Full Transcript for Explorers: Magellan and Bering

November of fifteen 55 00:04:05.719 --> 00:04:11.360 twenty, and by then he was already down to just three ships. One 56 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:14.719 had been wrecked, one had mutinied and returned back to Spain. And so 57 00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:17.920 those three ships went through the Strait of Magellan, and by November twenty eighth 58 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:25.519 they were the first Europeans to enter the Pacific Ocean. After being the first 59 00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:29.560 Europeans to visit the island of Guam, they went on and by March twenty 60 00:04:29.560 --> 00:04:32.519 first of fifteen twenty one, became the first Europeans in the Philippine Island. 61 00:04:33.160 --> 00:04:38.040 And there Magellan found an ally in the form of Humabon, who was the 62 00:04:38.199 --> 00:04:42.040 Raja or king of the rajen Ate of Sipooh, which was in the southern 63 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:46.959 part of the Philippine Islands. And Raja Humaban and his wife converted to Catholicism, 64 00:04:47.079 --> 00:04:51.319 the first to do so in the Philippines, and then the Raja sent 65 00:04:51.319 --> 00:04:57.319 an order throughout his kingdom saying that everybody should convert to Catholicism and that they 66 00:04:57.319 --> 00:05:01.959 should send food and supplies for Magellan's ships. Well. The order was generally 67 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:09.000 followed except for just one of Humaban's chieftains, one of the Datu, or 68 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:13.439 the chieftains of the island of mock Tom, whose name was Lapu Lapo, 69 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:16.759 and Lapou Lapo said that he would not convert to Catholicism and that he would 70 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:23.279 not follow the orders of the King of Spain, and so Humaban suggested that 71 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:30.079 Magellan take his ships over to Mocton and force Lapu Lapoo to submit. It's 72 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:34.000 clear that Magellan was over confident because he took with him just sixty men, 73 00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:38.319 and even though he had warriors of Humaban with him, he told them to 74 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:42.519 stay in the ships because he wanted them to witness the power of his European 75 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:46.480 weapons. The actual battle was on April twenty seventh, and because he left 76 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:49.040 a few of his men to guard his boats, Magellan only had forty nine 77 00:05:49.079 --> 00:05:55.720 men with him, whereas Lapu Lapo had fifteen hundred warriors. And we don't 78 00:05:55.759 --> 00:05:58.639 know much about lap Poo Lapoo, but it turns out that he was a 79 00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:01.959 pretty brilliant tactician. Nor at least he had Magellan's strengths figured out. I 80 00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:04.720 mean, first of all, on the island, there was so much coral 81 00:06:04.759 --> 00:06:08.879 and rock out in the ocean that magellan ships could not get close enough to 82 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:13.000 use their cannon, and that already denied Magellan some of his most powerful weapons. 83 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:16.759 But then Lapoolapoo kept his warriors at a good enough distance that Magellan's men, 84 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:19.560 with their muskets and crossbows couldn't do a lot of damage, and he 85 00:06:19.639 --> 00:06:25.000 waited to charge until they were almost out of ammunition. When his fifteen hundred 86 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:29.480 men dent charge, Lapoo Lapoo told them stab at the legs because while the 87 00:06:29.480 --> 00:06:32.639 Spanish wore a good armor, they didn't armor their legs. And most importantly, 88 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:38.680 Lapou Lapoo told them kill the leader, so that they all charged Magellan 89 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:42.879 because Lapoo Lapoo knew that the whole attack would fail if Magellan fell, and 90 00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:48.519 so fifteen hundred guys came to stab Ferdinand Magellan. Magellan was swamped and killed. 91 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:53.199 Now many of his troops got away, but they lost about fourteen other 92 00:06:53.319 --> 00:06:57.199 troops in the battle. And why a battle where only fourteen died doesn't seem 93 00:06:57.240 --> 00:07:02.399 like a big deal. The actual loss of Jellon delayed the Spanish dominance of 94 00:07:02.439 --> 00:07:09.040 the Philippines by around forty years. With the loss of so many people in 95 00:07:09.079 --> 00:07:12.800 the battle, the expedition didn't have enough sailors left to operate three ships, 96 00:07:12.839 --> 00:07:15.480 so one of the ships was abandoned, one tried to return home via the 97 00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:18.279 Pacific route, the way that they came, and one decided to try to 98 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:21.959 return home via the Indian Ocean and around the Horn of Africa, and that's 99 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:26.519 the only ship that made it back. Of the two hundred and seventy one 100 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:30.639 sailors that had left on the expedition, there were only eighteen on that boat 101 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:35.519 that returned to Spain, with one Sebastian Elcano that had circumnavigated the globe. 102 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:42.199 We really don't know what happened to Lapoo Lapoo. There's no record of his 103 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:45.879 death, but according to local legend, he didn't die. He turned into 104 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:49.879 a stone, and local fishermen still throw coins at a vaguely human shaped rock 105 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.800 in the ocean there to thank Lapoo Lapoo for the privilege of fishing in his 106 00:07:54.920 --> 00:07:59.879 waters. The Battle of Macton is important for a few different reasons. Of 107 00:08:00.040 --> 00:08:03.199 course, with the death of Ferdinand Magellan, who was a very powerful personality 108 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:07.560 and who clearly would have done more in his life if he hadn't ended up 109 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:11.079 on the end of a spear. It also represents the errors that were

commonly 110 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:16.240 made by Europeans in the age of discovery and conquest. That err against that 111 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:22.199 underestimating the local population, that overestimating the power of European arms, and that 112 00:08:22.839 --> 00:08:26.720 inability or unwillingness to understand local customs and power structures, and those errors would 113 00:08:26.759 --> 00:08:31.199 be repeated again and again in the Far East, in the Pacific, in 114 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:35.399 Africa, and in South America. But most of all, the Battle of 115 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:39.320 Mactan is important for the people of the Philippine Islands. I mean immediately, 116 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:43.399 one of the effects was it was many years before Spain can ount another meaningful 117 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:48.600 expedition to the Philippine Islands. But in the long run, Lapoo Lapoo has 118 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:54.200 retroactively become the symbol of Philippine resistance to foreign rule, which has really been 119 00:08:54.200 --> 00:08:58.759 a cause in the Philippine Islands since the sixteenth century. And that's a little 120 00:08:58.759 --> 00:09:03.080 bit anachronistic because the fight, the Battle of Mactan was really over local power 121 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:07.360 structures in the kingdom. But the reason that Lapoo Lapoo resisted was because he 122 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:11.679 did not want to have a European religion forced on him. And so he 123 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:18.240 is this symbol for people who fight the age of exploration and conquest. There 124 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:24.039 are several statues of Lapoo Lapoo. There are the main city in Mactan is 125 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:28.600 named Lapoo Lapoo City. Lapoo Lapoo's head was on the once Centavo coin in 126 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:33.759 the nineteen sixties and nineteen seventies, and the people of Mactan still annually re 127 00:09:33.960 --> 00:09:39.879 enact the Battle of Mactan. And that's a real irony because here we have 128 00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:43.440 Ferdinand Magellan, who is a man whose navigational skills were so important that there 129 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:48.120 are several geographic features on Earth named after Ferdinand Magellan. But there are actually 130 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:52.720 craters on the Moon and on Mars that are named after Ferdinand Magellan, and 131 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:58.320 two of the closest galaxies to the Earth are named after Ferdinand Magellan. And 132 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:05.480 yet is death is a symbol to people who oppose everything that his navigational skills 133 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:11.159 brought, which was the theft of their land and their culture. And that 134 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:16.799 irony alone is enough reason for you to know about the fifteen twenty one Battle 135 00:10:16.200 --> 00:10:22.840 of Muktan. Now is the part of the episode where we get to chat 136 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:28.279 with the history guy about what these episodes tell us about history, interesting connections 137 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:30.919 to other stories, and some behind the scenes stuff that you only get to 138 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:35.799 hear about on the podcast. So the two episodes we're talking about today are 139 00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:39.879 about explorers, and these are interesting explorers who did very very different things. 140 00:10:39.960 --> 00:10:45.279 But I think both you know, there's some pieces of these stories that really 141 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:48.080 connect them as well. I think we also, you know, we kind 142 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:50.840 of live in a world today where there's there seems like there's a lot less 143 00:10:50.840 --> 00:10:56.200 to explore, and certainly we have passed the age of these this kind of 144 00:10:56.240 --> 00:11:01.200 explorer. They're going to be very different. Kinds can literally take pictures from 145 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:03.000 space and see, you know what the things that they were looking for are. 146 00:11:03.159 --> 00:11:05.360 I mean, I think there's still various kinds of expersons. There's clearly 147 00:11:05.399 --> 00:11:09.919 there's deep sea exploration. We're actually reaching the point where there could literally be 148 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:13.759 space exploration, which is, you know, something that we've talked about for 149 00:11:13.799 --> 00:11:16.159 a long time and that might actually come in our lifetimes. Yeah. But 150 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:20.879 certainly the world was a very well clearly in the sixteenth century of the world 151 00:11:20.919 --> 00:11:22.559 was a very different place. But even in the eighteenth century in terms of 152 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:26.480 going to find things, and you know, it's still i mean, we 153 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:30.519 still find new species in you know, in deep jungle and stuff like that, 154 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:33.159 and so you know, I think there's still some exploration going along. 155 00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:37.360 But the period when you know, a million mariners died of scurvy, Yeah, 156 00:11:37.799 --> 00:11:39.960 find a map of the world. Yeah, that's pretty much over. 157 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:43.000 Yeah, I mean there's still if you want to go someplace no one's gone 158 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:45.919 before, people are still you know, finding things here and there where you 159 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:48.519 can do that. Yeah, it's it's interesting too. You know, we've 160 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:54.440 kind of mythologized this era and a lot of these these explorers, and I 161 00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:58.679 mean, I think these stories both show us both the ways that we've done 162 00:11:58.759 --> 00:12:03.120 that and the ways that the difficulties that they really faced. Actually, I 163 00:12:03.159 --> 00:12:07.639 mean these are two explorers who names you would certainly know, and but I 164

