The largest geographical discoveries in the history of the development of society. Great geographical discoveries

One of the important stages in the history of human development is the era of discoverers. The maps with the seas marked on them are being refined, the ships are being improved, and the leaders are sending their sailors to seize new lands.

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Era Feature

The term "great geographical discoveries" conditionally united historical events, starting from the middle of the 15th century and ending with the middle of the 17th. Europeans were actively engaged in the exploration of new lands.

For the emergence of this era, there were prerequisites: the search for new trade routes and the development of navigation. Until the 15th century, the British already knew North America and Iceland. Many famous travelers entered the history, among them were Afanasy Nikitin, Rubrik and others.

Important! The Prince of Portugal, Henry the Navigator, began the great era of geographical discoveries, this event took place at the beginning of the 15th century.

First Accomplishments

Geographical science of that time was in serious decline. Lone sailors tried to share their discoveries with the public, but this did not work, and there was more fiction in their stories than truth. Data on what and who discovered at sea or on the coastal strip were lost and forgotten, no one had updated the maps for a long time. Skippers were simply afraid to go to sea, because not everyone had navigation skills.

Heinrich built a citadel near Cape Sagres, created a school of navigation and sent expeditions, collecting information about the winds in the sea, distant peoples and shores. The period of great geographical discoveries began with his activities.

Among the discoveries of Portuguese travelers are:

1. Madeira Island,
2. west coast of africa,
3. Cape Verde,
4. Cape of Good Hope,
5. Azores,
6. Congo river.

Why was it necessary to find new lands

The list of reasons for the advent of the era of navigation includes:

• active development of crafts and trade;
• the growth of European cities during the 15th and 16th centuries;
• depletion of known precious metal mines;
• the development of maritime navigation and the advent of the compass;
• interruption of the economic ties of Southern Europe with China and India after .

Important Points

Significant periods that went down in history, the times when famous travelers made their trips and expeditions:

The era of great geographical discoveries began in 1492, when America was discovered;

• 1500 - exploration of the mouth of the Amazon;
• 1513 - Vasco de Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean;
• 1519-1553 - the conquest of South America;
• 1576-1629 - Russian campaigns in Siberia;
• 1603-1638 - exploration of Canada;
• 1642-1643 - visiting Tasmania and New Zealand;
• 1648 - study of Kamchatka.

Conquest of South America

Spanish and Portuguese navigators

At the same time as the Portuguese, famous travelers of Spain began to undertake sea voyages. , having good knowledge in the field of geography and navigation, suggested that the rulers of the country reach India by another route, following west across the Atlantic Ocean. The one who later discovered many new lands was given three caravels, on which brave sailors left the port on August 3, 1492.

Already by the beginning of October, they arrived at the first island, which became known as San Salvador, later they discovered Haiti and Cuba. It was Columbus' seminal voyage that put the Caribbean Islands on the map. Then there were two more, pointing the way to Central and South America.

Christopher Columbus - a mysterious person

First he visited the island of Cuba, and only then discovered America. Columbus was surprised to meet on the island a civilized people who had a rich culture, were engaged in the cultivation of cotton, tobacco and potatoes. Cities were decorated with large statues and large buildings.

Interesting! Everyone knows the name of Christopher Columbus. However, very little is known about his life and travels.

The birth of this legendary navigator is still being debated. Several cities claim to be the birthplace of Columbus, but this is no longer known for certain. He participated in boat trips in the Mediterranean, and later went on major expeditions from his native Portugal.

Ferdinand Magellan

Magellan was also from Portugal. Born in 1480. Early left without parents, he tried to survive on his own, working as a messenger. Since childhood, he was attracted by the sea, attracted by the thirst for travel and discovery.

At 25, Ferdinand set sail for the first time. He quickly learned the maritime profession while staying off the coast of India and soon became a captain. He wanted to return to his homeland, talking about beneficial cooperation with the East, but he achieved results only with the coming to power of Charles the First.

Important! The era of great geographical discoveries began in the middle of the 15th century. Magellan warned her attack by making a trip around the world.

In 1493 Magellan leads an expedition west of Spain. He has a goal: to prove that the islands located there belong to his country. No one thought that the journey would become around the world, and the navigator would discover many new things along the way. The one who opened the way to the "South Sea" did not return home, but died in the Philippines. His team arrived at home only in 1522.

Russian pioneers

Representatives of Russia and their discoveries joined the orderly ranks of the famous European navigators. Several outstanding personalities have made a great contribution to the improvement of the world map, which are worth knowing about.

Thaddeus Bellingshausen

Bellingshausen was the first who dared to lead an expedition to the uncharted shores of Antarctica, and around the world. This event took place in 1812. The navigator set out to prove or disprove the existence of the sixth mainland, which was only talked about. The expedition crossed the Indian Ocean, Pacific, Atlantic. Its participants made a great contribution to the development of geography. The expedition under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Bellingshausen lasted 751 days.

Interesting! Previously, attempts were made to get to Antarctica, but they all failed, only Russian famous travelers turned out to be more lucky and stubborn.

The navigator Bellingshausen went down in history as the discoverer of many species of animals and more than 20 large islands. The captain was one of the few who managed to find their way, follow it and not destroy the barriers.

Nikolai Przhevalsky

Among the Russian travelers was the one who discovered most of Central Asia. Nikolai Przhevalsky always dreamed of visiting unexplored Asia. This continent beckoned him. The navigator led each of the four expeditions that explored Central Asia. Curiosity led to the discovery and study of such mountain systems as Kun-Lun and the ranges of Northern Tibet. The sources of the Yangtze and Huang He rivers, as well as Lob-nora and Kuhu-nora were investigated. Nikolai was the second explorer after Marco Polo to reach Lob-nor.

Przhevalsky, like others / travelers of the era of great geographical discoveries, considered himself a happy person, because fate gave him the opportunity to explore the mysterious countries of the Asian world. Many species of animals described by him during his travels are named after him.

The first Russian circumnavigation

Ivan Kruzenshtern and his colleague Yuri Lisyansky firmly inscribed their names in the history of great discoveries in geography. They led the first expedition around the globe, which lasted more than three years - from 1803 to 1806. During this period, sailors on two ships crossed the Atlantic, sailed through Cape Horn, after which they arrived in Kamchatka along the waters of the Pacific Ocean. There, the researchers studied the Kuriles and Sakhalin Island. Their coast was clarified, and data on all the waters visited by the expedition were also entered on the map. Kruzenshtern compiled an atlas of the Pacific Ocean.

The expedition under the command of the admiral was the first to cross the equator. This event was celebrated according to tradition.

Exploration of the Eurasian continent

Eurasia is a huge continent, but it is problematic to name the only person who would discover it.

Surprise causes one moment. If everything is clear with America and Antarctica, the famous names of the great navigators are reliably inscribed in the history of their existence, then the man who discovered Europe did not get the laurels, because he simply does not exist.

If we discard the search for one navigator, then we can list many names who have contributed to the study of the surrounding world and took part in expeditions around the mainland and its coastal zone. Europeans are accustomed to consider themselves only explorers of Eurasia, but Asian navigators and their discoveries are no less in scope.

Historians know which of the Russian writers made a round-the-world trip, except for the famous navigators. It was Ivan Goncharov, who participated in the expedition on a military sailing ship. His impressions of the trip resulted in a large collection of diaries describing distant countries.

