Belaya Zemlya

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Location of the Belaya Zemlya subgroup of the Franz Josef Archipelago.

Belaya Zemlya, (Russian: Белая Земля = "White Land") is a group of three cold, glacierized islands. It is a geographical subgroup of Franz Josef Land, Russian Federation.

Belaya Zemlya is separated from the main Franz Josef group by a 45 km broad strait known as Proliv Severo Vostochnyy.

This area was named Hvidtenland (Norwegian: "White Land") by Fridtjof Nansen, who reached this desolate place on August 5th 1895 during his polar expedition. In his map he drew four islands. Since the limit of permanent ice crosses Belaya Zemlya, it is often difficult to distinguish between land and sea. However, as the cartography of the Franz Josef Archipelago became more accurate, it became apparent that it was a group of three islands:

• Eva Island (Остров Ева-Лив), or "Eva-Liv Island". With 25 km in length, this is the largest island of the group. Eva Island was named after Fridtjof's wife Eva Nansen (died in 1907).

• Adelaida Island or "Adelaide Island" (Остров Аделаиды). Only 2km in length, this is a very small island. It is located 5 km to the southwest of Eva Island's western end. Adelaide Island was named in honor of Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

• Frieden Island (Остров Фреден), sometimes also spelt "Fryeden" because of the transliteration from the Russian. This is a larger oval-shaped island, with a length of 8.2 km. It lies 2.5 km south of Adelaide Island. Frieden Island is named after the German word for "Peace".

Belaya Zemlya is the point of the Franz Josef Archipelago that Valerian Albanov was trying to reach when he left the Svyataya Anna with part of the crew, but owing to the polar ice drift and the abundance of polynias along his route, he ended up far to the southwest in Alexandra Land.

[edit] References

• Fridtjof Nansen's early map
• [1]
• Eva Nansen: [2]
• Names in Russian: [3]

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v • d • e Franz Josef Land (Russian Arctic) Aagaaard Island  • Adelaide Island  • Alexander Islands  • Alexandra Land  • Alger Island  • Arthur Island  • Becker Island  • Belaya Zemlya  • Bell Island  • Bergkhauz Island  • Bliss Island  • Brice Island  • Brosch Island  • Bruce Island  • Bromwich Island  • Brady Island  • Champ Island  • Chichagov Islands  • Coburg Island  • David Island  • Davis Island  • Derevyannyy Island  • Eaton Island  • Elizabeth Island  • Etheridge Islands  • Eva Island  • Frieden Island  • Geddes Island  • Gorbunov Islands  • Graham Bell Island  • Greely Island  • Hall Island  • Harley Island  • Heiss Island  • Hochstetter Islands  • Hofmann Island  • Hohenlohe Island  • Hooker Island  • Howen Island  • Jackson Island  • Jefferson Island  • Karl-Alexander Island  • Koetlitz Island  • Kane Island  • Klagenfurt Island  • Koldewey Island  • Komsomol Islands  • Kuchin Islands  • Lamont Island  • La Ronciere Island  • Levanevsky Island  • Leigh-Smith Island  • Litke Island  • Luigi Island  • McClintock Island  • McNult Island  • Mabel Island  • May Island  • Nansen Island  • Newcomb Island  • Newton Island  • Northbrook Island  • Ostrovov Oktyabryata  • Ommanney Island  • Payer Island  • Pontremoli Islands  • Pritchet Island  • Pyerlamutrov Island  • Rainer Island  • Robertson Island  • Rudolf Island  • Salisbury Island (Russia)  • Salm Island  • Schönau Island  • Scott-Keltie Island  • Stoliczka Island  • Tillo Island  • Torup Island  • Victoria Island • Wiener Neustadt Island  • Wilczek Island  • Wilczek Land • Wilton Island  • Windward Island  • Zemlya Georga  • Zemlya Zichy  • Ziegler Island

Coordinates: 81°38′N 63°06′E / 81.633, 63.1