00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:09.679 mean, you know the purpose of that first the first episode, that one 165 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:13.559 on Magellan is I don't think actually that most people realize that Magellan did not 166 00:12:13.799 --> 00:12:18.000 successfully complete the voyage. I mean, we're just kind of top Magellan circumnavigated 167 00:12:18.039 --> 00:12:22.720 the globe, and actually he got halfway there. Now there's some argument because 168 00:12:22.759 --> 00:12:26.159 he had gone the other way before that maybe the two pieces touched, but 169 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:31.600 the first voyage of circumnavigation was not completed by Magellan, and so that says 170 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:33.559 that we have mythologized them a bit, and we talk about it as Magellan's 171 00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:37.679 expedition, though it was really an expedition of many more than that. And 172 00:12:37.720 --> 00:12:39.320 we also make came out to be quite a hero when there was you know, 173 00:12:39.399 --> 00:12:43.639 certainly ways that he was not necessarily as a matter of fact, Lapoo 174 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:46.519 Lapoo, the guy that finally, you know, put an end to magell 175 00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:50.720 and is much considered a hero, much more considered a hero in the Philippines 176 00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:52.440 than Magellan is. Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean I think that 177 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:56.279 you know, there's there's lots of criticisms and quite a bit of it's fair 178 00:12:56.320 --> 00:13:01.200 about how these explorers went around and treated people, and oh absolutely Magellum was 179 00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:05.559 just kidnapping people along the way. He had two people he called Patagonian giants, 180 00:13:05.559 --> 00:13:07.960 which are just two guys he grabbed off the beach. To imagine, 181 00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:11.399 we're surprised the families price priced when they didn't get home. And when they 182 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:16.039 first discovered Guam, the people from Guam stole up stele a boat off the 183 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:20.279 They probably thought it was a trade for food, which they desperately needed, 184 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:22.559 but they stole a boat off as a ship. And so he sent a 185 00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:24.120 bunch of guys on shore and just like murdered seven guys, murned the whole 186 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:28.240 village on the ground trying to get his skiff back. So yeah, I 187 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:31.360 mean, there's a lot of criticism about how the Westerners did it. But 188 00:13:31.399 --> 00:13:33.799 I mean also you see in the whole story of Magellan, I mean everywhere 189 00:13:33.799 --> 00:13:39.000 that he went, kind of the people saw him as a political opportunity. 190 00:13:39.480 --> 00:13:41.600 They said, look at these guys, that we can use these guys. 191 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:43.039 And it was really, really in the end, that was what was his 192 00:13:43.159 --> 00:13:48.080 undoing, was that he was pulled into local politics and you know, yeah, 193 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:50.159 you know, if they ended up in a fight, he couldn't win, 194 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:54.360 if there's some nuance and kind of how that went across I mean, 195 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:58.440 honestly across the globe, you would say we I mean that that was true 196 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:01.440 with the Inca they were in the middle of the civil war. That was 197 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:05.759 true with the Aztecs because of the various peoples they had conquered. They all, 198 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:09.240 you know, this all happened within this context, and there was always 199 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:11.120 local political stuff. And I think that there's I mean, there's always was. 200 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:13.960 Yeah, there's there's kind of a we see that in European colonization in 201 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:18.200 the early in the early English colonies and the North America, is that they 202 00:14:18.200 --> 00:14:20.039 were there were always native peoples who could see them as an opportunity. If 203 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:22.840 I can, if I can allie with them, or if I could turn 204 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:24.559 them against them. Actually, that was one of the first things that Columbus 205 00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:28.399 really is governed too, was it was being drawn into you know, local 206 00:14:28.440 --> 00:14:31.399 tribal conflicts. So and that's you know, when you have a couple hundred 207 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:37.039 guys at most show up to a place as you know, a million inhabitants, 208 00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:41.840 then you know they're they're not going to change history by themselves. I 209 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:43.639 guess nothing changes the histories of the past, but they're not going to transform 210 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:46.720 what's going on by themselves. But you can see how local leaders can say, 211 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:50.120 now I can manipulate these people, and you can see actually how in 212 00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:52.240 the position they're in, they could be easily manipulated. But I mean, 213 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:56.000 in the end, in the colonial world, I guess they were the manipulators. 214 00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:58.960 I don't know, but I mean these are both stories of that. 215 00:14:58.039 --> 00:15:03.159 I mean, these both and people that were you know, taking extreme risks 216 00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:07.159 to go places, and both of them ended up kind of getting getting lost 217 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:09.200 in that. Yes, you know, a lot of it has to do 218 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:13.320 with with misunderstanding. I think that. I mean, I think it's clear 219 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:16.919 that the Europeans tended to think that they were the enlightened ones. And I 220 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:20.159 mean when we look back, that happens a lot too, is that they 221 00:15:20.159 -->

00:15:22.320 think, oh, the natives just didn't know what they were getting into. 222 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:24.679 And I think in a lot of ways it's much better to look at the 223 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:28.240 natives is that they very much understood a lot of what they were getting into, 224 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:31.039 and that's why they were always I mean, they were always working against 225 00:15:31.080 --> 00:15:35.559 each other and against or with European powers as they came, and it was 226 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:41.840 it was much more complex than just you know this. I mean, Magellan 227 00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:46.840 went to the Battle of Maktan with forty dudes, and he was he had 228 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:50.960 allies, but he left them on the ships because he was quite sure that 229 00:15:52.039 --> 00:15:56.080 they were so technologically superior that if he took forty guys with muskets, that 230 00:15:56.080 --> 00:16:00.840 that would so demonstrate their force that they could defeat a couple thousand dudes with 231 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:03.840 spears. And so, I mean he clearly believed, you know that there 232 00:16:03.879 --> 00:16:07.639 was just this that he was morally superior, that the Christianity was morally superior, 233 00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:10.360 that the that they were you know, that he was fighting barbarians. 234 00:16:10.360 --> 00:16:15.679 And it's it's clear throughout that that certainly Lapoo Lapu understood who he was and 235 00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:18.799 what his capabilities were and how to use those and you know, said, 236 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:21.519 you know, kill the leader and they're all run away, and that's exactly 237 00:16:21.559 --> 00:16:23.240 how things worked out. So it is I mean, it is a matter 238 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:26.919 and you know, but of course the Europeans had an outsized influence given the 239 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:30.279 size there of the good that they brought with them. But yeah, they 240 00:16:32.120 --> 00:16:36.840 they underestimated the natives in many ways at many times, and many times that 241 00:16:36.919 --> 00:16:41.759 caught up with European colonizers or explorers. Well, and certainly Magellan probably had 242 00:16:41.799 --> 00:16:44.720 heard about this. Was this was fairly early. I mean that this, 243 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:47.879 you know, in fifteen twenty one is the same year that the Aztec Empire 244 00:16:47.960 --> 00:16:51.320 falls, So he hadn't I mean, this was before the Inca, which, 245 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:52.440 of course, with the Inca, I mean a fairly small number of 246 00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:56.600 Spaniards did fight thousands. Yeah, because they got there at a critical point 247 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:00.600 though too, when you know, when when the Kamaker difference. Yeah, 248 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:03.720 because in the middle of a civil warrior. Yeah, but it's it's so 249 00:17:03.799 --> 00:17:06.319 you can see where he had thought. I mean, he he had probably 250 00:17:06.359 --> 00:17:11.079 heard stories of you know, how amazed and whether those stories were embellished or 251 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:15.240 not. How amazed. You know, these natives were with with European technology, 252 00:17:15.559 --> 00:17:19.559 and he clearly certainly believed that he would be able to just fire his 253 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:23.359 guns and they would they would simply rue. I think they felt with their 254 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:26.640 armor that they were going to be pretty much invulnerable to their weapons. And 255 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:30.519 I don't know, you and I both played Civilization. You wonder if you 256 00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:34.559 wonder how a failings can beat Musketeer as well? Yeah happen. Yeah, 257 00:17:34.599 --> 00:17:38.359 I do occasionally wonder you're playing that game and your armor gets destroyed by a 258 00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:42.079 legionary or something, and you're like, come on, no number of Romans 259 00:17:42.119 --> 00:17:45.960 could blow up my tank. See, that was the mistake. But Jellan 260 00:17:47.079 --> 00:17:52.200 may he made that. I do wonder, you know, I mean Lapu 261 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:56.240 lap who doesn't seem to have had any special knowledge. He just seems to 262 00:17:56.279 --> 00:18:00.480 have approached the situation. Yeah, I mean, I mean what I mean, 263 00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:03.200 was it intentional that he chose a place to defend that would keep their 264 00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:04.960 ships too far away that they could use the ship cannon? Did he know 265 00:18:06.039 --> 00:18:10.000 that? And but I mean he he certainly was a good strategist. You 266 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:11.200 know, he wouldn't be stupid. He was a leader, He was a 267 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:15.759 local leader and so I mean, but on the on the other hand, 268 00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:18.319 maybe you know, maybe what could have happened there is they fire off their 269 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:22.480 arquebuses and that scares the begibus out of Lapo LAPO's troops, and maybe, 270 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:25.359 you know, and who knows how different history would be if he'd won the 271 00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:29.079 Battle of Mactan. But you know, it turns out that the natives are 272 00:18:29.079 --> 00:18:32.559 more resilient than he thought they would be, and that did leave his whole 273 00:18:32.839 --> 00:18:36.079 expedition in quite a crisis too. It's actually kind of surprising any of them 274 00:18:36.119 --> 00:18:38.319 made it home after the death of Magillical and it wasn't there leacoln and it 275 00:18:38.359 --> 00:18:41.880 wasn't even the thought of our leadership. Later the other you know, the 276 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:48.079 guy who converted to Christianity ends up poisoning more of the of the Spaniards because 277 00:18:48.119 --> 00:18:52.359 they were mistreating you know, which, yeah, that's fairly typical of that,

