The Cossack Simon Dezhneff is thought to have made a voyage, in the summer of 1648, from the river Kolyma, through Bering Strait (which was rediscovered by Vitus Bering in 1728) to Anadyr.
In September 1740 Vitus Bering sailed from Okhotsk on a second Arctic voyage with George William Steller on board as naturalist.
These take their name from the explorer Vitus Bering.
The post of Anadyrsk was founded on the river Anadyr, and overland communications were gradually opened up. A Russian named Popov first learnt a rumour of the existence of islands east of Cape Dezhnev, and of the proximity of America, and presently there followed the explorations of Vitus Bering.
The abbey of Corvey, where rested the bones of St Vitus, the patron saint of Saxony, soon became a centre of learning for the country, and the Saxons undertook with the eagerness of converts the conversion of their heathen neighbours.