Object Details
- Book Title
- Alaskan boundary tribunal.
- Caption
- General Map. Adjacent parts of North America and Asia.
- Educational Notes
- While Alaska is part of North America, it is very close to Asia. Because of this, it should be no surprise that Europeans first discovered Alaska by way of Asia. The Danish explorer, Vitus Bering, claimed Alaska for his employer, Russian Emperor Peter the Great, in 1741. Alaska became part of the United States over a hundred years later. A lot of places in and around Alaska are named after Vitus Bering, most importantly perhaps, the Bering Strait. This is the waterway or channel between Russia and Alaska. At the most narrow point, the continents are 51 miles apart--not far at all! Scientists believe at one time, the landforms were linked. During the last glacial period, much of the Earth's water was frozen in ice sheets covering North America and Europe. Because of this, sea levels rose and there was likely a land bridge at the Bering Strait. The first humans to migrate to North America may have walked across the bridge thousands of years ago from present day Russia. That's a lot of walking!
- Prepared at the office of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1903.
- 1903
- Publication Date
- 1903
- Image ID
- SIL-39088007383698_0014
- Catalog ID
- 110325
- Rights
- No Copyright - United States
- Type
- Prints
- Place
- Alaska
- Canada
- United States
- Great Britain
- Russia
- Publication Place
- Washington (D.C.)
- Publisher
- Government Printing Office
- See more items in
- See Wonder
- Smithsonian Libraries
- Topic
- Cartography
- Maps
- Language
- English
- Record ID
- silgoi_68456