278 00:18:52.440 --> 00:18:55.759 so it is. And that's that's another episode that's not in this one 279 00:18:55.799 --> 00:18:59.039 where where one captain, one Sebastian you know, takes one of the boats 280 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:02.920 and manages to get that tuck your home and complete the circumnavigation of the which 281 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:06.240 wasn't even the intent wasn't wasn't circumnavigation, right, they would they would have 282 00:19:06.279 --> 00:19:08.359 gone back the way that they came. Uh and one chip tried to do 283 00:19:08.359 --> 00:19:11.960 that ended up getting captured by the Portuguese. I mean it just you know, 284 00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:14.839 it didn't work out altogether. So it is I mean, it was 285 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:18.000 a more tenuous expedition that I mean, honestly than what I learned when I 286 00:19:18.039 --> 00:19:21.359 was in high school and we were talking about the Age of Discovery and we 287 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:22.480 didn't really talk all that much, you know, in my era, we 288 00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:26.319 didn't talking that much about, you know, how terrible they treated the natives, 289 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:29.759 but we also didn't really talk about how what a real miracle it was 290 00:19:29.799 --> 00:19:33.039 that any of them managed to make it back. And I didn't know until 291 00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:34.359 this is an older episode. Is when I started doing this, I didn't 292 00:19:34.359 --> 00:19:37.960 know that Magellan hadn't made it all the way around the world. I mean, 293 00:19:37.960 --> 00:19:40.240 it was a surprise to me, and if you look at the comments 294 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:41.759 in this video, it's a surprise to a lot of people. So it 295 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:45.279 just it also represents you know, the foibles of how we've taught history in 296 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:48.440 the past. Well, and he's he really is. I mean, you 297 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:52.519 don't usually learn that much about his expedition. You learned that he was the 298 00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:56.160 first guy to circumnavigate and it's it is it is kind of funny to think 299 00:19:56.200 --> 00:20:02.720 that he he didn't really the expedition. And I mean, the cool thing 300 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:06.480 about the expeditions they did have someone who chronic pitchup, oh, chronicle it 301 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:07.960 the whole way, and so we it's it's hard to see what to read 302 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:11.519 from Pichipato. I mean, there's some there's some ways said that that might 303 00:20:11.559 --> 00:20:14.480 be biased, but at least we get this kind of idea of what happened 304 00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:17.759 on that whole expedition. Yeah, which is amazing. And think of how 305 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:19.799 easy it would have been for you know, no one to make it back. 306 00:20:21.240 --> 00:20:25.359 And yeah, this is by the time they were getting across the Pacific, 307 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:29.039 I mean they were they were dying of scurvy. They were well the 308 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:30.640 ship with most supplies had turned and gone back, and they had a mutiny 309 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:33.880 and they lost the ship to handles the supply. So they were starving so 310 00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:37.599 much that they were eating boot leather. They were catching the rats and eating 311 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:38.920 the rats, and then they were eating the food that the rats had you 312 00:20:38.920 --> 00:20:41.839 know, spoiled. Uh, And they were I mean they were nearly starved 313 00:20:41.880 --> 00:20:45.279 by the time any first placed that they ran into a bomb they were, 314 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:48.839 they were nearly starved to death there, and you know it's a miracle that 315 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:52.319 they survived to get where they were. Uh and uh so, I mean 316 00:20:52.359 --> 00:20:56.599 the whole story too, of it is just how dangerous exploration is. There's 317 00:20:56.640 --> 00:20:59.799 an awful lot of these explorers, like Sir John Franklin too. I mean 318 00:20:59.799 --> 00:21:03.480 there's a lot of these explorers that never came home. I mean great explorers, 319 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:04.599 people that we have, you know, with all this respect for and 320 00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:08.279 in the end they Roald Amonson one day got into a plane to go search 321 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:11.920 for a lost Italian explorer was never seen again. I mean that's exploring, 322 00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:15.880 was it was. It's still a risky business. I mean we saw that 323 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:19.200 when the submarine you crushed this last year too, and so I mean when 324 00:21:19.240 --> 00:21:22.599 you go where where no one's gone before, then you know you're always taken 325 00:21:22.599 --> 00:21:25.480 a risk, and some of that risk as you might not come home. 326 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:30.000 And one of those that didn't was for Nan Magellia. And yet he's he's 327 00:21:30.039 --> 00:21:36.039 remembered for for doing something incredible, even if maybe he didn't. I mean, 328 00:21:36.039 --> 00:21:37.920 there's there's there's there's an awful lot named after him, a lot in 329 00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:41.519 space named after him. But but you know, he's he's remembered in the 330 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:45.000 Philippines because every year they re enact the Battle of Mactan, and of course 331 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:51.000 we know who won that particular fight. Yeah, yeah, and that's that's 332 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:52.920 an interesting piece too. I think sometimes it's really interesting to kind of see 333 00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:57.319 uh, history from you know, the point of view of some other people, 334 00:21:57.480 --> 00:22:02.400 because that's absolutely it is difficult sometimes to to you know, kind of 335 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:06.000 get outside of your own your own narratives and

stuff. I mean, that's 336 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:07.079 yeah, you have to. You have to look at a different side of 337 00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:10.920 staff seeing Magellan as a hero or he's not necessarily seen as a hero. 338 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:14.160 And the you know, in the place where the Spanish diviension conquered well controlled 339 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:17.200 for a long period of time, I can understand why the Filipinos maybe don't 340 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:21.640 because he he was he was the first of essentially a wave that eventually you'll 341 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:23.839 colonizes all of the Philippines. It would take of a yeah, plenty of 342 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:27.359 plenty of things that they might they might wish didn't happen, but you have 343 00:22:27.400 --> 00:22:30.200 to with all the leaders there, you have to wonder would Lapoo Lapoo be 344 00:22:30.279 --> 00:22:34.920 remembered at all if he hadn't killed fernand and he's barely remembered as it is. 345 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:37.599 Is that I mean, well, I mean we don't really know much 346 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:38.640 about it, don't know that much about him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 347 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:41.079 there's very very little record of who Lapoola who was. But I mean 348 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:45.680 he's I mean, he was on the the on the the Philippine currency for 349 00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:48.119 a long time and amazing his culture is he's the hero because he's the one 350 00:22:48.119 --> 00:22:52.480 that fought the Europeans when they first showed up. But he's quite possible this 351 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:55.519 sort of person whose name would have been long forgotten. Where it not that 352 00:22:55.559 --> 00:22:57.559 he killed a guy who we remember, you know, on the other side 353 00:22:57.559 --> 00:23:00.279 of the world, and so his name is and it's possible, you know, 354 00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:03.920 I was looking into some of it. This is possibly. You know, 355 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:07.359 we talked about how they were manipulated and how people how the natives were 356 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:12.319 playing into their politics. It's it seems like Magellen's understanding was that the king, 357 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:15.680 that he the king, the leader he talked to that this was like 358 00:23:15.720 --> 00:23:21.759 one of his lord, one of his And it's not real clear that that's 359 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:26.839 true. I read one thing that's pretty clear that La might have actually been 360 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:32.640 the more powerful of the two in that relationship. It's pretty clear that they're 361 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:34.000 like, you know that guy, Yeah, go mess with him. Why 362 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:38.799 didn't because in the end, you know, that doesn't hurt. Whatever happens 363 00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:41.559 there is like, well, either that's going to happen, where's it going 364 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:45.200 to happen?

They might kill Magellan, We don't care. I don't care 365 00:23:45.240 --> 00:23:48.920 that much about Magellan. And gosh, he didn't even use the the native 366 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:53.119 soldiers who just hung out in their boats. Was supposed to be impressed by 367 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:56.359 his success in battle, yeah, which which you know, if it had 368 00:23:56.359 --> 00:24:00.240 worked out the way he wanted it to, could have could have been a 369 00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:03.000 very different might have Yeah, who knows, you know, maybe it's hard 370 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:06.400 to say. I mean, it's if he had, if he had succeeded 371 00:24:06.440 --> 00:24:07.759 in the Battle of mocked On, you know, how much would that change 372 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:12.000 things. It might have sped the Spanish conquests of the Philippines, or you 373 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:15.920 know, it might They were still a small number of people in leaky boats 374 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:18.960 by that point, so maybe, you know, maybe not the say they 375 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:22.279 tend to you know, any of these stories that we talk about when they're 376 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:25.920 usually treated fairly well by the by the locals, at least at first, 377 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:33.240 and the Europeans are generally in rougher condition. They're welcome quickly led on. 378 00:24:33.480 --> 00:24:37.519 You know, they're they're very many miles from home and it took a month 379 00:24:37.640 --> 00:24:41.960 to get here, and half their guys are dead. And they always have 380 00:24:42.440 --> 00:24:45.559 dissension in the ranks too. There's always seems to be a disagreements and yeah, 381 00:24:45.720 --> 00:24:48.680 yeah, there's always something that's interesting because this is in the early part 382 00:24:48.680 --> 00:24:52.400 of the sixteenth century and we're we're also going to be talking about the eighteenth 383 00:24:52.440 --> 00:24:56.599 century today and we have very similar circumstances in some in some different ways. 384 00:24:56.640 --> 00:24:59.039 Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, the one thing I wanted to 385 00:24:59.160 --> 00:25:00.480 talk about, you know, this was an older video. I always I 386 00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:04.640 always wonder when we look at some of these older ones. Honestly, in 387 00:25:04.680 --> 00:25:07.400 some ways, the only real difference, I mean, there's there's some quality 388 00:25:07.400 --> 00:25:11.759 difference just from your equipment, absolutely, but is the last it's always you 389 00:25:11.799 --> 00:25:15.599 can certainly tell the ones that were where the lights were yellow and where it 390 00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:19.039 sounds like I'm talking into a can and that you know, I have reinvested 391 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:22.799 some of that, We've made from in order to put together better equipment. 392 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:25.839 And of course now I have a writer, so which we'll see the other 393 00:25:25.880 --> 00:25:27.160 episode we talked about today you wrote at the time, you know that was 394 00:25:27.240 --> 00:25:30.119 just me. And if you want to believe that these early episodes they were 395 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:33.079 handwritten in a notebook I haven't on somewhere. They weren't even written down. 396 00:25:33.160 --> 00:25:37.200 So the only reason we have a record of them is because YouTube produces a 397 00:25:37.240 --> 00:25:41.160 transcript. Transcript, keep a hold of the It's clear that it was I 398 00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:45.759 believe that this is the first episode where I wore the bow tie. Oh 399 00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:48.519 wow, this is the one that set the whole standard for the history. 400 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:52.079 Got bow tie thing, And that's actually a Mickey Mouse bow tie that I'm 401 00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:53.759 worrying that I had. Wow, I happened to have and I put on 402 00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:56.079 one day and people said, you know, that's cool. This is kind 403 00:25:56.119 --> 00:25:59.440 of part of the Yeah, that makes us a part of the history of 404 00:25:59.440 --> 00:26:00.880 the history, the history of the history. I know this is a podcast. 405 00:26:00.920 --> 00:26:03.880 You can't see it, but trust me when you see it, I'm 406 00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:07.839 wearing a Mickey Mouse bow tie. Long before I was getting free bow ties 407 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:11.599 from the tie bar, and this might this I think is the first episode 408 00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:15.000 that really set me on the path of wearing bow ties so much so that 409 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:17.079 now if people see me in public, I'm not wearing a bow I don't 410 00:26:17.079 --> 00:26:18.599 believe I am. Way. It is a little weird because I've known you 411 00:26:18.680 --> 00:26:23.599 for you know, longer than YouTube, and it's so I'm used to seeing 412 00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:26.640 you without a bow tie. But yeah, no one else. Most of 413 00:26:26.680 --> 00:26:27.759 the time, I don't wear bow tie. Yeah, even though there are 414 00:26:27.759 --> 00:26:33.519 people who've seen hundreds of hours of me wearing nothing but bow ties, they 415 00:26:33.559 --> 00:26:34.640 always make that comment when they see it. That's they're like, oh, 416 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:40.599 where's the bow tie? That's it. Yeah. So, if you are 417 00:26:40.680 --> 00:26:42.680 a fan of The History Guy, either the podcast or the YouTube or both, 418 00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:47.519 and you enjoy learning about this history that deserves to be remembered, there 419 00:26:47.559 --> 00:26:51.720 are some waste that you can support us with a little bit of financial a 420 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:53.039 little bit of money, and one of the best ways to do that is 421 00:26:53.039 --> 00:26:56.880 through Patreon. We've got some other ways to do it. You can become 422 00:26:56.920 --> 00:27:00.960 a member on YouTube. We have a page on locals, but

