169?-17??

Russian sea captain and explorer who in 1732 was the first European to discover Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska. Cape Prince of Wales is the nearest point on the North American continent to Asia, lying just across the Bering Strait from the eastern-most point of Siberia. Gvozdev's discovery ushered in a brief period of Russian exploration and colonization in Alaska, which ceased when the United States purchased the territory.