MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS Correspondent Yulia Bochkareva/. The First Kamchatka Expedition began 300 years ago. It was followed by the Second one, later dubbed as the Great Northern Expedition. Travelers set off into the unknown to find a northern strait between Asia and America. Their discoveries are on the Far East maps - they bear the names of Bering, Laptev, and others. Yakutsk, about to celebrate its 400th anniversary, and the city residents were the mainstay and support in both expeditions.
Northeastern suburbs
The contribution and scale of the directly linked First and Second Kamchatka Expeditions cannot be overestimated. In the 18th century, research covered Eurasia's northern coast, the entire Siberia, the Kamchatka, the Pacific Ocean seas and lands, Japan's shores. Scientists and navigators opened America's northwestern shores.
About Vitus Bering and Alexey Chirikov
Vitus Jonassen Bering (1681-1741) was a navigator, traveler, born in the Danish city of Hersens. In 1704, he joined the Russian Fleet as a non-commissioned officer. He led both Kamchatka Expeditions. During the Second Kamchatka Expedition, together with Alexey Chirikov and Georg Steller, he visited some of the Aleutian Islands and the coast of America. On the way back, Bering's ship was wrecked off the coast of the island named after him, and the crew wintered there. During that wintering, Bering passed away.
Alexey Chirikov (1703-1748) was Bering's first assistant and a de facto leader of the Great Northern Expedition. A Russian navigator. He graduated from the Naval Academy (1721), and taught there from 1722. He took part in the First and Second Kamchatka Expeditions. In 1741, on board the Sv. Pavel, he discovered the northwestern coast of North America, as well as the islands of Kodiak, Umnak, Adak, and Agattu (the Aleutian Ridge). In 1746, he returned to St. Petersburg to summarize and map the Kamchatka Expeditions results. An island in the Gulf of Alaska and the cape of the Attu Island are named after him.
The expedition conducted research and scientific discoveries in geography, geology, physics, botany, zoology, and ethnography, and made the first complete and detailed map of the Russian Empire's vast northeastern part.
"At all times, the state is believed to be finally formed when it has clear borders. The land becomes an irrevocable part of the state when put on the map. Due to those expeditions Russia has acquired its northeastern suburbs," said Sardana Boyakova, Director of the Institute for Humanitarian Studies and Problems of Indigenous Peoples of the North (the Russian Academy of Sciences' Siberian Branch).
Background
The first quarter of the 18th century was a time of great transformation for Russia. Developing and expanding trade and the beginning fleet creation required extensive geographical knowledge, precise navigation directions. Thus, studies of the Siberia, the Far East and the North became a state-level task.
On December 23, 1724, Peter the Great signed a decree to organize an expedition, and appointed Vitus Bering its leader. Later on, Bering led also the Second Kamchatka Expedition.
"Who was Vitus Bering? A Dane who joined the Russian service in 1704. Peter the Great invited him because he knew him personally and trusted him greatly. Bering participated in the Azov and Prussian campaigns of Peter the Great, in the Kronstadt naval fortress construction, and in the war between Russia and Sweden. Clearly, he fully reaffirmed Peter the Great's trust and practically sacrificed his life for the Russian science," said Gennady Tolstykh, Vice President of Yakutia's Academy of Sciences.
Tasks and goals
On January 6, 1725, it was the emperor who wrote instructions to Bering about the expedition's tasks and goals. The original text is still missing, though it has been reproduced in Bering's reports. The expedition had two tasks: to find out whether Asia and America were separated, and to map new data.
The expedition began in January, 1725 and ended in 1730. It was unable to complete fully the tasks, but it was the first exploration of the territories and provided valuable information. The new maps for the first time gave a clear idea about Russia's eastern coast from the Kamchatka to the Chukotka's northern shores, and also about the Siberia's size.
"The second Kamchatka Expedition was in 1733 - 1743," the Academy's vice president said. "Its scale remains unbelievable. The expedition featured thousands of people." Specialists believe the Great Northern Expedition began in April, 1732, when Empress Anna Ioannovna issued a decree on it.
The Second Kamchatka Expedition faced more extensive tasks. It consisted of eight detachments at a time, including the academic one. Every detachment had own tasks. The explorers continued searching for a strait between Asia and America, and the study and mapping of the Arctic Ocean and its coast. At the Pacific Ocean, they explored territories from the Kamchatka to Japan and northwestern America. Additionally, detachments traveled along Yakutia's rivers, collecting information about indigenous peoples.
The expedition featured scientists, artists, and collectors of exhibits for the Kunstkamera (the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, St. Petersburg). "They coped brilliantly with this task. Mineral rocks and ores were sent to the Academy of Sciences. Stepan Krasheninnikov's book Description of the Land of Kamchatka was published in St. Petersburg in 1755 and became a European bestseller. In 1748, the Academy of Sciences acquired ethnographic archaeological objects from Gerard Friedrich Miller, which he had bought during that expedition at his own expense. They are still used for science," the expert said.
