__NOTOC__ Martin Spanberg (d. 1761; russian: Мартын Петрович Шпанберг, ''Martyn Petrovich Shpanberg'') was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

naval officer in Russian service who took part with his compatriot

Vitus Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering (baptised 5 August 1681 – 19 December 1741),All dates are here given in the Julian calendar, which was in use throughout Russia at the time. also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering, was a Danish cartographer and explorer in ...

in both Kamchatka expeditions as second in command. He is best known for finding a sea route to Japan from Russian territory and for exploring the

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the ...

Shikotan ; ja, 色丹島 , location = Pacific Ocean , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = 1 , major_islands = , area_km2 = 225 , length = , width = , coastline ...

, one of the Kurils, was renamed in his honor by the Russians in 1796. Spanberg led three voyages in 1738, 1739, and 1742. On the first of these voyages, Spanberg left 29 June 1738 aboard the ''Archangel Michael'' (, ''Arkhangel Mikhail'') with his own assistants William Walton ( or , ''Vilim Valton'') and Alexander Shelting (, ''Aleksey Yeleazarovich Shel'ting'') commanding the ''Sv.'' or ''St. Gabriel'' (, ''Sviatoi Gavriil'') and the ''Nadezhda'' () respectively. He charted 30 of the

Kurils The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese language, Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakh ...

. On the second voyage, he gained a fourth shipthe ''Bolsheretsk'' ()and was the first Russian commander to visit

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island ...

in Japan, establishing Russo-Japanese diplomatic relations. His ships landed in a scenic area now part of the Rikuchu Kaigan National Park but, despite isolationist Japanese ''

sakoku was the isolationist foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate under which, for a period of 265 years during the Edo period (from 1603 to 1868), relations and trade between Japan and other countries were severely limited, and nearly ...

'' policy of the time, the sailors were treated with courtesy. The second and third voyages also surveyed the coasts of Japan and

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh: ...

as well as the Kurils.

Works

Spanberg wrote a brief account of his travels. They pointedly failed to locate the

phantom island A phantom island is a purported island which was included on maps for a period of time, but was later found not to exist. They usually originate from the reports of early sailors exploring new regions, and are commonly the result of navigati ...

s of Rica de Oro and Rica de Plata ("Rich in Gold and Silver") supposedly in the area. The first trustworthy account of the region, Spanberg further established that the supposedly enormous Staten Island ( nl, Staten Eylandt, lit. "

States State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * '' State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our ...

Island") and Company Land ( nl, Compagnies Landt; french: Terre de la Compagnie) common on European maps after the 1743 visit of

Maarten Gerritsz Vries Maarten Gerritszoon Vries, or Fries, also referred to as de Vries, (18 February 1589, Harlingen, Netherlands – late 1647, at sea near Manila) was a 17th-century Dutch cartographer and explorer, the first Western European to leave an account of ...

of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock c ...

were either nonexistant or much smaller in extent, grossly misrepresenting some of the Kurils like

Urup Urup ( ja, 得撫島, Uruppu-to; russian: Уру́п, Urúp, ain, ウルㇷ゚, Urup) is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Kuril Islands chain in the south of the Sea of Okhotsk, northwest Pacific Ocean. Its name is derived from the Ainu la ...

and

Iturup , other_names = russian: Итуру́п; ja, 択捉島 , location = Sea of Okhotsk , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = , major_islands = , area_km2 = 3139 , length_km = 200 , width_km = 27 , coastline = , highest_moun ...

. It was not, however, immediately accepted and the various phantom islands continued to appear on French and other maps for decades longer.

Honors

Shpanberg Island Shpanberg Island (russian: остров Шпанберга, ''ostrov Shpanberga''), sometimes Spanberg Island, is an island of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago in the Kara Sea, off the coast of Siberia. Administratively this island belongs to the ...

in the

and

in the Nordenskiöld Archipelago are named for him.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* . * . 1761 deaths Explorers from the Russian Empire Danish explorers Explorers of Asia 18th-century Danish people Imperial Russian Navy personnel Great Northern Expedition Year of birth unknown Russian people of Danish descent {{Russia-bio-stub

Works

Honors

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography