Discovery of new lands table. The most important geographical discoveries in world history

Throughout human history, numerous geographical discoveries, but only those of them that were made at the end of the 15th - first half of the 16th centuries received the name Great. Indeed, never before or after this historical moment have there been discoveries of such magnitude and of such enormous significance for humanity. European navigators discovered entire continents and oceans, vast unexplored lands inhabited by peoples completely unfamiliar to them. The discoveries of that time amazed the imagination and revealed completely new prospects for development to the European world, which previously could not even be dreamed of.

Prerequisites for the Great Geographical Discoveries

The sailors of that era had not only a great goal, but also the means to achieve it. Progress in navigation led to the appearance in the 15th century. a new type of vessel capable of long ocean voyages. It was a caravel - a fast, maneuverable ship, the sailing equipment of which allowed it to move even in a headwind. At the same time, instruments appeared that made it possible to navigate long sea voyages, primarily the astrolabe - a tool for determining geographic coordinates, latitude and longitude. European cartographers learned to make special navigation maps that made it easier to plot courses across the ocean.

The goal of the Europeans was India, which appeared to their imagination as a country with incalculable riches. India has been known in Europe since ancient times, and goods brought from there have always been in great demand. However, there were no direct connections with her. Trade was carried out through numerous intermediaries, and states located on the routes to India prevented the development of its contacts with Europe. The Turkish conquests of the late Middle Ages led to a sharp decline in trade, which was very profitable for European merchants. The countries of the East were superior to the West in terms of wealth and level of economic development at that time, so trade with them was the most profitable type of business activity in Europe.

After the Crusades, as a result of which the European population became familiar with the values ​​of everyday Eastern culture, its needs for luxury goods, other everyday goods and spices increased. Pepper, for example, was then literally worth its weight in gold. The need for gold itself also increased sharply, as the development of trade was accompanied by a rapid expansion of money circulation. All this prompted the search for new trade routes to the East, bypassing Turkish and Arab possessions. India became a magical symbol that inspired brave sailors.

Swimming of Vasco da Gama

The Portuguese were the first to embark on the path of great discoveries. Portugal completed the Reconquista before other states of the Iberian Peninsula and transferred the fight against the Moors to North Africa. Throughout the 15th century. Portuguese sailors in search of gold, ivory and other exotic goods moved far south along the African coast. The inspiration for these voyages was Prince Enrique, who received the honorary nickname “Navigator” for this.

In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias discovered the southern tip of Africa, called the Cape of Good Hope. After this historic discovery, the Portuguese took a direct route across the Indian Ocean to the wonderland that beckoned them.

In 1497-1499. The squadron under the command of Vasco da Gama (1469-1524) made the first voyage to India and back, thus paving the most important trade route to the East, which was a long-standing dream of European sailors. In the Indian port of Calicut, the Portuguese purchased so many spices that the income from their sale was 60 times higher than the cost of organizing the expedition.

The sea route to India was discovered and charted, allowing Western European sailors to regularly make these extremely profitable voyages.

Discoveries of Christopher Columbus

Meanwhile, Spain joined the discovery process. In 1492, her troops crushed the Emirate of Granada - the last Moorish state in Europe. The triumphant completion of the Reconquista made it possible to direct the foreign policy power and energy of the Spanish state to new grandiose achievements.

The problem was that Portugal achieved recognition of its exclusive rights to the lands and sea routes discovered by its sailors. A way out of the situation was offered by advanced science of the time. The Italian scientist Paolo Toscanelli, convinced of the sphericity of the Earth, proved that you can reach India if you sail from Europe not to the east, but in the opposite direction - to the west.

Another Italian, a sailor from Genoa, Cristobal Colon, who went down in history under the Spanish name Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), developed on this basis a project for an expedition to find a western route to India. He managed to achieve his approval by the Spanish royal couple - King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

X. Columbus

After a multi-day voyage, on October 12, 1492, his ships reached about. San Salvador, located near the coast of America. This day is considered the date of the discovery of America, although Columbus himself was convinced that he had reached the shores of India. That is why the inhabitants of the lands he discovered began to be called Indians.

Until 1504, Columbus made three more voyages, during which he made new discoveries in the Caribbean Sea.

Since the descriptions of the two “Indies” discovered by the Portuguese and the Spaniards differed sharply from each other, the names East (Eastern) and West (Western) Indies were assigned to them. Gradually the Europeans came to realize that it was not easy different countries, but even different continents. At the suggestion of Amerigo Vespucci, the lands discovered in the Western Hemisphere began to be called the New World, and soon the new part of the world was named after the insightful Italian. The name West Indies was assigned only to the islands located between the shores of North and South America. The East Indies began to be called not only India itself, but also other countries of Southeast Asia, including Japan.

Discovery of the Pacific Ocean and the first circumnavigation of the world

America, which at first did not bring much income to the Spanish crown, was seen as an annoying obstacle on the way to rich India, which stimulated further searches. Of utmost importance was the discovery of a new ocean on the other side of America.

In 1513, the Spanish conqueror Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and reached the shores of a sea unknown to Europeans, which was first called the South Sea (in contrast to the Caribbean Sea, located north of the Isthmus of Panama). Subsequently it turned out that this is an entire ocean, which we now know as the Pacific. This is what Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521), the organizer of the first circumnavigation of the world in history, called it.

F. Magellan

A Portuguese navigator who entered Spanish service, he was convinced that if he circumnavigated America from the south, it would be possible to reach India by the western sea route. In 1519 his ships set sail, and in next year Having crossed the strait named after the leader of the expedition, they entered the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. Magellan himself died in a clash with the population of one of the islands, later called the Philippine Islands. During the voyage, most of his crew also died, but 18 of the 265 crew members, led by captain H.-S. El Cano, on the only surviving ship, completed the first voyage around the world in 1522, thus proving the existence of a single World Ocean connecting all the continents of the Earth.

The discoveries of sailors in Portugal and Spain gave rise to the problem of delimiting the possessions of these powers. In 1494, the two countries signed an agreement in the Spanish city of Tordesillas, according to which a demarcation line was drawn across the Atlantic Ocean, from the North Pole to the South Pole. All over again open lands to the east of it they were declared the possession of Portugal, to the west - of Spain.

After 35 years, a new treaty was concluded delimiting the possessions of the two powers in the Pacific Ocean. This is how the first division of the world took place.

“The existence of such a path can be proven based on the spherical shape of the Earth.” It is necessary to “start sailing continuously to the west”, “to reach places where all kinds of spices and gems. Do not be surprised that I call the country where spices grow west, while they are usually called east, because people who constantly sail to the west reach these countries by sailing on the other side of the globe.”

“The Latins should seek this country not only because great treasures, gold, silver and all kinds of precious stones and spices can be obtained from there, but also for the sake of its learned people, philosophers and skilled astrologers, and also in order to find out how how such a vast and populous country is governed and how they conduct their wars.”

References:
V.V. Noskov, T.P. Andreevskaya / History from the end of the 15th to the end of the 18th century

Travel has always attracted people, but before it was not only interesting, but also extremely difficult. The territories were unexplored, and when setting off, everyone became an explorer. Which travelers are the most famous and what exactly did each of them discover?

James Cook

The famous Englishman was one of the best cartographers of the eighteenth century. He was born in the north of England and by the age of thirteen began to work with his father. But the boy turned out to be incapable of trading, so he decided to take up sailing. In those days, all the famous travelers of the world went to distant lands by ship. James became interested in maritime affairs and rose through the ranks so quickly that he was offered to become a captain. He refused and went to the Royal Navy. Already in 1757, the talented Cook began to steer the ship himself. His first achievement was the design of the channel of the St. Lawrence River. He discovered his talent as a navigator and cartographer. In the 1760s he explored Newfoundland, which attracted the attention of the Royal Society and the Admiralty. He was entrusted with a journey across the Pacific Ocean, where he reached the shores of New Zealand. In 1770, he accomplished something that other famous travelers had not achieved before - he discovered a new continent. Cook returned to England in 1771 as the famous pioneer of Australia. His last journey was an expedition in search of a passage connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Today, even schoolchildren know the sad fate of Cook, who was killed by cannibal natives.

Christopher Columbus

Famous travelers and their discoveries have always had a significant influence on the course of history, but few turned out to be as famous as this man. Columbus became a national hero of Spain, decisively expanding the map of the country. Christopher was born in 1451. The boy quickly achieved success because he was diligent and studied well. Already at the age of 14 he went to sea. In 1479, he met his love and began life in Portugal, but after the tragic death of his wife, he and his son went to Spain. Having received the support of the Spanish king, he set out on an expedition whose goal was to find a route to Asia. Three ships sailed from the coast of Spain to the west. In October 1492 they reached the Bahamas. This is how America was discovered. Christopher mistakenly decided to call the local residents Indians, believing that he had reached India. His report changed history: the two new continents and many islands discovered by Columbus became the main focus of colonial voyages over the next few centuries.

Vasco da Gama

The most famous traveler of Portugal was born in the city of Sines on September 29, 1460. From a young age he worked in the navy and became famous as a confident and fearless captain. In 1495, King Manuel came to power in Portugal, who dreamed of developing trade with India. For this, a sea route was needed, in search of which Vasco da Gama had to go. There were more famous sailors and travelers in the country, but for some reason the king chose him. In 1497, four ships sailed south, rounded and sailed to Mozambique. They had to stop there for a month - half the team by that time was suffering from scurvy. After the break, Vasco da Gama reached Calcutta. In India, he established trade relations for three months, and a year later returned to Portugal, where he became a national hero. The discovery of a sea route that made it possible to get to Calcutta along the east coast of Africa was his main achievement.

Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay

Famous Russian travelers also made many important discoveries. For example, the same Nikolai Mikhlukho-Maclay, born in 1864 in the Novgorod province. He was unable to graduate from St. Petersburg University, as he was expelled for participating in student demonstrations. To continue his education, Nikolai went to Germany, where he met Haeckel, a natural scientist who invited Miklouho-Maclay to his scientific expedition. This is how the world of wanderings opened up for him. His whole life was devoted to travel and scientific work. Nikolai lived in Sicily, Australia, studied New Guinea, implementing a project of the Russian Geographical Society, and visited Indonesia, the Philippines, the Malacca Peninsula and Oceania. In 1886, the natural scientist returned to Russia and proposed to the emperor to found a Russian colony overseas. But the project with New Guinea did not receive royal support, and Miklouho-Maclay became seriously ill and soon died without completing his work on the travel book.

Ferdinand Magellan

Many famous navigators and travelers lived during the era of the Great Magellan is no exception. In 1480 he was born in Portugal, in the city of Sabrosa. Having gone to serve at court (at that time he was only 12 years old), he learned about the confrontation between his native country and Spain, about travel to the East Indies and trade routes. This is how he first became interested in the sea. In 1505, Fernand got on a ship. For seven years after that, he roamed the seas and took part in expeditions to India and Africa. In 1513, Magellan traveled to Morocco, where he was wounded in battle. But this did not curb his thirst for travel - he planned an expedition for spices. The king rejected his request, and Magellan went to Spain, where he received all the necessary support. Thus began his journey around the world. Fernand thought that from the west the route to India might be shorter. He crossed the Atlantic Ocean, reached South America and opened a strait that would later be named after him. became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean. He used it to reach the Philippines and almost reached his goal - the Moluccas, but died in a battle with local tribes, wounded by a poisonous arrow. However, his journey revealed a new ocean to Europe and the understanding that the planet was much larger than scientists had previously thought.

Roald Amundsen

The Norwegian was born at the very end of an era in which many famous travelers became famous. Amundsen became the last of the explorers trying to find undiscovered lands. Since childhood, he was distinguished by perseverance and self-confidence, which allowed him to conquer the South Geographic Pole. The beginning of the journey is connected with 1893, when the boy dropped out of university and got a job as a sailor. In 1896 he became a navigator, and the following year he set off on his first expedition to Antarctica. The ship was lost in the ice, the crew suffered from scurvy, but Amundsen did not give up. He took command, cured people, remembering his medical education, and brought the ship back to Europe. Having become a captain, in 1903 he set out to search for the Northwest Passage off Canada. Famous travelers before him had never done anything like this - in two years the team covered the path from the east of the American continent to its west. Amundsen became famous throughout the world. The next expedition was a two-month trip to the Southern Plus, and the last enterprise was the search for Nobile, during which he went missing.

David Livingston

Many famous travelers are associated with sailing. He became a land explorer, namely the African continent. The famous Scot was born in March 1813. At age 20, he decided to become a missionary, met Robert Moffett and wanted to go to African villages. In 1841 he came to Kuruman, where he taught local residents farming, served as a doctor and taught literacy. There he learned the Bechuana language, which helped him in his travels around Africa. Livingston studied in detail the life and customs of the local residents, wrote several books about them and went on an expedition in search of the sources of the Nile, in which he fell ill and died of a fever.

Amerigo Vespucci

The world's most famous travelers most often came from Spain or Portugal. Amerigo Vespucci was born in Italy and became one of the famous Florentines. He received a good education and studied to be a financier. From 1490 he worked in Seville, in the Medici trade mission. His life was connected with sea travel, for example, he sponsored Columbus's second expedition. Christopher inspired him with the idea of ​​​​trying himself as a traveler, and already in 1499 Vespucci went to Suriname. The purpose of the voyage was to explore the coastline. There he opened a settlement called Venezuela - little Venice. In 1500 he returned home, bringing 200 slaves. In 1501 and 1503 Amerigo repeated his travels, acting not only as a navigator, but also as a cartographer. He discovered the bay of Rio de Janeiro, the name of which he gave himself. From 1505 he served the king of Castile and did not participate in campaigns, only equipped other people’s expeditions.

Francis Drake

Many famous travelers and their discoveries benefited humanity. But among them there are also those who left behind a bad memory, since their names were associated with rather cruel events. The English Protestant, who sailed on a ship from the age of twelve, was no exception. He captured locals in the Caribbean, sold them into slavery to the Spaniards, attacked ships and fought with Catholics. Perhaps no one could match Drake in the number of captured foreign ships. His campaigns were sponsored by the Queen of England. In 1577, he went to South America to defeat the Spanish settlements. During the journey, he found Tierra del Fuego and a strait, which was later named after him. Having sailed around Argentina, Drake plundered the port of Valparaiso and two Spanish ships. Having reached California, he met the natives who presented the British with gifts of tobacco and bird feathers. Drake crossed the Indian Ocean and returned to Plymouth, becoming the first British person to visit trip around the world. He was admitted to the House of Commons and awarded the title of Sir. In 1595 he died on his last trip to the Caribbean.

Afanasy Nikitin

Few famous Russian travelers have achieved the same heights as this native of Tver. Afanasy Nikitin became the first European to visit India. He traveled to the Portuguese colonialists and wrote “Walking across the Three Seas” - a most valuable literary and historical monument. The success of the expedition was ensured by the career of a merchant: Afanasy knew several languages ​​and knew how to negotiate with people. On his journey, he visited Baku, lived in Persia for about two years and reached India by ship. After visiting several cities in an exotic country, he went to Parvat, where he stayed for a year and a half. After the province of Raichur, he headed to Russia, laying a route through the Arabian and Somali peninsulas. However, Afanasy Nikitin never made it home, because he fell ill and died near Smolensk, but his notes were preserved and provided the merchant with world fame.

The process of the decomposition of feudalism and the emergence of capitalist relations in Europe was accelerated by the opening of new trade routes and new countries in the 15th - 16th centuries, which marked the beginning of the colonial exploitation of the peoples of Africa, Asia and America.

