What is Vitus Bering?
[[File:USSR stamp Vitus Bering 1981.png|thumb|right|180px|{{Center|Postage stamp issued by the [[USSR]] in 1981 in honor of the 300th [[anniversary]] of the birth of Vitus Bering.}}]] '''Vitus Jonassen Bering''' (1681 - 1741),<ref name=MFAD>{{cite web |url=http://denmark.dk/en/meet-the-danes/great-danes/scientists/vitus-bering/ |title=Vitus Bering |publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark |access-date=15 December 2015 |archive-date=18 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918195458/http://denmark.dk/en/meet-the-danes/great-danes/scientists/vitus-bering |url-status=dead }}</ref> also called '''Ivan Ivanovich Bering''' ([[Russia|Russian]] name)<ref name=Lauridsen77>Peter Lauridsen, ''Vitus Bering: The Discoverer of Bering Strait'' (Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1969), p. 77</ref> was a [[Danish people|Danish]] [[Sailor|seafarer]] and [[explorer]]. He went into the service of the Russian [[navy]] in 1704. He was [[Officer|commissioned]] a [[Lieutenant|second lieutenant]]. During the [[Great Northern War]] he distinguished himself and was [[Promotion|promoted]] to the [[rank]] of [[commander]].<ref name=Lauridsen77/> == First Kamchatka expedition == In 1639 a group of Russian ''[[promyshlenniki]]'' ([[hunter]]-[[trade]]rs) sailed from Russia into the [[Pacific ocean]], They were the first [[Europe|European]]s to sailed between [[Asia]] and [[North America]].<ref name=2Speake897>Jennifer Speake, ''Literature of Travel and Exploration'', Vol 2 (New York; London: Fitzroy-Dearborn Publishers, 2003), p. 897</ref> [[Peter the great]], [[Czar]] of Russia, wanted to send an [[expedition]] to confirm the information. In 1724 he sent the first Kamchatka expedition (1725-30) led by Bering. One of their tasks was to see if [[Siberia]] was connected to North America. They sailed first to the [[Kamchatka Peninsula]] where a ship was built for the exploration. In 1728 Bering sailed [[north]] far enough to discover that Siberia and North America ([[Alaska]]) were not connected.<ref name=MFA