The Importance of Cartography

People could hardly navigate the sea without good navigation. Previously, their main reference point was the starry sky at night and the sun during the day. Many maps during the period of great geographical discoveries were dependent on the sky. Since the 17th century, a map has been preserved on which the scientist plotted all known coastal zones and continents, but Siberia and North America remained unknown, because no one knew how far they were and how far the continents themselves extended.

The atlases of Gerard van Köhlen were the richest in terms of information. Captains and famous travelers crossing the Atlantic were grateful for the charting of details about Iceland, Holland and Labrador.

Unusual information

Interesting facts about travelers have been preserved in history:

1. James Cook became the first person to visit all six continents.
2. Seafarers and their discoveries changed the face of many lands, so James Cook brought sheep to the islands of Tahiti and New Zealand.
3. Che Guevara, before his revolutionary activities, was a lover of riding a motorcycle, he made a tour of 4 thousand kilometers, touring South America.
4. Charles Darwin traveled by ship, where he wrote his greatest work on evolution. But they didn’t want to take the man on board, and it was in the shape of the nose. It seemed to the captain that such a person would not be able to cope with a long load. Darwin had to be off the team and buy his own uniforms.

The era of the great geographical discoveries 15-17 centuries

Great pioneers

Conclusion

Thanks to the heroism and purposefulness of the sailors, people received valuable information about the world. This served as an impetus for many changes, contributed to the development of trade, the industrial sector, and the strengthening of relations with other peoples. Most importantly, it has been practically proven that it has a rounded shape.

Everything that we now know was once discovered by people - pioneers. Some crossed the ocean for the first time and found a new land, someone became the discoverer of space, someone was the first to dive in a bathyscaphe into the world's deepest cavity. Thanks to the ten pioneers below, today we know the world for what it really is.

• Leif Eriksson/Leifur Eiriksson is the first European of Icelandic origin who, according to some scholars, was the first to visit the continent of North America. Around the 11th century, this Scandinavian sailor lost his course and landed on some coast, which he later called "Vinland". Documentary, of course, there is no evidence of exactly in which part of North America he moored. Some archaeologists claim that they managed to discover Viking settlements in Newfoundland, Canada.

• Sacajawea, or Sacagawea / Sakakawea, Sacajawea is a girl of Indian origin, on whom Maryweather Lewis and his partner William Clark completely relied on during their expedition, the path of which ran through the entire American continent. The girl walked with these researchers more than 6473 kilometers. On top of that, the girl had a newborn baby in her arms. During this journey in 1805, Sacagawea found her lost brother. The girl is mentioned in the movie "Night at the Museum" and "Night at the Museum 2".

• Christopher Columbus / Christopher Columbus - a navigator of Spanish origin who discovered America, but due to the fact that he and his expedition were looking for a sea route to India, Christopher believed that the lands he had discovered were Indian. In 1492, his expedition discovered the Bahamas, Cuba and a number of other islands in the Caribbean. Christopher set sail for the first time at the age of 13.

• Amerigo Vespucci is the man after whom the continent America was named. Although, in fact, Columbus made this discovery, it was American Vespucci who documented the “find”. In 1502, he explored the shores of South America, and it was then that the well-deserved fame and honor came to him.

• James Cook is a captain who has sailed much farther into southern waters than any of his contemporaries. Cook owns a proven fact about the falsity of the northern route through the Arctic from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is known that Captain James Cook made 2 round-the-world expeditions, mapped the islands in the Pacific Ocean, as well as Australia, for which he was subsequently eaten by the natives. That's how gratitude is.

• William Beebe is a 20th century naturalist explorer. In 1934, he descended 922 meters on a bathysphere and told people that "the world under water is no less strange than on another planet." Although how does he know how to live on other planets?

• Chuck Yeager is a general in the US Air Force. In 1947, the first one broke the sound barrier. In 1952, Chuck flew at twice the speed of sound. Chuck Yeager, in addition to setting speed records, was a trainer for pilots of such space programs as Apollo, Gemini and Mercury.

• Louise Arne Boyd / Louise Boyd is also known to the world under the nickname "Ice Woman". She got this nickname thanks to her explorations of Greenland. In 1955, she flew over the North Pole and was the first woman to do so in an airplane. She also has the discovery of an underwater mountain range in the Arctic Ocean.

• Yuri Gagarin / Yuri Gagarin - April 12, 1961, the first of all people living on our planet, was in space. His first flight lasted as much as 108 minutes. It was a real achievement in astronautics.

• Anousheh Ansari is the first female space tourist. She made her flight in September 2006. To her achievements, one can add the fact that she was the first of all those who have been in orbit to blog on the Internet from space.

Without the Russian pioneers, the map of the world would be completely different. Our compatriots - travelers and navigators - have made discoveries that have enriched world science. About the eight most notable - in our material.

Bellingshausen's first Antarctic expedition

In 1819, the navigator, captain of the 2nd rank, Thaddeus Bellingshausen led the first Antarctic expedition around the world. The purpose of the voyage was to explore the waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, as well as to prove or disprove the existence of the sixth continent - Antarctica. Having equipped two sloops - "Mirny" and "Vostok" (under the command), Bellingshausen's detachment went to sea.

The expedition lasted 751 days and wrote many bright pages in the history of geographical discoveries. The main one - - was made on January 28, 1820.

By the way, attempts to open the white mainland were made before, but did not bring the desired success: there was not enough luck, or maybe Russian perseverance.

So, the navigator James Cook, summing up his second circumnavigation, wrote: “I went around the ocean of the southern hemisphere in high latitudes and rejected the possibility of the existence of the mainland, which, if it can be found, is only near the pole in places inaccessible to navigation.”

During Bellingshausen's Antarctic expedition, more than 20 islands were discovered and mapped, sketches of Antarctic species and animals living on it were made, and the navigator himself went down in history as a great discoverer.

“The name of Bellingshausen can be directly put on a par with the names of Columbus and Magellan, with the names of those people who did not retreat before the difficulties and imaginary impossibilities created by their predecessors, with the names of people who went their own way, and therefore were the destroyers of barriers to discoveries, by which epochs are designated, ”wrote the German geographer August Petermann.

Discoveries of Semenov Tien-Shansky

Central Asia at the beginning of the 19th century was one of the least explored areas of the globe. An indisputable contribution to the study of the "unknown land" - as geographers called Central Asia - was made by Peter Semenov.

In 1856, the main dream of the researcher came true - he went on an expedition to the Tien Shan.

“My work on Asian geography led me to a detailed acquaintance with everything that was known about inner Asia. In particular, the most central of the Asian mountain ranges, the Tien Shan, beckoned me to itself, on which the foot of a European traveler had not yet set foot and which was known only from scarce Chinese sources.

Semenov's research in Central Asia lasted two years. During this time, the sources of the Chu, Syrdarya and Sary-Jaz rivers, the peaks of Khan-Tengri and others were put on the map.

The traveler established the location of the Tien Shan ranges, the height of the snow line in this area and discovered the huge Tien Shan glaciers.

In 1906, by decree of the emperor, for the merits of the discoverer, they began to add a prefix to his surname - Tien Shan.

Asia Przewalski

In the 70s-80s. XIX century Nikolai Przhevalsky led four expeditions to Central Asia. This little explored area has always attracted the researcher, and traveling to Central Asia was his old dream.

