History: Encyclopedia Arctica 11: Territorial Sovereignty and History
History
Early Mediterranean Views on the Northlands
EA-History (George H. T. Kimble)
EARLY MEDITERRANEAN VIEWS ON THE NORTHLANDS
Curiosity concerning the unknown is as old as men and as universal. In–
deed, it seems that three of the commonest words in any language are "where?"
"how," and "why?" The earliest dwellers in the valleys of Mesopotamia, follow–
ing a settled habit of life, could hardly refrain from asking where the floods
came from and what lay beyond the flanking hills. Thos of Minos would be no
less concerned to discover where the sea began and why it was always in motion.
Those of Troy would want to know where the Boreas acquired its force, and the
south wind its moisture. The fact that correct answers to such questions could
not be given matters little. Many of their answers were indeed highly improb–
able, for who had ever heard in Greece or Rome of four feet tall pigmies? Of
frozen seas and six month-long nights? Of single-breasted women who fought
better than men? And how could there possibly be men with dogs' heads and others
with heads in their chests? What is more important is that the world, both in
Antiquity and later times, has never lacked men who were prepared to seek out
answers, even though the search involved grievous hazards. It is to these men,
most of whom have left no memorial, that the beginnings of geographical thought
belong. ^—^
And not only geographical thought, either. For some of those who carried
their quest into distant lands returned with new metals and precious stones, with
animal furs and cunningly wro^u^ght tools and weapons, the like of which no Medi–
terranean-dweller had ever seen. On this wise was the first earth knowledge
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
acquired.
It was, of course, a long time before such knowledge and theories were
rationalized and made common to the whole community, and longer still before
they were communicated to other communities. "Com
^
page 2 of MS missing
^
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
ancient as any, can only be inferred with difficulty. We do know, however, that in the third millennium B. C. there were Babylonian trading colonies in the Taurus Mountains working copper and silver, and that Sargon (c. 2,500 B.C.) is supposed to have raided the islands of the "upper sea" or "sunset sea," pre– sumably Cyprus and Crete, since the Persian Gulf is described as the "lower sea." Metal vessels executed in the early Sumerian manner have been found as far north as the Caspian Sea, but it is dou tb ^ bt ^ ful whether we should, on that account, assume that the Caspian was known to the Sumerians of the third millennium. Much later (6th century B.C.) a clay tablet map, said to be a copy of a more ancient one, portrays a circumambient river, called the Bitter River, surround– ing the Tigris-Euphrates valley. Some writers have read into this circle a knowledge of the Persian Gulf, Caspian, Black and Mediterranean seas, but it would seem more logical to regard it simply as the expression of the known Baby– lonian belief in a water-girt earth. After all, what could have been more nat– ural in a valley where the earth was annually inundated and where the dry land appeared as islands, slowly emerging from the spring floods? As the scholarsEA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
of mediaeval Christendom later found, it is not impossible to reconcile the Biblical story of the Creation (which has striking affinities to the Babylon– ian version) with belief in an ocean-girt earth.
It is now widely held that one of the most ancient summaries of world know–
ledge is, in fact, contained in the early chapters of
Genesis
. Chapter X is
particularly illuminating in this respect. From the list of genealogies given
here, it would appear that the world in, say, Abraham's time, was bounded on
the northwest by the Aegean (Dodanim being a corruption of Rodanim, i.e. Rhodes),
on the north by the Armenian Mountains (so A. H. Sayce interprets Ashkenaz) and
the Anatolian plateau including possibly the southern shores of the Black Sea
(Gomer being identified with the land that appears in later Assyrian literature
as Gimmira and in Herodotus as the land of the Cimmerians), and on the north–
east by the mountains of Elam and Media.
The records of the early dynastic period of Egyptian civilization are
completely silent even about land bordering the north shore of the Mediterranean,
and although the argument from silence is sometimes risky, it cannot be dismissed
when the silence lasts for a millennium or more. By the XVIII dynasty (c. 1,400
B.C.), however, Asia Minor and Crete had been added to the Egyptian area of know–
ledge, thanks, in part no doubt, to the Hyksos who are believed to have origin–
ated in that part of the world. Before the second millennium B.C., Egyptian
ships were regularly doing the round trip to the "Isles of the Very Green," to
"Keftui and the Isles," these presumably being the islands (including Crete) of
the Aegean which had been influenced by Minoan culture. Notwithstanding the
notable expansion of inter-regional commerce which took place about this time,
the geographical ideas of the Egyptians continued to be of the vaguest, as, for
instance, when they made the Euphrates rise in "the marshes." Nor does it appear
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
likely that the ancient tradition associating Sesostris with the discovery of the eastern end of the Black Sea has any basis in fact. Equally without founda– tion are other statements about eastern conquests by him or a Rameses as far as India. As for lands to the west of the Aegean, there is no written evidence that the Egyptians sailed there or even that they had an inkling that their great sea was connected with an outer ocean. In their records the whole mass of main– land Europe is a blank, unless we suppose that some of the sea-raiders who harried the coast of the Delta from time to time, came from there. Admittedly, we hear of such "northern" wares as amber, tin and furs reaching Egypt at an early date, but this does not prove that there was direct trade between the source regions and the markets, or that the geographical horizons of the Egyptians were widen– ing. It has ever been a habit of middlemen to conceal the source of their profits!
The Homeric Age
With the gradual northward migration of land-based and sea-based cultures
in the latter half of the second millennium, it is to be supposed that the Hitt–
ites, the Minoans and their more ambitious contemporaries in the Aegean proper
began to obtain an inkling of what lay to northward of them. But such of their
records as have
[:
]
so far been deciphered tell us remarkably little about any
ideas they may have had on this subject. If the Hittites did know of the exist–
ence of the Black Sea lands (and this is generally taken to be a reasonable assump–
tion in view of the extent of their trading operations), they were thoughtless
enough not to record the fact. The Myceneans and Achaeans waged military cam–
paigns around the shores of the Bosphorus with tribes who were almost certainly
of eastern European origin; however,by the time of Homer they were but a ghostly
memory.
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
The
Iliad
and the
Odyssey
are scarcely more revealing. The poet has heard
of the mountains of Thrace whence blows the northern blast (^=^
rhipe^é^
); beyond
them he locates, without indicating distance or direction, the Mysians and mare–
milking nomads, who are "noble" and "just." Here, it seems, we have the very
first hints of the Rhipean Mountains and the happy Hyperboreans whose Utopian
existence ("beyond the north wind") was later to become one of the most popular of
all ancient and mediaeval themes. Where they lived is not clear, but it would
be gratuitous, on the textual evidence, to suppose that Homer thought of them
as living any further north than the steppelands of the lower Denube or wouth–
western Ukraine. As knowledge expanded, both the mountains and the people were
gradually pushed further and further northwards: notwithstanding, belief in their
existence continued for fully 2,500 years after the Homeric age. The Amazons of
the
Iliad
pose rather more of a problem. For one thing, Homer was not completely
convinced of their existence, though, on one occasion, he does represent them as
attacking the Phrygians and their Trojan allies; and, for another, it is diffi–
cult to tell where they were supposed to dwell. Sometimes they are brought from
Thrace to help Troy: at others they are domiciled about half-way along the southern
shores of the Black Sea. (When, five hundred years or more afterwards, Greek col–
onists failed to find them hereabouts, it was thought that they had withdrawn
northwards beyond the Don to become a people ruled by women.) The origin of the
whole notion of warrior women is still obscure. Possibly it represents a fusion
of two cultural traits found in the Black Sea region about this time, namely the
matriarchal code of the Azov tribes and the predilection of the Hittites for women–
lile garb. Others believe that the story of the Golden Fleece is capable of a
similar rationalization. Thus Strabo explains that, at a river near Colchis near
the southeastern end of the Black Sea, it was the practice of the natives to trap
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
the alluvial gold in sheep fleeces.
The
Odyssey
tells us even less, for only here and there would it appear
that Homer was describing actual places, winds and currents. Westward beyond
Sicily and northward beyond the Bosphorus the task of identifying landfalls,
never easy, becomes virtually impossible. Having tried it, we feel strongly
inclined to endorse Eratosthenes' dictum (quoted by Strabo,
Geography
, I, ii,
15) that, to learn where Ulysses went, "one must find the cobbler who sewed up
the bag of the winds!" For what could be more frustrating than to find the
following description of the Cimmerians applied to a region that, on the evidence
supplied, could not be more than a day or so's sail from Sicily?
"Thus she (Circe) brought us to the deep-flowing
River of Ocean and the frontiers of the world,
where the fog-bound Cimmerians live in the City
of Perpetual Mist. When the bright Sun climbs the
sky and puts the stars to flight, no ray from him
can penetrate to them, nor can he see them as he
drops from heaven and sinks once more to earth.
For dreadful Night has spread her mantle over the
heads of that unhappy folk." (
Odyssey
, Book XI,
Rieu's translation).
Whether those Cimmerians are the Kymry of Britain, as Hennig and others
have argued rather unconvincingly, or the Cimbri of Jutland, or even the Gimmira
of the Crimea (it was not until c. 700 B.C. that they sought refuge from the
Scythians by settling along the southern shores of the Black Sea), matters
very little for our immediate purpose. What is important is the implication
of the story. Long winter and short summer nights speak of much higher lati–
tudes than those of the Mediterranean, while the mention of fog-bound coasts on
the "River of Ocean" suggests that ships were already sailing out into the waters
of the western Atlantic. With the Phoenicians established in Cadiz by 1,100 B.C.,
and doing business with well-nigh every inhabited part of the Mediterranean, there
was no good reason why Homer should not have heard of these things. Some have
EA -History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
even supposed that his references to a floating island and clashing rocks imply that ships had penetrated northward into the Atlantic far enough to see icebergs, but in view of the general air of fiction which permeates the epic, such an assump– tion rests on a frail foundation. Also implying awareness of lands well to the north of the Mediterranean is the statement Homer makes in the Odyssey concern– ing Telepylus, the city of the Laestrygones. It is described as a place "where shepherds bringing in their flocks at night hail and are answered by their fel– lows driving out at dawn. For in this land nightfall and morning tread so close– ly on each other's heels that a man who could do without sleep might earn a double set of wages, one as a neatherd and the other for shepherding white flocks of sheep." ( Odyssey , Book X, Rieu's translation.) The meaning of the last clause becomes clear if, for "night and day" we substitute "darkness and dawn" or "sunset and sunrise:" indeed, as Tozer pointed out long ago, it then begins to sound uncommonly like Tacitus' description of the short summer nights in the north of Britain - "finem atque initium lucis exiguo discrimine inter noscas." No sooner does night threatan, than day reappears; consequently there is not the same need for work to cease, as when darkness falls.
From Homer to Herodotus
Though Homer almost certainly did not invent the notion of an all-embracing
river or ocean, he succeeded in giving it immortality. From the
Odyssey
onward
it became part of the geographical stock-in-trade of poets and prose writers alike.
In Homer it was merely represented as a deep-flowing river, with little or nothing
said about its further boundary. Hesiod, however, had it studded with islands –
the Hesperides, Erythea and the Isles of the Blessed. Hecataeus believed it to
encompass a circular-shaped earth. Herodotus was more skeptical about its extent
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
and continuity: while maintaining that there was an ocean to the west of the Mediterranean (to which he first applied the name Atlantic) and also probably to the south, he claimed that its existence to north and northeast had not been proved. In support of this view he asserted (what was stoutly denied by the Miletus school of geographers) that the Caspian Sea was not an arm of the ocean, but an inland sea. How far north the oikoumene extended he had no means of telling: "whether sea girds Europe round on the north none can say." While ad– mitting that tin and amber came from the north, he discounted the stories of the Tin Islands and had no use for the amber-bearing, north-flowing river Erid– anus, spoken of by some of his contemporaries. He was equally skeptical about a good many other northern matters, as for instance, the Hyperboreans and the Sleepers.
The Hyperboreans are first mentioned in cwrtain poems doubtfully attributed
to Hesiod, but which can scarcely be later than the 7th century B.C. By Herod–
otus' time it seems almost everybody supposed that, in the far north of Europe,
"under the shining way" (the clear northern sky?) lived a people who passed their
days in perpetual peace and merriment. War, injustice, sickness and infirmity
were unknown to them, and only those who tired of life ever died. Because they
dwelt beyond Boreas, the north wind, the climate was perpetually temperate, a
condition which did away with the need of houses. But Herodotus could not bring
himself to believe in them, for three reasons. Firstly, if they existed, their
neighbors to the south, the Issedonians and the Scythians, would have heard about
them, which, he avers, was not the case. Secondly, if there were Hyperboreans,
there must be Hypernotians - dwellers beyond the south wind, an argument which
really proved nothing except that he shared his contemporaries' feeling for sym–
metry. Thirdly, such evidence as there was pointed to a deterioration of the
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
environment with distance northward. The "northern regions," he affirms, "are uninhabitable, by reason of the severity of the winter." The idea of the Sleep– ers, who were said to sleep for six months at a time, was likewise rejected, though as we can readily see, it was much the less fanciful of the two; in all likelihood it represents a fusion of the tales about the long northern night – the length of which was generally reckoned, in Herodotus' day, to be six months, and about the inhabitants of these regions who were wont to pass much of the winter in a state of semi-hibernation. (Until quite recently this was still a common practice among many of the more primitive Russian tribes.) Equally "un– worthy of credit" so Herodotus claimed, are the stories of the goat-footed men dwelling in "lofty and precipitous mountains" north of the Scythians: of the gold– guarding griffins, and of their enemies, the one-eyed Arimaspians. On the other hand, he believed in the Amazons, though he declined to say whether or no they dwelt in the north. Herodctus' unbelieving turn of mind was also employed to good advantage when he argued that the "feathers" ^ with ^ which the Scythians were said to fill the air for the purpose of preventing persons from having any view of their regions, were in reality only snow flakes. For, as he pointed out in the same book, the Scythian winter was eight months long and received "scarcely no rain worth mentioning."
Concerning his views on the northwestern limits of the
oikoumene
, Herodotus
has left us in very little doubt. "I do not allow," he declared, "that there is
any river, to which the barbarians give the name Eridanus, emptying itself into
the northern sea, whence, as the tale goes, amber is procured: nor do I know of
any islands called the Cassiterides whence the tin comes which we use. For in
the first place "the name Eridanus is manifestly not a barbarian word at all, but
a Greek name, invented by some poet or other: and, secondly, though I have taken
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
vast pains, I have never been able to get an assurance from an eye-witness that there is any sea on the further side of Europe. Nevertheless, tin and amber do certainly come to us from the ends of the earth." If Herodotus was reluctant to hazard what lay beyond the limits of certain knowledge, the above quotation makes it clear that there must have been many around him who were troubled by no such inhabitions, but were ready to accept the existence both of the Cassiterides and the northern ocean. Elsewhere he tells us that these men even drew maps of their fancies, "making, as they do, the ocean-stream to run all round the earth, and the earth itself to be an exact circle, as if described by a pair of compasses, with Europe and Asia just of the same size." (Book IV, Chapter 36.)
The absence of such a map is much to be deplored. However, by piecing to–
gether the fragmentary references to the western Europe of the era, we can gather
a rough idea of what such a map would have contained. Unfortunately, our best
informant, Avienus, lived several hundred years (c. 4th century A.D.) after the
period in question; even so, the European section of his
Ora Martima
is widely
held to be based on echoes of the Carthaginian voyage of Himilco carried out short–
ly before Herodotus' time. Avienus himself claimed to have used Himilco's origin–
al account - a claim which few scholars are willing to endorse. More likely he
obtained his information from an earlier compound of Greek tales now lost. Obscure
as parts of the text are (an obscurity not alleviated by the poetic form in which
it is cast), the passage relating to western Europe is reasonably easy to follow.
After describing the coasts for some distance north of the Pillars of Hercules,
he comes to ahhigh headland, of old called Ostrymnis, "and all the high mass of
rocky ridge turns mostly towards the warm south wind" (south coast of Brittany?).
In the midst of the bay which flanks this south-facing shore "rise the islands
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
which are called Oestrymnides, scattered widely about, and rich in metals, in tin and in lead." (Nansen, In Northern Mists , p. 29, claims that "everything points to the islands being situated on the south coast of Brittany, and there is much in favour of...(the) assumption that they are islands of Morbihan..... This agrees very well with the description of Himilco's voyage to the Oestrym– nides. The free alluvial deposits along the shore ...still contain a good deal of tin....") Here live "a multitude of men with enterprise and active industry, all having continually commercial interests - they plough in skilful fashion far and wide the foaming sea ( fretum , literally 'strait') and the currents of monster– bearing Ocean in their small boats.....Two days' voyage from thence lay the great island which the ancients called 'the Holy Island' and it is inhabited by the people of Hierne (Ireland?) far and wide, and near to it again extends the island of Albion. And it was the custom of the men of Tartessus to trade to the borders of the Oestrymnides: also colonists from Carthage and the many who voyage between the Pillars of Hercules visited these seas. The Carthaginian Himilco assures us that these seas can scarcely sailed through in four months" (presumably there and back, and including time for trading?). Avienus goes on to describe these seas as sluggish, windless, foggy, sometimes very shoaly and clogged with weed, and infested by monsters.
"Sic nulla late flabra propellunt ratem,
sic segnis humor aequoris pigri stupet.
.......................................
Obire semper huc et hunc ponti feras,
navigia lenta et languide repentia
internatare beluas.") lines 120–129)
As J. O. Thomson remarks, this vaguely alarming stuff can hardly do justice to
Himilco, if he handed in anything like Hannos' detailed report of the west African
coast (
History of Ancient Geography
, p. 54). Perhaps only garbled varsions were
allowed to become current, with the dangers exaggerated to scare off competitors.
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
Already Plato had heard of the alleged shoals and accounted for them by the sinking of his Atlantis.
What seems to be beyond reasonable doubt is that, by Herodotus' time, the
horizons of northwestern Europe were slowly being rolled back, and that the
Carthaginians were aware of the existence of the Breton coast and the adjacent
coasts of Ireland and England. The identity of the Tin Islands is less certain.
Against those who contend that the early tin was obtained from Spain, or perhaps
from some off-lying islets, must be placed not only the ancient doubts of Herod–
otus, but the modern assertion, based upon the work of prospectors, that no im–
portant deposits of tin have ever been exploited on any Atlantic islands. Pos–
sibly the name should be regarded as a
nomen appelatiyum
rather than a
nomen
proprium
, accommodating all the western sources of tin, later variously identified
with real things heard about Spain, Brittany and Cornwall. But if this is so,
it is unlikely that the rich deposits of Cornwall were the first to be exploited,
since the early descriptions always speak of the Tin Islands as being separate
from Britain and further south.
As for amber, the other main object of northern barter,
^
by
^
about Herodotus'
time, as we have seen, there had come (perhaps overland) hearsay of Eridanus,
a north-flowing river (the Oder? Vistula?) near the mouth of which this valuable
commodity was washed up by the tide. It was only at a much lat
[:
]
er date, after the
head of the Adriatic had become one of the great entrepôts for the amber trade,
that the name Eridanus was transferred to the principal stream of those parts,
namely the Padus, or Po.
Otherwise, nothing much was known of the north of Europe. Not that it wor–
ried the Greeks unduly: on the whole they were quite incurious about lands which
yielded up their wealth so reluctantly, and which taxed their powers of acclimat-
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
ization so sorely. Indeed, about such lands they were not only incurious, but frequently incredulous. Nowhere is this incredulity more shockingly revealed than in the fate which befell the discoveries of Pytheas of Massilia.
The Implications of the Pytheas Story
The travels of the Massiliot scientist and explorer, Pytheas, are described
elsewhere in the
Encyclopedia
. Here we are only concerned with the conception
of the northlands which these travels engendered in Pytheas, and the influence
which they exerted upon the geographical thinking of his contemporaries and suc–
cessors. Although it is impossible to be dogmatic on the matter (seeing that we
have only very fragmentary and much-edited information to go upon), it would seem
that Pytheas' excursion into northern waters led him to the following conclusions:
Firstly, that the
oikoumene
extended well to the north of the British Isles.
Even if Pytheas did not visit Thule himself (and nowhere does he claim to have
done so), he had been in touch with people who had, and who averred that, six
days' sail north of Britain, there were still inhabited lands possessing a climate
suitable for the growing of vegetables, grain and wild fruits, and the raising
of honey.
Secondly, that in these northerly latitudes, "the nights in summer are
light, because ..... then the sun shows not only its radiance, but also the
greater part of itself" (Mela's account). "For it happened in these places that
the night was very short, in some places of two hours' duration, in others three
hours, so that the sun, going to rest, rose again after a short interval." (Ger–
minus of Rhodes' account.)
Thirdly, that "beyond Thule" at a distance of "one day's sail" (Pliny) the
sea became "sluggish and congealed" ("pigrum et concretum" in Solinus' account).
EA-Histroy. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
Furthermore, the description given of the state of the sea in this vicinity is sufficiently circumstantial to warrant the belief that it refers to the edge of the Arctic ice pack, which in the 4th century B.C. was unlikely to have occupied a very different mean position from that of today, when, at its late winter maximum, it extends roughly northeastwards from Cape Farewell through the Denmark Strait (in some years extending almost to the northwestern coast of Iceland) to east of Jan Mayen and on, in a north-sweeping arc, to Bear Island. Strabo, who could not bring himself to accept any of the story, reports it as follows: "There was no longer any distinction of land or sea or air, but a mix– ture of the three like sea-lung (jelly-fish?) in which he (Pytheas) says that land and sea and everything floats, and this (i.e. the mixture) binds all to– gether, and can neither be traversed on foot nor in boat."
Fourthly, that there was a sea to the east of the Jutland peninsula, the
shores of which were notable for their amber. Whether Pytheas himself sailed
into the Baltic, let alone as far east as the Vistula, as some authorities have
contended, cannot readily be established. The mention of the word 'Balcia" or
"Baltia.' with which some of his copyists and reporters credit him, is sugges–
tive, but proves little. The absence of any reference to a northern shore is
probably significant, as is the statement, quoted by Pliny, that the amber, cast
up by the waves, was washed out of the "congealed sea," for this implies that the
Arctic ice pack was thought of as occupying the region to the north of Jutland
and the Baltic Sea. On the evidence it is even open to doubt whether Pytheas
knew more of Jutland than that it was a peninsula jutting out into northern waters.
Even so, few travelers in Antiquity accomplished as much as Pytheas. It
might almost be said that he accomplished too much, for the picture he drew of
the new lands was so pronouncedly out of line with existing ideas that, with a
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
few shining exceptions, notably those of Eratosthenes and Hipparchus, it failed to win acceptance. His younger contemporary, Dicaearchus, doubted him, and, later, Polybius and Strabo dubbed him an imposter. Possibly this 'smear cam– paign' was due, in part at least, to a species of professional jealousy. Poly– bius, it will be recalled, was active in many Roman campaigns and claimed to be more widely traveled than any other geographer: but as his farthest north was only the south of Gaul, he may well have resented the thought that a man, living some two hundred years before him, had accomplished much more, and in face of much greater difficulties withal. As Nansen reminds us, "men are not always above such littleness."
With Strabo it is more likely that the opposition was based on purely im–
personal grounds. Indeed, we might almost say, on "scientific" grounds. Strabo,
it appears, was a firm believer in the zonal theory of terrestrial distributions,
first propounded by Parmenides and subsequently embraced by almost all men of
learning. According to the usual form of this theory, the earth was divided in–
to five zones, one uninhabitable because of the nearness of the sun, two habitable
because they were at a moderate distance, and two uninhabitable because they were
too far away from the sun. It was one thing to fix the number of terrestrial
zones: it was quite another thing to fix their position. Even as late as Aris–
totle there was still very little data for placing the northern tropic on a map,
much less the Arctic Circle. While he rightly understood that the tropic was the
northernmost line to which the vertical sun advances at the summer solstice, he
erroneously supposed that the southernmost edge of the uninhabitable cold zone
was coincident with the circle of the northern heavens which marked the limit,
in that direction, of the stars which never set. On this reckoning, every lati–
tude has a different "arctic circle". To an observer in Athens (such as Aristotle)
EA-Histroy. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
this would put the Arctic Circle no farther north than the estuary of the Elbe: It has often been doubted whether Aristotle could have been quite so native: but the fact is that he was by no means the only one who nursed this delusion.
In the circumstances, therefore, it is not very difficult to see why many
should have come to suppose that Soythia deterirated into a desert only a little
way north of the Black Sea, or why Strabo should have contended that the ocean
ceased to be liquid a little to the north of Scotland. Within such a frame of
reference, the voyages of Pytheas could obviously find no place. (Dicaearchus,
a pupil of Aristotle, cannot altogether have distrusted Pytheas, since he allows
that the known world extended almost to the Arctic Circle which he placed at 24°
from the Pole.)
The Roman Era
Pytheas, unfortunately, seems to have had no emulators. Why this should
be so is not clear, for his reports were encouraging enough to arouse the bus–
iness instinots of even the most timid trader. Nor is it a sufficient explana–
tion to say that the pundits later denounced Pytheas as a liar and a fraud on
the grounds that his findings did not tally with their theories. Seamen have
seldom shown over-much regard for the doctrinaire views of land-lubbers. More
likely the Greek colonists found that they could secure their commercial ends
with less trouble by way of the overland route to the Cassiterides and the Baltic.