Patreon is 423 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:03.119 kind of one of our main places and it's a great place if you want 424 00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:08.160 to help support The History Guy and make these episodes possible. Yeah, it's 425 00:27:08.200 --> 00:27:11.359 just a really easy place. If you like what we're doing, if you 426 00:27:11.400 --> 00:27:14.680 want to help pay my salary and Josh's salary and feed the cats, then 427 00:27:14.720 --> 00:27:17.240 you can go give you know, whatever amount of money you want, and 428 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:18.440 depending on how much money you give, we'll s into some stuff. We 429 00:27:18.440 --> 00:27:22.880 have challenge cooings, we have stickers, you can even get accustomed to the 430 00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:26.839 History Guy bow tie, and even at the top tier, if you really 431 00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:30.319 want to donate, I'll sign a photograph or you can get out a History 432 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:33.400 Guy autograph. Of course, it's not about the Choski's. It's really about 433 00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:37.960 we believe that history deserves to be remembered. If you do too, even 434 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:41.039 you know, two three five dollars a month can really make a big difference 435 00:27:41.079 --> 00:27:42.759 to us being able to continue to do what we're doing and continue to produce 436 00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:48.000 these podcasts and the YouTube channels. So that's Patreon dot com Slash the History 437 00:27:48.039 --> 00:27:51.279 Guy, Patreon dot com Slash the History Guy. It's really the very best 438 00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:56.759 way to support the History high. Next up, the History Guy tells the 439 00:27:56.799 --> 00:28:03.680 story of Vitis bearing and the Great Northern Expedition. You probably know something of 440 00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:08.000 the story of the European discovery of North America. Vikings probably first reached the 441 00:28:08.039 --> 00:28:11.480 shores of North America around one thousand years ago, and of course Columbus brought 442 00:28:11.480 --> 00:28:15.559 back word of the New World about five hundred years later. But while Europeans 443 00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:19.680 were colonizing the east coast of North America, the west coast of North America 444 00:28:19.720 --> 00:28:25.960 was still largely unknown to Europeans. It wasn't until the eighteenth century that Russia 445 00:28:26.039 --> 00:28:30.240 decided to explore their Pacific coast, sending a Danish explorer to map the farthest 446 00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:34.400 reaches of their dominion and determined once and for all whether Asia and North America 447 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:41.160 were connected. That Danish explorer's name was very nearly lost to history, and 448 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:45.240 while you might recognize the name today, you've probably never heard his story. 449 00:28:45.839 --> 00:28:52.559 It is history that deserves to be remembered. The territory that makes up modern 450 00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:56.960 Russia was conquered largely from various Golden Horde successor states. During their decline. 451 00:28:56.400 --> 00:29:00.920 In the fourteen hundreds, the Grand Duchy of Moscow sometimes called Muscabite Russia began 452 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:06.000 to expand from its core around Moscow west into Europe and north, south and 453 00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:10.119 east into the areas now controlled by modern Russia. In fifteen forty seven, 454 00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:14.119 Ivan the Terrible was crowned the first Tsar, thus creating the Tzardom of Russia. 455 00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:18.880 After Ivan, successive Russian czars and merchants pressed eastward, finding little organized 456 00:29:18.920 --> 00:29:23.200 resistance in the Khanates and natives of Siberia. Russian policy was harsh on the 457 00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:29.359 Siberian natives. Russian agents collected isak or fur tribute from the people there and 458 00:29:29.400 --> 00:29:33.079 forced them to adopt Russian ways. As in America, local populations were devastated 459 00:29:33.119 --> 00:29:38.240 by diseases like smallpox, despite continual resistance from Siberia's peoples. By the time 460 00:29:38.240 --> 00:29:41.839 Peter the Great became Czar in sixteen eighty two, Russia had pressed its control 461 00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:47.400 across the continent and even thought a war with China. In Europe, however, 462 00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:52.039 Russia was seen as a backwater, archaic and barbaric state. Tzar Peter 463 00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:56.839 explored Europe incognito and decided to make Russia relevant to Europe. He made major 464 00:29:56.920 --> 00:30:00.599 cultural, military, and social reforms to bring Russian society nearer Europes. This 465 00:30:00.680 --> 00:30:04.880 included a focus on scientific study, and in seventeen twenty three he began drawing 466 00:30:04.920 --> 00:30:10.640 foreign scholars to his newly built capital of Saint Petersburg to educate Russian scientists and 467 00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:15.680 grow his own academy. Peter's house began deteriorating in seventeen twenty four, in 468 00:30:15.720 --> 00:30:19.160 as Lung held plans to explore Siberia's eastern reaches suddenly became a priority. He 469 00:30:19.240 --> 00:30:23.160 become interested in the idea that the continents connected, and so he ordered an 470 00:30:23.160 --> 00:30:27.960 expedition to be made post haste to the far off coast of Kumpchatka. His 471 00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:32.799 orders were to prepare ships in Kumchatka and to search for the place that land 472 00:30:32.839 --> 00:30:37.640 might be joined to America from their processes to some settlement belonging to a European 473 00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:41.039 power. Preparations began, and on January ninth, seventeen twenty five, Peter 474 00:30:41.240 --> 00:30:45.839 esca danish Man serving in the Russian Navy named Vitis Bearing to command the voyage. 475 00:30:47.880 --> 00:30:51.079 Bidis

Bearing was born in Denmark on August fifth, sixteen eighty one. 476 00:30:51.279 --> 00:30:53.880 His family was reasonably well off, and several of his brothers attended university. 477 00:30:55.440 --> 00:30:57.440 Bidis, however, took a different path, and by fifteen he was serving 478 00:30:57.440 --> 00:31:02.680 as a ship's boy. He traveled extensively after that, going as far Afield 479 00:31:02.680 --> 00:31:06.640 as Indian, the Dutch East Indies, as well as the Caribbean and European 480 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:11.359 colonies in the Americas. He completed naval officer training in Amsterdam. In seventeen 481 00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:15.200 o four, Bearing enlisted with a quickly evolving Russian Navy, which was then 482 00:31:15.240 --> 00:31:19.960 fighting the protracted Great Northern War, which lasted from seventeen hundred to seventeen twenty 483 00:31:19.960 --> 00:31:25.240 one. By seventeen twenty, Baring was a second captain, roughly equivalent to 484 00:31:25.240 --> 00:31:29.039 the US Navy rank of commander, though he only served in non combat roles. 485 00:31:29.680 --> 00:31:32.680 He married the daughter of a Swedish merchant and moved permanently to Russia. 486 00:31:33.400 --> 00:31:36.400 In seventeen twenty four. He left the Navy briefly because of a lack of 487 00:31:36.440 --> 00:31:41.039 promotion, but rejoined later that year with a promotion to first captain. Czar 488 00:31:41.160 --> 00:31:44.920 Peter chose Bearing for his experience around the world, and apparently because Baring was 489 00:31:45.160 --> 00:31:49.079 well liked within the navy. The plan was to travel overland through Siberia until 490 00:31:49.079 --> 00:31:52.240 they reached the Pacific, and the expedition left at the end of January seventeen 491 00:31:52.279 --> 00:31:56.240 twenty five, the same month that the Czar died. The thirty four person 492 00:31:56.279 --> 00:32:00.279 expedition took only what it couldn't get income Chatka, such as anchors, eight 493 00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:05.319 cannons, rigging and sails. More joined the parties that traveled east, a 494 00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:08.839 journey that was constantly delayed by intractable government agents, a popula saying was in 495 00:32:08.880 --> 00:32:13.759 Siberia god is a long way up, in the Czar a long way off. 496 00:32:14.599 --> 00:32:17.200 The journey took more than two years by river horse and sled at least 497 00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:22.160 forty six men from Baring's party deserted as they fought hunger and blizzards in the 498 00:32:22.160 --> 00:32:27.200 sparse frontier. The party finally gathered in the tiny town of a Kotsik in 499 00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:30.359 June of seventeen twenty seven. From there, the party would have to travel 500 00:32:30.359 --> 00:32:34.759 by sea to Kamchatka. The party repaired one previously built boat and built a 501 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:37.759 new one, which they optimistically dubbed the Fortuna. It took most of another 502 00:32:37.839 --> 00:32:43.799 year to travel to Kumchatka. There they launched Bearing's primary ship, the Archangel 503 00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:47.279 Gabriel, on June ninth, seventeen twenty eight. The party finally sailed north 504 00:32:47.319 --> 00:32:50.880 up the coast in July, but struggled to speak with the locals. They 505 00:32:50.920 --> 00:32:53.799 determine the names of local geography. That Summer, Bearing sailed for the first 506 00:32:53.839 --> 00:32:59.240 time through the strait that would bear his name. Unbeknownst to him, he 507 00:32:59.319 --> 00:33:02.359 was not the first to do so. Some eighty years previously, a Cossack 508 00:33:02.440 --> 00:33:07.640 named Semyon Deshnk had sailed through the strait seeking furs. But Deshnef, who 509 00:33:07.720 --> 00:33:12.200 was likely illiterate, doesn't seem to have recognized the importance of his discovery, 510 00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:16.759 and by seventeen twenty eight his expedition was largely forgotten, although some record of 511 00:33:16.799 --> 00:33:22.440 it would be rediscovered in seventeen thirty six. On August eighth, they reached 512 00:33:22.440 --> 00:33:25.680 a cape where the lanterned westwards, and there met several Comchatkins. The party 513 00:33:25.720 --> 00:33:30.039 discussed whether they could be sure that the lantern westward for good, thus proving 514 00:33:30.119 --> 00:33:34.319 that Asia and the Americas were different land masses. Ultimately, with sea ice 515 00:33:34.359 --> 00:33:37.000 already advancing and the ship damaged, Bearing decided to sail for a few days 516 00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:42.160 more and then turned back on August sixteenth. Incredibly, the party had not 517 00:33:42.200 --> 00:33:45.400 actually reached the furthest east point of mainland Asia, for the cape is named 518 00:33:45.440 --> 00:33:50.400 after Deshnef, nor had they discovered Alaska, which on a clear day would 519 00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:53.559 have been visible at times. In the spring of seventeen twenty nine, Bearing 520 00:33:53.599 --> 00:33:57.759 returned to his camp in Kumchatka, ready to make the arduous journey back to 521 00:33:57.759 --> 00:34:01.319 Saint Petersburg to report his findings. No longer carrying the supplies that they needed 522 00:34:01.319 --> 00:34:04.319 to bring with him, it only took them a year to return to the 523 00:34:04.400 --> 00:34:07.360 Russian capital. Bearing was promoted to his first noble rank for his work. 524 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:10.840 At least fifteen of his men had died on the journey, and the expedition 525 00:34:10.920 --> 00:34:15.199 had commandeered food, horses, and dogs freely from native Siberians. They brought 526 00:34:15.199 --> 00:34:19.599 back useful map to the coast of Siberia and good, though not definitive, 527 00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:22.199 proof of the sea between Asia and the Americas. With Russia now considered a 528 00:34:22.239 --> 00:34:28.199 real power, reports of the journey were