Over the years of research, mountain systems have been studied Kun-Lun , the ranges of Northern Tibet, the sources of the Yellow River and the Yangtze, basins Kuku-burrow and Lob-burrow.

Przhevalsky was the second person after Marco Polo to reach lakes-bogs Lob-burrow!

In addition, the traveler discovered dozens of species of plants and animals that are named after him.

“Happy fate made it possible to make a feasible study of the least known and most inaccessible countries of inner Asia,” wrote Nikolai Przhevalsky in his diary.

Around the world Krusenstern

The names of Ivan Kruzenshtern and Yuri Lisyansky became known after the first Russian round-the-world expedition.

For three years, from 1803 to 1806. - this is how long the first circumnavigation of the world lasted - the ships "Nadezhda" and "Neva", having passed through the Atlantic Ocean, rounded Cape Horn, and then reached Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin by the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The expedition refined the map of the Pacific Ocean, collected information about the nature and inhabitants of Kamchatka and the Kuriles.

During the voyage, Russian sailors crossed the equator for the first time. This event was celebrated, according to tradition, with the participation of Neptune.

A sailor dressed as the ruler of the seas asked Kruzenshtern why he had come here with his ships, because the Russian flag had not been seen in these places before. To which the expedition commander replied: "For the glory of science and our fatherland!"

Expedition of Nevelskoy

Admiral Gennady Nevelskoy is rightfully considered one of the outstanding navigators of the 19th century. In 1849, on the transport ship Baikal, he went on an expedition to the Far East.

The Amur expedition continued until 1855, during which time Nevelskoy made several major discoveries in the area of ​​the lower reaches of the Amur and the northern shores of the Sea of ​​Japan, and annexed vast expanses of the Amur and Primorye to Russia.

Thanks to the navigator, it became known that Sakhalin is an island that is separated by the navigable Tatar Strait, and the mouth of the Amur is accessible for ships to enter from the sea.

In 1850, the Nikolaevsky post was founded by the Nevelsky detachment, which today is known as Nikolaevsk-on-Amur.

“The discoveries made by Nevelsky are invaluable for Russia,” wrote Count Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky , - many previous expeditions to these lands could achieve European fame, but not one of them achieved domestic benefit, at least to the extent that Nevelskoy did it.

North Vilkitsky

The purpose of the hydrographic expedition of the Arctic Ocean in 1910-1915. was the development of the Northern Sea Route. By chance, the captain of the 2nd rank Boris Vilkitsky assumed the duties of the head of navigation. The icebreaking ships Taimyr and Vaygach put to sea.

Vilkitsky moved through the northern waters from east to west, and during the voyage he managed to compile a true description of the northern coast of Eastern Siberia and many islands, received the most important information about currents and climate, and also became the first who made a through voyage from Vladivostok to Arkhangelsk.

The expedition members discovered the Land of Emperor Nicholas I. I., known today as Novaya Zemlya - this discovery is considered the last of the significant ones on the globe.

In addition, thanks to Vilkitsky, the islands of Maly Taimyr, Starokadomsky and Zhokhov were put on the map.

At the end of the expedition, the First World War began. Traveler Roald Amundsen, having learned about the success of Vilkitsky's voyage, could not resist exclaiming to him:

“In peacetime, this expedition would stir up the whole world!”

Kamchatka campaign of Bering and Chirikov

The second quarter of the 18th century was rich in geographical discoveries. All of them were made during the First and Second Kamchatka expeditions, which immortalized the names of Vitus Bering and Alexei Chirikov.

During the First Kamchatka campaign, Bering, the leader of the expedition, and his assistant Chirikov explored and mapped the Pacific coast of Kamchatka and Northeast Asia. They discovered two peninsulas - Kamchatsky and Ozerny, Kamchatsky Bay, Karaginsky Bay, Cross Bay, Providence Bay and St. Lawrence Island, as well as the strait, which today bears the name of Vitus Bering.

Companions - Bering and Chirikov - also led the Second Kamchatka Expedition. The goal of the campaign was to find a route to North America and explore the islands of the Pacific.

In Avacha Bay, the expedition members founded the Petropavlovsk prison - in honor of the ships of the voyage "Saint Peter" and "Saint Pavel" - which was later renamed Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

When the ships set sail for the shores of America, by the will of evil fate, Bering and Chirikov began to act alone - because of the fog, their ships lost each other.

"Saint Peter" under the command of Bering reached the western coast of America.

And on the way back, the expedition members, who had many difficulties, were thrown by a storm onto a small island. Here the life of Vitus Bering ended, and the island on which the expedition members stopped to spend the winter was named after Bering.
"Saint Pavel" Chirikov also reached the shores of America, but for him the voyage ended more safely - on the way back he discovered a number of islands of the Aleutian ridge and safely returned to the Peter and Paul prison.

"Non-Yasak Lands" by Ivan Moskvitin

Little is known about the life of Ivan Moskvitin, but this man nevertheless went down in history, and the reason for this was the new lands he discovered.

In 1639, Moskvitin, leading a detachment of Cossacks, set sail for the Far East. The main goal of the travelers was to "find new unclaimed lands", to collect furs and fish. The Cossacks crossed the rivers Aldan, Maya and Yudoma, discovered the Dzhugdzhur ridge, which separates the rivers of the Lena basin from the rivers flowing into the sea, and along the Ulya river they entered the Lamskoye, or Sea of ​​Okhotsk. Having explored the coast, the Cossacks opened the Taui Bay and entered the Sakhalin Bay, rounding the Shantar Islands.

One of the Cossacks said that the rivers in the open lands “are sable, there are a lot of animals, and fish, and the fish is big, there is no such thing in Siberia ... there are so many of them - just run a net and you can’t drag it out with fish ... ".

The geographical data collected by Ivan Moskvitin formed the basis of the first map of the Far East.

Geographic discoveries

People traveled and made discoveries at all times, but during the history of mankind there was a period when the number of travelers and their discoveries increased dramatically - the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries.

The great geographical discoveries are a period in the history of mankind that began in the 15th century and lasted until the 17th century, during which new lands and sea routes were discovered. Thanks to the brave expeditions of navigators and travelers from many countries, a large part of the earth's surface, seas and oceans washing it was discovered and explored. The most important sea routes were laid that connected the continents with each other.

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The relevance of the topic is due to the fact that the economic development of our country should be based on a preliminary analysis of historical information, that is, it is necessary to realize the importance of the territories that were conquered by our ancestors.

The purpose of this work is to consider the expeditions and geographical discoveries of domestic researchers and scientists. As part of achieving this goal, the following tasks were set:

Briefly describe the economic and political situation of the country in a certain period of time;

· indicate the names of Russian travelers and discoverers of the era of great geographical discoveries;

· describe the discoveries of new lands and routes.

Places of development. pioneers

At the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century, the formation of the Russian state was completed, which developed along with world civilization. It was the time of the Great Geographical Discoveries (America was discovered in 1493), the beginning of the era of capitalism in European countries (the first European bourgeois revolution of 1566-1609 began in the Netherlands). The great geographical discoveries are a period in the history of mankind that began in the 15th century and lasted until the 17th century, during which Europeans discovered new lands and sea routes to Africa, America, Asia and Oceania in search of new trading partners and sources of goods that were in great demand in Europe. Historians usually relate the "Great Discoveries" to the pioneering long-distance sea voyages of Portuguese and Spanish travelers in search of alternative trade routes to the "India" for gold, silver and spices. But the development of the Russian state took place in rather peculiar conditions.

