III Scientific observations made during the expedition Urgent meteorological observations were made during the expedition. During wintering - 112 meters from the vessel, on an ice field, where a Kuznetsov thermometric booth with a thermohygrograph was installed

The accumulation of geographical knowledge in Russia until the end of the 17th century. it owed its success mainly to the initiative, enterprise and courage of the Russian people, who had nothing to do with science. The famous campaign of Yermak in 1581-1584. was the beginning of the great geographical discoveries in Siberia and the Far East. Small detachments of Cossacks and fur hunters in a little more than half a century expanded the borders of the Russian state from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean (1639); they reported the first reliable information about this vast region, which formed the basis of geographical maps and descriptions of Siberia.

Valuable information about plants and animals, their way of life has been accumulated in Russia since antiquity as a result of practical experience and observations of farmers and hunters. This information was reflected in the "herbalists" and "healers", which in the XVI-XVII centuries. were quite widespread. However, systematic research in the field of biology in Russia actually unfolded only at the beginning of the 18th century. An important role in this was played first by the Kunstkamera, and then by the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. The anatomical-embryological and zoological collections of the Kunstkamera were based on preparations of the Dutch anatomist F. Ruysch and zoological materials of A. Seb. These collections were further replenished with anatomical, teratological, zoological, botanical and paleontological materials collected throughout Russia by a special decree of Peter I. The first members of the Academy of Sciences who arrived in St. Petersburg found in the Kunstkamera, which was transferred to the Academy, interesting objects for their research, and their the first works were connected with the study of materials available in the Kunstkamera.

At the end of the XVII - beginning of the XVIII century. a new period in the development of research in Russia began, connected with the state policy of Peter I. The broadly conceived transformations of the country required the expansion of information about nature, population and economy, the compilation of geographical maps with the exact designation of state borders, rivers, seas, and communication routes. In search of trade routes to India, a number of expeditions to the regions of Central Asia were undertaken. The most important of these was the expedition of 1714-1717. to the Caspian Sea, to Khiva and Bukhara under the command of an associate of Peter I, the Kabardian prince Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky. The expedition made a handwritten map of the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea. In the first quarter of the XVIII century. The Russian government paid more and more attention to Siberia. Peter I invited D.G. from Danzig. Messerschmidt and entrusted him with the search for medicinal herbs and the study of the nature of the interior regions of Siberia. His journey lasted from 1720 to 1727. Messerschmidt collected and processed colossal material on ethnography, geography, botany, zoology, linguistics and other fields of science. Messerschmidt amassed extensive collections of mammals and birds, describing for the first time, in particular, the wild donkey (kulan), the Central Asian ram (argali) and other animals. He described in detail the geographical distribution, lifestyle and seasonal phenomena in the life of many Siberian animals. The travel diary compiled by him was used and partially published in the second half of the 18th century. Pallas and Steller, and in the XIX century. - Brandt.

In late 1724 - early 1725, Peter I prepared instructions and a decree on the expedition, which was called First Kamchatka. The expedition was to determine whether Asia is connected by land to America, determine the distance separating them and, if possible, get in touch with the population in North America, open a sea route across the Arctic Ocean to China, India and Japan. The head of the expedition was an officer of the Russian fleet, a native of Denmark, Vitus Bering, his assistants were naval officers A.I. Chirikov and a Dane by origin M.P. Spanberg. On January 25 (February 5), 1725, the expedition left St. Petersburg. She had a difficult and long journey ahead of her. Only on July 13 (24), 1728, on the boat "Saint Gabriel", the expedition left the mouth of the Kamchatka River and headed north, along the eastern coast of Kamchatka and Chukotka. During this voyage, she discovered the Gulf of the Holy Cross and the island of St. Lawrence. On August 15 (26), 1728, the expedition reached 67 ° 18 "48" "north latitude. And although the expedition passed the strait separating Asia from America, the question of the connection between the continents remained unclear for its participants. This happened because Bering, fearing dangerous wintering, rejected Chirikov's proposal to continue sailing to the mouth of the Kolyma River and ordered the team to return back.Because of the fog, the American coast went unnoticed.And yet, despite the fact that the expedition could not fully solve the tasks assigned to it, its significance was great. She delivered information about the islands and the coast of the sea and the strait, later named after Bering, collected material that proved that there should be a strait between the Asian and American continents.

In 1732, surveyors I. Fedorov and M. Gvozdev on the boat "St. Gabriel" passed from Kamchatka to the northwestern coast of America and were the first explorers to map it, thus proving the existence of a strait between the continents.

As a result of the work of the First Kamchatka Expedition, a fairly accurate map of the coast of North-Eastern Siberia was compiled, but the expedition did not solve a number of important geographical problems: all the northern coasts of Siberia remained unexplored, there was no exact information about the relative position and outlines of the coasts of Asia and America, about the islands in northern part of the Pacific Ocean, about the way from Kamchatka to Japan. Knowledge about the interior regions of Siberia was also insufficient.