By the 16th century In Western Europe, commodity production and trade made significant progress, and the need for money, which was the universal means of exchange, increased sharply. “The discovery of America,” says Engels regarding the reasons for the geographical discoveries, “was caused by the thirst for gold, which even before that drove the Portuguese to Africa... because it developed so powerfully in the 14th and 15th centuries. European industry and the trade corresponding to it required more means of exchange, which Germany - the great country of silver in 1450-1550. - I couldn’t give.”( Letter from Engels to K. Schmidt, October 27, 1890, K. Marx, F. Engels, Selected Letters, 1953, p. 426.) By this time, the desire for luxury and the accumulation of treasures among the upper classes of European society had also greatly increased. In such conditions, the passion for enrichment, or, in the words of Marx, the “universal thirst for money” ( "Archive of Marx and Engels", vol. IV, p. 225.) embraced nobles, townspeople, clergy, and kings in Europe.

One of the most tempting means of getting rich quick in 15th-century Europe. there was trade with Asia, the importance of which grew more and more after the Crusades. The largest cities in Italy, primarily Venice and Genoa, rose to prominence in intermediary trade with the East. The East was a source of supplying Europeans with luxury goods. Spices brought from India and the Moluccas - pepper, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg - became a favorite food seasoning in rich houses, and big money was paid for a grain of spice. Perfume products from Arabia and India, gold products from oriental jewelers, Indian and Chinese silk, cotton and woolen fabrics, Arabian incense, etc. were in great demand in Europe. India, China, Japan were considered countries rich in gold and precious stones. The imagination of European profit seekers was amazed by the stories of travelers about the fabulous riches of these distant countries; Especially popular were the notes of the Venetian merchant Marco Polo, who visited in the 13th century. in China and in many other Eastern countries. In his notes, Marco Polo reported such fantastic information about Japan, unknown to Europeans: “Gold, I tell you, they have great abundance; there is an extremely large amount of it here, and they do not take it out of here... I will now describe to you the wondrous palace of the sovereign of the local people. To tell the truth, the palace here is large and covered with pure gold, just as our houses and churches are roofed with lead... I’ll also tell you that the floors in the chambers - and there are many of them here - are also covered with pure gold of a finger. two in thickness; and everything in the palace - both the halls and the windows - is covered with gold decorations... There is an abundance of pearls here, they are pink and very beautiful, round, large...” The Europeans were promised great wealth and the capture of trade routes in the seas of South Asia, along which between the countries There was brisk trade in the East, in the hands of Arab, Indian, Malay and Chinese merchants.

However, countries Western Europe(with the exception of Italy) did not have direct trade relations with eastern countries and did not receive benefits from eastern trade. Europe's trade balance in its trade with the East was passive. Therefore, in the 15th century. there was an outflow of metallic money from European countries to the East, which further increased the shortage in Europe noble metals. In addition, in the 15th century. In Europe's trade with Asian countries, new circumstances appeared that contributed to a fabulous increase in prices for eastern goods. The collapse of the Mongol power resulted in the cessation of caravan trade between Europe and China and India through Central Asia and Mongolia, and the fall of Constantinople and the Turkish conquests in Western Asia and the Balkan Peninsula in the 15th century. the trade route to the East through Asia Minor and Syria was almost completely closed. The third trade route to the East - through the Red Sea - was the monopoly of the Egyptian sultans, who in the 15th century. They began to levy extremely high duties on all goods transported this way. In this regard, the decline of Mediterranean trade, the centers of which were Italian cities, began.

Europeans in the 15th century. attracted wealth not only from Asia, but also from Africa. At this time, countries Southern Europe through the Mediterranean Sea they traded with the countries of North Africa, mainly with Egypt and with the rich and cultural states of the Maghreb - Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. However, until the end of the 15th century. most of the African continent was unknown to Europeans; there were no direct connections between Europe and Western Sudan, isolated from the Mediterranean countries by the impassable Sahara Desert and a part of the Atlantic Ocean unknown to Europeans.

At the same time, the cities of the North African coast traded with the tribes of the interior regions of Sudan and Tropical Africa, from whom they exchanged ivory and slaves. Along the caravan routes across the Sahara, gold, slaves and other goods from Western Sudan and the Guinean coast were delivered to the cities of the Maghreb and fell into the hands of Europeans, arousing their desire to reach these unknown rich regions of Africa by sea.

“To what extent,” says Engels, “at the end of the 15th century, money undermined and corroded the feudal system from within is clearly visible from the thirst for gold that took possession of Western Europe in this era; The Portuguese were looking for gold on the African coast, in India, everywhere Far East; gold was the magic word that drove the Spaniards across the Atlantic Ocean to America; gold - that’s what the white man first demanded as soon as he set foot on the newly opened shore.”( F. Engels, The Peasant War in Germany, M. 1953, Appendixes, p. 155.) Thus, in Western Europe in the 15th century. there was a need to search for new sea routes from Europe to Africa, India and East Asia.

But long and dangerous sea voyages undertaken from the end of the 15th century. with the aim of opening new routes to Africa and the East and to conquer new countries, became possible because by this time, as a result of the development of productive forces, important improvements had been introduced in the field of navigation and military affairs.

Sailing ships with a keel, introduced by the Normans back in the 10th century, gradually became widespread in all countries and replaced the multi-tiered rowing Greek and Roman ships.

During the 15th century. the Portuguese during their voyages along west bank Africa, using the Genoese type of three-masted sea vessel, created a new fast and light sailing ship suitable for long voyages - the caravel. Unlike coastal (coastal) vessels, the caravel had three masts and was equipped with a large number of straight and oblique sails, thanks to which it could move even in unfavorable wind directions. She had a very spacious hold, which made it possible to make long sea crossings; the caravel's crew was small. The safety of navigation has increased significantly due to the fact that the compass and sea charts - portolans - have been improved; in Portugal, the astrolabe, borrowed from the Arabs, was improved - a goniometric instrument with the help of which the positions of the luminaries and latitude were calculated; at the end of the 15th century. Tables of planetary motion were published to facilitate the calculation of latitude at sea.

The improvement of firearms was important.

A serious obstacle to organizing sea travel was the geographical ideas that dominated medieval Europe, based on the teachings of the Greek geographer Ptolemy. Ptolemy rejected the doctrine of the movement of the Earth and believed that the Earth stood motionless at the center of the universe; he admitted the idea of ​​a spherical shape of the Earth, but argued that somewhere in the south, Southeast Asia is connected to East Africa, the Indian Ocean is closed on all sides by land; thus, it is allegedly impossible to get from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean and reach the shores of East Asia by sea. According to the prevailing views in the Middle Ages, borrowed from ancient authors, the Earth was divided into five climatic zones, and it was believed that life was possible only in two temperate zones, at both poles there were completely lifeless areas of eternal cold, and at the equator there was a zone of terrible heat, where The sea is boiling and the ships and people on them are burning.

In the 15th century With the success of Renaissance culture in Europe, these ideas began to be increasingly questioned. Back in the 13th century. Marco Polo and other travelers proved that in reality the eastern coast of Asia does not extend endlessly to the east, as Ptolemy thought, but is washed by the sea. On some maps of the 15th century. Africa was depicted as a separate continent tapering towards the south. The hypothesis about the spherical shape of the Earth and a single ocean washing the land, expressed by ancient scientists, was found in the 15th century. an increasing number of supporters. Based on this hypothesis, people in Europe began to express the idea of ​​​​reaching the eastern coast of Asia by sea, sailing from Europe to the west, across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1410 French bishop Pierre d'Ailly wrote the book "Picture of the World", in which he cited statements of ancient and medieval scientists about the sphericity of the earth and argued that the distance from the coast of Spain to India across the ocean is small and can be covered with a fair wind in a few days.

At the end of the 15th century. the idea of ​​the possibility of a western route to India was especially ardently promoted by the Florentine physician and cosmographer Paolo Toscanelli. He depicted on the map the Atlantic Ocean, washing Europe in the east, and Japan, China and India in the west, and thus tried to show that the western route from Europe to the East was the shortest. “I know,” he wrote, “that the existence of such a path can be proven on the basis that the Earth is a sphere...”

The Nuremberg merchant and astronomer Martin Behaim presented the first globe he made as a gift to his hometown with a characteristic inscription: “Let it be known that the whole world is measured on this figure, so that no one doubts how simple the world is, and that you can travel everywhere on ships or walk as shown here..."

Navigation and maritime geography among the peoples of Asia in the Middle Ages

The peoples of Asia - Indians, Chinese, Malays and Arabs - during the Middle Ages made significant progress in the field of geographical knowledge, the development of navigation in the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the art of navigation, which was important for the geographical discoveries of Europeans in Asia and Africa and their expansion in territories of these continents.

These peoples, long before the appearance of Europeans in the Indian Ocean, discovered and mastered the great South Asian sea route, which connected the countries of the most ancient culture in the East, from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf to the South China Sea. Along the western section of this route, from the Malabar coast of India to East Africa, Arabia and Egypt, Indian ships sailed in ancient times; their helmsmen skillfully used the monsoons - seasonal winds in the southern seas. In the first centuries AD, Chinese, Indian and Malay merchants and sailors established routes in the eastern Indian Ocean, South China Sea and Java Sea, establishing trade links between the countries of Southeast Asia. At the beginning of the 5th century. Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Fa Xian traveled on a Malay ship from the Bengal coast to Shandong, visiting Ceylon, Sumatra and Java along the way; in the 7th century such trips were made often.

After the Arab conquests and the formation of the Caliphate, primacy in trade and navigation in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the western Indian Ocean passed to the Arabs. In their hands were Aden, the island of Socotra and a number of cities on the east coast of Africa. Enterprising Arab merchants brokered trade between South Asia and Europe. Their ships sailed to India, Ceylon, Java and China; Arab trading posts arose in many cities of South Asia; there were such trading posts in both Canton and Quanzhou. The cities of the coast of medieval India flourished, through which the flow of goods transported along the sea routes of Asia passed. “Here,” one Chinese described the Indian city of Calicut at the beginning of the 15th century, “there is pepper, rose oil, pearls, incense, amber, corals... colored cotton fabrics, but all this is imported from other countries... and they buy gold here , silver, cotton fabrics, blue and white porcelain, beads, mercury, camphor, musk, and there are large warehouses where goods are stored..."

However, maritime trade in Southeast Asia was mainly in the hands of the Chinese and Malays.

In the period from the X to the XV centuries. China has emerged as a powerful maritime power; its coastal cities became centers of world trade. Canton at the beginning of the 14th century, according to one European traveler who visited it, was equal to three Venices. “In all of Italy there are not as many goods as there are in this city alone,” he notes. At that time, large quantities of silk, porcelain, and artistic products were exported from China to other countries, and spices, cotton fabrics, medicinal herbs, glass and other goods. In Chinese ports, large sea vessels were built for long voyages, with several decks and many rooms for the crew and merchants; the crew of such a ship usually numbered up to a thousand sailors and soldiers, which was necessary in case of an encounter with pirates, of whom there were especially many in the waters of the Malay Archipelago. These ships were driven by sails made of reed mats, fixed on movable yards, which made it possible to change the position of the sails in accordance with the direction of the wind; when there was calm, these ships moved with the help of large oars. The geographical map was known to Chinese sailors even before our era. From the end of the 11th century. A compass appeared on Chinese ships (the Chinese knew the property of a magnet back in ancient times). “The helmsmen know the outlines of the shores, and at night they determine the path by the stars, during the day - by the sun. If the sun is hidden behind clouds, then they use a south-pointing needle,” says one treatise of the early 12th century about the navigation of Chinese sailors. Chinese sailors had detailed knowledge about the monsoons in the southern seas, sea currents, shoals, typhoons, acquired by centuries of practice of Asian sailors. China also had extensive geographical literature that contained descriptions of overseas countries with detailed information about the goods brought from them to China.

The naval power of medieval China was especially evident in the successful implementation of the largest naval expeditions to the Indian Ocean, undertaken by the Ming Emperor Chengzu in the period from 1405 to 1433. While the Portuguese were just beginning their advance into the southern Atlantic Ocean, the Chinese fleet in consisting of from 60 to 100 different ships with a total crew of up to 25-30 thousand people, made seven voyages to the west, visiting Indo-China, Java, Ceylon, the Malabar coast in India, Aden, Hormuz in Arabia; in 1418, Chinese ships visited the Somali coast of Africa. In the seas of the Malay Archipelago, this fleet defeated numerous pirate gangs that impeded the development of Chinese maritime trade with the countries of South Asia. All these expeditions were headed by the great Chinese navigator Zheng He, who came from a humble family and was promoted to the emperor’s court for his military merits. Zheng He's expeditions not only strengthened China's influence in South Asia and contributed to the growth of its economic and cultural ties, but also expanded the geographical knowledge of the Chinese: their participants studied, described and mapped the lands and waters they visited. “Countries beyond the horizon and at the edge of the earth have now become subject to (China - Ed.) and to the very western and northernmost edges, and perhaps beyond their borders, and all paths have been traveled and distances have been measured,” - this is how he assessed the results of his voyages of Zheng He.

The maritime industry also reached a high level of development among the Malays who inhabited the islands of the Malay Archipelago, which included the Moluccas - the birthplace of spices exported from here to all countries of the East. The cities of Java and Sumatra and Malacca were in the XIV-XV centuries. the largest centers of trade, navigation and geographical science in the East; Javanese helmsmen were known as experienced sailors, and the maps compiled by the Malays were highly valued in the ports of Asia for the accuracy and thoroughness of the information they contained.

Another center of trade and navigation in the 15th century. there were Arab cities on the East African coast - Kilwa, Mombasa, Malindi, Sofala, the island of Zanzibar, etc. They conducted a lively maritime trade with all Asian countries, exporting there ivory, slaves, gold, exchanged with neighboring tribes for handicrafts from Arabian cities. Arab sailors were well aware of the sea routes from the Red Sea countries to the Far East; There is information that around 1420, an Arab sailor sailed from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic, rounding the southern tip of Africa. “Arab pilots have compasses for guiding ships, instructions for observation and sea charts,” wrote Vasco da Gama. Special literature on navigation was created - descriptions of routes, sailing directions, nautical directories - summarizing the most important achievements in the field of shipping and navigation over many centuries. In the second half of the 15th century. One of the most experienced Arab pilots in the western part of the Indian Ocean was Ahmed ibn Majid, who came from a family of hereditary sailors. He was the author of many works on maritime affairs, widely known among Asian sailors; the largest of them was “The Book of Useful Data on the Fundamentals of Marine Science and Its Rules.” It described in detail routes along the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf along Africa, to India, to the islands of the Malay Archipelago, to the shores of China and Taiwan, techniques for driving ships both during coastal navigation and on the high seas, instructions on using a compass and bearings, astronomical observations, about sea shores, reefs, monsoons and currents. Ibn Majid had a particularly good knowledge of the sea routes between Africa and the Malabar coast of India, which the Portuguese later took advantage of during their first voyage to India.

Opening of a sea route from Europe to India and the Far East

Portugal and Spain were the first European countries to search for sea routes to Africa and India. The nobles, merchants, clergy and royalty of these countries were interested in the search. With the end of the reconquista (in Portugal it ended in the middle of the 13th century, and in Spain - at the end of the 15th century), the mass of small landed nobles - hidalgos, for whom the war with the Moors was the only occupation - was left idle. These nobles despised all types of activity except war, and when, as a result of the development of the commodity-money economy, their need for money increased, many of them very soon found themselves in debt to the city moneylenders. Therefore, the idea of ​​getting rich in Africa or eastern countries seemed especially exciting to these knights of the reconquista, who were left idle and without money. The ability to fight, acquired in the wars with the Moors, the love of adventure, the thirst for military spoils and glory were quite suitable for a new difficult and dangerous undertaking - the discovery and conquest of unknown trade routes, countries and lands. It was from among the poor Portuguese and Spanish nobles that they emerged in the 15th-16th centuries. brave sailors, cruel conquerors-conquistadors who destroyed the states of the Aztecs and Incas, greedy colonial officials. “They walked with a cross in their hands and with an insatiable thirst for gold in their hearts,” one contemporary writes about the Spanish conquistadors. Rich citizens of Portugal and Spain willingly gave money for sea expeditions, which promised them possession of the most important trade routes, rapid integration and a dominant position in European trade. The Catholic clergy sanctified the bloody deeds of the conquistadors with a religious banner, since thanks to the latter they acquired new flocks at the expense of tribes and peoples converted to Catholicism and increased their land holdings and income. The royal authorities of Portugal and Spain were no less interested in the opening of new countries and trade routes. The poor peasantry, experiencing heavy feudal oppression, and underdeveloped cities could not give the kings enough money to cover the expenses required by the absolutist regime; The kings saw a way out of financial difficulties in the possession of the most important trade routes and colonies. In addition, the numerous warlike nobles left idle after the reconquista posed a serious danger to the king and the cities, since they could easily be used by large feudal lords in the fight against the unification of the country and the strengthening of royal power. The kings of Portugal and Spain therefore sought to captivate the nobles with the idea of ​​discovering and conquering new countries and trade routes.