Be this as it may, the tally of northern knowledge was not increased during the
course of the next five hundred years: indeed, a good deal was lost, or, more
strictly, rejected. Eratosthenes (fl. c. 230 B.C.), to give him his due, did
retain Thule (far out in the ocean to the north of "Brettanice") as his utter–
most land and northern limit of the
oikoumene
, but on the other hand, he falsely
assumed that the Pytheas story warranted belief in the eastward continuance of
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
the ocean to the 'Gulf' of the Caspian. He was equally in error in supposing that the presence of a circumambient ocean could be inferred from the occurrence of tidal phenomena around all the the -known outer sea coasts. Hipparchus (fl. c. 150 B.C.) likewise continued to accept Thule as the northernmost part of the oikoumene , while differing from Eratosthenes in his view of the tides. How Hip– parchus located his high latitudes is not very clear. The line of the 19-hour day (summer solstice) is said to pass through the south of Britain, and not the north as one would expect. These, he declared to be far from uniform in their manifestations, but it is not known whether, on this account, he was opposed to the concept of the ocean-girt oikoumene . Polybius (fl. c. 150 B.C.), though a contemporary of Hipparchus', was far removed from him in outlook and intellectual calibre. He was, in fact, an obscurantist, perhaps the first of the many whose names clutter up the pages of geographical history. Because, so we judge, of an over-zealous attachment to the zonal theory, he was willing to discard the entire Pytheas story, declaring that all the country north of Narbo, the Alps and the Aaurus, was unknown. He was, truth to tell, open-minded enough to leave unanswer– ed the question of whether there was a continuous ocean to the north of Europe, and quite rightly denied the idea of a Caspian "Gulf."
But it would be a mistake to suppose that there was any such thing as uni–
formity of ideas among the men of this era. If the Pytheas story was rejected,
rather than simply discarded or lost sight of, it was not simply because of its
incompatibility with the zonal theory, for not everybody accepted this: and of
those who did, there were some who ignored its implications. Thus Grates (fl. c.
165 B.C.) the librarian at Pergamum, divided the earth into four parts by an
equatorial east-west flowing ocean and a meridional ocean stretching from pole
to pole. He had the Ethiopians living right in the Torrid Zone on either side
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of the Northlands
of the equatorial ocean, a race of nightless giants about the latitude of the Arctic Circle and the dayless Cer ^ b ^ erians at the pole: The fact that the Cratesian conception was, if anything, even less rational than the zonal view did not pre– vent it from enjoying a wide and long-lasting popularity. Through Macrobius it passed down to the Middle Ages.
The leading historians of the time show equally little appreciation of the
implications of the Pytheas story. Thus, all that Caesar (c. 50 B.C.) knew or
was willing to admit was that, to the north of Britain, there were some off-lying
islands where the winter night was a month long. If this is an echo from Pytheas,
we could scarcely wish for a better measure of the decline of knowledge during
the intervening 300 years. Even on Britain, Caesar's showing is far from im–
pressive, for he has the west coast facing Spain as well as Ireland, and the
eastern side facing the empty northern ocean:
Strabo (fl. c. 20 B.C. - c. 20 A.D.) was no better. In his desire to avoid
exaggeration, or perhaps to discredit the giants of the past, he refused to give
serious consideration, either to Pytheas' claims, or to the information which,
as we can see from Pliny, had filtered into Greece from other sources. He does
not even make use of the geographical knowledge gained in his own time as a re–
sult of Augustus' campaign in northern Germania. To him the Ister (Danube), the
mountains of the Hercynian Forest (Central Germany) and Ierne (Ireland) consti–
tuted, very roughly, the limit of the known world in this direction. Ierne,
located in approximately latitude 54° N., is taken to be the most northern land.
"Living writers," he asserts, "tell us of nothing beyond Ierne which lies near
to Britain on the north (
sic
) and is inhabited by savages who live miserably on
account of the cold." The Tin Islands are described as a group of ten lying well
to the north of Spain in the latitude of Britain. As for the lands lying to the
EA-Histroy. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
east of Britain, he declares that "those parts of the country beyond the Albis (i.e. Elbe) that are near the ocean are wholly unknown to us. For of the men of earlier times I know of no one who made this voyage along the coast to the eastern parts that extend as far as the mouth ( sic ) of the Caspian Sea; and the Romans have not yet advanced into the parts that are beyond Albis; and likewise no one has made the journey by land either." ( Geography , 7,2,4., H. L. Jones' translation). Even in regard to a country as well known as Scythia, Strabo is pitifully ignorant. True, he has a reasonably accurate notion of the comparative dimensions of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, but everything north of the nearby Roxolani, "the most remote of the known Scythians," is terra incognita and uninhabitable at that. As for the stories of the Rhipean Mountains and the Hyperboreans, these he characterized as myths born of popular ignorance of the regions in question, and of a baseless regard for Pytheas' "false statements.... regarding the country along the ocean, wherein he uses as a screen his scientific knowledge of astronomy and mathematics." ( Geography, 7, 3, 1., H. L. Jones' translation). In Strabo's view, both Pytheas and Eratosthenes had placed the boundary of known land 8,000 stadia, or 11° 20′ too far north.
Many later writers knew even less. Some of the poets wrote as if the
Scythians were near neighbours of the Eskimos.
"Not a blade of grass appears on the plain, not a leaf on the trees:
But as far as eye can reach earth lies, her features lost
Beneath snowdrifts and ice to a depth of seven fathoms.
It's always winter, always the cold nor-wester blowing.
And worse, the sun can never break through the wan gloom there –
Not when his horses draw him up to the height of heaven,
Not when his chariot brings him to bathe in the blood-red sea.
.........
(The men) dig out deep igloos underground
.........
Here they while away the darkness in games, and gladly
Make do with beer and a rough cider for draughts of wine."
(
Georgics
, III, lines 353 et seq.)
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
In such words does Virgil portray "the tameless tribes" of the Sea of Azov: Other writers talk as if the northern ocean were a mere two hundred miles north of the Black Sea and full of hideous monsters which were likely to tear to pieces any seamen who might be so foolhardy as to sail its waters. One woebegone navi– gator who did so is made, by Albinovanus Pedo (c. 40 A.D.), to express his feel– ings in the following words: "Whither are we being carried? The day itself flees from us, and uttermost nature closes in the deserted world with continual dark– ness. Or are we sailing towards people on the other side who dwell under an– other heaven, and towards another unknown world? The Gods call us back and for– bid the eyes of mortals to see the boundary of things. Why do we violate strange seas and sacred waters with our oars, disturbing the peaceful habitations of the Gods?" Seneca, to whom we owe the survival of Pedo's poetic fragment, has no use for the idea of land beyond the northern ocean, simply stating that "beyond all things is the ocean, (and) beyond the ocean, nothing" ("post omnia oceanus, post oceanum nihil").
Pomponius Mela (fl. c. 40 A.D.) is likewise unable to shed much new light
upon the subject. Apart from a wild story about Indians being blown past the
Caspian "Gulf" to Germany (which he cites in support of the "oceanic" theory
of the Arctic), his account is based upon the usual stock-in-trade of the time.
His Hyperboreans live beyond the north wind and
^
^
the Rhipean Mountains "under the
very pivot of the stars" (i.e. the Pole). In their country the sun rises at the
vernal equinox and sets at the autumnal equinox, so that they have six months'
day and six months' night. How he was able to reconcile the existence of the
sunny and fertile land with belief in the zonal theory of Parmenides is not clear;
the fact that he calls it a "narrow land" may signify that he was not altogether
happy about the logic of the contention. As we noted earlier, he has heard of
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediteranean Views of Northlands
Thule, "famous in Greek poems and in our own;" he knows of the Orkneys and the Shetlands to the extent of indicating the existence of two distinct groups of islands north of Britain, and he is credibly informed that in Ireland the pas– tures are so lush that "if the cattle are allowed to graze for more than a small part of the day, they burst in pieces!" East of the British Isles he quickly gets into difficulties. True, he describes a vast bay (Codanus by name) which some have supposed to be the Skagerrak, and a region which "seems sometimes to be islands and sometimes the sea," and, on that account, might conceivably re– fer to the intricate system of islands and straits south of the Kattegat; but by peopling these localities with Hippopods (horse-footed men) and Sanalians (whose ears were big enough to be employed as a covering for the body), he makes it very difficult for us to attribute to him anything but a most shadowy know– ledge of the embayed and insular character of the continental seaboard.
Pliny (fl. c. 70 A. D.) who might have been expected to know more about
the north coast of Europe, since he reports the voyage of Augustus' fleet round
Germania to the Cimbrian Cape (Jutland), is likewise content with such platitudes
as "the Northern Ocean has also been in great part traversed," it is "immeasur–
able," it extends to "the Scythian region and to places that are stiff from too
much moisture," and contains "many nameless islands" some of which he proceeds
forthwith to name. For the rest, his
Natural History
account is very largely
a rechauffe of earlier writings, mainly Greek. His description of the far north
of Scythia is characteristic: "This part of the world is accursed by nature and
shrouded in thick darkness: it produces nothing else but frost and is the chilly
hiding place of the north wind." (
Natural History
, IV, xii, 88). Beyond lay
the happy Hyperboreans, blessed with a magnificent climate: like Mela, he man–
ages to sandwich them in between Scythia and the equally inclement northern ocean.
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
It is because of blatant anomalies of this sort that we are constrained to doubt whether Pliny, or Mela for that matter, ever seriously tried to construct a congruent cosmographical system out of the body of knowledge available to him. Time and again we have evidence that he did not even bother to harmonize con– flicting statements culled from his authorities. In Chapter Thirteen of Book Four he has the Cronium Sea stretching north from the Baltic coast in the vicin– ity of the Cimbri: in Chapter Sixteen of the same book he displaces the same sea a day's sail beyond thule, which, in his view, lay to the north of Britain in the vicinity of the Arctic Circle. The acceptance of "Scandia" and "Scatin– avia" as separate islands situated not far from the coast of Britain may perhaps be taken as a further indication of his uncritical handling of source material.
Tacitus, writing shortly before the end of the first Christian century,
was unable to improve on Pliny's knowledge of the extreme north. Beyond the
Orkneys toward an island which he "saw at a distance" (and presumably one of the
Shetlands), the sea became thick and sluggish, while to the north of the Suiones
(Swedes), who lived on an island "ipso in oceano," it became almost immobile
("mare pigrum ac prope immotum"). Near the Suiones, on the mainland, live the
Fenni (Finns?), very poor and primitive. For his romantically-minded readers,
he adds the Utopian fancy that "the forms of the Gods are seen" when the sun
emerges from the ocean.
And worse was still to come. In his
De Facie in Orbis Lunae
, Plutarch
places the Homeric island, Ogygia, five days' sail west of Britain, with three
others spread out northwestwards, each an equal distance from its neighbour.
"In one of these the barbarians feign that Saturn is detained prisoner by Jupiter,
who, as his son, having the guard or keeping of these islands and the adjacent
sea, named the Saturnian (or Cronian), has his seat a little below; and that the
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
continent, ^ by ^ which the great sea is circularly environed, is distant from Ogygia about 5,000 stadia, but from others not so far, men using to row thither in galleys, the sea being there low and ebb, and difficult to be passed by great vessels because of the mud brought thither by a multitude of rivers, which, coming from the mainland, discharge themselves into it, and raise there great bars and shelves that choke up the river and render it hardly navigable: whence anciently there arose an opinion of its being frozen." An equally extravagant story by Antonius Diogenes, dating from about the same epoch, brough its char– acters to see the "wonders beyond Thule," to places of six months' and even perpetual night. But by then Thule had ceased to be a place with a fixed loca– tion: some poets even talked loosely of Britain as Thule.
With such facts before us, it is hard to avoud the conclusion cherished
by many modern historians, that the Romans had little talent or even liking
for scientific enquiry. They traveled widely within their borders, but seldom
curiously. Their frontier officers did not spend their vacations climbing
mountains or big game hunting in the wilds, nor did they write books about their
adventures. Few enough wrote about the more civilized parts. Apparently there
were others besides Cicero who found geography a "rather obscure science."
Horace expresses what was obviously a widely felt distaste when he inveighs
against the impious men who first dared to cross the sea, "with northern gales
fierce war to wage" and "on strange weltering beasts" to gaze. (
Odes
, Book I,
3, 9–24. However, elsewhere,
Odas
Book III, 24, 36–40, and
Epistles
, Book I, 1,
he talks of greedy merchants - not Roman? - venturing to the frozen north and
the tropics and India). Or maybe it was conceit that suffocated their spirit
of enquiry - the conceit that made them sometimes talk as if Rome was mistress
of all lands not inaccessible or uninhabitable, and of all seas, not only within
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
the Pillars, but beyond to the ends of the ocean. This conceit permeates the writings even of some of the Romanophile Greeks, eg. the Periegetes of Dionysius.
However, not all the geography of the Roman era is of such an indifferent
quality. Here and there in the Empire were scholars, Greeks rather than Romans,
who were trying to put the subject onto a scientific footing. Preeminent among
these were Marinus of Tyre (fl. c. 110 A.D.) and Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy)
of Alexandria. Unfortunately, Marinus' writings are known only through Ptolemy
(fl. c. 150 A.D.), who called him the most careful geographer of his time. He
appears to have drawn up a list of all the important places in the known world,
giving to each its approximate latitude and longitude, and then locating them
on a gridded map of the world. What Marinus' world looked like can be roughly
inferred from the various maps which accompany the early manuscripts of Ptolemy's
eight-volumed
Geographia
, since Ptolemy made it clear that his primary task was
to bring up to date the work of his predecessor. Whether or not the maps found
in the early manuscripts of Ptolemy's
Geographia
were the work of the Alexan–
drine scholar himself is not of great consequence, since anyone with enough
patience can reconstruct the maps for himself. In these maps the northwestern
coasts of Europe, as far east as the Cimbrian peninsula (Jutland), are recog–
nizably portrayed. The same is true of Britain and Ireland, concerning which
it would seem that Ptolemy was better informed than Pytheas, though admittedly
the northern part of Scotland (Caledonia) is given an east-west orientation,
presumably in an effort to keep the island well to the south of Thule. To the
north of Scotland in latitude 61° 41′ N. lie the Orkneys, thirty in number, and
to the west, the Hebrides. "And far to the north of them" lies Thule in approx–
imately latitude 63° N. and longitude 30° 21′ E. (i.e. east of the Fortunate
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
Isles). It is thought that his displacing of Thule from the Arctic Circle was due to the men of Agricola's fleet believing that they had sighted the island north of the Orkneys: in which case it is possible that the island should be identified with one of the Shetlands, which are not specifically named by Ptolemy.
To the north of the known coasts and islands of Europe, there stretched,
in the view of both Ptolemy and Marinus, a continuation of the Atlantic Ocean.
In the extreme northwest this went by the name of the Hyperborean Ocean, "also
called the congealed, or Cronius, or the Dead Sea." North of Britain, it be–
came the Deucaledonian Ocean, and from Britain to the vicinity of the Cimbrian
peninsula, the Germanic Ocean. Here it merged into the Sarmatian Ocean, which
is Ptolemy's name for the Baltic Sea, the northern shores of which were as yet
unsuspected. What happened to the ocean still further eastward is not disclos–
ed: east of the 60th meridian the coast of Europe swings northward to the 63rd
parallel, i. e., of Thule, at which latitude the map ends. In his
Astronomy
,
Ptolemy carries his
oikoumene
northwards to 64–1/2° N., where he places, in the
longitude of northern Asia, the Scythians. But the general import is clear
enough: Ptolemy, as Marinus before him, had little use for the "oceanic" hypoth–
esis of the planetary distribution of land and sea. In his view the grounds
for holding that the
oikoumene
was entirely surrounded by water were inadequate:
the Caspian Sea was closed and, as no Asiatic traveler had as yet penetrated
beyond the Hyperborean Mountains, located somewhat north of the sixtieth paral–
lal, Ptolemy is content to let Scythia fade away polewards into
terra incognita.
(Similarly, in the opinion of both Ptolemy and Marinus, there was no evidence
that the southern reaches of Africa were vounded by sea. In the absence of such
evidence, they affirmed that the Indian Ocean was enclosed by an eastward exten–
sion of Africa and southern extension of Asia.)
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
Unfortunately for posterity, Ptolemy's
Geographia
was destined to gather
dust in the library of Alexandria. Had he lived two hundred years earlier,
his work might have borne fruit, or at least it might have been put into cir–
culation and provoked thoughtful comment, if nothing else. But coming, as it
did, at a time when the Roman world was yearly acquiring more and more internal
preoccupations, few men appear to have had any stomach for its stodgy data and
postulates. More than a thousand years were to elapse before the work was to
win wide acclaim. From the third century to the end of the fourteenth, only
rarely does the Geographia attract notice: from time to time Ptolemy's name is
mentioned, but none of the writers concerned apprehended the profound signifi–
cance of his work.
The Dark Ages
The decline of northern knowledge, already reflected in the works of
Strabo and Pliny, was accelerated by the happenings of the succeeding contur–
ies. Prominent among these was the loss of Rome's commercial supremacy. By
the end of the third century, the forces of disruption had so gripped the Empire
that it was no longer the sole guardian of the great trade routes. Contacts
with the barbarian world became less frequent and friendly: such business as
there was fell increasingly into the hands of intermediaries. But the trouble
did not stop there: because of the parallel collapse of the Roman administrative
system, the Germanic invasions also led to the breakdown of political and econ–
omic life within the Empire. Henceforth ideas and information spread only slowly,
and against great resistance, from one district to another: culture became re–
gional and stagnant. The reorganization of the Empire into two parts under
Theodosius served, paradoxically enough, to further these tendencies, for the
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
two empires became, in effect, separate entities, the contacts of the Latin world with the Greek civilization becoming more and more tenuous as time went by. No less important was the development of a new intellectual climate in the Mediterranean consequent upon the introduction of Christianity. The new faith gave men new values, whereby many of the old ones fell into disrepute. The great theological doctrines made scientific investigation seem, in the eyes of some, a reprehensible misapplication of human powers. To men of this per– suasion, it was natural that the Scriptures should become the yardstick by which to measure the orthodoxy of any given work. Such a man was the sixth century traveler Cosmas Indicopleustes: for him the Scriptures were "profitable not only for doctrine, reproof and instruction in righteousness," but for in– struction in earth-knowledge as well. Basing his argument on the assumed symbol– ism of the Mosaic tabernacle (which even by some modern theologians is regard– ed as a pattern of the world), he claimed that the oikoumene was oblong, twice as long as it is broad, and surrounded by an ocean uniting the Mediterranean, the Caspian, the Persian and Red Seas. In the far north stood a mighty conical mountain behind which the sun set at night, passing round the top in the summer and the base in the winter; this he held to explain the difference in the length of summer and winter days.
But it would be a mistake to suppose that Cosmas was truly representative
of his time. As early as the 4th century, Lactantius was encouraging his breth–
ern not to ignore pagan learning, for, said he, "it is extremely full of erudi–
tion and philosophy." He went further and argued that the Bible sanctioned the
spoiling of the Egyptians, provided there was no pollution from the spoils!
Generally speaking, the attitude of the Church toward profane studies was
one of tolerance rather than opposition, and there are many instances when
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
"interest" would describe it more accurately than tolerance. Orosius, a Spanish priest of the 5th century, was, we believe, much more typical of the age than Cosmas. His description of the northwestern limits of the known earth is as objective as anything written by Ptolemy: "Britain, an island in the ocean, extends a long distance to the north: to its south are the Gauls..... (It) is 800 miles long and 200 miles wide. In the limitless ocean which stretches be– hind Britain are the Orcades Islands (Orkneys) of which twenty are deserted and thirteen inhabited..... Ireland is quite close to Britain and smaller in area. It is, however, richer, on account of the favourable character of its climate and soil." ( Historiarum Adversus Paganos, Libri VII , I, 2.)
An even fuller account was given in the same century by Jordanes, appar–
ently copying from the writings of the contemporary Roman priest and statesman
Cassiodorus. The attempted fusion of pagan and Christian thought is well brought
out in his account of the circumambient ocean. "Not only has no one undertaken
to describe the impenetrable uttermost bounds of the ocean, but it has not even
been vouchsafed to any one to explore them, since it has been experienced that,
on account of the re
^
s
^
istence of the seaweed and because the winds cease to blow
there, the ocean is impenetrable and is known to none but Him who created it."
But it has a number of islands in it, including the Balearic Isles (
sic
) and
"the Orcades, thirty-three in number..... It has also in its most western part
another island, called Thyle, of which the Mantuan (i.e. Virgil) says: 'May the
uttermost Thule be subject to thee.' This immense ocean has also in its arctic,
that is to say, northern part, a great island called Scandza, concerning which
our narrative, with God's help, shall begin, for the nation (the Goths).....
burst forth like a swarm of bees from the lap of this island, and came to the
land of Europe......" (
De Origine Actibusque Getarum.
)
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
Of course, there is nothing very original in all this: most of it had
been said before and said better. However, Jordanus goes on to supply infor–
mation about the inhabitants of the northern part of the island, the Screre–
fennae ("they do not seek a subsistence in corn, but live on the flesh of wild
beasts and the eggs of birds") and the Adogit ("they have continuous light in
the middle of the summer for forty days") which cannot be found in any of his
authorities and which leads us to suppose that even in the 6th century the chan–
nels of communication between north and south Europe were not completely clogged.
Our suspicion that Jordanus may be repeating a second-hand story about the Lapps
or the Finns is strengthened when we come to look into the contemporary work of
the Byzantine historian, Procopius. The Skrid-finns, as he calls them, live in
the island of Thule (which the context establishes as Scandinavia). "The extra–
ordinarily great forests and mountains which rise in their country give them
vast quantities of game and other beasts. They always eat the flesh of the
animals they hunt and wear their skins, fastening them together with the sinews
of beasts. Their children do not take woman's milk, but are nourished solely
with the marrow of slain beasts." None of the Ancients knew so much about the
Finns: Tacitus and Ptolemy were acquainted with the name, and little more.
With the distinguishing features of the Finnish economy, including the
fact that some of the tribes were ski-runners (this being the force of the
corrupt Norse prefix "skrid"), already know in the 6th century, we may well
ask ourselves why there were, subsequently, so few written references to the
Finns and their neighbours. One reason is that Isidore was unaware of the work
of Procopius and Jordanus, or, if aware, that he did not choose to use it. This
may appear to be a reason of little moment until we recall that Isidore was the
most influential name in the literature of Christendom from the 7th to the 14th
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
centuries, and that his twenty-volumed Etymologiae was prescribed reading for almost every lettered man throughout that time. Even in the 15th century, Cardinal Pierre d'Ailly (to whom Columbus owed much) regarded it with something akin to reverential awe, notwithstanding the fact that the entire work is cast in an antiquarian mould and contains nothing that cannot be traced back, either directly or indirectly, to readily accessible Latin sources. Probably the best that can be said for it is that it might have been worse, for Isidore, good Christian that he was, adopted a surprisingly hospitable attitude toward pagan lore and, in so doing, helpted to keep alive information which otherwise would have almost certainly perished. Its importance for the student of history lies in the fact that it provides him with a cross-section of the mind of the Dark Ages: that it came to be the norm by which cosmographical orthodoxy was measured. Seen in this light, Isidor ^ e ^ 's account of the northlands takes on more than usual significance. In the extreme north, he has Scythia stretching from the Seric (i.e. Eastern) ocean in the east to the Caspian Sea in the west. "Several of the districts are rich, but some are uninhabited, for while they are rich in gold and precious stones, they are rarely approached by man owing to the feroc– ity of the griffens" ( Etymologiae , Book XIV, Chapter 3, paragraph xxxii.), a species of winged quadrupeds found in the Hyperborean Mountains and first publi– cized by Hesiod. The land of Hyrcania, bordering Scythia to the west "has many tribes wandering far afield on account of the unfruitfulness of their lands." ( op. cit. , XIVm 3, xxxi.) Coming still further west into Europe he places the limit of the oikoumene in the land of Barbaria, so called on account of the wild tribes inhabiting it. Enumerated among these are the Alani, the Dacians, the Goths and the Suevi, which is the nearest Isidore comes to dealing with the con– temporary scene. Thule is described, traditionally, as "the farthest island inEA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
the ocean on the northern and western waters beyond Britain," and is said to take its name "from the sun, because there the sun makes its summer solstice, and beyond the summer day is of great length:" the surrounding sea is "calm and frozen." ( op. cit . XII, 6, iv.) How a work filled with such unoriginal de– scriptions came to be the most-read book of the Middle Ages is a little hard to understand, but then so is the popularity of many an indifferent work in our own day. Perhaps the very banality, its respect for the written word of others, and its absence of disturbing novelty were the things that most endeared it to its readers. In face of the many calamities which threatened to engulf the countries of southern Europe, what more compelling task was there than the main– tenance of the intellectual status quo? What better rallying cry than "strengthen the things that remain?" In such a mental atmosphere it is hardly to be won– dered at that past opinions should come to assume greater importance than pres– ent realities. "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing may be lost" seems to epitomize the spirit of the times. Among the gatherers none was more faithful or zealous than Isidore.
Other Mediterranean scholars of the same attitude of mind were Moses of
Khorene (5th century) who drew on pagan and Christian authorities with seeming
impartiality; the anonymous Ravennese geographer of the mid-7th century whose
Cosmographia
leans slightly more on patristic authority as far as the north is
concerned, but who elsewhere shows himself to have been a competent Greek scholar–
a rare accomplishment in his age; and Aethicus of Istria who, although a much
traveled man of the 7th century, describes the Babylon, not of his own day, but
as it might have appeared in the time of Darius, and Thebes as Pausanias would
have known it in the 2nd century A.D.
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
Moslem Theories
At the moment when a revival of geographical speculation and interest
in the contemporary world seemed impossible, two new forces began to play
upon the inert mass of Mediterranean culture. The Moslems in the south and
the Vikings in the north, notwithstanding their sinister role as enemies of
Christendom, proved in the long run to be the agents of its intellectual re–
birth. Of these two forces, the Arabic was the earlier and more influential.