It was instructed to clarify these issues Second Kamchatka expedition, which consisted of a marine part led by Bering, Chirikov and Shpanberg and a land part led by professors (academicians) of the recently created St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences I.G. Gmelin and G.F. Miller; The participants of the expedition were also the adjunct of the Academy G.V. Steller and student S.P. Krasheninnikov. The expedition also included marine northern detachments that explored the coast of the Arctic Ocean, which actually worked independently (hence the other name of the entire enterprise - Great Northern Expedition). Among the participants of the expedition were assay masters, sailors, artists, surveyors, translators and technical staff with a total number of up to 2 thousand people. Divided into several detachments, the Great Northern Expedition explored the vast territories of Siberia, the coasts of the Arctic Ocean and the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. As a result of ten years of work (1733-1743), valuable geographical, historical, ethnographic and other data on the interior regions of Siberia were obtained, Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands were surveyed, the shores of North-West America and Japan were reached, and some Aleutian Islands were discovered. Thousands of kilometers of the coast of the Arctic Ocean from the Kara Sea to Cape Baranov, located east of the mouth of the river, were mapped. Kolyma.

Student, and later academician, S.P. Krasheninnikov, who studied Kamchatka, published a number of works, among them the remarkable two-volume Description of the Land of Kamchatka (1756), which for the first time introduced the world to the nature and population of this distant and interesting in many respects peninsula. Krasheninnikov's book has been translated into English, Dutch and German. One of the results of the expedition was "Flora of Siberia" Gmelin (1747-1769), which contained a description of 1178 plant species, many of which were described for the first time. Krasheninnikov, in his work "Description of the land of Kamchatka", characterized, among other things, the fauna of Kamchatka, describing several dozen species of mammals, birds and fish inhabiting it, provided information on their geographical distribution and lifestyle, on the economic importance of Kamchatka animals and on the prospects for animal husbandry in Kamchatka. It also contained materials on the fauna of the Shantar and Kuril Islands, on the spawning migrations of fish from the sea to the rivers; he collected information about the plants of Kamchatka, especially those of practical importance. The third member of the expedition, the zoologist Steller, using his observations, as well as the data collected by Krasheninnikov, in 1741 wrote a well-known essay "On Marine Animals", which contains descriptions of a sea cow named after him, a sea otter, a sea lion and a seal. Steller, together with Bering, reached the shores of America. During wintering on Bering Island, he compiled its first topographical and geological description. Steller's Peru owns such works as "Journey from Kamchatka to America with Captain-Commander Bering". Steller also left works on ichthyology, ornithology and geography.

The expedition was not without casualties: along with many ordinary participants in the campaigns, Captain-Commander V. Bering, the head of the Olenek detachment V. Pronchishchev and his wife Maria died. The names of some members of the expedition are immortalized on a geographical map (the Laptev Sea, Cape Chelyuskin, the Bering Sea, the Bering Strait, etc.)

In 1741-1742. as part of the Great Northern Expedition V.I. Bering and A.I. Chirikov made their famous voyage from Kamchatka to the northwestern coast of America (Alaska). On June 4 (15), 1741, "St. Peter" under the command of Bering and "St. Paul" under the command of Chirikov left Petropavlovsk in search of the shores of America. On June 20 (July 1), due to heavy fog, both ships parted at sea and lost sight of each other. From that moment on, the voyage of Bering and Chirikov took place separately. On July 16 (27), 1741, Bering reached the shores of America. During the voyage, he discovered the islands of St. Elijah, Kodiak, Tumanny, Evdokeevsky. Meanwhile, cases of scurvy were discovered among the crew, so Bering decided to return to Kamchatka. On the way back, he discovered the Shumaginsky Islands and a number of islands in the Aleutian ridge. The voyage of the "St. Peter" proceeded in very difficult conditions. On the way back, the ship ran into strong storms. The difficulties were aggravated by the scurvy that raged among the team, which claimed the lives of 12 people. The surviving crew members barely coped with the control of the vessel. Drinking water and food supplies were depleted, the ship lost control. On November 4 (15), land was finally seen. The plight of the ship forced the detachment to land on the shore of an unknown land. The newly discovered land turned out to be an island, which later received the name of Bering. Here the brave commander found his last refuge. His companions, who survived, in the spring of 1742 built a two-masted sailboat from the wreckage of the St. Peter, on which they returned to Petropavlovsk. As for the fate of A.I. Chirikov, then he is on the ship "St. Paul", having lost sight of "St. Peter", on the morning of July 15 (26), i.e. more than a day before Bering, reached North America. Continuing to sail along the shore, Chirikov examined the American coast, about 400 miles long, and collected valuable information about the flora and fauna of this territory. On the way back to Kamchatka, which, like Bering, under difficult conditions, Chirikov discovered part of the islands of the Aleutian ridge (Adakh, Kodiak, Attu, Agatta, Umnak) and Adek Island, belonging to the Andreyanovsky Islands group. On October 10 (21) "Saint Pavel" returned to the Peter and Paul harbor. Of the 75 crew members, only 51 returned with him.