The sea route connecting Italian trading cities with the countries of North-Western Europe passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and skirted the Iberian Peninsula. With the development of maritime trade in the XIV-XV centuries. The importance of coastal Portuguese and Spanish cities increased. However, the expansion of Portugal and Spain was only possible towards the unknown Atlantic Ocean, because trade along the Mediterranean Sea had already been captured by the powerful maritime cities of the republics of Italy, and trade along the North and Baltic seas by the union of German cities - the Hansa. Geographical position The Iberian Peninsula, pushed far to the west into the Atlantic Ocean, favored this direction of expansion of Portugal and Spain. When in the 15th century. In Europe, the need to look for new sea routes to the East increased; least of all, the Hansa, which monopolized all trade between the countries of North-Western Europe, was least interested in these searches, as well as Venice, which continued to profit from Mediterranean trade.

Due to these reasons, internal and external character Portugal and Spain were pioneers in the search for new sea routes across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Portuguese were the first to enter the ocean routes. After the conquest by Portuguese troops in 1415 of the Moroccan port of Ceuta, a fortress of Moorish pirates located on the southern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar, the Portuguese began moving south along the western coast of Africa to Western Sudan, from where gold sand, slaves and ivory were brought overland to the north . The Portuguese sought to penetrate further south from Ceuta, into the “sea of ​​darkness,” as the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean, unknown to Europeans, was then called. The strong Arab states in North-West Africa prevented the Portuguese from expanding eastwards along the Mediterranean coast of Africa. The western part of the Mediterranean Sea was actually in the hands of Arab pirates.

In organizing Portuguese expeditions in the first half of the 15th century. along the West African coast, the Portuguese prince Enrico, better known in history as Henry the Navigator, took part. On the southwestern coast of Portugal, in Sagrish, on a rocky cape protruding far into the ocean, an observatory and shipyards were built for the construction of ships, and a nautical school was founded. Sagres became a maritime academy for Portugal. In it, Portuguese fishermen and sailors, under the guidance of Italian and Catalan sailors, were trained in maritime affairs, they were engaged in improving ships and navigational instruments, they drew sea charts based on information brought by Portuguese sailors, and plans for new expeditions to the south were developed. Since the Reconquista, the Portuguese were familiar with Arabic mathematics, geography, navigation, cartography and astronomy. Henry drew funds for the preparation of his travels from the income of the spiritual knightly Order of Jesus, which he headed, and also received by organizing a number of trading companies on shares of wealthy nobles and merchants, who hoped to increase their income through overseas trade.

At first, navigation developed slowly in Portugal; it was difficult to find daredevils who would risk going into the “sea of ​​darkness.” But the situation improved significantly after the Portuguese captured the Azores in 1432 in the west, and in 1434 Gil Eannis rounded Cape Bojador, south of which life was considered impossible in the Middle Ages; 10 years after this, another Portuguese sailor sailed 400 miles south of this cape and brought gold and black slaves to Portugal, marking the beginning of the Portuguese slave trade. In the mid-40s, the Portuguese had already rounded Cape Verde and reached the coast between the Senegal and Gambia rivers, densely populated and rich in golden sand, ivory and spices. Following this, they penetrated deep into the mainland. Prince Henry the Navigator, while verbally opposing the slave trade, in practice encouraged it in every possible way; His ships began to regularly sail to West Africa to catch slaves and purchase gold sand, ivory and spices, exchanged with the blacks for trinkets; usually the prince received a significant share of the booty brought in.

The hope of plundering the entire African coast accelerated the Portuguese advance south. In the 60s and 70s, Portuguese sailors reached the coast of the Gulf of Guinea and crossed the equator; New characteristic names appeared on Portuguese maps of Africa: “Pepper Coast”, “Ivory Coast”, “Slave Coast”, “Golden Coast”. In the early 80s, sailor Diego Cao made three trips to the south of the Gold Coast, passed the mouth of the Congo River and, near the southern tropic, placed his “padran” - a stone pillar erected in open territory as a sign of its accession to the possessions of the King of Portugal. Finally, Bartolomso Diaz reached the Cape of Good Hope in 1487, rounded it and entered the Indian Ocean. However, the crew of his ships, tired of the difficulties of the journey, refused to continue sailing, and Diaz was forced to return to Lisbon without reaching the shores of India. But he argued that it was possible to travel from South Africa by sea to the coast of India. This was also confirmed by Pedro Covegliano, sent in 1487 by the Portuguese king to search for the shortest route to India through the countries of North Africa and the Red Sea and visited the Malabar coast of India, the cities of East Africa and Madagascar; in his report to the king sent from Cairo, he, according to a contemporary, reported that the Portuguese caravels, “which trade in Guinea, sailing from one country to another heading to this island (Madagascar) and Sofala, will easily be able to pass to these eastern seas and approach Calicut, for, as he learned, there is sea everywhere here.”

To complete the search for a sea route to India, the Portuguese king Manoel sent an expedition led by one of his courtiers, Vasco da Gama, who came from poor nobles. In the summer of 1497, four ships under his command left Lisbon and, circumnavigating Africa, sailed along its eastern coast to Malindi, a wealthy Arab city that directly traded with India. The Portuguese entered into an “alliance” with the Sultan of this city, which allowed them to take with them the famous Ahmed ibn Majid as a pilot, under whose leadership they completed their voyage. On May 20, 1498, the ships of Vasco da Gama dropped anchor near the Indian city of Calicut, one of the largest trading centers in Asia, “the pier of the entire Indian Sea,” as the Russian merchant Afanasy Nikitin, who visited India in the second half of the 15th century, called this city. With the permission of the local rajah, they began buying spices in the city. The Arab merchants, who controlled all the city's overseas trade, saw this as a threat to their monopoly and began to restore the Rajah and the city's population against the Portuguese. The Portuguese had to quickly leave Calicut and head back. In September 1499, Vasco da Gama returned to Lisbon. By the end of the two-year difficult voyage, less than half the crew survived.

The return of Portuguese ships to Lisbon with a cargo of spices from India was solemnly celebrated.

With the opening of the sea route to India, Portugal began to take control of all maritime trade in South and East Asia. The Portuguese waged a brutal fight against Arab trade and shipping in the Indian Ocean and began to capture the most important trading and strategic points of South Asia. In 1501, the navigator Cabral arrived in Indian waters with a military flotilla, bombarded Calicut and purchased a cargo of spices in Cochin. Two years later, Vasco da Gama set off for the Indian Ocean again; as "Admiral of India" he robbed and sank the ships of Arab merchants and, returning to Lisbon with enormous booty, left a permanent military squadron in Indian waters for the pirate robbery of ships plying between Egypt and India. The Portuguese soon captured the island of Socotra, at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, and the fortress of Diu on the northwestern coast of India, thus establishing their control over the sea routes connecting the Red Sea and South Asia. “Reinforcements began to come to them from Portugal, and they began to cross the path of the Muslims, taking prisoners, robbing and seizing by force all sorts of ships,” reports one Arab historian of the 16th century. The lands and cities they captured in India became a stronghold for Portugal's further expansion into Asia. The Viceroy of Portuguese India d'Albuquerque captured the fortress of Goa on the western coast of India and the Iranian port of Hormuz, and in 1511 he took Malacca, a rich trading city in the Strait of Malacca, blocking the entrance to the Indian Ocean from the east. “The best of all that is in the world," - this is how Albuquerque assessed Malacca. With the capture of Malacca, the Portuguese cut the main route connecting the countries of Western Asia with the main supplier of spices - the Moluccas Islands, and entered the Pacific Ocean. A few years later they captured these islands and established maritime trade with the South China Finally, in 1542, they reached the shores of distant Japan and founded the first European trading post there.

Carrying out this expansion to the East, the Portuguese conquerors used the navigation techniques of the sailors of the East, Arabic and Javanese maps of the countries and seas of South Asia. One Javanese helmsman's map, which fell into the hands of the Portuguese in 1512, showed the Cape of Good Hope, the Portuguese possessions, the Red Sea, the Moluccas, the Chinese sea routes with direct roads where ships passed, and the interior of the country. According to this map, Portuguese ships moved through the seas of the Malay Archipelago to the Moluccas Islands. The captains of the Portuguese ships were instructed to use Ceylonese and Javanese helmsmen as pilots.

Thus, a sea route was opened from Western Europe to India and East Asia. With this discovery, Portugal's vast colonial empire was created through conquest, stretching from Gibraltar to the Strait of Malacca. The Portuguese Viceroy of India, stationed in Goa, had five governors governing Mozambique, Hormuz, Muscat, Ceylon and Malacca. The Portuguese also brought the largest cities of East Africa under their influence. The most important discovery in the history of mankind of the sea route connecting Europe with Asia was used by feudal Portugal for its own enrichment, for the plunder and oppression of the peoples of Africa and Asia.

From this time until the digging of the Suez Canal in the 60s of the XIX century. The sea route around South Africa was the main route along which trade was carried out between the countries of Europe and Asia and Europeans penetrated into the Indian and Pacific oceans.

Discovery of America and Spanish conquests

In the spring of 1492, the Spaniards took Granada, the last stronghold of the Moors on the Iberian Peninsula, and on August 3 of the same year, three caravels of Christopher Columbus set off from the Spanish port of Paloe on a long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean with the goal of opening the western route to India and East Asia. Not wanting to aggravate relations with Portugal, the Spanish kings Ferdinand and Isabella initially chose to hide the real purpose of this journey. Columbus was appointed “admiral and viceroy of all the lands that he discovers in these seas and oceans,” with the right to retain in his favor one tenth of all income from them, “be it pearls or precious stones, gold or silver, spices and others.” clothes and goods."

Biographical information about Columbus is very scarce. He was born in 1451 in Italy, near Genoa, into a weaver's family, but there is no exact information about where he studied and when he became a navigator. It is known that in the 80s he lived in Lisbon and, apparently, participated in several voyages to the shores of Guinea, but these voyages did not captivate him. He hatched a project to open the shortest route from Europe to Asia via the Atlantic Ocean; he studied the work of Pierre d'Agli (which was mentioned above), as well as the works of Toscanelli and other cosmographers of the 14th-15th centuries, who proceeded from the doctrine of the sphericity of the Earth, but significantly underestimated the length of the western route to Asia. However, to interest the Portuguese king in his Columbus's project failed. The Council of Mathematicians in Lisbon, which had previously discussed the plans of all expeditions, rejected his proposals as fantastic, and Columbus had to leave for Spain, where the project of opening a new route to Asia, unknown to the Portuguese, was supported by Ferdinand and Isabella.

On October 12, 1492, 69 days after leaving the Spanish port of Palos, Columbus's caravels, having overcome all the difficulties of the journey, reached San Salvador (apparently modern Watling), one of the islands of the Bahamas, located off the coast of a new, unknown to continental Europeans: this day is considered the date of the discovery of America. The success of the expedition was achieved not only thanks to the leadership of Columbus, but also to the perseverance of the entire crew, recruited from residents of Palos and other coastal cities of Spain who knew the sea well. In total, Columbus made four expeditions to America, during which he discovered and explored Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti), Jamaica and other islands of the Caribbean Sea, the eastern coast of Central America and the coast of Venezuela in the northern part of South America. On the island of Hispaniola he founded a permanent colony, which later became the stronghold of the Spanish conquests in America.

During his expeditions, Columbus showed himself not only as a passionate seeker of new lands, but also as a man striving for enrichment. In the diary of his first trip, he wrote: “I am doing everything possible to get to where I can find gold and spices...” “Gold,” he writes from Jamaica, “is perfection. Gold creates treasures, and the one who owns it , can do whatever he wants, and is even capable of leading human souls into heaven." In order to increase the profitability of the islands he discovered, on which, as it soon turned out, there was not so much gold and spices, he proposed exporting slaves from there to Spain: "And “Even if,” he writes to the Spanish kings, “even slaves die on the way, not all of them face such a fate.”

Columbus was unable to geographically correctly assess his discoveries and conclude that he had discovered a new continent, unknown to him. Until the end of his life, he assured everyone that he had reached the shores of Southeast Asia, the fabulous riches of which Marco Polo wrote about and the Spanish nobles and merchants dreamed of. , kings. He called the lands he discovered “India” and their inhabitants “Indians.” Even during his last trip, he reported to Spain that Cuba is Southern China, and the coast of Central America is part of the Malacca Peninsula and that to the south there should be a strait through which you can get to rich India.

The news of Columbus's discovery caused great alarm in Portugal. The Portuguese believed that the Spaniards had violated their right to own all the lands south and east of Cape Bojador, previously confirmed by the Pope, and were ahead of them in reaching the shores of India; they even prepared a military expedition to seize the lands discovered by Columbus. In the end, Spain turned to the pope to resolve this dispute. With a special bull, the pope blessed Spain's seizure of all lands discovered by Columbus. In Rome, these discoveries were assessed from the point of view of the spread of the Catholic faith and the increase in the influence of the church. The pope resolved the dispute between Spain and Portugal as follows: Spain was given the right to own all lands located west of a line running along the Atlantic Ocean one hundred leagues (about 600 km) west of the Cape Verde Islands. In 1494, on the basis of this bull, Spain and Portugal divided among themselves the spheres of conquest according to an agreement concluded in the Spanish city of Tordesillas; the dividing line between the colonial possessions of both states was established at 370 leagues (over 2 thousand km) west of the above islands. Both states arrogated to themselves the right to pursue and seize all foreign ships that appeared in their waters, impose duties on them, judge their crews according to their laws and etc.

But Columbus’s discoveries gave Spain too little gold, and soon after the success of Vasco da Gama, disappointment in the Spanish “Indies” set in. Columbus began to be called a deceiver, who, instead of the fabulously rich India, discovered a country of grief and misfortune, which became the place of death of many Castilian nobles. The Spanish kings deprived him of the monopoly right to make discoveries in a western direction and of the share of income received from the lands he discovered that was initially assigned to him. He lost all his property, which was used to cover debts to his creditors. Columbus, abandoned by all, died in 1506. Contemporaries forgot the face of the navigator; they even gave the name to the continent he discovered after the Italian scientist Amerigo Vespucci, who in 1499-1504 took part in exploration of the coast of South America and whose letters aroused great interest in Europe. “These countries should be called the New World...” he wrote.

After Columbus, other conquistadors, in search of gold and slaves, continued to expand Spain's colonial possessions in America. In 1508, two Spanish nobles received royal patents to establish colonies on the American mainland. The following year, the Spanish colonization of the Isthmus of Panama began; in 1513, conquistador Vasco Nunez Balboa with a small The detachment was the first of the Europeans to cross the Isthmus of Panama and reach the shores of the Pacific Ocean, which he called the “South Sea”. A few years later, the Spaniards discovered Yucatan and Mexico, and also reached the mouth of the Mississippi River. Attempts were made to find a strait connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, and thus complete the task begun by Columbus - to reach the shores of East Asia by the western route. This strait was searched for in 1515-1516. the Spanish sailor de Solis, who, moving along the Brazilian beret, reached the La Plata River; Portuguese sailors who carried out their expeditions to big secret. In Europe, some geographers were so confident in the existence of this not yet discovered strait that they mapped it in advance.