Controlling, as they did from the 8th century onwards, most of the centers
of ancient learning in western Asia and Africa - above all Ptolemy's Alexandria,
the Arabs were in a singularly good position to take advantage of older know–
ledge, if they wished to do so. And this they did, once the doctors of the
Koran had weaned themselves from their early opposition to secular literature.
By the beginning of the 9th century the obscurantism of the first believers was
already passing away and Mohammed's words "seek knowledge, even in China" were
acquiring mandatory force. It must be confessed, however, that not many got as
far as China. Their travels were, for the most part, conducted within the bor–
ders of Islam, with Mecca as the supreme focus of attraction. Thither came
men from Casablanca and Toledo, from the Sudan and Sofala, from Samarkand and
Kashgar. Their geographies reflect the breadth of their travels, and are full
of insights into the life and times of the countries through which the travelers
passed. But the lands of the "infidel" Christian receive much scantier consid–
eration, while those domains lying as yet beyond the orbit of both Cross and
Crescent, are frequently left unnoticed. Doubtless the reason for this neglect
of the northlands was partly climatic. Islam was cradled in a desert - and a
warm desert at that. Even today it is quite remarkable how close is the corre–
lation between the territorial distribution of Islamic culture and the distribu-
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
tion of semi-arid lands in low and middle latitudes. The Arabs were quickly discomfited by rain, and even more so by cold. It is not without significance that the voyages of Sindbad the (Moslem) Sailor were all set in tropical or subtropical waters.
But this can hardly be the whole story, for there were, at one time or
another, many thriving Moslem communities around the well-watered coasts of
the Indian Ocean and on the bleak plateaus of Central Asia. The Arabs were
inhibited by the strictures of their own religion, and of Greek philosophy.
Thus, it can be shown that their reluctance to explore the coasts of the At–
lantic stemmed partly from the widespread conviction of Moslem theologians
that a man foolhardy enough to embark upon the "Sea of Darkness", or encircling
ocean, should be deprived of civil rights, as being manifestly irresponsible
for his actions! It was even rumored that the necessity for imposing such a
punishment might be rendered superfluous by the destruction of the audacious
mariner in the lurking whirlpools. That many Moslem scientists were equally
deferential to Greek opinions is also apparent. There are frequent reitera–
tions of the zonal theory and of the view that the earth's surface was divided
into three parts water and one part land, the length of the
oikoumene
being
twice its width. Yet there was no little merit in even repeating what the
Greeks has said, for in so doing they helped to keep alive knowledge which was
later, through their transmission, to help furnish the intellectual milieu of
the Renaissance.
And they did a good deal more than this; for by piecing together the new
scraps of knowledge which were periodically being unearthed, men like Al-Mas'
u
^
ū
^
d
i
^
ī
^
,
Al-B
i
^
ī
^
r
u
^
ū
^
n
i
^
ī
^
and Al-Idr
i
^
ī
^
s
i
^
ī
^
succeeded in getting nearer to the truth about the
northern limits of the habitable earth than any Christian before the 13th century.
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
Through their commercial contacts, from the 8th century onwards, with the Moslemized Bulgars whose capital city lay on the Volga near the present town of Kazan the Arabs heard of a mysterious people, Wisu by name, living far to the north of the Russian steppes. (These were probably the same people as the Wizzi mentioned in Adam of Bremen's Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum. ) Accord– ing to the writer Ibu Y a ^ ā ^ q u ^ ū ^ t, who quotes a certain Ibn Fadhl a ^ ā ^ n (fl. c. 920 A.D.), the Wisu lived so far north - "a distance of three months' journey" - from the Bulgars that "during the summer the nights were not even one hour long." Else– where Y a ^ ā ^ q u ^ ū ^ t says that the night is "so short that one is not aware of any dark– ness," while at another time of the year it is so long that one sees no daylight. This would place the territory at least as far north as the latitude of the White Sea. Ibn Batt u ^ ū ^ ta (fl. c. 1350) tried to get there himself, but later gave up the attempt, because it stood to profit him but little. However, his descrip– tion of the region contained in his Rihla (or Journey ) has the ring of authen– ticity about it. "That land lies 40 days' journey from Bulgar, and the journey is only made in small cars (sledges?) drawn by dogs. For this desert has a frozen surface, upon which neither men nor horses can get foothold, but dogs can, as they have claws. This journey is only undertaken by "rich merchants, each taking with him about a hundred carriages provided with sufficient food, drink and wood, for in that country there is found neither trees,nor stones, nor soil. As a guide through this land they use a dog which has already made the hourney several times, and it is so highly prized that they pay as much as a thousand dinars for one. This dog is harnessed with three others by the neck to a car so that it goes as the leader and the others follow it." Al-M a ^ ā ^ zin i ^ ī ^ (fl. c. 1130) has an equally plausible-sounding story which suggests not only that the Arabs knew of the existence of the Arctic Sea, but that the nativesEA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
living on its north European shores may even have obtained the steel for their harpoons from Persia. For reasons already given, it is unlikely that the Arabs themselves reached northern Russia, but the finding of 10th and 11th century Arab coins and trinkets in the Pechora region may mean that Arab-paid inter– mediaries were in touch with these northern regions at that time.
Unfortunately Arab knowledge of land conditions in the far north was not
matched by a comparable knowledge of sea conditions. Ab
u
^
ū
^
Zaid (c. 920 A.D.),
for instance, knew no more about the northern ocean than Pliny, for he has a
vessel carried by wind and tide round eastern and northern Asia into the Cas–
pian, and on round north Europe into the Mediterranean! The views of Ibn
Khurd
a
^
ā
^
dhbih (fl. c. 880 A.D.), equally archaic, are summed up in a couple of
sentences: "The sea that is behind (i.e. to the north of) the Slavs, and where–
on the town (
sic
) of Tulia (i.e.Thule) lies, is not frequented by any ship or
boat, nor does anything come from thence. In like manner none travels upon
the sea wherein lie the Fortunate Isles, and from thence nothing comes." (
Book
of Roads and Provinces
). Ibn Hawqal (fl. c. 950 A.D.) insists on a closed
Caspian Sea, but on little else. Al Mas'
u
^
ū
^
d
i
^
ī
^
(fl. c. 950 A.D.), for all his
erudition (and few men had traveled more widely), can do no better than argue,
on grounds of symmetry, that there is a channel connecting the Sea of Azov with
the Arctic Sea similar to the one dividing Africa from the unknown, but hypoth–
ecated, southern continent. Thule, "which belongs to Britain (
sic
), and where
the longest day has twenty hours," continues to serve as the northern extremity
of the habitable earth, notwithstanding a statement made elsewhere in his
Meadows
of Gold
to the effect that the western ocean is "without cultivation or inhabi–
tant, and its end, like its depth, is unknown." His confusion of thought on
this subject is further attested by such conflicting claims as the following:
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
firstly, that all the seas (the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, Black Sea, Sea of Azov, Caspian and the Atlantic are specified) "are connected and uninter– rupted;" secondly, that the seas "are in no connection whatever with the Cas– pian Sea;" and thirdly, that in the extreme north of Europe, there is a vast lake extending almost to the Pole!
Later Arab writers attempted to tidy up some of Mas'
u
^
ū
^
d
i
^
ī
^
's ideas. Al–
B
i
^
ī
^
r
u
^
ū
^
n
i
^
ī
^
(fl. c. 1,000–1,040 A.D.) offered the view that "the western sea..... runs
past successively the shores.....of Andalusia, Galicia and the Slavs. Then, in
turning north, it goes round the inhabited world and countries behind unknown
mountains north, it goes round the inhabited world and countries behind unsus–
pected route as far as the Oriental Sea....." With the help of additional scraps
of information, it appears that B
i
^
ī
^
r
u
^
ū
^
n
i
^
ī
^
supposed the margins of the earth to be
indented by five bays, of which the most northerly is described in these words:
"a great bay to the north of the Slavs (i.e. the Baltic) extends to the vicinity
of the land of the Mohammedan Bulgars (i.e. on the Volga). It is known by the
name of Varangians' Sea, and they (i.e. the Varangians or Scandinavians) are a
people on its coast. Then it bends to the east in the rear of them, and be–
tween its shores and the uttermost lands of the Turks (i.e. in East Asia) there
are countries and mountains unknown, deserts untrodden."
Even the description given by the famous 12th century geographer, Al-Idrisi,
is disappointing, especially when we recall it was written at the court of the
Norman King of Sicily, Roger II, to which come scholars and travelers from al–
most every part of Christendom and Islam. His geographical treatise, entitled
rather fulsomely
Amusement for him who desires to travel round the world
, follows
the Greek "climatic" pattern. The northernmost of the seven climata extends to
64° N., beyond which the cold and snow render life impossible. In this northern-
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
most zone of the habitable earth he locates "Islanda," "Denamarkha," and "Norwaga." The description of "Norwaga" begins well, but rapidly deteriorates into fancy. Its products are few and scarce "on account of the frequent rain and continual wet." The natives "sow (corn), but reap it green, whereupon they dry it in houses that are warmed, because the sun so seldom shines with them. On this island ( sic ) there are trees so great of girth as are not often found in other parts. It is said that there are some wild people living in the desert regions (of the "island') who have their heads set immediately upon their shoulders and no neck at all. They resort to trees, and makes their houses in their interiors and dwell in them....." Further out in the "Dark Sea" lies the "Isle of Illusion," inhabited by men of brown colour, small stature, and with long beards reaching to their knees: they have broad faces and long ears and live on plants that the earth produces of itself. On the island of "Kalhan" the people have the body of man, but animal heads. Another island was inhabited by female devils.
All this is in striking contrast to the high intrinsic worth of Idr
i
^
ī
^
s
i
^
ī
^
's
description of the southern limits of the
oikoumene
and suggests that he was
either not enough of a scholar to resist the temptation to tickle the fancy
of his readers, or that news of the Viking explorations had hardly begun in
the 12th century to trickle through to the Mediterranean. Later writers were
nearly all equally confused and ignorant of the real state of affairs. Ibn
Sa'
i
^
ī
^
d (fl. c. 1260 A.D.) has the polar bear frequenting the seas round Denmark,
and Al-Khazw
i
^
ī
^
n
i
^
ī
^
(fl. c. 1270 A.D.) believes that in "Warank" (i.e. Scandinavia)
"the cold is excessive, the air thick, and the snow continuous," and is con–
sequently "not suited either for plants or animals." Ibn Hab
i
^
ī
^
b (better known
as Al-Dimashq
i
^
ī
^
(fl. c. 1350 A.D.) has Scandinavia surrounded by "the frozen sea,"
so named because "in winter it freezes entirely, and because it is surrounded
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
by mountains of ice." It is unfortunate that the Arab scholar best fitted by training and exploration to resolve the problem of terra arctica incognita , namely Ibn Bat u ^ ū ^ ta, should have been so loath to comit to writing his views on the subject.
As the record stands, the Arabs cannot be said to have made any great
contribution to the knowledge of the northlands. Their alarmist attitude
toward the outer ocean, their devotion to the borrowed doctrines of the Greeks,
and their apparent inability to represent geographical concepts in precise
cartographical form were not calculated to encourage exploration for its own
sake, or even to beget an atmosphere of scepticism toward the prevailing postu–
lates.
Meanwhile in Christendom thanks to the renaissance, more healthy-minded
attitudes toward profane learning were slowly developing, but even there the
emergence of a true understanding of the Arctic was distressingly slow.
The Renaissance Era
Into the origins of the geographical renaissance we cannot now go. Suffice
it to say that the Crusades were more an expression, than a cause of it, for
there were signs of a stirring among the dry bones already in the 9th and 10th
centuries. The writings of men like Alfred the Great, Alcuin of York, Scot
E
[:
]
rigena, Dicuil and Constantine Porphyrogennetos make this quite apparent. Along
with other indications of its prior existence, we may note the growing habit,
from the 8th century onwards, of pilgrim travel, the kindling of a new mission–
ary spirit resulting,
inter alia
, in the conversion of the Norsemen and a grow–
ing inquisitiveness about physical phenomena, whether it be the colours of the
rainbow, the motions of the heavenly bodies, or the cause of earthquakes. Just
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
how much of the credit for this intellectual awakening should be given to the Norsemen is a matter of debate, but that they did succeed in broadening the horizons, both mental and geographical, of Christendom, none will deny. Some would even endorse the opinion of Beazley given in his Dawn of Modern Geography , that "the gradual association, incorporation or alliance of the Scandinavians with the nations they came to plunder or to destroy, is perhaps the most de– cisive fact in the story of the Christian Middle Ages, and affords a basis and starting-point for every subsequent development. The Crusades, the commercial and territorial expansion that followed the crusading movement, and the exten– sion of European spirit and influence toward ultimate predominance in the out– side world, are related to the formative, provocative and invigorative influ– ence of the northern invasions." (Vol. II, p. 3)
It has to be confessed, however, that before the 13th century, not many
evidences of this awakening are forthcoming from the Mediterranean world. Thus
we shall look in vain in the cosmographical literature of 11th and 12th century
Italy, France or Spain for radical changes in the standard view of the north–
lands. The
Liber Floridus
of Lambert St. Omer (c. 1100 A.D.) and the anonymous
De Imagine Mundi
(c. 1100 A.D.) are both in the orthodox patristic tradition.
Even Vincent of Beauvais (c. 1250 A.D.)
[:
]
is very reluctant to draw upon
contemporary sources of information, and frequently he does nothing more than
excerpt large passages from his authorities, without comment and sometimes even
without acknowledgement. Thus, his description of the ocean is purely a recital
of the views of Aristotle, Isidore,
De Imagine Mundi
and Adelard. The one shin–
ing exception, dating from this era, is the Byzantine geographer, Constantine VII,
surnamed Porphyrogennetos (fl. c. 950 A.D.). His treatise
De Administrando Im–perio
abounds in details of contemporary, if not always first hand, information
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
concerning the barbarian world lying to the north and northeast of Constan– tinople. For us, his account of the Russians is particularly interesting. Indeed, he may be said to have introduced the Russians to the peoples of Chris– tendom. He knows the names and locations of their chief towns, the distances between them and the route to be taken in going from Novgorod to the Bosphorus. He is equally acquainted with the names of the Slavic, Finnish and other tribes which currently paid tribute to the V ^ i ^ king Prince of Kiev. On the other hand, there is scarcely a hint of the lands from which this conqueror had come. (It is conceivable, however, that Constantine had heard from his Russian neighbors a story that was then current among them. According to this, the half-mythical people of Gog and Magog were at last on the point of breaking forth from the mountains of the Pechora region where, so the story ran, they had been living ever since the days of Alexander. Although their speech was unintelligible, their intentions sinister, and "the road to their mountains impassable through abysses, snow and forests," the Russians nevertheless contrived to do trade with them in metals and furs.)
The maritime explorations of the V
^
i
^
kings, meantime, were passing unnoticed
by the main stream of Europeansthought, with the solitary exception of Adam of
Bremen whose
Gesta Hammaburgensis eoclesiae pontificum
(c. 1070 A.D.) did not,
alas, enjoy a circulation in southern Europe.
Even so well-traveled and scholarly a man as the Franciscan Roger Bacon
(fl. c. 1250 A.D.) is more concerned with probing into the past than the pres–
ent, although at least he has the wit to realize that knowledge does not always
improve with keeping. Of Aristotle he says, for instance, that "he did not
reach the limit of wisdom," And elsewhere in his
Opus Majus
he is willing to
argue that on some matters the inspired writers of the Scriptures were subject
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
to the limitations of their age, for which reason it is unnecessary to "give adherence to all that we have heard and read." And he is frequently as good as his word. Thus he espouses the specious "continental" theory of the distribu– tion of land and water in preference to the much more orthodox "oceanic" theory. According to the "continentalists," six parts of the earth were habitable, and the seventh covered by water - a view which had been first propounded by the uncanonical Esdras. More unorthodox still is Bacon's supposition that most of this water must be located "towards the poles of the world" because those parts are cold, and cold multiplies moisture, "from which it follows that the polar waters connect with each other by a comperatively narrow sea, called the Ocean, extending between the end of Spain and the beginning of India." (Vol. I, p. 312, R.B. Burke's translation.) But in taking this line of thought, Bacon clearly shows himself to have been unaware of the Viking voyages of the 10th and 11th centuries: for the two things they demonstrated beyond question were that there was plenty of land "towards the the poles" and plenty of sea westwards from the end of Europe. Additional proof of ignorance of their achievements is contained in the statement that the northwestern limit of the habitable earth was to be found in "the ends of the islands of Scotland and the Kingdom of Norway."
Indeed, with the exception of a single reference to the Rubruck expedition,
Bacon's regional description of the world could almost have been written by a
man living in the 1st century A.D. Here and there Bacon appears to have known
rather less than some of his classical forebears and to have had no less diffi–
culty in resolving conflicts of testimony. Thus, concerning the Arctic, we are
told in one place that "
habitation continues up to that locality where the poles
are located
: and where the day lasts six months and the night for the same length
of time. Martianus, moreover, in his description of the world, agrees with this
statement (of Pliny's): whence they maintain that in those regions dwells a very
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
happy race which dies only from satiety of life, attaining which it casts itself from a lofty rock into the sea. These people are called Hyperboreans on the European side and Arumphei in Asia." ( op. cit ., Vol. I, p. 327). Elsewhere in the same work we are told there is "( not) any habitation beyond (the Rhipean mountains) to the north ." ( op. cit ., Vol. I, p. 377). Even Herodotus was not guilty of such inconsistencies, and he was considerably better informed.
As with his great contemporary, Albertus Magnus, Bacon reflected the chang–
ing tempo of the age more by his methods than by his material. The thing, above
all others, which distinguishes him from most of his forebears is his discrim–
inating use of sources of information, his critical attitude toward authority
of whatever sanction, and his insistence on the importance of the experimental
approach to science. These may not have yielded immediate fruit, but their in–
fluence on later-day geographers, eg. Richard Eden and John Dee, was very real.
It will doubtless be asked why so little new northern material found its
way into the standard reference works of these crusading and post-crusading
centuries, especially when it was available in such works as Adam of Bremen's
Gesta
and the anonymous
Konungskuggsja
(or King's Mirror). No simple answer
is possible, but there seem to have been at least two contributory factors, one
linguistic, and the other ideological. In regard to the first, it must never
be forgotten that throughout these centuries the language of the Mediterranean
scholar continued to be that of his liturgies. While this may have aided him
in his examination of the lore of the past, it was a distinct handicap in other
respects, for it meant that he was seldom able to communicate with the laity,
or they with him. In the circumstances, it would be foolish to look for any
rapid dissemination of current geographical talk. True, the mendicant and
preaching orders were not so hampered, but unfortunately for posterity, few of
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
them had a notion to commit their ideas to parchment.
The ideological factor operated less directly, but none the less potently.
Paradoxically enough, one of the most striking evidences of the re-birth of
learning during these centuries was not a love of novelty, whether in liter–
ature, science or art, but a return to a love of the real classics. The fresh–
ly recovered lore of ancient Greece and Rome was welcomed not only as supply–
ing new and superior standards of expression, but as disclosing a new concep–
tion of life, one which gave ampler scope to the play of the emotions, to the
sense of beauty, and to the entire round of intellectual activity. And so, for
the second time in a millennium, men's thoughts and endeavors were directed
more to the contemplation of the past than the exploration of the present. In
the huge 14th century encyclopedia,
Fons Memorabilium Universi
, of Dominicus
Bandinus of Arezzo, men like Archimedes, Aristotle and Agathocles are given
more than a page apiece, while Marco Polo is dismissed in three lines, and
Peter Abelard and Albertus Magnus are not so much as mentioned.
The works of Dante, which, to the thinking of many, represent the quintes–
sence of renaissance thought, show a similar preoccupation. His geographical
system is essentially a hotch-potch of ideas, few of them being less than a
thousand years old! On the extent of the
oikoumene
("gran secca") all that he
can tell us is that its length is such that "at the equinox the sun is setting
for those who are at one of these boundaries, when it is rising for those who
are at the other," i.e. 180°, and that it extends northward as far as those
whose zenith is a circle described through the pole of the zodiac round the
pole of the earth as a center, that is, the Arctic Circle, and from this he
concludes, rather gratuitously, as it would seem, that "the emergent earth or
dry land must have the appearance of a half moon or thereabouts." On the de-
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
scriptive side, he likewise knows no more than the writers of Antiquity. At the northern extremity of his habitable earth, in the vicinity of the Rhipean Mountains, he places the venerable Scythians who "suffer extreme inequality of days and night and are oppressed with intolerable cold." ( De Monarchia , I, xiv.) Eastwards, the River Ganges and westwards the "isles of Gades" comprise the longitudinal limits of the oikoumene , exactly as they had done for Orosius and his authorities.
Fourteenth and early fifteenth century writers of more strictly geograph–
ical texts, such as Pierre d'Ailly of Cambrai, make equally short shrift of the
northlands and their inhabitants. "Beyond Thule, the last island of the Ocean,
after one day's sail, the sea is frozen and stiff. At the poles there live
great ghosts and ferocious beasts, the enemies of man. Water abounds there,
because those places are cold, and "cold multiplies humours (i.e. vapours)."
(
Tractatus de Imagine Mundi
, Chapter VII.) It was not until the middle of the
15th century that we find any reference in southern European literature (in a
letter written to Pope Nicholas V) to Eskimos, and even then they are badly
misrepresented - as pygmies, a cubit or so high who "when they see human beings
collect and hide themselves in the caves (igloos?) of the country like a swarm
of ants."
While it is undeniably true that most of the scholars and the artists of
the Renaissance were too busy exhuming ancient knowledge to develop a distinc–
tive cosmography of their own, the situation was rather different with the merch–
ants and mariners of the time. Tales, some likely and others much less so, were
coming out of the North from time to time, as from every other quarter of the
compass, and although few of them were written down, the gist of many was trans–
lated into cartographical form. Fortunately, a man does not need to have a
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
classical education to be able to draw a map.
The North in Mediaeval Maps
It is in the maps of the period, therefore, that we must look for the
fullest expression of Mediterranean opinion concerning the Northlands. Indeed,
it is probable that in any given century we can get a closer approximation to
the views of the ordinary educated man by glancing at the mappa mundi of that
century than by ploughing through the pages of a hundred encyclopedias. True
some of these mappa mundi were in the nature of illustrations for the encyclo–
pedias, but this does not seriously invalidate our contention since the affin–
ity between text and map is frequently so slight as to be questionable. In
point of fact most of the maps dating from the renaissance period originated
differently. Some were drawn to order for a merchant prince: others were com–
posed by sea-going men for their own practical use: others to illustrate instruc–
tion in the elements of world geography. But whatever their origin, they had
this much in common, namely, that once they were in circulation, the ideas ex–
pressed in them stood to gain currency at a faster rate than those set forth
in the ponderous tomes of the day, for pictures (and most mediaeval maps are
little more) make a readier and more abiding impression on the mind than the
written word. Then, again, it required much less courage (and effort) to change
a map than a manuscript. To "doctor" a coastline of northern Europe based osten–
sibly on Ptolemy or Strabo was one thing: to go on record as saying that Ptolemy
or Strabo were palpably in error when they described the said coastline was quite
another. That mediaeval maps were frequently touched up, or modified when copied
to conform to the ideas of the artist or his patron, is well known. Thus there
is a notable discrepancy in the treatment of Scandinavia as between the Paris
manuscript and the other versions of the world map accompanying Marino Suando's
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediteranean Views on Northlands
Liber Secretorium fidelium crucis : in the former, Scandinavia is portrayed as an archipelago, while in all the others it is represented correctly as a mountainous peninsula connected with the mainland of northern Europe by a narrow isthmus and divided into the lands of "Gotilandia," "Dacia," "Suetia," and "Norvega." The equally famous Laurentian world map of c. 1350 shows signs of having been edited at least twice. Another point that needs to be borne in mind is the ease with which the lineaments of a map can be recalled and reproduced by any ordinarily observant person adept in the use of the quill. (One of the two outlines of southern Africa on the Laurentian map seems to have been drawn from a recollection of the 1413 A.D. world map of Albertin Da Virga.)
For reasons of this kind, we believe that the geographical ideas of later
mediaeval students were more influenced by maps than books, and that the pop–
ular renaissance view of any given region was most likely to find contemporary
expression in the same medium. To a lesser extent, no doubt, the argument
might be said to hold good for the earlier centuries, but the further back we
go, the greater was the thralldom of clerical orthodoxy, and the greater the
impediments to travel and the ready exchange of ideas.
Broadly, the maps of the Middle Ages fall into two major categories: those
which pay special attention to the dicta of the past, and those which seek to
portray things as they are, or were thought to be on currently acceptable grounds.
In the former category we can include the Beatus maps, the numerous T-in-O
type maps and those more elaborate ecclesiastic maps such as the Hereford, the
Ebstorf and the Psalter. In none of these is any real attempt made to present
the then-known northern limits of knowledge. In the Osma copy, the last of the
ten survivors, of the Beatus map (c. 1203) the only concession to the times is
the insertion of Scandinavia - as an island albeit. The Ebstorf map of 1284 is
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
no better. On the Hereford map of about the same date Scandinavia is correct– ly shown as a peninsula, but more, it would appear, by luck than judgment, since Scotland, about which an English cleric might be expected to be reason– ably well informed, is portrayed as an island! By and large, the authors of these maps were more interested in mythical than in real lands. Neither Green– land nor Wineland is mentioned, but considerable prominence is given to the lands of the Cynocephalae, the Hyperboreans and the Arumphei. Ranulf Higden's map of the world dating from the first half of the 14th century is fettered by the wheel-form in whch it is cast. In the very narrow ocean which girdles the disc of the earth we find rather less than the usual complement of real and mythical islands. "Norwegia," "Islandia," and "Witland" with "gens ydolatra" are located off the coast of northern Europe: "Tile (Thule) and "Dacia" (Den– mark) with "gens bellicosa" somewhere near the North Pole. In the various editions of Higden's map "Witland" is also called "Wintlandia" and "Wineland." It is possibly connected with the Norse Wineland story, but as it is mentioned together with Dacia, Nansen thinks it may be a corruption of "Windland" (i.e. Finland), the inhabitants of which sold winds to the sailors who came to them! Already in Adam of Bremen the Finns (Lapps) had been described as particularly skilled in magic.