Yakutsk as an outpost of Russia's development
Yakutsk was founded in 1632 as the Lena wooden fortress on the right bank of the Lena River. That year is considered the date of Yakutia's entry into the Russian state. Further on, the place where the fortress was set, turned out to suffer spring floods. After a long search, the fortress was moved to a non-flooded place on the Lena River's left bank. That fortress became the foundation of modern Yakutsk, and the city became the main starting point, a supply and control center for both expeditions.
"During the Second Kamchatka Expedition, a huge number of people headed for Yakutsk - almost 2,000. They were sailors, officers, scientists, and ordinary people - carpenters, joiners, workers. They were supposed to set up shipyards here and to share skills with the locals. Noteworthy, all of them needed food, clothing, and shelters," Sardana Boyakova said, adding that before the expeditions Yakutsk was a small provincial town, more like a village, and the city's main purpose was to be a place where duties from local residents are collected.
"Due to Bering, Yakutsk became a central city that has remained in history. Yakutsk was a key outpost and center for Russia's exploration of the Far East, Northeast Asia and Northwest America," the expert said.
During the first expedition, Bering spent only a short time in the territory of modern Yakutia, while in 1734 he lived in Yakutsk for three years. The Bering family stayed at Borisov's house, but there is little information about this.
"We have studied a later map of Yakutsk to find two Borisov houses," she continued. "We cannot say in which of them the researcher's family stayed, but anyway both houses were in the Zalog part of the city - the most ancient part."
Development of Yakutsk
The expeditions played a huge role in development of the city which at that time was the center of the Yakut District in the Irkutsk Province. That time was the beginning of the local people's education. Bering initiated the Yakut Navigation School. Specialists and workers from Central Russia shared skills with the locals.
"By the end of the 18th century, the Yakuts were known as the best carpenters in Siberia, and we know documents that read, for example, that ships in Alaska were built by Yakut carpenters," she said.
In 1735, not far from the city, on the Tamma River, which flows into the Lena, the Tamga Ironworks began supplying the expedition. It was the first ferrous metallurgy enterprise in the Far East. Immediately after the expedition, it was closed down and then dismantled. Later attempts to reopen the plant were unsuccessful. Archaeological excavations are due there this year. Scientists think there used to be a Yakut settlement to serve the plant's employees.
A secular society was forming in the city as the expedition members were bringing their families to Yakutsk, and some got married in Yakutsk. Bering initiated first Christmas festivities in Yakutsk thus making the city a cultural center as well.
Unknown names
The Yakuts were obligated to supply the expedition, transport goods, and give horses. Decades later, the people managed to have that obligation dropped. Year-round cargo transportation for the expedition continued without interruptions.
The locals acted as experienced guides in the most difficult conditions of Yakutia - diverse landscapes and low temperatures. Specialists believe the Yakut sleigh appeared due to the expeditions - previously, the locals transported goods on horseback only. Great sacrifices were a high cost. Deaths of horses, and cases of people frozen to death.
There are few documents on Yakutsk of the 18th century. "We are facing a noble task to restore names and deeds of those local residents who made their personal contribution, participated in the expeditions, transportation, construction, maintenance. Yakutia's local residents are not just Yakuts. There were peasants, industrialists, and Cossacks - later on they participated in sailing voyages," Sardana Boyakova said, adding her institute had been working in that direction.
Yakutsk in the 18 century
An engraving of 1770 by Alexei Rudakov, based on a drawing of 1736 by Johann Lursenius, a participant in the Second Kamchatka Expedition, gives a clear picture of how the city of Yakutsk looked like back then.
"At that time, cities were drawn in lines on three parallel plans. The river was usually on the foreground, followed by numerous buildings around the city's central part, and a fortress in the background. Drawings were something between a drawing and a view of the area from a height," said Anna Shishigina, deputy director of the Yaroslavsky Yakut State United Museum of History and Culture of the Peoples of the North.
The expeditions' materials remain relevant and attract scientists, she continued. "Blind spots still remain. For example, such a seemingly obvious thing like Bering's birthday. August 5 has been quoted everywhere. But, apparently, he was born between July 30 and August 5, since on August 5, 1681, he was already baptized," she said.
Memory
Nowadays, Yakutsk is the biggest city located in the permafrost zone. It continues developing despite the harsh climate. The current population is about 385,000.
The Bering Street in Yakutsk is in memory of the navigator, and the Bering Readings conference has been held for the first time this year. Last year, the Russian Geographical Society's regional branch sent a request to the Siberian State University of Water Transport about the possible naming its Yakut branch after Bering.
Enthusiasts have suggested erecting a monument to Bering. "Yakutsk may be rightfully called the father of Far Eastern cities. Thanks to Yakutsk, the territory of the Far East, the Chukotka, the Kamchatka and even Alaska has been explored. It would be right to say that in 2032 we will celebrate Yakutsk's 400th anniversary as well as the creation of the Far East. Vitus Bering took the biggest and most direct part in this," said Andrey Vysokykh, chairman of the Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments' Yakutsk branch.