A new plan for a large expedition to search for the southwestern passage to the Pacific Ocean and reach Asia by the western route was proposed to the Spanish king by Fernando Magellan, a Portuguese sailor from the poor nobles who lived in Spain. Magellan fought under the banner of the Portuguese king in South-West Asia on land and at sea, participated in the capture of Malacca, in campaigns in North Africa, but returned to his homeland without great ranks and wealth; after the king refused him even a minor promotion, he left Portugal. Magellan, while still in Portugal, began to develop a project for an expedition to search for the southwestern strait from the Atlantic Ocean to Balboa’s open “South Sea,” through which, as he assumed, it was possible to reach the Moluccas. In Madrid, in the “Council for Indian Affairs”, which was in charge of all matters relating to the Spanish colonies, they became very interested in Magellan’s projects; Council members liked his assertion that the Moluccas, according to the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas, should belong to Spain and that the shortest route to them was through the southwestern strait into the “South Sea”, which was owned by Spain. Magellan was absolutely sure of the existence of this strait, although, as subsequent facts showed, the only source of his confidence were maps on which this strait was marked without any reason. According to the agreement concluded by Magellan with the Spanish King Charles I, he received five ships and the funds necessary for the expedition; he was appointed admiral with the right to retain in his favor a twentieth of the income that the expedition and the new possessions that he annexed to the Spanish crown would bring. “Since I,” the king wrote to Magellan, “know for certain that there are spices on the islands of Molucco, I am sending you mainly in search of them, and my will is that you go straight to these islands.”

On September 20, 1519, five of Magellan's ships set sail from San Lucar on this voyage. It lasted three years. Having overcome great difficulties of navigation in the unexplored South Atlantic Ocean, he found the southwestern strait, which was later named after him. The strait was much further south than indicated on the maps that Magellan believed. Having entered the “South Sea”, the expedition headed to the shores of Asia. Magellan called the “South Sea” the Pacific Ocean, “because,” as one of the expedition members reports, “we have never experienced the slightest storm.” The flotilla sailed on the open ocean for more than three months; part of the crew, who suffered greatly from hunger and thirst, died from scurvy. In the spring of 1521, Magellan reached the islands off the eastern coast of Asia, later called the Philippine Islands.

Pursuing the goal of conquering the lands he discovered, Magellan intervened in a feud between two local rulers and was killed on April 27 in a skirmish with the inhabitants of one of these islands. The crew of the expedition, after the death of their admiral, completed this most difficult voyage; Only two ships reached the Moluccas, and only one ship, the Victoria, was able to continue the journey to Spain with a cargo of spices. The crew of this ship, under the command of d'Elcano, made a long voyage to Spain around Africa, managing to avoid meeting with the Portuguese, who were ordered from Lisbon to detain all members of Magellan's expedition. Of the entire crew of Magellan's expedition, unparalleled in courage (265 people), only 18 returned to their homeland people; but the Victoria brought a large cargo of spices, the sale of which covered all the expenses of the expedition and also made a significant profit.

The great navigator Magellan completed the work begun by Columbus - he reached the Asian continent and the Moluccas by the western route, opening a new sea route from Europe to Asia, although it did not receive practical significance due to the distance and difficulty of navigation. This was the first circumnavigation in the history of mankind; it irrefutably proved the spherical shape of the earth and the inseparability of the oceans washing the land.

In the same year, when Magellan set out in search of a new sea route to the Moluccas, a small detachment of Spanish conquistadors, who had horses and armed with 13 cannons, set off from Cuba to the interior of Mexico to conquer the Aztec state, the wealth of which was not inferior to the wealth of India. The detachment was led by the Spanish hidalgo Hernando Cortes. Cortez, who came from a family of impoverished hidalgos, according to one of the participants in this campaign, “had little money, but a lot of debts.” But, having acquired plantations in Cuba, he was able to organize an expedition to Mexico partly at his own expense.

In their clashes with the Aztecs, the Spaniards, who possessed firearms, steel armor and horses, previously unseen in America and instilled panic in the Indians, as well as using improved combat tactics, received an overwhelming superiority of forces. In addition, the resistance of the Indian tribes to foreign conquerors was weakened by the enmity between the Aztecs and the tribes they conquered. This explains the rather easy victories of the Spanish troops.

Having landed on the Mexican coast, Cortez led his detachment to the capital of the Aztec state, the city of Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City). The path to the capital passed through the region of Indian tribes who were at war with the Aztecs, and this made the campaign easier. Entering Tenochtitlan, the Spaniards were amazed by the size and wealth of the Aztec capital. Soon they managed to treacherously capture the supreme ruler of the Aztecs, Montezuma, and begin to rule the country on his behalf. They demanded that the Indian leaders subject to Montezuma swear an oath of allegiance to the Spanish King I and pay tribute in gold. In the building where the Spanish detachment was located, a secret room was discovered, which contained a rich treasure of gold items and precious stones. All the gold items were poured into square bars and divided among the participants in the campaign, with the majority going to Cortes, the king and governor of Cuba.

Soon a great uprising broke out in the country against the power of greedy and cruel foreigners; The rebels besieged the Spanish detachment, which sat down with the captive supreme ruler in his courtyard. With heavy losses, Cortes managed to break out of the siege and leave Tenochtitlan; many Spaniards died because they rushed to the riches and gained so much that they could hardly walk.

And this time the Spaniards were helped by those Indian tribes who took their side and were now afraid of the revenge of the Aztecs. In addition, Cortez replenished his squad with Spaniards who arrived from Cuba. Having gathered an army of 10,000, Cortez again approached the capital of Mexico and besieged the city. The siege was long; During it, the majority of the population of this populous city died from hunger, thirst and disease. On August 1521, the Spaniards finally entered the ruined Aztec capital.

The Aztec state became a Spanish colony; The Spaniards captured a lot of gold and precious stones in this country, distributed the lands to their colonists, and turned the Indian population into slaves and serfs. “The Spanish conquest,” Engels says about the Aztecs, “cut off any further independent development of them” ( F. Engels, The origin of the family, private property and the state, Gospolitizdat, 1953, p. 23.).

Soon after the conquest of Mexico, the Spaniards conquered Guatemala and Honduras in Central America, and in 1546, after several invasions, they subjugated the Yucatan Peninsula, inhabited by the Mayan people. “There were too many rulers and they conspired too much against each other,” one of the Indians explained the Mayan defeat.

The Spanish conquest of North America did not extend beyond Mexico. This is explained by the fact that in the areas located north of Mexico, Spanish profit seekers did not find cities and states rich in gold and silver; on Spanish maps these areas of the American continent were usually designated by the inscription: “Lands not producing income.”

After the conquest of Mexico, the Spanish conquistadors turned all their attention south to the mountainous regions of South America, rich in gold and silver. In the 30s, the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, an illiterate man who had been a swineherd in his youth, undertook the conquest of the “golden kingdom,” the Inca state in Peru; he heard stories about his fabulous wealth from local residents on the Isthmus of Panama during Balboa’s campaign, of which he was a participant. With a detachment of 200 people and 50 horses, he invaded this state, managing to take advantage of the struggle of two heir brothers for the throne of the supreme ruler of the country; he captured one of them, Atahualpa, and began to rule the country on his behalf. A large ransom of gold items was taken from Atahualpa, many times greater than the treasure that Cortez’s detachment took possession of; this loot was divided among the members of the detachment, for which all the gold was turned into ingots, destroying the most valuable monuments of Peruvian art. The ransom did not give Atahualpa the promised freedom; The Spaniards treacherously brought him to trial and executed him. After this, Pizarro occupied the capital of the state, Cusco, and became the complete ruler of the country (1532); he placed on the throne of the supreme ruler his adherent, one of Atahualpa's nephews. In Cusco, the Spaniards plundered the treasures of the rich Temple of the Sun, and created a Catholic monastery in its building; in Potosi (Bolivia) they captured the richest silver mines.

In the early 40s, the Spanish conquistadors conquered Chile, and the Portuguese (in the 30s and 40s) conquered Brazil, which was discovered by Cabral in 1500 during his expedition to India (Cabral's ships were taken to the Cape of Good Hope to the west by the South Equatorial Current). In the second half of the 16th century. The Spaniards took over Argentina.

This is how the New World was discovered and the colonial possessions of feudal-absolutist Spain and Portugal were created on the American continent. The Spanish conquest of America interrupted the independent development of the peoples of the American continent and placed them under the yoke of colonial enslavement.

Openings in North America and Australia

Despite the agreement on the division of spheres of conquest between Porgalia and Spain, sailors and merchants from other European countries began to penetrate into unexplored parts of the globe in search of profit and wealth. Thus, John Cabot (Italian Giovanni Caboto, who moved to England), who went on an expedition to find a northwestern route to the Indian Ocean, first reached Newfoundland or the Labrador Peninsula in 1497, and his son, Sebastian Cabot, reached northeastern coast of North America and explored it. Subsequently, English and French navigators explored the eastern part of North America, and the Dutch, as a result of a series of voyages completed during the 17th century, discovered Australia, about which ancient geographers had vague information. In 1606, a Dutch ship under the command of Willem Janz first reached the northern coast of Australia, and in 1642-1644. The Dutch navigator Tasman made two voyages to the Australian shores and, going south of Australia to the island of Tasmania he discovered, proved that Australia is an independent new continent.

London merchants, in their own words, “seeing how amazingly quickly the wealth of the Spaniards and Portuguese was growing due to the discovery of new countries and the search for new trading markets,” organized an expedition of three ships under the command of Willoughby in 1552, which attempted to find the northeast passage to China, rounding the coast of Siberia. The ships of the Willoughby expedition in the Barents Sea were separated by a storm, two of them were covered with ice in the southern part of this sea, and their entire crew froze, and the third went into the White Sea, reaching the mouth of the Northern Dvina; its captain Chancellor visited Moscow and was received by Ivan the Terrible. In 1556 and 1580 The British again tried to find the northeastern passage, but beyond the entrance to the Kara Sea their ships solid ice couldn't get through.

Dutch merchants at the end of the 16th century. They sent three expeditions to search for this passage, led by the Dutch navigator Bill Barents, but these ships were unable to pass east of Novaya Zemlya, where Barents spent the winter during his last expedition (1596-1597), since his ship was covered in ice.

Russian geographical discoveries of the 16th - 17th centuries.

The Russian people contributed to the great geographical discoveries of the first half of the 17th century. significant contribution. Russian travelers and navigators made a number of discoveries (mainly in northeast Asia) that enriched world science.

The reason for the increased attention of the Russians to geographical discoveries was the further development commodity-money relations in the country and the associated process of the formation of the all-Russian market, as well as the gradual inclusion of Russia in the world market. During this period, two main directions were clearly outlined: the northeast (Siberia and the Far East) and the southeast (Central Asia, Mongolia, China), along which Russian travelers and sailors moved.

Trade and diplomatic trips of Russian people in the 16th-17th centuries were of great educational importance for contemporaries. to the countries of the East, surveying the shortest land routes for communication with the states of Central and Central Asia and China.

By the middle of the 17th century. The Russians thoroughly studied and described the routes to Central Asia. Detailed and valuable information of this kind was contained in ambassadorial reports (“item lists”) of Russian ambassadors I. D. Khokhlov (1620-1622), Anisim Gribov (1641-1643 and 1646-1647), etc.

Distant China attracted close attention from the Russian people. Back in 1525, while in Rome, the Russian ambassador Dmitry Gerasimov informed the writer Pavel Jovius that it was possible to travel from Europe to China by water through the northern seas. Thus, Gerasimov expressed a bold idea about the development of the Northern Route from Europe to Asia. Thanks to Jovius, who published a special book about Muscovy at the Gerasimov embassy, ​​this idea became widely known in Western Europe and was received with keen interest. It is possible that the organization of the Willoughby and Barents expeditions was prompted by messages from the Russian ambassador. In any case, the search for the Northern Sea Route to the east already in the middle of the 16th century. led to the establishment of direct maritime connections between Western Europe and Russia.

The first reliable evidence of travel to China is information about the embassy of the Cossack Ivan Petlin in 1618-1619. Petlin from Tomsk passed through the territory of Mongolia to China and visited Beijing. Returning to his homeland, he presented in Moscow “a drawing and painting about the Chinese region.” The information collected as a result of Petlin’s trip about the routes to China, about the natural resources and economy of Mongolia and China contributed to expanding the geographical horizons of his contemporaries.

Of great importance in the history of geographical discoveries of that era was the exploration of the vast expanses of the north and northeast of Asia from Ural ridge to the coast of the Arctic and Pacific oceans, i.e. all of Siberia.

The annexation of Siberia began in 1581 with the campaign of a detachment of the Cossack ataman Ermak Timofeevich. His detachment, consisting of 840 people, carried away by rumors about the untold riches of the Siberian Khanate, was equipped with funds from the large landowners and salt industrialists of the Urals, the Stroganovs. Ermak's campaign (1581-1584), supported by the government, led to the fall of the Siberian Khanate and the annexation of Western Siberia to the Russian state.

Back in the middle of the 16th century. the voyages of Russian polar sailors from the European part of the country to the Gulf of Ob and to the mouth of the Yenisei are mentioned. They moved along the coast of the Arctic Ocean on small keel sailing ships - kochas, well adapted to sailing in the Arctic ice thanks to the egg-shaped hull, which reduced the danger of ice compression. Used by Russian sailors of the 16th-17th centuries. compass (“womb”) and maps. In the first two decades of the 17th century. There already existed a fairly regular water connection between Western Siberian cities and Mangazeya along the Ob, the Gulf of Ob and the Arctic Ocean (the so-called “Mangazeya passage”). The same communication was maintained between Arkhangelsk and Mangazeya. According to contemporaries, from Arkhangelsk to “Mangazeya throughout the years, many commercial and industrial people walk at night with all sorts of German (i.e., foreign, Western European) goods and bread.” It was extremely important to establish the fact that the Yenisei flows into the same “Icy Sea” along which they sail from Western Europe to Arkhangelsk. This discovery belongs to the Russian trader Kondraty Kurochkin, who was the first to explore the fairway of the lower Yenisei right up to the mouth.

A serious blow to the “Mangazeya move” was dealt by government prohibitions in 1619-1620. use the sea route to Mangazeya, with the goal of preventing foreigners from entering there.

Moving east into the taiga and tundra of Eastern Siberia, the Russians discovered one of Asia's largest rivers, the Lena. Among the northern expeditions to the Lena, Penda's campaign (before 1630) stands out. Starting his journey with 40 companions from Turukhansk, he walked throughout the entire Lower Tunguska, crossed the portage and reached the Lena. Having descended along the Lena to the central regions of Yakutia, Penda then swam along the same river in the opposite direction almost to the upper reaches. From here, having passed through the Buryat steppes, he came to the Angara (Upper Tunguska), the first of the Russians to sail down the entire Angara, overcoming its famous rapids, after which he reached the Yenisei, and along the Yenisei he returned to his starting point - Turukhansk. Penda and his companions made an unprecedented circular journey of several thousand kilometers through difficult terrain.

In 1633, brave sailors Ivan Rebrov and Ilya Perfilyev left the mouth of the Lena to the east at night and reached the river by sea. Yana, and in 1636, the same Rebrov made a new sea voyage and reached the mouth of the Indigirka.

Almost simultaneously, detachments of Russian servicemen and industrial people (Posnika Ivanov and others) moved across the mainland in a northeastern direction, discovering the mentioned rivers from land. Posnik Ivanov “and his comrades” made their long and difficult journey through the mountain ranges on horseback.

An important discovery in northeast Asia ended in the early 40s of the 17th century. expedition of Mikhail Stadukhin. The detachment of the Cossack foreman and merchant Stadukhin, in which Semyon Dezhnev was located, descended on the kocha along the Indigirka River and in 1643 reached the “Kovaya River” by sea, i.e., reached the mouth of the Kolyma River. The Lower Kolyma winter hut was established here, from which a few years later the Cossack Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev and the industrialist Fedot Alekseev (known under the name Popov) set out on their famous voyage around the northeastern tip of the Asian continent of Kochi.