If this is the best that the cartographers of northwest Europe can offer
prior to the 15th century, it is hardly to be expected that those of the Medi–
terranean region should have been any better informed. Yet is is in the Medi–
terranean that the finest cartographic product of the renaissance, the compass
chart, first made its appearance, and with it the nort
^
h
^
lands first began to take
recognizable shape.
The need for a practical map which would enable a sailor to find his way
from port to port had been long-standing. When coasting was to some extent
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
replaced by sailing in open sea after the compass came in use during the 13th century, sea charts became a necessary adjunct to the written sailing direc– tions or portolani . How early, or exactly where, they began to be employed is unknown: we only know that such charts were coming into use on Italian ships by the second half of the 13th century, and that by 1300 A.D. they had reached a remarkable level of technical excellence. At first these portolan charts did not normally extend beyond the maritime sphere of the peoples concerned, or, if they did, the delineation of the unfrequented coastlines was of a very different caliber from the rest of the map. Thus on the early portolan charts the detailed portrayal of the west coast of Europe stops abruptly in the lati– tude of the Low Countries. Further north than this the Italian shipmasters were ^ un- ^ wont to sail, for fear, it seems, of coming into conflict with the commer– cial fleets of the Hanseatic League. It is not surprising, then, that in north– ern England, Scotland, Ireland, north coast of Denmark, Scandinavia and the Baltic countries place-names are very few by comparison with those along the more southerly stretches of coast, or that coastlines are drawn in schematically and not from actual compass courses and reckonings. Even at that, they were much better than those of the T-in-O or Beatus types, and represented a de– cisive forward step in the direction of reality. We know little of the sources from which these Italian and later the Catalan, draughtsmen derived their mater– ial, but it is unlikely that they were numerous, for one portolan chart looks very much like another, even to its errors.
The Carignano chart of c. 1300 A.D., although one of the oldest extant
examples of the compass chart, is very little different in general appearance,
from those of fifty or even a hundred years later. In it, the west coast of
Germany and Jutland runs due north from Flanders, thus reducing the North Sea
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
to the dimensions of the English Channel. The shape of Jutland is commendable, as is that of the British Isles. However, the portrayal of the northern re– gions is palpably inferior to that of most later charts. The Baltic extends far to the east, and is devoid of anything that could conceivably be character– ized as the Gulf of Bothnia. Whether his Scandinavia is a peninsula, as usual– ly asserted, or a rather long island is uncertain, since the map is in a poor state of preservation, and is indistinct in the inner part of the Baltic. How– ever, the deeply indented western coast of the peninsula suggests at least a nodding acquaintance with the fjords of Norway.
Although almost contemporary, the portolan chart of c. 1325 A.D. by the
Italian draughtsman, Angel
[:
]
Dalorto, contains some names and information
presumably unknown to Carignano. Norway is represented as a broad and distinct–
ly mountainous country, and its northernmost inhabitants are described as liv–
ing by fishing and hunting, "on account of the price of corn which is very dear."
In addition to the regular islands, e.g. the Orkney-Shetland group, the map also
carries, for the first time, the island of "Brazil" about which Irish folk-lore
had had much to say for nearly a millennium, and the quest for which was to lure
many a seafarer during the next two to three hundred years. Most of the legends
with which the chart is provided appear to be derived from literary sources,
such as the anonymous
Geographia Universalis
dating from the 13th century and
the
Topographia Hiberniae
of Giraldus Cambrensis.
From this time on, at least until the middle of the 15th century, most of
the compass charts and even some of the mappa mundi are cast in the Carignano–
Dalorto mould. A comparison of the Este World Map of c. 1450 A.D. (preserved
in Modena), the Viladestes' Chart of c. 1413 A.D., the Catalan Atlas of c. 1375
A.D., and the Laurentian World Map of c. 1350 A.D. makes this aboundantly clear.
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views of Northlands
Here and there additional material is incorporated, as for instance, the legend (on the Este Map) describing the ocean to the north of Norway as "mare putritum congelatum" and the whale-flensing story (on the Viladestes chart), but none of this was really original. On the contrary, it was nearly all culled from the outmoded textbooks of the period. Notwithstanding the growing orbit of their maritime trade and their occasional contact with the merchants of the Hanseatic League, Catalan and Italian seamen were scarcely better informed on northern matters than the cloistered schoolmen of the time.
On one point, namely the existence of Greenland, it could be argued that
the schoolmen of the Mediterranean were in possession of information sooner
than the sailors. The primary reason for this was that Claudius Clavus, the
Danish cartographer, was in Italy when he drew his two famous maps of the north
(c. 1424). These are the first maps known to have depicted Greenland and, in–
cidentally, the first to have been furnished, after the Ptolemaic fashion, with
lines of latitude and longitude. However, the earlier of these two, the Nancy
map, escaped notice, both at the time and afterwards, if we are to judge from
the absence of any recognizable likeness between it and all the maps of south–
ern European provenance produced during the next hundred years or so. The second
map, drawn subsequently, but also in Italy, did exercise quite a considerable
influence, especially on the work of N
^
ico
^
laus Germanus. Adaptations of this
map were incorporated into the manuscript editions of Ptolemy's
Geography
pro–
duced in Nicolaus' Florentine workshop. Nicolaus also drew to some extent up–
on Clavus' Greenland when revising the Ptolemaic world map, but, in conformity
with the widespread mediaeval dislike of the idea of a landmass between the
western extremity of Europe and the eastern extremity of Asia, he depicted the
country as a long and narrow tongue of land projecting from northern Russia.
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
(Later revisions of the map, contained in the 1482 and the 1486 Ulm editions of Ptolemy, are less suggestive of Clavian influence, for Greenland, called "Engronelant," is reduced to the dimensions of a rounded promontory: and Ice– land is placed well out in the ocean to the northwest.)
It was not long before other cartographers were following the lead given
by Nicolaus. Thus, on the Genoese mappa mundi of c. 1457, a peninsula is located
north of Scandinavia just at the place where Clavus' Greenland might be expected
to appear. According to some authorities, e.g., Lelewel, this peninsula is ac–
tually named "Grinland," but the lettering on the original is now too indistinct
to permit of certain interpretation.On Fra Mauro's mappa mundi (c. 1459) several
peninsulas are shown thrusting out from Russia to the north of Scandinavia,
though in this instance it is not clear which one was intended to be Greenland.
Henricus Martellus' map of c. 1489 is equally reminiscent of Clavus in its north–
ern borders. To a smaller extent, the same influence may be traced on Martin
Behaim's Globe (1492) which, in spite of being the work of a central European,
undoubtedly reflects views current in Iberia and Italy at that time. However,
Behaim's Globe testifies to the presence of other influences - including those
of Marco Polo's
Travels
and the lost work of Nicholas of Lynn,
Inventio fortunata
.
The influence of Polo can be traced in the Asiatic section, and that of Nicholas
of Lynn in the portrayal of lands and islands around the North Pole. Projecting
from the Greenland-Lapland peninsula, located to the north of Scandinavia, is a
narrow neck of land extending to the Asiatic side of the Arctic and separating
the open waters of the North Atlantic from the enclosed waters of a polar sea –
"das gefror
e
^
é
^
mer sptentrionel." On the North Atlantic side of the Pole are two
large unnamed islands and a number of small ones. Behaim does not tell us why
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands
he favored this view of the distribution of land and water, but it is not difficult to see why he should have done so when we recall that in Portugal he would frequently have been exposed to one form or other of the "continental" hypothesis (which Pacheco later developed at some length in his Esmeraldo ), and that it was in keeping with the general tenor of the Norse discoveries. But not everybody was of the same persuasion as Behaim.
Perhaps nothing better illustrates the prevailing confusion of arctic
thought at this epoch than the facts that, in the almost contemporary Laon
Globe (c. 1493) firstly, the entire northern ocean (north of the Arctic Circle
approximately) is devoid of land; secondly, no land is located in high lati–
tudes west of the longitude of the British Isles, and thirdly, Greenland appears
as an island due
east
of "Tile" (Thule) and "Islandia" (Iceland?)!
Such were the geographical ideas entertained by the peoples of the Medi–
terranean concerning the northlands on the eve of the great age of discovery.
They were still disappointingly vague and archaic. But there had been one gain
at all events since the days of the ancient Greeks. No longer was there any
philosophical opposition to the investigation of the frigid zone, or to the
suggestion that it was traversable. When they set out in search of the North–
east Passage, Willoughby and Chancellor may not have known much more than Pytheas,
but at least nobody questioned their sanity!
EA-History. Kimble: Ear [: ] y Mediterranean Views on Northlands
BIBLIOGRAPHYI. Texts :
Ab u ^ û ^ 'lfid a ^ â ^ G e ^ é ^ ographie d'Aboulf e ^ é ^ da . French text & commentary by J.T. Reinaud. 2 Vols. Paris, 1848.
Ailly, Pierre D' Tractatus de Imagine Mundi . French translation by E. Buron. Paris, 1930.
Albertus Magnus Opera omnia . Ed. by A. Borgnet. Paris, 1890–9.
Aristotle De Caelo . Eng. trans. by J.T. Stocks. Oxford, 1922.
----. Meteorologica . Eng. trans. by E.W. Webster. Oxford, 1923.
Avienus, Rufus Ora Maritima - Periplus Massiliensis saec. VI, a.C. Ed. by A. Schulten. Berlin, 1922.
Bacon, Roger Opus Majus . Ed. by J.H. Bridges. ^ Oxford, 1897–1900. ^ Eng. trans. by R.B. Burke. Philadelphia, 1928.
Bat u ^ ū ^ ta, Ibn Travels in Asia and Africa . Eng. trans. by H.A.R. Gibbs. London, 1929.
B i ^ ī ^ r u ^ ū ^ n i ^ ī ^ , Al- See: G e ^ é ^ ographie d'Aboulf e ^ é ^ da . Ed. by J.T. Reinaud. French trans. of his works. Paris, 1848.
Constantine VII "De Administrando Imperil." In Patrologiae Cursus Completus ... (Porphyrogennetos) Series graeca, Vol. CXIII. By J.P. Migne. Paris, 1857– 1886.
Cosmas Indicopleustes Christian Topography . Eng. trans. by J.W. McCrindle. London, 1897.
Herodotus The History of Herodotus . Eng. trans. by G. Rawlinson. London, 1893.
Higden, Ranulph Polychronicon . Eng. trans. by William Caxton. London, 1480.
Homer The Iliad . Eng. trans. by A. Lang, W. Leaf & E. Myres. London, 1923.
----. The Odyssey . Eng. trans. by E.V. Rieu. London, 1945.
Horace Odes . Eng. trans. by E. Marsh. London, 1941.
Idr i ^ ī ^ s i ^ ī ^ , Al- La G e ^ é ^ ographie d'Edrisi . French trans. by P.A. Jaubert. Paris, 1836–40.
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands - Bibliography,Cont'd
Isidore of Seville Etymologiae sive originum libri xx. Ed. by W.M. Lindsay. Exford, 1911.
Jordanes Getica: de rebus geticis ...... Ed. by T. Mommsen in Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Berlin, 1882.
Khurd a ^ ā ^ dhbih, Ibn Livre des Routes et des Provinces . French trans. by M.J. de Goeje in Bibl. geogr. arab. Leiden, 1889.
Lactantius, Firmianus Divinae Institutions . Ed. by S. Brandt in Corp. Script. Eccl. lat., Vol. XIX. Vienna, 1890.
Mas' u ^ ū ^ ud i ^ ī ^ , Al- Les Prairies d'or . French trans. by C. [: ] . de Meynard and P. de Courteille. Paris, [: ] 1861–77.
Mela, Pomponius De Situ Orbis . French trans. by J.M.N.D. Nisard. Paris, 1883.
Orosius, Paulus Historiarum adversus paganos libri VII. Eng. trans. by I.W. Raymond. London, 1883.
Pliny, C. Secundus Naturalis Historia . Eng. trans. by J. Bostock and H.T. Riley. London, 1855–7.
Polybius History of Greece and Rome . Eng. trans. [: ] by W.R. Paton. London, 1922.
Plutarchus De Facie in orbe lunae . Eng. translation & commentary by A.O. Prickard. Oxford (?), 1911.
Ptolemy, Claudius Geographia . Eng. trans. by E.L. Stevenson. New York, 1932.
Solinus, C. Julius Collectanea rerum memorabilium . Ed. by T. Mommsen. Berlin, 1895.
Strabo, Marcus Geographia. Eng. trans. by H.L. Jones. London, 1917–32.
Tacitus, Cornelius De vita et moribus Julii Agricolae . Eng. trans. by M. Hutton. London, 1914.
----. Germania . Eng. trans. by M. Hutton, London, 1914.
Yaqut, Ibn Geographical Dictionary . Ed. by C.B. de Maynard. Paris, 1871.
II. Secondary Material:
Babcock, W.H. Legendary Islands of the Atlantic : A Study in Mediaeval Geography. New York, 1922.
EA-History. Kimble: Early Mediterranean Views on Northlands - Bibliography, Cont'd.
Beazley, Sir Chas. R. The Dawn of Modern Geography . 3 Vols. London, 1897–1906.
Bunbury, Sir Edward A. A History of Ancient Geography . 2 Vols. London, 1879.
Cary, M. & Warmington, E.H. The Ancient Explorers . London, 1929.
Duhem, P. Le Syst e ^ è ^ me du mond . 5 Vols. Paris, 1913–17.
Hennig, R. Terrae Incognitae . 3 Vols. Berlin, 1938.
Hyde, W.W. Ancient Greek Mariners . Oxford, 1947.
Kimble, G.H.T. Geography in the Middle Ages . London, 1938.
Miller, K. Mappaemundi. die altesten weltkarten . 6 Vols. Stuttgart, 1895–8.
Nansen, F. In Northern Mists . 2 Vols. New York, 1911.
Nordenskiold, A.E. Facsimile Atlas to the Early History of Cartography . Stockholm, 1889.
----. Periplus. An Essay on the Early History of Charts and Sailing Directions . Stockholm, 1897.
Ravenstein, E.G. Martin Behaim: His Life and His Globe . London, 1908.
Sarton, G. Introduction to the History of Science . 3 Vols. Balti– more, 1927.
Stefansson, V. Ultima Thule . New York, 1944.
----. Greenland . New York, 1944.
Thomson, J.O. History of Ancient Geography . Cambridge, 1948.
Thorndike, L. History of Magic and Experimental Science . 6 Vols. New York, 1923–41.
Tozer, H.F. History of Ancient Geography . With notes by M. Cary. Cambridge, 1935.
Wright, J.K. Geographical Lore of the Time of the Crusades . New York, 1925.
Yule, Sir Henry & Cordier, H. Cathay and the Way Thither . 4 Vols. London, 1913–16.
George H. T. Kimble
Arctic Cartography. Part I. From Earliest Times to 1900
EA-History (Herman R. Friis)
ARCTIC CARTOGRAPHY
Contents
| Page | |
| Introduction .................................................................................................................... | 1 |
| Comments on Sources of Information ............................................................................. | 3 |
| The Period Prior to about 1900 ....................................................................................... | 4 |
| Cartography of the Arctic by Indigenous Peoples ........................................................... | 4 |
| Babylonian Period ............................................................................................................ | 7 |
| Greek Period .................................................................................................................... | 7 |
| Roman Period .................................................................................................................. | 12 |
| Cartography of Arctic during Period about A.D. 100 to A.D.1500 ................................... | 13 |
| The Renaissande of Maps about 1500 to 1700 ................................................................ | 33 |
| Selected Bibliography ...................................................................................................... | 55 |
EA-History (Herman R. Friis)
ARCTIC CARTOGRAPHY
Introduction
For centuries, indeed since Pytheas of Greece, in the fourth century B.C.,
led what probably was the first serious arctic expedition northward as far as
the Orkneys and there learned of the land called Thule six days nearer the
frozen seas, the Arctic has been recorded in text and not infrequently on
maps. But a record is only as good as its origin and the accuracy and clarity
with which it is compiled. Most maps of the Arctic compiled or produced prior
to the present century are open to serious question and many have been proven
wholly unreliable. Not that this necessarily condemns the veracity and good
intention of the cartographer. On the contrary, it is not he alone but more
the methods employed, the instruments used, and the required subservience of
the surveyor and cartographer to the over-all purpose of the expedition or
enterprise, as well as the unpredictable whims of the environment, that gave
rise to the continuous inequalities and now obvious inaccuracies in the maps.
If there is any excuse, it rightfully stems from the lack of experience in
and comprehension of the special requirements of surveying and mapping of
the Arctic.
Until recently, man's ventures into the Arctic meant complete isolation,
an uncertainty as to the route followed, and a nearly complete dependence upon
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Car [: ] ography
the resources of his immediate environment, which, because of his lack of understanding, often led to near or actual disaster. Mapping in such circum– stances as these could not be planned in advance as a sustained program of systematic coverage locale by locale, and region by region. More often than not surveys were made from a ship's deck or on a rapid sledge journey the main objective of which was a daring traver [: ] e or a search for new lands. Consequently erroneous conclusions were [: ] rawn, visibility being deceptive, instruments unreliable and unsuitable, and fatigue of the observer not in– frequently obscuring the real situation. Yet it is remarkable that so much generally correct information has been exacted.
Maps of the Arctic, in its entirety as well as its minute segments,
being a product of a multiplicity of elements and corresponding sources of
information, are only as accurate as the degree of reliability of their origin.
Compiled as they are from numerous sources of varying degrees of reliability,
the cartographer must, if accuracy is to be achieved, have a complete fund of
sources, experience and sound judgment. Unfortunately for maps of the Arctic
this has not until recently been possible; hence our view of the Arctichas has
not been without its penumbras, and, in fact, until nearly the nineteenth
century much of the Arctic was a product of fancy and, on the part of map
compilers, reflected a reliance on descriptive texts rather than factual
field observations. Yet it is surprising how many fanciful concepts proved
out, as, for example, the continuous search for the Northeast and Northwest
Passages, these being indicated on maps long before they actually had been
identified and mapped.
The following discussion is restricted almost entirely to (1) topographic
(including planimetric and hypsometric) maps, (2) hydrographic (planimetric and
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
bathymetric) maps, and (3) general large-area or whole-Arctic maps.
Comments on Sources of Information
A considerable mass of widely scattered, often detailed and highly
descriptive, sources on surveying in and mapping of the Arctic awaits the
student interested in the subject. Unfortunately, however, a great many of
these sources are open to serious question. This is particularly true as
regards the period prior to about 1900. This of course is understandable
and is relatively common to the whole field of scholarship.
Cartographic sources on the North appear as individual maps embracing
all or part of the Arctic, or, extending beyond the intended important
middle-latitude portion of the map, the Arctic is included with other areas —
as, shown on maps in atlases, as maps in texts and similar publications, and
as reconstructions of lost maps. Modern large-scale maps such as hydrographic,
topographic, and aeronautical maps usually have a high degree of reliability
and appear as a series or set compiled on the basis of well-defined standards
[:
]
quite in contrast to nearly all maps of the period prior to the twentieth
century.
During the period from about the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries
information on new discoveries was not immediately made available, such infor–
mation being withheld in order to prevent its falling into the hands of
another country's or company's interest. Consequently maps compiled and
published at essentially the same time but by different individuals and in
different countries were frequently in contradiction as to what they delineated.
Then, too, maps were sometimes compiled to prove a theory, or parts of maps
were fancied in order to appear more complete. Why so-called reliable primary
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
map compilers such as Mercator, Ortelius, Hondius, Van Kenlen, and others of the "Age of Great Discoveries" committed themselves to occasional wild miscarriages of known facts is at once apparent when one considers the needs and the often contradictory results of ventures into the same Arctic.
The following discussion does not attempt to examine the relative
reliability of each map nor to disregard those wholly lacking in accuracy,
which of course would mean deletion of most of the maps. Rather, it is an
attempt to describe the status of knowledge of the Arctic as expressed in
maps throughout recorded history. The selective bibliography at the end of
this discussion will give the reader the clue to many of the sources.
PART I. THE PERIOD PRIOR TO ABOUT 1900
Cartography of the Arctic by Indigenous Peoples
Explorers in the Arctic seeking directional information have long been
impressed by the almost uncanny ability of many of the natives, such as the
Eskimos, the North American Indians, and peoples of northeastern Asia, in
the graphic representation of the terrain of a region. How long this ability
of cartographic expression has been common to them it would of course be im–
possible to say. However, since it is a characteristic of natives who had
not mastered reading and writing, we can conclude that it was a medium of
expression common to many peoples and must therefore date far back into
prehistory.
Adler, in his comprehensive study
Karty piervobytnyh narordov
(Maps of
primitive peoples), treats the subject in considerable detail.
Jochelson, in his description of the natives of northeastern Asia,
EA-History: Friis: Arctic Cartography
remarks on their ability to determine their bearings by the relative position of the sun and by the stars at night. Several specimens of maps prepared by the Chukchi of the Anadyr District include slabs of wood (driftwood) upon which in reindeer blood has been drawn the delta of the Anadyr. Included as elements of the terrain are the meandering course of the river and its complex delta structure, vegetation adjoining the river, fords, hunting grounds, and inhabited sites. Significantly, the river is shown between two parallel lines. Other native peoples of the area, such as the Yakuts and Samoyeds, used but a single line. Adler's reproduction of maps prepared by the Tungus indicate their skill in the sketching of maps on birch bark, showing with particular accuracy the area known at first hand by the maker, this area usually being the central portion of the map, the degree of accuracy of the map generally being increasingly less toward the margins. Orientation is in relation to the prevailing line of flow of the main river on the map. The use of the compass to these people, even at the beginning of this century, was not generally known, but when it was shown to them they readily recognized its merits and became relatively proficient in its use.
Perhaps no natives of the Arctic are as prolific and accurate in the
preparation of maps as are the Eskimos. Numerous accounts of explorers and
travelers, including Parry, Beechey, Boaz, Nelson, Rink, Flaherty, and Hall,
praise the remarkable abilities of the Eskimos in this respect. Flaherty in
1910 found that the Eskimo Wetalltok's map of the Belcher Islands, covering
several thousand square miles drawn on the back of an old missionary litho–
graph, was surprisingly like that of the modern surveyed map of the same region.
The Eskimos of the east coast of Greenland used driftwood upon which to
carve relief models of a particular area, often of the coast, showing the
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
precise relationship of the fjords, the valleys and hills, and especially the routes to and from hunting grounds and settlements.
Andree in his
Ethnographische Parallelen
describes and r
[:
]
produces a
map drawn with a pencil in 1850 by the Eskimo Kalliherna, showing the shore
line from Cape York northward to Pikierlu with surprising accuracy. Boas,
during his stay on Baffin Island, had frequent occasion to invite the
Eskimos to draw maps for him, many of which he commended as notably accurate
and skillfully showing the delineation of the coast line, especially the
fjords and many islands within them, elevated portions of land often being
ø
^
i
^
ndicated by hatchings.
The Eskimo's natural response to a geographical question is to draw a
map in the sand or snow, using a stick. So, to Beechey's location request,
the Eskimo sketched a coast line dividing it into equal lengths, each repre–
senting a day's march. Hills were indicated by heaps of sand and stones,
an island was shown by a mound of pebbles, the finished product being a
relief model.
Vilhjalmur Stefansson summarized these characteristics well when he said:
"...These Eskimo maps are likely to be good if you interpret them
rightly. Here are some of the points:
"They are more likely to have the right number of curves in a
river and the right shape of the curves than the proper distance
scale. They are most likely to emphasize the things that are of
importance to themselves; for instance, portages they have to
cross are of more significance to them than mountains that stand
to one side...
"Primitive men are likely to confuse the time scale with the
mileage scale - after a ten-day journey of say six hours each
day, they are likely to dot these camps at equal intervals,
although, because of bett
[:
]
r going, they may have made twice the
average distance one day and half the average another." (E. Raisz:
General Cartography
, p.9.)
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
Babylonian Period
Perhaps the earliest extant map of the world including or implying
the existence of an Arctic is that of the clay tablet which dates from about
the fifth century B.C. and is of Babylonian origin. On this table the world,
or cosmos, is inscribed, bearing these primary characteristics: a disc–
shaped earth encircled by the Earthly Ocean or Bitter River, Seven Islands
each described in detail and placed equidistantly in the Earthly Ocean, and
the north indicated at the top. Significantly, the fifth island, due north
at the top of the tablet map, is submerged in total darkness and described as
a land where one sees nothing and the sun is not visible, information probably
acquired from peoples in the Far North by way of the trade route connections.
The concept of the earth as a disc with an encircling ocean and included
islands (one of which often was named Thule or Tule) extended well into the
Christian era.
The Babylonians appear to have been responsible for the division of the
circle into degrees, for making some of the first large-scale maps, and,
significantly, for the use of north at the top of maps as a means of orien–
tation.
