1.
Vladimir Putin
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Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a Russian politician. Putin is the current President of the Russian Federation, holding the office since 7 May 2012 and he was Prime Minister from 1999 to 2000, President from 2000 to 2008, and again Prime Minister from 2008 to 2012. During his second term as Prime Minister, he was the Chairman of the ruling United Russia Party, born in Leningrad, Putin studied German in high school and speaks the language fluently. He studied Law at the Saint Petersburg State University, graduating in 1975, Putin was a KGB Foreign Intelligence Officer for 16 years, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before retiring in 1991 to enter politics in Saint Petersburg. He moved to Moscow in 1996 and joined President Boris Yeltsins administration, rising quickly through the ranks and becoming Acting President on 31 December 1999, when Yeltsin resigned. Putin won the subsequent 2000 Presidential election by a 53% to 30% margin, thus avoiding a runoff with his Communist Party of the Russian Federation opponent and he was re-elected President in 2004 with 72% of the vote. During Putins first presidency, the Russian economy grew for eight straight years, the growth was a result of the 2000s commodities boom, high oil prices, and prudent economic and fiscal policies. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third presidential term in 2008. The 2008 Presidential election was won by Dmitry Medvedev, who appointed Putin Prime Minister, in September 2011, after presidential terms were extended from four to six years, Putin announced he would seek a third term as president. He won the March 2012 Presidential election with 64% of the vote, under Putins leadership, Russia has scored poorly on both the Democracy index and the Corruption index. Putin has enjoyed high approval ratings during his career. In 2007, he was the Time Person of the Year, in 2015, he was #1 on the Times Most Influential People List. Forbes ranked him the Worlds Most Powerful Individual every year from 2013 to 2016, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born on 7 October 1952 in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, the youngest of three children of Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin and Maria Ivanovna Putina. His birth was preceded by the death of two brothers, Viktor and Albert, born in the mid-1930s, Albert died in infancy and Viktor died of diphtheria during the Siege of Leningrad. Putins mother was a worker and his father was a conscript in the Soviet Navy. Early in World War II, his father served in the battalion of the NKVD. Later, he was transferred to the army and was severely wounded in 1942. On 1 September 1960, Putin started at School No.193 at Baskov Lane and he was one of a few in the class of approximately 45 pupils who was not yet a member of the Young Pioneer organization
2.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
3.
RMS Titanic
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Of the 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, more than 1,500 died, making it one of the deadliest commercial peacetime maritime disasters in modern history. Thomas Andrews, her architect, died in the disaster, the first class accommodation was designed to be the pinnacle of comfort and luxury, with an on-board gymnasium, swimming pool, libraries, high-class restaurants and opulent cabins. A high-power radiotelegraph transmitter was available for sending passenger marconigrams and for the operational use. Titanic only carried enough lifeboats for 1,178 people—slightly more than half of the number on board, after leaving Southampton on 10 April 1912, Titanic called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown in Ireland before heading west to New York. On 14 April, four days into the crossing and about 375 miles south of Newfoundland, the collision caused the ships hull plates to buckle inwards along her starboard side and opened five of her sixteen watertight compartments to the sea, she could only survive four flooding. Meanwhile, passengers and some members were evacuated in lifeboats. A disproportionate number of men were left aboard because of a women and children first protocol for loading lifeboats, at 2,20 a. m. she broke apart and foundered—with well over one thousand people still aboard. Just under two hours after Titanic sank, the Cunard liner RMS Carpathia arrived at the scene, where she brought aboard an estimated 705 survivors. The disaster was greeted with shock and outrage at the huge loss of life. Public inquiries in Britain and the United States led to improvements in maritime safety. One of their most important legacies was the establishment in 1914 of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, which still governs maritime safety today. Additionally, several new regulations were passed around the world in an effort to learn from the many missteps in wireless communications—which could have saved many more passengers. The wreck of Titanic, first discovered over 70 years after the sinking, remains on the seabed, since her discovery in 1985, thousands of artifacts have been recovered and put on display at museums around the world. Titanic has become one of the most famous ships in history, her memory is kept alive by numerous works of culture, including books, folk songs, films, exhibits. Titanic is the second largest ocean liner wreck in the world, only beaten by her sister HMHS Britannic, the name Titanic was derived from Greek mythology and meant gigantic. They were by far the largest vessels of the British shipping company White Star Lines fleet, Teutonic was replaced by Olympic while Majestic was replaced by Titanic. Majestic would be back into her old spot on White Stars New York service after Titanics loss. The ships were constructed by the Belfast shipbuilders Harland and Wolff, cost considerations were relatively low on the agenda and Harland and Wolff was authorised to spend what it needed on the ships, plus a five percent profit margin
4.
