History of geographical discoveries of the 15th and 17th centuries. Great geographical discoveries
The Great Geographical Discoveries are a period in human history 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 associate the "Great Discoveries" with the pioneering long sea voyages of Portuguese and Spanish travelers in search of alternative trade routes to the "Indies" for gold, silver and spices.
The Portuguese began systematic exploration of the Atlantic coast of Africa in 1418 under the patronage of Prince Henry, eventually circumnavigating Africa and entering the Indian Ocean in 1488. In 1492, in search of a trade route to Asia, the Spanish monarchs approved Christopher Columbus's plan to sail west across the Atlantic Ocean in search of "India". He landed on a continent not marked on maps, opening the “New World”, America, to Europeans. In order to prevent conflict between Spain and Portugal, the Treaty of Tordesillas was concluded, according to which the world was divided into two parts, where each party received exclusive rights to the lands they discovered. In 1498, a Portuguese expedition led by Vasco da Gama was able to reach India, circumnavigating Africa and opening a direct trade route to Asia. The Portuguese soon moved even further east, reaching the "Spice Islands" in 1512 and landing in China a year later. In 1522, the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese in Spanish service, set out west, making the world's first circumnavigation. Meanwhile, the Spanish conquistadors explored the American continent and later some of the islands of the South Pacific. In 1495, the French and English, and a little later the Dutch, entered the race to discover new lands, challenging the Iberian monopoly on maritime trade routes and exploring new routes, first northern, then across the Pacific around South America, but ultimately following the Portuguese around Africa to the Indian Ocean; discovering Australia in 1606, New Zealand in 1642 and the Hawaiian Islands in 1778. Meanwhile, from the 1580s to the 1640s, Russian pioneers discovered and conquered almost all of Siberia.
Great geographical discoveries contributed to the transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age, along with the Renaissance and the rise of European nation states. It is believed that maps of distant lands, reproduced using the printing press invented by Gutenberg, contributed to the development of a humanistic worldview and broadening of horizons, giving rise to a new era of scientific and intellectual curiosity. The advancement of Europeans into new lands led to the creation and rise of colonial empires; during contacts between the Old and New Worlds, the Columbus exchange took place: plants, animals, food products, entire peoples (including slaves), infectious diseases, and cultural exchange between civilizations, it was one of the most important stages of globalization in ecology, agriculture and culture in history. European discoveries (English) Russian. continued after the Age of Discovery, as a result of which the entire surface of the globe was mapped, and distant civilizations were able to meet each other.
By the 15th century, the prerequisites had developed in Europe for sailors to explore maritime spaces. Vessels appeared, designed specifically for the movement of European sailors. Technology is developing rapidly: by the 15th century, the compass and sea charts were improved. This made it possible to discover and explore new lands.
In 1492-1494 Christopher Columbus Bahamas, Greater and Lesser Antilles. By 1494 he reached America. Around the same time - in 1499-1501. – Amerigo Vespucci sailed to the shores of Brazil. Another famous one - Vasco da Gama - opens at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries. a continuous sea route from Western Europe to India. This contributed to the development of trade, which in the 15-16th centuries. played a primary role in the life of every state. X. Ponce de Leon, F. Cordova, X. Grijalva discovered the Gulf of La Plata, the Florida and Yucatan peninsulas.
The most important event
The most important event at the beginning of the 16th century was Ferdinand Magellan and his team. Thus, it was possible to confirm the opinion that it has a spherical shape. Later, the strait through which his route passed was named in honor of Magellan. In the 16th century, South and North America were almost completely discovered and explored by the Spanish. Later, at the end of the same century, Francis Drake committed.
Russian sailors did not lag behind European ones. In the 16th-17th centuries. The development of Siberia and the Far East is rapidly progressing. The names of the discoverers I. Moskvitin and E. Khabarov are known. The basins of the Lena and Yenisei rivers are open. The expedition of F. Popov and S. Dezhnev sailed from the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Thus, it was possible to prove that Asia and America are not connected anywhere.