Greek Period
The Greeks set the stage and wrote the script for the first scene in
recorded history which not only describes an Arctic and plots it on maps
but, by virtue of scientific calculations in astronomy, proved its existence
and to a degree corroborated the evidence which had been gaining in volume
along the trade routes connecting the Mediterranean with the Baltic, especially
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
Russia, Scandinavia, and Germany. The Greek astronomers, observing the relationship of the constellations in the heavens and noting their paths, concluded (about 300 B.C.) that the earth must be a sphere and that the limit of the stars that were visible could be determined by a circle drawn through the constellation of the Great Bear, which they called Arktos, the limit being called the Bear's or Arctic Circle.
The basis of our present-day system of cartography is largely a pro–
duct of the Greek period, the achievements of which were of such magnitude
that they were not surpassed until about the sixteenth century. Among these
accomplishments are the recognition of the earth as a sphere, with its tropics,
equator, and poles (or frigid zones); a projection as the framework upon which
to construct the map; a remarkably close approximation of the size of the
earth; and the grid system of determining place by longitude and latitude.
Unfortunately the maps prepared by the early Greeks are lost, but suffi–
ciently detailed descriptions were left to posterity for fairly accurate
reconstruction to be possible.
Herodotus, who lived in the fifth century B.C., was widely traveled and
an avid searcher for fact. It was he who first recognized, named, and des–
cribed the three continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa, as enclosing the
Mediterranean basin, and expressly remarked that knowledge was not advanced
sufficiently to state whether the northern part of Europe an Asia was sur–
rounded by water or not.
In the second half of the fourth century B.C. Pytheas of Marseille,
using a simple sundial, calculated the latitude of his native town with an
error of only 14
^
′
^
. In addition he noted the relationship of tides to lunar
influence, and demonstrated that the true celestial pole could not be the
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
Pole Star. These achievements were a prelude to his remarkable scientific voyage of exploration to Britain, where he learned of Thule, "a land six days north where the three fundamental elements, Water, Earth and Air, lose their identity and merge into each other..." (E. Raisz: General Cartography , p. 17). Pytheas' Thule thereafter appears on Greek and Roman maps as an island in the seas beyond the continental masses, usually in the North or Arctic; it con– tinued to be so designated but never positively identified or consistently repeated in the same location on maps for more than 1800 years. Whether Thule referred to Scandinavia, Iceland, or the Arctic generally, is still conjectural. Pytheas' original account, which has been lost, apparently was in the nature of a series of successive astronomic observations with critical remarks.
Eratosthenes of Cyrene (276–196 B.C.), head of the Library of Alexandria
and a leading geographer, not only measured the circumference of the earth with
surprising accuracy but prepared a map of the habitable world, based on seven
parallels and seven meridians, which he concluded occupied less than a quarter
of the terraqueous surface. He recognized his indebtedness to Pytheas for
his knowledge of the North by naming his northernmost line of latitude the
parallel of Thule. The island of Thule was placed just to the northeast of
Britain, just under the Arctic Circle, which he calculated to be 66°9
^
′
^
North
latitude. The northern coast of Europe and Asia, though not indicated with
certainty, is noted as being below the parallel of Thule.
Hipparchus, during the second century B.C., developed and introduced a
division of the earth into 360° of longitude and latitude, prepared a con–
tinuous table of latitudes for various known localities north to Thule,
developed the conic projection, and devised the astrolabe.
It appears likely that the grammarian Crates of Mallus (ca. 150 B.C.)
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
constructed the first terrestrial globe, which he [: ] ivided into quadrants, placing the oikoumene or habitable part in one and ^ a ^ balancing continent in each of the others, as if anticipating the Americas and Antarctica, thus giving rise to the legendary Antipodes or Terra Australis. The Atlantic Ocean is shown extending as a wide watery belt around the earth through the poles.
The elder Pliny (23–79 A.D.) in his classic work
Historia naturales
includes detailed descriptions of the North, particularly the Orkneys,
Hebrides, north coast of Asia, Scandinavia, and the British Isles. He
speaks of two promontories, which he calls Scyticum and Tabin, projecting
northward from Asia. Pliny was in agreement with Strabo (first century
B.C.-A.D.) that records showed that wherever men had penetrated to the outer
limits of the earth they had met with the ocean.
Marinus of Tyre (ca. 90–130 A.D.), an older contemporary of Claudius
Ptolemy, prepared a map of the world in which he included or indicated the
longitude and latitude of each place shown. He locates the northern limit
of the
oikoumene
at the island of Thule, latitude 63° North and, as he
computes it, 31,500 stadia from the equator. This map was compiled from
a vast fund of sources including itineraries and journal accounts of all
sorts. Though the map is lost, it achieved significance because it served
as a basis for Ptolemy's remarkable contributions.
Greek cartography reached its fruition in the works of Claudius Ptolemy
(90–168 A.D.) but almost immediately was neglected by the Romans who were
preoccupied with nonscientific interests and the philosophical requirements
of the early Christian era. In fact, it lapsed into oblivion until the
fourteenth century when its rediscovery contributed mightily to the opening
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of the era of great discoveries. Ptolemy's position of distinction in Alexandria with its many resources of learning, made possible the compila– tion of his two great works, the Almagest and the Geographia , which includes references to the Arctic. The maps he compiled to accompany these texts, particularly the latter, are in reality the prototypes of nearly all geo– graphical atlases published since the invention of printing. His "atlas" of 27 maps and their related extensive text include several maps with information about the Arctic. His map of the world was constructed on a conic projection with equidistant parallels, the conical surface having been developed around the earth's axis and passing through the parallels of Rhodes and Thule.
On his map of the world the northern coast of Europe takes on a more
definite shape than heretofore. The British Isles are laid down with
identifiable configuration and, as he notes, with much new information.
As for Thule, he gives it rather small extent, removing it south from the
Arctic Circle to about 63° and northeast of the British Isles, perhaps
because he accepted the reports of Agricola's fleet having a sighted Thule
north of the Orkneys. In his eighth book of the
Geographia
he notes that
"Thule has the largest day of twenty hours, and is distant west from
Alexandria two hours." Beyond the north coast and islands of Europe extends
a vast continuous ocean, an extension of the Atlantic. The northern boundary
of the continent of Asia ext
[:
]
nds to the edge of the map in the latitude of
Thule, Ptolemy contending that the lack of accurate information about these
areas precludes noting the shore line beyond.
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
Roman Period
Maps of the Roman period, such as they were, reflected the general
apathy of the Romans to the whole field of science. Characteristically they
were content to accept the Greek map pretty much as it was. Being practical
people, certainly much less imaginative, they expressed little interest in
abstract theories. Their energies were largely expended in administrative
and military conquest and consequently they were interested in a practical
map for use in administration. Often in complete disregard of the elaborate
projection maps of the Greeks the Romans reverted to the disc-shaped map of
the Ionian geographers. Within this circular frame the Romans shaped their
maps. The three great continents, Asia, Europe, and Africa, and their
related islands and embayments were arranged rather symmetrically around
the center of the circle which was the Mediterranean Sea. Asia usually was
at the top or east, this giving rise to the term "orientation." Most of the
land area delineated the extent of the Roman Empire and, disproportionately
smaller, the remainder of the land surface of the
orbis terrarum
.
No contemporary maps appear to have survived, though fairly accurate
reconstructions have been made. Generally these maps show the north (arctic–
facing) coast
[:
]
of Asia and Europe as a slightly irregular arc of the outer
circle of the continental land masses, beyond which extends the unmarked
and unknown sea. It is important to note, however, that on some there is a
semblance of a peninsula indicative of Scandinavia, east of which is an island
named Thule and west of the peninsula the British Isles.
Records indicate that maps of the world were prepared in Imperial Rome
and pasted in appropriate places for the benefit of the public. One of these,
constructed on orders of Agrippa and Agustus Caesar, was posted in Portious
EA-History: Friis: Arctic Cartography
Octaviae. Caesar's invasion of Britain in 55–45 B.C. made available much fresh information about the North but relatively little about the Arctic, except his reference to the islands north of Britain where there was a month of unbroken night at the winter solstice.
One of the best examples of Roman cartography, though in reality it is
a cartogram, is the so-called
Tabula Peutingeriana
, which shows the main
routes and provinces of the Roman Empire but without reference to the Arctic.
Cartography of Arctic during Period about A.D. 100 to A.D. 1500.
Moslem (Arabic) cartography and the Arctic
: The spread of Moselm con–
quest to the Indies and west through the Mediterranean and into Spain in the
seventh century was reflected to a great extent in their advances in geography
and cartography. They accepted and kept alive the traditions and intellectual
accomplishments of the Greeks, particularly in the science of geography.
Their extensive trading forays ultimately brought them to the east coast of
China where they established and maintained colonies as far north as Shanghai.
In the west they extended their contacts to the west coast of Africa and the
north and west coast of Europe, and to some extent into northern Russia; then,
too, the potential fund of information was greater than in previous periods.
A copious literature developed, particularly from the ninth century through
the whole of the Middle Ages.
Their perhaps rather hazy ideas about the North were derived originally
from the Greeks and augmented by information gleaned in their widespread
commercial and seagoing activities, particularly in Europe and Russia. The
Moslems bridged the gap and maintained the advance of cartographic and geo–
graphic knowledge between the decline of the Greek civilization and the rise
EA-History: Friis: Arctic Geography
of the Italian and Portuguese in the fourteenth century.
In 982–3 there was compiled in Afghanistan a unique manuscript called
Hudad al- Alam
or the
Regions of the World
. It is remarkable that the author
in this remote part of the Moslem world should be aware of the Arctic. He
affirms that
"The Earth is round as a sphere and the firmament enfolds it
turning on two poles ... of which one is the North Pole and
the other the South Pole ... North of the Equator the inhabited
lands stretch for 63 degrees; farther on the animals cannot live
in view of the intensity of the cold that prevails there up to
the North Pole."
Perhaps the most important contribution of Moslem cartography is expressed
in that of Edrisi, who in 1154 in the court of Roger II, the Norman king of
Sicily, completed a world map based largely on Ptolemy but with significant
changes particularly in the northern countries. His information was derived
from numerous Moslem and Christian sources. In addition to this world map he
prepared seventy maps and a detailed description of the world. Edrisi's map
of the world shows the inhabited part as lying in the northern hemisphere,
this being divided into seven
climata
extending from the equator to 64° North
latitude, beyond which all is uninhabited because of the cold and snow.
Beyond the continents is the Dark Sea Oceanus, the so-called uttermost
encircling waters which form the outer limits of the world. Edrisi notes
that in this sea west of Africa and north and west of Europe probably are as
many as 27,000 islands. In his representation of the north and west of Europe
he closely approximates the Anglo-Saxon map of the world.
The Moslems, particularly the Arabs, were largely responsible for the
preparation of pilot charts and
[:
]
manuals, nautical charts skin to the
portolano. To them also is due, perhaps, the introduction of the magnetic
compass into Europe. These and other skills in the science of navigation
EA-History: Friis: Arctic Cartography
had been transferred to the Italians and the Portuguese probably by the fourteenth century.
Chinese Cartography and the Arctic:
As in many elements of culture
so in cartography the Chinese developed quite independently of the Western
World. It is significant to note, however, that there were degrees of
resemblance. There can be little doubt that the Chinese were aware of
the North, perhaps even the Arctic proper, as early as the beginning of
the Christian era for at an early date maps of the world were constructed,
more stereographic and disproportionate than later on, showing China occu–
pying the center and most extensive area of the map, the so-called "Foreign
Lands" being scattered about the periphery with little regard to their proper
areal relationship.
The Chinese concept of the earth as a disc or flat surface with China
in the center was well developed by Pei Haiu, the father of Chinese cartography
who lived during the period A.D. 224 to 273. During the period of this car–
tographer's activity maps were made covering the area from Persia to Japan
and into present-day Asiatic Russia. Multiple copies of maps were made
after the invention of paper in about A.D. 100. Perhaps the most significant
map of this early period is Chia Tau's
Map of China and Foreign Countries
within the Seas
, prepared about 801, measuring some 33 x 30 feet in size.
Unfortunately, this map has not survived.
By the sixteenth century, when the Jesuit missionaries arrived in China,
the mass of cartographic sources was sufficient to make possible the pro–
duction of an atlas of China and a map of the world. Apparently, the
EA-History: Friis: Arctic Cartogr [: ] phy
Southern European cartography and the Arctic to about 1400
: Claudius
Ptolemy ended an era of remarkable progress in the delineation of the
broad outlines of th
[:
]
lands of the earth. He had no Roman or Greek successors,
other than the copyists and commentators, history and geography as arts and
science being rapidly replaced by Judaeo-Christian cosmography. With the
collapse of the Roman Empire by the fifth century, the culture that was
Greece and Roma gave way to elements that dipped far back into antiquity.
The Babylonian concept of the earth as a vast insular mass surrounded by an
extensive watery waste was revived and served as a basis for most of the maps
maps. How these developed and what they portrayed may conveniently be dis–
cussed as the products of Mediterranean or southern Europe of the products of
northern Europe; in many ways they are similar, but in others remarkably
different.
This period for southern European cartography may be divided into two
parts: (1) from about A.D. 100 to A.D. 1200 during which diagrammatic or
wheel-type maps were dominant, and (2) from about 1200 to 1400 during which
the portolanos and compass charts and other more accurate maps were developed.
Although practically all manuscripts dealing with geographical subjects
during the period about A.D. 100 to 1200 are lost, it would seem that maps
either were referred to in or were made to accompany the text; in fact, it
appears that some of the cosmographies and encyclopedias were compiled from
maps that are still extant. One group of maps, referred to as the "T-O,"
reflects an ideal pattern with emphasis on artistic and symbolical presen–
tation. The map is usually a circle with an included "T" dividing the
EA-History: Friis: Arctic Cartography
circle into three segments, Asia usually in the upper portion and Europe and Africa in the two lower compartments. East is at the top of the map. In some instances islands are included in the margin beyond the continent of Asia and Europe, perhaps indicating an awareness of an Arctic. Many of these maps are found in codices illustrating the writings of Isidore, Bede, Raban Maur, and others in the early part of the eighth century.
The Saltust group of maps probably originated with the eighth century
priest Beatus in northern Spain who, in writing a commentary on the
Apocalypse
, prepared a map of the world dividing it among the twelve
apostles, each in the locality where tradition fixed his diocese. Funda–
mentally these maps were probably based on the
Orbis Terrarum
of the Romans
though with modifications to fit special needs. On the Beatus series, as
well as on Lambert's mappemonde, the British Isles and isles beyond and in
the circumferential ocean are inscribed as more or less regularly spaced,
small, oval, round, or even rectangular block figures with little regard to
precise relationships, the Arctic comprising that unknown island-dotted
circumambient ocean. Some maps, such as those by Henry of Mayence, indented
the outline of the continents and inserted the islands in the appropriate
recesses in the shores to give a smooth curving shape to the continent. On
the St. Sever Beatus map the island of Ireland lies off the coast of Spain.
A third group of maps, though they are in reality pseudo-maps, are
patterned after Macrobius' division of the earth's surface into climata or
zones. These date from about the ninth century. Copies of these appear in
Lambert's
Liber floridus
, William of Conche's
De philosophia mundi
, and John
of Hollywood's
De sphaera.
Actually this type of map, because it divided
the earth into zones and alluded to the Poles, served to keep alive the theory
EA-History: Friis: Arctic Cartography
of sphericity. Generally it was believed and usually so indicated that the polar caps were frigid, as is noted in Bernard Sylvester's De mundi universitate , and therefore uninhabited. The author of De imago mundi notes that the polar zone is called septentrionalis. In the geographical treatises of this period very elaborate and often logical discussions are found as to the celestial poles, and the placing of the Arctic and the Antarctic Circles. It is significant that a map of the world prepared by one Henry, canon of the Church of St. Mary in Mayence, in the year 1110, includes the island of Thule.
It is interesting to note that during this period the many geographical
descriptions of the earth often include mention of the Arctic, sometimes
in detail as did, for instance, an anonymous Ravennese geographer of the
middle of the seventh century. He says that "beyond the northern ocean are
mighty mountains placed by command of God. These make day and night by
forming a screen behind which the sun and moon disappear." He notes that
in "the northern ocean itself after the land of the Roxolani, in an island
called Scanya, which is also called Scythia."
During this period, to about 1200, there were intermittent forays or
mercantile ventures into northern Europe, and vice versa, so that occasional
contact was maintained by which knowledge of the Arctic did trickle into
southern Europe.
When the compass, simply fashioned as it was, came into general use in
the Mediterranean in the thirteenth century, particularly on Italian ships,
a new and remarkable type of map was brought into existence, the so-called sea
or compass chart. In a parallel fashion the ancient periplus was developed
into a highly detailed and useful portolano. Usually the sea charts gave a
EA-History: Friis: Arctic Cartography
surprisingly accurate delineation particularly of the shores. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries an increasing number of these charts were prepared showing in surprising detail and with remarkable accuracy the coast and islands of northern Europe. These maps represent a sharp departure from the wheel or disc maps so common to this period and partake more of reality. Gradually the image of the Arctic is shown. Thule, often as "Tille," a round island, is located off the northeast coast of Scotland. The place names appear to be fundamentally the same in origin. One of the first compass charts of the north, by a Genoese priest, Giovanni da Carignana (ca. 1344), gives a careful delineation of the British Isles, the Orkneys, Scandinavia, and the Baltic, though the area of the Arctic proper is beyond the compass lines. The North delineated in portolanos probably was derived from information and sketches obtained by Mediterranean skippers and their trade with the Hanseatic ports of northern Europe, especially after about 1275.
One of the first evidences, perhaps the beginning, of the mapping of the
Atlantic is found in Marino Sanuto's map of about 1306. During the period 1318
to 1321 Sanuto prepared his
Liber secretorum fidelium crucis
to stimulate
enthusiasm for a new crusade. Several maps are attached to this work apparently
drawn by Pietro Vesconte in 1320. One of these is a map of the world which
shows the coast as derived from compass charts, Scandinavia being a peninsula.
Nordenskiöld observes that he has been unable to find Iceland delineated and
marked in a single portolano for the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,
though of course various islands are placed north of Scotland on Dulcert's
map of 1339.
A map compiled in Modena in about 1350 blends a Catalan compass chart
with a "wheel map" to form a map of the world with several new features included
EA-History: Friis: Arctic Cartography
for the Arctic. Iceland is said to appear in a unit of eight islands in the northwest near the margin of the map, the southernmost island being named "Islanda." North of Norway extends the mare putritum congelatum (the putrid frozen sea).
The famous Catalan atlas published in 1375 includes a map of Asia
which likely was drawn after information of Marco Polo, giving some des–
cription of present-day Siberia, though nowhere definitely corroborating
the general thesis that Asia fronts to the sea on the north. His accounts
of hunters of white bears may indicate that hunters had reached the Polar
Sea. On the world map in the atlas, islands are delineated north of Scotland.
In 1203 a Beatus type of world map was issued in Osma, Spain, and includes
"Scada insula," (Scandinavia) as an island, by the North Pole. The "Orcades"
and the "Gorgades" are placed in the Arctic near the northeast coast of Asia.
Further confusion of the Arctic is found in Ranulph Hygden's map of the world in
the early part of the fourteenth century, for on this map Scandinavia is placed
in Asia, islands in the ocean above northern Europe are named "Norwegia,"
"Islandia," "Witland," "Tile" (Thule), and "Dacia" (Denmark), "gens bellicosa"
lying near the North Pole. Several statements about the Arctic are written
on the map.
In the last decade of the fourteenth century (1380 or 1390), if we are
to believe the journal and map published in 1558, the brothers Nicolo and
Antonio Zeno were exploring in the Arctic. The map of Greenland and the
Arctic which they are purported to have drawn is surprising in its accuracy
and detail, and if it was, indeed, drawn in 1380 or 1390, it marked a startling
change in the concept of the Arctic. The authenticity of these documents
having been doubted, we will discuss them later on, for the date of their
publication, 1558.
EA-History: Friis: Arctic Cartography
Northern European cartography and the Arctic to about 1400:
Knowledge
of the Arctic accumulated by the peoples in northern Europe was of course
acquired from numerous different sources, some first hand, much of it by
word of mouth, as through sagas. In some instances it was accomulated,
sifted, and recorded in text particularly in the monasteries and other
centers of learning. To know just when the first map of the Arctic was
compiled in northern Europe is perhaps less important than to disouss how
and by what channels the information flowed and ultimately reached the
culture centers of southern Europe to be added to their maps of the world.
There appears little reason to doubt that even before Pytheas' remarkable
voyage into the North the Vikings had carried on forays along the coasts
of northern Europe, ventures into the North Sea and possibly to northern
Norway, and into the Baltic and Russia. They had therefore first-hand
information. By A.D. 1000 they had pushed far across to the west by way
of the Orkneys, Shetlands, Iceland to Greenland, and ultimately North America.
As early probably as about 455 these roving Eruli, perhaps in company with
Saxon pirates, penetrated the Mediterranean to Lucca in Italy. The sweep
of the earth's surface that thereby was made available to the map compilers
and geographers of the Mediterranean was considerable. Details of the many
expeditions and the areas of discoveries are given elsewhere.
As Christianity spread into northern Europe and monasteries were estab–
lished and priests of the Church were stationed and traveled in such remote
places as Greenland, Iceland, and Norway, a wonderful trove of valuable,
descriptive information about these lands was recorded and sent on through
channels to the Vatican; had these reports been properly appraised and
effectively appreciated by cartographers in Italy, the maps produced up to
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
the sixteenth century had far greater accuracy and more completeness.
One of the first maps produced in northern Europe probably was the
Cotton or Anglo-Saxon map. It is perhaps well to examine briefly several
of the sources on the Arctic or North available in northern Europe prior
to this production.
Beda Venerabilis (673–735) an Anglo-Saxon monk and scholar, influenced
by the writings of Isidore of Seville, produced
Liber de natura rerum
in
which he not only recognized the sphericity of the earth but describes the
then known lands, though there is little about the Arctic. In about 825
the Irish monk Dicuil in his work
De mensura orbis Terrae
, a description of
the earth, includes an account of the voyages of the Irish monks northward
into the Arctic to Iceland, which he calls Thule, and says that they lived
there. He comments that "consequently I believe that they [Pliny, Solinus,
Isidore, and Prisoianus] lie and are in error who wrote that there was a
stiffened [
concretum
] sea around it [Thule]..." His remarks as to the
Irish discovery of Iceland appear to be confined in the Icelandic Saga
Are Fr
o
^
ø
^
de
(about 1130) for it says in part "There were Christians here whom
the Norwegians called 'papar' [priests]". In about 875 Ingolf, a jarl of
Norway, arrived in Iceland with Norse settlers.
So it was that a great of information was available about the North,
which perhaps prompted the visionary King Alfred the Great (about 879–901)
to prepare not only for the edification of his people but for future geographers
a translation of Paulus Orosius' (a fifth century Spanish priest)
Historiarum
adversus paganos libri VII
in Anglo-Saxon. However, discovering that Orosius'
description of the North was wholly inadequate, he added what his own sources
made available. Perhaps his most important contribution in this respect was
his description and narrative account of the remarkable expedition of Ottar
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
(or Ohthere) along the coast of Norway and north and east into the White Sea, thereby determining the nature and delineation of Scandinavia on the north, the location of North Cape, the Polar or Barents Sea, and the White Sea. So exact is this account that his course can be plotted.
The so-called Cotton or Anglo-Saxon map of the world may have been pre–
pared as early as the tenth century. This is one of the most interesting,
certainly one of the most accurate world maps of the Medieval period. It
delineates with comparative fullness the regions not often included on maps
of the period. The Arctic is represented by the island of "islands" (Iceland?)
the first instance of such specific reference rather than Thule - though of
course the map may be post Adam of Bremen.
By the year A.D. 1000 exceedingly remarkable achievements had taken place
in the Arctic, yet apparently few of these had been recorded in maps. Iceland
and then Greenland had been explored and settled by the Norse, and it is thought
Bjarni Herjulfson, swept off his course to Greenland, probably touched North
America before turning back. Again, in about 1000, North America was reached
by Leif Erikssen. Accompanying the Norse to Iceland and to Greenland was a
Christian (Catholic) priest, thereby establishing a direct link in information
about the Arctic with the Vatican and several northern European bishoprics.
At this point it is well to recall several close ties between the Vatican
and the Arctic at about this time. Isl
[:
]
iv, the first native Bishop of Iceland,
educated in Saxony, who had first-hand information about Greenland, ultimately
(1056?) visited Pope Leo in Rome. Cardinal Nicolas of Albano, later Pope
Hadrian IV, lived in Norway from 1154 to 1159. The Danes, during the period
1189 to 1193, were on a crusade to the Holy Land and thereby spread informa–
tion about the Arctic. In about 1204, Ion, Biship of Greenland, journeyed
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
to Rome, and about the middle of that century, Olaf, Bishop of Greenland, and the Papal Legate, William of Sabina, met in the Court of the King of Norway. The Icelandic Abbot Nicholas of Thingeyre (1159), perhaps the first geographical authority on the Norse discoveries in America, is the author of an itinerary of information about the North as well as other regions. There is some evidence to indicate that the early portolanos and compass charts of the North probably owe much of their origin to sources such as these.
Perhaps the earliest mention of Greenland and Wineland in literature is
by Adam of Bremen in his great work
Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum
in four books, the last of which recites the geography of the North, much of
the information appearing to stem from contemporary sources. Axel A. Bj
o
^
ø
^
rnbo,
in his
Cartographic Groenlandica
, has constructed a cartogram illustrative of
Adam of Bremen's descriptive information. This shows "Island" (Iceland),
"Gronland" (Greenland), and "Winland" (America ?) along the northern edge of
the "oceanus septentrionalis" which is the sea intervening between those
islands and the northern coast of Scandinavia and Russia. To the right
beyond "Winland" is the "ultimus axis septentrionalis" (North Pole ?) sur–
rounded by the "oceanus calligans."
