Page 197 - 1992 - XVIII Congresso Internazionale di Storia Militare

RUS.SJANS JN A.\!ERJCA 163
Russian sea cerminaJ on che Padfic · tbe port of Okhotsk. The future hisrory of
Russia n voyages in me reg,ion, me hismry of America and me discovery oftbe Alcutian
lslands in connccred with rhis port.
At the end of the 17th cenrury Russians smned to explore Kamchatka and
in 1711 iniciared a study of Kurils lslands. Based on infoonuion gachcrcd as a
resulr. of thc expeditions in 1711-1713 a.nd informarion garhercd from tbc aborigi·
nal population, the «Draft-Map of Kamchatka Nos and Sea lslands» was drawn
up. l t filled tbc gap from mc Lopatka Cape co Hokkaido · i.e. inforroarion about
Japan had been garhered m.
The iofonnarion about che Kurils lslands aod tbc mysreriousJapan, coorradic-
tary and imprecise information dealing with rhe qucscion: "was there a natura!
bridge between Asia and America or not'', was che concern ofPerer che Great for
a long ti me. Bur. attenti o n was focused on che Wesr., where a bitter war wich Sweden
was being foughr; it lasred from 1700-1721 and the Russia.n tsar only in 1716-1719
was able to rurn bis attencion co solving rhese questioos. fn facr he organized sever-
a! expedirions. As early as 1719 he arraoged for an expedition m be suitably
cquippcd, induding geologists- I.M. Evreinov and F.T-. Luzhin. They wcre scnt
co Kamchatka and had che msk of describing che local places and asccrtaining whecher
America mec Asia C3l. Dw:ing cbeic voyage Evrcioov aod Luzhin rea eh ed, hypod1Ct·
ically, Simushir Island of che Kurils Ridgc, where rbey ma de measuremenr an d car-
wgraphic calculatioas.
J:n 1724 rhe First: Ka:mchatka Expedicion, which iniciared decailed researches
of Siberia, the Northern Sea Lane and Lhe Paci fie, was organized under Peter rhe
Firsr's auspices. !t had ro fìnd out wherher chere was a land connection berween
Asia and America, measure che disunce dividing chem, discovcr sea lanes to Chi-
na, Japan a od India via tbe Arctic. The expedirioo of 69 men was led by V.l. Bcr-
ing and his assistanrs - A.l. Chirikov and M.P. Shpanberg.
O n January 26 (February 5), 1725 che expedirion set ouc from Petersburg.
A long and difficult way lay ahead. Only o.n July 13 (24), 1728 che cxpedicion reached
che mouch of che ri\•er Kamchatka aboard che 'Sr. Gavriil', constructed in Okhotsk,
and sailed rÒ tbc Norch along che eastern coast of Kamchacka and Chuckchee. Bue
che quescion of rhe land link berwceo rhe concioenrs remaioed unclear, despire che
fact rhar che expedirion passed che scrair, dividing Asia and America, up ro che
laritude of 67 degrees and 18 nùnuccs North. This happened, because Bering try·
ing ro avoid che danger of spending a winrer there rejected Chirikov's proposal
to conrinue che voyage ro rhe mouch of tbc Kolyma and ordered che crew co rerurn.
The American coasr remained undiscovered because of rhe fog.
Though, leaving aside che failure of che expedition to accomplish thc assigned
missions complerely, ics signifìcance was sti!l very importane. lr collected infor.ma-
don abom che islands, che coast along che sea and scraic, later named afrer Bering.
The cxpedicion collecced che informacion rhat proved the exis[encc of a S[raic be-
rween Asia and rhe Amcrican continenr.