ISBN-13: 9781108041515 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 248 str.
Vitus Bering (1681 1741) was a Danish-born Russian navigator. He enlisted in the Russian navy and fought during the Great Northern War (1700 21) against the Swedish Empire. In 1725 he received a commission from Peter the Great to discover whether there was a land bridge between Russia and America. He sailed through what would later be called the Bering Strait, but was unable to reach America on this first attempt. He succeeded on his next voyage, later named the Great Northern Expedition, and set about mapping significant sections of North American coastline. He also charted the Arctic coast of Siberia, 'discovered' Japan from the North and became the first European to explore Alaska. Published in English translation for the American market in 1889, this sympathetic biography by the historian and geographer Peter Lauridsen (1846 1923) had originally appeared in Danish in 1885. It includes extensive notes and an index."