Of great importance for the development of geography and biology in Russia in the second half of the XVIII century. had academic expeditions of 1768-1774, covering the most important regions of the European and Asian parts of the country. Five expeditions collected a lot of scientific material about the nature, economy and population of the country. The works of Lepekhin, Pallas, Falk, Georgi contained a lot of material and its analysis. The results of Lepekhin's journey - an adjunct, then an academician - are set out in an essay called "Day Notes ..." (vols. 1-4, St. Petersburg, 1771-1805). It is characterized by simplicity of presentation and practical orientation of research. From the theoretical conclusions of Lepekhin, attention is drawn to his explanation of the reasons for the formation of caves (under the influence of flowing waters), as well as the belief that the earth's relief changes over time. An important role in the expeditions of 1768-1774. played by Pallas. The results of his research are presented by him in the five-volume work "Journey through different provinces of the Russian Empire" (1773-1788) in German and Russian. Pallas deciphered the orographic features of the Crimean mountains, established the boundaries of the transition between the black earth belt and the semi-desert of the Caspian lowland, studied the nature of the soils and the hydrographic features of this region; he also owns research on the flora of Russia, zoology and zoogeography. Especially great results were given by the expeditions of 1768-1774. Pallas (with the participation of V.F. Zuev, I. Georgi and N.P. Rychkov) to the Orenburg Territory and Siberia, Gmelin - to the Astrakhan Territory, the Caucasus and Persia, Georgi - to Baikal and Perm Territory, Lepekhina and N .I. Ozeretskovsky to the Volga, the Urals and the Caspian, as well as to the White Sea. Later (1781-1782) V.F. Zuev explored South Russia and the Crimea. These expeditions attracted the close attention of scientific circles.

Pallas' works "Russian-Asiatic Zoography", "Flora of Russia" and others contained a lot of new material. Pallas described a large number of new animal species, provided information about their geographical distribution and habitat conditions, and seasonal migrations of birds and fish. A lot of faunistic and ecological information related to the animal population of Western Siberia and the Ural Mountains is also contained in Lepekhin's travel diary, published in 4 volumes in 1771-1805. Materials relating to the fauna of southern Russia, published in 1771-1785. Gmelin, who described, in particular, the South Russian wild horse - tarpana, completely exterminated in the second half of the 19th century.

The northeastern astronomical and geographical expedition of the officers of the Russian fleet I. Billings and G. A. Sarychev, who worked in 1785-1793, gained world fame. Its main task was to explore still unknown parts of the coast of the Arctic Ocean from the mouth of the Kolyma to the Chukotka Peninsula. The results of this expedition are set forth by Billings in brief notes, as well as in Sarychev's book "Journey of Captain Sarychev's fleet in the northeastern part of Siberia, the Arctic Sea and the Eastern Ocean for eight years during the Geographical and Astronomical Marine Expedition, which was under the command of the fleet of Captain Billings from 1785 to 1793" (parts 1-2, with an atlas, 1802).

Thus, geographical and other studies of the vast territory of the Russian Empire acquired in the 18th century. big scope. It was a research assault on the remote outskirts of the country, amazing in its scale, which introduced a lot of new things into world science.

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A comprehensive scientific study of the territories of the east and northeast of Russia in the 18th century is inextricably linked with two government expeditions, called the Kamchatka expeditions. Lasting for several decades, they became a key link and a classic example in the history of the scientific and socio-political phenomenon called the Great World Geographical Discoveries. In one place and time intertwined economic, naval, political, administrative, scientific interests of the state. In addition, the expeditions, having provided a qualitative leap in scientific knowledge, are of international importance, since they are part of the American historical heritage, they are important for Japan, since they laid the foundation for its exit from self-isolation, for Germany, Denmark, France, whose subjects made a significant contribution to expeditionary research .

The main geographical goal of the expedition is considered to be the study of the Asian coast north of Kamchatka and the search for a place where Asia "converges" with America. Then, in order to make sure that it was America that was discovered and to connect the open lands on the map with those already known, it was necessary to reach any of the European possessions (or to the meeting point with any European ship).

The geographical riddle about the ratio of the continents in the north had by that time a long history. Already in the XIII century. Arab scientists considered it possible to sail from the Pacific to the Arctic Ocean. In 1492, on Behaim's globe, Asia was separated from America. In 1525, the idea of ​​the existence of the strait was expressed by the Russian envoy in Rome, Dm. Gerasimov. From the 16th century on many maps we find the same strait called Anian. The origin of this name, apparently, is due to Marco Polo. But on some maps, the continents were connected, as, for example, on the world map of 1550 by Gastaldi. There was no exact information about the strait, which gave wide scope for various kinds of hoaxes, and this riddle had to be solved empirically.