During the Great Geographical Discoveries, many new lands appeared. However, there were still “white” spots for a long time. For example, Australian lands were studied much later. Geographical discoveries made in the 15th-17th centuries allowed the development of other sciences, for example, botany. Europeans had the opportunity to get acquainted with new crops - tomatoes, potatoes, which later began to be consumed everywhere. We can say that the Great Geographical Discoveries marked the beginning of capitalist relations, since thanks to them trade reached a global level.
Cartography is the business of creating geographic maps. This is one of the branches of cartography, which most likely appeared even before the invention of writing. The first maps were depicted on stones, tree bark and even sand. They are preserved in the form of rock paintings. For example, a good example can be seen in the Italian Camonica Valley; it dates back to the Bronze Age.
Geographic maps are the earth's surface; it contains a coordinate grid with symbols that are the same for all countries. Of course, the image is greatly reduced. All maps are divided into different types: by scale, by territorial coverage, purpose and by. The first category has three types: they can be large-scale, medium-scale and small-scale.
For the former, the ratio of the drawing to the original can be from 1:10,000 to 1:200,000. They are used most often, because they are more complete. Medium-scale maps are most often used in sets, for example, in the form. Their scale is from 1:200,000 to 1:1,000,000 inclusive. The information on them is no longer as complete, which is why they are used less often. Well, the latest version of geographical maps has a scale of more than 1:1,000,000. Only the main objects are shown on them. And even large cities may not have them and look like a tiny dot. Most often, small-scale maps are used to indicate the distribution of various languages, cultures, religions and other things. One of the most striking examples is cards, familiar to almost all people.
By territorial scale, geographic maps are divided into maps of the world, countries and regions. They may have many more appointments. For example, geographical maps can be educational, navigational, tourist, scientific reference and others.
Geographic maps are one of the most convenient ways to save the information people need. It is difficult to overestimate their role in, and for each person in particular. Cartography is one of the oldest sciences that will always be relevant.
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The 20th century brought humanity many useful discoveries, including the concept of “quantum” and the atomic model, which allowed physics, energy, and electronics to make great strides forward. And although there are hundreds of scientists whose work can be mentioned, the society identifies the 5 most important results of their work.
3 important discoveries from physics and chemistry
Back at the beginning of the twentieth century, general medicine was discovered, which is now widely known in society and is studied in educational institutions. Now the theory of relativity seems to be a natural truth that should not raise doubts, but at the time of its development it was a completely incomprehensible discovery even to many scientists. The result of Einstein’s painstaking work changed views on many other issues and phenomena. It was the theory of relativity that made it possible to predict many effects that previously seemed contrary to common sense, including the effect of time dilation. Finally, thanks to it, it was possible to determine the orbit of some planets, including Mercury.
In the 20s In the 20th century, Rutherford suggested that in addition to protons and electrons, there also exists. Previously, scientists believed that there were only positively charged particles in the nucleus of an atom, but he refuted this point of view. However, it was not immediately recognized: it took several years and many experiments carried out by Bothe, Becker, Joliot-Curie and Chadwick to determine that in the nucleus of an atom there really are uncharged particles whose mass is slightly greater than the mass of a proton. This discovery led to the development of nuclear energy and rapid progress in science, but, alas, it also contributed to the creation of atomic bombs.
In the middle of the twentieth century, a discovery that was not very well known among non-specialists, but still remarkable, was made. It was accomplished by the chemist Waldemar Ziegler. These are organometallic catalysts, which have made it possible to significantly simplify and reduce the cost of most synthesis options. They are still used in many chemical plants and are an integral part of production.
2 discoveries in the field of biology and genetics
In the 70s In the 20th century, an amazing discovery was made: doctors were able to remove an egg from a woman’s body without harming either one, then create ideal conditions for the egg in a test tube, fertilize it and return it back. Thousands of happy women who managed to conceive a baby this way can thank Bob Edwards and Patrick Stepnow for this discovery.
