Liotainian Voyages of Exploration

An overview of the various voyages of exploration undertaken by the Kingdom of Liotain.

## Oceanic Survey

* **Liotainian Encircled Sea Survey** (1725-1737): A series of four Liotainian survey ships conduct a major survey of the northern Encircled Sea, building on a prior Firoccan expedition.  Particular attention is paid to the poorly-charted coastline north of Kislev and the seas north of Joseon.  By 1850, between the efforts of the Liotainians, Firoccans, and some others, the Encircled Sea is the most accurately-charted body of water on the planet.
* **Kemzura's Voyages of Discovery** (1780-1789):
* **Voyage of the *Vydas*** (1818-1822): The Liotainian naval frigate *Vydas*, under Frigatiekapitaine Stephane Mazeika, circumnavigates the world during a survey voyage.
* **Kleiza Expedition** (1828-1830): While searching for the Liotainian-born pirate Aldona Mockus, a naval expedition commanded by Captain Edgaras Kleiza charted significant ocean areas and discovered the Paracel Islands, which Kleiza claimed for Liotain.
* ***Safyras* Expedition** (1834-1837): The corvette *Safyras* conducts a voyage of exploration and exploration in the Reman and Southern Oceans.  They return the first accurate maps of the eastern coastline of Kijana all the way to the polar ice.
* **Liotainian Oceanographic Expedition** (1842-1846): The corvettes *Keliautojas* and *Klajunas* ("*Traveler*" and "*Wanderer*") conduct a massive mapping expedition, with particular efforts made in the poorly-charted Southern Ocean and along the western coast of Kijana.

## Arctic Exploration

Liotainian interest in the Arctic opened in the early 1700s as a result of the Encircled Sea Survey. Liotainian traders were involved in purchasing seal skins from local sealing vessels in Prem-Bol, Zakiristan, and Kuagaruuk during the early 1800s, although this business decreased markedly in the 1840s. With the demise of the sealing trade, Prem-Bol sold the port of Rskir to Liotain in 1845, further fueling interest in the area. Liotainian explorers participated or led a number of minor expeditions to Kuagaruuk, Dakuat, Kalajiit, and Matinsoq between the 1850s and 1880s. In 1885, Laurynas Balchunas began participating in Arctic exploration. His letters, photographs, and books provoked an "Arctic Craze" in Liotain, which continues to fuel both government investment and private interest.

* **Kanqaamiut Expeditions** (1886-1889): A series of three expeditions to Kanqaamiut, which is annexed by Liotain in 1890.
* **First Liotainian Arctic Expedition** (1890-1891): An attempt to find a suspected strait in the northern end of Akaina results in the discovery that Akaina is actually linked via a narrow land bridge to Zamoroziet.
* **Second Liotainian Arctic Expedition** (1893-1894): Charted much of the northern coastlines of Zamoroziet.
* **Joint Liotainian & Tokkaidan Arctic Expedition** (1896-1897): A joint expedition between Tokkaido and Liotain, using a Liotainian ship and including scientists from both countries, spends two summers charting the Sea of Tokkaido and eastward.
* **Balchunas Expedition** (1901): An attempt to reach the arctic North Pole is turned back short of their objective.  Balchunas' holds the record for the current position furthest north that has been scientifically and mathematically verified (although other expeditions have claimed higher positions further north).
* **Second Liotainian Arctic Expedition / *Jurininkas* Expedition** (1903): The steamship *Jurininkas* ("Seafarer") takes an expedition to the high arctic; remaining trapped in ice until summer 1905. Claimed Gjoa for Liotain and Fusou. Includes the Second Balchunas Expedition (1903).
* **Gjoa Expedition** (1906): An expedition to survey the northern reaches of Gjoa.
* **Liotainian Polar Expedition** (1907): First humans to reach the North Pole in June 1907.