Explorers and Navigators Explorers and Navigators Idaho Pioneers Top Surnames Amerigo Vespucci (1454 - 1512) Amerigo Vespucci (Italian pronunciation: [ameˈriːɡo vesˈputtʃi]; March 9, 1454 – February 22, 1512) was an Italian explorer, financier, navigator and cartogr... List of Explorers Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain (including space, see space exploration) for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Please feel free to add to this project, or even create the framework for an Explorers and Navigators sub-project. How to add a link is explained in the attached document - Adding links to Geni profiles to projects. Timeline 1550 B.C. to 300 B.C. The Phoenicians (1550 B.C. - 300 B.C.), traded throughout the Mediterranean Sea and Asia Minor, and many of their routes are still unknown today. They may even have been to Britain because of the tin that was found in a few of their wares.

The Phoenicians traveled far and wide, some scientists even speculate that they traveled all the way to Central America, although this is disputed. Even Queen Dido,[disambiguation needed] in the Virgil's Aeneid, was a Phoenician from the Asia Minor who sailed to North Africa for safety. 4th century BC Pytheas (380 – c. 310 BC) – Greek explorer. First to circumnavigate Great Britain and to explore Germany. Reached Thule, most commonly thought to be the Shetland Islands or Iceland. 3rd century BC Xu Fu (b. 255 BC) – Chinese court sorcerer who led two voyages to the Eastern Seas in 219 BC and 210 BC. 2nd century BC Zhang Qian – Chinese imperial envoy to Central Asia who helped established the Silk Road. 5th century Brendan the Navigator (c. 484 – 577) – Irish monk, allegedly discovered Iceland and America in the 6th century. 8th century Dicuil (born 8th century) – Irish monk and geographer, author of "De mensura Orbis terrae".

The Papar – Irish monks who lived in Iceland, 8th-9th centuries, before the Vikings. 9th century Flóki of the Ravens was the first Norseman to deliberately sail to Iceland, he named the entire land Ísland (—Iceland). 10th century Ahmad ibn Fadlan – 10th century Iraqi explorer. Erik the Red (950–1003) – Norwegian Viking explorer. After being exiled from Iceland, he sailed to Greenland and settled there. Leif Ericson (980–1020) – Icelandic explorer. Believed to have been the first European to land in North America. 13th century Marco Polo (1254–1324) – Venetian explorer 14th century Ibn Battuta (1304–1377) – Moroccan explorer.[2] Wang Dayuan (fl. 1311–1350) – Chinese explorer who made two major trips by ship.

During 1328–1333, he sailed along the South China Sea and visited many places in Southeast Asia and reached as far as South Asia, landing in Sri Lanka and India. In 1334–1339 he visited North Africa and East Africa. James of Ireland (fl. 1316–1330) – Irish companion of Odoric of Pordenone. Simon FitzSimon (fl. 1323) – Irish author of a itenerum through Egypt and the Holy Land. Zheng He (1371–1433) – Chinese admiral who made seven voyages to Arabia, East Africa, India, Indonesia and Thailand. 15th century Afanasy Nikitin (? - 1472) - Russian traveler and merchant. One of the first Europeans to travel to and document his visit to India. João Fernandes Lavrador (1445? – 1501) – Portuguese explorer. First European reaching Labrador/Newfoundland. Fernandes charted the coasts of Southwestern Greenland and of adjacent Northeastern North America around 1498.

In 1501, Fernandes set sail again in discovery of lands and was never heard from again. John Cabot (c. 1450–1499) – Italian explorer for England. Discovered Newfoundland and claimed it for the Kingdom of England. Bartolomeu Dias (c. 1450–1500) – Portuguese explorer. He sailed from Portugal and reached the Cape of Good Hope. Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) – Genoese explorer for Spain. Sailed west in 1492 attempting to reach Asia, but instead arrived in the "New World" of the Americas. Amerigo Vespucci (c. 1454–1512) – Italian explorer for Spain and Portugal. Sailed in 1499 and 1502. He explored the east coast of South America. Juan Ponce de León (c. 1460–1521) – Spanish explorer. He explored Florida while attempting to locate a Fountain of Youth. Piri Reis (c.

1465/1470–1554/1555) – Ottoman explorer. Pedro Álvares Cabral (c. 1467 – c. 1520) – Portuguese explorer, generally regarded as the European discoverer of Brazil. Vasco da Gama (c. 1469–1524) – Portuguese explorer. The first European to sail from Europe to India by rounding the Cape of Good Hope. 16th century Vasco Núñez de Balboa (c. 1475–1519) – Spanish explorer. The first European to cross the Isthmus of Panama and view the Pacific ocean from American shores. Francisco Pizarro (c. 1475–1541) – Spanish explorer. Conquered the Inca Empire. Juan Sebastián Elcano (1476–1526) – Spanish explorer. Completed the first circumnavigation of the globe in a single expedition after its captain, Magellan, was killed. Ferdinand Magellan (1480–1521) – Portuguese explorer for Spain.

Initiated the first circumnavigation of the globe in a single expedition. Sailed through Strait of Magellan and named Pacific Ocean. Died in the Philippines after claiming them for Spain. Diogo Rodrigues (c.1490-1501; Lagos, Portugal – †21 April 1577; Colva, Goa) - Portuguese explorer of Rodrigues Island. Explored and named an island called Rodrigues. He discovered the island in February 1528. Giovanni da Verrazzano (c. 1485–1528) – Italian explorer for France. Explored the northeast coast of America, from about present day South Carolina to Newfoundland. Hernán Cortés (1485–1545) – Spanish explorer. Conquered the Aztec Empire for Spain. Jacques Cartier (1491–1557) – French explorer. Discovered Canada. Hernando de Soto (c. 1496–1542) – Spanish explorer. Explored Florida, mainly northwest Florida, and discovered the Mississippi River. Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (c.

