1.
Vladimir Voronin
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Vladimir Nicolaevici Voronin is a Moldovan politician. He was the third President of Moldova from 2001 until 2009 and has been the First Secretary of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova since 1994 and he was Europes first democratically elected Communist Party head of state after the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc. Vladimir Nicolaevici Voronin was born in the village of Corjova, Dubăsari District of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, despite his Russified name, his ethnic origins are Moldovan. Voronins mother, Pelagheia Bujeniţă, died on July 2,2005 and he began working in 1961 as the head of a bakery in the town of Criuleni. From 1966 until 1971, Voronin held the offices of vice-director of the factory in Criuleni. In 1985, he was appointed head of section in the Council of Ministers of the Moldavian SSR, between 1985 and 1989, Voronin served as first secretary of the Bender City Committee of the Communist Party. Between 1988 and 1990, he held the office of the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Moldovan SSR, Voronin was also a member of the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR of 10th and 11th legislatures. In 1993, Voronin became the co-president of the Organizational Committee for the creation of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova and he played a central role in reviving the Communist Party after it was banned in 1991–1993. In 1994 he was elected President of the PCRM and he was a candidate for the post of President of the now-independent Republic of Moldova at the 1996 elections. In the parliamentary election in March 1998, Vladimir Voronin was elected as a Member of Parliament and he then served as member of its Permanent Bureau and as president of the PCRMs parliamentary faction, which held 40 of 101 seats. Voronin was nominated as Prime Minister of Moldova by President Petru Lucinschi in late 1999, in the parliamentary election in February 2001, he was again elected as a Member of Parliament. In March the PCRMs Central Committee nominated Voronin as its candidate at a plenum. Of the 89 deputies participating in the vote,71 voted for Voronin,15 voted for Dumitru Braghiş and he was sworn in at a ceremony in Chişinău on April 7,2001. The Constitutional Court ruled that the President could also lead a political party, Voronin maintained his commitment to the reduction of Moldovas chronic poverty by allocating more resources to social safety net items such as health, education, and increasing pensions and salaries. Voronins tenure as President was marked by fluctuating relations with the International Monetary Fund, Voronin proceeded with Lucinschis plans to privatize several important state-owned industries, and on occasion even broke with his own party over this issue. While the demonstrations were tense at times, the government did not use force, in 2003, Voronins government backtracked over signing a Russian-proposed federalization settlement with the breakaway region of Transnistria. In the presidential election held in Parliament on April 4,2005, Voronin was re-elected with 75 votes, another candidate, Gheorghe Duca, received one vote, and two votes were invalid. After the parliamentary election held on 5 April 2009, the PCRM won 49. 48% of the vote and 60 seats, Voronin was elected Speaker of the Parliament and retained the Presidency of Moldova with an interim status
2.
Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
3.
Soviet Navy
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The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. The influence of the Soviet Navy played a role in the Cold War. The Soviet Navy was divided into four major fleets, the Northern, Pacific, Black Sea, the Caspian Flotilla was a smaller force operating in the land-locked Caspian Sea. Main components of the Soviet Navy included Soviet Naval Aviation, Naval Infantry, most of the Soviet Navy was reformed into the Russian Navy after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, while some elements became the basis of the Ukrainian, Azerbaijani and Georgian navies. During the revolution, sailors deserted their ships at will and generally neglected their duties, the officers were dispersed and most of the sailors left their ships. Work stopped in the shipyards, where uncompleted ships deteriorated rapidly, the Black Sea Fleet fared no better than the Baltic. The Bolshevik revolution entirely disrupted its personnel, with murders of officers. At the end of April 1918, German troops entered Crimea, the more effective ships were moved from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk where, after an ultimatum from Germany, they were scuttled by Vladimir Lenins order. The ships remaining in Sevastopol were captured by the Germans and then, after November 1918, on 1 April 1919, when Red Army forces captured Crimea, the British squadron had to withdraw, but before leaving they damaged all the remaining battleships and sank thirteen new submarines. When the White Army captured Crimea in 1919, it rescued and reconditioned a few units, at the end of the civil war, Wrangels fleet, a White fleet, moved to Bizerta in French Tunisia, where it was interned. The first ship of the navy could be considered the rebellious Imperial Russian cruiser Aurora. Sailors of the Baltic fleet supplied the fighting force of the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution, some imperial vessels continued to serve after the revolution, albeit with different names. The Soviet Navy, established as the Workers and Peasants Red Fleet by a 1918 decree of the Soviet government, was less than service-ready during the interwar years, as the countrys attentions were largely directed internally, the Navy did not have much funding or training. The greater part of the old fleet was sold by the Soviet government to Germany for scrap, in the Baltic Sea there remained only three much-neglected battleships, two cruisers, some ten destroyers, and a few submarines. Despite this state of affairs, the Baltic Fleet remained a significant naval formation, there also existed some thirty minor-waterways combat flotillas. During the 1930s, as the industrialization of the Soviet Union proceeded, approved by the Labour and Defence Council in 1926, the Naval Shipbuilding Program included plans to construct twelve submarines, the first six were to become known as the Dekabrist class. Beginning 4 November 1926, Technical Bureau Nº4, under the leadership of B. M, malinin, managed the submarine construction works at the Baltic Shipyard. In subsequent years,133 submarines were built to designs developed during Malinins management, additional developments included the formation of the Pacific Fleet in 1932 and the Northern Fleet in 1933
4.
Belomorsky District
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Belomorsky District is an administrative district, one of the fifteen in the Republic of Karelia, Russia. It is located in the east of the republic, the area of the district is 13,000 square kilometers. Its administrative center is the town of Belomorsk, as of the 2010 Census, the total population of the district was 19,118, with the population of Belomorsk accounting for 58. 7% of that number. As a municipal division, the district is incorporated as Belomorsky Municipal District, the town of Belomorsk serves as the administrative center of both the administrative and municipal district. Закона №1314-ЗРК от16 июля2009 г «О внесении изменений в Конституцию Республики Карелия», Закон №871-ЗРК от29 апреля2005 г. «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Республики Карелия», в ред, Закона №1895-ЗРK от2 июня2015 г. «О внесении изменения статью9 Закона Республики Карелия Об административно-территориальном устройстве Республики Карелия», Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован, газета Карелия, №48,7 мая2005 г, Закон №825-ЗРК от1 декабря2004 г. «О муниципальных районах в Республике Карелия», в ред, Закона №1694-ЗРK от2 апреля2013 г. Вступил в силу по истечении десяти дней со дня официального опубликования, Опубликован, газета Карелия, №141,16 декабря2004 г. Закон №813-ЗРК от1 ноября2004 г, «О городских, сельских поселениях в Республике Карелия», в ред. Закона №1694-ЗРK от2 апреля2013 г, Вступил в силу по истечении десяти дней со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован, газета Карелия, №124,126,129,132,135,136,139,4 ноября —9 декабря2004 г
5.
Republic of Karelia
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The Republic of Karelia is a federal subject of Russia, located in the northwest of Russia. Its capital is the city of Petrozavodsk and its population in 2010 was 643,548. From 1940 to 1956, it was known as the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic, in 1956, it was once again an autonomous republic and remains as part of Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The republic is in the part of Russia, taking intervening position between the White and Baltic Seas. The White Sea has a line of 630 kilometers. It has an area of 172,400 km2 and it shares internal borders with Murmansk Oblast, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Vologda Oblast, and Leningrad Oblast, and it also borders Finland, the borders measure 723 km. The main bodies of water next to Karelia are the White Sea to the north-east and Lake Onega and its highest point is the Nuorunen peak at 576 m. This area is the largest contiguous Archaean outcrop in Europe and one of the largest in the world, There are about 27,000 rivers in Karelia. Major rivers include, Vodla River Kem River Kovda River Shuya River Suna River with Kivach Falls Vyg River There are 60,000 lakes in Karelia, the republics lakes and swamps contain about 2,000 km³ of high-quality fresh water. Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega are the largest lakes in Europe, other lakes include, Nyukozero Pyaozero Segozero Syamozero Topozero Vygozero Lakes Ladoga and Onega are located on the south of the republic. Vodlozero National Park Kalevala National Park Paanajärvi National Park The majority of the territory is composed of state forest stock. The total growing stock of resources in the forests of all categories and ages is 807 million m³. The mature and over mature tree stock amounts to 411.8 million m³, fifty useful minerals are found in Karelia, located in more than 400 deposits and ore bearing layers. Natural resources of the republic include iron ore, diamonds, vanadium, molybdenum, the Republic of Karelia is located in the Atlantic continental climate zone. Average temperature in January is −8.0 °C and +16.4 °C in July, average annual precipitation is 500–700 mm. Historically, Karelia was a region to the northwest of Russia, east of present-day Finland, controlled by the Novgorod Republic. From the 13th century and onwards, various parts were conquered by Sweden, in 1920, the province became the Karelian Labour Сommune. In 1923, the became the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Annexed territories were incorporated into Karelo-Finnish SSR, but after the Continuation War the Karelian Isthmus was incorporated into the Leningrad Oblast and its status was changed back to an ASSR in 1956
6.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
7.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
8.
A. Sibiryakov (icebreaker)
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A. Sibiryakov was a Soviet icebreaker which was active in the Russian Arctic during the 1930s. She was built in 1909 in Glasgow and was originally the Newfoundland sealing steamer Bellaventure, after being purchased by Russia in 1916, she was renamed A. Sibiryakov. Her Russian name was chosen in honour of Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Sibiryakov, Sibiryakov financed explorations to Siberia, such as Adolf Erik Nordenskiölds, and also took part in some expeditions of his own. A. Sibiryakov made the first successful crossing of the Northern Sea Route in a navigation without wintering. This historic voyage, which had been Mikhail Lomonosovs dream, was organized by the All-Union Arctic Institute. A. Sibiryakov sailed on 28 June 1932 from the Krasny docks in Arkhangelsk, crossed the Kara Sea and chose a northern, in September, after calling at Tiksi and the mouth of the Kolyma, the propeller shaft broke and the icebreaker drifted for 11 days. However, A. Sibiryakov crossed the Chukchi Sea using improvised sails, a. Sibiryakov reached the Japanese port of Yokohama after 65 days, having covered more than 2,500 miles in the Arctic seas. This was regarded as a feat of Soviet polar seamen and Chief of Expedition Otto Schmidt. A. Sibiryakov continued in service until World War II under the command of Captain Anatoli Kacharava, a. Sibiryakov was armed only with several 76 mm and 45 mm guns and was no match for the heavy cruiser, mounting 280 mm main guns. However, radio transmission from A. Sibiryakov before and during 1-hour battle alerted east and west bound Russian convoys, most members of A. Sibiryakovs crew and civilians died in battle or went down with the ship. 22, including severely wounded Captain Kacharava, were captured by the Germans, only one sailor, stoker Pavel Vavilov, managed to reach Beluha Island and was picked up by a Russian ship 34 or 35 days later. In total only 15 crew members survived the war, Soviet sources say 79 killed,19 taken as prisoner-of-war of whom 13 survived. When the Finnish icebreaker Jääkarhu was handed over to the Soviet Union, the Russians in the Arctic, London,1958. Early Soviet Exploration History of Russian Arctic Exploration German Naval Warfare in 1942
9.