An outstanding event of this era was the discovery in 1648 of the strait between America and Asia, made by Dezhnev and Fedot Alekseev (Popov).

Back in 1647, Semyon Dezhnev tried to go by sea to the mysterious Anadyr River, about which there were rumors among Russian people, but “the ice did not allow the river to reach Anadyr,” and he was forced to return back. But the determination to achieve the intended goal did not leave Dezhnev and his comrades. On June 20, 1648, a new expedition on seven Kochs set off from the mouth of the Kolyma in search of the Anadyr River. The expedition, headed by Dezhnev and Alekseev, included about a hundred people. Soon after the start of the campaign, the four kochas disappeared from sight and the participants in this extremely difficult ice voyage had no further news of them. The remaining three ships, under the command of Dezhnev, Alekseev and Gerasim Ankudinov, continued their journey to the northeast. Not far from the Chukotka nose (later named after Dezhnev), Koch Ankudinov died. The crews of the other two ships took the castaways on board and stubbornly moved along the Arctic Ocean. In September 1648, the Dezhnev-Alekseev expedition rounded the extreme northeastern tip of Asia - the Chukotka (or Big Stone) nose and passed through the strait separating America from Asia (later called the Bering Strait). In bad sea weather, Dezhnev and Alekseev's boats lost sight of each other. Koch Dezhnev, who carried 25 people, was carried along the waves for a long time and finally washed up on the shore of the sea, which was later called the Bering Sea. Semyon Dezhnev then moved with his comrades deep into the mainland and, after a heroic 10-week journey, during which his participants walked through a completely unfamiliar country “cold and hungry, naked and barefoot,” reached the goal of his expedition - the Anadyr River. Thus, an outstanding geographical discovery was made, which proved that America is separated by sea from Asia and is an isolated continent, and a sea route around Northeast Asia was opened.

There is reason to believe that Kamchatka in the middle of the 17th century. was discovered by Russian people. According to later news, the koch of Fedot Alekseev and his companions reached Kamchatka, where the Russians lived for a long time among the Itelmens. The memory of this fact was preserved among the local population of Kamchatka, and a Russian scientist of the first half of the 18th century. Krasheninnikov reported about it in his work “Description of the Land of Kamchatka”. There is an assumption that part of the ships of Dezhnev’s expedition, which disappeared on the way to the Chukotka nose, reached Alaska, where they founded a Russian settlement. In 1937, during excavation work on the Kenai Peninsula (Alaska), the remains of dwellings dating back three hundred years were discovered, which scientists classified as built by Russian people.

In addition, Dezhnev and his companions are credited with the discovery of the Diomede Islands, where the Eskimos lived, and the exploration of the Anadyr River basin.

The discovery of Dezhnev-Alekseev was reflected on geographical maps Russia XVII century, which marked free sea passage from Kolyma to Amur.

During 1643-1651 The campaigns of the Russian detachments of V. Poyarkov and E. Khabarov to the Amur took place, providing a number of valuable information about this river, which had not been studied by Europeans.

So, over the course of a relatively short historical period (from the 80s of the 16th century to the 40s of the 17th century), Russian people walked through the steppes, taiga, and tundra across all of Siberia, sailed through the seas of the Arctic and made a number of outstanding geographical discoveries.

Consequences of geographical discoveries for Western Europe

During the XV-XVII centuries. thanks to the brave expeditions of sailors and travelers from many European countries, most of the earth's surface, the seas and oceans washing it, were discovered and explored; Many interior regions of America, Asia, Africa and Australia fell unknown. The most important sea routes were laid that connected the continents with each other. But at the same time, geographical discoveries marked the beginning of the monstrous enslavement and extermination of the peoples of open countries, which became the object of the most shameless robbery and exploitation for European profit seekers: treachery, deception, and consumption of local residents were the main methods of the conquerors. At this price, the conditions for the emergence of capitalist production were created in Western Europe.

The colonial system, which arose as a result of geographical discoveries, contributed to the accumulation in the hands of the bourgeoisie in Europe of large amounts of money necessary for the organization of large-scale capitalist production, and also created a sales market for its products, thus being one of the levers of the process of so-called primitive accumulation. With the establishment of the colonial system, the world market began to take shape, which served as a powerful impetus for the emergence and development of capitalist relations in Western Europe. “The colonies,” writes Marx, “provided a market for rapidly emerging manufactures, and the monopoly of this market ensured enhanced accumulation. Treasures obtained outside Europe through robbery, enslavement of natives, and murders flowed into the metropolis and were converted into capital.”

The rise of the European bourgeoisie was also facilitated by the so-called price revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries. It was caused by the import from America to Europe of large quantities of gold and silver, obtained by the cheap labor of serfs and slaves. In the middle of the 16th century. In the colonies, gold and silver were mined 5 times more than they were mined in Europe before the conquest of America, and the total amount of specie circulating in European countries increased more than 4 times during the 16th century. This influx of cheap gold and silver into Europe led to sharp decline purchasing power of money and to a strong increase in prices (2-3 times or more) for all goods, both agricultural and industrial. Everyone in the city suffered from this price increase; he received wages, and the bourgeoisie got richer. In the village, the main benefits were received by those nobles who started a new type of economy, using hired labor and selling products to the market at high prices, and wealthy peasants, who also sold a significant part of agricultural products. In addition, landowners who rented out land for short-term leases benefited. Finally, long-term tenants, peasant holders who paid traditional fixed cash rent, benefited. Large landowners-feudal lords went bankrupt, since they had owned most of their lands even before the 16th century. leased credentials on the condition of receiving a fixed annuity in cash.

Where this was possible, the feudal lords compensated for their losses by intensifying the offensive against the peasants, increasing cash rent, switching from cash quitrent to natural dues, or driving peasants off the land. The “price revolution” also affected the poorest peasants, who were forced to partially live by selling labor, and agricultural wage workers. Marx writes about the “price revolution”: “The consequence of the increase in the means of exchange was, on the one hand, the depreciation of wages and land rent, and on the other, an increase in industrial profits. In other words: to the extent that the class of landowners and the class of workers, the feudal lords and the people, have declined, to the same extent the class of capitalists, the bourgeoisie, has risen.”( K, Marx, The Poverty of Philosophy, K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, vol. 4, p. 154.) Thus, the “price revolution” was also one of the factors that contributed to the development of capitalism in Western Europe.

As a result of the great geographical discoveries, Europe's ties with the countries of Africa, South and East Asia increased, and relations with America were established for the first time. Trade became global. The center of economic life moved from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, the countries of Southern Europe fell into decline, primarily the Italian cities through which Europe's connections with the East were previously carried out, new centers of trade rose: Lisbon - in Portugal, Seville - in Spain, Antwerp - in the Netherlands. Antwerp became the richest city in Europe, trade in colonial goods, especially spices, was carried out on a large scale, and large international trade and credit transactions were carried out, which was facilitated by the fact that, unlike other cities, complete freedom of trade and credit transactions was established in Antwerp. In 1531, a special building was built in Antwerp to carry out trade and financial transactions - a stock exchange with a characteristic inscription on the pediment: “For the needs of merchants of all nations and languages.” When concluding a trade transaction on the stock exchange, the buyer examined only samples of goods. Loan obligations of the bill were quoted on the stock exchange as securities; appeared the new kind profit stock speculation.

AMUNDSEN Rual

Travel routes

1903-1906 - Arctic expedition on the ship "Joa". R. Amundsen was the first to travel through the Northwest Passage from Greenland to Alaska and determined the exact position of the North Magnetic Pole at that time.

1910-1912 - Antarctic expedition on the ship "Fram".

On December 14, 1911, a Norwegian traveler with four companions on a dog sled reached the South Pole of the earth, ahead of the expedition of the Englishman Robert Scott by a month.

1918-1920 - on the ship “Maud” R. Amundsen sailed across the Arctic Ocean along the coast of Eurasia.

1926 - together with the American Lincoln Ellsworth and the Italian Umberto Nobile R. Amundsen flew on the airship "Norway" along the route Spitsbergen - North Pole - Alaska.

1928 - During the search for the missing expedition of U. Nobile Amundsen in the Barents Sea, he died.

Name on geographical map

A sea in the Pacific Ocean, a mountain in East Antarctica, a bay near the coast of Canada and a basin in the Arctic Ocean are named after the Norwegian explorer.

The US Antarctic research station is named after the pioneers: the Amundsen-Scott Pole.

Amundsen R. My life. - M.: Geographgiz, 1959. - 166 p.: ill. - (Travel; Adventure; Science Fiction).

Amundsen R. South Pole: Per. from norwegian - M.: Armada, 2002. - 384 p.: ill. - (Green Series: Around the World).

Bouman-Larsen T. Amundsen: Trans. from norwegian - M.: Mol. Guard, 2005. - 520 pp.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

The chapter dedicated to Amundsen was titled by Y. Golovanov “Travel gave me the happiness of friendship...” (pp. 12-16).

Davydov Yu.V. Captains are looking for a way: Tales. - M.: Det. lit., 1989. - 542 pp.: ill.

Pasetsky V.M., Blinov S.A. Roald Amundsen, 1872-1928. - M.: Nauka, 1997. - 201 p. - (Scientific-biography ser.).

Treshnikov A.F. Roald Amundsen. - L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1976. - 62 p.: ill.

Tsentkevich A., Tsentkevich Ch. The Man Who was Called by the Sea: The Tale of R. Amundsen: Trans. with est. - Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1988. - 244 p.: ill.

Yakovlev A.S. Through the Ice: The Tale of a Polar Explorer. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1967. - 191 p.: ill. - (Pioneer means first).

Bellingshausen Faddey Faddeevich

Travel routes

1803-1806 - F.F. Bellingshausen took part in the first Russian circumnavigation under the command of I.F. Kruzenshtern on the ship “Nadezhda”. All the maps that were later included in the “Atlas for Captain Krusenstern’s trip around the world” were compiled by him.

1819-1821 - F.F. Bellingshausen led a round-the-world expedition to the South Pole.

On January 28, 1820, on the sloops “Vostok” (under the command of F.F. Bellingshausen) and “Mirny” (under the command of M.P. Lazarev), Russian sailors were the first to reach the shores of Antarctica.

Name on geographical map

A sea in the Pacific Ocean, a cape on South Sakhalin, an island in the Tuamotu archipelago, an ice shelf and a basin in Antarctica are named in honor of F.F. Bellingshausen.

A Russian Antarctic research station bears the name of the Russian navigator.

Moroz V. Antarctica: History of discovery / Artistic. E. Orlov. - M.: White City, 2001. - 47 p.: ill. - (Russian history).

Fedorovsky E.P. Bellingshausen: East. novel. - M.: AST: Astrel, 2001. - 541 p.: ill. - (Golden library of the historical novel).

BERING Vitus Jonassen

Danish navigator and explorer in Russian service

Travel routes

1725-1730 - V. Bering led the 1st Kamchatka expedition, the purpose of which was to search for a land isthmus between Asia and America (there was no exact information about the voyage of S. Dezhnev and F. Popov, who actually discovered the strait between the continents in 1648). The expedition on the ship "St. Gabriel" rounded the shores of Kamchatka and Chukotka, discovered the island of St. Lawrence and the Strait (now the Bering Strait).

1733-1741 - 2nd Kamchatka, or Great Northern Expedition. On the ship "St. Peter" Bering crossed the Pacific Ocean, reached Alaska, explored and mapped its shores. On the way back, during the winter on one of the islands (now the Commander Islands), Bering, like many members of his team, died.

Name on geographical map

In addition to the strait between Eurasia and North America, islands, the sea in the Pacific Ocean, a cape on the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and one of the largest glaciers in southern Alaska are named after Vitus Bering.

Konyaev N.M. Revision of Commander Bering. - M.: Terra-Kn. club, 2001. - 286 p. - (Fatherland).

Orlov O.P. To unknown shores: A story about the Kamchatka expeditions undertaken by Russian navigators in the 18th century under the leadership of V. Bering / Fig. V. Yudina. - M.: Malysh, 1987. - 23 p.: ill. - (Pages of the history of our Motherland).

Pasetsky V.M. Vitus Bering: 1681-1741. - M.: Nauka, 1982. - 174 p.: ill. - (Scientific-biography ser.).

The last expedition of Vitus Bering: Sat. - M.: Progress: Pangea, 1992. - 188 p.: ill.

Sopotsko A.A. The history of V. Bering’s voyage on the boat “St. Gabriel" to the Arctic Ocean. - M.: Nauka, 1983. - 247 p.: ill.

Chekurov M.V. Mysterious expeditions. - Ed. 2nd, revised, additional - M.: Nauka, 1991. - 152 p.: ill. - (Man and the environment).

Chukovsky N.K. Bering. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1961. - 127 p.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

VAMBERY Arminius (Herman)

Hungarian orientalist

Travel routes

1863 - A. Vambery's journey under the guise of a dervish across Central Asia from Tehran through the Turkmen desert along the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea to Khiva, Mashhad, Herat, Samarkand and Bukhara.

Vambery A. Traveling through Central Asia: Trans. with him. - M.: Institute of Oriental Studies RAS, 2003. - 320 p. - (Stories about Eastern countries).

Vamberi A. Bukhara, or History of Mavarounnahr: Excerpts from the book. - Tashkent: Literary Publishing House. and isk-va, 1990. - 91 p.

Tikhonov N.S. Vambery. - Ed. 14th. - M.: Mysl, 1974. - 45 p.: ill. - (Notable geographers and travelers).

VANCOUVER George

English navigator

Travel routes

1772-1775, 1776-1780 - J. Vancouver, as a cabin boy and midshipman, participated in the second and third voyages around the world by J. Cook.

1790-1795 - a round-the-world expedition under the command of J. Vancouver explored the northwestern coast of North America. It was determined that the proposed waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean and Hudson Bay did not exist.

Name on geographical map

Several hundred geographical objects are named in honor of J. Vancouver, including an island, bay, city, river, ridge (Canada), lake, cape, mountain, city (USA), bay (New Zealand).

Malakhovsky K.V. In the new Albion. - M.: Nauka, 1990. - 123 p.: ill. - (Stories about Eastern countries).

GAMA Vasco yes

Portuguese navigator

Travel routes

1497-1499 - Vasco da Gama led an expedition that opened a sea route for Europeans to India around the African continent.

1502 - second expedition to India.

1524 - the third expedition of Vasco da Gama, already as Viceroy of India. He died during the expedition.

Vyazov E.I. Vasco da Gama: Discoverer of the sea route to India. - M.: Geographizdat, 1956. - 39 p.: ill. - (Notable geographers and travelers).

Camões L., de. Sonnets; Lusiads: Transl. from Portugal - M.: EKSMO-Press, 1999. - 477 p.: ill. - (Home library of poetry).

Read the poem "The Lusiads".

Kent L.E. They walked with Vasco da Gama: A Tale / Trans. from English Z. Bobyr // Fingaret S.I. Great Benin; Kent L.E. They walked with Vasco da Gama; Zweig S. Magellan's feat: East. stories. - M.: TERRA: UNICUM, 1999. - P. 194-412.

Kunin K.I. Vasco da Gama. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1947. - 322 pp.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

Khazanov A.M. The Mystery of Vasco da Gama. - M.: Institute of Oriental Studies RAS, 2000. - 152 p.: ill.

Hart G. The sea route to India: A story about the voyages and exploits of Portuguese sailors, as well as about the life and times of Vasco da Gama, admiral, viceroy of India and Count Vidigueira: Trans. from English - M.: Geographizdat, 1959. - 349 p.: ill.

GOLOVNIN Vasily Mikhailovich

Russian navigator

Travel routes

1807-1811 - V.M. Golovnin leads the circumnavigation of the world on the sloop “Diana”.