Finally, at the very end of the century, another amazing discovery was made: scientists realized that it was possible to “clean out” an egg and place the nucleus of an adult cell in it, and then return it to the uterus. This is how the first sheep clone was created - Dolly the sheep. The cloned sheep not only survived, but also managed to live 6 years after its birth.
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In order to be able to clearly determine the location points in space, geographical coordinates. Thanks to this system, you can always find any point on the globe, on a map or on the ground.
You will need
- - map or globe;
- - electronic card;
- - satellite navigator.
Instructions
To find latitude, use horizontal lines drawn - parallels. Determine which parallel your point is on and find its value in degrees. Around each horizontal parallel there are degrees (left and right). If the point is located directly on it, feel free to conclude that its latitude is equal to this value.
If the selected place lies between two parallels indicated on the map, determine the latitude of the nearest parallel and add to it the length of the arc in degrees to points. Calculate the length of the arc using a protractor or approximately by eye. For example, if a point is midway between parallels 30º and 35º, then its latitude will be 32.5º. Label N if the point is above the equator (latitude) and label S if it is below the equator (latitude).
Meridians—vertical lines on a map—will help you determine longitude. Find the one closest to your point on the map and look at it coordinates, indicated above and below (in degrees). Measure with a protractor or estimate by eye the length of the arc between this meridian and the selected location. Add the result to the found value and get the longitude of the desired points.
A computer with Internet access or an electronic card will also help determine coordinates places. To do this, open a map, for example, http://maps.rambler.ru/, then enter the name of the place in the top window or indicate it on the map using the cursor (it is located in the center of the screen). Look, in the lower left corner are the exact coordinates points.
In Western Europe and Russian pre-revolutionary literature under the era of V. g. o. usually refers to a hundred-year (approx.) period - from mid. 15 to midday 16th centuries, center the moments of which were: the discovery of the tropics. America by H. Columbus, discovery of continuous sea. ways from the West Europe around South. Africa to India Vasco da Gama, the first expedition around the world by F. Magellan, proved the existence of a single World Ocean, occupying most of the Earth's surface. In Sov. historical-geographical literature under the era of V. g. o. refers to a two-hundred-year (approx.) period - from mid. 15 to midday 17th centuries, since only in the 1st half. 17th century Australia was discovered, sowing. and north-east coast of Asia and it is practically proven that Asia is nowhere connected to America.
Mor. and land expeditions that carried out military warfare were organized by Portugal, Spain (which played a leading role in military warfare in the 15th and 16th centuries), England, France, and Russia. state, Holland. The general reasons for sending expeditions were: the growth of commodity production in European countries, the shortage of precious metals in Europe and the associated search for new lands, where they hoped to find gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, spices and ivory (in the tropics), valuable furs and walrus tusks (in North America and North Asia); searching for new trades. ways from the West. Europe to Africa, India, East. Asia - the desire of Western-European. merchants get rid of bargaining. intermediaries and establish direct connections with Asian countries - suppliers of valuable goods (direct trade with the countries of Asia and Africa was in the hands of Arab, Indian, Malay and Chinese merchants; Turkish conquests in Western Asia and the Balkan Peninsula in 15 c. almost completely closed the trade route to the East through M. Asia and Syria). V. g. o. became possible thanks to advances in science and technology: the creation of sailing ships that were reliable enough for ocean navigation, the improvement of the compass and sea charts, etc.; a major role was played by the increasingly established idea of the spherical shape of the Earth (the idea of the possibility of a western sea route to India through the Atlantic Ocean was also associated with it). Important for geogr. European discoveries in Asia and Africa had success in the field of geography. knowledge and development of navigation among the Asian peoples themselves.