Northern Sea Route
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The entire route lies in Arctic waters and within Russias Exclusive Economic Zone. Parts are free of ice for two months per year. The overall route on Russias side of the Arctic between North Cape and the Bering Strait has been called the Northeast Passage, analogous to the Northwest Passage on the Canada side. Melting Arctic ice caps are likely to increase traffic in and the viability of the Northern Sea Route. Projected shifts in trade also imply substantial pressure on an already threatened Arctic ecosystem, the route was first conquered by Adolf Erik Nordenskiölds Vega expedition. Number of transits per flag state, shipping in Arctic Waters, A Comparison of the Northeast, Northwest and Trans Polar Passages. The Northern Sea Route Belov, M. I, istoriia otkrytiia i osveniia Severnogo Morskogo Puti,4 vols. Red Arctic Konyshev, Valery & Sergunin, Alexander, Is Russia a revisionist military power in the Arctic, defense & Security Analysis, September 2014. Russia in search of its Arctic strategy, between hard and soft power, Konyshev, Valery & Sergunin, Alexander, Russias Policies on the Territorial Disputes in the Arctic Journal of International Relations and Foreign Policy, March 2014, Vol.2, No
10.
Arkhangelsk
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Arkhangelsk, also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, in the north of European Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea, the city spreads for over 40 kilometers along the banks of the river and numerous islands of its delta. Arkhangelsk was the seaport of medieval and early modern Russia until 1703. A1, 133-kilometer-long railway runs from Arkhangelsk to Moscow via Vologda and Yaroslavl, and air travel is served by the Talagi Airport and a smaller Vaskovo Airport. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 348,783, down from 356,051 recorded in the 2002 Census. The arms of the city display the Archangel Michael in the act of slaying the Devil, legend states that this victory took place near where the city stands, hence its name, and that Michael still stands watch over the city to prevent the Devils return. Vikings knew the area around Arkhangelsk as Bjarmaland, ohthere of Hålogaland told circa 890 of his travels in an area by a river and the White Sea with many buildings. This was probably the later known as Arkhangelsk. According to Snorri Sturluson, Vikings led by Thorir Hund raided this area in 1027, in 1989, an unusually impressive silver treasure was found by the mouth of Dvina, right next to present-day Arkhangelsk. It was probably buried in the beginning of the 12th century, most of the findings comprised a total of 1.6 kilograms of silver, largely in the form of coins. Jewelry and pieces of jewelry come from Russia or neighboring areas, the majority of the coins were German, but the hoard also included a smaller number of Kufan, English, Bohemian, Hungarian, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian coins. It is hard to place this find historically until further research is completed, there are at least two possible interpretations. It may be a treasure belonging to the society outlined by the Norse source material, generally such finds, whether from Scandinavia, the Baltic area, or Russia, are closely tied to well-established agricultural societies with considerable trade activity. Alternatively, like the Russian scientists who published the find in 1992, in the 12th century, the Novgorodians established the Archangel Michael Monastery in the estuary of the Northern Dvina River. Written sources indicate that Kholmogory existed early in the 12th century and it is not known whether the origin of this settlement was Russian, or if it goes back to pre-Russian times. In the center of the town that is there today is a large mound of building remains and river sand. The area of Arkhangelsk came to be important in the rivalry between Norwegian and Russian interests in the northern areas, from Novgorod, the spectrum of Russian interest was extended far north to the Kola Peninsula in the 12th century. However, here Norway enforced taxes and rights to the fur trade, a compromise agreement entered in 1251 was soon broken
11.
Kara Sea
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The Kara Sea is part of the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia. It is separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and it is named for the Kara River, which is now relatively insignificant but which played an important role in the Russian conquest of northern Siberia. The word kara is derived from kara, which in several Turkic languages means black, the Kara Sea is roughly 1,450 kilometres long and 970 kilometres wide with an area of around 880,000 km2 and a mean depth of 110 metres. Compared to the Barents Sea, which receives relatively warm currents from the Atlantic, the Kara receives a large amount of fresh water from the Ob, Yenisei, Pyasina, and Taimyra rivers, so its salinity is variable. Its main ports are Novy Port and Dikson and it is important as a fishing ground although the sea is ice-bound for all but two months of the year. Significant discoveries of petroleum and natural gas, the East-Prinovozemelsky field, in 2014, US government sanctions resulted in Exxon having until September 26 to discontinue its operations in the Kara Sea. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Kara Sea as follows, the Eastern limit of Barentsz Sea. Komsomolets Island from Cape Molotov to South Eastern Cape, thence to Cape Vorochilov, then to Cape Unslicht on Bolshevik Island. Thence to Cape Pronchisthehev on the main land, there are many islands and island groups in the Kara Sea. The largest group in the Kara Sea is by far the Nordenskiöld Archipelago, with five large subgroups, other important islands in the Kara Sea are Bely Island, Dikson Island, Taymyr Island, the Kamennyye Islands and Oleni Island. Despite the high latitude all islands are unglaciated except for Ushakov Island at the northern limit of the Kara Sea. The Kara Sea was formerly known as Oceanus Scythicus or Mare Glaciale, since it is closed by ice most of the year it remained largely unexplored until the late nineteenth century. In 1556 Stephen Borough sailed in the Searchthrift to try to reach the Ob River, not until 1580 did another English expedition, under Arthur Pet and Charles Jackman, attempt its passage. They too failed to penetrate it, and England lost interest in searching for the Northeast Passage, in 1736–1737 Russian Admiral Stepan Malygin undertook a voyage from Dolgy Island in the Barents Sea. The two ships in this expedition were the Perviy, under Malygins command and the Vtoroy under Captain A. Skuratov. After entering the little-explored Kara Sea, they sailed to the mouth of the Ob River, Malygin took careful observations of these hitherto almost unknown areas of the Russian Arctic coastline. With this knowledge he was able to draw the first somewhat accurate map of the Arctic shores between the Pechora River and the Ob River, frozen in for the winter in the Chukchi Sea, Nordenskiöld waited and bartered with the local Chukchi people. The following July, the Vega was freed from the ice and he became the first to force the Northeast Passage
12.
Severnaya Zemlya
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Severnaya Zemlya is a 37, 000-square-kilometre archipelago in the Russian high Arctic. It lies off Siberias Taymyr Peninsula, separated from the mainland by the Vilkitsky Strait and this archipelago separates two marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean, the Kara Sea in the west and the Laptev Sea in the east. The largest glacier in the Russian Federation, the Academy of Sciences Glacier, is located in Severnaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya was first noted in 1913 and first charted in 1930–32, making it the last sizeable archipelago on Earth to be explored. Administratively, the islands part of Russias Krasnoyarsk Krai federal subject. In Soviet times there were a number of stations in different locations. Severnaya Zemlya is notable in connection with the ongoing multi-year Arctic sea ice decline, until recently, ice joined the islands to Eurasia even at its smallest extent during the late summer melt season, blocking the Northeast Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific. By the late summer of 2012, however, the permanent ice had reached a record low extent, later in the 19th century Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld during the Vega Expedition sailed very close to this land in 1878 but did not notice it. However, Hovgaard was prevented from accomplishing his objectives after having become trapped in thick ice, the archipelago was not put on the map until the 1913–1915 Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition of icebreakers Taimyr and Vaigach. The chief organiser and first captain of the Vaygach was officer Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Kolchak of the Imperial Russian Navy, the expedition was privately financed and was launched in 1910, being led by Boris Vilkitsky on behalf of the Russian Hydrographic Service. On 3 September 1913, members of Vilkitskys expedition landed on what is now known as Cape Berg on October Revolution Island and they raised the Russian flag on the shore and named the new territory Tayvay Land, after the first syllable of their icebreakers names. During the days that followed Vilkitskys expedition charted parts of the Laptev Sea coast of what they believed to be a single island. Barely six months later in early 1914, by order of the Secretary of the Imperial Navy, in 1926 the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR renamed the still not fully explored land Severnaya Zemlya. On 15 May 1928 the islands were overflown by Umberto Nobile and his crew in the Airship Italia, Ushakov and his team established a small base at Golomyanny —the western end of Sredniy Island, off October Revolution Islands western coast. From there they made multiple trips into the interior and the coastlines of the larger islands. The first detailed map drawn by the expeditions cartographers showed Severnaya Zemlya to be divided into four main islands, geographic features of the territory were named after communist organisations, events and personalities. g. Cape Unslicht becoming Mys Peschanyy and Proliv Yungshturm Yuny Strait, during the Cold War era the islands of Severnaya Zemlya continued to be studied by a team of geologists from NIIGA in St. Petersburg between 1948 and 1954 under B. Egiazarov who compiled a geological map. Also more accurate maps were drawn by means of data gathered from aerial photography surveys
13.
Laptev Sea
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The Laptev Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern coast of Siberia, the Taimyr Peninsula, Severnaya Zemlya and the New Siberian Islands and its northern boundary passes from the Arctic Cape to a point with co-ordinates of 79°N and 139°E, and ends at the Anisiy Cape. The Kara Sea lies to the west, the East Siberian Sea to the east, the sea has a severe climate with temperatures below 0 °C over more than 9 months per year, low water salinity, scarcity of flora, fauna and human population, and low depths. It is frozen most of the time, though clear in August. The sea shores were inhabited for thousands of years by tribes of Yukaghirs and then Evens and Evenks. They were then settled by Yakuts and later by Russians, Russian explorations of the area started in the 17th century. They came from the south via several large rivers which empty into the sea, such as the prominent Lena River, the Khatanga, the Anabar, the Olenyok, the Omoloy, the sea contains several dozen islands, many of which contain well-preserved mammoth remains. Major human activities in the area are mining and navigation on the Northern Sea Route, the largest settlement and port is Tiksi. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Laptev Sea as follows, the eastern limit of Kara Sea. A line joining Cape Molotov to the Northern extremity of Kotelni Island, from the Northern extremity of Kotelni Island – through Kotelni Island to Cape Madvejyi. Then through Malyi Island, to Cape Vaguin on Great Liakhov Island, thence to Cape Sviatoy Nos on the main land. Using current geographic names and transcription this definition corresponds to the shown in the map. The seas border starts at Arctic Cape on Komsomolets Island at 81°13′N 95°15′E and connects to Cape Rosa Luxemburg, the next segment crosses Red Army Strait and leads to Cape Vorochilov on October Revolution Island and afterwards through that island to Cape Anuchin at 79°39′37″N 100°21′22″E. Next, the border crosses Shokalsky Strait to Cape Unslicht at 79°25′04″N 102°31′00″E on Bolshevik Island and it goes further through the island to Cape Yevgenov at 78°17′N 104°50′E. From there, the border goes through Vilkitsky Strait to Cape Pronchishchev at 77°32′57″N 105°54′4″E on the Tamyr peninsula, the southern boundary is the shore of the Asian mainland. Prominent features are the Khatanga Gulf and the delta of the Lena River, in the east, the polygon crosses the Dmitry Laptev Strait. It connects Cape Svyatoy Nos at 72. 7°N141. 2°E /72.7,141. 2 with Cape Vagin at 73°26′0″N 139°50′0″E in the very east of Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island. Next, the Laptev Sea border crosses Eterikan Strait to Little Lyakhovsky Island at 74. 0833°N140. 5833°E /74.0833,140. 5833 up to Cape Medvezhiy, finally, there is a segment through Kotelny Island to Cape Anisy, its northernmost headland 76°10′N 138°50′E
14.