At the beginning of the XVIII century. Western Siberia was relatively well known, and its eastern part had a completely indefinite outline. The rivers were not known - the main means of communication at that time, the coastline along the North and Pacific oceans was not examined, and even in some places put on the map did not inspire confidence. There was even less information about the islands and lands that lay beyond the coastline. The question of borders, peoples inhabiting various lands, their citizenship was unclear.

It is unlikely that Peter I, being a pragmatist and rationalist, would have undertaken an expensive expedition out of simple curiosity, especially since the country was exhausted by long wars. The ultimate goal of the study was, among other things, the discovery of the Northern Route. The utilitarian goals of the expedition are confirmed by a number of projects of that time. For example, F.S. Saltykov (1713–1714) “On finding a free sea route from the Dvina River even to the Omur Estuary and to China”, A.A. Kurbatov (1721), who offered to find a way by sea from the Ob and other rivers and organize voyages for trade with China and Japan.

At the beginning of the XVIII century. in Russia there was an upsurge in various spheres of material and spiritual life. Shipbuilding reached a significant level of development, a regular fleet and army were created, culture achieved major successes, a school of mathematical and navigational sciences with an astronomical laboratory, a maritime academy were established that trained navigators and shipbuilders, a significant number of general education schools were founded - digital, "small Admiralty", artillery for sailor children, etc. As a result, by the end of the first quarter of the 18th century. the country had material resources, personnel of shipbuilders, navigators and was able to organize a large marine scientific expedition. The transformation of these opportunities into reality was driven by the needs of the economy and political factors.

A new period began in the history of the country, which was characterized by a gradual economic merger of individual regions and lands into a single whole. There was a growing demand for overseas goods (tea, spices, silks, dyes), which came to Russia through second and third hands and were sold at exorbitant prices. Russia's desire to establish direct ties with foreign markets is evidenced by attempts to find river routes to India, sending ships with goods to Spain, preparing an expedition to Madagascar, and so on. The prospect of direct trade with China, Japan and India was then most often associated with the Northern Sea Route.

The ever-accelerating process of primitive accumulation of capital was also of great importance, and the role of precious metals was played by "soft gold" - furs - which constituted an important source of private enrichment and a significant item in the state budget. In order to increase the production of furs, it was necessary to look for new lands, especially since at the end of the 18th century. the fur resources of the previously developed regions have already been depleted.

Furs, walrus ivory and other valuables were exported from the newly settled lands, bread, salt, and iron were also delivered there. However, the transportation of goods by land was fraught with incredible difficulties. The price of bread delivered from Yakutsk to Okhotsk increased more than tenfold. To Kamchatka - and even more. It was necessary to open a new, more convenient way.

At the beginning of the XVIII century. many expeditions were equipped to the eastern outskirts of the state, pursuing narrowly defined tasks. Against this background, the Kamchatka expedition was distinguished by the breadth of its goals and objectives and the scope of time. In fact, it was not one, but a number of separate expeditions - both sea and land - which were conventionally united in the name of its chief commander, Captain-Commander Bering.

The decree on the creation of the expedition was signed by Peter on December 23, 1724, on the same day as the decree on accelerating the compilation of maps of all provinces and districts. On February 5, Bering received an instruction from the emperor, which consisted of three points:

The study of the expedition in domestic and foreign historiography has a very complicated history, since all its results were declared secret by the government. Therefore, works were published (by Miller, Krasheninnikov, Steller) that shed light on issues of purely scientific significance. The marine component of the expedition and its geographical discoveries remained unknown for a long time. The Academy of Sciences, which decided to publish new maps with data from the Bering expedition, received an indication that such a step was untimely. Scientific and historical processing of expeditionary materials was possible only a century later.

Most of the works devoted to the history of the Kamchatka expeditions have the same focus. They are dedicated to the specific maritime goals of the expedition: “what latitudes did certain parts of this expedition reach, what obstacles did they meet, how did the members of the expedition overcome them, what countries and peoples did they see and how they selflessly perished, trying to open new horizons, new achievements to humanity…”. However, in addition to all this, the expedition is important in itself as a major historical phenomenon, it is an indicator of a number of conditions and relations of that time. It is connected with the socio-political conditions of that era, with the struggle of well-known political groups of that time, with a whole range of economic and social relations that took place in different layers of Russian society of that era ... ".

The question of the scientific results and significance of the first Bering expedition in historiography causes a lot of controversy and various, sometimes diametrically opposed opinions. There are two points of view on the problem.

