Scarce, c.18th hand coloured engraved map of the earliest English record of the First Kamchatka Expedition led by the Danish-born explorer Vitus Bering, who had been commissioned by Peter the Great to determine whether a land connection existed between Asia and North America.
The map reflects both the scientific ambitions and imperial priorities of early eighteenth-century Russia, while also demonstrating the transmission of geographical knowledge to the wider European context. The chart depicts an extensive geographical range, commencing at Tobolsk, then the administrative centre of Siberia. From this point, it traces the complex overland and riverine route followed by Bering’s party across the Russian interior. Major features such as the Ob, Irtysh, and Lena rivers, together with Lake Baikal, are carefully delineated, illustrating the logistical challenges of traversing such a vast and varied landscape. The route ultimately leads to the port of Okhotsk on the eastern seaboard, which served as the principal staging point for the maritime phase of the expedition towards the Kamchatka Peninsula.
In addition to its geographical content, the map offers insight into the ethnographic and political conditions of the Russian Far East during this period. It records the presence of various Indigenous groups encountered along the journey, including the Yakuts, Koriaks, Chukchi, and Tungus peoples, thereby providing valuable, if mediated, observations of the region’s inhabitants. The coastal delineation, extending from the Gulf of Kamchatka towards the Bering Strait, reflects the growing accuracy of European knowledge in the North Pacific and contributes to the eventual confirmation that Asia and North America were separated by water. Derived from reports and manuscript materials presented by Bering to the Russian Admiralty and to Empress Anna following his return to St Petersburg in 1730, the map stands as an important document in the history of exploration and cartography.