1811 - V.M. Golovnin conducts research on the Kuril and Shantar Islands, the Tatar Strait.

1817-1819 - circumnavigation of the world on the sloop "Kamchatka", during which a description of part of the Aleutian ridge and the Commander Islands was made.

Name on geographical map

Several bays, a strait and an underwater mountain are named after the Russian navigator, as well as a city in Alaska and a volcano on the island of Kunashir.

Golovnin V.M. Notes from the fleet of Captain Golovnin about his adventures in captivity of the Japanese in 1811, 1812 and 1813, including his comments about the Japanese state and people. - Khabarovsk: Book. publishing house, 1972. - 525 pp.: ill.

Golovnin V.M. A voyage around the world made on the sloop of war "Kamchatka" in 1817, 1818 and 1819 by Captain Golovnin. - M.: Mysl, 1965. - 384 p.: ill.

Golovnin V.M. A voyage on the sloop "Diana" from Kronstadt to Kamchatka, made under the command of the fleet of Lieutenant Golovnin in 1807-1811. - M.: Geographizdat, 1961. - 480 pp.: ill.

Golovanov Ya. Sketches about scientists. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1983. - 415 pp.: ill.

The chapter dedicated to Golovnin is called “I feel a lot...” (pp. 73-79).

Davydov Yu.V. Evenings in Kolmovo: The Tale of G. Uspensky; And before your eyes...: An experience in the biography of a marine marine painter: [About V.M. Golovnin]. - M.: Book, 1989. - 332 pp.: ill. - (Writers about writers).

Davydov Yu.V. Golovnin. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1968. - 206 pp.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

Davydov Yu.V. Three admirals: [About D.N. Senyavin, V.M. Golovnin, P.S. Nakhimov]. - M.: Izvestia, 1996. - 446 p.: ill.

Divin V.A. The story of a glorious navigator. - M.: Mysl, 1976. - 111 p.: ill. - (Notable geographers and travelers).

Lebedenko A.G. The sails of ships rustle: A novel. - Odessa: Mayak, 1989. - 229 p.: ill. - (Sea b-ka).

Firsov I.I. Twice Captured: East. novel. - M.: AST: Astrel, 2002. - 469 p.: ill. - (Golden library of the historical novel: Russian travelers).

HUMBOLDT Alexander, background

German natural scientist, geographer, traveler

Travel routes

1799-1804 - expedition to Central and South America.

1829 - travel across Russia: the Urals, Altai, Caspian Sea.

Name on geographical map

Ranges in Central Asia and North America, a mountain on the island of New Caledonia, a glacier in Greenland, a cold current in the Pacific Ocean, a river, a lake and a number of settlements in the USA are named after Humboldt.

A number of plants, minerals and even a crater on the Moon are named after the German scientist.

The university in Berlin is named after the brothers Alexander and Wilhelm Humboldt.

Zabelin I.M. Return to descendants: A novel-study of the life and work of A. Humboldt. - M.: Mysl, 1988. - 331 p.: ill.

Safonov V.A. Alexander Humboldt. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1959. - 191 p.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

Skurla G. Alexander Humboldt / Abbr. lane with him. G. Shevchenko. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1985. - 239 pp.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

DEZHNEV Semyon Ivanovich

(c. 1605-1673)

Russian explorer, navigator

Travel routes

1638-1648 - S.I. Dezhnev took part in river and land campaigns in the area of ​​the Yana River, Oymyakon and Kolyma.

1648 - a fishing expedition led by S.I. Dezhnev and F.A. Popov circled the Chukotka Peninsula and reached the Gulf of Anadyr. This is how the strait was opened between the two continents, which was later named the Bering Strait.

Name on geographical map

A cape on the northeastern tip of Asia, a ridge in Chukotka and a bay in the Bering Strait are named after Dezhnev.

Bakhrevsky V.A. Semyon Dezhnev / Fig. L. Khailova. - M.: Malysh, 1984. - 24 p.: ill. - (Pages of the history of our Motherland).

Bakhrevsky V.A. Walking towards the sun: East. story. - Novosibirsk: Book. publishing house, 1986. - 190 pp.: ill. - (Fates connected with Siberia).

Belov M. The feat of Semyon Dezhnev. - M.: Mysl, 1973. - 223 p.: ill.

Demin L.M. Semyon Dezhnev - pioneer: East. novel. - M.: AST: Astrel, 2002. - 444 p.: ill. - (Golden library of the historical novel: Russian travelers).

Demin L.M. Semyon Dezhnev. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1990. - 334 pp.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

Kedrov V.N. To the ends of the world: East. story. - L.: Lenizdat, 1986. - 285 p.: ill.

Markov S.N. Tamo-Rus Maclay: Stories. - M.: Sov. writer, 1975. - 208 pp.: ill.

Read the story “Dezhnev’s Feat.”

Nikitin N.I. Explorer Semyon Dezhnev and his time. - M.: Rosspen, 1999. - 190 pp.: ill.

DRAKE Francis

English navigator and pirate

Travel routes

1567 - F. Drake took part in J. Hawkins' expedition to the West Indies.

Since 1570 - annual pirate raids in the Caribbean Sea.

1577-1580 - F. Drake led the second European voyage around the world after Magellan.

Name on geographical map

The widest strait in the world is named after the brave navigator. globe, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Francis Drake / Retelling by D. Berkhin; Artist L.Durasov. - M.: White City, 1996. - 62 p.: ill. - (History of piracy).

Malakhovsky K.V. Round-the-world run of the "Golden Hind". - M.: Nauka, 1980. - 168 p.: ill. - (Countries and peoples).

The same story can be found in K. Malakhovsky’s collection “Five Captains”.

Mason F. van W. The Golden Admiral: Novel: Trans. from English - M.: Armada, 1998. - 474 p.: ill. - (Great pirates in novels).

Muller V.K. Queen Elizabeth's Pirate: Trans. from English - St. Petersburg: LENKO: Gangut, 1993. - 254 p.: ill.

DUMONT-DURVILLE Jules Sebastien Cesar

French navigator and oceanographer

Travel routes

1826-1828 - circumnavigation of the world on the ship "Astrolabe", as a result of which part of the coasts of New Zealand and New Guinea were mapped and island groups in the Pacific Ocean were examined. On the island of Vanikoro, Dumont-D'Urville discovered traces of the lost expedition of J. La Perouse.

1837-1840 - Antarctic expedition.

Name on geographical map

The sea in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Antarctica is named after the navigator.

The French Antarctic scientific station is named after Dumont-D'Urville.

Varshavsky A.S. Travel of Dumont-D'Urville. - M.: Mysl, 1977. - 59 p.: ill. - (Notable geographers and travelers).

The fifth part of the book is called “Captain Dumont D'Urville and his belated discovery” (pp. 483-504).

IBN BATTUTA Abu Abdallah Muhammad

Ibn al-Lawati at-Tanji

Arab traveler, wandering merchant

Travel routes

1325-1349 - Having set off from Morocco on a hajj (pilgrimage), Ibn Battuta visited Egypt, Arabia, Iran, Syria, Crimea, reached the Volga and lived for some time in the Golden Horde. Then, through Central Asia and Afghanistan, he arrived in India, visited Indonesia and China.

1349-1352 - travel to Muslim Spain.

1352-1353 - travel through Western and Central Sudan.

At the request of the ruler of Morocco, Ibn Battuta, together with a scientist named Juzai, wrote the book “Rihla”, where he summarized the information about the Muslim world that he collected during his travels.

Ibragimov N. Ibn Battuta and his travels in Central Asia. - M.: Nauka, 1988. - 126 p.: ill.

Miloslavsky G. Ibn Battuta. - M.: Mysl, 1974. - 78 p.: ill. - (Notable geographers and travelers).

Timofeev I. Ibn Battuta. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1983. - 230 pp.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

COLUMBUS Christopher

Portuguese and Spanish navigator

Travel routes

1492-1493 - H. Columbus led the Spanish expedition, the purpose of which was to find the shortest sea route from Europe to India. During the voyage on three caravels "Santa Maria", "Pinta" and "Nina" the Sargasso Sea, the Bahamas, Cuba and Haiti were discovered.

October 12, 1492, when Columbus reached the island of Samana, is recognized as the official day of the discovery of America by Europeans.

During three subsequent expeditions across the Atlantic (1493-1496, 1498-1500, 1502-1504), Columbus discovered the Greater Antilles, part of the Lesser Antilles, the coasts of South and Central America and the Caribbean Sea.

Until the end of his life, Columbus was confident that he had reached India.

Name on geographical map

A state in South America, mountains and plateaus in North America, a glacier in Alaska, a river in Canada and several cities in the USA are named after Christopher Columbus.

In the United States of America there is Columbia University.

Travels of Christopher Columbus: Diaries, letters, documents / Transl. from Spanish and comment. Ya. Sveta. - M.: Geographizdat, 1961. - 515 p.: ill.

Blasco Ibañez V. In Search of the Great Khan: A Novel: Trans. from Spanish - Kaliningrad: Book. publishing house, 1987. - 558 pp.: ill. - (Sea novel).

Verlinden C. Christopher Columbus: Mirage and Perseverance: Trans. with him. // Conquerors of America. - Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 1997. - P. 3-144.

Irving V. History of the life and travels of Christopher Columbus: Trans. from English // Irving V. Collection. cit.: In 5 vols.: T. 3, 4. - M.: Terra - Book. club, 2002-2003.

Clients A.E. Christopher Columbus / Artist. A. Chauzov. - M.: White City, 2003. - 63 p.: ill. - (Historical novel).

Kovalevskaya O.T. The admiral's brilliant mistake: How Christopher Columbus, without knowing it, discovered the New World, which was later called America / Lit. processing by T. Pesotskaya; Artist N. Koshkin, G. Alexandrova, A. Skorikov. - M.: Interbook, 1997. - 18 p.: ill. - (The greatest journeys).

Columbus; Livingston; Stanley; A. Humboldt; Przhevalsky: Biogr. narratives. - Chelyabinsk: Ural LTD, 2000. - 415 p.: ill. - (Life of remarkable people: Biography of the library of F. Pavlenkov).

Cooper J.F. Mercedes from Castile, or Journey to Cathay: Trans. from English - M.: Patriot, 1992. - 407 p.: ill.

Lange P.V. The Great Wanderer: The Life of Christopher Columbus: Trans. with him. - M.: Mysl, 1984. - 224 p.: ill.

Magidovich I.P. Christopher Columbus. - M.: Geographizdat, 1956. - 35 p.: ill. - (Notable geographers and travelers).

Reifman L. From the harbor of hopes - into the seas of anxiety: The life and times of Christopher Columbus: East. chronicles. - St. Petersburg: Lyceum: Soyuztheater, 1992. - 302 p.: ill.

Rzhonsnitsky V.B. Discovery of America by Columbus. - St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg Publishing House. University, 1994. - 92 p.: ill.

Sabatini R. Columbus: Novel: Trans. from English - M.: Republic, 1992. - 286 p.

Svet Ya.M. Columbus. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1973. - 368 pp.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

Subbotin V.A. Great discoveries: Columbus; Vasco da Gama; Magellan. - M.: Publishing house URAO, 1998. - 269 p.: ill.

Chronicles of the Discovery of America: New Spain: Book. 1: East. documents: Per. from Spanish - M.: Academic project, 2000. - 496 p.: ill. - (B-Latin America).

Shishova Z.K. The Great Voyage: East. novel. - M.: Det. lit., 1972. - 336 pp.: ill.

Edberg R. Letters to Columbus; Spirit of the Valley / Transl. with Swedish L. Zhdanova. - M.: Progress, 1986. - 361 p.: ill.

KRASHENINNIKOV Stepan Petrovich

Russian scientist-naturalist, first explorer of Kamchatka

Travel routes

1733-1743 - S.P. Krasheninnikov took part in the 2nd Kamchatka expedition. First, under the guidance of academicians G.F. Miller and I.G. Gmelin, he studied Altai and Transbaikalia. In October 1737, Krasheninnikov independently went to Kamchatka, where until June 1741 he conducted research, based on the materials of which he subsequently compiled the first “Description of the Land of Kamchatka” (vols. 1-2, ed. 1756).

Name on geographical map

An island near Kamchatka, a cape on Karaginsky Island and a mountain near Lake Kronotskoye are named after S.P. Krasheninnikov.

Krasheninnikov S.P. Description of the land of Kamchatka: In 2 volumes - Reprint. ed. - St. Petersburg: Science; Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky: Kamshat, 1994.

Varshavsky A.S. Sons of the Fatherland. - M.: Det. lit., 1987. - 303 pp.: ill.

Mixon I.L. The man who...: East. story. - L.: Det. lit., 1989. - 208 pp.: ill.

Fradkin N.G. S.P. Krasheninnikov. - M.: Mysl, 1974. - 60 p.: ill. - (Notable geographers and travelers).

Eidelman N.Ya. What is there beyond the sea-ocean?: A story about the Russian scientist S.P. Krasheninnikov, the discoverer of Kamchatka. - M.: Malysh, 1984. - 28 p.: ill. - (Pages of the history of our Motherland).

KRUZENSHTERN Ivan Fedorovich

Russian navigator, admiral

Travel routes

1803-1806 - I.F. Kruzenshtern led the first Russian round-the-world expedition on the ships “Nadezhda” and “Neva”. I.F. Kruzenshtern - author of the “Atlas of the South Sea” (vols. 1-2, 1823-1826)

Name on geographical map

The name of I.F. Kruzenshtern is borne by a strait in the northern part of the Kuril Islands, two atolls in the Pacific Ocean and the southeastern passage of the Korean Strait.

Krusenstern I.F. Voyages around the world in 1803, 1804, 1805 and 1806 on the ships Nadezhda and Neva. - Vladivostok: Dalnevost. book publishing house, 1976. - 392 pp.: ill. - (Far Eastern history library).

Zabolotskikh B.V. In honor of the Russian flag: The Tale of I.F. Kruzenshtern, who led the first voyage of Russians around the world in 1803-1806, and O.E. Kotzebue, who made an unprecedented voyage on the brig “Rurik” in 1815-1818. - M.: Autopan, 1996. - 285 p.: ill.

Zabolotskikh B.V. Petrovsky Fleet: East. essays; In honor of the Russian flag: A Tale; The second journey of Kruzenshtern: A Tale. - M.: Classics, 2002. - 367 pp.: ill.

Pasetsky V.M. Ivan Fedorovich Krusenstern. - M.: Nauka, 1974. - 176 p.: ill.

Firsov I.I. Russian Columbus: History of the round-the-world expedition of I. Kruzenshtern and Yu. Lisyansky. - M.: Tsentrpoligraf, 2001. - 426 p.: ill. - (Great geographical discoveries).

Chukovsky N.K. Captain Krusenstern: A Tale. - M.: Bustard, 2002. - 165 p.: ill. - (Honor and courage).

Steinberg E.L. Glorious sailors Ivan Krusenstern and Yuri Lisyansky. - M.: Detgiz, 1954. - 224 p.: ill.

COOK James

English navigator

Travel routes

1768-1771 - round-the-world expedition on the frigate Endeavor under the command of J. Cook. The island position of New Zealand has been determined, the Great Barrier Reef and the east coast of Australia have been discovered.

1772-1775 - the goal of the second expedition headed by Cook on the Resolution ship (to find and map the Southern Continent) was not achieved. As a result of the search, the South Sandwich Islands, New Caledonia, Norfolk, and South Georgia were discovered.

1776-1779 - Cook's third round-the-world expedition on the ships "Resolution" and "Discovery" was aimed at finding the Northwest Passage connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The passage was not found, but the Hawaiian Islands and part of the Alaskan coast were discovered. On the way back, J. Cook was killed on one of the islands by the aborigines.

Name on geographical map

The most are named after the English navigator. high mountain New Zealand, a bay in the Pacific Ocean, islands in Polynesia and a strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand.

