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Collection Meeting of Frontiers

Exploration

This essay was published in 2000 as part of the original Meeting of Frontiers website.

The colonial expansion of Europe was well underway by the middle of the sixteenth century. Representatives of European states even visited the little-known lands of Siberia and the American West as the Spanish empire began pushing north into the American Southwest, and Muscovite Russia stretched east into northern Asia. For the next three centuries the American frontier edged west and the Russian frontier east as traders searched for wealth and explorers searched for new lands.

But who and what would they find? The earliest maps of Siberia and the West depict vast lands, empty spaces, and mystery.

Russia and America sent numerous scientific expeditions to their distant frontiers and gradually developed an accurate picture of the extent and geography of their lands. The lands were difficult to master, sometimes exotic, but also inspirational and inviting to a variety of peoples.

While scientific knowledge of the new lands slowly accumulated, traders streamed into Siberia and the American West in search of fur. The first Russians in Siberia exacted from and traded with the native peoples for fox, sable, beaver, marten, and squirrel pelts, all much in demand throughout Europe for hats and clothing. The first traders in the American West hoped to find jewels and precious metals. They were followed by men who were more successful in their search for buffalo, beaver, and sea otter.

These frontiersmen also found diverse native cultures with which they traded, interacted, and fought.

  • A New and Correct Map of the Whole World, Herman Moll, 1719. LC Map Collections. The quadrant most conspicuously absent from this "correct map of the whole world" comprises northeastern Siberia and northwestern America.
  • The Russian Discoveries, 1776. LC Map Collections. This map shows the great accomplishments of the Russian voyages of discovery in the North Pacific, which helped to create a much more complete geographic understanding of the extremities--and proximity--of Russia and America.
  • Map of the Trans-Mississippi Territory of the United States During the Period of the American Fur Trade, 1901. LC Map Collections. In the first half of the nineteenth century trading posts and forts spread across the West, especially the fur-rich Northwest.
  • Illustration for the poem "Suzga" by P. P. Ershov. Russian State Library. A poem about the battle of Ermak's Cossacks with the forces of the Siberian Khan Kuchum and the act of courage by the Khan's wife Suzga, who sacrificed herself to save the lives of his troops. The Album "From Tobol'sk to Obdorsk." Tales of Russian history have long provided a basis for rich poetry and music. Although Ermak, the legendary Cossack warrior-conqueror of Siberia, vanquished Khan Kuchum in 1582, the heroic stories of Tatar lore found a place in Russian literature and culture.
  • Eastern Part of the Yakutsk District. Russian State Library. The easternmost section of Asiatic Russia, including both Chukotka and Kamchatka, proved remote even for geographic expeditions. By 1772, the exact outline of the coast remained a partial mystery and awaited further exploration.
  • Kondinskii Monastery. Russian State Library. Founded in 1657 at the confluence of the Kodushka and Ob Rivers. The monastery's stone structures date from the middle of the eighteenth century. The Album "From Tobol'sk to Obdorsk."