First Russian circumnavigation

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The First Russian circumnavigation
Harbour of St Paul on the Island of Cadiack, Russian sloop-of-war Neva
Type	Circumnavigational expedition
Target	Kronstadt Island, Saint Petersburg
Date	August 1803 – August 1806
Executed by	Adam Johann von Krusenstern, Yuri Lisyansky

The first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth took place from August 1803 to August 1806 and was carried out on two ships, the Nadezhda and the Neva, under the commands of Adam Johann von Krusenstern and Yuri Lisyansky, respectively. The expedition had complementary economic, diplomatic, and exploratory goals.

The main aim was to establish diplomatic and economic relations between Russia and Japan and with Chinese ports for trading Russian furs. The Chinese stage of the expedition was tied to the overland embassy headed by Yury Golovkin. To help establish diplomatic and economic relations between Russia and Japan, the party included a large diplomatic delegation headed by the Court Chamberlain and plenipotentiary ambassador Nikolai Rezanov. Rezanov was also the "High Representative" of the Russian-American Company. However, Rezanov frequently conflicted with Krusenstern, who had spent years proposing the round-the-world expedition and had different priorities.^[1]

The ships set off from Kronstadt on August 7, stopping at Copenhagen, Falmouth, Tenerife, Brazil, Nuku Hiva, and Hawaii. When the expedition reached the Hawaiian Islands in June 1804 the vessels parted ways – the Nadezhda went to Kamchatka and Japan, while the Neva headed to Kodiak Island, Alaska, where it spent 14 months and participated in the Russian-Tlingit war. The ships were reunited in Guangzhou in December 1805, and after leaving China, they sailed together for a short time, before returning independently to Kronstadt in August 1806.^[2][3][4]

From the political perspective, the expedition was unsuccessful since Japanese authorities did not allow the envoy to enter the country and refused to establish diplomatic relations. In 1805, Rezanov and his retinue were landed in Kamchatka and later started to act independently.^[3] For instance, they took part in the argument about annexation of Sakhalin and Kuril Island [ru] and thus worsened relations between the states.

The expedition made several discoveries in the Pacific, naming and describing islands, archipelagos, capes, reefs, and straits. In addition, botanical, zoological, and ethnographical information was collected.^[4][5] Many of the people who took part in the expedition published books recounting their travels in multiple languages,^[3] while other diaries were not published until the 21st century.