V. g. o. 15-17 centuries were world-historical events. meanings. The contours of the inhabited continents were established (except for the northern and northwestern coasts of America and the eastern coast of Australia), most of the earth's surface was explored (however, many inland regions of America, central Africa and all of inland Australia still remained unknown ). Thanks to the opening of new trades. routes and new countries, trade acquired a global character, there was a gigantic increase in the goods in circulation - this accelerated the process of the decomposition of feudalism and the emergence of capitalism. relations in the West Europe. The colonial system, which arose after the Great Patriotic War, was one of the levers of the so-called process. initial accumulation; this was facilitated by the so-called "price revolution" In this era of the West. Africa turned into a reserved hunting ground for slaves.
Table. The most important geographical discoveries of the ser. 15 - mid. 17th centuries
The Europeans captured vast territories. all in. and Yuzh. America, which was associated with the massive, and in the Antilles, total extermination of the indigenous population. Huge colonial possessions arose in the New World: the Spanish group. Viceroyalties, Portugal. Brazil, English group settler colonies, French. Canada. A chain of Europeans was organized. strongholds on the shores and islands of Africa, South, South-East. and Vost. Asia; The colonial enslavement of many Asian countries began. Of great importance for many. European countries had displacement as a result of V. g.o. economic center life and bargaining. ways from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. approx., which contributed to the decline of some Europeans. countries (Italy, partly Germany and the Danube countries) and economic. the rise of others (the Netherlands and England).
Read more about geogr. discoveries by department continents, see articles Australia, Asia, Africa, North America, South America.
Lit.: Atlas of the history of geographical discoveries and research, M., 1959; Baker J., History of Geographical Discovery and Exploration, trans. from English, M, 1950; Bern J., History of Great Travels, trans. from French, vol. 1, L., 1958; Magidovich I.P., History of discovery and research of the North. America, M. 1962; by him, Essays on the history of geographical discoveries, M., 1957; Morison S. E., Christopher Columbus, Navigator, trans. from English, M., 1958; The Voyage of Christopher Columbus. Diaries. Letters. Documents, (translated from Spanish), M., 1956; Hart G., The Sea Route to India, (translated from English), M., 1954; Pigafetta A., The Voyage of Magellan, trans. from Italian, M., 1950; Lebedev D. M., Geography in Russia of the 17th century (pre-Petrine era), M.-L., 1949; by him, Essays on the history of geography in Russia in the 15th and 16th centuries, M., 1956; Discoveries of Russian explorers and polar sailors of the 17th century in northeast Asia. Sat. Doc-tov, M., 1951; Russian sailors in the Arctic and Pacific oceans. Sat. Doc-tov, L.-M., 1952; Sokh E. G., A reference guide to the literature of travel including voyages, geographical descriptions, adventures, shipwrecks and expeditions, v. 1-2, Washington, 1935-38.
I. P. Magidovich. Moscow.
Great geographical discoveries 
Soviet historical encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ed. E. M. Zhukova. 1973-1982 .
See what "GREAT GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES" are. in other dictionaries:
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great geographical discoveries- The era of the largest discoveries of new lands made by European travelers from the mid-15th to the mid-17th centuries... Dictionary of Geography
Planisphere of Cantino (1502), the oldest surviving Portuguese navigational chart, showing the results of the expeditions of Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus and other explorers. It also depicts the meridian, section ... Wikipedia
A set of the most significant discoveries on land and sea, made during almost the entire written history of mankind. Traditionally, the Great Geographical Discoveries are identified only with discoveries during the so-called era of the Great Geographical... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
A set of the most important geographical discoveries made by European travelers in the 15th–17th centuries. The development of trade and industry in the countries of Western Europe, the formation of capitalist relations caused in the 15th century. 16th century desire for... ... Geographical encyclopedia
A conventional term accepted in literature (mainly historical) to designate the largest geographical discoveries made by European travelers in the mid-15th–mid-17th centuries. (in foreign literature usually only... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Great geographical discoveries- the largest geographical discoveries made by European travelers in the mid-13th and mid-17th centuries. in search of new lands, new trade routes from Europe to India and East Asia, to establish direct connections with Asian countries () ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of World History
Great geographical discoveries- opening of Europe. travelers ser. XV ser. XVII century The most important of them: the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, the discovery of the sea route from Europe to India by Vasco da Gama in 1497-1499, Magellan’s first circumnavigation in 1519-1522,... ... The medieval world in terms, names and titles
Great geographical discoveries- The process of the decomposition of feudalism and the emergence of capitalist relations in Europe was accelerated by the opening of new trade routes and new countries in the 15th-16th centuries, which marked the beginning of the colonial exploitation of the peoples of Africa, Asia and America. By the 16th century V… … The World History. Encyclopedia
For Western Europe, the 15th – 16th centuries were the heyday of the Middle Ages. There were a lot of inventions, but in the 14th – 15th centuries the main thing was the top and bottom wheel in mining, hence the deepening of mines and the development of metallurgy.