spread widely throughout Europe. Bearing wasn't 529 00:34:28.199 --> 00:34:30.679 satisfied with the results of his first expedition, however, especially as it remained 530 00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:35.639 uncertain that he had actually proved the separation of the two continents. He proposed 531 00:34:35.639 --> 00:34:38.239 a second expedition, much more ambitious in scope and with the explicit goal of 532 00:34:38.280 --> 00:34:44.000 reaching North America. The plan was known as the Great Northern Expedition, and 533 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:47.159 it would eventually become so expensive that it ranks as one of history's largest exploration 534 00:34:47.400 --> 00:34:52.719 enterprises. Politicians, the admiralty, and advisers to the new Empress all got 535 00:34:52.719 --> 00:34:58.159 involved, piling on to the scientific and economic goals of the expedition. They 536 00:34:58.199 --> 00:35:00.679 wanted ships to find a navigable route to along the northern coast, to send 537 00:35:00.719 --> 00:35:06.039 the first Russian delegations to Japan, and even to establish the Siberian Postal Service. 538 00:35:06.280 --> 00:35:08.519 In addition to reaching the coast of North America, a large number of 539 00:35:08.559 --> 00:35:13.719 scientists were attached to the expedition, generally to learn everything that has scientific interest. 540 00:35:14.599 --> 00:35:16.880 Bearing was concerned by the size of the expedition. Tiny frontier towns had 541 00:35:16.880 --> 00:35:21.559 had trouble handling his much smaller expedition, but his influence faded as more people 542 00:35:21.599 --> 00:35:24.679 became involved. One of his lieutenants from the first trip, Alexey Cherikov, 543 00:35:24.880 --> 00:35:30.280 was elevated almost to a co commander. While Bearing was completing his preparations, 544 00:35:30.320 --> 00:35:32.920 a different voyage would actually beat him to Alaska. Some members of the first 545 00:35:32.920 --> 00:35:37.599 expedition, led by Mikhail gov'sdev cited Alaska near the modern Cape Prince of Wales 546 00:35:37.639 --> 00:35:42.639 in seventeen thirty two. Bearing, with his wife and his younger children, 547 00:35:42.679 --> 00:35:45.360 left in seventeen thirty three, shortly after Chierikov had left with five hundred people, 548 00:35:45.400 --> 00:35:50.239 a number that would swell to several thousand, including laborers. Like the 549 00:35:50.239 --> 00:35:52.360 first Track, the journey was long and arduous. A huge party strained the 550 00:35:52.360 --> 00:35:57.159 resources of small frontier towns that were expected to accommodate them, and Bearing was 551 00:35:57.199 --> 00:36:00.239 delayed trying to direct other parts of the expedition. The delays were so significant 552 00:36:00.239 --> 00:36:05.679 that Bearing wasn't able to return to Akotzik until seventeen thirty seven. There the 553 00:36:05.719 --> 00:36:10.039 expedition had refitted the Archangel Gabriel and built two new ships. The original cost 554 00:36:10.079 --> 00:36:15.000 of the expedition was budgeted to be twelve thousand rubles, but by seventeen twenty 555 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:20.360 seven, expenses had already exceeded three hundred thousand. Bearing took most of the 556 00:36:20.400 --> 00:36:23.360 blame for the delays and faced personal criticism. Members of the expedition said he 557 00:36:23.360 --> 00:36:28.719 found little success in whatever he did. His own salary was halved, and 558 00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:35.480 supplies and money came irregularly, if at all. Men starved while waiting ships 559 00:36:35.519 --> 00:36:38.239 were able to reach Japan, but the American boundships weren't ready until seventeen forty. 560 00:36:38.760 --> 00:36:43.000 Before leaving, Bearing's family returned to Saint Petersburg. He would never see 561 00:36:43.039 --> 00:36:46.280 them again. The government was considering ending the project entirely, spring Bearing to 562 00:36:46.360 --> 00:36:51.800 quickly sail. He captained the Saint Peter, which reached the Komchuka Peninsula finally 563 00:36:51.840 --> 00:36:55.239 in seventeen forty, followed by the Saint Paul, captain by Cherikov. A 564 00:36:55.280 --> 00:37:00.400 new town had been built to support the expedition, which Bearing dubbed Petropavlovsk, 565 00:37:00.599 --> 00:37:02.840 literally the City of Peter and Paul, after the names of the ships. 566 00:37:04.639 --> 00:37:07.639 He spent the winter preparing for the actual voyage, including recruiting Georg Stellar, 567 00:37:07.960 --> 00:37:13.559 pioneer in Alaskan natural history and for whom Stellar's Sea Eagles, Stellar's Sea Cow, 568 00:37:13.639 --> 00:37:17.039 and Stellar's j are named, among others, to accompany him. In 569 00:37:17.079 --> 00:37:21.599 the summer of seventeen forty one, eight years after he first set off from 570 00:37:21.599 --> 00:37:25.519 Saint Petersburg, Bearing In Chierkov finally set sail for America. Early in the 571 00:37:25.559 --> 00:37:30.119 expedition, the two ships lost each other, but both continued east. Cherikof 572 00:37:30.239 --> 00:37:31.840 was first to sea land of July fifteenth. He said, a group of 573 00:37:31.880 --> 00:37:36.360 men ashore who failed to repear after five days, and then a second group 574 00:37:36.400 --> 00:37:39.960 after them, which also disappeared. Chierkof decided that the boats and fifteen men 575 00:37:40.039 --> 00:37:44.199 were lost and sailed for home. Without those boats, he couldn't get more 576 00:37:44.239 --> 00:37:47.360 fresh water. The crew sided several islands in the Allusion Chain on the return, 577 00:37:47.400 --> 00:37:53.159 and reached Petropavlovsky in October. Critically low on water, Bearing caught sight 578 00:37:53.239 --> 00:37:58.039 of high snow covered mountains and among them a high volcano. On July sixteenth, 579 00:37:58.079 --> 00:38:00.960 seventeen forty one, four hundred fifty miles north of Chierkoff's sighting, they 580 00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:06.239 were