The Russian people contributed to the great geographical discoveries of the 16th - the first half of the 17th centuries. significant contribution. Russian travelers and navigators made a number of discoveries (mainly in the northeast of Asia) that enriched world science. The reason for the increased attention of Russians to geographical discoveries was the further development of commodity-money relations in the country and the associated process of folding the all-Russian market, as well as the gradual inclusion of Russia in the world market. During this period, two main directions were clearly outlined: northeast (Siberia and the Far East) and southeast (Central Asia, Mongolia, China), along which Russian travelers and sailors moved. Of great educational importance for contemporaries were the trade and diplomatic trips of Russian people in the 16th-17th centuries. to the countries of the East, a survey of the shortest land routes for communication with the states of Central and Central Asia and with China.

In the middle of the 16th century, the Moscow kingdom conquered the Kazan and Astrakhan Tatar khanates, thus annexing the Volga region to its possessions and opening the way to the Ural Mountains. The colonization of new eastern lands and the further advance of Russia to the east were directly organized by the wealthy merchants Stroganovs. Tsar Ivan the Terrible granted huge possessions in the Urals and tax privileges to Anikey Stroganov, who organized a large-scale resettlement of people to these lands. The Stroganovs developed agriculture, hunting, salt making, fishing and mining in the Urals, and also established trade relations with the Siberian peoples. There was a process of development of new territories in Siberia (from the 1580s to 1640s), the Volga region, the Wild Field (on the rivers Dnieper, Don, Middle and Lower Volga, Yaik).

The great geographical discoveries contributed to the transition from the Middle Ages to the New Age.

The conquest of Siberia by Ermak Timofeevich

Of great importance in the history of geographical discoveries of this era was the survey of the vast expanses of the north and northeast of Asia from the Ural Range to the coast of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, i.e. throughout Siberia.

The process of conquering Siberia included the gradual advance of the Russian Cossacks and service people to the East until they reached the Pacific Ocean and secured themselves in Kamchatka. The ways of movement of the Cossacks were predominantly water. Getting acquainted with the river systems, they went by dry route only in the places of the watershed, where, having crossed the ridge and having arranged new boats, they descended along the tributaries of new rivers. Upon arrival in the area occupied by some tribe of natives, the Cossacks entered into peace negotiations with them with a proposal to submit to the White Tsar and pay yasak, but these negotiations did not always lead to successful results, and then the matter was decided by arms.

The annexation of Siberia was started in 1581 by a campaign of a detachment of the Cossack ataman Ermak Timofeevich. His detachment, consisting of 840 people, carried away by rumors about the untold riches of the Siberian Khanate, was equipped at the expense of large landowners and salt producers of the Urals Stroganovs.

On September 1, 1581, the detachment plunged onto plows and climbed along the tributaries of the Kama to the Tagil Pass in the Ural Mountains. With an ax in their hands, the Cossacks made their own way, cleared the rubble, felled the trees, cut the clearing. They did not have the time and energy to level the rocky path, as a result of which they could not drag ships along the ground using rollers. According to the participants of the campaign, they dragged the ships uphill "on themselves", in other words, on their hands. On the pass, the Cossacks built an earthen fortification - Kokuy-gorodok, where they wintered until spring.

The first skirmish between the Cossacks and the Siberian Tatars took place in the area of ​​the modern city of Turinsk (Sverdlovsk region), where the soldiers of Prince Yepanchi fired at Yermak's plows with bows. Here Yermak, with the help of squeakers and cannons, dispersed the cavalry of Murza Yepanchi. Then the Cossacks occupied the town of Chingi-tura (Tyumen region) without a fight. Many treasures were taken from the site of modern Tyumen: silver, gold and precious Siberian furs.

November 8, 1582 n.st. Ataman Ermak Timofeevich occupied Kashlyk, the then capital of the Siberian Khanate. Four days later, the Khanty from the river. Demyanka (Uvatsky district), brought furs and food supplies, mainly fish, as a gift to the conquerors. Yermak greeted them with "kindness and greetings" and released them "with honor." The local Tatars, who had previously fled from the Russians, reached out for the Khanty with gifts. Yermak received them just as kindly, allowed them to return to their villages and promised to protect them from enemies, primarily from Kuchum. Then the Khanty from the left-bank regions began to appear with furs and food - from the rivers Konda and Tavda. Yermak imposed an annual obligatory tax on all those who came to him - yasak.

At the end of 1582, Yermak sent an embassy to Moscow, headed by his faithful assistant Ivan Koltso, to inform the tsar of the defeat of Kuchum. Tsar Ivan IV gave the Cossack delegation of Ivan Koltso a gracious welcome, generously endowed the envoys - among the gifts was chain mail of excellent workmanship - and sent them back to Yermak.

In the winter of 1584-1585, the temperature in the vicinity of Kashlyk dropped to -47 °, icy northern winds began to blow. Deep snow made it impossible to hunt in the taiga forests. In the hungry winter time, wolves gathered in large packs and appeared near human dwellings. Streltsy did not survive the Siberian winter. They died without exception, without taking part in the war with Kuchum. Semyon Bolkhovskoy himself, who was appointed the first governor of Siberia, also died. After a hungry winter, the number of Yermak's detachment was catastrophically reduced. To save the surviving people, Yermak tried to avoid clashes with the Tatars.

On the night of August 6, 1585, Yermak died along with a small detachment at the mouth of the Vagai. Only one Cossack managed to escape, who brought the sad news to Kashlyk. The Cossacks and service people who remained in Kashlyk gathered a circle, on which they decided not to spend the winter in Siberia.

At the end of September 1585, 100 servicemen arrived in Kashlyk under the command of Ivan Mansurov, sent to help Yermak. They did not find anyone in Qashlyk. When trying to return from Siberia along the path of their predecessors - down the Ob and further "through the Stone" - the service people were forced, because of the "freezing of ice", to put "hail over the Ob against the mouth of the river" of the Irtysh and "winter gray hair" in it. Having withstood the siege "from many Ostyaks", the people of Ivan Mansurov returned from Siberia in the summer of 1586.

The third detachment, which arrived in the spring of 1586 and consisted of 300 people under the leadership of the voivode Vasily Sukin and Ivan Myasnoy, brought with them “a written head of Danila Chulkov” “to start business” on the spot. The expedition, judging by its results, was carefully prepared and equipped. To establish the power of the Russian government in Siberia, she had to establish the first Siberian government prison and the Russian city of Tyumen.

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China research. The first voyages of Russian sailors

Distant China aroused close attention among the Russian people. Back in 1525, while in Rome, the Russian ambassador Dmitry Gerasimov informed the writer Pavel Iovius that it was possible to travel from Europe to China by water through the northern seas. Thus, Gerasimov expressed a bold idea about the development of the Northern Route from Europe to Asia. Thanks to Jovius, who published a special book on Muscovy and Gerasimov's embassy, ​​this idea became widely known in Western Europe and was received with lively interest. It is possible that the organization of the expeditions of Willoughby and Barents was caused by the messages of the Russian ambassador. In any case, the search for the Northern Sea Route to the east was already in the middle of the 16th century. led to the establishment of direct maritime links between Western Europe and Russia.