1510–1554) – Spanish explorer. Searched for the Seven Cities of Gold and discovered the Grand Canyon in the process. Francisco de Orellana (1511–1546) – Spanish explorer, in 1541–42 sailed the length of the Amazon River. Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa (1532–1592) – Spanish explorer of the Pacific. Yermak Timofeyevich (c. 1532-1585) - Russian cossack leader and explorer. Conquered the Khanate of Siberia. Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540–1596) – English explorer. The first English captain to sail around the world and survive. Alvaro de Mendaña de Neyra (1541–1596) – Spanish explorer of the Pacific. Willem Barentsz (1550–1597) – Dutch navigator and explorer, leader of early expeditions to the far north. Pedro Fernandes de Queirós (1565–1614) – Portuguese navigator.

Explored the Pacific in the service of the Spanish Crown. Pedro Páez (1564–1622) – Spanish missionary was the first European who saw and described the source of the Blue Nile. Luis Váez de Torres (born c. 1565; fl. 1607) – Spanish or Portuguese navigator. Explored the Pacific in the service of the Spanish Crown. 17th century Henry Hudson (1611) – English explorer. Explored much of the North Atlantic, including Labrador, the coast of Greenland, and Hudson Bay. Presumed dead in a 1611 mutiny of his own crew. António de Andrade (1580–1634) – Portuguese explorer. First European reaching Tibet. His reports were the only account of the Tibet culture and geography until the second half of the 18th century. Samuel de Champlain (1567/80-1635). - French explorer. He explored parts of Canada. Semyon Dezhnyov (1605 – 1672).

- Russian explorer of Siberia and the first European to sail through the Bering Strait. Yerofey Khabarov (1603-1671). - Russian entrepreneur, best known for his exploring the Amur river region. Abel Tasman (1603–1659) – Dutch explorer. Discovered New Zealand and Tasmania. Evliya Çelebi (1611–1682) – Ottoman traveller. Edmond Halley (1656–1742) -In 1690, Halley patented the diving bell. In 1698, Halley was given the command of the HMS Paramour, a 52-foot Pink, so that he could carry out investigations in the South Atlantic into the laws governing the variation of the compass. Médard Chouart des Groseilliers (1618-1696), French explorer, North of Ontario. First to reach Hudson Baie. Pierre-Esprit Radisson (1636-1710), French explorer, North of Ontario, North of Québec. First to reach Hudson Baie.

Étienne Brûlé (1592-1643, French explorer, Huronie (Georgian Baie, Ontario). First European in Michigan. Known as the first "Franco-Ontarien". Louis Hébert (1575-1627), French pioneer, Acadia, first colonist of Québec. René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle (1643-1687), French explorer, Mississippi River, claimed Louisiana in the name of France. 18th century Vitus Bering (1681–1741) – Danish explorer. Explored the Siberian Far East and Alaska and claimed it for Russia. Pierre Gaultier de La Vérendrye (1685-1749), French explorer, Ontario and Manitoba. 19th century Ivan Krusenstern (1770-1846) - Russian explorer, who led the first Russian circumnavigation of the earth.

Captain Meriwether Lewis (1774–1809) – American explorer and field scientist who led the Lewis and Clark Expedition into the Louisiana Purchase and the Pacific Northwest in 1804–1806. Sir John Franklin (1786-1847) – British explorer, surveyed the coast of the Polar Sea between 1819 and 1824; died on his final Arctic expedition in 1845. Mikhail Lazarev (1788-1851) - Russian fleet commander and explorer who discovered Antarctica. Edward Sabine(October 14, 1788 – May 26, 1883) – Irish participant in the Ross and Perry Arctic expeditions. Sacagawea (c. 1788 – December 20, 1812) – accompanied and assisted Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806), the first American overland expedition to the Pacific coast and back. Thomas Coulter (1793–1843) – Irish botanist and explorer of Mexico and Arizona.

Charles Wilkes (April 3, 1798 – February 8, 1877) – American naval officer and explorer who commanded the United States Exploring Expedition. George Fletcher Moore (10 December 1798 – 30 December 1886) – early Irish explorer of Australia. Pierre-Jean De Smet (1801–1873) – Belgian missionary and explorer in North America. David Livingstone (1813–1873) – Scottish missionary and explorer in central Africa. He was the first European to see Victoria Falls, which he named in honour of Queen Victoria. John Rae (1813–1893) – Scottish doctor in Northern Canada. He discovered a Northwest Passage and reported the fate of the Franklin Expedition. Robert O'Hara Burke (1821 – c. 28 June 1861) – Irish leader of the Burke and Wills expedition.

Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890) – English explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist, fencer and diplomat; known for his travels and explorations within Asia and Africa as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures; according to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian, and African languages. Pyotr Semenov-Tyan-Shansky (1827 – 1914) - Russian geographer and explorer. He discovered the Altay Mountains and Tian Shan. Isabella Bird (October 15, 1831 – October 7, 1904) – the first woman inducted into the Royal Geographical Society; she travelled extensively, exploring the Far East, Central Asia, and the American West. Nikolai Przhevalsky (1839—1888) - Russian geographer and explorer of Central and Eastern Asia. Henry Morton Stanley (1841–1904) – Welsh journalist and explorer in central Africa best remembered for his search for David Livingstone, and upon finding him saying: "Dr.

