Enlightenment · North America · Exploration

1741

Bering Sights Alaska

July 16, 1741

On his second Pacific voyage, Vitus Bering and the naturalist Georg Steller sighted Mount Saint Elias through the mist off the Alaskan coast. Steller was allowed ashore for ten hours, the first European scientist on Alaskan soil. Scurvy would take Bering on the return voyage, but Russian America had been claimed.

More from 1741 Enlightenment

In context

Also in 1741 (4 other events on record)

Handel Composes Messiah · Europe · Culture
Elizabeth of Russia Seizes the Throne · Europe · Politics
Battle of Mollwitz · Europe · War
Dahomey Sacks Whydah · Africa · War

Before and after in North America

Before: October 23, 1739: War of Jenkins' Ear
After: April 13, 1743: Thomas Jefferson Born

Before and after in Exploration

Before: October 11, 1737: Calcutta Cyclone of 1737
After: October 28, 1744: Earthquake Destroys Lima

Era

Enlightenment (1651–1800), one of 696 events from that era on Saeculum.

Sources

Wikipedia: Vitus Bering