Geographical features named after travelers. The origin of the names of geographical objects. Interesting Facts

Every person dreams of perpetuating his last name or first name. It was quite easy for travelers and ancient navigators to do this; the objects they discovered were named after them. Now with such discoveries it is much more difficult. Some people are even willing to pay money to have a distant star named after them. In honor of Amerigo Vespucci, as many as two continents were named, in honor of Christopher Columbus - the country of Colombia, and the Marshall Islands are named after John Marshall.

Geographical features named after travelers

Different geographic features got their names in honor of famous travelers and explorers. There are a lot of geographical objects bearing the names of travelers on our planet, in particular:

For the most part, all geographical objects that bear the name of travelers, their explorers, are located in hard-to-reach places. Where Europeans have lived for a long time and have always had the opportunity to explore this object, they are named much more interesting. But near the poles, almost every significant geographical object bears someone's first or last name.

And personally, I am also interested in the fact that the people of our country really want to perpetuate themselves and therefore, at the slightest opportunity, they leave “rock inscriptions here I was ...”. For me, this approach is unacceptable. I believe that we need to look for other ways to leave a mark on history.

Russian navigators, along with European ones, are the most famous pioneers who discovered new continents, sections of mountain ranges and vast water areas. They became the discoverers of significant geographical objects, took the first steps in the development of hard-to-reach territories, and traveled around the world. So who are they - the conquerors of the seas, and what exactly did the world learn about thanks to them?

Afanasy Nikitin - the very first Russian traveler

He was able to prove that even as a member of a poor peasant family, one can become a famous explorer and traveler. Streets, embankments in several Russian cities, ship, passenger train and aircraft.

Semyon Dezhnev, who founded the Anadyr prison

In 1643, as part of a detachment of explorers, Semyon Ivanovich discovered Kolyma, where he founded the city of Srednekolymsk with his associates. A year later, Semyon Dezhnev continued his expedition, walked along the Bering Strait (which did not yet have this name) and discovered the easternmost point of the mainland, later named Cape Dezhnev. An island, a peninsula, a bay, a village also bear his name.

In 1648, Dezhnev set off again. His ship was wrecked in the waters located in the southern part of the Anadyr River. Having reached on skis, the sailors went up the river and stayed there for the winter. Subsequently, this place appeared on geographical maps and received the name Anadyr prison. As a result of the expedition, the traveler was able to make detailed descriptions, make a map of those places.

Vitus Jonassen Bering, who organized expeditions to Kamchatka

The discovery of the Kamchatka and Ozerny peninsulas, the bays of Kamchatsky, the Cross, the Karaginsky, the Bay of Conduct, the island of St. Lawrence are also the merit of Bering and Chirikov. At the same time, another strait was found and described, which later became known as the Bering Strait.

The second expedition was undertaken by them in order to find a way to North America and explore the Pacific Islands. On this journey, Bering and Chirikov founded the Peter and Paul prison. It got its name from the combined names of their ships ("Saint Peter" and "Saint Paul") and subsequently became the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

On the approach to the shores of America, ships of like-minded people lost sight of each other, affected heavy fog. "Saint Peter", driven by Bering, sailed to the west coast of America, but got into a severe storm on the way back - the ship was thrown onto an island. The last minutes of Vitus Bering's life passed on it, and the island subsequently began to bear his name. Chirikov also reached America on his ship, but successfully completed his voyage, finding on way back several islands of the Aleutian ridge.

Khariton and Dmitry Laptev and their “named” sea

Each of the brothers made a significant contribution to the development of new territories. Dmitry became the first navigator to survey the coast from the mouth of the Lena to the mouth of the Kolyma. He made detailed maps of these places, based on mathematical calculations and astronomical data.

Khariton Laptev and his associates conducted research on the northernmost section of the coast of Siberia. It was he who determined the size and shape of the huge Taimyr Peninsula - he surveyed its eastern coast, and was able to identify the exact coordinates of the coastal islands. The expedition took place in difficult conditions - a large number of ice, snowstorms, scurvy, ice captivity - Khariton Laptev's team had to endure a lot. But they continued the work they had begun. On this expedition, Laptev's assistant Chelyuskin discovered the cape, which was later named after him.