Even in the middle of the XVI century. Mention is made of the voyages of Russian polar sailors from the European part of the country to the Gulf of Ob and to the mouth of the Yenisei. They moved along the coast of the Arctic Ocean on small keeled sailing ships - koches, well adapted to sailing in the ice of the Arctic due to the egg-shaped hull, which reduced the danger of ice compression.

The 16th century is known for the reign of the Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible. I would like to pay special attention to the oprichnina policy of the then ruler. The state terror agitated the population, "gladness and pestilence" reigned in the country, peasants fled from the ruined landowners and "draged between the yard." It can be assumed that it was the runaway peasants who became the "pioneers" of new lands, and only later more status individuals made "discoveries" at the state level.

Most likely, in the 16th century, Russian travels, which resulted in geographical discoveries, experienced a period of “birth”. The first attempts to travel to other countries through new lands were made. One of the most important and promising was the conquest of Siberia by Yermak. But our ancestors did not stop there, they tried their hand at traveling on the water. No great discoveries have yet been made in this industry, but already in the 17th century certain successes were made.

There were a sufficient number of factors stimulating people to further develop new lands, the main of which was the lack of access to the seas.

Major travel destinations in the 17th century

"Mangazeya move". Campaign of Penda

Already in the first two decades of the 17th century, there was a fairly regular water communication between the West Siberian cities and Mangazeya along the Ob, the Gulf of Ob and the Arctic Ocean (the so-called "Mangazeya way"). The same message was maintained between Arkhangelsk and Mangazeya. According to contemporaries, "from Arkhangelsk to Mangazeya, many trading and industrial people with all sorts of German (i.e. foreign, Western European) goods and bread go for years." It was extremely important to establish the fact that the Yenisei flows into the very “Cold Sea”, along which people from Western Europe swim to Arkhangelsk. This discovery belongs to the Russian merchant Kondraty Kurochkin, who was the first to explore the fairway of the lower Yenisei up to the mouth.

A serious blow to the "Mangazeya move" was inflicted by government prohibitions of 1619-1620. use the sea route to Mangazeya, aimed at preventing the penetration of foreigners there.

Moving east into the taiga and tundra of Eastern Siberia, the Russians discovered one of the largest rivers in Asia - the Lena. Among the northern expeditions to the Lena, the Penda campaign (until 1630) stands out. Starting his journey with 40 companions from Turukhansk, he went through the entire Lower Tunguska, crossed the portage and reached the Lena. Having descended along the Lena to the central regions of Yakutia, Penda then sailed along the same river in the opposite direction almost to the upper reaches. From here, passing through the Buryat steppes, he got to the Angara (Upper Tunguska), the first Russian sailed down the entire Angara, overcoming its famous rapids, after which he went to the Yenisei, and returned along the Yenisei to the starting point - Turu-khansk. Penda and his companions made an unparalleled circular journey of several thousand kilometers through difficult terrain.

Mission Petlin

The first reliable evidence of a journey to China is information about the embassy of the Cossack Ivan Petlin in 1618-1619. (Mission Petlin). The journey was made on the initiative of the Tobolsk voivode, Prince I. S. Kurakin. The mission of 12 people was headed by Tomsk Cossacks teacher Ivan Petlin (who spoke several languages) and A. Madov. The mission was instructed to describe new routes to China, collect information about it and neighboring countries, and also establish the sources of the Ob River. In China, Petlin was supposed to announce where the mission came from and to find out the possibility of establishing further relations with China.

Leaving Tomsk on May 9, 1618, together with the ambassadors of the Mongolian "Altyn-Tsar", the mission climbed the Tom valley, crossed Mountain Shoria, crossed the Abakan Range, the Western Sayan and penetrated into Tuva. Then she crossed the upper reaches of the Kemchik (the Yenisei basin), crossed several ridges and went to the mountain low-salt lake Uureg-Nuur. Turning east and descending into the steppe, three weeks after leaving Tomsk, the mission arrived at the headquarters of the Mongol Khan near the endorheic Lake Usap.

From here, the travelers moved to the southeast, crossed Khan-Khuhei - the northwestern spur of the Khangai Range - and Khangai itself - and along its southern slopes they walked about 800 km. At the bend of the Kerulen River, we turned southeast and crossed the Gobi Desert. Short of Kalgan, Petlin saw the Great Wall of China for the first time.

At the end of August, the mission reached Beijing, where it negotiated with representatives of the Ming government.

Due to the lack of gifts, Petlin was not received by Emperor Zhu Yijun, but received his official letter addressed to the Russian Tsar with permission for the Russians to send embassies again and trade in China; as for diplomatic relations, it was proposed to conduct them by correspondence. The diploma remained untranslated for decades, until Spafariy (a Russian diplomat and scientist; known for his scientific works and embassy to China) began to study it, preparing for his embassy. The common expression “Chinese letter” refers to this particular document, which was in the embassy order, and the content of which remained a mystery.

Returning to his homeland, Ivan Petlin presented in Moscow "a drawing and painting about the Chinese region." His mission was of great importance, and the trip report - "Painting to the Chinese state and Lobinsky, and other states, residential and nomadic, and uluses, and the great Ob, and rivers and roads" - became the most valuable, most complete description of China, containing information about the overland route from Europe to China through Siberia and Mongolia. Already in the first half of the 17th century, "Painting" was translated into all European languages. The information collected as a result of Petlin's trip about the routes to China, about the natural resources and economy of Mongolia and China contributed to the expansion of the geographical horizons of contemporaries.

Russian discoveries in the Pacific. Explorers of Siberia

The conquest of Siberia was accompanied by a very rapid expansion of the geographical outlook. Less than 60 years have passed since the campaign of Yermak (1581-1584), as the Russians crossed the entire continent of Asia from the Ural Mountains to the eastern limits of this part of the world: in 1639, the Russians first appeared on the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

Campaign of Moskvitin (1639-1642)

Ataman Dmitry Kopylov, sent from Tomsk to Lena, founded in 1637 at the confluence of Map and Aldan a winter hut. In 1639 he sent the Cossack Ivan Moskvitin. They crossed the ridge and went to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk at the mouth of the river. Uli, west of the current Okhotsk. In the coming years, people from the Moskvitin detachment reconnoitered the coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bOkhotsk to the east to the Tauiskaya Bay, and to the south along the river. Oody. From the mouth of the Cossacks went further east, towards the mouth of the Amur. He returned to Yakutsk in 1642.

Dezhnev's campaign (1648)

The Yakut Cossack, a native of Ustyug, Semyon Dezhnev, passed through the Bering Strait for the first time. On June 20, 1648, he left the mouth of the Kolyma to the east. In September, the explorer rounded Bolshoi Kamenny Nose - now Cape Dezhnev - where he saw the Eskimos. Against the cape he saw two islands. Here we have in mind the islands of Diomede or Gvozdev lying in the Bering Strait, on which then, as now, the Eskimos lived. Then storms began, which carried Dezhnev's boats across the sea until, after October 1, they were thrown south of the mouth of the Anadyr; from the crash site to this river had to walk 10 weeks. In the summer of the following year, Dezhnev built a winter hut on the middle course of the Anadyr - later the Anadyr prison.

