• Visit
    • Museum Gallery Map
    • What Our Visitors Are Saying
    • Accessibility >
      • Audio Tours
    • Upcoming Events
  • Exhibits
    • Current Exhibits
    • 3D Theater
    • Lightship Columbia >
      • Lightship Drydock Project 2021/2022
    • Warnock Model Boat Pond
    • Online Exhibits
    • Upcoming Exhibits
  • Education
    • Schools >
      • Field Trips >
        • Learning Labs
        • Self-Guided Visit
      • Museum in the Schools
      • Miniboat Program >
        • Miniboats in the News
    • Adult Education >
      • Classes
      • Groups
      • Lecture Series
      • Carving Club
    • Youth & Family >
      • Virtual Learning
  • Collections
    • Online Collections
  • Reference Library
  • Store
  • Join/Give
    • Individual/Family Memberships
    • Business Memberships
    • Planned Giving
    • Donate to Curatorial
    • Volunteer
    • Join Our Crew
  • Celebrating 50 Years of The QuarterDeck
Columbia River Maritime Museum
  • Visit
    • Museum Gallery Map
    • What Our Visitors Are Saying
    • Accessibility >
      • Audio Tours
    • Upcoming Events
  • Exhibits
    • Current Exhibits
    • 3D Theater
    • Lightship Columbia >
      • Lightship Drydock Project 2021/2022
    • Warnock Model Boat Pond
    • Online Exhibits
    • Upcoming Exhibits
  • Education
    • Schools >
      • Field Trips >
        • Learning Labs
        • Self-Guided Visit
      • Museum in the Schools
      • Miniboat Program >
        • Miniboats in the News
    • Adult Education >
      • Classes
      • Groups
      • Lecture Series
      • Carving Club
    • Youth & Family >
      • Virtual Learning
  • Collections
    • Online Collections
  • Reference Library
  • Store
  • Join/Give
    • Individual/Family Memberships
    • Business Memberships
    • Planned Giving
    • Donate to Curatorial
    • Volunteer
    • Join Our Crew
  • Celebrating 50 Years of The QuarterDeck

Gallery 3
​Secret Russian Explorations

 COLLECTION GALLERY 3
Secret Russian Explorations in the Pacific


As a matter of policy the Russian and Spanish governments kept their voyages of exploration secret and the two nations published very few maps of their discoveries at the time.  That being said, both Spanish and Russian governments had very important stakes in the race for exploration and knowledge.  The expansion of the Spanish empire in the New World is well known.

Similarly, the Russians, with their vast Siberian territory to the east, had a major stake in the North Pacific.  Stimulated by the successes of other European powers, Russia set out to explore the waters between Siberia and the North American continent.  Realizing that, as in many other areas of science and technology, they lacked the navigational, astronomical, and cartographic skills to compete with European rivals, the czars turned to the well-known d l'Isle family in Paris.  Invited to Saint Petersburg, Joseph-Nicolas de l'Isle, a younger brother of the famous Guillaume l'Isle, accepted and made his career there.  He was a founding member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg, and became an important figure in the exploration and charting of the waters between the Kamchatka Peninsula and Alaska.  He participated as astronomer on Alexei Chirikov's voyage of 1740 and created in Saint Petersburg a library of maps of previously uncharted portions of Eastern Siberia and the North Pacific.  This period coincided with the expansion of Russian settlements and fur trading stations in the Russian Far East and across the Bering Sea in present-day Alaska.

About

History
Board of Trustees
​Join Our Crew
Past QuarterDeck Issues
Volunteer
​Accessibility
​
​


Miniboats

Contact Us

Privacy Policy
© COPYRIGHT 2020. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Picture
Picture
Picture
  • Visit
    • Museum Gallery Map
    • What Our Visitors Are Saying
    • Accessibility >
      • Audio Tours
    • Upcoming Events
  • Exhibits
    • Current Exhibits
    • 3D Theater
    • Lightship Columbia >
      • Lightship Drydock Project 2021/2022
    • Warnock Model Boat Pond
    • Online Exhibits
    • Upcoming Exhibits
  • Education
    • Schools >
      • Field Trips >
        • Learning Labs
        • Self-Guided Visit
      • Museum in the Schools
      • Miniboat Program >
        • Miniboats in the News
    • Adult Education >
      • Classes
      • Groups
      • Lecture Series
      • Carving Club
    • Youth & Family >
      • Virtual Learning
  • Collections
    • Online Collections
  • Reference Library
  • Store
  • Join/Give
    • Individual/Family Memberships
    • Business Memberships
    • Planned Giving
    • Donate to Curatorial
    • Volunteer
    • Join Our Crew
  • Celebrating 50 Years of The QuarterDeck