Great Northern Expedition

A Russian program of exploration conducted mainly from 1733 to 1743 across Siberia and the Arctic and North Pacific coasts. Its multiple detachments mapped northern Asia and investigated routes and lands toward North America.

Second Kamchatka Expedition: A Russian state expedition from 1733 to 1743 that explored Siberia, the Arctic, Kamchatka, and the North Pacific. This name is often used for the expedition’s broader program of separate exploratory detachments.
Alexei Chirikov: A Russian naval officer who co-commanded the expedition’s Pacific voyages with Vitus Bering. His 1741 voyage independently reached the northwest coast of North America.
Bering's voyage to Alaska: Vitus Bering’s 1741 voyage from Kamchatka to the northwest coast of North America. It was the expedition’s major direct encounter with the North American coast.
Bering Strait: A narrow sea passage between Siberia and Alaska connecting the Arctic and Pacific oceans. The expedition’s voyages strengthened geographic knowledge of the passage between Asia and North America.
First Kamchatka Expedition: Vitus Bering’s Russian expedition of 1725–1730, sent to investigate whether Asia and America were joined. It was the smaller precursor that led the Russian government to authorize a much broader program.
Vit us Bering: A Danish-born Russian naval officer who led major voyages exploring the North Pacific and the coast of Siberia. He commanded the expedition’s Pacific detachments and led its voyage toward North America.
Georg Wilhelm Steller: A German naturalist who joined Vitus Bering’s 1741 voyage to Alaska and documented its wildlife and peoples. His observations became a lasting scientific record of the expedition’s Pacific voyage.
Chirikov's 1741 voyage: Alexei Chirikov’s 1741 Pacific voyage, which reached the northwest coast of North America independently of Bering. Its landfall demonstrated that Bering’s voyage was not the expedition’s only North American approach.
Mapping of Siberia: The charting and geographic description of Siberia’s landforms, rivers, and coastlines. The expedition produced extensive surveys that improved maps of northern Asia.
Russian colonization of Siberia: The expansion of Russian rule across Siberia from the late sixteenth century onward. Colonization established routes and settlements; the expedition primarily surveyed and documented them.

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