The Commander Islands are an archipelago that includes 4 large and 10 small islands. They are located in the southwest of the Bering Sea. It is located in the North Pacific Ocean. The Bering Sea on the map should be searched between the Far Eastern part of Russia and American Alaska. According to the administrative division, the archipelago is located in the Kamchatka Territory of the Russian Federation. Few people know who the Commander Islands are named after.
Russian and Aleutian cultures are closely intertwined in them. The largest formation is Bering Island, which has a shape elongated from north to south. It has an area of 1660 square kilometers. Of all the four island formations, people live only on it. The remaining Commander Islands remain uninhabited. Russia has many territories with low population density. These islands are just one of them.
There are approximately 700 inhabitants in the village of Nikolskoye on Bering Island. To get to the mainland, they need to overcome several hundred kilometers. By plane flightis 3 hours, and there is practically no other way to travel. In winter, the island is covered with snow and blown by strong winds. In summer, warmth pleases local residents only occasionally. Mostly damp weather prevails, heavy fogs, it often rains. Characterized by a sharp change in weather conditions.
The first expedition of Vitus Bering
It all started with the Russian Tsar, who "cut a window to Europe." At the end of his reign, Peter I took an active part in creating events for the discovery of new northern and eastern territories, as well as laying sea routes to American and Indian lands. At the beginning of 1725, exhausted from serious illnesses, the Russian tsar developed instructions for the preparatory work of the "Siberian expedition", the purpose of which was to reach America through the northern seas, study the shores there and put them on the map.
The expedition leader was Vitus Bering, whose discoveries will be amazing in the future. The choice fell in favor of the Dane, primarily because of his repeated attempts to reach the American shores. However, he failed to pass through the strait, which was later named after him, as a result of which he returned to St. Petersburg in 1730.
The second expedition of Vitus Bering
In the capital of the Russian Empire, Bering reported on his journey to the government of Anna Ioannovna, and also demonstrated a plan for new research, arguing the importance of exploring the northern territoriesand Siberian shores to trade with Northwest America and Japan.
The Danish Navigator's Plan received support, resulting in significant funding for its implementation. That is why everything that Bering discovered was entrenched in Russia. The Senate, the Admir alty and the Academy of Sciences put special effort into the implementation of the project. In 1732, the Senate issued a decree on the preparation of the Second Kamchatka Expedition. It went down in history under the name of the Great Northern Expedition. In the text of the decree, it was stated that the expedition was the most distant, with significant difficulties, being implemented for the first time.
The Great Northern Expedition began in 1733 and ended in 1743. Having studied its results, you can find out after whom the Commander Islands are named. The expedition consisted of 7 detachments, which were independent of each other. 580 people were accommodated on 10 ships. The tasks of each detachment included the survey of a certain area.
Squad Tasks
The first detachment, led by lieutenants Stepan Muravyov and Mikhail Pavlov, took his way from Arkhangelsk. He was intended to study the coastal zone between the Pechora and the Gulf of Ob.
The second detachment, which set off from Tobolsk, was commanded by Lieutenant Dmitry Ovtsyn. He needed to explore the coast east of the Gulf of Ob to the northern end of the Taimyr Peninsula or to Khatanga.
Lieutenant Vasily Pronchishchev led the third detachment, whose tasksincluded the study of the coast, which is west of the mouth of the Lena. Together with the Russian officer, his wife Tatyana set sail. She became the first woman to participate in a polar expedition.
The leader of the fourth detachment was Lieutenant Pyotr Lasinius, after whose death Dmitry Laptev was appointed responsible. The tasks of this group of researchers included the study of the eastern coast, which stretched from the mouth of the Lena to the modern Bering Strait.
Bering himself was at the head of the fifth detachment. It is the merits of this person in the future that will answer the question: “In honor of whom are the Commander Islands named?”. The fifth detachment was intended to explore Kamchatka, Northwest America and the available islands in the North Pacific Ocean.