Livingstone, I presume?" Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza (1852–1905) - Franco-Italian explorer and colonial administrator, known for his humanitarian principles and egalitarian treatment of native workers in French Equatorial Africa. He founded the city later named Brazzaville in his honor. Charles Marie Bonaventure du Breil, Marquis de Rays (1832–1893) - Third de Rays Expedition or simply the de Rays Expedition, was the third New Guinea expedition of a French nobleman who attempted to start a colony in the South Pacific. The expedition attempted to establish a colony in a place the marquis called La Nouvelle France, or New France, which was the island now referred to as New Ireland in the Bismark Archipelago of present day Papua New Guinea. Three hundred and forty Italian colonists aboard the ship India set sail from Barcelona in 1880 for this new land, seeking relief from the poor conditions in Italy at that time. One hundred and twenty-three colonists died before being rescued by Australian authorities.

The marquis is widely believed to have deliberately misled the colonists, distributing literature claiming a bustling settlement existed at Port Breton, near present day Kavieng, which had numerous public buildings, wide roads, and rich, arable land. Otto Sverdrup (1854–1930) – Norwegian explorer. Joined Fridtjof Nansen across Greenland in 1888 and captain on the Fram on the polar drift in 1893–1896 and the 2nd Fram expedition in 1898–1902. Mapped the Northernmost part of Canada in 1898–1902. Harry De Windt (1856–1933) – British explorer and member of the Royal Geographical Society. Travelled overland from Paris to New York in 1901–1902. Writer of books about his many expeditions. George Comer (1858–1937) – American polar explorer. The Comer Strait of northern Southampton Island and the Gallinula comeri flightless bird of Gough Island were named in his honor.

Fridtjof Nansen (1861–1930) – Norwegian explorer, scientist and diplomat. He was the first to cross the Greenland ice cap in 1888 and drifted across the Arctic ocean with the Fram in 1893–1896 where he attempted to reach the North Pole with Hjalmar Johansen. Mary Kingsley (October 13, 1862 – June 3, 1900) – explored the Upper Ogawe River in Gabon and journeyed alone into unknown regions of the Congo jungle. Mirko & Stjepan Seljan (1871-1913, 1875-1936) - Croatian explorers, explored South America Roald Amundsen (1872–1928) – Norwegian explorer. He led the first successful Antarctic expedition between 1910 and 1912. He was also the first ever person to successfully traverse the North West Passage. Ernest Shackleton (1874–1922) – Anglo-Irish Explorer, noted for his ill-fated Endurance expedition to Antarctica.

Hiram Bingham III (1875–1956) – U.S. Senator from Connecticut and explorer best known for uncovering Machu Picchu. Robert Bartlett (1875–1946) – Newfoundland captain. Led over 40 expeditions to the Arctic, more than anyone before or since. Was the first to sail north of 88° N latitude. Tom Crean (20 July 1877 – 27 July 1938) – Irish Antarctic explorer. Knud Rasmussen (1879–1933) – Greenlandic polar explorer and anthropologist. Rasmussen was the first to cross the Northwest Passage via dog sled. Auguste Piccard (1884–1962) – physicist, balloonist, hydronaut. Explored the stratosphere and the deep sea. Mulford B. Foster (1888–1978) – American horticulturist known for extensive plant explorations of South America. Collected thousands of species of plants for the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution.

Discovered more new species of bromeliads than the previous plants explorers Andre and Glaziou.[4][5] Richard Evelyn Byrd (1888–1957) - US naval officer whose expeditions may have been the first to reach the North Pole and the South Pole by air. Ahmed Pasha Hassanein (1889–1946) – Egyptian explorer, diplomat, one of two non-European winners of Gold Medal of Royal Geographical Society in 1924, King's chamberlain, fencing participant to 1924 Olympics, photographer, author and discoverer of Jebel Uweinat, and writer of "The Lost Oases" book in three languages.[6] Freya Stark (January 31, 1893, Paris, France – May 9, 1993) – not only one of the first Western women to travel through the Arabian deserts (Hadhramaut); she often traveled solo into areas where few Europeans, let alone women, had ever been.

20th century Colonel Noel Andrew Croft (1906–1998) – held the record for the longest self-sustaining journey across the Arctic in the 1930s for 60 years. Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (1919–2008) – New Zealand explorer, together with Tenzing Norgay, the first to climb Mount Everest on May 29, 1953. Yuri Gagarin (March 9, 1934 – March 27, 1968) – Soviet cosmonaut who on April 12, 1961 became the first man in space and the first human to orbit Earth. Neil Armstrong (b. August 5, 1930) – American astronaut – First human being to set foot on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Valentina Tereshkova (b. 1937) – one of the first people in space; first female cosmonaut. Robert Ballard (b. 1942) – undersea explorer; discovered the shipwreck of the RMS Titanic.

Ranulph Fiennes (b. 7 March 1944) – British adventurer. First journey around the world on its polar axis using surface transport only, covered 52,000 miles and visited both poles by land. First unsupported crossing of Antarctica. Reinhold Messner (b. September 17, 1944) – Italian mountaineer, first man to climb all the 14 peaks higher than 8,000 meters. E. Lee Spence (b. 1947) – undersea explorer and pioneer underwater archaeologist: discovered numerous shipwrecks including H.L. Hunley the first submarine in history to sink an enemy ship; and the Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser. Robyn Davidson (b. September 6, 1950) – the first person to make a solo crossing of the Australian Outback by camel; she also explored the remote desert regions of India. Michael Asher (b. 1953) – British adventurer.