German battleship Bismarck
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Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germanys Kriegsmarine. Work was completed in August 1940, when she was commissioned into the German fleet, Bismarck and her sister ship Tirpitz were the largest battleships ever built by Germany, and two of the largest built by any European power. In the course of the warships eight-month career under its commanding officer, Captain Ernst Lindemann, Bismarck conducted only one offensive operation, in May 1941. The ship, along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, was to break into the Atlantic Ocean, the two ships were detected several times off Scandinavia, and British naval units were deployed to block their route. At the Battle of the Denmark Strait, the iconic battlecruiser HMS Hood initially engaged Prinz Eugen, probably by mistake, in the ensuing battle Hood was destroyed by the combined fire of Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, who then damaged Prince of Wales and forced her retreat. Bismarck suffered sufficient damage from three hits to force an end to the raiding mission, the destruction of Hood spurred a relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy involving dozens of warships. Most experts agree that the damage would have caused her to sink eventually. The wreck was located in June 1989 by Robert Ballard, and has since been surveyed by several other expeditions. Bismarck was ordered under the name Ersatz Hannover, a replacement for the old pre-dreadnought SMS Hannover, under contract F, the contract was awarded to the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, where the keel was laid on 1 July 1936 at Helgen IX. The ship was launched on 14 February 1939 and during the ceremonies was christened by Dorothee von Löwenfeld, granddaughter of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Adolf Hitler made the christening speech, fitting-out work followed the launch, during which time the original straight stem was replaced with a raked Atlantic bow similar to those of the Scharnhorst-class battleships. Bismarck was commissioned into the fleet on 24 August 1940 for sea trials, kapitän zur See Ernst Lindemann took command of the ship at the time of commissioning. Bismarck displaced 41,700 t as built and 50,300 t fully loaded, with a length of 251 m, a beam of 36 m. The battleship was Germanys largest warship, and displaced more than any other European battleship, with the exception of HMS Vanguard, the ship had a cruising range of 8,870 nautical miles at 19 knots. Bismarck was equipped with three FuMO23 search radar sets, mounted on the forward and stern rangefinders and foretop, the standard crew numbered 103 officers and 1,962 enlisted men. The crew was divided into divisions of between 180 and 220 men. The first six divisions were assigned to the armament, divisions one to four for the main and secondary batteries and five. The seventh division consisted of specialists, including cooks and carpenters, the radio operators, signalmen, and quartermasters were assigned to the ninth division
5.