Bering Strait
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The Bering Strait is a strait of the Pacific, which borders with the Arctic to north. It is located between Russia and the United States, named after Vitus Bering, a Danish-born explorer in the service of the Russian Empire, it lies slightly south of the Arctic Circle being at about 65°40 N latitude. The present Russia-US east-west boundary is at 168°5837 W and this view of how Paleo-Indians entered America has been the dominant one for several decades and continues to be the most accepted one. Numerous successful crossings without the use of a boat have also recorded since at least the early 20th century. As of 2012, the Russian coast of the Bering Strait has been a military zone. Through organized trips and the use of permits, it is possible for foreigners to visit. All arrivals must be through an airport or a cruise port, unauthorized travelers who arrive on shore after crossing the strait, even those with visas, may be arrested, imprisoned briefly, fined, deported and banned from future visas. Its depth varies between 30 metres and 50 metres and it borders with the Chukchi Sea to north and with the Bering Sea to south. The eastern coast belongs to the U. S. state of Alaska, notable towns that straddle the Strait include Nome and the small settlement of Teller. The western coast belongs to the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, a Federal subject of Russia, major towns that lie along the Strait include Lorino and Lavrentiya. The Diomede Islands lie midway in the Strait, the village in Little Diomede has a school which belongs to Alaskas Bering Strait School District. The earliest reference of the strait were from maps from the Polo family, from at least 1562, European geographers thought that there was a Strait of Anián between Asia and North America. In 1648, Semyon Dezhnyov probably passed through the strait, Danish-born Russian navigator Vitus Bering entered it in 1728. In 1732, Mikhail Gvozdev crossed it for the first time, adolf Erik Nordenskiöld in 1878–79 sailed along the northern coast of Siberia, thereby proving that there was no northern land bridge from Asia to North America. In March 1913, Captain Max Gottschalk crossed from the east cape of Siberia to Shishmaref, Alaska, on dogsled via Little and he was the first documented modern voyager to cross from Russia to North America without the use of a boat. In 1987, swimmer Lynne Cox swam a 4. 3-kilometre course between the Diomede Islands from Alaska to the Soviet Union in 3.3 °C water during the last years of the Cold War. In June and July 1989, a British expedition, Kayaks Across the Bering Strait, completed the first sea kayak crossing of the Bering Strait from Wales, Alaska, to Cape Dezhnev, Siberia. The team of Robert Egelstaff, Trevor Potts, Greg Barton and Pete Clark landed on Little Diomede Island, rested a few days and they were escorted to Moscow from where they flew back to London at the end of July
15.
Icebreaker
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An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels. For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most normal ships lack, a hull, an ice-clearing shape, and the power to push through sea ice. Icebreakers clear paths by pushing straight into ice pockets, the bending strength of sea ice is so low that usually the ice breaks without noticeable change in the vessels trim. In cases of very thick ice, an icebreaker can drive its bow onto the ice to break it under the weight of the ship, even in the earliest days of polar exploration, ice-strengthened ships were used. These were originally wooden and based on existing designs, but reinforced, particularly around the waterline with double planking to the hull, bands of iron were wrapped around the outside. Sometimes metal sheeting was placed at the bows, stern and along the keel, such strengthening was designed to help the ship push through ice and also to protect the ship in case it was nipped by the ice. Nipping occurs when ice floes around a ship are pushed against the ship, trapping it as if in a vise and this vise-like action is caused by the force of winds and tides on ice formations. Although such wind and tidal forces may be exerted many miles away, the first boats to be used in the polar waters were those of the indigenous Arctic people. Their kayaks are small human-powered boats with a deck, and one or more cockpits. Such boats, of course, have no icebreaking capabilities, but they are light, in the 9th and 10th centuries, the Viking expansion reached the North Atlantic, and eventually Greenland and Svalbard in the Arctic. Vikings, however, operated their ships in the waters that were ice-free for most of the year, in the 11th century, in North-Russia started settling the coasts of the White Sea, named so for being ice-covered for over half of a year. The mixed ethnic group of the Karelians and the Russians in the North-Russia that lived on the shores of the Arctic Ocean became known as Pomors. Gradually they developed a type of small one- or two-mast wooden sailing ships, used for voyages in the ice conditions of the Arctic seas. These earliest icebreakers were called kochi, the kochs hull was protected by a belt of ice-floe resistant flush skin-planking along the variable water-line, and had a false keel for on-ice portage. If a koch became squeezed by the ice-fields, its rounded bodylines below the water-line would allow for the ship to be pushed up out of the water, in the 19th century, similar protective measures were adopted to modern steam-powered icebreakers. Fram is said to be the ship to have sailed farthest north and farthest south. An early ship designed to operate in icy conditions was a 51-metre wooden paddle steamer,1, that was built for the city of Philadelphia by Vandusen & Birelyn in 1837
16.
Yokohama
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Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan by population and most populous municipality of Japan. It is the city of Kanagawa Prefecture. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the island of Honshu. It is a commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area. Yokohamas population of 3.7 million makes it Japans largest city after the Special Wards of Tokyo, Yokohama was a small fishing village up to the end of the feudal Edo period, when Japan held a policy of national seclusion, having little contact with foreigners. It was initially agreed that one of the ports to be opened to ships would be the bustling town of Kanagawa-juku on the Tōkaidō. However, the Tokugawa shogunate decided that Kanagawa-juku was too close to the Tōkaidō for comfort, the Port of Yokohama was officially opened on June 2,1859. Yokohama quickly became the base of trade in Japan. Kannai, the trade and commercial district, was surrounded by a moat. To protect British commercial and diplomatic interests in Yokohama a military garrison was established in 1862, with the growth in trade increasing numbers of Chinese also came to settle in the city. Recreational sports introduced to Japan by foreign residents in Yokohama included European style horse racing in 1862, cricket in 1863, after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the port was developed for trading silk, the main trading partner being Great Britain. In 1887, a British merchant, Samuel Cocking, built the citys first power plant, at first for his own use, this coal-burning plant became the basis for the Yokohama Cooperative Electric Light Company. The city was incorporated on April 1,1889. The early 20th century was marked by growth of industry. Entrepreneurs built factories along reclaimed land to the north of the city toward Kawasaki, much of Yokohama was destroyed on September 1,1923 by the Great Kantō earthquake. The Yokohama police reported casualties at 30,771 dead and 47,908 injured, fuelled by rumours of rebellion and sabotage, vigilante mobs thereupon murdered many Koreans in the Kojiki-yato slum. Many people believed that Koreans used black magic to cause the earthquake, martial law was in place until November 19. Rubble from the quake was used to land for parks
17.
Otto Schmidt
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Otto Yulyevich Schmidt was a Soviet scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesman, academician, Hero of the USSR, and member of the Communist Party. He was born in Mogilev, Russian Empire and his father was a descendant of German settlers in Courland, while his mother was a Latvian. In 1912-13 while on university he published a number of works on group theory which laid foundation for Krull–Schmidt theorem. In 1913, Schmidt married Vera Yanitskaia and graduated from the University of Kiev, after the October Revolution of 1917, he was a board member at several Peoples Commissariats – such as Narkomprod from 1918 to 1920, Peoples Commissariat for Finance from 1921 to 1922. Schmidt was one of the proponents of developing the higher education system, publishing. He worked at Narkompros, the State Scientific Board at the Council of Peoples Commissars of the USSR, Schmidt was also employed as the director of the State Publishing House from 1921 to 1924, and chief editor of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia from 1924 to 1941. From 1923 he was a professor at the Second Moscow State University and later at the Moscow State University, from 1932–1939, he was appointed head of Glavsevmorput – an establishment that oversaw all commercial operations on the Northern Sea Route. From 1939 to 1942, Schmidt became a vice-president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, Otto Schmidt was a founder of the Moscow Algebra School, which he directed for many years. Schmidt was an explorer of the Arctic. From 1933 to 1934, Schmidt led the voyage of the steamship Cheliuskin, also with Captain Vladimir Voronin, in 1937, he supervised an airborne expedition that established a drift-ice station North Pole-1. In 1938, he was in charge of evacuating its personnel from the ice, Otto Schmidt was a member of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR and a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the first convocation. The authorities awarded Otto Schmidt three Orders of Lenin, three orders and many medals. A minor planet,2108 Otto Schmidt – discovered in 1948 by Soviet astronomer Pelageya Fedorovna Shajn – commemorates him, the icebreaker Anastas Mikoyan originally bore the name Otto Yulyevich Schmidt. Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Lenin, three times Order of the Red Banner of Labour, twice Order of the Red Star Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route
18.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
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German cruiser Admiral Scheer
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Admiral Scheer was a Deutschland-class heavy cruiser which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II. The vessel was named after Admiral Reinhard Scheer, German commander in the Battle of Jutland and she was laid down at the Reichsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven in June 1931 and completed by November 1934. Originally classified as a ship by the Reichsmarine, in February 1940 the Germans reclassified the remaining two ships of this class as heavy cruisers. Armed with six 28 cm guns in two gun turrets, Admiral Scheer and her sisters were designed to outgun any cruiser fast enough to catch them. Their top speed of 28 knots left only a handful of ships in the Anglo-French navies able to catch them, Admiral Scheer saw heavy service with the German Navy, including a deployment to Spain during the Spanish Civil War, where she bombarded the port of Almería. Her first operation during World War II was a raiding operation into the southern Atlantic Ocean. During the operation, she sank 113,223 gross register tons of shipping, making her the most successful capital ship surface raider of the war, following her return to Germany, she was deployed to northern Norway to interdict shipping to the Soviet Union. She was part of the attack on Convoy PQ17 and conducted Operation Wunderland. After returning to Germany at the end of 1942, the served as a training ship until the end of 1944. She was sunk by British bombers on 9 April 1945 and partially scrapped, Admiral Scheer was 186 meters long overall and had a beam of 21.34 m and a maximum draft of 7.25 m. Admiral Scheer was powered by four sets of MAN nine-cylinder double-acting two-stroke diesel engines, the ships top speed was 28.3 knots, at 52,050 shaft horsepower. At a cruising speed of 20 knots, the ship could steam for 9,100 nautical miles, as designed, her standard complement consisted of 33 officers and 586 enlisted men, though after 1935 this was significantly increased to 30 officers and 921–1,040 sailors. Admiral Scheers primary armament was six 28 cm SK C/28 guns mounted in two gun turrets, one forward and one aft of the superstructure. The ship carried a battery of eight 15 cm SK C/28 guns in single turrets grouped amidships. Her anti-aircraft battery originally consisted of three 8.8 cm L/45 guns, though in 1935 these were replaced with six 8.8 cm L/78 guns. By 1940 the ships anti-aircraft battery was increased, consisting of six 10.5 cm C/33 guns, four twin-mounted 3.7 cm C/30 guns. By 1945, the battery had again been reorganized and comprised six 4 cm guns, eight 3.7 cm guns. The ship also carried a pair of quadruple 53.3 cm deck-mounted torpedo launchers placed on her stern, the ship was equipped with two Arado Ar 196 seaplanes and one catapult
20.