"Parcels" Remezov

Semyon Ulyanovich Remezov - cartographer, historian and ethnographer, can rightly be considered the first explorer of the Trans-Urals. Traveling on behalf of the Tobolsk authorities to collect dues in the central part of the West Siberian Plain and some other areas of the eastern slope of the Urals, i.e. being, as he put it, in "parcels", he created a scheme for the study of these territories, which was later carried out in an expanded form during the work of the Academic detachments of the Great Northern Expedition. At first, the description of the places visited was a secondary matter for Remezov. But since 1696, when he spent half a year as part of a military detachment (April-September) in the waterless and impenetrable stone steppe beyond the river. Ishim, this occupation has become the main one. In the winter of 1696-1697. with two assistants, he carried out a survey of the Tobol basin. He drew the main river from the mouth to the top, photographed its large tributaries - the Tura, Tavda, Iset and a number of rivers flowing into them, including the Miass and Pyshma.

The cartographic image was also received by the river. Irtysh from the confluence of the Ob to the mouth of the river. Tara and its three tributaries. In 1701, Remezov completed the Drawing Book of Siberia. She played a huge role not only in the history of Russian, but also in world cartography.

Discovery of Kamchatka by Atlasov

Information about Kamchatka was first obtained in the middle of the 17th century, through the Koryaks. But the honor of discovery and geographical description belongs to Vladimir Atlasov.

In 1696, Luka Morozko was sent from Anadyrsk to the Koryaks on the Opuka River (Opuka flows into the Berengovo Sea). He penetrated much further south, namely to the river. Tigil. At the beginning of 1697, Atlasov left Anadyrsk. From the mouth of the Penzhina, two weeks went on reindeer along the western coast of Kamchatka, and then turned east, to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, to the Koryaks - the Olyutors, who sit along the river. Olyutor. In February 1697, on Olyutor, Atlasov divided his detachment into two parts: the first went south along the eastern bank of Kamchatka, and the second part went with him to the western bank, to the river. Palan (flows into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk), from here to the mouth of the river. Tigil, and finally, on the river. Kamchatka, where he arrived on July 18, 1697. Here they first met the Kamchadals. From here, Atlasov walked south along the western coast of Kamchatka and reached the river. Golygina, where the Kurils lived. From the mouth of this river, he saw the islands, meaning the northernmost of the Kuril Islands. With Golygina Atlasov across the river. Ichu returned to Anadyrsk, where he arrived on July 2, 1699. This is how Kamchatka was discovered. Atlasov made its geographical description.

Hiking E.P. Khabarova and I.V. Poryakova on Amur

Erofei Pavlovich Khabarov continued the work begun by another explorer, V. D. Poyarkov. Khabarov was from Veliky Ustyug (according to other sources, from Solvychegodsk). Life was hard at home, and the debts forced Khabarov to go to the distant lands of Siberia. In 1632 he arrived at Lena. For several years he was engaged in fur trade, and in 1641 he settled on empty land at the mouth of the river. Kirenga - the right tributary of the Lena. Here he started arable land, built a mill and a salt pan. But the Yakut governor P. Golovin took away from Khabarov both arable land and a salt pan and transferred them to the treasury, and put Khabarov himself in prison. Only in 1645 Khabarov was released from prison "a goal like a falcon." In 1649, he arrived in the Ilimsk jail, where the Yakut governor stopped for the winter. Here Khabarov learned about the expedition of V. D. Poyarkov and asked permission to organize his expedition to Dauria, to which he received consent.

In 1649, Khabarov with a detachment climbed up the Lena and Olekma to the mouth of the river. Tungir. In the spring of 1650 they reached the river. Urki, a tributary of the Amur, and fell into the possession of the Daurian prince Lavkay. The cities of the Daurs turned out to be abandoned by people. Each city had hundreds of houses, and each house - for 50 or more people. The houses were bright, with wide windows covered with oiled paper. Rich grain reserves were stored in the pits. Prince Lavkai himself was found near the walls of the third city, which was just as empty. It turned out that the Daurs, having heard about the detachment, were frightened and fled. From the stories of the Daurs, the Cossacks learned that on the other side of the Amur lies a country richer than Dauria and that the Daurs pay tribute to the Manchu prince Bogda. And that prince had large ships with goods sailing along the rivers, and he has an army with cannons and squeakers.

Khabarov understood that the forces of his detachment were small and he could not take possession of the region where the population was hostile. Leaving about 50 Cossacks in the town of Lavkaya, in May 1650 Khabarov returned to Yakutsk for help. A report on the campaign and a drawing of Dauria were sent to Moscow. And Khabarov began to collect a new detachment for a campaign in Dauria. In the autumn of 1650, he returned to the Amur and found the abandoned Cossacks near the fortified town of Albazin. The prince of this city refused to pay yasak, and the Cossacks tried to take the city by storm. With the help of Khabarov's detachment, who came to the rescue, the Daurs were defeated. The Cossacks captured many prisoners and large booty.

GREAT GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES, the term accepted in the literature to refer to the largest geographical discoveries made by European travelers in the period from the end of the 15th century (when the idea of ​​a continuous sea route to the countries of the East first appeared in Europe) to the middle of the 17th century (when only sea routes to these countries were already discovered, and as for others, it has been established that they, if they exist, cannot be of practical importance). Other dates are found in foreign literature, usually the middle of the 15th - the middle of the 16th centuries. The term "Great geographical discoveries" is conditional, but there are reasons for its use: the most important geographical discoveries have never been made with such intensity and had such significance for the development of Europe and the whole world as during this period. Since the end of the 20th century, on the eve of and during the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America and the sea route to India, a sharp controversy has unfolded around the role of the Great Geographical Discoveries. In particular, public figures and scientists in a number of countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa refused to "celebrate the beginning of their oppression" and denied the term "discovery" itself, replacing it with a "meeting of cultures" or "concealment" of one culture by another.

Background of the Great geographical discoveries. A number of reasons contributed to the Great geographical discoveries. The growth of cities and the development of commodity-money relations in Europe led to a shortage of precious metals, which necessitated the search for new lands, where they hoped to find gold, silver, as well as spices, ivory (in the southern countries), valuable furs and walrus tusks (in the north). ). The development of the European economy assumed closer trade ties with the East, which was considered the center of all wealth. In the middle of the 15th century, trade routes to the East through Asia Minor and Syria were blocked as a result of Ottoman conquests; there was an urgent need to open direct sea routes for trade without intermediaries. Religious and political reasons also played their role. After the fall of Byzantium, the Ottomans threatened all of Europe, and in search of allies, Christians hoped to find fellow believers in the East. The legend about the Christian state of Prester John, known since the 12th century, was revived, which from the 15th century began to be identified with Christian Ethiopia. The Europeans sought to find this power and conclude a military alliance with it against the Muslims in order to stop the Ottoman offensive, recapture Constantinople and, resuming the Crusades, return the Holy Sepulcher.

Great geographical discoveries became possible thanks to the achievements of European science and technology. High-speed and maneuverable sailing ships - caravels were created; instruments and tables that made it possible to plot the desired course and determine the location of the vessel (astrolabe, compass, Regiomontanian tables). Geographic maps have become more accurate. An important role was played by the assumption that the Earth was spherical, which had spread towards the end of the 15th century. At the same time, the invention of printing in Europe in the middle of the 15th century made reference literature on navigation and descriptions of the latest discoveries relatively accessible, provoking further searches. The successful expansion was facilitated by the naval superiority of the Europeans over the peoples they encountered.