Lake Baikal
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Lake Baikal is a rift lake in Russia, located in southern Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast. Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake by volume in the world, with 23,615.39 km3 of fresh water, it contains more water than the North American Great Lakes combined. With a maximum depth of 1,642 m, Baikal is the worlds deepest lake and it is considered among the worlds clearest lakes and is considered the worlds oldest lake — at 25 million years. It is the seventh-largest lake in the world by surface area, like Lake Tanganyika, Lake Baikal was formed as an ancient rift valley, having the typical long crescent shape with a surface area of 31,722 km2. Baikal is home to thousands of species of plants and animals, the lake was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. The region to the east of Lake Baikal is referred to as Transbaikalia, Lake Baikal is in a rift valley, created by the Baikal Rift Zone, where the Earths crust is slowly pulling apart. At 636 km long and 79 km wide, Lake Baikal has the largest surface area of any lake in Asia, at 31,722 km2. The bottom of the lake is 1,186.5 m below sea level, but below this lies some 7 km of sediment, placing the rift floor some 8–11 km below the surface, the deepest continental rift on Earth. In geological terms, the rift is young and active—it widens about 2 cm per year, the fault zone is also seismically active, hot springs occur in the area and notable earthquakes happen every few years. The lake is divided into three basins, North, Central, and South, with depths about 900 m,1,600 m, fault-controlled accommodation zones rising to depths about 300 m separate the basins. The North and Central basins are separated by Academician Ridge, while the area around the Selenga Delta, the lake drains into the Angara tributary of the Yenisei. Notable landforms include Cape Ryty on Baikals northwest coast, Baikals age is estimated at 25 million years, making it the most ancient lake in geological history. It is unique among large, high-latitude lakes, as its sediments have not been scoured by overriding continental ice sheets. Russian, U. S. and Japanese cooperative studies of deep-drilling core sediments in the 1990s provide a record of climatic variation over the past 6.7 million years. Longer and deeper sediment cores are expected in the near future, Lake Baikal is the only confined freshwater lake in which direct and indirect evidence of gas hydrates exists. The lake is surrounded by mountains. The Baikal Mountains on the shore and the taiga are technically protected as a national park. It contains 27 islands, the largest, Olkhon, is 72 km long and is the third-largest lake-bound island in the world, the lake is fed by as many as 330 inflowing rivers
6.
Hero of the Russian Federation
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Hero of the Russian Federation is the highest honorary title of the Russian Federation. A person that has been bestown this title receives a Gold Star medal. The title is awarded to persons for service to the Russian state and nation, the title is bestowed by decree of the president of the Russian Federation. Russian citizenship or being in the service of the Russian state is not obligatory, the title was established in 1992, and has been awarded more than 970 times since then, including more than 440 times posthumously. The title Hero of Russia is a successor to Hero of the Soviet Union, the corresponding Gold Star is derived from the Soviet design, created by architect Miron Merzhanov and approved by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of August 1,1939. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russian Federation under president Boris Yeltsin retained a modified award by Law of the Russian Federation № 2553-1 of March 20,1992. Article 71 of the Constitution of Russia permits titles, orders and medals to be presented by the government and this is the highest honour that can be presented by the Russian president to a citizen. The title of Hero of the Russian Federation can be awarded for a deed in the service of the state. It can be awarded to civilian and military personnel. The title can also be awarded if the heroic act costs the recipient his or her life. The President of the Russian Federation is the main conferring authority of the award, the insignia of Hero of the Russian Federation is worn on the left side of the chest above all other medals and decorations. Its medal is worn in full size, there is no ribbon bar or rosette that can be worn in its lieu. When Soviet titles, such as Hero of the Soviet Union or Hero of Socialist Labour are worn together with the medal of the Russian title, the latter has precedence. The insignia of the title of Hero of the Russian Federation is also called the Gold Star medal, the Gold Star medal is a gold five-pointed star with smooth 15mm dihedral rays on the obverse. The otherwise plain reverse bears the prominent relief inscription in 2mm high letters HERO OF RUSSIA at its center, in the upper portion, the insignia is secured to a standard Russian square mount by a ring through the suspension loop. The mount is covered by a silk moiré tricolour ribbon of white, blue, the majority of the early recipients of the title fell into two categories, participants in the Chechnya conflicts or cosmonauts. On some occasions, the person who was awarded the title was killed while in the course of duty, such as Major Denis Vetchinov and this includes those killed in battle as well as assassinated government officials. An example of such a recipient was Akhmad Kadyrov, the governor of Chechnya
7.