In 1986–7 Michael Asher and his wife, Italian-born photographer and Arabist, Mariantonietta Peru, made the first ever west-east crossing of the Sahara desert by camel and on foot. Frank Cole (1954–2000) – Canadian adventurer, filmmaker and life extensionist. He was the first North American to cross the Sahara desert in 1990 alone on camel. He was murdered by bandits during a second crossing in 2000. Kira Salak (b. September 4, 1971) – a National Geographic Emerging Explorer,[8] Salak was the first woman to cross the island of New Guinea; she was also the first person in the world to kayak 600 miles alone to Timbuktu. Salak has done solo exploration to regions such as Borneo, Libya, Iran, Madagascar, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Timeline of Alaska's History Timeline of Alaska's History Alaska's modern history is very short; it was not discovered by the developed world until halfway through the 18th century. However, the Indigenous people of Alaska have been here for quite some time.

Alaska History Timeline 10,000 - 40,000 Before Present The first people came to Alaska about 15,000 years ago following herd animals across the Bering Land Bridge . The Amerind migration group continued south to populate all of the Americas. The second migration across the Bering Land Bridge brought the Na-Dene and Eskimo-Aleut. They arrived in Alaska about 12,000 BP and moved through the north to populate Alaska and Canada. The most recent ice age ended and sea levels rose to cover the Bering Land Bridge, isolating the American populations. Flint tool from an archaeological dig in one of Alaska's arctic National Parks 4,000-3,500 Before Present New data from the fossil record revealed that the first permanent settlements in the high arctic areas appeared 4,000-3,500 years ago. These people were characterized by their flaked stone tools. Studies suggest that they originated in Siberia, staged in Alaska for a brief time, then expanded across Arctic Canada and into Greenland.

Obsidian artifacts dating from 4,000-1,000 years before present have provided concrete evidence of transcontinental interaction between Siberia and Alaska. Note: This embedded video resides on the official Alaska National Park Service YouTube channel NPS Vitus Bering, a Danish explorer, discovered the Bering Strait between Asia and North America. 1741 A Russian expedition led by Vitus Bering, along with George Steller, made the first "discovery" of Alaska, landing on or near what today is Kayak Island. Bering explored the western coast of Alaska until he was shipwrecked and died on Commodorsky Island, later named Bering Island. Click on the image above to learn more... 1776 Captain James Cook, British Navigator and Explorer, set sail on his 3rd voyage, leading the expedition to find the fabled Northwest Passage, a trading route across the top of North America. 1778 Captain Cook sailed up the northwest coast anchoring off the coast of Alaska, identifying what is now Cook Inlet. Common sailor John Ledyard established first Russian contact after traveling inland with a party of Native Alaskans.

Cook continued to sail up the coast through the Bering Strait, and entered into the Arctic Ocean, but was forced to turn back due to ice blocking the way. Three Saints Bay on Kodiak Island 1780 A Japanese whaling ship ran aground near the western end of the Aleutian Islands. Rats from the ship reached the nearest island giving it the name Rat Island. 1784 The first Russian Settlement in Alaska was established on Kodiak Island at Three Saints Bay For more information about the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge visit 1807 The Eclipse, a Yankee fur trading vessel, sank in the Shumagin Islands, south of the Alaska Peninsula. It is the oldest known American shipwreck in Alaska and was missing until 2007. Alaska Library Packers on the Dyea Trail 1896 Oil was discovered in the Cook Inlet. 1857 Coal mining began at Coal Harbor. 1865 There were two ships that were brought down in the name of the Civil War. The Captain, James Weddell, was unaware that the war had ended.

For more information visit: 1867 The United States purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million dollars in gold, two cents an acre. At the time of the purchase, the United States referred to it as "Seward's Folly". 1872 Gold was discovered near Sitka. 1874 George Halt became the first to cross Chilkoot Pass in search for Gold. 1880 Gold was discovered in Juneau, sparking the Juneau Gold Rush. 1884 Alaska became the District of Alaska. U.S. Congress did not provide for an Alaskan government until this year. 1888 More than 60,000 arrived in Alaska in search of Gold. 1898 Special legislation extends the provisions of the Homestead Act of 1862 to the territory of Alaska allowing adventurous pioneers in the state to stake a claim for 160 acres of public land for development as a homestead. 1897-1900 The Klondike Gold Rush occurred. Over 100,000 prospectors would attempt to travel north to seek their fortunes in the Klondike.

PBS - Harriman: History of Exploration Exploration and Settlement on the Alaskan Coast The Earliest Explorers The large peninsula we now call Alaska was first visited by human explorers more than twelve thousand years ago. These ancestors of modern-day Alaska Natives traveled eastward from Siberia on the Beringian land bridge, a broad expanse of temporarily-exposed tundra that is today under three hundred feet of water. This bridge made it possible for whole communities to move onto the North American continent and establish maritime villages. Over the centuries, encampments evolved into productive hunting and fishing settlements. These early explorers and settlers adapted well to Alaska's coast line. They designed skin boats and harpoons for hunting marine mammals, created arctic dress from skin and fur, and used whale blubber and oil to light and heat their homes. This kind of adaptation also took place on the Siberian coast, but archeological evidence tells us that the maritime peoples living along Alaska's coast 6,000 to 8,000 years ago were particularly skillful in adaptive practices. Thus, when European explorers came to Alaska in the eighteenth century, they were visiting a land that had been explored, inhabited and developed for millennia.