During this period, Spain and Portugal were the most prepared for the Great geographical discoveries, which had convenient ports, long and rich maritime traditions; their geographical position facilitated voyages in the Atlantic Ocean. Portugal, having completed the Reconquista on its territory in the middle of the 13th century, was ready for significant maritime expansion by the beginning of the 15th century. By the end of the 15th century, with the completion of the Spanish Reconquista and the unification of the country, Spain also prepared for sea voyages, using the captured Canary Islands, which became a convenient base for further expeditions.

Traditionally, the Great geographical discoveries are divided into 2 periods: the end of the 15th - the middle of the 16th century - the period of the most important discoveries, in which Portugal and Spain played the main role; the middle of the 16th - the middle of the 17th centuries - the period of the predominance of the geographical discoveries of England and Holland. At the same time, Russian explorers made outstanding discoveries in Siberia and the Far East.

First period. By the beginning of the 1st period of the Great Geographical Discoveries, the Portuguese, having been moving south along the western coast of Africa for several decades, were mastering the wealth of the occupied territories (reached the Gulf of Guinea). An outstanding role in organizing their voyages for 40 years (until 1460) was played by Enrique the Navigator. It is possible that the turn of the coastline to the east at the entrance to the Gulf of Guinea, which was not provided for on the maps of that time, is associated with the emergence of the very idea of ​​a sea route to the countries of the East, which contradicted the views of the ancient geographer Claudius Ptolemy. In the 1460-70s, the advance of the Portuguese to the south was temporarily suspended, since it took time to develop the riches of the coast of the Gulf of Guinea (gold, ivory, etc.); it resumed in the 1480s at a faster rate. In two expeditions in 1482-84 and 1484-86 (or 1487), D. Kahn advanced 2500 km southward, reaching the coast of the Namib Desert (22° south latitude). In 1487-1488, B. Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa and entered the Indian Ocean.

In the 1480s, H. Columbus put forward a project for a western route to the countries of the East. In the voyage of 1492-93 under the Spanish flag, he first crossed the Atlantic Ocean in subtropical latitudes and discovered lands beyond the ocean - the Bahamas, the island of Cuba, the island of Haiti. 10/12/1492, when he first landed in the Bahamas, is considered the official date of the discovery of America. Later, Columbus made 3 more voyages (1493-96, 1498-1500, 1502-04), during which the discovery of the Greater Antilles was completed, many Lesser Antilles were discovered, as well as sections of the coast of the mainland near the mouth of the Orinoco River and from the Yucatan Peninsula to Darien Gulf. The differences between Spain and Portugal regarding the rights to open lands were settled by the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. However, other countries, whose interests the treaty ignored, did not want to recognize it, in 1497 England joined the Great Geographical Discoveries: J. Cabot, trying to reach Japan and China, discovered the island of Newfoundland (1497) and the coast of North America (1498).

Further discoveries are connected, first of all, with Portuguese expeditions in the Indian Ocean basin, Spanish and Portuguese expansion in Latin America. In the voyage of 1497-99, Vasco da Gama discovered a continuous sea route from Western Europe around South Africa to India (1498). In 150, the Portuguese P. Alvaris Cabral, on his way to India, discovered a section of the coast of Brazil, after which its colonization by the Portuguese began; in the same voyage, the island of Madagascar was discovered. Having established themselves under the viceroys of Almeida and Albuquerque on the east coast of Africa and the west coast of India, having crushed the resistance of Egypt in the naval battle of Diu (1509), the Portuguese captured Malacca in 1511, which became the base for further advancement. In 1512 they reached the Spice Islands (Moluccas), later China and Japan. The Spaniards were more active in the New World: A. de Ojeda and A. Vespucci (1499-1500), V. Yanes Pinson (1499-1500), D. de Lepe (1499-1500), R. de Bastidas (1500-1502) and others traced the coast of South America from the Gulf of Darien to 16° north latitude. In 1509-28, the Spaniards explored the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico; in 1513, H. Ponce de Leon, in search of the legendary "fountain of youth," discovered the Florida peninsula and the Gulf Stream. A. Alvarez de Pineda in 1519 passed along the entire northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. But already at the beginning of the 16th century, it became obvious that the lands discovered across the ocean were not Asia, but a new, previously unknown, part of the world. But while the wealth of America was not yet discovered, it was perceived as an obstacle on the way to the countries of the East. In 1513, V. Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and went to the Pacific Ocean, which he called the South Sea. In search of a strait leading to this sea, D. Diaz de Solis in 1515-16 explored the Gulf of La Plata. The Spanish expedition of F. Magellan managed to find the strait, whose ships then crossed the Pacific Ocean and reached the Philippines and the Moluccas, realizing the plan of Columbus - to pave the western route to the countries of the East. After the death of Magellan, part of his companions, led by J. S. Elcano, returned to Spain through the Indian and Atlantic oceans, making the first ever circumnavigation of the world (1519-22).

At the same time, a conquest unfolded in America. After the expeditions of F. Hernandez de Cordova and J. Grijalva in 1517-18 explored the way to Mexico, the Aztec power located in its central part was conquered by E. Cortes (1519-21). In the 1520-30s, the Spaniards (Cortez, P. de Alvarado, K. de Olid, etc.) conquered other regions of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, traced the Pacific coast of Central America from the California peninsula to modern Panama. In 1527-29, A. de Saavedra sailed from Mexico to the Moluccas and China, he could not return due to headwinds, but discovered part of the Admiralty, Marshall and Caroline Islands. A. Nunez Caveza de Vaca (1529-36), E. de Soto (1539-42) and F. Vasquez de Coronado (1540-42) explored the southern part of the modern USA. In 1526-35, conquistadors led by F. Pizarro reached the Inca state of Tahuantinsuyu and conquered its central regions. In 1535-37, D. de Almagro made a trip to the south from Peru, he was the first European to cross the Andes and reach 36 ° south latitude. In 1540-53, P. de Valdivia, trying to conquer Chile, moved south to 40 ° south latitude. In 1536-37, G. Jimenez de Quesada, in search of the gold-rich country of Eldorado, discovered and conquered mountainous Colombia, where the highly developed civilization of the Chibcha Muisca was located. The lower and middle reaches of the Orinoco River were explored in 1531-32 by D. de Ordas, and F. de Orellana in 1541-42 crossed South America in its widest part along the Amazon. Other conquistadors, advancing from the Gulf of La Plata, examined the course of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers.

French explorers have been participating in the Great Geographical Discoveries since the 1520s. In search of a passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, J. Verrazzano in 1524 passed along the east coast of North America from 34 to 46 ° north latitude, and in 1534-36 J. Cartier explored the bay and the St. Lawrence River (before the confluence of the river Ottawa). Having received information about the Great Lakes, he decided that we were talking about the Pacific Ocean or about the passage to it. The lakes were discovered by the French in the 1620s and 30s (S. Champlain and others).

