NAVIGATING ACROSS THE WORLD

Navigators of the past dreamed of discovering a northern corridor linking Atlantic and pacific oceans, but they where faced with a daunting challenge: The Arctic sea route was blocked by ice.

Still, there was incentive to find a shortcut across the world. By the 16th century, trade routes to the orient around the southern extremities of Africa and south America where monopolized by Portugal qnd Spain. Foreign merchants would have to seek northern routes if they wanted to share in eastern trade. Many tried including the following;

THE ENGLISH
IN 1553, Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor led the first English expedition. After their shops where separated in a storm. Willoughby was forced to winter on the barren coast of the kola pennisula in the far north of Russia. Ill-prepared for the harsh conditions, he and all those with him perished. Chancellor, on the other hand made port in Arkhangel'sk. From there travelled to Moscow at the invitation of Ivan IV Vasilyevich. Chancellor failed to find a passage to Asia but he opened the way for Anglo-Russian trade.

THE DUTCH
In 1594, Willem Barents first sailed to Novaya Zamiya. In 1596, making his third trip, on rounding the northern tip of the Russian archipelago. The ship came trapped in ice and was damaged beyond repair. After enduring a severe winter in a shelter built of driftwood and surviving on polar-bear meat. Barents crew returned in two small boats. Barents did not survive the journey.

THE RUSSIANS
Russian explorers undertook an intense exploration of Siberia and the Russian Far East. In just 60 years, the 1581 to 1641 they pushed from Ural mountains to the Pacific. About that time, the consacks sailed to the Arctic Ocean on Siberian rivers. They claimed Siberia for Russia and pioneered shipping along the north-east coast of Siberia. In 1648, Russian ship sailed through what came to be called the Bering strait, named after darnish navigator Vitus Bering.

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