Noting the great contribution of the Laptevs to the development of new territories, members of the Russian geographical society decided to name one of them after them. largest seas Arctic. Also, the strait between the mainland and Bolshoi Lyakhovsky Island is named after Dmitry, and the western coast of Taimyr Island bears the name of Khariton.

Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky - organizers of the first Russian circumnavigation

This journey made it possible to collect important information. Based on the data obtained by navigators, a detailed map Pacific Ocean. Another important result of the first Russian round-the-world expedition was the data obtained about the flora and fauna of the Kuriles and Kamchatka, local residents, their customs and cultural traditions.

During their journey, the sailors crossed the equator and, according to maritime traditions, could not leave this event without a well-known ritual - a sailor dressed as Neptune greeted Krusenstern and asked why his ship arrived where the Russian flag had never been. To which he received the answer that they are here solely for the glory and development of domestic science.

Vasily Golovnin - the first navigator who was rescued from Japanese captivity

The leadership set the goal of the round-the-world expedition to study the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, with special attention to that part of it that is within the native country. The path of "Diana" was not easy. The sloop passed the island of Tristan da Cunha, passed the Cape of Hope and entered the port, which belonged to the British. Here the ship was detained by the authorities. The British informed Golovnin about the outbreak of war between the two countries. Russian ship was not declared captured, but the team was not allowed to leave the bay. After spending more than a year in this position, in mid-May 1809, the Diana, led by Golovnin, tried to escape, which the sailors successfully succeeded in - the ship arrived in Kamchatka.

Golovnin received his next responsible task in 1811 - he was supposed to compile descriptions of the Shantar and Kuril Islands, the shores of the Tatar Strait. During his journey, he was accused of not adhering to the principles of sakoku and was captured by the Japanese for more than 2 years. It was possible to rescue the crew from captivity only thanks to the good relations of one of the Russian naval officers and an influential Japanese merchant, who was able to convince his government of the harmless intentions of the Russians. It is worth noting that no one in history has ever returned from Japanese captivity before.

In 1817-1819, Vasily Mikhailovich made another round-the-world trip on the Kamchatka ship specially built for this.

Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev - discoverers of Antarctica

The results of this expedition exceeded all expectations. During the 751 days that it lasted, Bellingshausen and Lazarev were able to make several significant geographical discoveries. Of course, the most important of them is the existence of Antarctica, it is historical event happened on January 28, 1820. Also during the trip, about two dozen islands were found and mapped, sketches were created with views of Antarctica, images of representatives of the Antarctic fauna.

Interestingly, attempts to discover Antarctica were made more than once, but none of them were successful. European navigators believed that either it did not exist, or it was located in places that simply could not be reached by sea. But the Russian travelers had enough perseverance and determination, so the names of Bellingshausen and Lazarev are included in the lists of the greatest navigators in the world.

There are also modern travelers. One of them .

I always loved geography and history in school. I read a lot of books about travelers and about their finds, watched films, was interested in scientific discoveries. I was surprised by the people who went on all sorts of expeditions. Particularly struck Russian commander Vitus Bering. In my opinion, he was a strikingly unique person.

Bering - Russian Dane

Bering Ivan Ivanovich (this is in Russia, but in fact Vitus Jonassen), although he was born and studied in Denmark, became an officer in the Russian fleet. He lived during reign of Peter I when it started to develop Russian fleet and new lands began to be explored. It was Peter who sent Bering's first expedition to the east to find an isthmus between the continents: ours and North America. This same Vitas, traveling for two years with the first scientific marine expedition, made a map and wrote eastern north of Asia.

What geographical features are named after Bering

It was a sin not to name such a discoverer some geographic features. And so:

Some plants of Kamchatka, streets in cities, Chukchi village, plane, ship, university. His name became brand even Danish hours.

In 1970, a film (practically, a biography) “The Ballad of Bering and His Friends” was shot about the navigator. With the discoveries of Bering and his expeditions, stamps and coins were issued.

In addition, there are other places that are named after Bering's ships or the names of his associates:

• Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky(in honor of the ships "St. Peter" and "St. Paul");
• Shumaginsky Islands(belong to America, named after a sailor who died on the expedition);
• St. Lawrence Island(Bering so named him in honor of the day of this saint. It was on this day that Bering arrived on the island).