According to Icelandic sources, Norse voyagers and hunters explored the
east and west coasts of Greenland; an account in the
Landnamabok
notes a
voyage recorded by Halldor, a priest in Greenland, probably as far north
as Baffin Bay in 1267.
On the Beatus-type map of Henry of Mayence (or Mainz), about 1110,
Iceland, Norway, and the northern or poleward coast of Asia are shown. Maps
of this period of the Beatus-type include fabulous countries "Iperbria" in
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
the north as peninsulas or islands, though neither Greenland nor Iceland appears.
Among the Icelandic manuscripts of this period have been found a zone
map of the thirteenth century, one of the fourteenth century, and a wheel-map
of the twelfth century. These have place names but not well-defined coast
Lines.
Toward the latter part of the twelfth century there was compiled by Saxe
Grammaticus a strangely heterogeneous work, a combination of mythology and
accurate observations, Book One of which includes a description of northern
Europe and the Arctic as well as islands beyond the Atlantic. Saxo did not
doubt the peninsular character of Scandinavia and was convinced that the sea
extended east around the north of Norway to a curved shore of Gandvic, or the
White Sea.
The Medician Marine Atlas was completed in about 1351. The North on the
Medici map depicts the northernmost part of Norway as a long slender peninsula
curving in a southwest direction. Some authorities, notably Nansen, have
reasoned that it is from this source that Clavus, in 1427 and later, derived
his Greenland. On the Medici map Iceland is not identified as such though a
large island northwest of Scotland is named "Sillant."
A franciscan, Franciscus a Sancta Clara, notes (in his book printed in
about 1500) that one Nicholas of Lynn in his
Inventio fortunata
described a
North with whirlpools from latitude 53° to the North Pole. It is related
that Nicholas of Lynn, navigator and mathematician, probably in 1355 or 1360,
made a voyage into the arctic region and that as a product he prepared a
descriptive, certainly fantastic, statement which, significantly, was utilized
by Ruysch on his map of 1508 and later by Mercator. Navigating by compass
but apparently without knowledge of declination, Nicholas of Lynn, locates
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
large islands in the vicinity of the Pole separated by narrow straits, one of the first descriptive remarks about the high latitudes.
Ptolemy, Claudius Clavus, and the period of transition in cartographic
techniques (about 1400–1500)
: The fifteenth century was a period of remarkable
transition in the history of cartography of the Arctic and may be characterized
by the following developments in their approximate chronological sequence:
1. The rediscovery of Claudius Ptolemy's
Geographia
and accompanying maps,
and its translation from the Greek into the Latin text, broke as a bombshell
upon and rapidly reoriented the concept of the earth in Western scholarship.
2. The invention of engraving on wood and copper and of printing made mul–
tiple copies, hence wide distribution, of maps possible. 3. The completion
of the map of the northern (Arctic) regions by Claudius Clavus, probably in
1424, placed emphasis on more than a fancied region. 4. The creation of the
Portuguese school of cartography and navigation and its sponsorship
[:
]
by
Prince Hnery the Navigator revitalized scientific geography and stimulated
overseas voyages of discoveries. 5. The phenomenally rapid acceptance of
the concept of the earth's sphericity, largely because of Ptolemy, led to
the era of great voyages and map production. 6. The compilation of maps of
the world, many of them including the "new North" was based more on reasoned
and factual information than on fancy.
Emanuel Chrysoloras, a Byzantine scholar with a passion for promoting
the diffusion of Greek literature in the Western World, was largely respon–
sible for encouraging one of his pupils, Jacobus Angelus, to complete a
Latin translation of Ptolemy's
Geographia
about 1415. This translation,
and the reproduction of the maps particularly, stimulated a revolution in
map making and may be said to have laid the foundation for modern cartography.
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
To Claudius Clausson Swart (a Danish cleric more commonly called Claudius
Clavus) apparently falls the significant honor of having produced the first
generally accurate map of the northern regions, based to a large extent on
what for the period were considered factual sources of information. His
map probably was the first to include Greenland by name and was completed
during the period 1413–1427. It appears not to have been widely known. In
about 1428 the French Cardinal Filastre, while in Rome, prepared a reduced
version of this map and the related text and included these in his Latin
translation of Ptolemy's
Geographia
. Clavus's second map of the northern regions,
compiled somewhat later, had profound and far-reaching influence on the car–
tographical representation of the Arctic throughout a period of several
centuries. In the map, Clavus presents a new and revolutionary view, a
distinct departure from the cosmogony of the entire Middle Ages. In this
map Greenland is shown with a distinct west coast, and as a land mass extend–
ing crescent-wise in a broad sweep across the waters north of Europe between
Scandinavia and the North Atlantic Ocean. Clavus's Scandinavian origin, his
travels and duties as a dignitary of the Church with access to the records
of the Greenland and other northern bishoprics as well as of the Vatican,
gave him an unusual opportunity. Clavus shows Iceland with a fair degree of
accuracy as to location and delineation. His remarkably correct location of
the southern point and eastern coast of Greenland in relation to Iceland and
Norway probably stems from his knowledge of the sailing directions of the old
Norse seafarers. His representation of the northern part of Greenland as
extending eastward to Russia is probably based on persistent and fabulous
reports. On this map Clavus includes two scales of latitude, the one on the
west of Greenland is Ptolemy's, his own on the east of Greenland, is sur–
prisingly accurate especially for the south part of Greenland. In the text
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
of the second map the coordinate positions of some 133 places in Iceland, Greenland, and Scandinavia are given.
On an early fifteenth century Catalonian portolano of the North an
"illa verde" (green island) shaped as a parallelogram extending north-south
with the southern end forming an arc toward Europe, has been identified as
Greenland. Iceland is delineated on a map in Marino Sanudo's
Secreta fidelium
crucis
about 1420 and on La Salle's map in
La Salade
about 1440 as lying
northeast or north of Norway. In about 1447 a Genoese manuscript mappemonde
of the north was prepared and includes a peninsula with the name "Grinlandia"
north of the Scandinavian peninsula where Clavus's Greenland originates.
By the middle of the fifteenth century the Portuguese school of cartography
and navigation had achieved remarkable success and had
[:
]
eveloped or improved
on many new devices and methods in cartography and navigation. Among the
most important were the preparation of ocean charts, improvement in the design
of ships for long overseas voyages, coastal compass maps of surprising accuracy,
box compasses, tables of solar declination and polar-star altitude corrections
for use in determining latitude, and a growing awareness of the North. By the
end of the century many of these highly secret products had passed into the
hands of the English, Dutch, and others and aided in a major way in the initial
exploratory penetration of the Arctic.
During the latter half of the century some of the compass charts of Medi–
terranean origin included an island "Insula viridis" situated to the southwest
of Iceland, presumably a continuation of the idea nurtured by Nicholas of Lynn;
this occurs as the "green isle" on some maps as late as the 18th century.
The Camaldolese chart, a mappemonde, of Fra Mauro, completed in the
Convent of Murano near Venice in 1459, has been called the crowning achievement
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
of medieval draftsmanship, at once the last of the older type and the first of the new. It measures six feet four inches across and is very detailed. Europe is perhaps most accurately drawn, Russia and northeast Asia are exagger– ated, the Arctic as such being represented by several peninsulas extending north from Scandinavia and Russia.
Nicolaus Germanus, a Florentine craftsman of considerable ability, pro–
duced several remarkable maps of the Arctic regions in his editions of Ptolemy
in the 1460's. He appears to have redrawn Claudius Clavus's map on a trape–
zoidal projection of his own invention which gives Greenland a more oblique
position than on the Clavus or Medici maps. In his world map of 1466 he
surrounds Greenland by sea an the north, it thereby extending as a long and
narrow tongue of land from northern Russia. In subsequent editions of Ptolemy
he shortens this peninsula, making it a rounded mass to the north of Norway,
with the name "Engronelant," Iceland being moved out into the ocean to the
northwest.
Nordenskiöld's discovery of a map of the northern regions in the Zamoisky
Library in Warsaw in the late nineteenth century brings to light a remarkable
early (probably 1467) map of the Arctic, a prototype of subsequent maps
appearing in editions of Ptolemy. In broad delineation it is much like
earlier maps in Ptolemy, but with the exception that it includes a narrow
strait or channel, "Mare Gotticum," connecting the North Sea with the Baltic
in the vicinity of the Arctic Circle, thereby making Scandinavia an island.
On the northwest coast of Greenland are two frames of text, one
reaching
reading "Mare quod frequenter congelatum; Ultimus terminus terrae habitabilie."
This is a remarkable statement because not only was it true but there are
no records of voyages into the region prior to this date, though Solnus the
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Geography
Pole is said to have sailed this far in 1476. The place names on this map for Greenland and Iceland are strikingly identical to those on the Zeno map and the Ulm editions of Ptolemy for 1482 and 1486. Greenland, as the peninsula Gronlandis," is placed quite accurately and, interest– ingly, glaciers are shown. A second Greenland "Engronelant" appears in close proximity to Norway and under it the island of "Thile."
The World map of Nicolaus Germanus in 1474 represents an important
link in the chain supporting early Norse contacts in the Western Hemis–
phere. Six maps by this cartographer are extant, each delineating the North
Atlantic region prior to Columbus. This German humanist was not always
consistent, for on some of his maps he shows Greenland as a peninsula of
Europe west and north of Europe, and on others he locates Greenland east
of Iceland. The inclusion of many local place names on Greenland indicates
an intimate knowledge of the region.
Columbus, in his account in the
Historis del S. D. Fernando Colombo,
1571,
mentions having sailed a hundred leagues beyond the island of "Thyle"
and notes the heavy traffic carried on by the English of Bristol in this
region. At the time he was there, in February 1477, the sea was not frozen
and he corrects the Ptolemy map of the north by placing "Thyle" in
[:
]
73°
and not in 63°. It is quite probable that Columbus was acquainted with the
1486 edition of the Ptolemy map of the North showing Greenland as an exten–
sion of Europe and with two Icelands.
In 1489–90 there was completed the
Insularium illustratum Henrici Marteli
Germani
which, in addition to portraying the Arctic generally as a "terrae
incognitae," includes Greenland as a long slender peninsula extending south–
west from the northeastern edge of Europe.
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
The completion of the oldest extant terrestrial globe by the German cartographer, Martin Behaim in 1492, coincident with but not showing the discovery of the New World, was epochal so far as the Arctic is concerned. This twenty-inch globe is beautifully delineated, includes descriptive notes, and, significantly, shows an extensive area of water between Europe and Asia which is filled with islands in the area actually occupied by North America. Asia appears to have been derived from Marco Polo of the thirteenth century. Northwest of Scotland is a large island called "Ijsland" upon which is inscribed a yellow standard with three [: ] Danish leopards. Apparently Behaim's representation of the North is for the most part after Germanus's mappemonde in the Ptolemy (Ulm) editions of 1482 and 1486. Greenland is located north of Norway. The land if Finmark is shown and noted as "Tlant Vermarck." It is possible that Behaim had access to Nicholas of Lynn's work of 1360 ( Inventio fortunata ) for the land areas placed around the North Pole resemble Ruysch's map of 1508 which includes them and refers to Nicholas of Lynn as a source. This mass or circle of land around the Pole is continuous from his Greenland and Lapland north of Scandinavia and eastward almost to the opposite side of the Pole to meet the frozen Arctic Sea ( das gefrozen mer septentrionale ). The Arctic Sea is an enclosed sea and on the other side of the Pole there are two large and several small islands. The place names, though in the German form, generally are consistent and correct. This globe is significant because it gives the first though meager knowledge of the whole or circumpolar Arctic.
In 1493 the Laon terrestrial globe was completed. This is in general
agreement with the Germanus mappemonde, the sea extending full around the
Pole above or north of the Eurasian land mass which terminates at about the
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
Arctic Circle. To the north of Scandinavia lies the island of "Gronlandia" and an island called "Livonia" lies off the north coast. Two islands "Yslandia" and "Tile" are on the west.
In 1494 Diego Ribero compiled the
Carte Universalium
... (General map
containing the whole world...). On this map Greenland is labeled "Tierra
de Labrador" and on its coast is recorded that "The English discovered this
country. It prcduces nothing of value." The name Labrador was subsequently
transferred to the west of Davis Strait.
The cartographer Henricus Mantellus, successor of Germanus, compiled
maps during the 1490's generally adopting Claudis Clavus's form of Greenland.
By the end of the fifteenth century there were essentially two basic
types of maps of the Arctic, one including Greenland in a relatively correct
position west of Greenland though too close to Europe and connected therewith.
The other type was most frequently used and continued to be popular for a long
time. It shows Greenland as "Engronelant" and situated to the north of Europe.
Some maps actually included both elements in one map.
The end of the fifteenth century was auspicious because it witnessed the
rise of two great maritime powers, the English and the Dutch, each of which,
thwarted in their search for the fabulous Indies by the southern route,
initiated and for a long time carried out explorations for the Northwest
or Northeast Passage. This for a long time served to stimulate more intensive
mapping of the region until ultimately, by the end of the nineteenth century,
the broad general delineation was achieved. The Cabots, for the English, were
the spearheads in this remarkable achievement.
Abbe Raimondo, envoy of the Duke of Milan to the court of Henry VII in
London, well characterizes these beginnings when, in 1498, he writes "This
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
Master John [Cabot] has the description of the world in a chart and also a solid globe, which he has made, and he shows where he has landed."
The Renaissance of Maps about 1500 to 1700
The Age of Great Discoveries came with a sudden burst fast upon the
heels of
f
^
t
^
he finding of the New World in the 1490's. So, correspondingly,
there evolved a striking change in map-making and in the contents of maps.
No longer could the Ptolem
^
a
^
ic map of the world, significant contribution as
it was in itself, be adjusted or modified to fit the dimensional requirements
of a New World, an earth best portrayed for the period by Behaim's globe of
1492. A sphere now must be reconciled on a plane surface and the graticules
thereon be correctly filled in with appropriate and corresponding units of
land and water. The only way to achieve this satisfactorily was to boyage
thither, explore and map what was discovered. The Behaim globe, Columbus's
other voyages of the late fifteenth century, and the first few maps of the
world plotting this new information conjured up the way to India almost as
if by magic. The idea was advanced that if a way could not be found equater–
ward, efforts must be made to find a route either over the Pole or through
the circumpolar area. Information about the Arctic during the periods to
follow and the resulting maps were largely derivatives from the search
for those arctic passageways to India.
The Netherlands, situated amidst the expanding nations of Europe and
subject to Spain, by 1500 had become an international market place. So,
correspondingly, did the Dutch become active colonizers and voyagers. The
demand for maps reached significant proportions. The Dutch, favorably
situated to receive and collate information as well as being naturally
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
skillful and artistic, responded to the demand and by the middle of the sixteenth century became the leading cartographers in Europe, remaining so for well over a hundred years.
Simultaneously the English, particularly during the sixteenth century
in the person of that tireless recorder of geographical knowledge, Richard
Hakluyt, and of Samuel Purchas after him, became the fountainhead of geo–
graphical intelligence. This period fathered the rise of "Companies" for
the exploration of
f
^
t
^
he several passages. New projections, as for example
the famous Mercator cylindrical and polar stereographic, vastely improved
compass charts and related portolanos, improvements in terrain description
and land surveying methods,
f
^
t
^
he development of a new approach to science
generally, and the growing awareness of the measurable qualities of the
declination of the magnetic compass, which for the Arctic was of signal
importance, these and many more together made for a far better view of the
Arctic than had been accomplished heretofore.
An examination of significant maps produced during this period (1500–
1700) will reveal how considerable were the discoveries and how well or how
poorly they and the terrain information resulting therefrom were delineated
on maps and globes.
The sixteenth century opens auspiciously with the compilation of a map
of the world by Juan de la Cosa, who was well qualified by reason of his having
accompanies Columbus to the New World in 1493–1496. This map delineates all
he knew of the Portuguese and Spanish voyages in the New World and as well no
doubt the results of the English voyages, for he probably used the maps of the
Cabots. Because of his remarkable ability as a map-maker, the map
^
was
^
commissioned
by the Spanish crown, and thus he was doubtless provided with the best and all
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
available sources in the Iberian peninsula. The de la Cosa ^ map ^ is really an equidistant compass-chart, ignoring magnetic declination; hence the east coast of North America is out of its true alignment. It is supposed that Cosa assumed his northeast coast of America to be in reality Asia. Unfor– tunately there is little information about the Arctic between America and Norway except an indiscriminate patchwork of some dozen or more angular islands.
It is surprising to note the distinctly more accurate delineation and
proportions of the map prepared in Lisbon for Alberto Cantino and sent by him
to the Duke of Ferrara some time during the period 1502–1505. P
[:
]
rhaps this
map or copy of it was reproduced as the first printed map of the New World.
It shows that portion of the northeast coast of America discovered by Cabot
and the insular offshore detail is identified as "Terra del Rey de Portuguall."
A strikingly accurate delineation of southern Greenland is shown, this being
identified as "A ponta d asia" (a point of Asia ?). The legend on the east
coast of Greenland appears to indicate that the Portuguese had penetrated
to about Cape Farewell. Rugged terrain is shown along the southern part of
the east coast and colorations in the waters sweeping in an arc from that
coast to northern Norway may indicate the impenetrable ice.
"The World and all its seas on a flat map... the poles and zones and
sites of places, the parallels for the climes of the mighty globe," is the
translation of a hopeful title on a map by Giovanni Matteo Contarini in 1506.
This map, possibly of Italian origin, is on a coniform projection and, though
largely based on Ptolemy sources, shows a pronounced extension of Asia to the
northeast acros
[:
]
the region occupied by Arctic Canada to about ten degrees
west longitude, the northern coasts of Asia and Europe being in about latitude
80° N., beyond which is continuous water. The eastern tip of Asia includes a
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
note suggesting exploration by the Cortereals. "Engonelant" (Greenland) is a westward-arcing peninsula based on northern Scandinavia. Some sources refer to the Frenchman Jean Denis of Honfleur as having mapped the present Gulf of St. Lawrence on the spot in 1506.
In 1507 Martin Waldseemüller, Alsatian professor of cosmography, one of
the most celebrated map-makers and geographers of his day, completed his
thirty-six square foot twelve-sheet map
Universalis Cosmosgraphia
which
"represents the earth with a grandeur never before attempted," and which
by its heart-shaped projection was designed both as a globe and as a plane
surface map. This includes significant information as to sources and
especially the Arctic, and is perhaps the first printed map to bear the name
America. The Eurasian continent fronts onto the Arctic Sea in which are
clusters of islands, the northeastern part of the continent turning south
to China. Iceland is shown, as is also an irregular shaped island to the
west (Greenland ?). The water area of the northern part of the map is termed
"Mare Glaciale." Arctic North America is an angular-shaped polward extension
of the Americas terminating in about latitude 58° N.
In the 1508 Ptolemy published in Rome is a map
Universalier cogniti orbis
tabula...
by John Ruysch, engraved on copper and one of the first printed maps
showing the discoveries in the New World. Ruysch is believed by some to have
been with Cabot on his voyage of discovery. Ruysch's map is significant
because not only does it include a revolutionare concept of the Arctic but
it is developed with the North Pole as the center of the map, much as an
interrupted stereographic projection. Asia is delineated after the reports
of Marco Polo but Greenland is depicted not as an extension of Europe, but
rather as the easternmost exten
[:
]
ion of Asia to a point some twelve degrees
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
west of Scotland. Near the coast of Greenland is a frame of information in Latin to the effect that at this point "the ship's compass losses its property, and no vessel with iron aboard is able to get away," doubtless an awareness of f ^ t ^ he magnetic variation of f ^ t ^ he compass. Near the North Pole is an inscription noting the magnetic pole, as located by Nicholas of Lynn in 1355 and placed by Ruysch on an island north of Greenland. "Terra nova" (Newfoundland) is delineated as a large peninsula extending away from the mainland of Asia, the southern coast of Newfoundland con– tinuing directly and latitudinally west to the land of Gog and Magog and further to Cathay. It is of interest to note the druidic arrangement of islands around the pole with peninsulas from Europe and Asia extending north to penetrate thes [: ] islands.
The oldest printed Dutch map of the world, made some time in the early
decades of the sixteenth century, probably by Cornelius Aurelius, includes
rather absurd ideas about the Arctic, and is much after Ptolemy, "Yslandia"
being to the northeast of the Orkneys and Thule below it. East of Yslandia
is "Pilapeland."
The Portuguese Pilestrina in his map of the world in 1511, really a
compass chart, includes two Greenlands in the Arctic extending east-west
toward each other. On Bernardus Sylvanus's map of
f
^
t
^
he world, published in
the Ptolemy of 1511, Greenland is identified with eastern Asia which con–
tinues westward, while an irregular Arctic-facing shore of Scandinavia on
its norther protuberance is noted as "Engronelat". During the same year a
beautifully drawn world map compiled on a circumpolar projection was included
in the portolano atlas of Vesconte Maggiolo. This map, as also the ones by
Ruysch and Contarini, includes Greenland as part of the Asiatic continent and
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
notes Cabot's discoveries "Terra de los ingles" on the northeasternmost promontory extending into the North Polar area. The Lenox world globe of the same year, which initiated a period of special interest in the produc– tion of globes, shows an open area circumjacent to the North Pole. Glareanus's map of the northern or "polar" hemisphere in this year is evidence of originality and constructive imagination, a hypothetical Pacific Ocean extending between the Waldseemüller-like America and Asia, in the middle of which ocean lies Japan, the full sweep of f ^ t ^ he wide islandless Pacific extending to the North Pole. An island (Greenland ?) is depicted at about latitudes 55° to 65° N., with its longitudinal axis about longitude 60° W. The northern Polar Sea-facing coast of Asia extends along about the Arctic Circle, a long peninsula protruding from Norway into the otherwise landless Arctic Sea to about latitude 85° N. The northeastern corner of Asia extends to about longitude 160° W.
Johannes Stolnicza of Cracow prepared in 1512 a map of the world
included as a woodcut in the
Introductio in Ptholomei Cosmographiam....
showing North and South America as two large continents with a narrow
isthmus between, North America being separated from Asia and Europe by
extensive bodies of water. Johann Schöner's first globe in 1515 is of
interest because the sea extending west from Europe through some 180° to
the east coast of Asia is a continuous watery waste, except for near the
Pole and several insular masses, including "Islandia" on the Arctic Circle
north of the British Isles, the "Viridis insula" (Greenland ?) southwest of
Ireland, and a terra incognita. Extending north from Norway to and envelop–
ing the Pole is a land area, the southern part of which is called Engronet
[lant].
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
The arrival of Seville in September 1522 of a weather-beaten ship with
eighteen men, the sole survivors of the once proud fleet of the late Admiral
Magellan, created a mighty stir, not alone in the centers of learning but
particularly among map-makers, for this first recorded voyage of the circum–
navigation of the world proved beyond doubt that the earth was a sphere and,
significantly, that there were extensive bodies of water and intervening
masses of land between western Europe and eastern Asia. Ptolemaic geography
and the associated maps soon feel into discard as the proof was checked and
found certain, though, of course, the revolutionary changes were not immediately
accepted by all.
In 1527 Robert Thorne, an English merchant residing in Seville and well
acquainted with Spanish sources of geographical information, prepared a book
or series of letters which, through a Dr. Ley, English Ambassador, constituted
an appeal to Henry VIII to "set forth" further voyages of exploration. This
quarto volume, not published until 1582, has the intriguing title
The Booke
Made by the Worshipful Master Robert Thorne in the year 1527, in Siuill, to
Doctour Ley...and also the way to the Moluccaes by the north...
" This volume
is so significant that parts of it are worth quoting as illustrative of the
needs the English had for maps. Thorne notes that
"...Seeing in these quarters are skippers and mariners of that
countrey, and cardes [maps] by which they sayle, though much unlike
ours; that they should procure to have the said Cards, and learne
howe they understande them, and expecially to know what Navigation
they have for those Ilandes Northwardes and Northeastwards.
"...(for that by writying without some demonstration it were harde
to give any declaration of it). I have caused that your Lordshippe
shall receyve herewith a little Mappe or Carde of the worlde: the
whiche I feare mee shall put your Lordshippe to more labour to
understande than mee to make it,... for y
[:
]
I am in this science
little expert:..." (Richard Hakluyt:
Divers voyages...London,
1582
, p.36)
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
Thorne was convinced and tried to convince the King and his readers that
if it could be proven by successive explorations (which actually got under way
immediately after the preparation of these manuscripts) that the sea poleward
from "newe founde lande" was navigable, the English would be in a commanding
position to trade with India by a shorter route than the Spaniards and Portu–
guese. Thorne was convinced that "there is no lande unhabitable nor Sea
^in^–navigable." Thorne apologizes for the small map and says a much larger and
better one could be made and that "I knowe to set the forme Sphericall of the
worlde in Plano, after the true rule of Cosmographie, it would have been made
otherwise than this is...." Thorne's map, crude as it is, apparently stimul–
ated the King to seek a better one, as is related, in a Verrazano Map of the
World. Thorne's works were not without success for it is believed that they
influenced John Rut's expedition in search of the Northwest Passage in 1527
and that his arguments convinced Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor
in their search for the Northeast Passage in 1553.