the first Europeans to see Mount Saint Elias, the fourth tallest mountain in 581 00:38:06.280 --> 00:38:09.559 North America. The crew landed on Kayak Island to take on water. Here, 582 00:38:09.719 --> 00:38:14.480 garek Stellar found a recently abandoned native camp. A fire was still smoldering. 583 00:38:15.159 --> 00:38:17.039 He and his cossack entered the grain forest, where he found a cellar 584 00:38:17.119 --> 00:38:22.239 dug into the ground. He stole samples from this cash, smoked salmon, 585 00:38:22.360 --> 00:38:25.000 bark, grasses, and arrows. Bearing sent his men to raid the site 586 00:38:25.039 --> 00:38:30.159 completely, leaving in return silk kettles, knives, beads and tobacco. Stellar 587 00:38:30.199 --> 00:38:34.559 wished to make contact, but Bearing was already concerned about the return voyage. 588 00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:37.880 Stellar was affronted by his treatment, exemplified in his furious complaint, so have 589 00:38:37.960 --> 00:38:43.800 come only to take American water to Asia. Bearing wanted to sail straight for 590 00:38:43.880 --> 00:38:46.199 home, but his lieutenants overruled him, instead following the coastlines that they could 591 00:38:46.280 --> 00:38:51.159 chart it, extending the journey by weeks. Finally, in August tenth, 592 00:38:51.280 --> 00:38:53.199 now laid in the season for sailing so far north, Bearing convinced him to 593 00:38:53.239 --> 00:38:58.280 sail directly for Kumchaka. Scurvy had begun to set in among the crew, 594 00:38:58.400 --> 00:39:01.760 and sixty year old Bearing himself was bedridden. They landed to collect fresh water 595 00:39:01.800 --> 00:39:06.840 again, and on the same day Nikita Shumagen became the first man to die 596 00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:12.079 of scurvy. Bearing named the islands after him. Steller was able to temporarily 597 00:39:12.079 --> 00:39:16.280 stay off scurvy by collecting magnificent anti scorbic plants. In his belief that scurvy 598 00:39:16.360 --> 00:39:20.320 was caused by diet, was well ahead of conventional medicine at the time. 599 00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:23.760 The ship was buffeted by storm after storm for weeks, and scurvy struck more 600 00:39:23.760 --> 00:39:27.559 of the crew. Soon nearly all of the men were ill and able to 601 00:39:27.559 --> 00:39:31.440 even put up the sails. Stellar report's daily deaths. On November four, 602 00:39:31.480 --> 00:39:35.159 if, after nearly five months at sea, they cited land that they helped 603 00:39:35.159 --> 00:39:38.400 with Kumchatka, they half dead, crawled out to see. Stellar said they 604 00:39:38.480 --> 00:39:42.159 landed, but soon learned they were on an island. They were still more 605 00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:46.280 than three hundred miles from Kamchatka. In his eighteen eighty nine Vitis Bearing, 606 00:39:46.320 --> 00:39:51.559 the discoverer of the Bearing Strait, Danish geographer Peter Lawrence had described the location 607 00:39:52.400 --> 00:39:54.199 the island upon who

Shore's Bearing, after a voyage of four months, was 608 00:39:54.239 --> 00:39:58.960 cast, was a high, rocky and uninviting country. By then, the 609 00:39:59.000 --> 00:40:01.639 expedition was in desperate condition. Lordson wrote, the sick and dying were seen 610 00:40:01.679 --> 00:40:06.039 on every hand. Some complained of the cold, others of hunger and thirst, 611 00:40:06.039 --> 00:40:08.199 and the majority of them were so afflicted with scurvy that their gums, 612 00:40:08.440 --> 00:40:14.039 like a dark brown sponge, grew over and entirely covered the teeth. Bearing's 613 00:40:14.079 --> 00:40:17.039 condition steadily worsened, according to lord Sent, his sixty years of age as 614 00:40:17.079 --> 00:40:22.320 heavy build. The trials and tribulations he'd experienced his subdued courage, and his 615 00:40:22.400 --> 00:40:27.199 disposition to quiet and inactivity all tended to aggravate his disease, but he would, 616 00:40:27.280 --> 00:40:30.039 nevertheless, says Stellar, without doubt, have recovered if he had gotten 617 00:40:30.039 --> 00:40:35.119 back to Avatcha, where he could have obtained proper nourishment and enjoyed the comfort 618 00:40:35.360 --> 00:40:39.960 of a warm room. On December nineteenth bidas Bearing died, Stellar said of 619 00:40:40.039 --> 00:40:45.000 him sad as his death was that intrepidity and seriousness with which he prepared to 620 00:40:45.039 --> 00:40:51.559 meet death was most worthy of admiration. Lordson attributed his death to inflammation of 621 00:40:51.599 --> 00:40:53.599 the bowels, and for two and a half centuries that was generally assumed his 622 00:40:53.679 --> 00:40:58.480 death was caused by scurvy, but an analysis of his remains in nineteen ninety 623 00:40:58.480 --> 00:41:02.159 one determined that he likely of heart failure. The Saint Peter was by then 624 00:41:02.239 --> 00:41:06.320 into poor shape to sail. The rest of the crew were stranded for ten 625 00:41:06.360 --> 00:41:08.519 months before they managed to build a new ship from the wreckage and finally returned 626 00:41:08.519 --> 00:41:14.599 to Kumchatka only forty six so the seventy seven men aboard the Saint Peter survived 627 00:41:14.599 --> 00:41:19.039 the expedition. At first, it seemed as if Baring's expedition will be as 628 00:41:19.079 --> 00:41:23.960 forgotten as dejhnaves. The results of the exploration was a secret jealously guarded by 629 00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:27.880 the Russian state, which was afraid that other European powers would try to steal 630 00:41:27.920 --> 00:41:32.199 their newfound land. Lawrenson explains that the reports of Bearing and his co workers, 631 00:41:32.239 --> 00:41:37.280 which would have filled cart loads with manuscripts, were buried within the archives 632 00:41:37.679 --> 00:41:42.079 of the Admiralty Well. Bearing was neither the first European to see Alaska, 633 00:41:42.159 --> 00:41:45.039 nor even the first to pass through the strait that now bears his name. 634 00:41:45.480 --> 00:41:49.719 His expeditions established the Russian claim to what is now Alaska in the Pacific Northwest. 635 00:41:49.960 --> 00:41:54.360 It was then called Russian America. Lawrenson described him as Russia's first navigator 636 00:41:54.599 --> 00:42:00.000 and first great discoverer. It was British explorer James Book who was credited with 637 00:42:00.079 --> 00:42:05.199 naming the Straight after Bearing in seventeen seventy eight, and now many local features 638 00:42:05.199 --> 00:42:08.000 are named after Bearing. The island on which he died is called Bearing Island, 639 00:42:08.039 --> 00:42:12.639 it is in the Bearing Sea, and the land bridge at once connected 640 00:42:12.719 --> 00:42:17.800 Asia and North America is called Barringia. Peter Lawrenceon noted the irony. Thus 641 00:42:17.880 --> 00:42:23.679 it was West Europe who, in the last century rescued Bearing's name from oblivion. 642 00:42:27.280 --> 00:42:30.679 So, as we mentioned in our last conversation, you know, there 643 00:42:30.719 --> 00:42:34.159 are a lot of differences. Of course, this episode, this story takes 644 00:42:34.159 --> 00:42:37.360 place two hundred years after Magellans, but in some ways there are a lot 645 00:42:37.360 --> 00:42:44.320 of similarities and how difficult this kind of exploration is, and how shoe string 646 00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:46.679 they seem to keep it together so many places where it could have failed, 647 00:42:47.159 --> 00:42:50.559 just like Magentiica. It's actually, I mean, there's a huge difference between 648 00:42:50.599 --> 00:42:53.880 exploring up in the North Arctic in the South Pacific. But it's interesting that 649 00:42:53.880 --> 00:42:57.559 by the end both groups were Diana scurvy, and you know, that's the 650 00:42:57.559 --> 00:42:59.840 same thing when you're at sea for a long period of time, when you 651 00:42:59.880 --> 00:43:04.280 have trouble getting supplies, and so that's really an interesting similarity. One of 652 00:43:04.320 --> 00:43:07.559 the things that's interesting Magellan was not Spanish. You'd become a Spanish citizen, 653 00:43:07.599 --> 00:43:12.480 but Magellan was actually Portuguese. He had gone to the King of Portugal first, 654 00:43:12.480 --> 00:43:14.480 and when the King of Portugal didn't want to support the expedition, he 655 00:43:14.519 --> 00:43:16.400 had gone to Spain. Of course, Whitess Bearing was not a Russian. 656 00:43:16.480 --> 00:43:22.039 Whitess Bearing was Danish, right, and so it's the same sort. You 657 00:43:22.079 --> 00:43:24.639 had a great explorer that had a nation that wasn't going to support him as 658 00:43:24.679 --> 00:43:29.000 the great explorer, and so he winds up exploring on someone else's behalf. 659 00:43:29.239 --> 00:43:31.599 That's really quite interesting. It's a mirror between the two. And then they 660 00:43:31.599 --> 00:43:35.639 both, you know, totally risk their lives going to see with a small 661

00:43:35.679 --> 00:43:39.920 group, and they both faced the sorts of dangers and risks that you do. 662 00:43:39.960 --> 00:43:44.360 Of course, there's different risks when you're living in the North Atlantic or 663 00:43:44.360 --> 00:43:47.840 in the North Pacific there and minus fifty degrees. That's a bit different than 664 00:43:47.880 --> 00:43:51.159 than if you're in the South Pacific. But they still you know, the 665 00:43:52.679 --> 00:43:59.199 basic truth that exploring very far away from civilization or at least from your civilization 666 00:44:00.360 --> 00:44:04.360 and having a very difficult time. I mean, you were you everything is 667 00:44:04.559 --> 00:44:07.519 a possible failure. You know, whether your ship is going to sink, 668 00:44:07.079 --> 00:44:09.960 or you're not going to find the food, or because they didn't know where 669 00:44:09.960 --> 00:44:14.320 they were going, they weren't even sure if if they were so what was 670 00:44:14.360 --> 00:44:15.840 on the other side. Neither one of them knew what they were both going, 671 00:44:15.840 --> 00:44:20.320 literally into the great unknown. Of course, five Sparring had the additional 672 00:44:20.320 --> 00:44:23.440 obstacles that he had to get to get across Russia. They can't do where 673 00:44:23.480 --> 00:44:27.400 you could make a boat, and that was that was not an easy time 674 00:44:27.440 --> 00:44:30.280 to do that. Yeah, it was. And that what they were saying. 675 00:44:30.320 --> 00:44:35.599 You know that even the Tsari's officials could be very intragedy because intragedent because 676 00:44:35.639 --> 00:44:37.199 even though he was had been sent there by the Tsar, they said they 677 00:44:37.199 --> 00:44:40.519 were Tsar was far from there. The Tsar was a part was far away. 678 00:44:40.599 --> 00:44:44.920 You wonder. One of the things that kind of amazes me is that 679 00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:50.199 Russia has been able to hold on to so much of that land, despite 680 00:44:50.199 --> 00:44:53.079 the fact that it's very clear at this point that they had an extremely tenuous 681 00:44:53.079 --> 00:44:57.480 control over it. They were getting there at the time that there was in 682 00:44:57.599 --> 00:45:00.599 terms of actual you know, the actual control by the Empire, Russia is 683 00:45:00.639 --> 00:45:06.280 still almost you know, almost all their population lives west of the Urals, 684 00:45:06.320 --> 00:45:10.320 and so everybody you know that there's this huge part of Russia which they are 685 00:45:10.400 --> 00:45:14.599 better able to. I mean, they've got railroads across it now, uh, 686 00:45:15.039 --> 00:45:16.760 better able to. That was a long path too, but I mean 687 00:45:16.760 --> 00:45:19.920 the you know, the Russo Japanese War. Part of the problem is how 688 00:45:19.920 --> 00:45:22.360 do you even get troops there? How do you protect that? How did 689 00:45:22.360 --> 00:45:25.440 they protect the over this period of time,

