Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen
Baltic German officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, cartographer and explorer (1778-1852) · Russia · Historical Figures · Died at 73
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen is read about 216 times a day, in 55 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 17 September 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?He captained the expedition that first laid eyes on Antarctica in January 1820, disproving Cook's claim that no land existed in the southern ice. Bellingshausen and his crew circled the continent twice without ever losing sight of each other's ships.
Also in Deutsch
Photos 8
Awards
In their orbit
About this person
Born in 1778 on Saaremaa, Bellingshausen entered the Russian Baltic Fleet and earned a spot on Russia's first circumnavigation of the globe in 1803-1806, sailing under Krusenstern aboard the Nadezhda. He returned to publish maps of newly explored Pacific waters, then commanded vessels in the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets. In 1819, as a respected cartographer, he was given command of a southern expedition with Mikhail Lazarev as second: on 27 January 1820, they became the first to see the Antarctic landmass, naming Peter I, Zavodovski, Leskov, Alexander, and Visokoi Islands along the way. Promoted to captain-commodore, he fought in the Russo-Turkish War, rose to vice admiral, and became military governor of Kronstadt in 1839. He published his account of the Antarctic voyage in 1831 and reached the rank of admiral in 1843, eight years before his death in 1852.
Fame.am measures public visibility signals. It does not measure human value, talent, morality, or credibility.