Discovery of Bering Straits
Sails through the Bering Strait. Employed by Peter the Great to discover if Asia & north America are connected
Historical biography archive · Updated 2026-11-03
Vitus Jonassen Bering Biography and Timeline
Follow Vitus Jonassen Bering through 8 dated historical records for Denmark.
Vitus Jonassen Bering, historical timeline
A chronological timeline drawn from matching World History Database records.
8Distinct records
1 of 1Page
1728–1741Years on this page
1728
1741
Departure for North America
Bering sailed from Kamchatka aboard the St Peter to search for the North American coast.
Separation of Expedition Ships
Fog and storms separated Bering’s St Peter from Chirikov’s St Paul during the eastward voyage.
Discovery of Alaska
Vitus Bering, a Danish mariner working for Russia, lands on the Alaskan coast
Sighting of Alaska
Lookouts aboard Bering’s St Peter sighted snow-covered mountains on the North American coast.
Shipwreck on Bering Island
The damaged St Peter grounded on an island where the expedition remained through the winter.
Death of Vitus Bering
Bering died on the island later named after him while the expedition struggled with disease and exposure.
Discovery of Aleutian Island
Discovers the Aleutian Islands, the Bering Sea & Bering Strait are named after him
Records, sources and methodology
These dates and descriptions come from the historical_events database. Exact duplicate records have been collapsed. Names are grouped by the country, Name 2 and Name 1 fields; records with missing Name 2 cannot be reliably assigned to an individual biography. Check the underlying sources before formal citation.