Order of Courage
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The Order of Courage is a state decoration of the Russian Federation first established on March 2,1994 by Presidential Decree 442 to recognise selfless acts of courage and valour. The Order of Courage nominally replaced the Soviet Order For Personal Courage in the post-USSR Russian awards system, the Order of Courage may be awarded posthumously and may be awarded multiple times to the same recipient. Individuals already awarded three Orders of Courage may be awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation for a fourth act of courage. The Order of Courage is worn on the side of the chest. The Order of Courage is a vaulted 40 mm wide silver cross pattée with rounded ends, the outer rim of both the obverse and reverse are embossed. At the center of the obverse is the emblem of the Russian Federation. On the obverse, embossed rays extend outwards from the center to the rim in each of the crosss four arms. In the center of the reverse, the inscription in stylized Russian Cyrillic «МУЖЕСТВО». On the reverse of the cross arm, an N in relief and a horizontal line reserved for the award serial number, under the line. The badge of the Order of Courage hangs from a standard Russian pentagonal mount with a ring through its suspension loop, the mount is covered by an overlapping 24 mm wide red silk moiré ribbon with 2 mm white edge stripes
8.
Lowell Thomas
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Lowell Jackson Thomas was an American writer, broadcaster, and traveler, best known as the man who made Lawrence of Arabia famous. Thomas was born in Woodington, Darke County, Ohio, to Harry and his father was a doctor, his mother a teacher. In 1900, the moved to the mining town of Victor. Thomas worked there as a miner, a cook. In 1911, Thomas graduated from Victor High School where one of his teachers was Mabel Barbee Lee, the following year, he graduated from Valparaiso University with bachelors degrees in education and science. The next year, he received both a B. A. and an M. A. from the University of Denver and began work for the Chicago Journal, Thomas also was on the faculty of Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he taught oratory from 1912 to 1914. He then went to New Jersey where he studied for a masters at Princeton University, Thomas was a relentless self-promoter, and he persuaded railroads to give him free passage in exchange for articles extolling rail travel. When he visited Alaska, he hit upon the idea of the travelogue. When the United States entered World War I, he was part of a party sent by President Wilson, former president of Princeton. In reality, the mission was not academic, the war was not popular in the United States, and Thomas was sent to find material that would encourage the American people to support it. Thomas did not want to write about the war, he wanted to film it. He estimated that $75,000 would be needed for filming, which the U. S. government thought too expensive, Thomas and cameraman Harry Chase first went to the Western Front, but the trenches had little to inspire the American public. They then went to Italy, where he heard of General Allenbys campaign against the Ottoman Empire in Palestine. Thomas traveled to Palestine as a war correspondent with the permission of the British Foreign Office, where he met T. E. Lawrence. Lawrence was spending £200,000 a month encouraging the inhabitants of Palestine to rebel against the Turks, Thomas and Chase spent several weeks with Lawrence in the desert, though Lawrence said several days. With Allenbys permission he linked up with Lawrence for a couple of weeks. On being asked to come to England, he made the condition he would do so if asked by the King and he opened at Covent Garden on 14 August 1919. And so followed a series of hundreds of lecture–film shows
9.