The sixth detachment, led by Martyn Shpanberg, needed to find out about the Kuril Islands and the Japanese coast. The tasks of the seventh detachment, which received the name Academic, included the study of the interior of Siberia. Professor Gerhard Miller was appointed its leader. The work of the researchers was carried out in a secret mode.
First Squad Achievements
The first detachment spent 4 years moving from Arkhangelsk to the mouth of the Ob. The researchers did not achieve much success (compared to what Bering discovered) - a rather small area of \u200b\u200bthe coast, Yugorsky Shar, as well as the islands of Matveev, Dolgiy and Local were described. This is largely due to the appearance of scurvy, which began to mow down the expedition members almost from the first days of the trip.
There were problems with discipline among the sailors, to achieve which severe punishment with rods was used. There were disagreements in the leadership of the first detachment, and in winter the local population experienced harassment from the forwarders, on the basis of which complaints began to be received against them. After that, there was a change in leadership, Lieutenant Stepan Malygin became the commander of the group, who subsequently completed the mission of the first detachment.
Second Squad Achievements
Vitus Bering's expedition in part of the second detachment managed to achieve great success compared to the first group. During his mission, the detachment of officer Ovtsyn completed the assigned tasks, which concerned the study of the coast from the mouth of the Ob to the Yenisei. After arriving in St. Petersburg, the head of the group was demoted three years after the start of the journey, based on a political decision. He was credited with a close relationship with Prince Dolgoruky, who was in exile.
After that, Fyodor Minin and Dmitry Sterlegov became the leaders of the second detachment. During the first voyage, Minin managed to reach only the mouth of the Yenisei. After that, in the summer months of the next year, he moved east. But having passed a number of small islands, faced with ice, Minin decided to stop his journey. Sterlegov overland covered the distance northeast from the mouth of the Yenisei to the cape, which would later receive his name. The Kamchatka expedition of Vitus Bering of the second detachment ended there.
However, there were disagreements between the new leaders of the second detachment. After returning from the expedition,the trial, as a result of which Minin was demoted to sailors for 2 years.
Third Squad Achievements
The third detachment on the ship "Yakutsk" from the mouth of the Lena kept its way to the west. After they reached the mouth of the Olenek, the leader of the group, Pronchishchev, decided to spend the winter. After that, the detachment continued the expedition, overcoming heavy ice. Having reached the coast of the Taimyr Peninsula from the east, the researchers, due to the impossibility of continuing their journey, returned to the mouth of the Olenek.
After the death of Pronchishchev in 1736, Khariton Laptev became the head of the detachment. Forwarders have finished exploring the coast of the Taimyr Peninsula through land.
Fourth Squad Achievements
The fourth detachment suffered considerable human losses due to scurvy, as a result of which its head, Peter Lasinius, died, as well as 35 members of the expedition. The new leader was Dmitry Laptev, who successfully explored the coast between Lena and Kolyma. Under his command, the fourth detachment made efforts to bypass the Chukchi Peninsula and reach Kamchatka by sea, but to no avail.
Achievements of the fifth squad. Discovery of the Commander Islands
The fifth detachment, led by Bering, on the mail ships "St. Peter" and "St. Pavel" headed for North America. On July 15, 1741, the captain of the St. Paul" Alexey Chirikov. A few days later, a ship led by Bering approached the mainland. Due to the storm "St. Peter" ended up on a desert island, where the captain-commander died of scurvy. Burials of the deadexpedition members were found in 1991.
So, who are the Commander Islands named after? In honor of Commander Vitus Bering. But not only the names of the islands are associated with it. The strait and the Bering Sea on the map in the North Pacific also bear the name of the great commander.
Sixth and Seventh Squad Achievements
Thanks to the sixth and seventh detachments, useful information was obtained in the geographical, geological, ethnographic sphere of the north and east of Siberia, as well as the Kuril Islands and the north of Japan were discovered and studied.