According to the first one (V.I. Grekov, I.K. Kirillov, L.S., A.I. Andreev, M.I. Belov, D.M. Lebedev, F.A. Golder, W.H. Dall), sailors who reached in August 1728 67o19` (according to other sources 67o18`) northern latitude, did not fully solve their main task and did not bring irrefutable evidence of the existence of a strait between the continents. The Decree of the Admiralty Board read: “Well, more than that width of 67o18` from him, Bering on the map is assigned from this place between the north and west to the mouth of the Kolyma River, then he put it according to the previous maps and statements, and it’s doubtful to really assert itself about the non-connection of the continents and unreliable." Thus, Bering had documents confirming the absence of an isthmus only between Chukotka and America, and only up to 67o north latitude. For the rest, he relied on the reports of the Chukchi corrected by him. But this moment also raised great doubts, because the detachment of Dm. Laptev, who was part of the second expedition, was charged with the duty to go around Chukotka from the mouth of the Kolyma to Kamchatka in order to unequivocally answer the question of the existence of the strait in these latitudes.

The second point of view was defended by V.N. Berkh, K.M. Baer, ​​P. Lauridsen, M.S. Bodnarsky, A.V. Efimov. According to their ideas, the reasons for the distrust of contemporaries lie in the unfriendly attitude of the members of the Admiralty Board, in particular I. Delil, personally to Bering.

The first point of view seems to be more convincing. “However, despite the fact that the 1st Kamchatka expedition did not completely solve its main task, it did a lot of scientific work and was of great importance. The expedition did not prove that the continents were separated, but it did establish that Chukotka was washed by the sea from the east. It was a major discovery for that time, since most often it was this land that was thought to be connected to America ... ".

Cartographic work and astronomical observations of the expedition were of great importance for their time. A summary map and a table of geographical coordinates of the points through which the expedition passed were compiled, and the distances between many points were determined. Such work in Eastern Siberia was performed for the first time.

In total, four maps were completed during the expedition. The first two were copies of previously compiled maps, one of which Bering received at. The third one showed the route of the expedition from Tobolsk to Okhotsk. It has a degree grid, rivers along which travelers moved, their tributaries, mountains, etc. The author of the map is considered to be Pyotr Chaplin, the most skillful draftsman of the expedition. Although some authors, in particular E.G. Kushnarev, suggest that Chaplin performed purely technical work on redrawing the draft version of the map, and A.I. was its true author. Chirikov.

The fourth map, drawn up at the end of 1728 - beginning of 1729, was the final one. It was accompanied by a copy of the logbook and other documents. Currently, copies of this map are stored in the Russian State Archive of the Navy (RGA VMF), the Russian State Military Historical Archive (RGVIA), the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA). The remaining copies (about 10) are in archives, libraries and museums in Sweden, England, France, and Denmark. All of them are similar to each other in the main points, but differ in additional details regarding, for example, ethnography, the location of forests, mountains, etc. Some copies depict figures of Kamchadals, Koryak, Chukchi. Apparently, they were made by an experienced artist, but not a member of the expedition, since it is completely unrealistic to convey the national features of people and clothes. In addition, the drawings are located conditionally and do not always correspond to their actual habitat areas.

For the first time, with the maximum possible accuracy in those days, the outlines of the coast from the southern tip of Kamchatka to the northeastern tip of Asia were plotted, and two islands adjacent to Chukotka were discovered. The resulting map conveyed the curves of the coastline with considerable accuracy, and was highly appreciated by J. Cook. The territories that the expedition did not pass by itself were transferred to the final map from pre-existing maps compiled by surveyors of previous expeditions.

The use of modern instruments, observation of lunar eclipses, determination of geographical coordinates, scrupulous accounting of distances made it possible to create a map that was fundamentally different from other maps, or rather, drawings of the north-east of Russia in the late 17th - early 18th centuries, on which there was no degree grid, the outlines of the continents depended on the shape of a sheet of paper, the true extent of Siberia was reduced from east to west. So, on the relatively correct maps of Vinius and Stralenberg, it was 95o instead of 117o. The maps of Evreinov and Luzhin, Izbrand Ides had an even greater error. The image of Siberia turned out to be so unusual that it could not but arouse distrust and bewilderment of geographers and cartographers of that time. It had a lot of inaccuracies and errors, if we proceed from the ideas of modern cartography, but it was immeasurably more accurate than on all previously compiled maps. The map of the expedition, which for a long time remained the only reliable map of the region, marked the beginning of a new stage in the development of Siberian mapping. Delil used it, included Kirilov in his atlas, Chirikov created maps of the Naval Academy on its basis.

Formally being secret, the final map became the object of political intrigues and in 1732 was secretly handed over to Zh-N. Delisle to Paris. Then it was repeatedly reprinted abroad, for a whole century it turned out to be the only manual for geographers and navigators of all countries, it was included in many world-famous reference books and atlases.

Of great interest is the table of coordinates compiled during the expedition. Travel logs and correspondence contain a lot of interesting information about the composition and weathering of rocks, volcanic activity, seismology, lunar eclipses, meteorological phenomena, fish, fur and forest resources, epidemic diseases, etc. There are notes on the administrative structure of the Siberian peoples, trade, and migrations.

