Bering Island

The Bering Island (Russian Остров Беринга, Ostrow Beringa ), formerly Awatscha Island, is a named after the Danish explorer Vitus Bering Island of the Russian Commander Islands in the northwestern Pacific.

Geography

The island lies 176 km east of the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east of Siberia. The eastern neighboring island Medny is 50.2 km away. The Bering Island is 92.6 km long, up to 36.6 km wide and has an area of 1660 km ²; it is thus the largest of the Commander Islands. The highest mountain is Mount Steller ( Гора Стеллера or gora Stellera ), named after Georg Wilhelm Steller. On Bering Island, mainly in Nikolskoje, located on the northwest coast, now living about 800 people.

History

Vitus Bering discover this island as part of the Second Kamchatka on the way back from the Americas. After a long odyssey was beached his ship, the Svyatoi Pyotr (Saint Peter ), in late autumn in 1741. Bering decided to spend the winter on the island. Many members of his crew and, finally, he even died here from cold, exhaustion and scurvy. Only 46 people of his original 77 -strong crew, including the German naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller, succeeded in the late summer of 1742 the return trip to Kamchatka in a newly built, smaller boat.

Bering's grave was rediscovered only in 1991 along with other tombs; six skeletons were brought to Moscow. After the investigation and identification of the remains were brought back to the island and buried there again. The cause of death could not be fully understood; it is clear only that all died of natural causes.

The island was once rich in valuable fur-bearing animals such as arctic fox and sea otters, but these were quickly eradicated.

Tourism

The set up by the Government of the Russian Federation since 1993 nature reserve includes the entire Commander Islands and the sea area that surrounds them. The islands are underway now and cruise ships.