Early Russian Exploration In a way, Alaska existed in the Russian imagination long before it had a place on the Russian map. Russian fur hunters and traders in Siberia had heard for centuries from the Yupik, the coastal peoples of Siberia, about a "Great Land" that lay to the east across the water. In 1728, Vitus Bering, a Danish-born officer in the Russian Navy of Tsar Peter the Great, made the first of his two voyages in the North Pacific Ocean, attempting to confirm the existence of the land to the east. He sailed through the narrow waterway that separates the Seward Peninsula of Alaska from the Chukotsk Peninsula in Siberia. He came very close to the Alaskan coast, but bad weather prevented him from making an official sighting. In 1741, on his second voyage, Bering headed up an expedition of two ships, both of which sighted land at points between 55 degrees and 59 degrees north latitude. The first sighting took place on July 15, when the St. Paul, under the command of Bering's second-in-command, Aleksei Chirikov, reached Prince of Wales Island.

Bering's own ship, the St. Peter, sighted Mt. St. Elias, and Kayak Island the next day. But the ships by this time had become separated, and the St. Peter was beached near the Aleutian island now known as Bering Island. Bering died there, of scurvy, in December of 1741. But the St. Paul returned to Siberia, as did some survivors from Bering's own ship. They confirmed that the "Great Land," did indeed exist; the fox, fur seal and sea otter pelts they brought showed this land to be a fur trader's paradise. Russian documents from the time indicate that Bering's explorations of Alaska were not made for the purely scientific purposes of survey and mapping. Russia wanted a permanent presence in North America, and hoped to exploit the fur and mineral resources there. They quickly succeeded in this goal. By 1745, hunting and trading vessels from Siberia followed Bering's lead along the Aleutian chain, obtaining fur pelts from the Aleuts. This was an important relationship, since the Russians were entirely unskilled in hunting sea mammals, particularly the elusive sea otter.

The Russian traders used bribery and outright coercion with the Aleuts, oftentimes taking hostages and demanding their ransom be paid in fur. The Aleuts repeatedly resisted. In 1763 Aleuts on Unmak and Unalaska destroyed four Russian vessels, but the fur traders effectively quashed that opposition. European Exploration of the Coast The English, Spanish and French governments were all eager to share in the taking of this rich territory. The British dispatched Captain James Cook to Alaska in 1778, where he completed the first systematic survey of the coastline, from 58 degrees to 70 degrees north latitude. He established that there was no land connection between the Asian and North American continents, and his expedition produced maps that set the navigation standard for the next century. The Russian Empress Catherine, unnerved at this intensive British survey of territory she considered her own, ordered Cook's journal translated into Russian as soon as it was published. The Spanish, anxious to protect their interests in the New World, sent several expeditions up the coast during this period, including the 1779 voyage of the Princesa and Favorita, under the command of Ignacio Arteaga.

At Nuchek Bay, they claimed possession of the territory in the name of the King of Spain, then sailed back to California. The French, unwilling to be left out, sent the explorer Comte de La Perouse north to Lituya Bay. Perouse claimed possession of the land for France, but politics and geography distracted Russia's rivals from fully engaging in Alaska exploration and settlement. The British lost the American colonies during this time, the French faced a revolution at home, and the Spanish found themselves unable to hold onto their New World holdings in South America. The Russians, who'd been there first, essentially won the race to claim Alaska. The Russian Era in Alaska The connection between Russian exploration and Alaska Native exploitation that began in 1745 continued as Russia took firm hold of the coast. In 1783, the Russian merchant Grigorii Shelikhov equipped three vessels for a voyage to the Aleutian Islands, hoping to gain a monopoly on the fur trade of the region. In 1784, when the ships arrived at Kodiak Island, they were met by a force of 4,000 Koniag Natives who demanded that the Russians leave immediately.

After negotiations failed, the Russians fired cannons on Koniag homes, destroying them. By subduing the Alaska Natives with fire power, Russian control grew stronger. Shelikhov extended his authority by setting up political districts in the Kodiak region, and by a building a fur-harvesting labor force of Alaska Natives. His methods were sometimes so brutal that the Russian government actually conducted an inquiry, although Shelikhov was never charged with any crime.

Expeditions of Legendary Explorers from the Past | Silversea Legendary Explorers Legendry Explorers From the remarkable achievements of Captain James Cook, RN and his three successive circumnavigations of the globe in the eighteenth century to the determination and passion of Scott, Shackleton, Amundsen and other polar explorers at the turn of the 20th century, whose expeditions provided the world with the first photographic images from the poles; and from the intrepid travel undertaken by Florence Baker and Mary Kingsley in 19th century Africa to the search for the elusive North West Passage; the Society’s Collections offer the opportunity to understand more about the planning, preparation and execution of expeditions from Antarctica to West Africa covering a period of over 500 years. Roald Amundsen Practical, pragmatic, and ruthlessly ambitious, Roald Amundsen was one of the great polar explorers of the 20th century. Infatuated with exploring the Arctic, he is best remembered – ironically – for beating Scott to the South Pole in 1911.

Meticulous planning, strong leadership skills, and extensive knowledge of Inuit wilderness techniques equipped him for success whatever the challenge, whether navigating treacherous waters by sea, crossing ice-caps by husky sledge or gliding over the roof of the world by airship. Bering The Danish-born navigator Vitus Bering explored the northwest Pacific under the patronage of Russian tsar Alexander the Great. At the beginning of the 18th century, this vast region was still a blank on the map. The tsar sent Bering to find out whether Asia and America were linked by land. During his second expedition to search for a land bridge, Bering discovered Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. Resources provided by the Society look at Bering, his influence and other explorers in Russia’s Far East of the time who followed in his footsteps. Mary Kingsley Mary Kingsley was born into a comfortable middle-class family in Victorian England, and spent the first 30 years of her life as a dutiful daughter. Her father, George, was a doctor who had traveled widely, and Kingsley finally achieved her own ambition to explore following the death of her parents.