The first Kamchatka expedition clearly demonstrated the enormous difficulties in transporting goods by land from European Russia to Okhotsk and Kamchatka, thereby contributing to the emergence of the first projects for circumnavigating the world (which was carried out at the beginning of the 19th century by the expedition of P.K. Krenitsyn - M.D. Levashov ). The experience of organizing such a large-scale expedition in terms of technical, personnel, and food support came in handy later when equipping the second expedition.

Let us also note the political significance: not just the borders of the continent, but state borders were put on the map. The lands within them were both actually and legally assigned to the Russian Empire.

On the basis of the observations collected by Bering in 1731, proposals were drawn up on the prospects for the development of Siberia, set forth in the "Brief Report" addressed to the Empress. All of them concerned purely practical matters: the improvement of the region, the development of Kamchatka, the development of industry, agriculture, navigation, trade, the increase in government revenues, the planting of Christianity among the Yakuts, the spread of literacy among them, the development of the iron industry in Yakutsk and other places, the need for shipbuilding in Kamchatka, the foundation in Siberia of educational institutions for teaching navigation, the development of agriculture and animal husbandry, the destruction of wine farming, streamlining the collection of yasak from the local population, the establishment of trade relations with Japan.

Additional proposals by Bering and Chirikov concerned the further study of the northeastern lands and the Pacific Ocean. Based on the assumption that Kamchatka and America are separated by no more than 150-200 miles, Bering proposed to establish trade with the inhabitants of American lands, which requires only the construction of a sea vessel in Kamchatka. Further, he drew attention to the need to explore the sea route from the mouth of the Amur River to Japan, in order to establish trade relations. And, finally, he recommended exploring the northern shores of Siberia from the Ob to the Lena by sea or by land.

After consideration by the Senate of the proposals submitted by Bering, in April 1732 the empress signed a decree on the establishment of the Second Kamchatka Expedition. The goals and objectives of the expedition were determined by the instructions of the Senate dated March 16, 1733 and were determined by the results of the first - "small" - expedition. The main goal was "to find the interest of Her Imperial Majesty", i.e. new sources of income for the state treasury. At the same time, it was recognized that it was not so necessary to reach European territories, because they were already known and put on the map. At the suggestion of the Admiralty Board, it was necessary, having reached the American shores, “to visit them and truly explore what peoples are on them, and how that place is called, and whether those shores are truly American. And doing this and reconnaissance with the right circumstance, put everything on the map and then go for the same reconnaissance near those shores, as much time and opportunity will allow, according to one’s own consideration, so that the returnee to the Kamchatka shores in the local climate can be returned at a favorable time, and in that do not tie their hands, so that this voyage does not become fruitless, like the first.

Some (earlier) documents of official correspondence paid considerable attention to trade with America and Japan. However, later, due to the complication of the foreign policy situation, the interpretation of the final goals, as they were formulated for the first expedition, was considered inconvenient, and the issue of establishing commercial relations with other states was hushed up. The expedition itself was declared secret. The principal persons were given special instructions, which they were obliged to keep secret. The question of the final destination of the expedition was reviewed several times, its terms were not clearly defined.

Formally, the expedition was given large-scale exploration tasks - it acquired a universal, complex character. In general, the following areas of its activity can be distinguished:

1. A continuous study of the northern sea coasts of Siberia from the mouth of the Ob to the Bering Strait "for real news ... is there a passage through the North Sea."
2. Execution of "observation and finding a way to Japan" with a passing study of the Kuril Islands, of which "several were already in Russian possession, and yasak was taken to Kamchatka from the people living on those islands, but it was missed due to the small number of people."
3. Execution of the "search of the American shores from Kamchatka".
4. Exploration of the southern strip of Russian possessions from Lake Baikal to the Pacific coast, since "the need is to look for the closest route to the Kamchatka Sea (Okhotsk) without going to Yakutsk, even if only for light parcels and forwarding letters."
5. Exploration of the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk with the islands lying near it and the mouths of the rivers flowing into it, from Okhotsk to the Tugur River and "beyond the Tugur, if possible, to the Amur Estuary."
6. The execution of astronomical "observations" and the study of Siberia in geographical and natural terms.
7. Research and improvement of the old route from Yakutsk to Okhotsk.

Financing was entrusted to local authorities, ensuring the activities of academic expeditions became a heavy burden for the population of the Tobolsk, Irkutsk, Yenisei and Yakutsk provinces.

