In 1733, Russia began a large state-sponsored effort to chart Siberia’s Arctic coastline and improve knowledge of routes across the North Pacific. The plan combined land parties, coastal voyages, and scientific work to reduce “blank spaces” on maps and support navigation, trade, and defense.
Okhotsk served as Russia’s main Pacific seaport and supply base, moving people and materials toward Kamchatka and the North Pacific. During the 1730s, the expedition’s demands led to major construction and ship support work there, helping make long-distance voyages more realistic.
In 1736–1737, Stepan Malygin and associates carried out coastal travel and mapping in the western Arctic sector, producing charts for navigation between major river mouths. This work helped connect regional coastal knowledge into a larger Arctic map, a core goal of the expedition.
The expedition was not only about ships; it also included scientists who recorded geography, peoples, plants, and animals. Stepan Krasheninnikov’s work in Kamchatka became especially influential, as he gathered observations that later informed broader European understanding of the region.
In 1738–1739, Martyn Spanberg led voyages that tested and clarified sailing routes from Russian Far Eastern bases toward Japan. These trips supported a major expedition objective: turning uncertain routes into navigable sea-lanes with better coastal and island information.
In 1740, Vitus Bering’s expedition base at Avacha Bay was established as Petropavlovsk (later Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky). A stable harbor and settlement improved communications and resupply, which were essential for long crossings into the North Pacific.
In June 1741, Bering and Chirikov sailed east from Kamchatka in two ships to investigate lands across the North Pacific and clarify the geography between Asia and North America. A fog separated the ships, but both continued the mission independently.
On July 15, 1741, Aleksei Chirikov sighted land on the North American side of the North Pacific. He sent boat parties ashore as part of reconnaissance and mapping efforts, but the detachments did not return, showing the risks of exploration and limited communications.
In mid-July 1741, Bering’s ship also reached the North American side of the ocean and gathered observations that improved European maps of the region. These sightings, together with Chirikov’s, helped confirm the existence and location of lands across the North Pacific from Siberia.
By November 1741, storms and illness forced Bering’s ship to anchor and then wreck near what became known as Bering Island. The crew overwintered in harsh conditions; Vitus Bering died in December 1741, and many others died before survivors could leave.
In May 1742, Semion Chelyuskin’s land party reached the northernmost point of the Eurasian mainland (later named Cape Chelyuskin). This was a major achievement in mapping the Taymyr region and filling in the Arctic coastline needed for safer navigation planning.
In 1742, survivors from the wrecked St. Peter built a small vessel from salvage and reached Kamchatka, carrying reports and valuable geographic knowledge. Their return ensured that observations from the crossing were preserved and shared, rather than lost with the ship.
By 1742, Khariton Laptev’s and Dmitry Laptev’s detachments had charted long stretches of the Siberian Arctic shore, linking river mouths, capes, and bays into usable coastal descriptions. This work strengthened Russia’s understanding of the Northern Sea Route concept, even though it remained extremely difficult in practice.
By 1743, the Great Northern Expedition’s many detachments had largely completed their assigned surveys and returned results to the state. The combined outcomes—Arctic coastal charts, new North Pacific observations, and scientific reports—reshaped Russian and European maps of eastern Siberia and the North Pacific and supported later fur-trade expansion toward Alaska.
Great Northern Expedition and Russian mapping of eastern Siberia and the North Pacific (1733–1743)