Her primary motivation was to escape from the restrictions placed on her by Victorian society, but to make her journeys appear more respectable, she carried out a commission for the British Museum to collect “fish and fetish”. Almost uniquely for a woman of her time, she traveled Shackleton A charismatic and driven figure, Sir Ernest Shackleton undertook four expeditions to the Antarctic. His first experience was as a member of Captain Scott’s 1901-04 National Antarctic expedition on board The Discovery, but it is for his third expedition that he is most famous. The expedition very nearly ended in tragedy as his ship The Endurance, became trapped in ice, but remarkably, the whole crew returned home safely. Early European Explorers: Bering and Cook Early European Explorers: Bering and Cook excert of Introduction: Mid-18th Century Europe and Russia: The discovery and early development of Alaska required four major conditions: 1) a government or commercial enterprise interested in exploration for territorial expansion or trade; 2) a navy with ocean-going vessels and trained personnel; 3) reliable maps, and 4) the scientific knowledge to undertake a mapping expedition by sea without land based support.

By the mid-18th century, three European countries met some or most of these criteria: Spain, Russia and England. Spain, having colonized as far north as San Francisco, was already finding it difficult to maintain its supply and communication lines with the old world. Furthermore, following the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, Spain had moved into a period of isolationism and did not participate in the exchange of scientific ideas or maps with the rest of Europe. As a result, it did not learn in a timely manner of ongoing Russian and British explorations. By contrast, the government of Russia's Peter the Great, as a result of its war with Sweden, had recently developed an ocean-going navy and trained personnel. Because of wartime expenses, Peter was looking for new, unclaimed lands as a source of furs and minerals to replenish his treasury. Similarly, England, an established naval power, was engaged in a period of rapid commercial expansion. Both countries supported efforts of their scientific communities in mapping and developing the technology to accurately determine positions at sea. The mid-eighteenth century was an exciting time of discovery. So much that we now take for granted was unknown at that time.

Although the English colonists on the Atlantic coast were mapping lands adjacent to the eastern seaboard, no European had yet crossed the American continent. The North Pacific, which lay far to the north of the southern sea routes, remained one of the great areas of uncertainty on emerging world maps. One of the chief remaining mysteries was the size of the Earth-a measurement that map makers of the period tended to underestimate. The Pacific Ocean was seen as a relatively narrow body of water bordered by Asia, Japan and Kamchatka on the east and by three variously and imaginatively placed islands on the west. These were marked as a large island to the north and California to the south with a mythical Juan de Gama Land somewhere in between. Map makers disagreed on or were vague about whether Asia and North America were joined somewhere in the northern North Pacific. As a result, Peter the Great's instructions to Danish explorer Vitus Bering were vague and based on misinformation concerning both the size of the Pacific Ocean and the location of land masses. Although traditionally, the purpose of Bering's first voyage is said to have been the discovery of the large northern land mass, modern scholars believe that the more likely purpose was to look for a land bridge joining Asia and North America.

Bering's expeditions required considerably more logistical effort than Captain Cook's later explorations from England. On departing Moscow, Bering had to first cross and map Siberia, a task comparable to the Lewis and Clark expedition. It took him three years to cross Siberia (1725-1728). On arriving in Eniseisk, a seaport on the Kamchatka Peninsula, he discovered that no one had ever heard of Juan de Gama land. Here, he built the St. Gabriel, a vessel capable of coastal cruising. In 1728, Bering sailed north. When the land turned west instead of east, he turned back. Clearly, there was no land bridge in that direction. In 1729, he sailed west for three days looking for Juan de Gama land, which was supposed to be one hundred and fifty to two hundred miles offshore. Encountering fog, Bering turned back when Alaska was still another hundred miles away. Neither the politicians nor the scientists were happy with Bering's failure to establish the existence of a land bridge or to find Juan de Gama land.

However, as Russia continued its eastward expansion, the treasury continued to be depleted, and Bering remained the most experienced navigator to lead another expedition to find Juan de Gama land. Bering's instructions from the Admiralty College were to sail SE to 46ï¿½ latitude in search of Juan de Gama land; and then if nothing were found, he was to sail northeast until reaching America. On reaching America he was to follow the American Coast to 65ï¿½ N., then turn west and measure the distance between America and the Chukotsk Peninsula. He was to return to Petropavlovsk harbor by the end of September. Commander Bering on the St. Peter and Captain Chirikov on the St. Paul left Petropavlovsk on June 4, 1741. After ten days of sailing east in search of Juan de Gama land, Bering and Chirikov agreed that Professor Delisle de la Croyere's Juan de Gama land was a myth. Both captains turned northeast. On June 20th, they became separated in dense fog and continued their explorations separately. On July 5, after sighting driftwood, the St.

Peter altered course to the north. On July 16, Georg Wilhelm Steller was the first to sight land. Everyone saw land on July 17. The ship's log reads, "Soon after midday, at half past twelve, we saw land with high mountains, and their range was covered with snow." On July 19th, a party went ashore on Kayak Island, just to the east of Prince William Sound. Naturalist Steller recognized that this was not on the Asian continent when he spotted a black-headed blue jay that now bears his name. On July 20th, almost six weeks after leaving Petropavlovsk, Bering headed back to Kamchatka. On their homeward voyage, however, they discovered the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands blocking their way. Winter storms set in before they could reach Kamchatka. Bering was shipwrecked; he and 19 of his men died. The survivors managed to build a small boat from the wreckage of the St Peter, and in August of 1742 sailed on to Petropavlovsk with news of Bering's discovery of Alaska.

