Age of Discovery

===Russians reach the Pacific===
In 1639, a group of explorers led by [[Ivan Moskvitin]] became the first Russians to reach the Pacific Ocean and to discover the [[Sea of Okhotsk]], having built a winter camp on its shore at the [[Ulya River]] mouth. The Cossacks learned from the locals about the large [[Amur River]] far to the south. In 1640, they apparently sailed south, explored the south-eastern shores of the Okhotsk Sea, perhaps reaching the mouth of the [[Amur River]] and possibly discovering the [[Shantar Islands]] on their way back. Based on Moskvitin's account, [[Kurbat Ivanov]] drew the first Russian map of the [[Far East]] in 1642.

In 1643, [[Vasily Poyarkov]] crossed the [[Stanovoy Range]] and reached the upper [[Zeya River]] in the country of the [[Daur people|Daurs]], who were paying tribute to the [[Manchu]] Chinese. After wintering, in 1644, Poyarkov pushed down the Zeya and became the first Russian to reach the [[Amur River]]. He sailed down the Amur and finally discovered the mouth of that great river from land. Since his Cossacks provoked the enmity of the locals behind, Poyarkov chose a different way back. They built boats and in 1645, sailed along the [[Sea of Okhotsk]] coast to the [[Ulya River]] and spent the next winter in the huts that had been built by [[Ivan Moskvitin]] six years earlier. In 1646, they returned to Yakutsk.

[[File:Krsk koch.JPG|thumb|left|upright|A 17th-century [[Koch (boat)|koch]] in a museum in [[Krasnoyarsk]]. Kochi were the earliest [[icebreaker]]s and were widely used by Russians in the [[Arctic]] and on [[Siberia]]n rivers.]]
In 1644, [[Mikhail Stadukhin]] discovered the [[Kolyma River]] and founded [[Srednekolymsk]]. A merchant named [[Fedot Alekseyev Popov]] organized a further expedition eastward, and [[Semyon Dezhnyov]] became a captain of one of the [[Koch (boat)|kochi]]. In 1648, they sailed from [[Srednekolymsk]] down to the Arctic and after some time they rounded [[Cape Dezhnyov]], thus becoming the first explorers to pass through the [[Bering Strait]] and to discover [[Chukchi Peninsula|Chukotka]] and the [[Bering Sea]]. All their kochi and most of their men (including Popov himself) were lost in storms and clashes with the natives. A small group led by Dezhnyov reached the mouth of the [[Anadyr River]] and sailed up it in 1649, having built new boats from the wreckage. They founded [[Anadyrsk]] and were stranded there, until Stadukhin found them, coming from Kolyma by land.<ref>[[#Fisher 1981|Fisher 1981]], p. 30</ref> Subsequently, Stadukhin set off south in 1651 and discovered [[Penzhin Bay]] on the northern coast of the [[Okhotsk Sea]]. He also may have explored the western shores of [[Kamchatka]].

From 1649 to 1650, [[Yerofey Khabarov]] became the second Russian to explore the [[Amur River]]. Through [[Olyokma]], [[Tungir]] and [[Shilka River]]s he reached Amur ([[Dauria]]), returned to [[Yakutsk]] and then back to Amur with a larger force in 1650–1653. This time he [[Russian-Manchu border conflicts|was met with armed resistance]]. He built winter quarters at [[Albazin]], then sailed down Amur and found Achansk, which preceded the present-day [[Khabarovsk]], defeating or evading large armies of [[Transbaikal|Daurian]] [[Manchu]] Chinese and [[Koreans]] on his way. He charted the Amur in his ''Draft of the Amur river''.<ref>[[#Dymytryshyn 1985|Dymytryshyn 1985]], web</ref> Subsequently, Russians held on to the Amur region until 1689, when by the [[Treaty of Nerchinsk]] this land was assigned to the [[Qing dynasty|Chinese Empire]]. It was returned by the [[Treaty of Aigun]] in 1858.

From 1659 to 1665, [[Kurbat Ivanov]] was the next head of [[Anadyrsk]]y ostrog after [[Semyon Dezhnev]]. In 1660, he sailed from [[Anadyr Bay]] to [[Cape Dezhnyov]]. Atop his earlier pioneering charts, Ivanov is credited with creation of the early map of [[Chukchi Peninsula|Chukotka]] and the [[Bering Strait]], which was the first to show on paper (very schematically) the yet undiscovered [[Wrangel Island]], both [[Diomede Islands]] and Alaska, based on the data collected from the natives of Chukotka.

By the mid-17th century, Russians established the borders of their country close to modern ones, and explored almost the whole of Siberia, except the eastern [[Kamchatka]] and some regions north of the Arctic Circle. The conquest of Kamchatka later would be achieved in the early 1700s by [[Vladimir Atlasov]], while the discovery of the Arctic coastline and Alaska would be completed by the [[Great Northern Expedition]] in 1733–1743.

{{further|Major explorations after the Age of Discovery}}