Operation Wunderland
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Operation Wunderland was a large-scale operation undertaken in summer 1942 by the Kriegsmarine in the waters of the Northern Sea Route close to the Arctic Ocean. The Germans knew that ships of the Soviet Navy had sought refuge in the Kara Sea because of the protection that its ice pack provided during 10 months of the year. The naval operation to enter the Kara Sea during the summer thaw, on 16 August 1942, Admiral Scheer — under Kommodore Wilhelm Meendsen-Bohlken — left Narvik and entered the Barents Sea. Along with it went U-boats U-601 and U-251, as well as destroyers Friedrich Eckoldt, Erich Steinbrinck, on 19 August, the German fleet rounded Cape Zhelaniya and entered the Kara Sea which was fairly free from ice during the short summer. Fog and ice floes, however, prevented the German warships from approaching, when they arrived at the Mona Islands, the Russian ships were gone. Then, Admiral Scheer turned northeast and sped towards the Nordenskiöld Archipelago, despite this initial setback, on 24 August, U-601 sank the Soviet steamer Kuybyshev. On the 25th, Admiral Scheer fell upon the Russian icebreaker Sibiryakov right off the northwest coast of Russky Island at the end of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago. After putting up resistance, Sibiryakov was sunk in an unequal battle, since it was not able to find any more Soviet ships, Admiral Scheer decided to head southeast towards Dikson Island in order to attack the Soviet military installations there. With its powerful guns, it caused random destruction ashore at Dikson and badly damaged the ships Dezhnev, finally, on 30 August, Admiral Scheer returned to Narvik. On 8 September, U-251 surfaced close to Uyedineniya Island and destroyed a Soviet weather station with gunfire, apparently there were 328 political prisoners of the NKVD on board, out of which 305 men were killed through artillery fire or drowning. Meanwhile, on 20 August, U-456 tried to sink the Soviet icebreaker Feodor Litke off Belushya Guba with torpedoes but was unsuccessful, u-255 and U-209 emerged and bombarded Soviet targets in Cape Zhelaniya and Khodovarikha on 25 and 28 August respectively. Operation Wunderland was only moderately successful, owing to bad weather conditions and the abundance of ice floes, the vessels taking part in Operation Wunderland did not venture beyond the Vilkitsky Strait. Therefore, the Kriegsmarine campaign only affected the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea, Arctic Ocean operations of World War II Russian Military History Military Operations in the Arctic History of the Northern Sea Route
21.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
22.
SS Chelyuskin
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SS Chelyuskin was a Soviet steamship reinforced to navigate through polar ice that became ice-bound in Arctic waters during navigation along the Northern Maritime Route from Murmansk to Vladivostok. The expeditions task was to determine the possibility to travel by non-icebreaker through the Northern Maritime Route in a single navigation season and it was built in Denmark in 1933 by Burmeister and Wain and named after the 18th century Russian polar explorer Semion Ivanovich Chelyuskin. The head of the expedition was Otto Yuliyevich Shmidt and the captain was V. I. There were 111 people on board the steamship, the crew members were known as Chelyuskintsy, Chelyuskinites. After leaving Murmansk on August 2,1933, the managed to get through most of the Northern Route before it was caught in the ice fields in September. After that it drifted in the ice pack before sinking on February 13,1934, the crew managed to escape onto the ice and built a makeshift airstrip using only a few spades, ice shovels and two crowbars. They had to rebuild the airstrip thirteen times, until they were rescued in April of the same year, from there, some of the Chelyuskinites were flown further to the village of Uelen, while fifty-three men walked over 300 miles to get there. The aircraft pilots who took part in search and rescue operations were the first people to receive the newly established highest title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Those pilots were Anatoly Liapidevsky, Sigizmund Levanevsky, Vasily Molokov, Mavriky Slepnyov, Mikhail Vodopianov, Nikolai Kamanin, after a few additional trial runs in 1933 and 1934, the Northern Sea Route was officially opened and commercial exploitation began in 1935. Next year, part of the Soviet Baltic Fleet made the passage to the Pacific where a conflict with Japan was looming. In the wake of the catastrophe, a square in Yaroslavl was renamed after the Chelyuskintsy. Marina Tsvetayeva wrote a poem applauding the rescue team, efforts to find the wreck of the ship were made by at least four different expeditions, and it was finally discovered in September 2006, at a depth of about 50 metres in the Chukchi Sea. The polar explorer Artur Chilingarov argued that the ship should be raised and converted into a museum, michael Roberts, an English poet, wrote a poem Chelyuskin, which was included in his collection Poems, published by Jonathan Cape in 1936. Cape Serdtse-Kamen SS Dzhurma Chelyuskin-70 - Official site of the underwater archeological expedition Rescue of Chelyuskin The Chelyuskin and the Dzhurma in 1933
23.
Saint Petersburg
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Saint Petersburg is Russias second-largest city after Moscow, with five million inhabitants in 2012, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. It is politically incorporated as a federal subject, situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 271703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, between 1713 and 1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia. In 1918, the government bodies moved to Moscow. Saint Petersburg is one of the cities of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Saint Petersburg is home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. A large number of consulates, international corporations, banks. Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress, at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, in a then called Ingermanland. A small town called Nyen grew up around it, Peter the Great was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, and he intended to have Russia gain a seaport in order to be able to trade with other maritime nations. He needed a better seaport than Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea to the north, on May 1703121703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskans, and soon replaced the fortress. On May 271703, closer to the estuary 5 km inland from the gulf), on Zayachy Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia, tens of thousands of serfs died building the city. Later, the city became the centre of the Saint Petersburg Governorate, Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712,9 years before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war, he referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital as early as 1704. During its first few years, the city developed around Trinity Square on the bank of the Neva, near the Peter. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according to a plan, by 1716 the Swiss Italian Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be located on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was not completed, but is evident in the layout of the streets, in 1716, Peter the Great appointed French Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg. In 1724 the Academy of Sciences, University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great, in 1725, Peter died at the age of fifty-two. His endeavours to modernize Russia had met opposition from the Russian nobility—resulting in several attempts on his life
24.
Drift ice
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Drift ice is any sea ice other than fast ice, the latter being attached to the shoreline or other fixed objects. Drift ice is carried along by winds and sea currents, hence its name, when drift ice is driven together into a large single mass, it is called pack ice. Wind and currents can pile up that ice to form ridges up to several metres in height and these represent a challenge for icebreakers and offshore structures operating in cold oceans and seas. Drift ice consists of floes, individual pieces of sea ice 20 metres or more across. Seasonal ice drift in the Sea of Okhotsk by the northern coast of Hokkaidō, Japan has become a tourist attraction of this area with harsh climate, the Sea of Okhotsk is the southernmost area in the Northern hemisphere where drift ice may be observed. Drift ice affects, Security of navigation Climatic impact Geological impact Biosphere influence The two major ice packs are the Arctic ice pack and the Antarctic ice pack, polar packs significantly change their size during seasonal changes of the year. Because of vast amounts of water added to or removed from the oceans and atmosphere, the behavior of polar ice packs has a significant impact on global changes in climate
25.
Chukchi Sea
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Chukchi Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the Long Strait, off Wrangel Island, the Bering Strait forms its southernmost limit and connects it to the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The principal port on the Chukchi Sea is Uelen in Russia, the International Date Line crosses the Chukchi Sea from northwest to southeast. It is displaced eastwards to avoid Wrangel Island as well as the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug on the Russian mainland, the sea has an approximate area of 595,000 km2 and is only navigable about four months of the year. The main geological feature of the Chukchi Sea bottom is the 700-kilometre-long Hope Basin, depths less than 50 meters occupy 56% of the total area. The Chukchi Sea has very few compared to other seas of the Arctic. Wrangel Island lies at the limit of the sea, Herald Island is located near its northern limit. The sea is named after the Chukchi people, who reside on its shores, the coastal Chukchi traditionally engaged in fishing, whaling and the hunting of walrus in this cold sea. In Alaska, the rivers flowing into the Chukchi Sea are the Kivalina, the Kobuk, the Kokolik, the Kukpowruk, the Kukpuk, the Noatak, the Utukok, the Pitmegea, and the Wulik, among others. Of rivers flowing in from its Siberian side, the Amguyema, Ioniveyem, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Chuckchi Sea as follows, On the West. The Eastern limit of East Siberian Sea, a line from Point Barrow, Alaska to the Northernmost point of Wrangel Island. The Arctic Circle between Siberia and Alaska, common usage is that the southern extent is further south at the narrowest part of the Bering Strait which is on the 66th parallel north. The Chukchi Sea Shelf is the westernmost part of the shelf of the United States. Within this shelf, the 50-mile Chukchi Corridor acts as a passageway for one of the largest marine mammal migrations in the world, in 1728, Vitus Bering and in 1779, Captain James Cook entered the sea from the Pacific. Since further progress for that year was impossible, the ship was secured in winter quarters, even so, members of the expedition and the crew were aware only a few miles of ice-blocked sea lay between them and the open waters. The following year, two days after Vega was released, she passed the Bering Strait and steamed towards the Pacific Ocean. In 1913, Karluk, abandoned by expedition leader Vilhjalmur Stefansson, drifted in the ice along the northern expanses of the Chukchi Sea and sank, the survivors made it to Wrangel Island, where they found themselves in a hopeless situation. Then Captain Robert Bartlett walked hundreds of kilometers with Kataktovik, an Inuit man and they reached Cape Vankarem on the Chukotka coast, on April 15,1914
26.
Kolyuchin Island
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Kolyuchin Island or Koliuchin Island is a small island in the Chukchi Sea. It is not far from the coast, being only 11 km from the shore of the Chukotka Peninsula. Its latitude is 67°28 N and its longitude 174°37 E and this island is 4.5 km in length and its maximum width is 1.5 km. It is covered with tundra vegetation, on the nearby shore there is the settlement of Nutepelmen, located north of the Rypatynonelgyn Lagoon and south of the Pyngopilgyn Lagoon. Kolyuchinskaya Bay, further south, is named after Kolyuchin Island, administratively this island and its surrounding area belongs to the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of the Russian Federation. In September 1933 Soviet ice-breaker Chelyuskin got crushed by ice near Kolyuchin Island. The passengers and crew were rescued by air in a dramatic and much publicised operation which made heroes of Captain Vladimir Voronin, Chukchi Sea List of islands of Russia List of research stations in the Arctic Armstrong, T. The Russians in the Arctic, London,1958, early Soviet Exploration, History of Russian Arctic Exploration, Pictures of animals in Kolyuchin Island, Prydatko-Dolin V. Kolyuchin Island Landscapes
27.
Sea ice
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Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less dense water, it floats on the oceans surface. Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth’s surface and about 12% of the world’s oceans. Much of the sea ice is enclosed within the polar ice packs in the Earths polar regions, the Arctic ice pack of the Arctic Ocean. Polar packs undergo a significant yearly cycling in surface extent, a natural process upon which depends the Arctic ecology, due to the action of winds, currents and temperature fluctuations, sea ice is very dynamic, leading to a wide variety of ice types and features. Sea ice may be contrasted with icebergs, which are chunks of ice shelves or glaciers that calve into the ocean, depending on location, sea ice expanses may also incorporate icebergs. Sea ice does not simply grow and melt, during its lifespan, it is very dynamic. Due to the action of winds, currents, water temperature. Sea ice is classified according to whether or not it is able to drift, Sea ice can be classified according to whether or not it is attached to the shoreline. If attached, it is called landfast ice, or more often, alternatively, and unlike fast ice, drift ice occurs further offshore in very wide areas, and encompasses ice that is free to move with currents and winds. The physical boundary between fast ice and drift ice is the fast ice boundary, the drift ice zone may be further divided into a shear zone, a marginal ice zone and a central pack. Drift ice consists of floes, individual pieces of sea ice 20 metres or more across, the term pack ice is used either as a synonym to drift ice, or to designate drift ice zone in which the floes are densely packed. The overall sea ice cover is termed the ice canopy from the perspective of submarine navigation, another classification used by scientists to describe sea ice is based on age, that is, on its development stages. These stages are, new ice, nilas, young ice, first-year, new ice is a general term used for recently frozen sea water that does not yet make up solid ice. It may consist of ice, slush, or shuga. Other terms, such as ice and pancake ice, are used for ice crystal accumulations under the action of wind. Nilas designates a sea ice crust up to 10 centimetres in thickness and it bends without breaking around waves and swells. Nilas can be subdivided into dark nilas – up to 5 centimetres in thickness and very dark
28.