Second period. At the beginning of the 2nd period of the Great geographical discoveries, Spain and Portugal, having captured vast territories, began to develop them and lost the initiative to England, and then to Holland. Since the already open sea routes to the countries of the East around Africa and America were controlled by Portugal and Spain (and the latter was also too long and risky), at that time the search for the Northwest Passage and the Northeast Passage was especially active. In 1553, the English expedition of H. Willoughby and R. Chancellor was sent in search of the Northeast Passage, establishing trade relations with Russia. At the end of the 16th century, an active search for the Northeast Passage was conducted by Holland, which equipped three expeditions in a row (1594, 1595, 1596-97). V. Barents played a key role in them, although he did not officially lead them. However, the Dutch could not advance further than Novaya Zemlya (where the first polar wintering known in history took place in 1596-97), and navigation in this direction was stopped. In search of the Northwest Way, the Englishmen M. Frobisher, J. Davies, G. Hudson, R. Bylot, W. Buffin, L. Fox and others from the 1570s to the early 1630s discovered in the polar part of North America many islands, straits, bays, including Hudson Bay (1610). However, they failed to find either a passage to the Pacific Ocean or special riches. In the 1630s and 1640s, navigators came to the conclusion that the Northwest Passage, if it existed, was of no commercial importance. In general, the search for the Northeast and Northwest passages, although not successful (they were discovered only in the 19th and 20th centuries), contributed to the accumulation of knowledge about the northern seas and lands; rich areas of fishing and whaling were discovered. The English pirate F. Drake made his contribution to the Great Geographical Discoveries: in 1577-80s, having completed the second round-the-world voyage after Magellan, he discovered the strait separating Antarctica from Tierra del Fuego, and a section of the Pacific coast of North America.

The Spaniards in the 2nd half of the 16th - early 17th centuries organized three voyages from Peru across the Pacific Ocean in search of the biblical country of Ophir, as well as the Unknown Southern Land (which, as it was then believed, occupies vast spaces in the hard-to-reach southern latitudes). In 1568, A. Mendanya de Neira discovered the Solomon Islands, but he erroneously determined their longitude, and therefore tried in vain to find them in 1595. During the expedition of 1605-07, which was also looking for them, led by P. Fernandez de Quiros, the New Hebrides archipelago was discovered, and L. Vaes de Torres, who commanded two ships, for the first time passed through the strait between New Guinea and Australia, mistaking the latter for the northeastern ledge Unknown Southern Land. The discovery of Torres was classified and became known only in the 18th century. An important discovery was made by members of the expedition of M. Lopez de Legazpi, which marked the beginning of the colonization of the Philippines: in 1565, when returning to Mexico, A. de Urdaneta found that about 40 ° north latitude, in contrast to southern latitudes, winds and currents favor the crossing of the Pacific Ocean in east direction. Thanks to this, regular communications between Asia and America became possible.

At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Dutch ousted the Portuguese from Indonesia. In the voyage of 1605-06, the Dutchman V. Janszon was the first to reach the coast of Australia, mistaking it for the island of New Guinea. In search of convenient routes from southern Africa to the island of Java, H. Brouwer in 1611 discovered the best route that ran south of the previous one. Using it, the Dutch from time to time reached the western coast of Australia and in 1616-36 discovered a significant part of it. In 1642-43, the Dutchman A. Tasman circled Australia without approaching its shores, established that it was not part of the Unknown Southern Land, and discovered the island, later named after him. During the voyage, the South and North Islands (New Zealand) were also discovered. In a voyage of 1644, Tasman traced an unbroken line of the northern coast of Australia for 5,500 km, proving the existence of a new continent. But these lands did not interest the Dutch, and further searches were abandoned.

Simultaneously with the sea expeditions of the countries of Western Europe, Russian explorers penetrated Siberia at the end of the 16th century, crossed all of North Asia in the first half of the 17th century and reached the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, tracing the course of all the great Siberian rivers, and Russian sailors bypassed the entire northern coast of Asia. In 1648, the expedition of F. Popov - S. Dezhnev for the first time passed from the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean through the Bering Strait. It was proved that Asia does not connect with America anywhere, but this discovery did not receive wide popularity and was later again made by V. Bering.

Significance of the Great Geographical Discoveries. As a result of the Great geographical discoveries, the Europeans' understanding of the world has significantly expanded. Europeans discovered for themselves two parts of the world, America and Australia, as well as the Pacific Ocean, basically determined the contours of all inhabited continents. As a result of the first trip around the world, it was proved in practice that the Earth has the shape of a ball, it was established that all the continents are washed by a single World Ocean, and many of its currents were discovered. It became obvious that, contrary to the opinion of ancient scientists, there is much more water on the earth's surface than land. At the same time, many inland areas of America, Africa and Australia, as well as the depths of the World Ocean, remained unexplored.

The great geographical discoveries provided extensive new material for the natural sciences, ethnography, and history. Knowing the life of societies with different religions and customs, Europeans were convinced of the diversity of the world. Reflections on the golden age and the uncorrupted faith of the inhabitants of America echoed the ideas of the Renaissance, the Reformation, and social utopia. At the same time, acquiring the experience of communicating with overseas residents, Europeans were more clearly aware of their cultural and historical identity. The information received about distant countries enriched European literature and art.

The great geographical discoveries had a profound impact on the socio-economic processes in Europe, contributed to the initial accumulation of capital. The colonies served as sources of raw materials and markets for European goods. With the movement of the main trade routes from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, some regions fell into decline (Italy, Southern Germany), while others, on the contrary, became noticeably stronger (Spain and Portugal, later England and Holland). The large-scale importation of American precious metals doubled the amount of gold in circulation in Europe and tripled the amount of silver in circulation, contributed to the rapid rise in prices for essentials throughout Europe, ruining some sections of the population and enriching others (see Price Revolution). The expansion of trade links, first between Europe and other parts of the world, then between America, Asia and Africa, led to the formation of a world market. An important part of international relations was the rivalry for control over trade routes, the desire of the rising powers to acquire their own colonies, the struggle for their redistribution. Thanks to the wealth of the colonies, the mother countries strengthened their positions in Europe. At the same time, the rate of economic development depended on the method of using the imported wealth. As a result, England and Holland began to move forward, while Spain and Portugal fell behind. However, the Great Geographical Discoveries also had a negative meaning for Europeans: mass emigration to the colonies led to an outflow of productive forces from Spain and Portugal. Europeans got acquainted with new agricultural crops (potatoes, corn, tomatoes, tea, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, cotton), which markedly changed their diet. Especially great was the importance of the potato, which, partly replacing bread for the poor, significantly reduced the threat of famine in modern Europe.

The colonial system that arose during the Great geographical discoveries as a whole united the world, at the same time dividing it into two main groups of countries: on the one hand, the metropolises that grew rich quickly, on the other, the colonies, the impact on which European expansion was rather destructive. The influence of the Great geographical discoveries and colonial conquests on the fate of the peoples of Asia, Africa and America was not the same. In Asia, until the 18th century, Europeans established their control only over strategically important points, but their influence gradually went far beyond these territories. The trade monopoly regime established by the Portuguese was based on inciting and maintaining political and religious contradictions, which influenced the situation in Western and South Asia as a whole. The most devastating was the impact of European expansion on Africa, where the slave trade devastated entire areas, increasingly influencing the historical path of the continent's development. In Latin America, the cruelty of the conquistadors and the diseases introduced by Europeans initially led to a marked reduction in the local population. Subsequently, a more reasonable policy led to the emergence of a Latin American society and culture that absorbed both European and Indian features, but processed them into a new whole.

The great geographical discoveries contributed to noticeable changes in the geography of religions. Christianity, as a result of the grandiose activities of European missionaries, spread widely in Asia, Africa, and especially in America. Where the Spaniards and the Portuguese preached, Catholicism was established, where the British and the Dutch were various reformist movements, mainly of the Calvinist persuasion.

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