Bering Sea

Bering Sea in Detail.

N part of Pacific Ocean, between Siberia on W and Alaska on E enclosed by Aleutian Island on S and Komandorski Island on SW, and connected by Bering Strait with Chukchi Sea on N

Named in 1822 by Captain V. M. Golofnin, Imperial Russian Navy (IRN), for Commander Ivan Ivanovich (Vitus) Bering, Imperial Russian Navy (IRN), who was selected by Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, "for the work of exploring eastern Asia and western America." Before 1822 it was for the most part called the Sea of Kamchatka. On a very old map it is called the Mer c'Ormante and on another the Sleepy Sea.