James Cook's first circumnavigation of the world: Sailing on the ship Endeavor in 1768-1771. / J. Cook. - M.: Geographizdat, 1960. - 504 p.: ill.

James Cook's second voyage: Voyage to the South Pole and around the world in 1772-1775. / J. Cook. - M.: Mysl, 1964. - 624 p.: ill. - (Geographical ser.).

James Cook's third voyage around the world: Navigation in the Pacific Ocean 1776-1780. / J. Cook. - M.: Mysl, 1971. - 636 p.: ill.

Vladimirov V.I. Cook. - M.: Iskra revolution, 1933. - 168 p.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

McLean A. Captain Cook: History of Geography. discoveries of the great navigator: Trans. from English - M.: Tsentrpoligraf, 2001. - 155 p.: ill. - (Great geographical discoveries).

Middleton H. Captain Cook: The famous navigator: Trans. from English / Ill. A. Marx. - M.: AsCON, 1998. - 31 p.: ill. - (Great names).

Svet Ya.M. James Cook. - M.: Mysl, 1979. - 110 p.: ill. - (Notable geographers and travelers).

Chukovsky N.K. Frigate Drivers: A Book about Great Navigators. - M.: ROSMEN, 2001. - 509 p. - (Golden Triangle).

The first part of the book is titled “Captain James Cook and his three voyages around the world” (p. 7-111).

LAZAREV Mikhail Petrovich

Russian naval commander and navigator

Travel routes

1813-1816 - circumnavigation of the world on the ship "Suvorov" from Kronstadt to the shores of Alaska and back.

1819-1821 - commanding the sloop “Mirny”, M.P. Lazarev participated in a round-the-world expedition led by F.F. Bellingshausen.

1822-1824 - M.P. Lazarev led a round-the-world expedition on the frigate “Cruiser”.

Name on geographical map

A sea in the Atlantic Ocean, an ice shelf and an underwater trench in East Antarctica, and a village on the Black Sea coast are named after M.P. Lazarev.

The Russian Antarctic scientific station also bears the name of M.P. Lazarev.

Ostrovsky B.G. Lazarev. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1966. - 176 pp.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

Firsov I.I. Half a century under sail. - M.: Mysl, 1988. - 238 p.: ill.

Firsov I.I. Antarctica and Navarin: A Novel. - M.: Armada, 1998. - 417 p.: ill. - (Russian generals).

LIVINGSTON David

English explorer of Africa

Travel routes

Since 1841 - numerous travels through the interior regions of South and Central Africa.

1849-1851 - studies of the Lake Ngami area.

1851-1856 - research of the Zambezi River. D. Livingston discovered the Victoria Falls and was the first European to cross the African continent.

1858-1864 - exploration of the Zambezi River, lakes Chilwa and Nyasa.

1866-1873 - several expeditions in search of the sources of the Nile.

Name on geographical map

Waterfalls on the Congo River and a city on the Zambezi River are named after the English traveler.

Livingston D. Traveling in South Africa: Trans. from English / Ill. author. - M.: EKSMO-Press, 2002. - 475 p.: ill. - (Compass Rose: Epochs; Continents; Events; Seas; Discoveries).

Livingston D., Livingston C. Travel along the Zambezi, 1858-1864: Trans. from English - M.: Tsentrpoligraf, 2001. - 460 pp.: ill.

Adamovich M.P. Livingston. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1938. - 376 pp.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

Votte G. David Livingston: The Life of an African Explorer: Trans. with him. - M.: Mysl, 1984. - 271 p.: ill.

Columbus; Livingston; Stanley; A. Humboldt; Przhevalsky: Biogr. narratives. - Chelyabinsk: Ural LTD, 2000. - 415 p.: ill. - (Life of remarkable people: Biography of the library of F. Pavlenkov).

MAGELLAN Fernand

(c. 1480-1521)

Portuguese navigator

Travel routes

1519-1521 - F. Magellan led the first circumnavigation in the history of mankind. Magellan's expedition discovered the coast of South America south of La Plata, circumnavigated the continent, crossed the strait that was later named after the navigator, then crossed the Pacific Ocean and reached the Philippine Islands. On one of them, Magellan was killed. After his death, the expedition was led by J.S. Elcano, thanks to whom only one of the ships (Victoria) and the last eighteen sailors (out of two hundred and sixty-five crew members) were able to reach the shores of Spain.

Name on geographical map

The Strait of Magellan is located between the mainland of South America and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Boytsov M.A. Magellan's Path / Artist. S. Boyko. - M.: Malysh, 1991. - 19 p.: ill.

Kunin K.I. Magellan. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1940. - 304 p.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

Lange P.V. Like the sun: The life of F. Magellan and the first circumnavigation of the world: Trans. with him. - M.: Progress, 1988. - 237 p.: ill.

Pigafetta A. Magellan's Journey: Trans. with it.; Mitchell M. El Cano - the first circumnavigator: Trans. from English - M.: Mysl, 2000. - 302 p.: ill. - (Travel and travelers).

Subbotin V.A. Great discoveries: Columbus; Vasco da Gama; Magellan. - M.: Publishing house URAO, 1998. - 269 p.: ill.

Travinsky V.M. Navigator's Star: Magellan: East. story. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1969. - 191 p.: ill.

Khvilevitskaya E.M. How the earth turned out to be a ball / Artist. A. Ostromentsky. - M.: Interbook, 1997. - 18 p.: ill. - (The greatest journeys).

Zweig S. Magellan; Amerigo: Transl. with him. - M.: AST, 2001. - 317 p.: ill. - (World classics).

MIKLOUKHO-MACLAY Nikolai Nikolaevich

Russian scientist, explorer of Oceania and New Guinea

Travel routes

1866-1867 - travel to the Canary Islands and Morocco.

1871-1886 - study of the indigenous people of Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania, including the Papuans of the North-Eastern coast of New Guinea.

Name on geographical map

The Miklouho-Maclay coast is located in New Guinea.

Also named after Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay is the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Man from the Moon: Diaries, articles, letters of N.N. Miklouho-Maclay. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1982. - 336 pp.: ill. - (Arrow).

Balandin R.K. N.N. Miklouho-Maclay: Book. for students / Fig. author. - M.: Education, 1985. - 96 p.: ill. - (People of science).

Golovanov Ya. Sketches about scientists. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1983. - 415 pp.: ill.

The chapter dedicated to Miklouho-Maclay is titled “I foresee no end to my travels...” (pp. 233-236).

Greenop F.S. About the one who wandered alone: ​​Trans. from English - M.: Nauka, 1986. - 260 pp.: ill.

Kolesnikov M.S. Miklukho Maclay. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1965. - 272 pp.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

Markov S.N. Tamo - rus Maklay: Stories. - M.: Sov. writer, 1975. - 208 pp.: ill.

Orlov O.P. Come back to us, Maclay!: A story. - M.: Det. lit., 1987. - 48 p.: ill.

Putilov B.N. N.N. Miklouho-Maclay: Traveler, scientist, humanist. - M.: Progress, 1985. - 280 pp.: ill.

Tynyanova L.N. Friend from Afar: A Tale. - M.: Det. lit., 1976. - 332 pp.: ill.

NANSEN Fridtjof

Norwegian polar explorer

Travel routes

1888 - F. Nansen made the first ski crossing in history across Greenland.

1893-1896 - Nansen on the ship "Fram" drifted across the Arctic Ocean from the New Siberian Islands to the Spitsbergen archipelago. As a result of the expedition, extensive oceanographic and meteorological material was collected, but Nansen was unable to reach the North Pole.

1900 - expedition to study the currents of the Arctic Ocean.

Name on geographical map

An underwater basin and an underwater ridge in the Arctic Ocean, as well as a number of geographical features in the Arctic and Antarctic, are named after Nansen.

Nansen F. To the Land of the Future: The Great Northern Route from Europe to Siberia through the Kara Sea / Authorized. lane from norwegian A. and P. Hansen. - Krasnoyarsk: Book. publishing house, 1982. - 335 pp.: ill.

Nansen F. Through the eyes of a friend: Chapters from the book “Through the Caucasus to the Volga”: Trans. with him. - Makhachkala: Dagestan book. publishing house, 1981. - 54 p.: ill.

Nansen F. “Fram” in the Polar Sea: At 2 o’clock: Per. from norwegian - M.: Geographizdat, 1956.

Kublitsky G.I. Fridtjof Nansen: His life and extraordinary adventures. - M.: Det. lit., 1981. - 287 pp.: ill.

Nansen-Heyer L. Book about the father: Trans. from norwegian - L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1986. - 512 p.: ill.

Pasetsky V.M. Fridtjof Nansen, 1861-1930. - M.: Nauka, 1986. - 335 p.: ill. - (Scientific-biography ser.).

Sannes T.B. "Fram": Adventures of Polar Expeditions: Trans. with him. - L.: Shipbuilding, 1991. - 271 p.: ill. - (Notice ships).

Talanov A. Nansen. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1960. - 304 pp.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

Holt K. Competition: [About the expeditions of R.F. Scott and R. Amundsen]; Wandering: [About the expedition of F. Nansen and J. Johansen] / Trans. from norwegian L. Zhdanova. - M.: Physical culture and sport, 1987. - 301 p.: ill. - (Unusual travels).

Please note that this book (in the appendix) contains an essay by the famous traveler Thor Heyerdahl, “Fridtjof Nansen: A Warm Heart in a Cold World.”

Tsentkevich A., Tsentkevich Ch. Who will you become, Fridtjof: [Tales about F. Nansen and R. Amundsen]. - Kyiv: Dnipro, 1982. - 502 p.: ill.

Shackleton E. Fridtjof Nansen - researcher: Trans. from English - M.: Progress, 1986. - 206 p.: ill.

NIKITIN Afanasy

(? - 1472 or 1473)

Russian merchant, traveler in Asia

Travel routes

1466-1472 - A. Nikitin’s journey through the countries of the Middle East and India. On the way back, stopping at a Cafe (Feodosia), Afanasy Nikitin wrote a description of his travels and adventures - “Walking across Three Seas.”

Nikitin A. Walking beyond the three seas of Afanasy Nikitin. - L.: Nauka, 1986. - 212 p.: ill. - (Lit. monuments).

Nikitin A. Walking beyond three seas: 1466-1472. - Kaliningrad: Amber Tale, 2004. - 118 p.: ill.

Varzhapetyan V.V. The Tale of a Merchant, a Piebald Horse and a Talking Bird / Fig. N.Nepomniachtchi. - M.: Det. lit., 1990. - 95 p.: ill.

Vitashevskaya M.N. The wanderings of Afanasy Nikitin. - M.: Mysl, 1972. - 118 p.: ill. - (Notable geographers and travelers).

All nations are one: [Sb.]. - M.: Sirin, B.g. - 466 pp.: ill. - (History of the Fatherland in novels, stories, documents).

The collection includes V. Pribytkov’s story “The Tver Guest” and the book by Afanasy Nikitin himself “Walking across Three Seas”.

Grimberg F.I. Seven songs of a Russian foreigner: Nikitin: Ist. novel. - M.: AST: Astrel, 2003. - 424 p.: ill. - (Golden library of the historical novel: Russian travelers).

Kachaev Yu.G. Far away / Fig. M. Romadina. - M.: Malysh, 1982. - 24 p.: ill.

Kunin K.I. Beyond Three Seas: The Journey of the Tver Merchant Afanasy Nikitin: Ist. story. - Kaliningrad: Amber Tale, 2002. - 199 p.: ill. - (Treasured pages).

Murashova K. Afanasy Nikitin: The Tale of the Tver Merchant / Artist. A. Chauzov. - M.: White City, 2005. - 63 p.: ill. - (Historical novel).

Semenov L.S. Travel of Afanasy Nikitin. - M.: Nauka, 1980. - 145 p.: ill. - (History of science and technology).

Soloviev A.P. Walking beyond three seas: a novel. - M.: Terra, 1999. - 477 p. - (Fatherland).

Tager E.M. The story of Afanasy Nikitin. - L.: Det. lit., 1966. - 104 p.: ill.

PIRI Robert Edwin

American polar explorer

Travel routes

1892 and 1895 - two trips through Greenland.

From 1902 to 1905 - several unsuccessful attempts to conquer the North Pole.

Finally, R. Peary announced that he had reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909. However, seventy years after the death of the traveler, when, according to his will, the expedition diaries were declassified, it turned out that Piri was actually unable to reach the Pole; he stopped at 89˚55΄ N.

Name on geographical map

The peninsula in the far north of Greenland is called Peary Land.

Pirie R. North Pole; Amundsen R. South Pole. - M.: Mysl, 1981. - 599 p.: ill.

Pay attention to the article by F. Treshnikov “Robert Peary and the conquest of the North Pole” (p. 225-242).

Piri R. North Pole / Transl. from English L.Petkevichiute. - Vilnius: Vituris, 1988. - 239 p.: ill. - (World of Discovery).

Karpov G.V. Robert Peary. - M.: Geographizdat, 1956. - 39 p.: ill. - (Notable geographers and travelers).

POLO Marco

(c. 1254-1324)

Venetian merchant, traveler

Travel routes

1271-1295 - M. Polo’s journey through the countries of Central and East Asia.

The Venetian’s memories of his wanderings in the East compiled the famous “Book of Marco Polo” (1298), which for almost 600 years remained the most important source of information about China and other Asian countries for the West.

Polo M. Book about the diversity of the world / Trans. with old French I.P.Minaeva; Preface H.L. Borges. - St. Petersburg: Amphora, 1999. - 381 p.: ill. - (Personal library of Borges).

Polo M. Book of Wonders: Excerpt from the “Book of Wonders of the World” from the National. libraries of France: Transl. from fr. - M.: White City, 2003. - 223 p.: ill.

Davidson E., Davis G. Son of Heaven: The Wanderings of Marco Polo / Trans. from English M. Kondratieva. - St. Petersburg: ABC: Terra - Book. club, 1997. - 397 p. - (New Earth: Fantasy).

A fantasy novel on the theme of the travels of a Venetian merchant.

Maink V. The Amazing Adventures of Marco Polo: [Hist. story] / Abbr. lane with him. L. Lungina. - St. Petersburg: Brask: Epoch, 1993. - 303 pp.: ill. - (Version).

Pesotskaya T.E. Treasures of a Venetian merchant: How Marco Polo a quarter of a century ago wandered around the East and wrote a famous book about various miracles that no one wanted to believe in / Artist. I. Oleinikov. - M.: Interbook, 1997. - 18 p.: ill. - (The greatest journeys).

Pronin V. Life of the great Venetian traveler Messer Marco Polo / Artist. Yu.Saevich. - M.: Kron-Press, 1993. - 159 p.: ill.

Tolstikov A.Ya. Marco Polo: The Venetian Wanderer / Artist. A. Chauzov. - M.: White City, 2004. - 63 p.: ill. - (Historical novel).

Hart G. The Venetian Marco Polo: Trans. from English - M.: TERRA-Kn. club, 1999. - 303 p. - (Portraits).

Shklovsky V.B. Earth scout - Marco Polo: East. story. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1969. - 223 pp.: ill. - (Pioneer means first).

Ers J. Marco Polo: Trans. from fr. - Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 1998. - 348 pp.: ill. - (Mark on history).

PRZHEVALSKY Nikolai Mikhailovich

Russian geographer, explorer of Central Asia

Travel routes

1867-1868 - research expeditions to the Amur region and the Ussuri region.

1870-1885 - 4 expeditions to Central Asia.

N.M. Przhevalsky presented the scientific results of the expeditions in a number of books, giving a detailed description of the relief, climate, vegetation and fauna of the studied territories.

Name on geographical map

A ridge in Central Asia and a city in the southeastern part of the Issyk-Kul region (Kyrgyzstan) bear the name of the Russian geographer.

The wild horse, first described by scientists, is called Przewalski's horse.

