POLAR REGIONS

Arctic Exploration

Siberia and Alaska

V itus Bering was a Danish seaman who spent much of his life working for the Imperial Russian Navy. He made some of the greatest Arctic journeys of the 18th century, from one coast of Russia to the other, covering thousands of miles. He was sent by the Tsar of Russia, Peter the Great, to explore the far eastern coast of Siberia. Russian fur trappers had spread to the east during the 1600s but no explorer had ventured so far. Peter the Great wanted to know whether Asia and North America were connected. Bering started his first voyage from Moscow in 1725. First he trekked nearly 5,000 miles across Siberia to the Pacific Coast. He set up a base at Kamchatka. Here he built ships to explore Eastern Siberia and the Arctic. In 1728 he sailed through the strait between Siberia and North America up to the Arctic Circle. During summer, there is often fog over polar seas. In heavy fog, Bering missed the coast of North America. Thinking his work was done, he returned to Moscow.

The Fur Trade All round the Arctic are huge forests. These forests are rich in animals that are hunted by fur trappers. For most of the 1700s these forests supplied furs for clothing to wealthy Europeans. The sea and land routes discovered by Hudson and Bering provided a way of bringing the furs to Europe. Fur trappers spread far and wide across North America and Russia but unfortunately little is known of their journeys.

Arctic Sailors A sailor’s life in the Arctic was a hard and often short one. Wooden ships were easily crushed by the ice. That is why most ships would only go to the Arctic in summer. The sailors fed on salt beef or pork, codfish, and dried peas. They also had some bread, cheese, and butter and drank beer or water. W ooden ships gave little protection to seamen sailing the icy Arctic Ocean.

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