they essentially sold British North America 690 00:45:25.639 --> 00:45:30.760 because they've afraid if they went to war with Russian North America. They sold 691 00:45:30.800 --> 00:45:32.880 Russian North America because they were afraid that if the if they went to war 692 00:45:32.880 --> 00:45:36.519 with the British, they couldn't defend it from the British. It's somehow they 693 00:45:36.599 --> 00:45:40.239 have defended that huge battswath of territory clear on the on the east side Russia. 694 00:45:40.320 --> 00:45:44.679 Is an extraordinary story. And this is you know, this story shows 695 00:45:44.679 --> 00:45:47.679 how difficult it was to do that, how difficult it was for them to 696 00:45:47.719 --> 00:45:52.920 even get from one It's clear years the Tsar did not have a whole lot 697 00:45:52.920 --> 00:45:55.760 of authority when you got to kom Chatka. No, I mean you're your 698 00:45:55.760 --> 00:45:58.840 authority that you know, You're like, I'm here from the Czar. They're 699 00:45:58.880 --> 00:46:02.039 like, okay, better have something more, more more convincing than that. 700 00:46:02.079 --> 00:46:07.480 Probably to real are you gonna do tell on me? It'll take your years 701 00:46:07.480 --> 00:46:10.039 to get there and years to get back, and by then no one will 702 00:46:10.079 --> 00:46:15.480 care. But it's and it's also I mean, they didn't have it very 703 00:46:15.519 --> 00:46:19.760 well explored, and it took that was part of why. I mean, 704 00:46:19.800 --> 00:46:22.159 one of the things that Perring did in this in this journey is really explored. 705 00:46:22.199 --> 00:46:25.000 I mean, he they learned a lot about the rivers, They learned 706 00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:30.480 a lot about kind of this understanding of how you would get across this land, 707 00:46:30.519 --> 00:46:31.840 and that had a lot to do. We end up taking most of 708 00:46:31.880 --> 00:46:37.559 it out because the journey there takes and you know, he goes there sometimes 709 00:46:37.760 --> 00:46:40.679 takes forever, and every step of the way is a challenge, and parts 710 00:46:40.719 --> 00:46:44.000 of the party are reaching it and part and that you know, they're waiting 711 00:46:44.000 --> 00:46:46.840 for other parts and they don't have food, and they're waiting for various supply 712 00:46:46.960 --> 00:46:51.360 wagons, and they're trying to you know, move that by river and you 713 00:46:51.360 --> 00:46:54.440 have to they're not even one hundred percent sure where the river goes. Yeah, 714 00:46:54.480 --> 00:46:57.800 I mean our episodes are I mean, they only around ten to fifteen 715 00:46:57.840 --> 00:47:00.599 minutes long, and we do want to stick to his story. That's going 716 00:47:00.639 --> 00:47:02.159 to be interesting, but it is certainly you could if you wanted to tell 717 00:47:02.199 --> 00:47:06.039 the whole story of the bearing expeditions, it could take you could take much 718 00:47:06.119 --> 00:47:08.480 much longer just to talk about even getting to where they got the boat. 719 00:47:08.559 --> 00:47:12.199 And you know, we wanted to focus on the exploration part of it, 720 00:47:12.239 --> 00:47:16.920 and the Bearing Sea and the Bearing straight and Bearing Island and all these skipping 721 00:47:17.000 --> 00:47:20.920 over a lot of it. But if you have a whole lot of time 722 00:47:20.960 --> 00:47:27.239 to talk about him hauling boat anchors from from Moscow to come chot Guy, 723 00:47:27.920 --> 00:47:30.679 which was which was difficult, and and they I mean they there's also I 724 00:47:30.679 --> 00:47:35.639 mean there's some stuff here that they didn't necessarily that the Tsar expected that, 725 00:47:35.679 --> 00:47:37.679 you know, they could just take whatever they needed from the locals, and 726 00:47:37.719 --> 00:47:42.320 I mean they did, which was which was always challenging because no no one 727 00:47:43.280 --> 00:47:46.679 Siberia ever had really extra food, yeah, yeah, or dogs, or 728 00:47:46.760 --> 00:47:50.320 i mean any of the things that they were taking. And I don't think 729 00:47:50.320 --> 00:47:52.360 they probably believed that the Tzar wasn't compaying back. So yeah, they had 730 00:47:52.360 --> 00:47:57.360 to They had to literally just you know, confiscate stuff from locals, and 731 00:47:57.400 --> 00:48:00.280 the locals obviously, you know, wanted to protect their stuff they had, 732 00:48:00.519 --> 00:48:02.760 they had trouble. I mean, it was certainly an interesting challenge, yeah, 733 00:48:02.800 --> 00:48:06.800 and a very different challenge than the same Magellan face. Yeah, supposedly 734 00:48:06.840 --> 00:48:09.000 he was going through you know, vitis and all of his people were going 735 00:48:09.079 --> 00:48:13.039 through land that was controlled by Russia. The entire time. He never left 736 00:48:13.119 --> 00:48:17.000 Russia. And yet you know, the the Tzar officials, the Czarist officials 737 00:48:17.000 --> 00:48:22.719 in these various little towns tended to run these areas like their own personal fiefdom 738 00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:27.719 where they have probably the only significant building for you know, hundreds of miles 739 00:48:28.239 --> 00:48:32.400 and and everybody else is everybody else is living off and just miles and miles 740 00:48:32.440 --> 00:48:37.800 of wilderness. And it's it's wild that they that Russia kept all of that 741 00:48:37.880 --> 00:48:44.000 together and that Bearing was able to get through all of it honestly without without 742 00:48:44.079 --> 00:48:49.039 just ending up giving up, because it can be pretty pretty uh well twice 743 00:48:49.079 --> 00:48:51.880 right, because he went, he went and went, and then straight and 744 00:48:51.920 --> 00:48:53.360 they went all the way back to Moscow, and then he came all the 745 00:48:53.400 --> 00:48:59.440 way back for another expedition and an absolutely even crazier because the Great Northern

Expedition, 746 00:48:59.639 --> 00:49:04.000 as they call it, absolutely out of control. It was it was 747 00:49:04.360 --> 00:49:07.239 it was much more about the ambition because this was you know, this was 748 00:49:07.320 --> 00:49:08.400 kind of a period. It was a little bit like kind of this like 749 00:49:08.440 --> 00:49:13.480 space race of science where everyone was trying to prove that, you know, 750 00:49:13.559 --> 00:49:15.920 oh we're so good at science, we can do all this stuff. And 751 00:49:15.159 --> 00:49:20.079 Peter wanted to prove that, you know, Russia was European and was up 752 00:49:20.119 --> 00:49:22.599 with all of that stuff, and they you know, they weren't essentially barbarians 753 00:49:22.599 --> 00:49:27.119 from the east someplace, and so that was why this was turned into such 754 00:49:27.119 --> 00:49:30.320 a huge expedition. But there was, to be honest, there was just 755 00:49:30.320 --> 00:49:35.320 never any way to wrangle the whole thing, and Bearing was kind of set 756 00:49:35.400 --> 00:49:37.599 up to fail in that. He gets a lot of the you know, 757 00:49:37.639 --> 00:49:39.920 a lot of the trouble for it going so far over budget and it being 758 00:49:39.960 --> 00:49:46.599 so difficult, and he didn't ask to have you know, every scientific person 759 00:49:46.639 --> 00:49:52.039 in Europe essentially send along something to be a part of this expedition. He 760 00:49:52.079 --> 00:49:53.880 had a hard enough time getting there the first time, and then they wanted 761 00:49:53.880 --> 00:49:58.920 to carry you know, fifty times as many things all the way back, 762 00:49:58.960 --> 00:50:01.079 and it wasn't that much easy year to get there the second time. At 763 00:50:01.159 --> 00:50:04.360 least he knew what path he was taking. But you know, there's all 764 00:50:04.360 --> 00:50:07.760 these different problems and gosh, and that's all you know, all the politics 765 00:50:07.840 --> 00:50:10.840 and and and that. I mean, so there's that It is a very 766 00:50:10.880 --> 00:50:14.199 rich story. There's a lot more to it than he has just gotten about. 767 00:50:14.199 --> 00:50:16.159 And of course part of the story is the parts that he explored might 768 00:50:16.199 --> 00:50:21.239 well have been someone there before him, Yeah, and whose records were eventually 769 00:50:21.320 --> 00:50:23.159 kind of uncovered to say, oh maybe there was this what was he was 770 00:50:23.199 --> 00:50:29.760 a fur trader that had already been and he who apparently reached the furthest eastern 771 00:50:30.400 --> 00:50:35.440 part of Asia, and you know, apparently he just his story wasn't wasn't 772 00:50:35.480 --> 00:50:37.079 told, although he is. I mean, he's got something named after him 773 00:50:37.079 --> 00:50:40.199 too, but certainly not the way you know Bearing does. Now, now 774 00:50:40.199 --> 00:50:45.960 we talk about Berringia, which that's you know, that's that's Bearing going back 775 00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.840 into back into the past. Essentially bad of time. If they say you 776 00:50:49.880 --> 00:50:53.079 can't change history, I mean in a way Bearing did when they when they 777 00:50:53.159 --> 00:50:58.719 named things thousand years before Baringia. But and it but it still gets down 778 00:50:58.760 --> 00:51:04.960 to just this really fascinating story supplies disagreement among the captains, the two ships 779 00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:07.639 lose each other. I mean, it is a truly dramatic story. People 780 00:51:07.679 --> 00:51:13.840 start dying. He wasn't killed by natives. But it's interesting that much of 781 00:51:13.880 --> 00:51:19.840 his crew was suffering from scurvy in the same way that Magellan's crew was suffering 782 00:51:19.840 --> 00:51:22.119 from scurvy. And they even had a guy they kind of thought that he 783 00:51:22.199 --> 00:51:25.679 knew what scurvy was and wanted them to, you know, have a diet 784 00:51:25.719 --> 00:51:29.280 that would help him, and they don't really buy it. But he, 785 00:51:29.320 --> 00:51:32.000 I mean, he was anybody understood that Europe didn't understand that at the time 786 00:51:32.119 --> 00:51:36.679 that they needed, you know, oranges to keep them from dying of scurvy. 787 00:51:37.239 --> 00:51:40.960 But and of course Steller Steller survives the whole thing, and that his 788 00:51:40.960 --> 00:51:45.159 his journals and what he said about it is is a good chunk of why 789 00:51:45.199 --> 00:51:49.239 we know as much as we do. But they're you know, their first 790 00:51:49.320 --> 00:51:52.840 journey on his first expedition where he travels north and still manages not to find 791 00:51:52.880 --> 00:51:55.639 Alaska. Nowadays we can look at him like, oh my gosh, he 792 00:51:55.719 --> 00:51:59.960 was so close. Yeah, you can see it from there is this close. 793 00:52:00.039 --> 00:52:02.440 He could have seen Alaska on a clear day, and he didn't. 794 00:52:02.480 --> 00:52:06.559 And I wonder, you know, for them, they had no idea they 795 00:52:06.559 --> 00:52:08.440 still weren't. He wanted to go back partially because he felt like they hadn't 796 00:52:08.719 --> 00:52:14.360 conclusively proven that Asia and North America were separate, and that's separated. He 797 00:52:14.440 --> 00:52:15.679 gone far enough north to see if there was a connection. Yeah, which 798 00:52:15.719 --> 00:52:20.079 is an interesting and interesting piece but then you know, he comes back on 799 00:52:20.119 --> 00:52:23.159 the second time and he does manage to reach Alaska, even though apparently, 800 00:52:23.239 --> 00:52:27.719 you know, he's not the not the first guy to have to have actually 801 00:52:27.719 --> 00:52:30.760 seen some of that, but they see they're the first ones to see that 802 00:52:30.800 --> 00:52:34.280 mountain. It's amazing that there were I mean, there were lots of tribes 803 00:52:34.320 --> 00:52:37.760 and stuff living along that coast

