Russian Holidays - Discoverer's Day

Sailors FF Bellingshausen and MP Lazarev made a great contribution to the study of unexplored oceans, seas and lands Thanks to the expeditions under their command, a lot of discoveries of geopolitical and historical value were made Many of the geographical objects were located in remote areas with harsh climatic conditions The result of one of the journeys of F Bellingshausen and M Lazarev was the discovery in 1820 of Antarctica - the “ice continent” that sailors encountered during their trip around the world In honor of this event, Pioneer Day was established in Russia on January 29 During the Age of Discovery, Europeans found new lands and laid routes to Asia, Africa, America and Oceania The most famous navigators were Spaniards and Portuguese: Vasco da Gama, Juan Sebastian de Elcano, Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan However, Russian travelers made no less significant discoveries and steps in the development of new territories The list of Russian pioneers includes the names of more than 60 researchers It includes Afanasy Nikitin, who visited and described his impressions of India and Persia, and Semyon Dezhnev, a researcher of Siberia and North America A student of the famous navigator IF Krusenstern, who headed in 1803-1806 the first Russian trip around the world, was FF Bellingshausen He was a member of this expedition, which passed through two oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific, and reached Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Bellingshausen, who had experience, was entrusted with leading in 1819-1821 another voyage on single-masted ships with the goal of “discovering the possible proximity of the Antarctic Pole” The commander of the second ship was MP Lazarev The voyage lasted 751 days During this time, about 50,000 km of travel was covered, Antarctica and a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean were discovered, important observations about geographical objects were made, and valuable collections of minerals and flora were collected On Pioneer Day, the names of not only FF are remembered Bellingshausen and MP Lazarev, but also Yuri Lisyansky, who was a colleague of IF Kruzenshtern on the first trip around the world The holiday, celebrated on January 29, is dedicated to Vitus Bering and his like-minded friend and associate Alexei Chirikov Thanks to them, the atlas was supplemented with geographical objects located in northeast Asia and the Pacific coast of Kamchatka Discoverer's Day in Russia is also a holiday in honor of cousins ​​Dmitry and Khariton Laptev, assistants of V Bereg Together with him, they studied the oceanic coast of Russia and mapped the seas from the Yugra Ball to Kamchatka Russian navigators have completed many expeditions, showing heroism and perseverance in exploring new lands and oceans, despite the vagaries of weather and unfavorable climatic conditions The dedication of researchers and the incredible thirst for knowledge delights their descendants In honor of travelers who made a significant contribution to the development of geography and related disciplines, January 29 is celebrated as Pioneer Day in Russia