That is, the metal is of better quality, which entails the development of mechanical engineering. In shipbuilding, ships appear that offer the opportunity to sail long distances.
Mechanical parts appear, the number of goods increases, and trade develops. Gold and silver are used as money. There is no gold in Europe, it is in India (+ spices, silk, tea).
Traditionally, Europeans knew only one way to India - through the Mediterranean Sea, and then overland. But the Mediterranean Sea was captured by the Seljuk Turks, from the 14th – 15th centuries they dominated the sea, took high duties from European merchants and pirated. Because of this, the route through the Mediterranean Sea became very expensive and unprofitable, and the question arose of finding new routes to India.
Thus, we have two reasons:
· Economic;
· Interference in the form of the Turks in the Mediterranean Sea.
Spain and Portugal were the first to embark on the path of geographical discovery.
Portugal:
· Had a favorable geographical location;
· By the 15th century, Spain and Portugal were freed from the Arabs who had captured the Iberian Peninsula and inherited Arab knowledge;
· In search of work, sailors from Genoa went to Spain and Portugal;
· In the 15th century, Prince Henry the Navigator, a fanatic of the sea, came to power;
· An observatory was created at Cape Sagrim (Portugal) to study celestial bodies;
· A school for sailors has been opened.
Prince Henry patronized the merchants and gave them a monopoly right to trade in the countries where they went. He himself had a percentage of the profits. And I came to the conclusion that one of the most profitable types of trade is the slave trade.
1415 - The Portuguese entered into a fight with the Mauritanians (Morocco) and captured the port of Ceuta on the opposite side of the Strait of Gibraltar. As a result, in the first half of the 15th century, the Portuguese sailors boldly set off and reached the equator along the coast of Africa. They discovered the mouths of the Congo and Niger rivers.
1486 - with the patronage of Henry, the expedition of Dnas (Dnash) sets off. They left Portugal, moving along the coast of Africa. At stops there were meetings with native tribes and the team suffered casualties. Having reached the southern tip of Africa, they named it the Cape of Good Hope, but were forced to return due to lack of supplies.
1498 - the beginning of Vasco da Gama's expedition. They moved freely for 4 months, but the Indian Ocean met them with a storm. Scurvy began among the crew, and the sailors rebelled. Da Gama managed to suppress the rebellion and found an experienced pilot in Africa (a person capable of charting a course at sea along an unknown road).
May 1498 - the expedition ended up in the Indian city of Calcutta, on the western coast of the Hindustan Peninsula. The Indian Raja allowed them to purchase spices and precious stones at preferential prices. This is how a trade route was formed. The expedition lasted two years, 2/3 of all sailors died, but the cost of the goods brought was 60 times higher than the cost of the expedition. To consolidate dominance in India, Portugal sent its viceroy Alphonse D Albuqueri there in 1509.
Wanting to get ahead of Portugal, the Spaniards took a different path. At this time, Ferdinand and Isabella ruled (by marriage they united the two largest regions of Spain - Arakun and Castile). They patronized sailors and sheltered many Genoese sailors. Among them was the Genoese Christopher Columbus. He was the son of a doctor from Genoa. In his youth he took part in long voyages in the Mediterranean Sea, and then took up cartography (the study and systematization of maps). So he came across the works of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, in which the sphericity of the Earth was proved, but the distances were several times smaller than the real ones. And Columbus decides that one can get to India by sailing to the West (they knew that the Portuguese were preparing to sail to the East).
