficult land journey through Asia. The Neva sailed all the way around the world, from Kronstadt in western Russia to Hawaii & then Sitka, where it fought against the Tlingit in the Battle of Sitka, & then on to Kodiak. From Alaska, the Neva carried 150,000 sea otter's pelts to China, traded for tea, chinaware & cotton cloth. The successful journey revolutionized trade for Russian & provided a riable way to supply Russia's American settlement.
Russia's Eastward Exploration Alaska State Museum ~ Juneau, Alaska
*Early Russian Map, 1773
Depicts the known coasts of Siberia & Alaska
*Interieu d'une Cabane de Caloches Interior of a Kolosh (Tlingit) Hut
By A.F. Postels, Sitka, 1827 From Frederick Von Lutke's (Litke)
voyage around the world.
In the 1700s, scientists hoped to find a sailing route from Europe to East Asia through the north, but didn't know if water separated Asia & North America.
Russia explored going eastward, having expanded east into Siberia in the 1400s. The first Russians to sail through the waters now called Bering Strait landed at the Diomede Islands, led by Semeon Dezhnev. By 1710, some Russian & European maps depicted Alaska, but its geography remained an open question. Tsar Peter the Great sent the first Russian scientific expedition, under Vitus Bering, to confirm the strait, from 1725 to 1730. Bering mapped the strait but did not venture to the American side. (He landed in Alaska on a later trip.) In 1732, the Russian navigator Ivan Fedorov made the first recorded landing in Aleska at the westernmost point in North American, now called Cape Prince of Wales.
Litke's Scientific Findings
Captain Fydor P. Litke, who had sailed around the world as a midshipmen with Golovnin, led his own globe-circling voyage during 1826-1829, including Russian America. His first-rate scientific team produced 1,250 drawings & collected an enormous number of specimens for the Russian Academy of Sciences. Litke's account of the expedition, in a three-volume publication & atlas, won him recognition as one of the outstanding geographers of his time. Litke went on to be commander & military governor of the Port of Kronstadt during the Crimean war & was promoted to Admiral in 1855.
Foreign Voyagers: Russian's Exploration
Valuable sea otter fur caught the attention of Joseph Billings as an officer under Captain James Cook exploring Alaska in 1778. He sought to return as a captain for Russian. With navigator Andreyevich Sarychev & naturalist Carl Heinrick Merck, Billings was sent with two ships to study the geography of the Aleutian Islands, the Bering Sea & Bering Straits. One of the vessels soon sank, but the remaining ship, The Glory of Russian, voyaging 1790 to 1792, brought back a wealth of information, correcting geographical mistakes & filling in details about the North Pacific.
The Neva's Voyage Around the World
In 1803, Russia set out to find a better way to supply & exploit its Alaska colonies than the difficult land journey through Asia. The Neva sailed all the way around the world, from Kronstadt in western Russia to Hawaii & then Sitka, where it fought against the Tlingit in the Battle of Sitka, & then on to Kodiak. From Alaska, the Neva carried 150,000 sea otter's pelts to China, traded for tea, chinaware & cotton cloth. The successful journey revolutionized trade for Russian & provided a riable way to supply Russia's American settlement.