Titanic (1997 film)
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Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance-disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. Camerons inspiration for the film came from his fascination with shipwrecks, production began in 1995, when Cameron shot footage of the actual Titanic wreck. The modern scenes on the vessel were shot on board the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh. Scale models, computer-generated imagery, and a reconstruction of the Titanic built at Playas de Rosarito in Baja California were used to re-create the sinking, the film was partially funded by Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox. It was the most expensive film made at time, with an estimated budget of $200 million. Upon its release on December 19,1997, Titanic achieved critical and commercial success, with an initial worldwide gross of over $1.84 billion, Titanic was the first film to reach the billion-dollar mark. It remained the highest-grossing film of all time until Camerons 2009 film Avatar surpassed it in 2010. A 3D version of Titanic, released on April 4,2012 to commemorate the centennial of the sinking, earned it an additional $343.6 million worldwide and it became the second film to gross more than $2 billion worldwide. In 2015, Titanic Live, an orchestra version of the film. In 1996, treasure hunter Brock Lovett and his team aboard the research vessel Akademik Mstislav Keldysh search the wreck of RMS Titanic for a necklace with a rare diamond, the Heart of the Ocean. They recover a safe containing a drawing of a woman wearing only the necklace dated April 14,1912. Rose Dawson Calvert, the woman in the drawing, is brought aboard Keldysh, in 1912 Southampton, 17-year-old first-class passenger Rose DeWitt Bukater, her fiancé Cal Hockley, and her mother Ruth board the luxurious Titanic. Ruth emphasizes that Roses marriage will resolve their familys financial problems, distraught over the engagement, Rose considers suicide by jumping from the stern, Jack Dawson, a penniless artist, intervenes and discourages her. Discovered with Jack, Rose tells a concerned Cal that she was peering over the edge, when Cal becomes indifferent, she suggests to him that Jack deserves a reward. He invites Jack to dine with them in first class the following night, Jack and Rose develop a tentative friendship, despite Cal and Ruth being wary of him. Following dinner, Rose secretly joins Jack at a party in third class, aware of Cal and Ruths disapproval, Rose rebuffs Jacks advances, but realizes she prefers him over Cal. After rendezvousing on the bow at sunset, Rose takes Jack to her room, at her request, Jack sketches Rose posing nude wearing Cals engagement present. They evade Cals bodyguard and have sex in an automobile inside the cargo hold, on the forward deck, they witness a collision with an iceberg and overhear the officers and designer discussing its seriousness
10.
Arctic
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The Arctic is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Alaska, Canada, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover, with predominantly treeless permafrost-containing tundra. Arctic seas contain seasonal sea ice in many places, the Arctic region is a unique area among Earths ecosystems. For example, the cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold, in recent years, Arctic sea ice decline has been caused by global warming. Life in the Arctic includes organisms living in the ice, zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants, Arctic land is bordered by the subarctic. The word Arctic comes from the Greek word ἀρκτικός, near the Bear, northern, there are a number of definitions of what area is contained within the Arctic. The area can be defined as north of the Arctic Circle, the southern limit of the midnight sun. The Arctics climate is characterized by cold winters and cool summers and its precipitation mostly comes in the form of snow and is low, with most of the area receiving less than 50 cm. High winds often stir up snow, creating the illusion of continuous snowfall, average winter temperatures can be as low as −40 °C, and the coldest recorded temperature is approximately −68 °C. Coastal Arctic climates are moderated by oceanic influences, having generally warmer temperatures, the Arctic is affected by current global warming, leading to Arctic sea ice shrinkage, diminished ice in the Greenland ice sheet, and Arctic methane release as the permafrost thaws. Due to the migration of the planets isotherms, the Arctic region is currently shrinking. Perhaps the most spectacular result of Arctic shrinkage is sea ice loss, there is a large variance in predictions of Arctic sea ice loss, with models showing near-complete to complete loss in September from 2040 to some time well beyond 2100. About half of the models show near-complete to complete sea ice loss in September by the year 2100. Arctic life is characterized by adaptation to short growing seasons with long periods of sunlight, Arctic vegetation is composed of plants such as dwarf shrubs, graminoids, herbs, lichens and mosses, which all grow relatively close to the ground, forming tundra. As one moves northward, the amount of available for plant growth decreases considerably. Colder summer temperatures cause the size, abundance, productivity and variety of plants to decrease, trees cannot grow in the Arctic, but in its warmest parts, shrubs are common and can reach 2 m in height, sedges, mosses and lichens can form thick layers. In the coldest parts of the Arctic, much of the ground is bare, non-vascular plants such as lichens and mosses predominate, along with a few scattered grasses, herbivores on the tundra include the Arctic hare, lemming, muskox, and caribou. They are preyed on by the owl, Arctic fox, Grizzly bear
11.