It took him 9 years to convince Ferdinand and Isabella to help outfit three ships with a crew of 90 people. In the summer of 1492 the expedition began. On the 70th day they reached a small island and named it San Salvador (Savior), then Cuba and Haiti were discovered. By the end of the journey, out of three ships, only one remained, which brought gold. Columbus was sure that he had discovered the western coast of India and called this area Westindia. During his life, Columbus made three more voyages along this route. As a result, he discovered many islands in the Caribbean, but did not find any gold or other riches. During these discoveries, he began to suspect that this was not India, but a certain continent, but he did not speak about it out loud. Only the Italian Amerigo Vespucci proved that the lands discovered by Columbus were a continent.
1500 - Portugal sends Cabral's expedition to America and discovers the territory of Brazil.
Once again returning with nothing, Columbus was demoted (losing all his ranks) and spent the rest of his life paying off debts for his expeditions. After Columbus's death, his discovery caused a stir in Europe. Adventurers moved to America and oppressed Indian tribes in groups of 300–400 people. The Europeans destroyed the entire ancient culture of the Indians.
1519 - 1522 - the Spaniard Ferdinand Magellan crosses the Atlantic Ocean on five ships, passes along the eastern coast of South America, goes around it and finds the Strait, later called the Strait of Magellan. He turns towards the West Coast of South America and enters new waters. For 4 months they were calm and the ocean was named Pacific. He faces food and water shortages and disease. In search of land, he ends up in the Philippine Islands, where he is met with hostility by the natives. In a skirmish with them, Magellan dies. The remaining commanders went home, crossing the Indian Ocean and further along the usual route. Of the 256 people, 18 sick sailors returned. This expedition was of purely geographical significance; it was proven that the Earth is spherical.
Consequences of discoveries for Europeans.
1. Influx of wealth. The Portuguese received gold and silver and declared a monopoly on trade. But they had nowhere to put so much gold, they produced nothing, and bought goods from more industrialized countries. Gold was given to England in exchange for goods (cloth). Increasing demand for goods in Europe required expansion of production, but there were shop restrictions. And only a few applied technical innovations, found workers and created enterprises based on shared labor, i.e. manufactory. Manufactories were mainly created in rural areas. Because There is nothing to do in winter; the villages have long been engaged in fishing. Each village specialized in its own. In England, the main type of trade is cloth making.
2. As a result of the discoveries, the merchants accumulated a lot of money, they began to visit villages and buy products in bulk. Initially, merchants depended on the peasants (on the ability to produce a certain amount of goods), the peasant set his own price. But since some did something better, while others did it worse, manufactories arose in rural areas, where a large entrepreneur, a former merchant, hired peasants who could live in different villages and not know about the existence of others. Such manufacture was called dispersed. Gradually, the peasants began to completely depend on their master. This way of forming manufacture is typical for light industry (great demand results in a faster turnover of money than the development of heavy industry). After the initial stage, production either expands or a new business is opened.
Thus, the main consequence is that manufacture begins to form, industrialization appears. There is a need for a new culture and religion (Reformation, Renaissance, change in the political system - the elimination of the absolute monarchy)
The Russian people contributed to the great geographical discoveries of the 16th - first half of the 17th centuries. significant contribution. Russian travelers and navigators made a number of discoveries (mainly in northeast 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 the formation of 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: northeastern (Siberia and the Far East) and southeastern (Central Asia, Mongolia, China), along which Russian travelers and sailors moved.
Trade and diplomatic trips of Russian people in the 16th-17th centuries were of great educational importance for contemporaries. to the countries of the East, surveying the shortest land routes for communication with the states of Central and Central Asia and China.