side, and he never never made any contact, 804 00:52:37.119 --> 00:52:39.880 well except for they find that they find a camp, and they find 805 00:52:39.920 --> 00:52:44.679 that cellar. They did find a camp, and so they found some evidence. 806 00:52:44.719 --> 00:52:46.719 But the other boat, though, had sent away two like longboats full 807 00:52:46.719 --> 00:52:49.920 of guys that never came back, and they they might have been you know, 808 00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:52.280 combinatives, but it is a good chance of that. But I mean 809 00:52:52.280 --> 00:52:54.400 they also could have died. Any numbers other ways they could have died. 810 00:52:54.440 --> 00:52:57.360 Yeah. Yeah, maybe they would just send him to a place that wasn't 811 00:52:57.400 --> 00:53:00.639 navigable and they all drowned. But it is, I mean, it is 812 00:53:00.119 --> 00:53:04.039 when you're there, I mean, it feels very much like Magellan. You're 813 00:53:04.079 --> 00:53:07.639 just out, you know, you are so far from home, and you 814 00:53:07.679 --> 00:53:08.880 know, how do you find supply, how do you find you know, 815 00:53:08.960 --> 00:53:12.639 anything that's going on? And yet they continue to do their exploration. They 816 00:53:12.639 --> 00:53:16.639 continue to map, and that's extraordinary. Apparently, just like Magellan, Bearing 817 00:53:16.679 --> 00:53:20.639 doesn't doesn't make it home. Bearing had to fight them because Barry wanted to 818 00:53:20.679 --> 00:53:22.599 turn back sooner than they did, you know, they wanted to do more 819 00:53:22.639 --> 00:53:29.079 exploration. And honestly, the journey seems to have gone pretty well until you 820 00:53:29.119 --> 00:53:30.920 know, they're getting to that last, that kind of end part, and 821 00:53:30.960 --> 00:53:35.559 then everything just falls apart so quickly. They run out of food, and 822 00:53:35.599 --> 00:53:37.679 then people start dying of scurvy, and then they and they, and there's 823 00:53:38.559 --> 00:53:42.320 hundreds of miles. They wind up on a you know, a very bearing 824 00:53:43.000 --> 00:53:45.559 bearing, a barren island, rock island of the Belling nowhere, and that's 825 00:53:45.559 --> 00:53:50.880 where by the Bearing died. I was unfortunate three hundred miles after all of 826 00:53:50.920 --> 00:53:52.599 that. They were that close and there was nothing they could do, and 827 00:53:52.639 --> 00:53:57.800 no one knew they were there, and you know, good luck accidentally stumbling 828 00:53:57.880 --> 00:54:00.880 upon them. It's amazing that any of them were able to get off of 829 00:54:00.920 --> 00:54:02.920 that island. And that's I mean, that's again how close it was. 830 00:54:04.519 --> 00:54:08.880 And then they did, despite everything, managed to bring back just a just 831 00:54:08.960 --> 00:54:14.480 a bunch of stuff of scientific stuff. And it's so funny that Bearing is 832 00:54:14.480 --> 00:54:17.920 almost buried, not because he you know his he didn't

have a record of 833 00:54:17.960 --> 00:54:23.159 his expedition, but because the Russians didn't want anyone else wanting buddy didn't know 834 00:54:23.199 --> 00:54:27.519 what they found. Yeah, which's funny given that the reason that they'd send 835 00:54:27.599 --> 00:54:30.400 him was to prove what scientists they are, and then they don't want to 836 00:54:30.440 --> 00:54:35.400 telling that about that was apparently just just almost lost to bureaucracy wagon loads. 837 00:54:35.400 --> 00:54:37.760 Can you imagine all of that stuff. He travels all the way across Russia 838 00:54:37.800 --> 00:54:42.000 and then they managed to get all that stuff back across Russia, and the 839 00:54:42.079 --> 00:54:44.760 Russians are like, oh, we better lock that up in a cellar someplace 840 00:54:45.159 --> 00:54:47.960 like the late Raiders of the Lost Arc there. Yet, this is never 841 00:54:49.000 --> 00:54:55.159 going to come out. It's pop people, It really is an interesting and 842 00:54:55.239 --> 00:54:59.559 you know that's a piece of you wonder, well, I'm not sure that 843 00:54:59.599 --> 00:55:02.360 we have a journey quite as ambitious as Bearings. That's you know, totally 844 00:55:02.400 --> 00:55:07.159 buried or something. But you wonder what what stuff we don't know is hidden 845 00:55:07.159 --> 00:55:12.079 in some giant warehouse or in the basement of a monastery someplace that's it's just 846 00:55:12.119 --> 00:55:15.920 not been translated or her whole expeditions because bearings could have been forgotten, could 847 00:55:15.920 --> 00:55:19.239 have been and it's you know, it's really kind of surprised that it wasn't. 848 00:55:19.280 --> 00:55:21.760 So who knows what else might have happened, what else might have been 849 00:55:21.800 --> 00:55:23.719 explored, it might have been, might have done, and the record is 850 00:55:23.719 --> 00:55:27.440 simply lost. I mean, it's it's interesting, you know, all the 851 00:55:27.480 --> 00:55:30.519 all this, we never found the logbooks from the Franklin expedition or you know 852 00:55:30.559 --> 00:55:32.360 why, you know why they disappear. But we also don't know for sure 853 00:55:32.360 --> 00:55:36.599 where Gena's Cohn is buried. So I mean it's it's you know, uh, 854 00:55:37.039 --> 00:55:38.360 for all that you talk about history, there's still a lot of history 855 00:55:38.400 --> 00:55:42.719 that's that's lost, that's missing, and we're still looking for answers we might 856 00:55:42.800 --> 00:55:45.599 learn about it. I just saw that, you know, the tombs in 857 00:55:45.599 --> 00:55:51.159 in Masdon in modern Greece, you know where Alexander. We don't we don't 858 00:55:51.199 --> 00:55:55.119 have any idea where Alexander is, but they're still fighting over who the bodies 859 00:55:55.199 --> 00:55:59.400 are in his royal tombs, whether they're his you know, his son and 860 00:55:59.440 --> 00:56:01.679 his brother, and they're still arguing over that. So you know, these 861 00:56:01.679 --> 00:56:06.199 are these are very important people that we Uh, well, very important historically, 862 00:56:06.280 --> 00:56:08.559 people we don't know, we don't know any of this stuff, and 863 00:56:08.599 --> 00:56:13.119 we're fighting about that. And it's interesting what we'll be able to prove and 864 00:56:13.199 --> 00:56:15.400 how much we'll be able to learn with you know, new new information, 865 00:56:15.480 --> 00:56:19.440 and I hope that it continues. That's a that's a great lesson to learn 866 00:56:19.480 --> 00:56:22.559 from bte Us bearing is. There's a good chance that you know, people 867 00:56:22.599 --> 00:56:23.840 probably know who is because of the bearings, the bearing straight, but there's 868 00:56:23.840 --> 00:56:27.920 a very good chance now you would never know who he was, that his 869 00:56:27.960 --> 00:56:31.440 record would still be buried in a vault somewhere. And so it shows you 870 00:56:31.480 --> 00:56:35.280 how easily history is lost. And then that gives you a good reason to 871 00:56:35.360 --> 00:56:44.480 understand why history deserves to be remembered because it's so easily lost. Thank you 872 00:56:44.559 --> 00:56:47.960 for listening to this episode of The History Guide podcast. We hope you enjoyed 873 00:56:47.960 --> 00:56:51.920 this episode of Forgotten History, and if you did, you can find more 874 00:56:51.960 --> 00:56:57.039 on our website, Thehistoryguide dot com. We release podcasts every two weeks, 875 00:56:57.079 --> 00:57:00.280 so stick around if you want to hear more podcasts of Forgotten History. You 876 00:57:00.280 --> 00:57:05.440 can also find us on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Patreon. 877 00:57:06.000 --> 00:57:09.320 You can even get a personalized message from the History Guy himself on cameo