Arctic exploration
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Arctic exploration is the physical exploration of the Arctic region of the Earth. It refers to the period during which mankind has explored the region north of the Arctic Circle. Dangerous oceans and poor weather conditions often fetter explorers attempting to reach polar regions and journeying through these perils by sight, boat, sailing past the Pillars of Hercules, he reached Brittany and even Cornwall, eventually circumnavigating the British Isles. From the local population, he heard news of the land of Thule. After six days of sailing, he reached land at the edge of a sea, and described what is believed to be the aurora. While no one knows exactly how far Pytheas sailed, he may have crossed the Arctic Circle, nevertheless, his tales were regarded as fantasy by later Greek and Roman authorities, such as the geographer Strabo. It was impossible, according to their perception of the world, the first Viking to sight Iceland was Gardar Svavarsson, who went off course due to harsh conditions when sailing from Norway to the Faroe Islands. This quickly led to a wave of colonization, not all the settlers were successful however in the attempts to reach the island. In the 10th century, Gunnbjörn Ulfsson got lost in a storm and his report spurred Erik the Red, an outlawed chieftain, to establish a settlement there in 985. While they flourished initially, these settlements eventually foundered due to changing climatic conditions and they are believed to have survived until around 1450. Greenlands early settlers sailed westward, in search of better pasturage, modern scholars debate the precise location of the new lands of Vinland, Markland, and Helluland that they discovered. The Scandinavian peoples also pushed north into their own peninsula by land. As early as 880, the Viking Ohthere of Hålogaland rounded the Scandinavian Peninsula and sailed to the Kola Peninsula and they also explored north by boat, discovering the Northern Sea Route, as well as penetrating to the trans-Ural areas of northern Siberia. They then founded the settlement of Mangazeya east of the Yamal Peninsula in the early 16th century, in 1648 the Cossack Semyon Dezhnyov opened the now famous Bering Strait between America and Asia. Russian settlers and traders on the coasts of the White Sea, by the 17th century they established a continuous sea route from Arkhangelsk as far east as the mouth of Yenisey. This route, known as Mangazeya seaway, after its eastern terminus, Exploration above the Arctic Circle in the Renaissance was driven by the rediscovery of Classical learning and the national quests for commercial expansion. This exploration was hampered by limits in maritime technology of the age, lack of food supplies. A seminal event in Arctic exploration occurred in 1409, when Ptolemys Geographia was translated into Latin, navigators were better able to chart their positions, and the European race to China, sparked by interest in the writings of Marco Polo, commenced
12.
Willem Barentsz
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Willem Barentsz was a Dutch navigator, cartographer, and Arctic explorer. He went on three expeditions to the far north in search for a Northeast passage, during his third expedition, the crew was stranded on Novaya Zemlya for almost a year. Barentsz died on the voyage in 1597. In the 19th century, the Barents Sea was named after him, Willem Barentsz was born around 1550 on the island Terschelling in the Seventeen Provinces, present-day Netherlands. Barentsz was not his surname but rather his name, short for Barentszoon Barents son. A cartographer by trade, Barentsz sailed to Spain and the Mediterranean to complete an atlas of the Mediterranean region, between 23 and 29 June, Barentsz stayed at Kildin Island. On 9 July, the crew encountered a bear for the first time. After shooting it with a musket when it tried to climb aboard the ship, once leashed and brought aboard the ship however, the bear rampaged and had to be killed. This occurred in Bear Creek, Williams Island, upon discovering the Orange Islands, the crew came across a herd of approximately 200 walruses and tried to kill them with hatchets and pikes. Finding the task more difficult than imagined, they left with only a few ivory tusks. Barentsz reached the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, and followed it northward before being forced to back in the face of large icebergs. Although they did not reach their goal, the trip was considered a success. Setting out on 2 June 1595, the voyage went between the Siberian coast and Vaygach Island, on 30 August, the party came across approximately 20 Samoyed wild men with whom they were able to speak, due to a crewmember speaking their language. 4 September saw a crew sent to States Island to search for a type of crystal that had been noticed earlier. The party was attacked by a bear, and two sailors were killed. Eventually, the turned back upon discovering that unexpected weather had left the Kara Sea frozen. This expedition was considered to be a failure. The Town Council of Amsterdam purchased and outfitted two small ships, captained by Jan Rijp and Jacob van Heemskerk, to search for the channel under the command of Barentsz
