Born 1605, Veliki Ustyug, Russia
Died c. 1673, Moscow, Russia

From the time the Russian people formed a state in the ninth century, they steadily expanded their empire eastward, across the vast northern lands of Siberia, toward the Pacific Ocean. They established routes and forts along the rivers of Siberia, conquering the inhabitants of successive river valleys as they made their way toward the ocean. The new lands were steady sources of furs and mineral wealth (especially silver), and it was rumored that in some inlets of the northern Pacific lay walrus breeding grounds that were heaped with the animals’ tusks, which are a source of precious ivory. Such promises of new wealth spurred the czars—the imperial rulers of Russia—to continue to launch expeditions farther east.

Explores Russian frontier

During the seventeenth century Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev, a Russian Cossack (frontier soldier...