Hieronimo da Verrazano's World map of 1529, a product, in part at least,
of his brother the navigator's voyage along the cast coast of North America
under French auspices, shows a wide open sea around the North Pole counter–
balanced by the beginnings of a continental land mass in the Antarctic. The
eastern coast of North America tre
o
nds much too northeast, probably due to the
lack of knowledge of magnetic variation. The northeastern coast of Asia is
almost a right angle, the east coast extending due south to about the latitude
of northern India.
Orontius Fine, a French mathematician, completed in 1531 a
c
^
d
^
ouble heart–
shaped map of the world showing some of the influences of Nicholas of Lynn of
1360, retaining the four large inner islands around the Pole, the outer circle
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
of smaller islands being somewhat broken. Iceland and the Orcades appear in approximately their correct location, the "Baccalar," including Newfound– land and Iabrador, being part of northeastern Asia. Most significant of all is that Greenland, probably for the first time in the history of car ^ t ^ ography, is delineated as a large island of fairly accurate shape and in the approx– imately correct position, with Clavus's "Gronelant" as its name. The penin– sula "Engroneland" extends to the north from Norway.
The Bavarian theologian, Jacobus Ziegler, in an opus bearing the stately
title
Quae intus continentur... Argentorati apud Petrum Opilionem, 1532
, and
the imprint of
Schondia
in Strassburg, a book dealing primarily with the geo–
graphy of the North, published a map of those regions. The map is the work of
authorities not well skilled as draftsmen but rather well-equipped as to sources
of information; at least four northern prelates residing in Rome during Zieg–
ler's stay there were responsible for much of the detail. This map, resembling
Clavus's of 1427, includes places, which, according to Ziegler, he calculate
^
d
^
as to coordinates. In the map Greenland is the eastern shore of an extensive
"Ulteriora Incognita," the southern part of which is labeled "Terra Bacallaos,"
the northern portion of the land mass extending eastward to connect with "Iaponia"
or Lapland. The old Norse place name "Hvetsargh," on the east coast of Green–
land, prebably stems from Didrik Pining's voyage thither.
Scientific geography,
[:
]
obviously lacking in the official and academic
circles in England to 1531, was given a forward motion when the Spanish Doctor
Vives arrived for the instruction of Oxford and the Princess Mary. A modernist,
he gave emphasis to the use and need of maps. This is the period during which
globes came to be recognized as an indispensable item in the teaching of geography.
Johann Schoner was one of the ablest and most prolific globemakers. His
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
globe of 1532 and the related publication on the description of the world were issued shortly after Ziegler's map came out. On this globe Schöner modified his earlier view of the Arctic and created the so-called bridge– type, that is, Greenland forming a bridge between Lapland and Newfoundland, with a marked contraction due west of Lapland. The large bulbous appendage west of the land mass of which Greenland is a part is called "Bachalaos." In the waters north of this land and scattered around the North Pole, are several large unidentified islands.
Gerhard Mercator, learning much from his teacher Gemma Frisius in the
science of cartography, in 1538 prepared a map on a double cordiform project–
tion, probably borrowed from Orontius Fine (of 1531), showing the Arctic in
a somewhat improved light. With Robert Thorne, Mercator refused to believe
that North America and Asia were connected, believing rather that an ocean
intervened. In similar vein he believed in the existence of a passage to
Asia around the north of America, and this view generally remained with him
throughout his life. This was very significant, because it was so indelibly
stamped upon his many maps and served as a mighty influence on thought and
exploration, especially in the days of Queen Elizabeth. On Mercator's map a
land mass connected with Scythia or western Russia, occupies much of the area
north of the Arctic Circle. Greenland is a southward extension of this land
mass toward Iceland, Iceland lying to the east of it. Northeastern North
America is called "Baccalearo Regio." The continent of North America lies im–
mediately south of the arctic land mass, a long east-west strait of water be–
tween them called "Frecti Articum" widening considerably as it extends south–
westward to form the west coast. Northwestern America is called "Littora in–
cognita." A very wide water separation exists between Asia and America.
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
Julius Solinus's map, published in Basle in 1538, includes a continent
of Asia and North America. The portion of the coast extending northwest in–
cludes the words "Terra Incognita," and depicts two trees and a river near a
small bay. The statement in the text, on page 160 opposite the map, "In our
days it has been explored by men," has led to many speculations. North of Asia
is the "Mare congelatum."
Olaus Magnus, a Swedish bishop, completed and published in 1539 (in Venice)
the large nine-sheet
Carta marina et descriptio septentrionalium terrarum....
a work without a peer among similar maps during this period, not alone for its
geographical and ethnographical data but also for its size. A short statement,
"Opera Breve..." was published to accompany the map. This map is said to embody
the view of northern geographers in separating Greenland from Europe proper,
in contrast to the general agreement among geographers of southern Europe that
Greenland was tied to Scandinavia. On the southern tip of Greenland, "Grutlandie
Pars" is shown. Iceland is drawn in very considerable detail. This map includes
only the lower part of the Arctic in the North Sea, Scandinavia, Greenland, and
Iceland region.
In 1542, Jean Roze, a Norman mariner in the employ of the English Navy,
completed a manuscript
Book of Hydrography
. This included an atlas of beauti–
fully embellished maps, among them two of America which are probably the first
of their kind to be drawn in England. These record Cartier's discoveries in
the St. Lawrence and contiguous areas.
Gastaldi's 1546 map of the world delineates North America with a northern
or arctic coast line irregular in shape and with a large river "Tontonteanch"
rising near the Arctic Circle. North America and Asia are connected by a nar–
row land bridge in about latitude 40° N. and much farther west than on most
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
maps of the period. The "Oceano Arthico" extends east-west above the irreg– ular arctic coast of Asia in about latitude 70° N. The northeastern corner of North America continues toward the North Pole, about which there are numer– ous islands.
The publication of Sigismund von Heberstein's
Rerum Muscoviticarum Com–
mentarii
in 1549 included two significant items of information: one, the
observations made by a sailor Istoma in circumnavigating North Cape, the other
a map of Asia which, crude as it was, fanned the fires of interest in the
Northeast Passage because it indicated that Cathay could be reached by going
poleward from Europe and around the Siberian coast.
The mid-century was a kind of transition, for not only did it mark the
end of the incunabula period, but the Arctic, though still largely a "terra
incongnita," nevertheless had captured the imagination of explorers and carto–
graphers. Certain cartographic elements such as a distinct Greenland, North
America, Asia, and high-latitude islands in the Polar Sea were shown with
greater frequency and thus became increasingly more accepted. For the English
this was the beginning of the period of the famous Hakluyt records of voyages
and discourses on the geographic regions of the world, including particularly
the Arctic and, as well, the reproduction of maps for inclusion with these
publications. Maps including the Arctic and others emphasizing the Arctic
were compiled and issued in increasing numbers and frequency. Only a few of
the more outstanding contributions will be discussed as representative of the
period 1550 to 1600. Collections of maps were beginning to be made, the pre–
cursors of our bound atlases. This was the beginning of the organization of
"Companies" for the prosecution of the arctic route to India.
On December 18, 1551, the Muscovy Company of Merchant Adventurers to dis-
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
cover the Northeast Passage was founded and in 1553 sent out Sir Hugh Wil– loughby in command of thress ships in an attempt to find a passage northward of the Old World. Kola Peninsula was as far as two of Willoughby's ships achieved, but the third, the Edward Bonaventure , commanded by Richard Chan– cellor, wintered at the mouth of the Dvina River and initiated trade with the Russians. In 1556, Stephen Burrough, in the Searchthrift , discovered the archi– pelago of Novaya Zemlya and the Vaigach. The first significant field observa– tions of these regions were thus made available to cartographers. The region, perhaps even as far as the Kara Sea, was well mapped as to outline by the end of the century. These sources and that of Heberstein may have been utilized in Anthonius Wied's map of Russia as far east as the White Sea in 1555.
In the year 1558 Marcolino published in Venice a journal and map (the
Zeno map and journal) of the northern regions. The genesis, status before
publication, and contents of the hournal had profound effects upon the mapping
of the Arctic for a century or more. To this date authorities on the Arctic
debate the value of or authenticity of the documents. Authoritative statements
have been made pro and con by such men as Nansen, Nordenskiöld, Zurla, Major,
Christy, Winsor, Lelewel, Krarup, Steenstrup, and Lucas.
The journal, published in book form with accompanying map, recounts a
voyage purported to have been made by the brothers Nicol
o
^
ò
^
and Antonio Zeno,
members of a highly respected family in Venice, to the arctic seas at the close
of the fourteenth century. The book and map are reproductions, but with modi–
fications because parts of the manuscript items were not extant, by Nicol
o
^
ò
^
Zeno,
a descendant who found them in the family palace. The Zeno brothers, according
to the account in their letters and as delineated by some careful students of
the subject, carried out a series of voyages that took Nicol
^
ô
^
from Iceland to
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
Spitsbergen and back and Antonic from Iceland to the east and west coasts of Greenland and back and then probably from Iceland to Nova Scotia and re– turn. As the reader will conclude, these were remarkable voyages but by no means unique, as has been indicated in the preceding pages.
The Zeno map, on the other hand, is admitted by the descendant of the
Zeni and its publisher to have been derived from what remained of the manu–
script sources including the original map which was in a "rotten" condition,
and even, more significantly, that the original map was without the coordinate
grid superimposed upon the published map. Then too, certain changes were
arbitrarily made in the map in order to adapt the map to the text. The map
is in many ways similar to and in some structural details identical with the
Olaus Magnus and the Claudius Clavus maps of the northern regions. The Zeno
chart delineates Greenland surprisingly well, though the whole area is placed
too far north by some five degrees. The chart shows a very large and quite
imaginary island "Frislanda" in the middle of the Atlantic in about latitude
60° 50′ N., Greenland is called "Engronelant," as on many earlier maps and
is shown as being connected to "Gronlandia" the polar extension of northwestern
Russia. Iceland is placed off the east coast of Greenland. This map is of
interest in that it shows Greenland as mountainous.
The Zeno map was seized upon by the most eminent cartographers, including
Mercator and Ortelius, many incorporating in their maps the elements of the
chart almost in its entirety. Consequently much confusion developed, some
traces of which survived in the nineteenth century.
Gastaldi, in 1562, had become sufficiently convinced that Asia and America
were not united but were separated by a strait or body of water, to publish a
pamphlet,
Ia Universals Descrittione del Mundo
. This reversed his previous
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
point of view as expressed on his many widely recognized world maps. There is no conclusive evidence that the strait between Asia and America had been seen and mapped, it was simply a good guess, perhaps originally derived from a reading of Marco Polo's journeys. At first the Strait of Anian shown on maps, such as the one by Ortelius in 1564, was long and very wide, perhaps as much as four hundred miles. As time went on it became narrower and more ir– regular.
Orteliu's map of 1564, revived English interest in the Northwest Passage
as the easiest way to India, the map showing a wide open sea to the north of
America and relatively short straits at both ends. This heart-shaped map com–
piled by Ortelius in Antwerp is one of the most interesting maps of the period,
but it was not up-to-date. An imaginary "Gronlandia" extends for more than
twenty degrees of longitude. Apparently there is no land, others than "Gron–
landia," in the vicinity of the Pole. Between about latitude 60° and 62° N.
along the east coast of America is a strait leading into the "hyperborean
ocean." On the west between about latitudes 40° and 60° N. the Polar Sea is
joined to the North Pacific Ocean by a strait nearly 10° wide.
Zalterius's
[:
]
disegno del discoperto della Nova Franza
(a map of the
discovery of New France), compiled in Bologna in 1566, is included as a plate
in the famous Laferi Atlas, containing maps produced from copper engravings.
Zalterius's map is one of the first to include the Strait of Anian, which was
accepted by Mercator, Ortelius, and many others. The name "la Nova Franza" is
applied to all of North America, the Atlantic Ocean being called "Mare del
Nort." This map unhappily bears no indication of latitude and longitude. The
Arctic Sea is called "Mare congelato." North America has a nearly northeast–
southwest slightly irregular arctic shore line extending from a strait along
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
the southwest coast of "Grutlandia" (Greenland) to "Streto de Anian." A slight peninsular protuberance on the northwest corner of North America is suggestive of Alaska.
In 1569 Gerhard Mercator completed his famous "Mercator isogonic cylin–
drical projection" and developed upon it his map
Nova et aucta orbis terrae
descriptio.
.., Duisburg, 1569 (A Nautical Chart of the World). Because of
the nature of the projection, the North Pole extending to infinity, Mercator
explained the need for a separate map for each polar region, a map of the
north polar region being developed on a stereographic projection inserted in–
to Mercator's Nautical Chart. This map exercised a powerful influence on the
progress and accuracy of navigation. It has a remarkable wealth of detail
about the Arctic, only some of which can be indicated here. Many of Mercator's
sources are discussed in appropriate frames in his map. For example, he notes
for the insert map of the polar regions: "as for the mapping, we have taken
it from 'Itinerium...' of Jacobus Cnoyen of the Hague..." It appears that
Nicholas of Lynn's
Inventio fortunata
greatly influenced Mercator in his de–
lineation of the polar area. He generally accepts and delineates the Northwest
and Northeast Passages, portions of the just published Zeno map, certain myth–
ical islands in the North Atlantic, and the Strait of Anian.
Abraham Ortelius's map
Typus Orbis Terrarum
of 1570 delineates North
America and Asia as having arctic-facing coast lines in about latitude 75° N.
Greenland is shown as an island, but with indistinct north and west coasts,
the island lying north of the mythical "Estotiland." The area north of the
continents consists first of an east-west girdle of water north of which to
the Pole is land, conveniently divided into four quadrant sialnds. A strait
separates North America and Asia. The northwest coast of North America is
called "Anean regnum."
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
In the early 1570's Bishop Gudbrandur Thorl
a
^
á
^
ksson of Iceland, a math–
ematician, prepared a celestial globe accomodated to the latitude of Iceland.
He was the first to determine scientifically the latitude of sites in Iceland,
and is said to have begun a terrestrial globe upon which he was to delineate
and accurately locate Iceland.
One of the particular treasures in the British Museum is a large manu–
script map of the world on a polar type projection bearing the inscription of
"Joannes Dee, anno 1580." There is no indication that Dee had a hand in its
creation. The map includes the world north of the equator between a meridian
ten degrees east of Toledo and west to longitude 180°. This map is striking
in that it shows the northern coast of America in about latitude 44° beyond
which to the Pole there is water, save for some islands near the Pole. This
map seemed to prove the ease and comfort of a Northwest Passage.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, protagonist of the Northwest Passage, in 1576 issued
A Discourse of a Discoverie for a New Passage to Cataia...,
London, 1576, and
included
A General Map made
^
A General Map made
^
Onelye for the Particular Declaration of This
Discovery..." Gilbert's pamphlet and map, of course, were really only promo–
tion literature and an attempt to prove a Northwest Passage, which he did to
his own satisfaction. Gilbert's map appears to be a copy of Ortelius's map of
1564 as to outline, and contains few place names. In his attempt to prove the
existence of the passage, Gilbert seeks to lend weight to his words by saying
that even the early geographers, Pliny, Plato, and Strabo, were of the same
mind. He cavalierly tosses aside the possibilities of a Northeast Passage.
On Gilbert's map Greenland is a long island with the northern end at the Pole,
the whole island flanking Labrador on the northeast.
Frobisher's first voyage into the Arctic in the spring of 1576 apparently
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
was made on the basis of the Zeno map, which he considered to be genuine and reliable, a copy or redrawing of which he had with him. Consequently, when in latitude 60° N. and encountering land (southern tip of present-day Green– land), he concluded he had reached the fictitious Zeno "Frisland." From here he sailed northwest and discovered Frobisher Bay, the adjacent land being called "Meta incongnita." He made two subsequent voyages (1577–1578) and entered so-called "Mistatie Strait (actually present-day Hudson Strait)and became convinced that this was the passage into the Pacific. Frobisher and Captain George Best, in his discourse published in 1578, were convinced that they had discovered portions of the coast of America, and correctly so. They accordingly delineated it as such on the two charts accompanying Best's publi– cation. On one of these maps Frobisher shows how his strait could be combined with Anian. North of "America" he shows a large "Terra Septentrionalis," "Frobishers Straightes" being between the two. These correct assumptions are also indicated on Lok's map in Hakluyt's Divers Voyages... , London, 1582, though the map must have been drawn sometime earlier than 1582. They are also shown on the so-called Silver Map of the World - A Contemporary Medallion Commemorative of Drake's Great Voyage (1577–1580) . The same can be said of Frobisher Strait on Peter Martyr's map De Orbe Novo , 1587. These appear to be the only maps of the period on which the strait is correctly shown. The error in identification was committed by Davis in 1585.
Joannes Martines, a Sicilian map-maker, in 1578 published a map including
a strait of Anian in a different manner than most. The north coast of America
is essentially a straight line along about latitude 70° N. which is parallel to
the strait entering from the northeast.
Perhaps the earliest extant Icelandic map of the Arctic north of the
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
Atlantic Ocean is one by Sigurd Stephanius, probably dating from 1580, in which he attempts to show the view of the north through eyes of his intrepid Norse ancestors.
In Hakluyt's
Divers Voyages
..., London, 1582, is a map asserted to have
been compiled by a Michael Lok, and which is like the Verrazano map at that
time in Lok's possession. Perhaps the chief merits of this map are its clear
delineation of Frobisher's discoveries, since Lok enthusiastically believed
that Frobisher had pointed the way through "that shorte and easie passage by
the Northwest, which we have hitherto so long desired, and whereof wee have
many good and more then probable coniectures." "Frisland," so very like the
southern tip of Greenland, is named from the Zeno map, as is "Greenland" north
of it. To the west of Groenland and north of Frobisher's Strait and stretch–
ing out toward the Pole is "Groetland (Jac: Scolbus)," so named in honor of a
Polish explorer who is reported as having skirted the Labrador coast in 1476.
North Cape (Norway) is shown, perhaps for the first time, on a map in
Lucas Waghenaer's
Spieghel der Zeewart
, Leyden, 1584, and appears on Cornelius
de Judaeis's map of Europe in his
Speculum orbis terrae Antwerpiae
, 1593.
Perhaps next in importance to the voyages of Frobisher are the three
voyages of Captain John Davis into the strait of his name, which was discovered
by him on his first voyage, 1585. He sailed as far north along the west coast
of Greenland as latitude 66° 40′ N. and thence westward. "finding no hindrance,"
concluding that he had found the Northwest Passage. Davis's charts are lost.
This area on the Molyneaux Globe of 1592 appears to have been compiled from
Davis's chart, which is discussed in his
The World's Hydrographical Objections
^
date?
^
against Al Northerly Discoveries...
, London, 16. It is of interest to note
that Davis also had the Zeno map with him and so had to harmonize his discoveries
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
with the results of Frobisher. When Davis reached the Greenland coast in latitude 61° N. it was apparent Frobisher's assumption that it was "Frisland" was wrong and that it was too far south to match the Zeno "Engroenland." Fro– bisher not having given longitude for these discoveries it was logical that Davis should place his Frobisher Strait as a passage through southern Greenland, thus evolving an island to the south. This was perpetuated on maps for a con– siderable time.
On some of Zalterius's maps of North America of the late sixteenth century,
in the general vicinity of the present Bering Strait, appears the name "Streto
de Anian," which name played a major role in the long and often involved evolu–
tion of the delineation and location of the strait. Apparently this delineation
and location on the Zalterius and subsequent maps is derived in part from a
purported memorandum which a Spanish navigator called Captain Lorenzo Ferrer
de Maldonado presented to the Council of the Indies in 1609. Maldonado relates
that in 1588 he sailed from Spain to the Philippines by way of the "Mor Glaciale"
and that the passage in the glacial seas was relatively easy, the water there
not freezing. The reliability of this source is immediately cancelled out for
he mentioned basing his expedition on the fictitious Frisland of the Zeno map.
Maldonado's map appears to be an enlarged copy of a Zaltorius map.
Hakluyt, in his
Principal Navigations...
, London, 1589, gave the reader
a foretaste of the famous Molyneaux Globe that was ultimately completed in
1592, but upon which over the next several decades additions apparently were
made. Particularly notable are the results of the voyages of Frobisher and
Davis and subsequent additions of the results of voyages of Barents. Davis
and Edward Wright appear to have assisted in the correct delineations.
Shortly after Gerhard Mercator's death in 1595, his son Rumold published
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
his great Atlas sive Cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica Mundi... Appar– ently this is the first time that the name Atlas was given to an assemblage of maps, a statement in the preface indicating that it was Mercator's idea. This atlas of beautifully engraved and colored plates includes several which summarize the knowledge of the Arctic, a detailed map of Iceland for example is well delineated.
Willem Barents, intrepid and careful arctic voyager, died on June 20,
1597, near the northern end of Novaya Zemlya after having wintered near the
island's northeastern extremity. The boyages and observations of this Dutch–
man during 1594–1597 were of incalculable significance to the knowledge and
mapping of the North Sea, Spitsbergen, and Novaya Zemlya areas particularly.
Barents commanded a fleet of four ships in 1594, two of which succeeded in
reaching the north end of Novaya Zemlya, the other two passing south of the
island; all of the ships later met in the Kara Sea. This proved so successful
that the next year another attempt was made. In 1596, Barents and Jan Cornelisz
Rijp discovered Bear Island and Spitsbergen and kept a detailed account of their
observations. A map by Barents, the first and accurate map of this area, was
published in 1598. In the same year a map of Greenland was published. In
preparing this map Barents used the Zeno map as a base but made changes accord–
ing to results of recent discoveries.
William Shakespeare in scene 2 of Act 3 of his
Twelfth Night
, first pro–
duced in 1601, speaks of "the New Map, with the Augmentation of the Indies,"
an important English map of the world published in 1599 and generally agreed
to have been prepared by Hakluyt's friend Edward Wright, author of
Certaine
Errors in Navigation, Detected and Corrected
, London, 1599. This map is on a
Mercator projection and certainly is one of the best maps of its time, includ-
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography
ing those parts of the Arctic so recently discovered by the English and Dutch. The northern part of the map, which of course does not extend to the Pole, in–cludes Spitsbergen, Novaya Zemlya, and the Lapland coast. The Strait of Anian as heretofore plotted is omitted, a note on the map stating that the distance between the two continents in latitude 38° N. is not less than 1,200 leagues. Only that portion of the west coast of North America which had been discovered to the north by Drake is included as New Albion. "Meta incongnita" and "Fro– bishers Straightes" are removed from the American mainland and placed in south– ern Greenland. The northern discoveries of Davis and Frobisher are included but a reconcilation with the Zeno map is made - though Davis's own discoveries are shown rather accurately. "Frisland" and "Estotiland" of the Zeno chart remain.
Note
: Two sections are still to come from the author — "The Reformation
of Cartography," about 1700 to 1800, and "The Beginnings of Modern Cartography,"
about 1800 to 1900.
Arctic Cartography. Part II. The Period From About 1900 to 1947
EA-History (Herman R. Friis)
ARCTIC CARTOGRAPHY PART II. THE PERIOD FROM ABOUT 1900 TO 1947
Introduction
Systematic detailed topographic map and hydrographic chart coverage
of the Arctic is a product of the twentieth century - indeed, in point of
view of the amount of area and the accuracy with which it has been covered,
it is a product of World War II. What has been accomplished and the ingen–
ious methods devised to expedite that accomplishment invite admiration and
restore confidence. The face of the Arctic rapidly is being exposed as a
more "friendly Arctic," an area not set apart from, but closely related to,
and a functional part of, the middle-latitude conceived "air age."
World War II generally, and its attendant numerous problems of logistics
particularly, emphasized a "One World Concept." The swiftness and extensive–
ness of modern warfare and the overall strategy early forced an awareness of
the potential use of the Arctic as an avenue for the movement of supplies
and personnel and as well the inescapable need for intelligence information
concerning the composition of the physical and cultural landscapes. From the
outset, a concerted effort was made to bring together and then evaluate known
cartographic sources, both textual and graphic. But the Arctic, so long on
the periphery of middle-latitude east-west consciousness, failed to yield re–
liable topographic information except sparingly and for unrelated segments
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II
of regions. True, numerous fragments of information were extracted from published and available unpublished journal accounts of expeditions, per– sonnel of former Arctic expeditions were interrogated, some large-scale topographic maps and hydrographic charts that had been prepared by several governments were available, but the totality of information assembled re– vealed a heterogeneous mass of unrelated, mostly specialized, small-area data. From sources such as these and the results of mapping expeditions sent out during the first two or three years of World War II, the initial group of government-sponsored systematic series of topographic maps and hydrographic charts were made. Since then, with the widespread use of aerial photography and from the results of numerous ground control survey parties as well as expanded trained photogrammetric units and map compilation, draft– ing and production agencies, large-scale mapping of the Arctic has been achieved in the miraculously short period of some six years. More of the Arctic has been mapped systematically and on selected scales in the past decade than in all of the preceding periods of history. It is orderly mapping under government control, by the nations whose lands front on the Arctic.
Old Versus New Methods of Surveying in and Mapping of the Arctic
Mapping of the Arctic up through most of the nineteenth century was
comparatively primitive and was achieved by means of a few simple middle–
latitude devised instruments. For much of the time it was a "catch as catch
can" procedure. The seaman with his sextant, a compass (which often became
unrelentingly erratic), a charting board and a rule of thumb
modus operandi
,
charted the coasts, the headlands, fjords and estuaries; eminences were
EA-History. Friis: Arctic Cartography. Part II.
sighted for hearings and recorded, but from a distance; coastal waters and particularly the track of the ship were laboriously sounded with a lead; and shoals and reefs were noted and a rough sketch chart was drawn, or cor– rections were made on a chart if it was available. The results generally were brought to the home or hydrographic office and deposited, later to be evaluated by a cartographer frequently without the benefit of the compiler of the notes, in the preparation of a new chart.
