Bering Facts Country Denmark Occupation Navigator, Explorer Arctic Regions Explored NE coast of Russia & Siberia # of Arctic expeditions 3 Most famous Arctic expedition Discovered Bering Strait (1728) Other Significant Events Died while exploring Alaska's Aleutian Islands Did you know? The Bering Strait, which lies between Alaska and Siberia (Russian Asia), connects the Bering Sea with the Chukchi Sea of the Arctic Ocean. From Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska to Cape Dezhnev in Siberia, the Bering Strait is 55 miles across. Big Diomede Island (Russia) and Little Diomede Island (United States) lie less than 3 miles apart in the middle of the strait. The Bering Land Bridge, or Beringia, is the great landmass that emerged in the Bering and Chukchi Seas following a drop in sea level at several times during the Quaternary Period (the last 2 million years).

Vitus Bering
(1681 - 1741)

Bering actually duplicated the discovery by Semyon Dezhnev, who sailed in 1648 but whose report lay unnoticed until the 18th century. Chosen to lead an expedition seeking a sea route around Siberia to China (the so called Northeast Passage), Bering was also sent to survey the possibility of Russian expansion into the North American continent.

Departing Kamchatka, Siberia in 1728 Bering explored the northeastern coast of Russia, sailing south through the Bering Sea and into the Bering Strait. On August 16, 1728, his crew sighted the Diomede Islands on St. Diomede's Day. The three miles separating Big Diomede Island (Asia) and Little Diomede Island (North America) is the shortest distance between the two continents. The International Date Line runs right between them. Continuing on his journey, Bering and his crew were prevented from finding the coast of Alaska by bad weather and dangerous ice conditions which eventually forced their return.

A second expedition, launched in 1733, was overambitious, poorly organized, and underfinanced, but it did succeed in mapping much of the Siberian coast. Sailing again in 1741, Bering reached the southwest coast of Alaska, exploring several of the Aleutian Islands. Misfortune and hardship plagued the two ships, which became separated. The crews were both racked by scurvy. Eventually Bering's ship was wrecked, and he died on December 19, 1741 on the island that today bears his name. A few survivors reached Russia to tell of their exploration.

Bering Sea

The Bering Sea extends 1,488 miles east to west and 992 miles north to south. Its area is about 878,000 square miles and the greatest depth is 13,500 feet.

Bering Strait

Frozen over from October until June, the Bering Strait is an arm of the North Pacific Ocean, bounded on the east by Alaska, on the south by the Aleutian Islands, and on the west by Siberia (Russian Asia) and the Kamchatka Peninsula. It averages between 100 and 170 feet deep.