Bering Strait: separation of Asia and America
Estrecho de Bering: separación de Asia y América
- Date
- 1728 / 1741 · confidence high
- Place
- Bering Strait
- Credited to
- Vitus Bering (1728), Semyon Dezhnev (1648), Alexei Chirikov (Alaska, 1741)
- People
- 👤 Alekséi Chírikov1703–1748👤 Vitus Bering1681–1741
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Dezhnev crossed the strait in 1648 without his report becoming widely known; Bering, in the service of Peter the Great, sailed it in 1728 and showed that Asia and America were not joined; in 1741 Chirikov and Bering reached Alaska.
Coordinates of the strait. Priority is disputed between Dezhnev and Bering. It was inhabited and navigated by Chukchi and Iñupiat people, who regularly crossed between the two continents.
What it led to
- Russian expansion into Alaska and the fur trade
- Cartography of the North Pacific
- Name of the land bridge by which America was peopled
Built on
- Russian conquest of Siberia
- Great Northern Expeditions
Made possible
- Great Northern Expedition (Second Kamchatka Expedition)1733-1743
- Russian-American Company