Captain James Cook: On July 12, 1776, just eight days after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, two modest sized sailing vessels weighed anchor in England's Plymouth Harbor bound south around the Cape of Good Hope for the west coast of America. The ships were the research vessels, Discovery and Resolution dispatched by His Majesty, King George III, to seek the Northwest Passage above the American continent so the British might engage in fruitful trade with the far east. Captain James Cook, armed with Bering's map and new, more accurate chronometers for determining longitude, was selected to lead the expedition. The ships' rosters read like a future dictionary of Alaskan place names: Cook (Inlet), Bligh (Island), Gore (Point), Billings (Glacier), Dixon (Entrance), Portlock (Harbor), Vancouver (Cape). And it is little wonder that these men's names appear on our maps, for this voyage of exploration was to illuminate much of the northwest coast of America and to discover Prince William Sound. Vancouver, Dixon, Billings, and Portï¿½lock all led later expeditions to further explore or develop the Sound.

It was not until May 12, 1778, two years after his departure from England, that Captain James Cook first dropped anchor in Prince William Sound. The trip had been long and arduous, and the Resolution had sprung a leak in her starboard buttock in a storm off Vancouver Island. Cook was seeking calmer waters and a suitable place to careen the Resolution for repairs when he sighted beyond a prominent cape a wide passage leading into the interior. He named the Cape "Hinchinbrook," after Viscount Hinchinbrook, the father of his patron, John Montagu Earl of Sandwich. The island forming the west side of the passage he dubbed "Montagu Island" and the vast Sound beyond "Sandwich Sound." Unfortunately, the good Earl enjoyed a rather unsavory reputation back home in England because of his extreme addiction to gambling.

It is said that he was so loathe to leave the gaming tables at meal times that he was in the habit of grabbing any nearby food, jamming it between two pieces of bread and consuming it on the spot-hence the origin of the "sandwich." The editors of Cook's maps changed "Sandwich Sound" to "Prince William Sound" after Prince William IV-a rather frivolous and senile prince who ascended the throne at age 64 and was popularly known as "Silly Billy." Although Cook named many geographical features after the expedition's patrons and expedition members, he also established the practice of using native names for preexisting settlements such as "Nuchek" for Port Etches. According to Chugach historian, John Johnson, "Nuchek " is an Alutiiq word meaning "last land before the open water (p.379)." Cook brought his vessels to anchor just inside Port Etches at what is presently known as English Bay and there made first contact with the inhabitants. He immediately recognized that the Natives here resembled the Esquimax (Eskimo) of Hudson Bay more than the Indians of Vancouver Island. Cook made extensive notes on their appearance, dress, boats, and weapons.

John Ledyard noted, "Their skin-canoes, their double bladed paddles, their dress and appearances of less note are the same as on the coast of Labrador and in Hudson's-Bay (p.80)." The Natives already had in their possession iron spear tips and sky-blue trading beads, most probably of Russian origin. It is not known whether the Russians visited the Sound before Cook or whether the Natives traded for these beads and iron artifacts with tribes further to the south and west. Certainly, the thirty-seven years between Bering's first visit to nearby Kayak Island and Cook's voyage allowed sufficient time for a visit of wayward Russian traders. But since there is no record, we must award the European discovery of the Sound to Captain Cook. Deeming English Bay to be unsuitable for effecting repairs, Cook sailed into what he called (and is still called) "Snug Corner Cove" at the mouth of Port Fidalgo. Here, he beached the Resolution for repairs but not without some difficulties. In setting out the kedge anchor one of the crew members caught his leg in the buoy rope and was dragged straight to the bottom but was rescued suffering only a fractured leg.

A band of Natives from nearby village of Tatitlek seeing nobody on the Discovery but a watch, boarded her and tried to make off with the ship's boats before being discouraged by the crew issuing from below. As the weather was fine and the repairs on the Resolution not quite finished, Gore and Bligh (of later Bounty fame) were sent out in the long boats to ascertain if this could be the fabled Northwest Passage. The results of their brief explorations, however, were inconclusive; so the repairs made, Cook weighed anchor and with the larger ships headed in a northerly direction. Encountering the shoals off Bligh Island and seeing nothing but high snow-capped mountains ahead, he concluded that this could not be the Northwest Passage and directed his course south to anchor in Montague Straits just to the south of Green Island (which he also named). Cook then exited the Sound through its western entrance and headed toward the inlet that would soon bear his name. Cook's cursory visit to the Sound was not the end of the story.

When Gore navigated the ships back to England following Cook's death in Hawaii, he stopped in China and discovered the extravagant prices the Chinese were willing to pay for the sea otter pelts obtained in Prince William Sound. The news of this potentially profitable trade soon reached England to set off a minor British "fur rush." Cook's crew members, Meares, Colnett, Portlock, and Dixon, all returned to the Sound to pursue the sea otter trade. Polar Exploration in the Romantic Era Polar Exploration in the Romantic Era Dina Gottesman As is evident from Letter I of Frankenstein, Mr. R. Walton is interested in arctic exploration. For instance, he says, "But supposing all these conjectures to be false, you cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the pole to those countries, to reach which at present so many months are requisite; or by ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which if at all possible, can only be effected by an undertaking such as mine" (6). One might ask why a person would be so interested in polar exploration in the early nineteenth century.