By the middle of the 17th century. The Russians thoroughly studied and described the routes to Central Asia. Detailed and detailed information of this kind was contained in embassy reports (“item lists”) of Russian ambassadors I. D. Khokhlov (1620-1622), Anisim Gribov (1641-1643 and 1646-1647), etc.
Distant China attracted close attention from the Russian people. Back in 15$5, while in Rome, the Russian ambassador Dmitry Gerasimov informed the writer Pavel Jovius 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 about Muscovy and Gerasimov’s embassy, this idea became widely known in Western Europe and was received with keen interest. It is possible that the organization of the Willoughby and Barents expeditions was prompted by messages from the Russian ambassador. In any case, the search for the Northern Sea Route to the east already in the middle of the 16th century. led to the establishment of direct maritime connections between Western Europe and Russia.
The first reliable evidence of travel to China is information about the embassy of the Cossack Ivan Petlin in 1618-1619. Petlin from Tomsk passed through the territory of Mongolia to China and visited Beijing. Returning to his homeland, he presented in Moscow “a drawing and painting about the Chinese region.” 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 expanding the geographical horizons of his contemporaries.
Of great importance in the history of geographical discoveries of that era was the exploration of the vast expanses of the north and northeast of Asia from the Ural ridge to the coast of the Arctic and Pacific oceans, i.e., all of Siberia.
The annexation of Siberia began in 1581 with the 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 with funds from the large landowners and salt industrialists of the Urals, the Stroganovs. Ermak's campaign (1581-1584), supported by the government, led to the fall of the Siberian Khanate and the annexation of Western Siberia to the Russian state.
Back in the middle of the 16th century. 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 are mentioned. They moved along the coast of the Arctic Ocean on small keel sailing ships - kochas, well adapted to sailing in the Arctic ice thanks to the egg-shaped hull, which reduced the danger of ice compression. Used by Russian sailors of the 16th-17th centuries. compass (“womb”) and maps.
In the first two decades of the 17th century. There already existed a fairly regular water connection between Western Siberian cities and Mangazeya along the Ob, the Gulf of Ob and the Arctic Ocean (the so-called “Manga-8eysky passage”). The same communication was maintained between Arkhangelsk and Mangazeya. According to contemporaries, from Arkhangelsk to “Mangazeya throughout the years, many commercial and industrial people walk at night with all sorts of German (i.e., foreign, Western European) goods and bread.”
It was extremely important to establish the fact that the Yenisei flows into the same “Icy Sea” along which they sail from Western Europe to Arkhangelsk. This discovery belongs to the Russian trader Kondraty Kurochkin, who was the first to explore the fairway of the lower Yenisei right up to the mouth.
A serious blow to the “Mangazeya move” was dealt by government prohibitions in 1619-1620. use the sea route to Mangazeya, with the goal of preventing foreigners from entering there.
Moving east into the taiga and tundra of Eastern Siberia, the Russians discovered one of Asia's largest rivers, the Lena. Among the northern expeditions to the Lena, Penda's campaign (before 1630) stands out. Starting his journey with 40 companions from Turukhansk, he walked throughout the entire Lower Tunguska, crossed the portage and reached the Lena.
Having descended along the Lena to the central regions of Yakutia, Penda then swam along the same river in the opposite direction almost to the upper reaches. From here, having passed through the Buryat steppes, he reached the Angara (Upper Tunguska), the first of the Russians to swim down the entire Angara, overcoming its famous rapids, after which he went to the Yenisei, and along the Yenisei he returned to his starting point - Turu-Khansk. Penda and his companions made an unprecedented circular journey of several thousand kilometers through difficult terrain.
In 1633, brave sailors Ivan Rebrov and Ilya Perfilyev left the mouth of the Leva River to the east at night and reached the river by sea. Yana, and in 1636 the same Rebrov made a new sea voyage and reached the mouth of the Indigirka.
Almost simultaneously, detachments of Russian servicemen and industrial people (Posnika Ivanov and others) moved across the mainland in a northeastern direction, discovering the mentioned rivers from land. Posnik Ivanov “and his comrades” made their long and difficult journey through the mountain ranges on horseback.