Wrangel Island
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Wrangel Island is an island in the Arctic Ocean, between the Chukchi Sea and East Siberian Sea. Wrangel Island lies astride the 180° meridian, the International Date Line is displaced eastwards at this latitude to avoid the island as well as the Chukchi Peninsula on the Russian mainland. The closest land to Wrangel Island is tiny and rocky Herald Island located 60 km to the east, the distance to the closest point on the mainland is 140 km. Wrangel Island may have been the last place on earth where mammoths survived, nearly all of Wrangel Island, and Herald Island, are a federally protected nature sanctuary administered by Russias Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The Chukotka Regional government extended the marine protected area out to 24 nautical miles in 1999, as of 2003, there were four rangers who reside on the island year-round. In addition a group of about 12 scientists conduct research during the summer months. Wrangel Island is about 125 km wide and 7,600 km2 in area and it consists of a southern coastal plain that is as wide as 15 km, a central belt of low-relief mountains, and a northern coastal plain that is as wide as 25 km. The east-west trending central mountain belt, the Tsentralnye Mountain Range, is as much as 40 km wide and 145 km long from coast to coast, typically, the mountains are a little over 500 m above mean sea level. The highest mountain on this island is Sovetskaya Mountain with an elevation of 1,096 m above sea level. The east-west trending mountain range terminates at sea cliffs at either end of the island, Wrangel Island belongs administratively to the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of the Russian Federation. This rocky island has a station and, formerly, two Chukchi fishing settlements on the southern side of the island. Wrangel Island consists of folded, faulted, and metamorphosed volcanic, intrusive and these rocks are intruded by metamorphosed gabbro, diabase, and felsic dikes and sills and granite intrusions. The uppermost stratum consists of 0.7 to 1.5 km of Triassic clayish quartzose turbidites interbedded with black slate, a thin veneer of Cenozoic gravel, sand, clay and mud underlie the coastal plains of Wrangel Island. Late Neogene clay and gravel, which are only a few tens of meters thick, indurated Pliocene mud and gravel, which are only a few meters thick, overlie the Late Neogene sediments. Sandy Pleistocene sediments occur as fluvial sediments along rivers and streams and as a very thin, Wrangel Island is a breeding ground for polar bears, seals, walrus, and lemmings. During the summer it is visited by many types of birds, Arctic foxes also make their home on the island. Cetaceans such as whales, gray whales, and belugas can be seen close to shore. Woolly mammoths survived there until 2500–2000 BC, the most recent survival of all known mammoth populations, isolated from the mainland for 6000 years, about 500 to 1000 mammoths lived on the island at a time
29.
Uelen
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Uelen is a rural locality in the Chukotsky District, just south of the Arctic Circle in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the Russian Far East. Population, 720 , Located near Cape Dezhnev where the Bering Sea meets the Chukchi Sea, it is the easternmost settlement in Russia, Uelen is also the closest Russian settlement to the United States. It is on the northeast corner of the Uelen Lagoon, a roughly 15 by 3 kilometres east-west lagoon separated from the ocean by a sandspit, municipally, Uelen is subordinated to Chukotsky Municipal District and is incorporated as Uelen Rural Settlement. There are a number of competing ideas as to the origin of the name of the village, there is a local legend which offers a second explanation for the origin of the name. It describes the life of a local man called Uvelelyn. As he grew older, so he used his strength to gain his revenge over the people for perceived slights received during his childhood because of his background. In fear for their lives, the villagers killed Uvelelyn, prior to being named Uelen, the village was called Ulyk, meaning lands end and flooded place respectively. Not surprising given that the village is the most easterly place in Asia and its position on a spit with the Chukchi sea to the north, the first mention of the name Uelen appears on a map from the Billings-Sarychev expedition from 1792. The main site of investigation is at the Ekven site. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Uelen became one of the first trade co-operatives in Chukotka, the first school in Chukotka was established in Uelen in 1916. In the first half of the century, Uelen was the site of one of the first Russian arctic research stations. Uelen absorbed the population from the village of Dezhnevo. Although Dezhnevo was officially abolished, the villagers in Uelen still use it as a base for their fishing, as well as a fishing base, the site of the village is still used as an occasional port by Uelen. At the end of summer, storms in the Chukchi Sea can make it impossible for ships to dock at Uelen to unload their supplies, when this occurs, the ships dock at Dezhnevo and the cargo is carried across land to Uelen. In more recent history, Uelen is where Dimitri Kieffer and Karl Bushby entered Russia during their Goliath Expedition after crossing the Bering Strait. The two were arrested because they had failed to enter the country at a proper port of entry. The population according to the most recent census results was 740, Uelen had a population of 740 at the start of 2009, down from 776 in 2003 Other villagers are Russian. The village is famous for its walrus ivory carvings and it has long been a major artistic centre in the region, with Several of the leading exponents of the craft, such as Vukvutagin, Vukvol, Tukkai and Khukhutan working out of Uelen
30.
Chukchi Peninsula
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The Chukchi Peninsula, Chukotka Peninsula, or Chukotski Peninsula, at about 66° N 172° W, is the eastmost peninsula of Asia. Its eastern end is at Cape Dezhnev near the village of Uelen and it is bordered by the Chukchi Sea to the north, the Bering Sea to the south, and the Bering Strait to the east. The peninsula is part of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of Russia, the peninsula is traditionally the home of indigenous peoples of Siberia as well as some Russian settlers. The peninsula lies along the Northern Sea Route, or Northeast passage. It was said to be the location of the prison camp/lead mine where Cornelius Rost claimed to have been imprisoned, as described in the book As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me, however, the existence of such a camp at that time has been refuted. Industries on the peninsula are mining, hunting and trapping, reindeer raising, aĭnana, L. and Richard L. Bland. Umiak the traditional boat of the coast dwellers of the Chukchi Peninsula, compiled in the communities of Provideniya and Sireniki, Chukotka Autonomous Region. Anchorage, U. S. Dept. of the Interior, secular dynamics of coastal zone ecosystems of the northeastern Chukchi Peninsula Chukotka, cultural layers and natural depositions from the last millennia. Asia at the Juncture with America in Antiquity The Stone Age of the Chukchi Peninsula, frazier, Ian, Travels in Siberia, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux,2010. Portenko, L. A. and Douglas Siegel-Causey, birds of the Chukchi Peninsula and Wrangel Island = Ptitsy Chukotskogo Poluostrova I Ostrova Vrangelya. New Delhi, Published for the Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation, Washington, D. C. by Amerind,1981
31.
Anatoly Lyapidevsky
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Anatoly Vasilyevich Liapidevsky was a Soviet aircraft pilot and the first person to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He reached the rank of Major-General of the Soviet Air Force and he was a graduate of the Soviet Air Force Academy. He worked as a pilot with the Far Eastern department of the Civil Air Fleet, together with six other pilots, Liapidevsky rescued 104 people from the wrecked freighter. The rescue operation took two months, as survivors waited to be rescued on ice floes, Liapidevsky made his first landing on one of the floes on March 5. It was a feat of flying. Not only was the weather horrid but the floe was only 500 by 1,300 feet, Liapidevsky took from the floe with 12 women and children on board his plane. He flew the stranded Cheliuskintsi from their makeshift airstrip on the ice field of the Chukchi Sea to the town of Uelen. Liapidevsky was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union for this deed, the heroics of the fliers in the Cheliuskin Rescue prompted the government to create the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The title later became the Soviet Unions highest military honor
32.
Khabarovsk
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The city also became the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia in 2002. It is the second largest city in the Russian Far East, as of the 2010 Census, its population was 577,441. The Russian explorers and raiders of the 1650s set up a number of more or less fortified camps on the Amur, most of them were in use for only a few months, the fort was named after the local tribe whom Khabarovs people called Achans. Already on October 8 the fort was attacked by joint forces of Achans and Duchers. Similar campaign was waged later in winter against the Ducher chief Nechiga, once the ice on the Amur broke in the spring of 1652, Khabarovs people destroyed their fort and sailed away. The exact location of Khabarovs Achansk has long been a subject for the debate among Russian historians, as to the Cape Kyrma ruins, thought by Maack to be the remains of Achansk, B. P. Polevoy identified them as the remains of another ostrog - namely, Kosogorsky Ostrog, after the Treaty of Nerchinsk, the area became an uncontested part of the Qing Empire for the next century and a half. Modern historical maps of the Qing period published in China mark the site of future Khabarovsk as Bólì, all of the middle and lower Amur region was nominally part of the Jilin Province, run first out of Ninguta and later out of Jilin City. French Jesuits who sailed along the Ussury and the Amur in 1709 prepared the first more or less precise map of the region, according to them, the indigenous Nanai people were living on the Ussury and on the Amur down to the mouth of the Dondon River. These people were known to the Chinese as Yupi Dazi, in 1858, the area was ceded to Russia under the Treaty of Aigun. The Russians founded the military outpost of Khabarovka, named after Yerofey Khabarov, the post later became an important industrial center for the region. Town status was granted in 1880, in 1893, it was given its present name, in 1894, a department of Russian Geographical Society was formed in Khabarovsk and to found libraries, theatres and museums in the city. Since then, Khabarovsks cultural life has flourished, the Khabarovsk Art Museum exhibits a rare collection of old Russian icons. In 1916, the Khabarovsk Bridge across the Amur was completed, Chinese Emperor Puyi, captured by Soviet troops in Manchuria, was relocated to Khabarovsk and lived there from 1945 up to 1950, when he was returned to China. On 5 November 1956, the first phase of the city tram was commissioned, the Khabarovsk television studio began broadcasting in 1960. On 1 September 1967, the Khabarovsk Institute of Physical Education, now the Far Eastern State Academy of Physical Culture, on 14 January 1971 Khabarovsk was awarded the Order of October Revolution. In 1975 the first stage of the urban trolley opened, in 1976 the city hosted an international ice hockey tournament with the ball for the prize of the newspaper Sovietskaya Rossia. In 1981 the Bandy World Championship was played in the city, in 1996, Khabarovsk held its first mayoral elections
33.
Nome, Alaska
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Nome is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the U. S. state of Alaska. The city is located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea, according to the 2010 Census, the city population was 3,598. The 2014 population estimate was 3,788, suggesting a slight increase, Nome was incorporated on April 9,1901, and was once the most populous city in Alaska. Nome lies within the region of the Bering Straits Native Corporation, the city of Nome claims to be home to the worlds largest gold pan, although this claim has been disputed by the Canadian city of Quesnel, British Columbia. In the winter of 1925, a diphtheria epidemic raged among Alaska Natives in the Nome area, fierce territory-wide blizzard conditions prevented delivery of a life-saving serum by airplane from Anchorage. A relay of dog sled teams was organized to deliver the serum, the origin of the citys name Nome is debated, there are three theories. The first is that the name was given by Nomes founder, Jafet Lindeberg, within trekking distance of his home in Kvænangen, Norway. Name next to the unnamed cape, the mapmaker misread the annotation as C. Nome, or Cape Nome, and used that name on his own chart, the third proposed origin of the name is from a misunderstanding of the local Inupiaq word for Where at. The United States Post Office in Nome refused to accept the change, fearing a move of the post office to Nome City, a mining camp on the Nome River, the merchants unhappily agreed to change the name of Anvil City back to Nome. Nome is located at 64°30′14″N 165°23′58″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 21.6 square miles, of which 12.5 square miles is land and 9.1 square miles is water. Nome has a climate, with long, very cold winters. However, conditions in winter and summer are moderated by the citys coastal location, winters are less severe than in the Interior. For example, Fairbanks at a similar parallel quite far inland has much greater temperature swings with both very warm and cold temperatures throughout the year, the coldest month is January, averaging 5. Average highs stay below freezing from late October until late April, and the average first and last dates of freezing lows are August 30 and June 9, respectively, a freeze-free period of 81 days. The warmest month is July, with an average of 52.2 °F, Snow averages 76 inches per season, with the average first and last dates of measurable snowfall being October 4 and May 16, accumulating snow has not been officially observed in July or August. Precipitation is greatest in the months, and averages 16.8 inches per year. The annual average temperature is 27.35 °F, extreme temperatures range from −54 °F on January 27–28,1989 up to 86 °F on June 19,2013 and July 31,1977
34.
