Peter the Great

Tsar Peter the Great ruled Russia from 1689 to 1725. His empire was immense, stretching from the Baltic Sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. From north to south, it stretched from the Arctic Ocean to the borders of countries such as India and China. 

Peter the Great wanted Russia to participate in the discoveries and advancements he saw other European nations making. He became a patron of science and sought to expand geographic knowledge about his empire and the rest of the world. He was also interested in expanding Russian commerce and controlling trade routes. 

Seeking to modernize Russia, Peter assembled leading scientists from around Europe to form the Russian Academy of Sciences. The North Pacific, to the east of his expanding empire, was one of the least-known areas of the world. He accepted a suggestion from the Academy to send an expedition to find out if Asia and North America were separate continents or connected. At the time, the outside world had no knowledge of the furthest reaches of North America, the land known today as Alaska.