Just amazing person was this navigator and discoverer. Even died on the expedition.

Travelers and adventurers have played a huge role in the discovery and development of entire continents, islands and remote areas of land. And today many of the geographical objects bear the names of their discoverers.

Continents and islands named after travelers

Until the end of the fifteenth century, the civilized world knew only about two continents, which were Eurasia and Africa. However, even the territories of these continents have not been fully explored and mapped. In the fifteenth century, sailing ships began to develop dramatically, and navigators were able to make longer and more distant voyages. As a result, two new continents were discovered in the same century: Southern and North America. They can be considered the largest geographical objects that were named after the Italian merchant Amerigo Vespucci (he was not a discoverer, but only the first to guess that these were new continents).

After the next continent, Australia, was discovered, one of the large islands (Tasmania) in its south was named after the discoverer Abel Tasman, who was Dutch.

In addition to Tasmania, there are smaller islands and archipelagos named after travelers, such as:

• O. Bering;
• O. Fadeya;
• O. Rotmanova;
• O. Barents.

Parts of the seas and continents named after travelers

Of the well-known geographical features named after travelers, the following can be indicated:

• Strait of Magellan;
• Mount Everest;
• Laptev sea;
• Bering Strait and the sea;
• Barencevo sea;
• Mackenzie River;
• Angel Falls.

The Strait of Magellan is named after the Spanish navigator Ferdinand Magellan, who was the first in the world to travel around the Earth. This strait is located between South America and the islands of Tierra del Fuego.

Everest, highest peak planet, was named after the leader of the British expedition that explored the Himalayas. locals The mountain is called Chomolungma.

The Laptev Sea, which is located in northern Russia, is named after cousins ​​who explored its shores in the 18th century.

On our planet, you can find many geographical objects named after travelers or discoverers. For example, the highest mountain peak bears the name of George Everest, the head of the English expedition in Nepal. The Russian navigator Bering gave his name to the strait between Eurasia and America. To the south of Australia is the island of Tasmania, whose name is formed from the name of the Dutch discoverer Abel Tasman. Off the coast South America There is the Strait of Magellan.

What geographical objects are named after Russian travelers

Answers:

The northernmost cape of the Asian continent is called Cape Chelyuskin, the easternmost tip of Asia is Cape Dezhnev, the strait between Novaya Zemlya and the Taimyr Peninsula is named after Boris Vilkitsky, the islands in the Kara Sea are named after polar explorers Shokalsky, Sibiryakov, Neupokoev, Isachenko, Voronin ... Among the seas, named after the famous geographers of the Barents and Bering, appeared on the geographical maps of the Laptev Sea, which did not exist on the old, pre-revolutionary maps. It was named after the remarkable Arctic explorers Khariton Prokofievich and Dmitry Yakovlevich Laptev, who took part in the Great Northern Expedition of the 18th century. The strait connecting the Laptev Sea with the East Siberian Sea was also named after Dmitry Laptev, and the northwestern coast of the Taimyr Peninsula, from Pyasinsky Bay to Taimyrsky Bay, was named after Khariton Laptev. Cities and towns named after domestic travelers: pos. Beringovsky (Chukotka) - V. I. Bering (navigator, captain-commander of the Russian fleet), Kropotkin ( Krasnodar region) - P. A. Kropotkin (prince, Russian geographer and geologist), Lazarev ( Khabarovsk region) - M. P. Lazarev (Russian traveler), Makarov (Sakhalin region) - S. O. Makarov (Russian naval commander, oceanographer), pos. Poyarkova (Amur region) - V. D. Poyarkov (Russian explorer), pos. Przhevalskoe (Smolensk region) - N. M. Przhevalsky (Russian traveler), Khabarovsk, Erofei Pavlovich station (Amur region) - Erofei Pavlovich Khabarov (Russian explorer), Shelekhov (Shelikhov) (Irkutsk region) - G. I. Shelikhov - Russian traveler; an island and a bay near the southeastern tip of Kamchatka, a cape on Karaginsky Island and a mountain near Lake Kronotsky on east coast peninsulas of Kamchatka. Geographical features named after AI Chirikov cape in the Gulf of Anadyr, Russia; cape in Tauyskaya Bay, Russia;