The work of the expeditions was complicated and hampered by the very widespread at that time bureaucracy, denunciation, slander, slander, as well as the need to analyze them and investigate the activities of officials. The remoteness from the center and the lack of reliable year-round communications (senate decrees took at least a year to fall into the hands of the expeditionary authorities) led to the fact that the solution of many issues was entrusted to local authorities, which actually turned out to be unaccountable to higher authorities. So the Irkutsk vice-governor Lorenz Lang was instructed to act “by his own consideration and by the proximity of the places there, make a determination, because from here [from St. Petersburg] it is impossible to announce everything in detail in the resolution for lack of genuine news.” To some extent, this eliminated bureaucratic delays, but at the same time opened up wide opportunities for abuse. Of no small importance was the fact that in St. Petersburg at that time they were preoccupied not so much with the Siberian troubles and the activities of the Bering expedition, but with the ups and downs of numerous palace coups.

The second expedition turned out to be the largest in the history of Russian geographical discoveries of the 18th century and actually consisted of several more or less successful expeditions that operated independently of each other. Three detachments were engaged in describing the coastline along the Arctic Ocean, a flotilla of three ships led by M. Shpanberg was sent from Okhotsk to Japan, V. Bering's packet boats "St. Peter” and A. Chirikov “St. Pavel" went to the shores of America.

Bering's voyage turned out to be extremely unsuccessful and ended for himself and most of the team on the island that now bears his name. In September 1743, the Senate adopted a decree suspending the activities of the Second Kamchatka Expedition. According to some reports, all of its officers were ordered to leave the Irkutsk province, however, according to documents, its participants (Rtishchev, Khmetevsky, Plenisner, etc.) served in Northeast Asia for many more decades. Researchers pay insufficient attention to this aspect of the history of the expedition, although one of the significant results of its activities can be considered the appearance on the Far Eastern outskirts of the empire of competent and experienced naval officers, who almost until the very end of the 18th century more or less successfully served in the Okhotsk-Kamchatka Territory in various administrative positions. Thus, to some extent, the acuteness of the personnel problem in the region was removed, since the absence of any well-thought-out, purposeful state policy in relation to the Far Eastern outskirts, including personnel policy, led to the fact that administrative positions were occupied by far from the best representatives of Russian bureaucracy and officers, people are random, unclean in conscience and at hand, poorly educated and exclusively land-based. It can be said that for the historical development of the Okhotsk-Kamchatka Territory, this fact has become one of the important "side" results of the expedition.

The main results of the expedition, defined by Academician Karl Baer as "a monument to the courage of the Russians," consisted in the discovery of sea routes and the description of the northwestern coast of America, the Aleutian Ridge, the Commander, Kuril, and Japanese Islands. Put on the map, Russian discoveries put an end to the history of geographical myths created by many generations of Western European cartographers - about the lands of Ieso, Campania, the States, Juan da Gama, about the mysterious and fabulous Northern Tartaria.

According to some information, the cartographic legacy of the Second Kamchatka Expedition is about 100 general and regional maps compiled by sailors, surveyors, and students of the academic detachment. Based on the results of the expedition, in 1745 the Atlas of Russia was published, published under the name of the famous French cartographer and astronomer J.N. Delil, who worked on it on the instructions of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. It was the first atlas covering the entire territory of Russia and included in the golden fund of world geography. It consisted of a general map of Russia and nineteen maps of smaller parts of the country, covering together its entire territory. Contemporaries had a very high opinion of this atlas. It did not include all the data of the Bering expedition, so it did not claim to be perfect, but, nevertheless, it was accurate enough for its time ... .

Conducting visual and instrumental meteorological observations became an impetus for the creation of permanent stations on the territory of Russia. Observation posts were established from the Volga to Kamchatka, and tens of thousands of meteorological data were documented. According to V.M. Pasetsky, at the same time, observations began in Astrakhan, Solikamsk, Kharkov and other cities according to uniform rules and the same type of instruments. This entire network was subordinate to the Academy of Sciences, which made it possible to generalize and systematize data on the vast territories of the Russian Empire. In this regard, the idea of ​​weather prediction appeared and began to be widely discussed. Meteorological, hydrological, barometric observations I.G. Gmelin, preserved in the archives to this day, are actively used in modern historical and climatic research.

Peru Gmelin belongs to the fundamental five-volume work "Siberian Flora", which consisted of descriptions of more than a thousand plants, which laid the foundation for phytogeography, as well as the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe geographical zoning of Siberia, based on the characteristics of the landscape, flora and fauna. A number of information on economics, archeology, ethnography is presented by him in Journey through Siberia.

The history of Siberia in all its multifaceted manifestations was studied by G.F. Miller is generally recognized as the "father of Siberian history". He copied, collected, systematized a huge amount of documentary materials, oral testimonies, "questioning points", "tales", many of which subsequently died in fires, floods, from the negligence of officials and have come down to us only in his copies, now stored in the funds Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts. Only a small part of the materials was published during the lifetime of the author. Basically the so-called. "Miller's portfolios" were sorted out already in the years of Soviet power.

It is customary to associate the name of S.P. Krasheninnikov. Although his "Description of the Land of Kamchatka" is universal and very versatile. This work organically combines information on civil history and ethnography with studies of nature, climate, relief, flora and fauna, meteorological and seismic features of the most remote Russian territory.

