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The First Kamchatka Expedition was commissioned in December 1724 by Peter I of Russia to explore the northern part of Pacific Ocean and confirm the presence of the strait between Asia and America. It was the first Russian naval scientific expedition,〔 and was followed in 1732 by the Second Kamchatka Expedition. The expedition spent first two years, from January 1725 to January 1727, on traveling from Saint Petersburg to Okhotsk, using horses, dog sleds and river boats. After wintering in Okhotsk it moved to the mouth of the Kamchatka River on the east coast of the peninsula. In July–August 1728 it sailed north and then north-east along the shore, exploring Karaginsky Gulf, Kresta Bay, Providence Bay, Gulf of Anadyr, Cape Chukotsky and St. Lawrence Island. The expedition, as it turned out, went through the Bering Strait to the Chukchi Sea, and returned believing that it has completed its tasks. While it had not reached the North American coast, it provided evidence that Asia and North America are not connected. During 1729, it explored the southern shores of Kamchatka, mapping the Gulf of Kamchatka and Avacha Bay, and by 28 February 1730 returned via Okhotsk to St. Petersburg. The expedition was highly praised, with its leader Vitus Bering being promoted to captain-commander, his first noble rank, whereas his assistants Martin Spangberg and Aleksei Chirikov were made captains. It had been a long and expensive expedition, costing 15 men and souring relations between Russia and her native peoples, but it had provided useful insights into the geography of Eastern Siberia: in total the expedition surveyed more than 3500 km of the western coast of the sea, which was later named after Bering. Its maps of the area were later used by all Western European cartographers. ==Preparations== On 29 December 1724 [N.S. 9 January 1725], Peter asked the Danish-Russian explorer Vitus Bering to command a voyage east. Peter instructed the expedition to do the following:〔 * prepare one-two ships in Kamchatka or nearby; * using those ships, explore northern lands, which seemed to be part of America; * seek where those lands join America, and whether there are any cities in European possession in the area. When meeting European ships, it should inquire them the names of the local geographical features, explore the coasts on the way and map them. Preparations for the trip had begun some years before, but with his health rapidly deteriorating, Peter had hurried the process, and promoted the appointment of Bering as the expedition's leader ahead of the experienced cartographer K. P. von Verd. To his advantage Bering had knowledge of both the Indian Ocean and the eastern seaboard of North America, good personal skills and experience in transporting goods.〔 His lieutenants for the journey were the hardened fellow Dane Martin Spangberg and the well-educated but relatively inexperienced Russian Aleksei Chirikov, a respected naval instructor. Chirikov, together with warrant officer Peter Chaplin co-wrote the expedition journal.〔〔(Чаплин Петр Авраамович (биография) ). www.kamchatsky-krai.ru〕 The assistants would receive annual salaries of some 180 roubles during the trip, whereas Bering would be paid 480. The natural route to Kamchatka was along tributaries of the Lena; but after the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689) this looked politically infeasible. Instead, Bering's party, it was decided, would travel over land and river from Saint Petersburg to Okhotsk, a small port town on Russia's eastern coast, and then by sea from Okhotsk to the Kamchatka peninsula, where they could start their voyage of exploration.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「First Kamchatka Expedition」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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