Alaska
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Alaska is a U. S. state located in the northwest extremity of North America. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort seas–the southern parts of the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest. Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area, the 3rd least populous, approximately half of Alaskas residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. Alaskas economy is dominated by the fishing, natural gas, military bases and tourism are also a significant part of the economy. The United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30,1867, the area went through several administrative changes before becoming organized as a territory on May 11,1912. It was admitted as the 49th state of the U. S. on January 3,1959, the name Alaska was introduced in the Russian colonial period when it was used to refer to the peninsula. It was derived from an Aleut, or Unangam idiom, which refers to the mainland of Alaska. Literally, it means object to which the action of the sea is directed, Alaska is the northernmost and westernmost state in the United States and has the most easterly longitude in the United States because the Aleutian Islands extend into the Eastern Hemisphere. Alaska is the only non-contiguous U. S. state on continental North America and it is technically part of the continental U. S. but is sometimes not included in colloquial use, Alaska is not part of the contiguous U. S. often called the Lower 48. The capital city, Juneau, is situated on the mainland of the North American continent but is not connected by road to the rest of the North American highway system. Alaskas territorial waters touch Russias territorial waters in the Bering Strait, as the Russian Big Diomede Island, Alaska has a longer coastline than all the other U. S. states combined. Alaska is the largest state in the United States by total area at 663,268 square miles, over twice the size of Texas, Alaska is larger than all but 18 sovereign countries. Counting territorial waters, Alaska is larger than the area of the next three largest states, Texas, California, and Montana. It is also larger than the area of the 22 smallest U. S. states. Also referred to as the Panhandle or Inside Passage, this is the region of Alaska closest to the rest of the United States, as such, this was where most of the initial non-indigenous settlement occurred in the years following the Alaska Purchase. The region is dominated by the Alexander Archipelago as well as the Tongass National Forest and it contains the state capital Juneau, the former capital Sitka, and Ketchikan, at one time Alaskas largest city. The Alaska Marine Highway provides a vital transportation link throughout the area. The Interior is the largest region of Alaska, much of it is uninhabited wilderness, Fairbanks is the only large city in the region
35.
Voronina Island
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Voronina Island or Voronina Islands is an isolated two-island group composed of a larger island and a narrow island on its northern side separated by a 3 km wide sound. The main Voronina Island is about 9 km long and 6 km wide and is covered with tundra vegetation, the northern islet is narrow, about 5 km in length and little more than 500 metres in width. These islands are located in the regions of the Kara Sea. The sea surrounding these two islands is covered with pack ice in the winter and there are numerous ice floes even in the summer. The climate is so severe that there are years where at Voronina Islands latitude the surrounding waters of the Kara Sea dont melt and this island group belongs to the Krasnoyarsk Krai administrative division of the Russian Federation. Voronina is also a ground for polar bears and a wildlife refuge part of the Great Arctic State Nature Reserve. The Voronina Islands have been named after Soviet Navy Captain Vladimir Voronin, since Voronina is a Russian genitive, the combination Voronina Islands is technically incorrect. Even so, the name Voronina Island has become popular and its use has been widespread in this manner for many decades and in modern maps. Voronin Islands, which would be the correct way of naming these islands in English, is very rarely used. Kara Sea Location Geographic data Nature Reserve
36.
Gulf of Finland
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The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it, other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn. The eastern parts of the Gulf of Finland belong to Russia, as the seaway to Saint Petersburg, the Gulf of Finland has been and continues to be of considerable strategic importance to Russia. Some of the problems affecting the Baltic Sea are at their most pronounced in the shallow gulf. The area of the gulf is 30,000 km2, the length is 400 km and the width varies from 70 km near the entrance to 130 km on the meridian of Moshchny Island, in the Neva Bay, it decreases to 12 km. The gulf is shallow with the depth decreasing from the entrance to the gulf to the continent. The sharpest change occurs near Narva-Jõesuu, which is why this place is called Narva wall, the average depth is 38 m with the maximum of 100 m. The depth of the Neva Bay is less than 6 metres, therefore, a channel was dug at the bottom for safe navigation. Because of the influx of fresh water from rivers, especially from the Neva River. The average water temperature is close to 0 °C in winter, in summer, it is 15–17 °C at the surface, the gulf is usually frozen from late November to late April, the freezing starts in the east and gradually proceeds to the west. Complete freezing is usually reached by late January, and it not occur in mild winters. There are frequent strong winds causing waves, surges of water. The northern coast of the gulf is high and winding, with abundant small bays and skerries only a few large bays, the coast is mostly sloping, there are abundant sandy dunes, with occasional pine trees. The southern shores are smooth and shallow, but along the entire coast runs the Baltic Klint with the height up to 55 m, in the east, the gulf ends with Neva Bay and on the west merges with the Baltic Sea. The gulf contains numerous banks, skerries and islands, starting from 1700, nineteen artificial islands with fortresses were built in the gulf by Russia. Their purpose was defense from attacks from water and their construction was urged by the Great Northern War of 1700–1721 and those include Fort Alexander, Krasnaya Gorka, Ino, Totleben, Kronshlot and others. The largest rivers flowing into the gulf are Neva, Narva, keila, Pirita, Jägala, Kunda, Luga, Sista and Kovashi flow into the gulf from the south. From the north flow Sestra River, Porvoo, Vantaa and several small rivers
37.
Novaya Zemlya
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Administratively, it is incorporated as Novaya Zemlya District, one of the twenty-one in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. Municipally, it is incorporated as Novaya Zemlya Urban Okrug and its population as of the 2010 Census was 2,429, of which 1,972 resided in Belushya Guba, an urban-type settlement that is the administrative center of Novaya Zemlya District. The population in 2002 was 2, 716 , the indigenous population consisted of about 50–300 Nenetses who subsisted mainly on fishing, trapping, reindeer herding, polar bear hunting and seal hunting. Natural resources include copper, lead, and zinc, Novaya Zemlya was a sensitive military area during the Cold War years and it is still used today. The Soviet Air Force maintained a presence at Rogachevo on the part of the island. It was used primarily for aircraft operations but also provided logistical support for the nearby nuclear test area. Novaya Zemlya is an extension of the Northern part of the Ural Mountains, and it is separated from the mainland by the Kara Strait. Novaya Zemlya consists of two islands, separated by the narrow Matochkin Strait, as well as a number of smaller islands. The two main islands are, Severny —which has an ice cap, the Severny Island ice cap. Yuzhny, which is largely unglaciated and has a tundra landscape, the coast of Novaya Zemlya is very indented, and it is the area with the largest number of fjords in the Russian Federation. Novaya Zemlya separates the Barents Sea from the Kara Sea, the total area is about 90,650 square kilometers. The highest mountain is located on the Northern island and is 1,547 meters high, the ecology of Novaya Zemlya is influenced by its severe climate, but the region nevertheless supports a diversity of biota. One of the most notable species present is the polar bear, the Russians knew of Novaya Zemlya from the 11th century, when hunters from Novgorod visited the area. For western Europeans, the search for the Northern Sea Route in the 16th century led to its exploration, the first visit from a west European was by Hugh Willoughby in 1553, and he met Russian ships from the already established hunting trade. Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz reached the west coast of Novaya Zemlya in 1594, during a later voyage by Fyodor Litke in 1821–1824, the west coast was mapped. Henry Hudson was another explorer who passed through Novaya Zemlya while searching for the Northeast Passage, the island was systematically surveyed by Pyotr Pakhtusov and Avgust Tsivolko in the early 1830s. The first permanent settlement was established in 1870 at Malye Karmakuly, later the administrative center was transferred to Belushya Guba, in 1935 to Lagernoe, but then returned to Belushya Guba. Small numbers of Nenets were resettled to Novaya Zemlya in the 1870s in a bid by Russia to keep out the Norwegians and this population, then numbering 298, was removed to the mainland in 1957 before nuclear testing began
38.
Arctic Ocean
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The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the worlds five major oceans. Alternatively, the Arctic Ocean can be seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean, located mostly in the Arctic north polar region in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere, the Arctic Ocean is almost completely surrounded by Eurasia and North America. It is partly covered by sea ice throughout the year and almost completely in winter, the summer shrinking of the ice has been quoted at 50%. The US National Snow and Ice Data Center uses satellite data to provide a record of Arctic sea ice cover. The Arctic may become ice free for the first time in human history within a few years or by 2040, for much of European history, the north polar regions remained largely unexplored and their geography conjectural. He was probably describing loose sea ice known today as growlers or bergy bits, his Thule was probably Norway, early cartographers were unsure whether to draw the region around the North Pole as land or water. The makers of navigational charts, more conservative than some of the more fanciful cartographers, tended to leave the region blank and this lack of knowledge of what lay north of the shifting barrier of ice gave rise to a number of conjectures. In England and other European nations, the myth of an Open Polar Sea was persistent, john Barrow, longtime Second Secretary of the British Admiralty, promoted exploration of the region from 1818 to 1845 in search of this. In the United States in the 1850s and 1860s, the explorers Elisha Kane, even quite late in the century, the eminent authority Matthew Fontaine Maury included a description of the Open Polar Sea in his textbook The Physical Geography of the Sea. Nevertheless, as all the explorers who travelled closer and closer to the reported, the polar ice cap is quite thick. Fridtjof Nansen was the first to make a crossing of the Arctic Ocean. The first surface crossing of the ocean was led by Wally Herbert in 1969, in a dog sled expedition from Alaska to Svalbard, with air support. The first nautical transit of the pole was made in 1958 by the submarine USS Nautilus. Since 1937, Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations have extensively monitored the Arctic Ocean, scientific settlements were established on the drift ice and carried thousands of kilometres by ice floes. In World War II, the European region of the Arctic Ocean was heavily contested, the Arctic Ocean occupies a roughly circular basin and covers an area of about 14,056,000 km2, almost the size of Antarctica. The coastline is 45,390 km long and it is surrounded by the land masses of Eurasia, North America, Greenland, and by several islands. It is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Bering Strait and to the Atlantic Ocean through the Greenland Sea, countries bordering the Arctic Ocean are, Russia, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada and the United States. There are several ports and harbours around the Arctic Ocean In Alaska, in Canada, ships may anchor at Churchill in Manitoba, Nanisivik in Nunavut, Tuktoyaktuk or Inuvik in the Northwest territories
39.
