The Extent Of The Russian Discoveries And Conquests In The North And
North-East Of Asia, Added Much To Geographical Knowledge, Though From The
Nature Of The Countries Discovered And Conquered, The Importance Of This
Knowledge Is Comparatively Trifling.
About the middle of the seventeenth
century, they ascertained that the Frozen Ocean washed and bounded the
north of Asia:
The first Russian ship sailed down the river Lena to this
sea in the year 1636. Three years afterwards, by pushing their conquests
from one river to another, and from one rude and wandering tribe to
another, they reached the eastern shores of Asia, not far distant from the
present site of Ochotsk. Their conquests in this direction had occupied
them nearly sixty years; and in this time they had annexed to their empire
more than a fourth part of the globe, extending nearly eighty degrees in
length, and in the north reaching to the 160 deg. of east longitude; in breadth
their conquests extended from the fiftieth to the seventy-fifth degree of
north latitude. This conquest was completed by a Cossack; another Cossack,
as Malte Brun observes, effected what the most skilful and enterprising of
subsequent navigators have in vain attempted. Guided by the winds, and
following the course of the tides, the current and the ice, he doubled the
extremity of Asia from Kowyma to the river Anadyn. Kamschatcka, however,
which is their principal settlement in the east of Asia, was not discovered
till the year 1690; five years afterwards they reached it by sea from
Ochotsk, but for a long time it was thought to be an island. The Kurile
Islands were not discovered till the beginning of the eighteenth century.
The direction of discovery to this part of the world, as well as the plan
by which it might be most advantageously and successfully executed, was
given by Peter the Great, and affords one proof, that his mind was
capacious, though his manners, morals, and conduct, might be those of a
half-civilized tyrant. Peter did not live to carry his plan into execution:
it was not, however, abandoned or neglected; for certainly the Russian
government, much more than any other European government, seems to pursue
with a most steady and almost hereditary predilection, all the objects
which have once occupied its attention and warmed its ambition. On his
death, his empress and her successors, particularly Anne and Elizabeth,
contributed every thing in their power to carry his plan into full and
complete execution. They went from Archangel to the Ob, from the Ob to the
Jenesei. From the Jenesei they reached the Lena, partly by water and partly
by land; from the Lena they went to the eastward as far as the Judigirka:
and from Ochotsk they went by the Kurile Islands to Japan.
One of the most celebrated men engaged in the Russian discoveries in the
early part of the eighteenth century was Behring: he was a Dane by birth,
but in the service of Catherine, the widow of Peter the Great, who fixed
upon him to carry into execution one of the most favourite plans of her
husband. During Peter's residence in Holland, in the year 1717, the Dutch,
who were still disposed to believe that a passage might be discovered to
the East Indies in the northern parts of America, or Asia, urged the
Emperor to send out an expedition to determine this point. There was also
another point, less interesting indeed to commercial men, but on which
geographers had bestowed much labour, which it was stated to the Emperor
might be ascertained by the same expedition; this was, whether Asia and
America were united, or divided by a sea, towards their northern
extremities.
When Peter the Great returned to Russia, he resolved to attempt the
solution of these problems; and with his own hand drew up a set of
instructions for the proposed voyage; according to these, the vessels to be
employed were to be built in Kamschatka; the unknown coasts of Asia and
America were to be explored, and an accurate journal was to be kept.
It is not known whether the Emperor was induced to plan this expedition
solely on the representations which were made to him in Holland, or from a
belief that the close vicinity of the two continents of Asia and America
had already been ascertained, or at least rendered highly probable, by some
of his own subjects. It is certain that the Russians and the Cossacks in
their service had reached the great promontory of Asia opposite to America;
and it is said that the islands lying in Behring Straits, and even the
continent beyond them, were known to them by report.
Peter, however, did not live to accomplish his design; and, as we have
already noticed, his widow Catherine fixed upon Behring to conduct the
expedition. After building a vessel in Kamschatka, he sailed in 1728: his
first object was to examine the coast of this part of Asia. He was the
first who ascertained Kamschatka to be a peninsula, and he framed an
accurate chart of it, which is still regarded as one of the best extant.
After reaching a Cape in north latitude 67 deg. 18', and being informed by the
inhabitants that beyond it the coast bended to the west, he resolved to
alter his course to the south. This was accordingly done, but he did not
discover the opposite coast of America; several circumstances were noticed,
however, which indicated that there was land to the east, at no great
distance, such as floating pine branches and other species of plants,
unknown on the coast of Asia; these were always driven ashore when easterly
winds prevailed. The inhabitants also informed him, that, in very clear
weather, they were able, from the top of their highest mountains, to descry
land to the east.
Encouraged by these circumstances, Behring resolved to undertake a second
voyage from Kamschatka: in this voyage he was accompanied by a Russian,
named Tchirikoff.
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