CHAPTER II 

 BERING'S FIRST EXPEDITION, 1725-1730 



On his return to his capital in 171 8 Peter the Great went 

 to work at once on the problem of the relation of Asia to 

 America. He ordered two of his officers, Fedor Luzhin and Ivan 

 Evreinov, to proceed to Asia to make certain investigations for 

 him and "to go to Kamchatka and farther, as you have been 

 ordered, and determine whether Asia and America are united; 

 and go not only north and south but east and west, and put on a 

 chart all that you see." 1 They left Russia in 1719, reached 

 Kamchatka in 1720, cruised among and explored the Kurile 

 Islands in 1720 or 1721, returned to St. Petersburg in 1722 or 

 1723, and made a verbal report to the emperor. Just what they 

 reported is not known, but it is certain that they did not 

 "determine whether Asia and America are united." 



Peter the Great's Orders 



This failure did not discourage Peter; it probably convinced 

 him that in order to be successful the undertaking would have 

 to be maintained on a larger scale than he had contemplated in 

 1 718. The time was more favorable now than before for such 

 work; the Peace of Nystad gave him the leisure and the peace of 

 mind for planning great things. Unfortunately his health began 

 to fail, and, as he realized that he had not long to live, he made 

 more haste. On December 23, 1724, 2 he set matters in motion 

 by drawing up the following orders: 



1 Polnoe Sobranie Zakonov Rossiiskoi Imperii, Vol. 4, Doc. 3266. 



2 In the present work the dates are according to the old style, at that time 

 eleven days behind the new style. 



