Martin Spanberg (; died 1761) was a Danish-born Russian naval officer 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-born Russia ...

in both Kamchatka expeditions as second in command. He is best known for finding a sea route to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

from Russian territory and for exploring the

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. The islands stretch approximately northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the ...

Shikotan Shikotan, also known as Shpanberg or Spanberg, is an island in the Kurils administered by the Russian Federation as part of Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast. It is claimed by Japan as the titular , organized as part of Nemuro Subpre ...

, one of the Kurils, was renamed in his honor by the Russians in 1796.

Career

Spanberg led three voyages in 1738, 1739, and 1742. On the first of these voyages, Spanberg left 29 June 1738 aboard the ''Archangel Michael'' () with his own assistants William Walton ( or ) and Alexander Shelting () commanding the ''Sv.'' or ''St. Gabriel'' () and the ''Nadezhda'' () respectively. He charted 30 of the Kurils. On the second voyage, he gained a fourth shipthe ''Bolsheretsk'' ()and was the first Russian commander to visit

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

, 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 is the most common name for the isolationist foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate under which, during the Edo period (from 1603 to 1868), relations and trade between Japan and other countries were severely limited, and almost all ...

'' 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, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...

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. Producing the first trustworthy account of the region, Spanberg further established that the supposedly enormous Staten Island (, lit. "

States State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Island") and Company Land (; ) common on European maps after the 1643 visit of

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

of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

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

Urup 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 language word ''urup'', meaning "sockeye salmon". Geography and climate U ...

and

Iturup Iturup (; ), also historically known by #Names, other names, is an island in the Kuril Archipelago separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. The town of Kurilsk, administrative center of Kurilsky District, is located roughly mi ...

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

Honors

Shpanberg Island in the Kurils and Shpanberg Island in the

Nordenskiöld Archipelago The Nordenskiöld Archipelago or Nordenskjold Archipelago () is a large and complex cluster of about 90 islands in the eastern region of the Kara Sea. Its eastern limit lies west of the Taymyr Peninsula. The archipelago is part of the Taymyrsk ...

are named for him.

References

Sources

* . * . {{DEFAULTSORT:Spanberg, Martin 1761 deaths 18th-century 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

Career

Works

Honors

See also

References

Sources