Franz Josef Land
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It consists of 191 islands, which cover an area of 16,134 square kilometers, stretching 375 kilometers from east to west and 234 kilometers from north to south. The islands are categorized in three groups, a western, central and eastern, separated by the British Channel and the Austrian Strait, the central group is further divided into a northern and southern section by the Markham Strait. The largest island is George Land, which measures 2,741 square kilometers, followed by Wilczek Land, Graham Bell Island, eighty-five percent of the archipelago is glaciated, with large unglaciated areas being located on the largest islands and many of the smallest islands. The islands have a coastline of 4,425 kilometers. Compared to other Arctic archipelagos, Franz Joseph Land has a high rate of 3.6 square kilometers per coastline kilometer. Cape Fligely on Rudolf Island is the northernmost point of the Eastern Hemisphere, the highest elevations are found in the eastern group, with the highest point located on Wilczek Land,670 meters above mean sea level. The archipelago was first spotted by the Norwegian sealers Nils Fredrik Rønnbeck and Johan Petter Aidijärvi in 1865, the first reported finding was in the 1873 Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition led by Julius von Payer and Karl Weyprecht, who named the area after Emperor Franz Joseph I. The islands, then under the name Fridtjof Nansen Land, were annexed by the Soviet Union in 1926, the Kingdom of Norway rejected the claim and several private expeditions were sent to the islands. With the Cold War, the islands became off limits for foreigners, the islands have been a nature sanctuary since 1994 and became part of the Russian Arctic National Park in 2012. There are two candidates for the discovery of Franz Josef Land, the first was the Norwegian sealing vessel Spidsbergen, with captain Nils Fredrik Rønnbeck and harpooner Johan Petter Aidijärvi. They sailed northeast from Svalbard in 1865 searching for suitable sealing sites, the account is believed to be factual, but an announcement of the discovery was never made, and their sighting therefore remained unknown to subsequent explorers. It was at the common to keep newly discovered areas secret, as their discovery was aimed at exploiting them for sealing and whaling. The Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition of 1872–74 was the first to announce the discovery of the islands, starting in July 1872, the vessel drifted from Novaya Zemlya to a new landmass, which they named in honor of Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria. The expedition contributed significantly to the mapping and exploration of the islands, the next expedition to spot the archipelago was the Dutch Expedition for the Exploration of the Barents Sea, on board the schooner Willem Barents. Constrained by the ice, they never reached land, benjamin Leigh Smiths expedition in 1880, aboard the barque Eira, followed a route from Spitsbergen to Franz Josef Land, landing on Bell Island in August. Leigh Smith explored the vicinity and set up a base at Eira Harbour and he returned the following year in the same vessel, landing at Grey Bay on George Land. The explorers were stopped by ice at Cape Flora, and Eira sank on 21 August and they built a cottage and stayed the winter, to be rescued by the British vessels Kara and Hope the following summer. These early expeditions concentrated their explorations on the southern and central parts of the archipelago, nansens Fram expedition was an 1893–1896 attempt by the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen to reach the geographical North Pole by harnessing the natural east–west current of the Arctic Ocean
40.
Sakhalin
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Sakhalin is a large Russian island in the North Pacific Ocean, lying between 45°50 and 54°24 N. It is Russias largest island, and is administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast, Sakhalin, which is similar in shape to and about one third the size of Honshu, is just off the east coast of Russia, and just north of Japan. The population was 497,973 as of the 2010 census, made up of mostly ethnic Russians, the indigenous peoples of the island are the Ainu, Oroks and Nivkhs. Sakhalin was claimed by both Russia and Japan over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries and these disputes sometimes involved military conflict and divisions of the island between the two powers. Most Ainu on Sakhalin moved to Hokkaido, only 43 kilometres to the south, the island is known in Russian as Сахалин. In Chinese, it is known as Kuye, in Japanese, it is known as Karafuto or, borrowing the Russian appellation, as Saharin. The spelling Saghalien may be found in historical texts, the European names derive from misinterpretation of a Manchu name ᠰ᠊ᠠᡴᡥᠠᠯᡳᡟᠠ᠊ᠠ ᡠ᠊ᠯᠠ ᠠ᠊ᠩᡤᠠ ᡥ᠊ᠠᡩᡩᠠ sahaliyan ula angga hada. Sahaliyan, the word that has borrowed in the form of Sakhalin. Its Japanese name, Karafuto, supposedly comes from Ainu kamuy kar put ya mosir, the name was used by the Japanese during their possession of its southern part. Sakhalin was inhabited in the Neolithic Stone Age, a later population familiar with bronze left traces in earthen walls and kitchen-middens on Aniva Bay. Among the indigenous people of Sakhalin are the Ainu in the half, the Oroks in the central region. Chinese chronicled the Xianbei and Hezhe tribes, who had a way of life based on fishing, the Mongol Empire made some efforts to subjugate the native people of Sakhalin starting in about 1264 CE. According to Yuanshi, the history of the Yuan dynasty, the Mongols militarily subdued the Guwei. The Nivkhs and the Oroks were subjugated earlier, whereas the Ainu people submitted to the Mongols later, following their subjugation, Gǔwéi elders made tributary visits to Yuan posts located at Wuleihe, Nanghar, and Boluohe until the end of the Mongol Yuan dynasty in China. In the early Ming dynasty, the relationship was re-established. Chinese of the Ming dynasty knew the island as Kuyi or Kuwu, there is some evidence that the Ming eunuch Admiral Yishiha reached Sakhalin in 1413 during one of his expeditions to the lower Amur, and granted Ming titles to a local chieftain. Under the Ming dynasty, commerce in Northeast Asia and Sakhalin was placed under the system for subjugated peoples, a Ming boundary stone still exists on the island. In an early attempt, a Japanese settlement was established at Ootomari on Sakhalins southern end in 1679
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Amur Oblast
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Amur Oblast is a federal subject of Russia, located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya Rivers in the Russian Far East. The administrative center of the oblast, the city of Blagoveshchensk, is one of the oldest settlements in the Russian Far East and it is a traditional center of trade and gold mining. The territory is accessed by two railways, the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Baikal–Amur Mainline, as of the 2010 Census, the oblasts population was 830,103. Amur Krai or Priamurye were unofficial names for the Russian territories by the Amur River used in the late Russian Empire that approximately correspond to modern Amur Oblast, the Stanovoy Range forms the dividing line between the Sakha Republic and Amur Oblast and spreads across the oblasts entire northern border. The Amur–Zeya and Zeya–Bureya Plains cover about 40% of the oblasts territory, several mountain ranges are to the south of Stanovoy Range and parallel to it, and another mountain chain stretches along the oblasts eastern border with Khabarovsk Krai. Many rivers flow through the oblast, especially in the north, most of the oblast is in the Amurs drainage basin, although the rivers in the northwest drain into the Lena and the rivers in the northeast drain into the Uda. The longest rivers include the Amur, Bureya, Gilyuy, Nyukzha, Olyokma, Selemdzha, the Zeya begins in the mountains in the northeast, and its middle reaches are dammed to create the huge Zeya Reservoir, which sprawls over 2,400 square kilometers. Climate is temperate continental, with cold, dry winters and hot, average January temperatures vary from −24 °C in the south to −33 °C in the north. Average July temperatures are +21 °C in the south and +18 °C in the north, annual precipitation is about 850 millimeters. Dwarf Siberian pine and alpine tundra grow at higher elevations and larch forests with small stands of flat-leaved birch and these larch and fir-spruce forests form the watershed of the Selemdzha River. The Bureya and Arkhara Rivers, southeast of the Selemdza, have the richest remaining forests in the oblast with Korean pine, Schisandra chinensis, Mongolian Oak, the Zeya–Bureya Plain, located between the Zeya, Amur, and Bureya Rivers, has the highest biodiversity in Amur Oblast. Much of this plain has been burned for agriculture, but large patches still remain, japanese Daurian and Far Eastern western cranes nest here, as well as a host of other rare birds. Amur Oblast has considerable reserves of many types of mineral resources, among the most important are gold, silver, titanium, molybdenum, tungsten, copper, and tin. Black coal and lignite reserves are estimated to be seventy billion tons, probable iron deposits are estimated to be 3.8 billion tons. The Garin deposit is fully explored and known to contain 389 million tons of iron ore, estimated reserves of the deposit are 1,293 million tons. The deposits ore contains a low concentration of impurities, the ore contains 69. 9% iron. Amur Oblast is also a source of titanium, with the Bolshoy Seyim deposit being the most important. According to the Bei Shi and the Sui Shu, both Chinese records, this area belonged originally to the one of the five semi-nomadic Shiwei
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Arctic
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The Arctic is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Alaska, Canada, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover, with predominantly treeless permafrost-containing tundra. Arctic seas contain seasonal sea ice in many places, the Arctic region is a unique area among Earths ecosystems. For example, the cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold, in recent years, Arctic sea ice decline has been caused by global warming. Life in the Arctic includes organisms living in the ice, zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants, Arctic land is bordered by the subarctic. The word Arctic comes from the Greek word ἀρκτικός, near the Bear, northern, there are a number of definitions of what area is contained within the Arctic. The area can be defined as north of the Arctic Circle, the southern limit of the midnight sun. The Arctics climate is characterized by cold winters and cool summers and its precipitation mostly comes in the form of snow and is low, with most of the area receiving less than 50 cm. High winds often stir up snow, creating the illusion of continuous snowfall, average winter temperatures can be as low as −40 °C, and the coldest recorded temperature is approximately −68 °C. Coastal Arctic climates are moderated by oceanic influences, having generally warmer temperatures, the Arctic is affected by current global warming, leading to Arctic sea ice shrinkage, diminished ice in the Greenland ice sheet, and Arctic methane release as the permafrost thaws. Due to the migration of the planets isotherms, the Arctic region is currently shrinking. Perhaps the most spectacular result of Arctic shrinkage is sea ice loss, there is a large variance in predictions of Arctic sea ice loss, with models showing near-complete to complete loss in September from 2040 to some time well beyond 2100. About half of the models show near-complete to complete sea ice loss in September by the year 2100. Arctic life is characterized by adaptation to short growing seasons with long periods of sunlight, Arctic vegetation is composed of plants such as dwarf shrubs, graminoids, herbs, lichens and mosses, which all grow relatively close to the ground, forming tundra. As one moves northward, the amount of available for plant growth decreases considerably. Colder summer temperatures cause the size, abundance, productivity and variety of plants to decrease, trees cannot grow in the Arctic, but in its warmest parts, shrubs are common and can reach 2 m in height, sedges, mosses and lichens can form thick layers. In the coldest parts of the Arctic, much of the ground is bare, non-vascular plants such as lichens and mosses predominate, along with a few scattered grasses, herbivores on the tundra include the Arctic hare, lemming, muskox, and caribou. They are preyed on by the owl, Arctic fox, Grizzly bear
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Arctic exploration