The talented naturalist G.V. Steller. Unfortunately, not all of the materials he collected have survived to this day. The broad humanistic views of the European-educated scientist were reflected in scientific records and in practical activities - on the initiative of Steller, the first school was organized in Kamchatka.

By the 18th century, no state had organized such an expedition: large-scale in terms of tasks, vast in coverage, representative in terms of the composition of scientists, costly in material terms, and significant for the development of world science.

Footnotes

Second Kamchatka expedition. Documentation. 1730–1733 Part 1. - M .: Monuments of historical thought, 2001. - P. 7.

Krasheninnikov S.P. Description of the land of Kamchatka. - M.-L.: Publishing House of the Glavsevmorput; Publishing house Acad. Sciences of the USSR, 1949.

Steller G.V. Diary of sailing with Bering to the shores of America. 1741–1742 - M .: Publishing house "PAN", 1995.

Another expedition of the Weekend Trip Club took place in the Yuryev-Polsky district. And the first destination was on the very border with the Ivanovo region in the town of Luchki. There we landed to inspect former manor-factory Pervushina.

This factory, which produces glue, closed only in the early 2000s, so there was still a lot of interesting things - workshops, various machines, equipment and materials, such as, for example, bags of starch.

But the greatest interest among all the participants of the expedition was caused by this tower-chimney, located in the thickets and ramparts. Looking at this landscape, it seems that you are in Middle Ages.

We also managed to talk with local old-timers - they themselves start a conversation, you don’t need to pull them by the tongue. We were all especially struck by the grandmother selling cranberries in front of the former abandoned estate, who said that the frames in her house remained from the time of Pervushin. We can only smile and envy the indestructibility of the tree from which they were made. This is how legends are born.

Here they are - "Pervushin" frames))

Next we went to the house where the industrialist himself lived - Pervushin . More recently, it housed a post office, now the building is abandoned. But not completely - as we understood, there is a local transformer station behind the door with the sign "Hazardous room". By the way, the phone at the former master's house is working.

I want to show photo of the estate of the beginning of the 20th century. Here you can see the bridge over the Nerl and the pier built under Pervushin. In the second half of the 20th century, the bridge was washed away by a flood, the Nerl River was so full-flowing. Now in its place is a suspension footbridge.

Opposite the pedestrian bridge - automobile. Everything, on the opposite bank is already the Ivanovo region.

Our next destination was the village of Sima, where we visited Golitsyn's estate and the place of the first burial place of the great Russian commander Bagration. You can freely walk around the former count's house, see the ancient interiors. The expedition members especially liked the count's balcony with beautiful flowers and the park)).

Such wonderful photos can be taken on the balcony of the Golitsyns))

On the way from Sima to Tolya's estate, we saw the place of the largest ancient Russian battles - Lipitsky field, as well as an abandoned bell tower, standing on the site where the ancient city was once located Mstislavl, founded by one of the victors of these battles.

Manor of Count Tolya met us with lovely rural landscapes - goats grazed in the meadow. And we set off along the road to the beautiful main manor house, which has come down to us in a dilapidated form. Meanwhile, with this noble nest is connected tragic love story . The estate went to Count Tolya as a dowry from the family of Count Golitsyn. The son of the famous participant in the Patriotic War of 1812, General of Infantry K.F. Tolya married the only daughter and heiress of the family of A. B. Golitsyn - Zinaida. The girl died of an illness just a month after the wedding. Count Konstantin Karlovich Tol, in memory of his wife, built a chapel in the church of Dmitry Thessalonica in Sim.

Beauty Zinaida Alexandrovna Tol, nee Golitsyna

The participants dispersed in all directions - some to inspect the palace from the outside and from the inside, some to walk around the count's park, and some for apples. From the count's park opens wonderful scenic view on the field.

Next we visited Yuryev-Polsky Kremlin. Now it is under restoration, but you can walk along it freely. Walking, I accidentally found a way out of the Kremlin into someone's garden. I don’t know why there is no fence in this place, perhaps the owners of the garden, just like me, love to walk along the Yuryev-Polsky Kremlin)).

Tired but happy expedition members))

The last stop on our expedition was monastery in the village of Nebyloye. It is located on a hill on the banks of the Yakhroma River. Here we enjoyed the picturesque views outside the gates of the monastery, listened to the bell ringing, talked with a local monk.

On that day during our journey, the weather was so wonderful. The rain started only when we returned back to Vladimir.

But do not forget that any Weekend Trip Club expedition is associated with anomalies. And now you will be convinced of it. After our trip to Starodub, the estate of the Bezobrazovs, Gatikha and Davydovsky Kurgan, the turn signals stopped working in the gazelle we were driving. After this expedition in the Yuryev-Polsky district, one of the participants sent us photographs taken in the Pervushin estate-factory. The camera itself began to take such monstrous photos. . Most likely, there is some kind of anomaly in this area.