An important discovery in northeast Asia ended in the early 40s of the XVIIb. expedition of Mikhail Stadukhin. The detachment of the Cossack foreman and merchant Stadukhin, in which Semyon Dezhnev was located, descended on the kocha along the Indigirka River and in 1643 reached the “Kovaya River” by sea, i.e., reached the mouth of the Kolyma River.
The Lower Kolyma winter hut was established here, from which a few years later the Cossack Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev and the industrialist Fedot Alekseev (known under the name Popov) set out on their famous voyage around the northeastern tip of the Asian continent of Kochi.
An outstanding event of this era was the discovery in 1648 of the strait between America and Asia, made by Dezhnev and Fedot Alekseev (Popov).
Back in 1647, Semyon Dezhnev tried to go by sea to the mysterious Anadyr River, which was rumored among Russian people, but “the ice did not let the river through to Anadyr,” and he was forced to return. But the determination to achieve the intended goal did not leave Dezhnev and his comrades. On June 20, 1648, a new expedition on seven Kochs set off from the mouth of the Kolyma in search of the Anadyr River.
The expedition, headed by Dezhnev and Alekseev, included about a hundred people. Soon after the start of the campaign, the four kochas disappeared from sight and the participants in this extremely difficult ice voyage had no further news of them. The remaining three ships, under the command of Dezhnev, Alekseev and Gerasim Ankudinov, continued their journey to the northeast. Not far from the Chukotka Nose (later named after Dezhnev), Koch Ankudinov died. The crews of the other two ships took the castaways on board and stubbornly moved across the Arctic Ocean.
In September 1648, the Dezhnev-Alekseev expedition rounded the extreme northeastern tip of Asia - the Chukotka (or Big Stone) nose and passed through the strait separating America from Asia (later called the Bering Strait). In bad sea weather, Dezhnev and Alekseev's boats lost sight of each other. Koch Dezhnev, carrying 25 people, was carried along the waves for a long time and finally washed up on the shore of the sea, which was later called the Bering Sea.
Semyon Dezhnev then moved with his comrades deep into the mainland and, after a heroic 10-week journey, during which his participants walked through a completely unfamiliar country “cold and hungry, naked and barefoot,” reached the goal of his expedition - the Anadyr River. Thus, an outstanding geographical discovery was made, which proved that America is separated by sea from Asia and is an isolated continent, and a sea route around Northeast Asia was opened.
There is reason to believe that Kamchatka in the middle of the 17th century. was discovered by Russian people. According to later news, the koch of Fedot Alekseev and his companions reached Kamchatka, where the Russians lived for a long time among the Itelmens. The memory of this fact was preserved among the local population of Kamchatka, and a Russian scientist of the first half of the 18th century. Krasheninnikov reported about it in his work “Description of the Land of Kamchatka”.
There is an assumption that part of the ships of Dezhnev’s expedition, which disappeared on the way to the Chukotka nose, reached Alaska, where they founded a Russian settlement. In 1937, during excavation work on the Kenai Peninsula (Alaska), the remains of dwellings dating back three hundred years were discovered, which scientists classified as built by Russian people.
In addition, Dezhnev and his companions are credited with the discovery of the Diomede Islands, where the Eskimos lived, and the exploration of the Anadyr River basin.
The discovery of Dezhnev-Alekseev was reflected on geographical maps of Russia in the 17th century, which indicated free sea passage from Kolyma to Amur.
During 1643-1651 The campaigns of the Russian detachments of V. Poyarkov and E. Khabarov to the Amur took place, providing a number of valuable information about this river, which had not been studied by Europeans.
So, over the course of a relatively short historical period (from the 80s of the 16th century to the 40s of the 17th century), Russian people walked through the steppes, taiga, and tundra across all of Siberia, sailed through the seas of the Arctic and made a number of outstanding geographical discoveries.