Przhevalsky N.M. Travel in the Ussuri region, 1867-1869. - Vladivostok: Dalnevost. book publishing house, 1990. - 328 pp.: ill.

Przhevalsky N.M. Traveling around Asia. - M.: Armada-press, 2001. - 343 p.: ill. - (Green Series: Around the World).

Gavrilenkov V.M. Russian traveler N.M. Przhevalsky. - Smolensk: Moscow. worker: Smolensk department, 1989. - 143 p.: ill.

Golovanov Ya. Sketches about scientists. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1983. - 415 pp.: ill.

The chapter dedicated to Przhevalsky is called “The exclusive good is freedom...” (pp. 272-275).

Grimailo Y.V. The Great Ranger: A Tale. - Ed. 2nd, revised and additional - Kyiv: Molod, 1989. - 314 p.: ill.

Kozlov I.V. The Great Traveler: The Life and Work of N.M. Przhevalsky, the First Explorer of the Nature of Central Asia. - M.: Mysl, 1985. - 144 p.: ill. - (Notable geographers and travelers).

Columbus; Livingston; Stanley; A. Humboldt; Przhevalsky: Biogr. narratives. - Chelyabinsk: Ural LTD, 2000. - 415 p.: ill. - (Life of remarkable people: Biography of the library of F. Pavlenkov).

Acceleration L.E. “Ascetics are needed like the sun...” // Acceleration L.E. Seven lives. - M.: Det. lit., 1992. - pp. 35-72.

Repin L.B. “And again I return...”: Przhevalsky: Pages of Life. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1983. - 175 pp.: ill. - (Pioneer means first).

Khmelnitsky S.I. Przhevalsky. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1950. - 175 pp.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

Yusov B.V. N.M. Przhevalsky: Book. for students. - M.: Education, 1985. - 95 p.: ill. - (People of science).

PRONCHISHCHEV Vasily Vasilievich

Russian navigator

Travel routes

1735-1736 - V.V. Pronchishchev took part in the 2nd Kamchatka expedition. A detachment under his command explored the coast of the Arctic Ocean from the mouth of the Lena to Cape Thaddeus (Taimyr).

Name on geographical map

Part of the eastern coast of the Taimyr Peninsula, a ridge (hill) in the north-west of Yakutia and a bay in the Laptev Sea bear the name of V.V. Pronchishchev.

Golubev G.N. “Descendants for news...”: Historical document. stories. - M.: Det. lit., 1986. - 255 pp.: ill.

Krutogorov Yu.A. Where Neptune leads: East. story. - M.: Det. lit., 1990. - 270 pp.: ill.

SEMENOV-TIAN-SHANSKY Petr Petrovich

(until 1906 - Semenov)

Russian scientist, explorer of Asia

Travel routes

1856-1857 - expedition to the Tien Shan.

1888 - expedition to Turkestan and the Trans-Caspian region.

Name on geographical map

A ridge in Nanshan, a glacier and a peak in the Tien Shan, and mountains in Alaska and Spitsbergen are named after Semenov-Tian-Shansky.

Semenov-Tyan-Shansky P.P. Travel to Tien Shan: 1856-1857. - M.: Geographgiz, 1958. - 277 p.: ill.

Aldan-Semenov A.I. For you, Russia: Stories. - M.: Sovremennik, 1983. - 320 pp.: ill.

Aldan-Semenov A.I. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1965. - 304 pp.: ill. - (Life is remarkable. People).

Antoshko Y., Soloviev A. At the origins of Yaxartes. - M.: Mysl, 1977. - 128 p.: ill. - (Notable geographers and travelers).

Dyadyuchenko L.B. A pearl in the barracks wall: A chronicle novel. - Frunze: Mektep, 1986. - 218 p.: ill.

Kozlov I.V. Petr Petrovich Semenov-Tyan-Shansky. - M.: Education, 1983. - 96 p.: ill. - (People of science).

Kozlov I.V., Kozlova A.V. Petr Petrovich Semenov-Tyan-Shansky: 1827-1914. - M.: Nauka, 1991. - 267 p.: ill. - (Scientific-biography ser.).

Acceleration L.E. Tian-Shansky // Acceleration L.E. Seven lives. - M.: Det. lit., 1992. - pp. 9-34.

SCOTT Robert Falcon

English explorer of Antarctica

Travel routes

1901-1904 - Antarctic expedition on the Discovery ship. As a result of this expedition, King Edward VII Land, the Transantarctic Mountains, the Ross Ice Shelf were discovered, and Victoria Land was explored.

1910-1912 - R. Scott's expedition to Antarctica on the ship "Terra-Nova".

On January 18, 1912 (33 days later than R. Amundsen), Scott and four of his companions reached the South Pole. On the way back, all the travelers died.

Name on geographical map

An island and two glaciers off the coast of Antarctica, part of the western coast of Victoria Land (Scott Coast) and mountains on Enderby Land are named in honor of Robert Scott.

The US Antarctic research station is named after the first explorers of the South Pole - the Amundsen-Scott Pole.

The New Zealand scientific station on the Ross Sea coast in Antarctica and the Polar Research Institute in Cambridge also bear the name of the polar explorer.

R. Scott's last expedition: Personal diaries of Captain R. Scott, which he kept during the expedition to the South Pole. - M.: Geographizdat, 1955. - 408 p.: ill.

Golovanov Ya. Sketches about scientists. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1983. - 415 pp.: ill.

The chapter dedicated to Scott is called “Fight to the last cracker...” (pp. 290-293).

Ladlem G. Captain Scott: Trans. from English - Ed. 2nd, rev. - L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1989. - 287 p.: ill.

Priestley R. Antarctic Odyssey: The Northern Party of the R. Scott Expedition: Trans. from English - L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1985. - 360 pp.: ill.

Holt K. Competition; Wandering: Transl. from norwegian - M.: Physical culture and sport, 1987. - 301 p.: ill. - (Unusual travels).

Cherry-Garrard E. The Most Terrible Journey: Trans. from English - L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1991. - 551 p.: ill.

STANLEY (STANLEY) Henry Morton

(real name and surname - John Rowland)

journalist, researcher of Africa

Travel routes

1871-1872 - G.M. Stanley, as a correspondent for the New York Herald newspaper, participated in the search for the missing D. Livingston. The expedition was successful: the great explorer of Africa was found near Lake Tanganyika.

1874-1877 - G.M. Stanley crosses the African continent twice. Explores Lake Victoria, the Congo River, and searches for the sources of the Nile.

1887-1889 - G.M. Stanley leads an English expedition that crosses Africa from West to East, and explores the Aruvimi River.

Name on geographical map

Waterfalls in the upper reaches of the Congo River are named in honor of G.M. Stanley.

Stanley G.M. In the wilds of Africa: Trans. from English - M.: Geographizdat, 1958. - 446 p.: ill.

Karpov G.V. Henry Stanley. - M.: Geographgiz, 1958. - 56 p.: ill. - (Notable geographers and travelers).

Columbus; Livingston; Stanley; A. Humboldt; Przhevalsky: Biogr. narratives. - Chelyabinsk: Ural LTD, 2000. - 415 p.: ill. - (Life of remarkable people: Biography of the library of F. Pavlenkov).

KHABAROV Erofey Pavlovich

(c. 1603, according to other data, c. 1610 - after 1667, according to other data, after 1671)

Russian explorer and navigator, explorer of the Amur region

Travel routes

1649-1653 - E.P. Khabarov made a number of campaigns in the Amur region, compiled a “Drawing of the Amur River.”

Name on geographical map

A city and region in the Far East, as well as the Erofei Pavlovich railway station on the Trans-Siberian Railway, are named after the Russian explorer.

Leontyeva G.A. Explorer Erofey Pavlovich Khabarov: Book. for students. - M.: Education, 1991. - 143 p.: ill.

Romanenko D.I. Erofey Khabarov: Novel. - Khabarovsk: Book. publishing house, 1990. - 301 p.: ill. - (Far Eastern library).

Safronov F.G. Erofey Khabarov. - Khabarovsk: Book. publishing house, 1983. - 32 p.

SCHMIDT Otto Yulievich

Russian mathematician, geophysicist, Arctic explorer

Travel routes

1929-1930 - O.Yu. Schmidt equipped and led the expedition on the ship “Georgy Sedov” to Severnaya Zemlya.

1932 - an expedition led by O.Yu. Schmidt on the icebreaker Sibiryakov managed for the first time to sail from Arkhangelsk to Kamchatka in one navigation.

1933-1934 - O.Yu. Schmidt led the northern expedition on the steamship “Chelyuskin”. The ship, caught in ice, was crushed by ice and sank. The expedition members, who had been drifting on ice floes for several months, were rescued by pilots.

Name on geographical map

An island in the Kara Sea, a cape on the coast of the Chukchi Sea, the peninsula of Novaya Zemlya, one of the peaks and a pass in the Pamirs, and a plain in Antarctica are named after O.Yu. Schmidt.

Voskoboynikov V.M. On an ice trek. - M.: Malysh, 1989. - 39 p.: ill. - (Legendary heroes).

Voskoboynikov V.M. Call of the Arctic: Heroic. Chronicle: Academician Schmidt. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1975. - 192 pp.: ill. - (Pioneer means first).

Duel I.I. Life line: Document. story. - M.: Politizdat, 1977. - 128 p.: ill. - (Heroes of the Soviet Motherland).

Nikitenko N.F. O.Yu.Schmidt: Book. for students. - M.: Education, 1992. - 158 p.: ill. - (People of science).

Otto Yulievich Schmidt: Life and work: Sat. - M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1959. - 470 p.: ill.

Matveeva L.V. Otto Yulievich Schmidt: 1891-1956. - M.: Nauka, 1993. - 202 p.: ill. - (Scientific-biography ser.).

In Western Europe and Russian pre-revolutionary literature under the era of V. g. o. usually refers to a hundred-year (approx.) period - from mid. 15 to midday 16th centuries, center the moments of which were: the discovery of the tropics. America by H. Columbus, discovery of continuous sea. ways from the West Europe around South. Africa to India Vasco da Gama, the first expedition around the world by F. Magellan, proved the existence of a single World Ocean, occupying most of the Earth's surface. In Sov. historical-geographical literature under the era of V. g. o. refers to a two-hundred-year (approx.) period - from mid. 15 to midday 17th centuries, since only in the 1st half. 17th century Australia was discovered, sowing. and north-east coast of Asia and it is practically proven that Asia is nowhere connected to America.

Mor. and land expeditions that carried out military warfare were organized by Portugal, Spain (which played a leading role in military warfare in the 15th and 16th centuries), England, France, and Russia. state, Holland. The general reasons for sending expeditions were: the growth of commodity production in European countries, the shortage of precious metals in Europe and the associated search for new lands, where they hoped to find gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, spices and ivory (in the tropics), valuable furs and walrus tusks (in North America and North Asia); searching for new trades. ways from the West. Europe to Africa, India, East. Asia - the desire of Western-European. merchants get rid of bargaining. intermediaries and establish direct connections with Asian countries - suppliers of valuable goods (direct trade with the countries of Asia and Africa was in the hands of Arab, Indian, Malay and Chinese merchants; Turkish conquests in Western Asia and the Balkan Peninsula in 15 c. almost completely closed the trade route to the East through M. Asia and Syria). V. g. o. became possible thanks to advances in science and technology: the creation of sailing ships that were reliable enough for ocean navigation, the improvement of the compass and sea charts, etc.; a major role was played by the increasingly established idea of ​​the spherical shape of the Earth (the idea of ​​the possibility of a western sea route to India through the Atlantic Ocean was also associated with it). Important for geogr. European discoveries in Asia and Africa had success in the field of geography. knowledge and development of navigation among the Asian peoples themselves.

V. g. o. 15-17 centuries were world-historical events. meanings. The contours of the inhabited continents were established (except for the northern and northwestern coasts of America and the eastern coast of Australia), most of the earth's surface was explored (however, many inland regions of America, central Africa and all of inland Australia still remained unknown ). Thanks to the opening of new trades. routes and new countries, trade acquired a global character, there was a gigantic increase in the goods in circulation - this accelerated the process of the decomposition of feudalism and the emergence of capitalism. relations in the West Europe. The colonial system, which arose after the Great Patriotic War, was one of the levers of the so-called process. initial accumulation; this was facilitated by the so-called "price revolution" In this era of the West. Africa turned into a reserved hunting ground for slaves.

Table. The most important geographical discoveries of the ser. 15 - mid. 17th centuries

The Europeans captured vast territories. all in. and Yuzh. America, which was associated with the massive, and in the Antilles, total extermination of the indigenous population. Huge colonial possessions arose in the New World: the Spanish group. Viceroyalty, Portugal. Brazil, English group settler colonies, French. Canada. A chain of Europeans was organized. strongholds on the shores and islands of Africa, South, South-East. and Vost. Asia; The colonial enslavement of many Asian countries began. Of great importance for many. European countries had displacement as a result of V. g.o. economic center life and bargaining. ways from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. approx., which contributed to the decline of some Europeans. countries (Italy, partly Germany and the Danube countries) and economic. the rise of others (the Netherlands and England).

Read more about geogr. discoveries by department continents, see articles Australia, Asia, Africa, North America, South America.

Lit.: Atlas of the history of geographical discoveries and research, M., 1959; Baker J., History of Geographical Discovery and Exploration, trans. from English, M, 1950; Bern J., History of Great Travels, trans. from French, vol. 1, L., 1958; Magidovich I.P., History of discovery and research of the North. America, M. 1962; by him, Essays on the history of geographical discoveries, M., 1957; Morison S. E., Christopher Columbus, Navigator, trans. from English, M., 1958; The Voyage of Christopher Columbus. Diaries. Letters. Documents, (translated from Spanish), M., 1956; Hart G., The Sea Route to India, (translated from English), M., 1954; Pigafetta A., The Voyage of Magellan, trans. from Italian, M., 1950; Lebedev D. M., Geography in Russia of the 17th century (pre-Petrine era), M.-L., 1949; by him, Essays on the history of geography in Russia in the 15th and 16th centuries, M., 1956; Discoveries of Russian explorers and polar sailors of the 17th century in northeast Asia. Sat. Doc-tov, M., 1951; Russian sailors in the Arctic and Pacific oceans. Sat. Doc-tov, L.-M., 1952; Sokh E. G., A reference guide to the literature of travel including voyages, geographical descriptions, adventures, shipwrecks and expeditions, v. 1-2, Washington, 1935-38.

I. P. Magidovich. Moscow.

Great geographical discoveries

Soviet historical encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ed. E. M. Zhukova. 1973-1982 .

See what "GREAT GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES" are. in other dictionaries:

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A set of the most significant discoveries on land and sea, made during almost the entire written history of mankind. Traditionally, the Great Geographical Discoveries are identified only with discoveries during the so-called era of the Great Geographical... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

A set of the most important geographical discoveries made by European travelers in the 15th–17th centuries. The development of trade and industry in the countries of Western Europe, the formation of capitalist relations caused in the 15th century. 16th century desire for... ... Geographical encyclopedia

A conventional term accepted in literature (mainly historical) to designate the largest geographical discoveries made by European travelers in the mid-15th–mid-17th centuries. (in foreign literature usually only... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Great geographical discoveries- the largest geographical discoveries made by European travelers in the middle XIII mid XVII centuries in search of new lands, new trade routes from Europe to India and East Asia, to establish direct connections with Asian countries () ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of World History

Great geographical discoveries- opening of Europe. travelers ser. XV ser. XVII century The most important of them: the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, the discovery of the sea route from Europe to India by Vasco da Gama in 1497-1499, Magellan’s first circumnavigation in 1519-1522,... ... The medieval world in terms, names and titles

Great geographical discoveries- The process of the decomposition of feudalism and the emergence of capitalist relations in Europe was accelerated by the opening of new trade routes and new countries in the 15th-16th centuries, which marked the beginning of the colonial exploitation of the peoples of Africa, Asia and America. By the 16th century V… … The World History. Encyclopedia