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Arctic exploration is the physical exploration of the Arctic region of the Earth. It refers to the period during which mankind has explored the region north of the Arctic Circle. Dangerous oceans and poor weather conditions often fetter explorers attempting to reach polar regions and journeying through these perils by sight, boat, sailing past the Pillars of Hercules, he reached Brittany and even Cornwall, eventually circumnavigating the British Isles. From the local population, he heard news of the land of Thule. After six days of sailing, he reached land at the edge of a sea, and described what is believed to be the aurora. While no one knows exactly how far Pytheas sailed, he may have crossed the Arctic Circle, nevertheless, his tales were regarded as fantasy by later Greek and Roman authorities, such as the geographer Strabo. It was impossible, according to their perception of the world, the first Viking to sight Iceland was Gardar Svavarsson, who went off course due to harsh conditions when sailing from Norway to the Faroe Islands. This quickly led to a wave of colonization, not all the settlers were successful however in the attempts to reach the island. In the 10th century, Gunnbjörn Ulfsson got lost in a storm and his report spurred Erik the Red, an outlawed chieftain, to establish a settlement there in 985. While they flourished initially, these settlements eventually foundered due to changing climatic conditions and they are believed to have survived until around 1450. Greenlands early settlers sailed westward, in search of better pasturage, modern scholars debate the precise location of the new lands of Vinland, Markland, and Helluland that they discovered. The Scandinavian peoples also pushed north into their own peninsula by land. As early as 880, the Viking Ohthere of Hålogaland rounded the Scandinavian Peninsula and sailed to the Kola Peninsula and they also explored north by boat, discovering the Northern Sea Route, as well as penetrating to the trans-Ural areas of northern Siberia. They then founded the settlement of Mangazeya east of the Yamal Peninsula in the early 16th century, in 1648 the Cossack Semyon Dezhnyov opened the now famous Bering Strait between America and Asia. Russian settlers and traders on the coasts of the White Sea, by the 17th century they established a continuous sea route from Arkhangelsk as far east as the mouth of Yenisey. This route, known as Mangazeya seaway, after its eastern terminus, Exploration above the Arctic Circle in the Renaissance was driven by the rediscovery of Classical learning and the national quests for commercial expansion. This exploration was hampered by limits in maritime technology of the age, lack of food supplies. A seminal event in Arctic exploration occurred in 1409, when Ptolemys Geographia was translated into Latin, navigators were better able to chart their positions, and the European race to China, sparked by interest in the writings of Marco Polo, commenced
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Farthest North
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Farthest North describes the most northerly latitude reached by explorers before the conquest of the North Pole rendered the expression obsolete. The northern polar regions are more accessible than those of the south, as continental land masses extend to high latitudes. A Dutch expedition led by Willem Barentz reached 79°49’ N on 16 June 1596 to register the first recorded Farthest North, in 1607 Henry Hudson probably reached Hakluyts Headland, but could not proceed further as ice lay packed along Spitsbergens north coast. In 1612 an explorer from Hull, Thomas Marmaduke, claimed to have reached 82°N, none of these claims have any basis in fact, with the second claim, made by Joris Carolus, impossible knowing ice conditions that season, although Marmaduke did at least reach Gråhuken. English whalers reached Svalbards Nordkapp in or before 1622, as shown on the Muscovy Companys Map, the Seven Islands, north of Nordaustlandet, were first marked on a Dutch map of 1663, but were allegedly reached by a ship of Enkhuizen as early as 1618. In 1707 the Dutch whaler Cornelis Cornelisz Giles rounded the northernmost point of Nordaustlandet in Svalbard, in 1806 the Resolution of Whitby, under William Scoresby, Sr. was said to have sailed north of the Seven Islands and reached 81°50 N. One of the first expeditions with the purpose of reaching the North Pole was that of William Edward Parry in 1827, who reached 82°45′ N. Albert Hastings Markham, a member of the British Arctic Expedition of 1875-76 was the one to get closer to the pole 48 years later. Adolphus Greelys Lady Franklin Bay Expedition bested Markham by a few miles, in 1895, Norwegians Fridtjof Nansen and Fredrik Hjalmar Johansen reached latitude 86°14′ N. Two American explorers claimed to reach the North Pole in 1908 and 1909, cooks claim was soon judged to be fraudulent, and Peary was credited as the discoverer of the North Pole for much of the 20th century. In recent decades, however, Pearys claim has become the subject of controversy, with Pearys claim accepted at the time, overland expeditions to the North Pole came to an end. Roald Amundsen of Norway redirected his planned Arctic expedition and instead aimed for the South Pole, which he achieved in 1911. In 1931 an expedition, led by Hubert Wilkins and Lincoln Ellsworth and partly financed by William Randolph Hearst, the Nautilus was modified for under ice operations by submarine designer Simon Lake so it could detect openings in the ice pack and surface to recharge her batteries. While the expedition was a failure, the Nautilus did reach a latitude of 82 degrees north - the farthest north a vessel had ever been, in accordance with the lease agreement, the Nautilus was scuttled after the expedition to prevent her reuse as a warship. On 9 May 1926, Richard Evelyn Byrd attempted to fly over the North Pole in an airplane and he was widely credited with achieving this, but his claim subsequently became subject to doubt. The first man definitely to set foot on the Pole was the Russian Alexander Kuznetsov, on 3 August 1958 the United States submarine USS Nautilus was the first to sail under the ice pack to reach the North Pole. On 17 March 1959 the United States submarine Skate became the first submarine to surface at the North Pole, in 1968–69 the British explorer Wally Herbert became the first person to indubitably reach the Pole on foot, having sledged from Alaska. His expedition was supported by air drops, Arctic exploration List of Arctic expeditions Farthest South Fleming, Fergus
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North Pole
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The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is defined as the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earths axis of rotation meets its surface. The North Pole is the northernmost point on the Earth, lying diametrically opposite the South Pole and it defines geodetic latitude 90° North, as well as the direction of true north. At the North Pole all directions point south, all lines of longitude converge there, along tight latitude circles, counterclockwise is east and clockwise is west. The North Pole is at the center of the Northern Hemisphere, while the South Pole lies on a continental land mass, the North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean amid waters that are almost permanently covered with constantly shifting sea ice. This makes it impractical to construct a permanent station at the North Pole, however, the Soviet Union, and later Russia, constructed a number of manned drifting stations on a generally annual basis since 1937, some of which have passed over or very close to the Pole. Since 2002, the Russians have also established a base, Barneo. This operates for a few weeks during early spring, studies in the 2000s predicted that the North Pole may become seasonally ice-free because of Arctic ice shrinkage, with timescales varying from 2016 to the late 21st century or later. The sea depth at the North Pole has been measured at 4,261 m by the Russian Mir submersible in 2007 and at 4,087 m by USS Nautilus in 1958. The nearest land is said to be Kaffeklubben Island, off the northern coast of Greenland about 700 km away. The nearest permanently inhabited place is Alert in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada, around the beginning of the 20th century astronomers noticed a small apparent variation of latitude, as determined for a fixed point on Earth from the observation of stars. Part of this variation could be attributed to a wandering of the Pole across the Earths surface, the wandering has several periodic components and an irregular component. The component with a period of about 435 days is identified with the eight-month wandering predicted by Euler and is now called the Chandler wobble after its discoverer and it is desirable to tie the system of Earth coordinates to fixed landforms. Of course, given plate tectonics and isostasy, there is no system in all geographic features are fixed. Yet the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service and the International Astronomical Union have defined a framework called the International Terrestrial Reference System. As early as the 16th century, many eminent people correctly believed that the North Pole was in a sea and it was therefore hoped that passage could be found through ice floes at favorable times of the year. Several expeditions set out to find the way, generally with whaling ships, one of the earliest expeditions to set out with the explicit intention of reaching the North Pole was that of British naval officer William Edward Parry, who in 1827 reached latitude 82°45′ North. In 1871 the Polaris expedition, a US attempt on the Pole led by Charles Francis Hall, another British Royal Navy attempt on the pole, part of the British Arctic Expedition, by Commander Albert H. Markham reached a then-record 83°2026 North in May 1876 before turning back. An 1879–1881 expedition commanded by US naval officer George W. DeLong ended tragically when their ship, over half the crew, including DeLong, were lost
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Willem Barentsz
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Willem Barentsz was a Dutch navigator, cartographer, and Arctic explorer. He went on three expeditions to the far north in search for a Northeast passage, during his third expedition, the crew was stranded on Novaya Zemlya for almost a year. Barentsz died on the voyage in 1597. In the 19th century, the Barents Sea was named after him, Willem Barentsz was born around 1550 on the island Terschelling in the Seventeen Provinces, present-day Netherlands. Barentsz was not his surname but rather his name, short for Barentszoon Barents son. A cartographer by trade, Barentsz sailed to Spain and the Mediterranean to complete an atlas of the Mediterranean region, between 23 and 29 June, Barentsz stayed at Kildin Island. On 9 July, the crew encountered a bear for the first time. After shooting it with a musket when it tried to climb aboard the ship, once leashed and brought aboard the ship however, the bear rampaged and had to be killed. This occurred in Bear Creek, Williams Island, upon discovering the Orange Islands, the crew came across a herd of approximately 200 walruses and tried to kill them with hatchets and pikes. Finding the task more difficult than imagined, they left with only a few ivory tusks. Barentsz reached the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, and followed it northward before being forced to back in the face of large icebergs. Although they did not reach their goal, the trip was considered a success. Setting out on 2 June 1595, the voyage went between the Siberian coast and Vaygach Island, on 30 August, the party came across approximately 20 Samoyed wild men with whom they were able to speak, due to a crewmember speaking their language. 4 September saw a crew sent to States Island to search for a type of crystal that had been noticed earlier. The party was attacked by a bear, and two sailors were killed. Eventually, the turned back upon discovering that unexpected weather had left the Kara Sea frozen. This expedition was considered to be a failure. The Town Council of Amsterdam purchased and outfitted two small ships, captained by Jan Rijp and Jacob van Heemskerk, to search for the channel under the command of Barentsz
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Henry Hudson
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Henry Hudson, born circa 1565-1570, dead 1611, was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northwest Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle. Hudson explored the region around modern New York metropolitan area while looking for a route to Asia while in the employment of the Dutch East India Company. He explored the Hudson River, and laid thereby the foundation for Dutch colonization of the region, Hudson discovered the Hudson Strait and the immense Hudson Bay on his final expedition. While searching for the Northwest Passage, Hudson and his son would lose their lives. In 1611, after wintering on the shore of James Bay, Hudson wanted to press on to the west, the mutineers cast Hudson, his son and seven others adrift, the Hudsons, and those cast off at their side, were never seen again. His name also lives on with the Hudsons Bay Company that explored and worked in the vast Hudson Bay watershed and this large company, and one of the longest lasting, was very successful with fur trading all across North America. Canada acquired a portion of land from the purchase of Hudsons Bay Company lands. Details of Hudsons birth and early life are mostly unknown, some sources have identified Hudson as having been born in about 1565, but others date his birth to around 1570. Other historians assert even less certainty, Mancall, for instance, states that was born in the 1560s. Hudson is thought to have spent many years at sea, beginning as a cabin boy, in 1607, the Muscovy Company of England hired Hudson to find a northerly route to the Pacific coast of Asia. The English were battling the Dutch for northwest routes and it was thought at the time that, because the sun shone for three months in the northern latitudes in the summer, the ice would melt and a ship could make it across the top of the world. Hudson sailed on 1 May with a crew of ten men and they reached the east coast of Greenland on 14 June, coasting it northward until the 22nd. Here they named a headland Youngs Cape, a high mount, like a round castle near it Mount of Gods Mercy. After turning east, they sighted Newland on the 27th, near the mouth of the great bay Hudson later simply named the Great Indraught. On 13 July Hudson and his crew thought they had sailed as far north as 80°23 N, the following day they entered what Hudson later in the voyage named Whales Bay, naming its northwestern point Collins Cape after his boatswain, William Collins. They sailed north the following two days, on the 16th they reached as far north as Hakluyts Headland at 79°49 N, thinking they saw the land continue to 82° N when really it trended to the east. Encountering ice packed along the north coast, they were forced to turn back south, Hudson wanted to make his return by the north of Greenland to Davis his Streights, and so for Kingdom of England, but ice conditions would have made this impossible