Also, why would Mary Shelley bother to mention it in her novel? Hopefully the answers to these and other questions will soon become clear. As it turns out, there are two major paths to Antarctica, the Northeast Passage and the Northwest Passage. Let us focus on the Northeast Passage, which is a was route to China around Siberia, first. The majority of the quests that sought this path were lead by Russia, for the simple economic reason that they wanted to increase the profits from its fur trade. By the late 1500�s, there was an established mercantile route through the Arctic to the fur-trading center of Mangazeya on the Taz River in Siberia. Russian trading ships regularly traveled between the Klyma and Lena islands, adjacent to the Arctic shore, by 1645. Three years later in 1648, the first European sailed what is now called the Bering Strait; his name was Semyon Dezhnyov. Dezhnyov�s excursion stimulated interest in Polar exploration in Russia. Hence, Peter the Great, the tsar at the time, approved several voyages. The Danish explorer, Vitus Jonassen Bering, made the most important discoveries.

In 1724, Peter I made him the leader of an expedition to determine if Asia and North America were connected by land. On July 13, 1728, Bering set sail from Siberia, and in August he passed through the Bering Strait, named after him obviously, into the Atlantic Ocean. Inclement weather prevented precise investigation, and, though he was unable to see the North American coast, Bering concluded that Siberia and America were not joined. During Empress Anna�s reign, Bering wished to make a second voyage. His simple plan was expanded into Russia�s Great Northern Expedition which lasted from 1733 until 1743. This campaign mapped out most of the Arctic coast of Siberia. On June 4, 1741, Bering again set sail from Siberia. On August 20, he entered into the Gulf of Alaska. Unfortunately on the way back, Bering acquired scurvy and was unable to maintain effective command. His ship wrecked in early November on the shore of Bering Island near Siberia, and many sailors, including Bering, were killed.

After his death, a few survivors were able to reach Siberia and brought news of excellent fur-trading possibilities in the Aleutian Islands and Alaska. Thus, part of Bering�s distinction as hero stemmed from the fact that he was somewhat of a martyr as well. A few other insignificant, and for the most part unsuccessful, voyages went on during the eighteenth century. These explorers included: Nikita Shalaurov; Captain James Cook; and Joseph Billings. The actual Northeast Passage was not discovered until 1823, when Lieutenant Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel successfully navigated and surveyed the Kolyuchin Bay, the missing link between Chaun Bay and the Bering Strait. Now, on to the Northwest Passage. Navigators began seriously searching for a water route from the Atlantic to the Pacific in the sixteenth century with Sir Martin Frobisher. Succeeding explorers include: John Davis; Henry Hudson; and William Baffin. Then, in 1768, Samuel Hearne set out on a two-year walking expedition, in which he made it to the shore of the Arctic Ocean, still he did not find a way through. The passage eluded explorers through Mary Shelley's lifetime.

In 1845, Sir John Franklin went on an excursion that ended in the deaths of all 129 men involved. In the 1850s, the passage was finally discovered by Sir Robert McClure, who led one of the forty search parties that sought information on Franklin's expedition. In turn, McClure's expedition was icebound for nearly two years, and was rescued by Captain Henry Kellett. Kellett's ship was in turn icebound for another year. Clearly, these explorers were not the luckiest of men. In any case, the Passage itself courses through the Canadian Arctic Islands approximately 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle and about 1,200 miles from the North Pole. The 900-mile east-west passage runs from Baffin Island to the Beaufort Sea making its way thousands of icebergs, and then into the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait, which again separates Siberia from Alaska. Even after the Passage was discovered, it took another half century for a single ship to sail through it. Between 1903 and 1906, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen made the passage.

Although the centuries-long search for the passage was inspired by the desire for a more efficient trading route, the first successful commercial navigation came only in 1969, after the discovery of oil in Alaska! The Last Giant of Beringia by Dan O'Neill · OverDrive: eBooks, audiobooks and videos for libraries Nature Nonfiction The intriguing theory of a land bridge linking Siberia and Alaska during the coldest pulsations of the Ice Ages had been much debated since the idea was first proposed in 1589. But proof of the land bridge-now named Beringia after eighteenth-century Danish explorer Vitus Bering-eluded scientists until an inquiring geologist named Dave Hopkins emerged from rural New England and set himself to the task of solving the mystery. This compelling blend of science, biography, and history follows the life story of the eclectic Hopkins as he solves this mystery-and creates an international stir that solidified his place in history. An account that is both thrilling and accessible, The Last Giant of Beringia is popular science writing at its best. Adobe EPUB eBook 3.2 MB Dan O'Neill (Author) Dan O'Neill is the author of A Land Gone Lonesome and The Last Giant of Beringia.

He was named Alaska Historian of the Year by the Alaska Historical Society for The Firecracker Boys. He lives in Fairbanks, Alaska. Until Death Do Us Part: The Letters and Travels of Anna and Vitus Bering, Møller, Lind, Halager Until Death Do Us Part The Letters and Travels of Anna and Vitus Bering Rasmuson Library Historic Translation Cloth $29.95 ISBN: 9781889963945 Published August 2008 Eighteenth-century Danish explorer Vitus Bering led historic expeditions to the Russian Far East and Alaska under the patronage of Peter the Great, and his wife Anna Christina accompanied him on his expedition to Okhotsk in 1739. The sixteen letters that they wrote over the following year make up the core of this volume, which features facing-page translations from the original German. The documents offer an intimate look into eighteenth-century customs, as well as the explorer’s family life and daily routine. Also featured is an inventory of goods that Anna Christina brought back to Moscow after Bering’s death in 1742, revealing key insights into the types of goods available in Russia at the time.

Until Death Do Us Part is a richly informative volume that will be essential for all those interested in European history and travel writing.

Question: Which Danish explorer discovered Alaska in the eighteenth century?
Answer: VITUS BERING