The sledging party working overland, or the local-area, detailed, survey
party were little better equipped. With a theodolite, a chronometer, meas–
uring paraphanalia, perhaps a planetable, a sledge wheel, a compass whose
usefulness in high latitudes was questionable except to the error-
^
wi
^
se user,
a knowledge of the stars and an indefatigable will fortified with patience
and yet more patience, small parties often of but several men, traversed
scores, sometimes hundreds of miles of coast line or an alternately land and
ice exposed terrain, as time and circumstances would permit. Time and cir–
cumstance seldom permitted the ^p^reliminary establishment of operative geo–
detic controls and a triangulation net and generally precluded the erection
of permanent useful cairns or bench marks as triangulation points. The re–
cords of these surveys were brought back to the comforts of civilization in
the raw note and sketch map form and together were used in the preparation
of new maps or as corrections made on existing maps.
Unfortunately for posterity, certainly for cartography, many of the
field records of expeditions were deposited in a private institution or with
a society, the recorder himself going to other duties. So the records often
remained unrefined and with few interpretations by the recorder, later to
baffle and discourage the cartographer who was called upon to compile new
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
maps from the raw notes.
Plotting the area covered by the maps and charts produced by these and
similar methods up to 1900 on a base map of the Arctic reveals a patchwork,
almost a crazyquilt pattern of coverage with very little relationship be–
tween areas except that they have been mapped. The maps are of coastal
strips, fjord heads, river channels and islands, are on a considerable num–
ber of different scales, interpretation of symbols is not always possible
because of the lack of standardized terms, sources and dates of information
recorded are obscure, and generally the lack of geodetic and stronomic con–
trols preclude the use of many of those maps in the compilation of present
day official large-scale maps. Obviously, only a very small percentage of
the maps can be said to cover areas so well that re-surveys are not at once
necessary.
Present day mapping of the Arctic is in response to an urgent need and
is being achieved almost entirely because of the very active interest of
mapping and military agencies of the governments whose lands or territorial
possessions front on or extend into the Arctic. Without this sponsorship
and financial backing, mapping of the Arctic would indeed be only slightly
improved in quality and certainly little more inclusive in coverage than
during the first two decades of this century. Many different elements of
recent (post 1900) origin have combined to make such remarkable success in
mapping possible. Most important of these elements is aerial photography
and the related field of photogrammetry which is responsible for the correct
and detailed evaluation and interpretation of the aerial photographs. In–
deed, the airplane has revolutionized man's ability to penetrate at will
and to view even the most remote recesses of the Arctic. It is perhaps im–
possible to calendar precisely when aerial photography was first applied to
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
surveying in the Arctic th r ough several elementary attempts were made in the early 1920's, and by the late 1920's and early '30's it was in the ad– vanced experimental stage.
A present-day government-sponsored and activated mapping program in
the Arctic is exceedingly complex, intricately and carefully planned, and
well equipped. It has available and utilizes an ever increasing fund of
recorded and interpreted information about the area surveyed or to be re–
surveyed. Likewise there appears to be an endless flow of improvements in
precision instruments and in the comfort of personnel operating as the map–
ping teams.
Basic to a sound aerial mapping program is of course the establishment
of precise ground controls. During the past ten years a very considerable
number of geodetic and other positions as well as triangulation nets have
been established for the Arctic to serve as the fabric upon which the serial
flights are woven and the resulting photography adjusted in order to achieve
a precise geometrical relationship of the resultant maps and charts.
The photo-reconnaissance plane with its intricate, almost mechanically
self-operating aerial camera, and an assortment of instruments for use in
the maintenance of flight and a continuous contact with the base headquarters,
in the heart of the mapping program. Aerial photography may be accomplished
by one of several types of cameras such as those employing a single-lens
vertical, a two-lens each oblique from the vertical, trimetrogen or two oblique
and one vertical, and variations and combinations thereof including the elabor–
ate supersensitive nine-lens camera of the United States Coast and Geodetic
Survey. Trimstrogon is perhaps most frequently used and affords a rapid, ex–
tensive-coverage medium of aerial photography. A typical camera is electric-
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II
ally operated, automatically exposes each successive photograph, and has on exceedingly powerful lens or set of lenses. Included in the camera is an automatic exposure counter, showing on the film the number and to the second of time of the exposure, the altitude and the route number, or a continuous strip film may be used. The exposed film either may be developed at the field headquarters or flown back to base headquarters; in any even ^ t ^ speed and care in development are important.
But a photo-reconnaissance unit is more than a plane, a crew and a good
camera. It is a comparatively elaborate undertaking of a numerous scientific–
ally trained personnel, including meteorologists, a maintenance crew, radio
operators, an air-sea rescue team, and others whose combined, though not nec–
essarily always sole, duties are concerned with a particular flight. Planes
may be equipped with skis, pontoons or wheels depending upon the nature of the
task and the terrain flown. The best season, if there is such, for operations
is indeed short, generally of two to three months duration during the summer.
From the developed film prints are made and they individually and collec–
tively become the source from which maps and charts are derived. Here again
science has stepped in to render valuable service through the invention of a
multiplex aerial duplicator and variants thereof. This machine faithfully
brings out three-dimensional detail which on the photograph appears to the
naked eye as a flat, often confused or fuzzy surface. By computing known
^
v
^
alues
of elevations in the region covered by the photograph with the information
divulged by this microscope-like machine, a cartographer can rapidly draft a
map that will be accurate in every detail and three-dimensional.
An excellent example of the speed and accuracy with which maps can be made
is perhaps best illustrated by the recent completion of a small-scale (1:2,500,000)
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
map of Alaska by the United States Geological Survey and by the large-scale (1:506,880) Air Navigation Charts of Arctic Canada prepared by the Hydro– graphic and Map Service of Canada. Coast lines, drainage and terrain features not only look different than on all predecessor maps, but are the most accur– ate (within the limitations of scale) to date. (For additional examples see discussion of the status of mapping.)
Modern charting of the waters is almost as complex and certainly as
revolutionary as modern mapping of the land. If the survey of an area is
required within a period of a few days, a hydrographic survey ship can be
dispatched and accomplish a detailed rapid survey, not only moving into the
area and setting up beacons and establishing controls, obtaining with mech–
anical precision a continuous and surprisingly dense net of soundings using
the fathometer and simultaneously preparing a chart of the area, but within
a few hours of the completion of the drafted map, can reproduce it aboard
ship as printed copy in the required quntities. Of course, most hydrographic
charts of an area are a composite of soundings and other information from
many different reliable ships' logs and charts, whose information
^
recently
^
has been acquired through the use of precision instruments.
An important element of modern government mapping is that methods and
procedures are standardized; the records usually are so well organized and
^
coordina
^
ted and the photogammetrist and cartographer so well trained, that
interpretation and use of the records in the compilation of a map is achieved
with a minimum of effort and error.
One cannot assign the sole responsibility for mapping to, nor acclaim
only the products of government-sponsored mapping groups. A measure of recog–
nition of valuable results must be given to the usually small, capable,
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
privately-sponsored, inspiration-led parties which, during the past twenty or thirty years, have mapped and charted small areas on a large scale. Many of these parties have included well trained surveyors and topographers who, equipped with an accurate eye-piece reading photo-theodolite, a time signal wireless through which position can be determined accurately, a thermometer and barometer, an aerial compass, much improved, comfortable and yet not bulky clothes, and balanced rations, have contributed numerous geodetic con– trol points and astronomic fixes and topograpgic information as well. ( For details, see The History of Scientific Exploration in the Arctic Since the Introduction of Flying .)
A Brief History of Surveying in and Mapping of the Arctic to
World War II
The Whole Arctic
. Up to within the past ten years most maps of the whole
Arctic were exceedingly small-scale (1:20,000,000 and smaller) and the con–
figuration of land masses was fuzzy and inaccurate. Rarely was the Arctic
viewed from the North Pole; frequently it was fantastically distorted on a
Morcator projection. Some notable exceptions are the maps prepared by the
American Geographical Society, 1929, John Bartholomew for the Royal Geograph–
ical Society of London, 1934, the National Geographic Society, 1925, and maps
by several Soviet cartographical units (see bibliography). It was left to
the present period of extensive mapping and the "air age" to rectify these
misconceptions.
Space does not permit more than general commentaries on mapping of the
individual sectors. For more detailed descriptions of the accomplishments
see the mentioned article on
The History of Scientific Exploration in the
Arctic Since the Introduction of Flying
.
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
The United States (Alaskan) Sector
. Mapping of selected areas and coastal
waters of Alaska by United States Government agencies until recently was car–
ried out on limited resources and with only local completeness. Although it
is true that the General Land Office, the Hydrographic Office, the Coast and
Geodotic Survey and the Geological Survey have had survey parties in the field
for decades, comparatively little large-scale mapping had been accomplished
until aerial photography was introduced. Probably the first government-spon–
sored large mapping organization
^
s
^
in Alaska were the Alaska Exploring Expedi–
tions of the War Department particularly during 1883 and 1898 and the United
States Navy Department in 1885 and 1886. Up to 1940, about half of Alaska
had been mapped topographically, but of the some 587,000 square miles com–
prising the territory on that date, less than one percent had been mapped
with sufficient precision and in the detail now considered useful for most
needs. Most of the topogra hic geologic and mineral resources maps of Alaska
compiled by the United States Geological Survey as a result of field surveys
accompany the publications of that agency. An index map published by the Geo–
logical Survey serves as a handy reference to coverage and the specific publi–
cations to which the maps are related. Most of the topographic mapping of
Alaska has been accomplished by the Geological Survey and the hydrographic
charting of the nearly 27,000 miles of coast line and adjacent waters has been
by the Coast and Geodetic Survey.
Mention should be made of the pioneering efforts of the Alaskan Aerial
Survey Expedition initiated by the Geological Survey and actually carried out
by the Navy Department in 1928. An area in southeastern Alaska was selected,
a planned, well organized pattern of flights by three Loening amphibian planes
was followed, some 5,000 exposures were made on a scale of 1:20,000 using tri-
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
lens cameras, and subsequently three large-scale topographic maps were com– piled. The primary purpose of this expedition, with which R. H. Sargent of the Geological Survey served in an advisory capacity, was to test methods of aerial photography and to supply information that might expedite and give greater accuracy to large-scale maps prepared particularly by the Geological Survey. The results pointed the way, yet operations were slow in being de– veloped.
In addition to the preparation of coastal charts of Alaska
[:
]
the Coast
and Geodetic ha
^
s
^
been responsible for the establishment of geodetic positions
and a triangulation net. Since 1940 this agency has been compiling and publish–
ing a series of aeronautical (topographic) charts of Alaska on a scale of
1:1,000,000 that probably rank as the best available. Use of the nine-lens
aerial camera and improved survey methods have established a high degree of
accuracy for the hydrographic charts published by the Coast and Geodetic Survey.
Some of the best large-scale local-area topographic maps of Alaska pre–
pared during this period were a result of field surveys by privately subsid–
ized and sponsored parties. Notable among these are the maps and aerial photo–
graphs of the St. Elias and adjacent regions by the Yukon Exploring Expeditions
led by Walter A. Wood of the American Ge
^
ogr
^
aphical Society, 1935 through 1941;
the southern regions of Alaska and borderland Canada by Bradford Weshburn, 1930
through 1940; and the expeditions of William B. Osgood and others to s
^
outh
^
eastern
Alaska for aerial surveys and particularly a study of the glaciers in 1935
and earlier expeditions in 1926 and 1931. Sir Hubert Wilkins, during his flights
from Alaska and Canada cut over the Arctic Sea in search of the lost Soviet
flier Levanevsky in 1937 and 1938, viewed, recorded and photographed large
areas of northern Alaska that had been unmapped and assisted in a more accurate
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
delineation of the major contours. Mention should be made of the large– scale (1:500,000) thirteen-sheet topographic map of Alaska compiled from many sources by William Briesomeister of the American Geographical Society for the Alaska Road Commission (1943). The Canadian Sector . Although there had been numerous expeditions and mapping surveys in the Canadian Arctic prior to the Canadian Arctic Expedition led by the able exponent of, and authority on the Arctic, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, in 1913–1918, systematic, controlled and useful topographic maps of this sec– tor probably originate with this expedition. With exceptions mentioned, the Canadian Government until about 1939 expended its mapping resources almost exclusively on populated southern Canada. During the period from 1918 to 1929, government geodetic and survey parties were sent into the Arctic and carried on very limited ground surveys, particularly around or at sites oc– cupied by trading posts and police stations. Often geodesists accompanied the Canadian Government vessel Nascopie on her annual summer voyage into the Canadian Arctic and a succession of valuable control points were established.
The Department of Mines and Resources, including the Topographic Branch
and the Hydrographic and Map Service, and their predecessor agencies have
been responsible for most of the government mapping in arctic Canada assisted
by the aerial photographic units of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Most of
the topographic, geologic and mineral resources maps of Canada compiled by
agencies of the Canadian Government as a result of field surveys accompany
publications of the Department of Mines and Resources.
In passing, note should be made of a unique early survey by Major Robert
A. Logan of the Canadian Air Force, who was authorized to accompany the Can–
adian Government Arctic Expedition of 1922 to the southern coast of Ellesmere
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
Land. Here he surveyed and staked out, within 830 miles of the Pole, a site for an airfield in anticipation of transarctic flying.
One of the first official aerial surveys in Canada was organized and be–
gan operations in 1927 under Major N. B. McLean, officer-in-charge of the ex–
pedition for the Canadian Department of Marine and Fisheries. The need for
these surveys became at once apparent when the Hudson Bay Railway was extend–
ed to Churchill and the opening of the Hudson Bay and Strait route to the
Atlantic appeared to be achieved. The need for accurate charts, particularly
through the straits, was immediate. From bases established on Wakehavn and
Nottingham islands and on the southern coast about midway between the islands,
Fokker planes (two from each of the bases) carried out aerial photographic
surveys in a fanwise manner, and between October 1927 and August 1928 had
completed over 200 routine air patrols, one of over 590 miles, and many spec–
ial and non-patrol flights. Numerous oblique air photographs and accurately
determined positions made possible the compilation and publication of some
of the most useful maps and charts of Arctic Canada. Since 1929 the Canadian
Hydrographic Office has carried on detailed surveys of the Hudson Bay Route.
The extent of the task before the Hydrographic Service is indicated by the
fact that of the approximately 50,000 miles of coast line that is Canada's,
some 27,000 miles include the Arctic Islands, very few miles of which have
been accurately surveyed.
The Dominion Government ^wa^s among the first to realize the importance
of maintaining a central file of air photographs when in the late 1920's it
organized the National Air Photographic Library of Canada in Ottawa. This
central depository is the most valuable source of accurate landscape informa–
tion on the Canadian Arctic from which maps can be made.
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
The Hudson Strait flights of 1928–1929 were followed by an equally
revealing use of aerial photography when Jamor L. T. Burwash of the North–
west Territories and Yukon Branch of the Dominion Government left Fort Hearne
at the mouth of the Coppermine River on August 23, 1930, flew a route that
carried him over Dolphin and Union Strait, skirted the south coast of Victoria
Island, then to and circling King William Island, on to Boothia Peninsula and
the magnetic pole, and returning by way of Victoria Island, Cambridge Bay,
the south shore of Dease Strait, Coronation Gulf, and finally Fort Hearne which
he achieved on September 8. Complete photographic coverage of the coast line
flown over was obtained.
Members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police patrols have contributed
substantial funds of terrain information and frequently reconnaissance maps,
covering remote segments of the Arctic. Notable contributions include Con–
stable G. T. Mackintosh's survey of Makinson Inlet in southeastern Ellesmere
Island in April 1928, and Inspector A. H. Joy's 1700 mile trek through the
far northern Arctic Islands and across Ellesmere Island in 1929.
Numerous privately sponsored small expeditions have made valuable carto–
graphic and textual contributions. Many of those are noted in the article on
A History of Exploration Since the Introduction of Flying
. The following are
some of the expeditions into the Canadian Arctic that contributed basic data
for use in mapping or surveyed and mapped areas until then otherwise unmapped
or poorly mapped.
Vilhjalmur Stefansson in 1910–1912 surveyed portions of the Victoria
Island-Great Bear Lake-Franklin Bay area. One of the valuable products of
his Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913–1918 was accurate position observations,
ground surveys and terrain descriptions. In 1914, R. J. Flaherty's expedition
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
through the Hudson Bay area and across Ungava Peninsula resulted in important corrections of the maps of the region. The Crocker Land expedition under D. B. MacMillan assisted by Elmer Ekblaw in 1914–1917 made substantial and detailed corrections in the maps of Ellesmere Island, notably the coast from Cape Sabine to Clarence Head. J. D. Soper in 1925 and 1926, and the Putnam Baffin Island Expedition with L. M. Gould as physiographer and glaciologist, in 1927 contributed valuable information that brought about severe changes in maps of the island, the latter expedition revealing for the first time the correct configuration of the northern coast of Foxe Peninsula and the south– eastern corner of Foxe Basin.
Use of the airplane as a medium for rapid surveying of terrain and the
discovery of mineral resources was carried out by the Northern Aerial Mineral
Explorations, Ltd., and the Dominion Explorers, Ltd., when, in 1928 and 1929
they sent planes out over a considerable area west of Hudson Bay, north into
the Bar
[:
]
en Grounds and onto the arctic mainland coast. Although the planes
of both companies ultimately were forced down or wrecked, the results and
the thousands of miles flown by rescue missions were productive as to topo–
graphic information, and in pointing the way to the profitable use of air–
planes in surveying in Canada's Arctic. Some of the first scientific aerial
surveys in the maps of an arctic area resulted from the several Forbes ex–
peditions to Labrador and were largely the work of O. M. Miller of the Amer–
ican Geographical Society. Three aerial expeditions (1931, 1932 and 1935)
resulted in a sufficient number of coordinated oblique photographs covering
some 4,000 square iiles in about twenty hours of flying time, which, with
ground controls, made possible the compilation of a four-sheet map of northern–
most Labrador on a scale of 1:100,000 and a hypsometric map of the same area
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
on a scale of 1 [: ] 300,000. During 1936–1938, Robert Bentham surveyed parts of the southern and southeastern Elleamere Land and by combining photographs and angles, later it was possible to prepare a correct map of the coast and mountains south of Makinson Inlet. The fjord region of eastern Baffin Island, particularly north of Cape Hewett, was surveyed in 1934 and again in 1937 by Cambridge University expeditions. The T. H. Manning expedition spent most of the period from 1938 to 1940 in the survey of Southampton Island and the western areas of Baffin Island and prepared accurate detailed maps of the area.
The Danish (Greenland) Sector.
Greenland, perhaps more than any other
arctic area, has been explored and surveyed during its recent past by numerous
different scientific parties and by a score or more nationalities. The Danish
Government itself through the Commission for the Scientific Investigation of
Greenland and the Danish Geodetic Institute, has sponsored and financed one
of the first overall programs of large-scale mapping in the Arctic. The re–
sults of these expeditions and surveys as well as those of other scientific
parties, find expression in one of the finest series of scientific publications
Meddelelser om Gr
o
^
ø
^
nland
(published since 1879 in 145 volumes to 1946). An
examination of these volumes reveals a treasure trove of information on map–
ping and mapping methods and techniques, and includes numerous maps of Green–
land. Indeed, one of the most valuable descriptions on cartography of the
Arctic is Lauge Koch's "Survey of North Greenland,"
Meddelelsor om Gr
o
^
ø
^
nland
,
vol. 130 (1), pp. 1–364, and
Atlas
, K
o
^
ø
^
benhavn, 1940.
One of the first, and certainly one of the best, examples of topographic
maps of the Arctic is the series of sheets on a scale of 1:250,000 of the east
and west coasts of Greenland, published by the Danish Geodetic Institute under
the Ministry of War. This work was begun in 1927 and continued uninterrupted
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
to 1939; field work was not carried on during the War 1939–1945, and since 1946 has been prosecuted on a more elaborate and detailed basis. During the War, compilation and drafting of new sheets was continued in Denmark on the basis of numerous air photographs taken during preceding years. Up to 1939, thrity-four sheets had been published, and by means of an aerocartograph some 200,000 square kilometers on a scale of 1:200,000 were plotted and photographs covering about 140,000 square kilometers were available for additional plotting. The plotted areas included the east coast between latitudes 72° and 76° and the west coast between latitudes 63° 30′ and 69° 20′. Coordinated aerial photographic surveys were carried out from Heinkel hydroplanes of the Danish Navy during the period 1932–1939. This was accomplished at about 4,000 meters, along flight lines about 35 kilometers apart using a single-lens camera.
Up to 1939 the Danish Geodetic Institute had established a first-order
triangulation not along the west coast from latitudes 60° to 75° including
76 first order and 482 second order stations. During the period 1931–1937, the
west coast beyween latitudes 67° 30′ and 73° was mapped by planetable methods.
Surveys carried out each spring and summer up to 1939 were well organized not
only as to personnel but equipment. Motorboats were em
^
ployed
^
in the fjords
as a rapid and light means of transport and Greenlanders served as valued
assistants. The individual surveying parties maintained a high degree of
mobility and alertness in order to take advantage of the frequent changes in
weather.
Another significant series of topographic maps published by the Danish
Goodetic Institute, but for which the remarkable surveys of Lauge Koch during
the period 1917 to 1923 were the basic source, is the
Atlas.
This series, the
eastern sheets of which Lauge Koch has recently modified, are remarkable because
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
they, along with his more recent published maps derived from his aerial surveys during 1933–1938, represent probably the most accurate extensive large-scale survey covering such a high latitude area to 1939. This set in nineteen sheets is on a scale of 1:300,000 and was published in 1932.
Significant among the numerous recent private scientific and government–
sponsored expeditions to the Greenland area up to 1939 accomplishing large–
scale mapping and charting, are those of Louise Boyd to the east coast and
the Greenland Sea from 1930 to 1938; the British Air Route Expedition to the
northeast coast of Greenland in 1906–1908; the First through the Seventh Thule
Expeditions extending at irregular intervals from 1912 to 1933; the Bicenten–
ary Jubilee Expedition around the north of Greenland, 1920 to 1923; the Alfred
Wegoner German Greenland Expeditions, 1929 to 1931; the Cambridge University
East Greenland Expeditions of J. M. Wordie, in 1923, 1926 and 1929; J. B.
Charcot's surveys in the Greenland seas, 1925 through 1936; the University of
Michigan Expedition under W. H. Hobbs and Ralph Belknap, 1926 to 1934; the
Danish Three-Year Expedition, 1931 to 1934; Norwegian expeditions under K.
Orvin and A. Hoel in 1929 to 1932; the Anglo-Danish expedition of 1935 to 1936
under L. R. Wager; the Oxford University West Greenland Expedition headed by
P. C. Mott in 1936 that made large-scale topographic surveys of the S
o
^
ø
^
ndre
Str[]mfjord and Sukkertoppen areas; and the British Northwest Greenland Expedi–
tion in 1937–1939. Also, the transactions of the Greenland icecap by de Quer–
vain in 1912, J. P. Koch and Alfred Wegoner in 1912–1913, Martin Lindsay in
1934 and others, obtained vital information on the topographic nature of the
interior. The cartographic and related results of those and other expeditions
have been published, often with excellent large-scale topographic maps and
hydrographic charts in scientific periodicals and special publications of
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
scientific societies. (See bibliography following article on the History of Scientific Exploration in the Arctic Since the Introduction of Flying .)
Charting of the Greenland Sea and the waters west of Greenland has been
carried out by numerous different expeditions generally, and the Danish,
Norwegian, British and American governments particularly. The International
Hydrographic Office has served as a central repository for some of the data.
Hydrographic surveys have been carried out in the Greenland Sea over a period
of several decades by the Norges Svalbard-og-Ishavs-Unders
o
^
ø
^
kelser, the North
Atlantic, Davis Strait and Baffin Bay by the United States Coast Guard Ice
Patrol 1914 to date, and the coastal waters of Greenland by the Danish Navy.
Data from these and other expeditions have been incorporated into hydrographic
charts published by the United States Hydrographic Office.
The Norwegian (Svalbard-Jan Mayen) Sector
. Since the establishment of
the Norges Svalbard-og Ishavs-Unders
o
^
ø
^
kelser in Oslo in 1906, organized govern–
ment-sponsored scientific exploration and mapping of Svalbard has been carried
out with a high degree of success. The collaboration of the Swedish-Russian
Expedition to Spitsbergen in 1899–1902, for the measurement of an arc of mer–
idian, established a convenient net to which subsequent surveys could be re–
lated and from which they could be derived.
Under Adolf Hoel, director of the agency until probably 1945, almost
yearly one or more survey and topographic parties were sent out from Norway
to Svalbard to chart the waters and survey selected areas of the land surface.
Results of these expeditions and laboratory research have found expression in
the
Skrifter
and the
Meddel
^
el
^
se
series of the Norges Svalbard-og-Ishavs-Under–
sokelser. The
Skrifter
series (number 1 through 88, 1922 to 1945) like the
Meddelelser om Gr
o
^
ø
^
nland
series by the Danes for Greenland, serves as an excellent
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
source of information government and other surveys in Svalberd.
During the period 1906–1939, a total of 18,653 square kilometers of
Svalbard was mapped by ground survey parties and some 65,000 square kilometers
were photographed by photo-reconnaissance airplanes. An additional 9,200
square kioometers of ground surveys and some 30,000 square kilometers of
a
[:
]
erial surveys were carried out during this period in the areas of north–
east Greenland of interest to the Norwegians. Examination of an index map
showing flight linesto areas covered by aerial photography reveals that prac–
tically all of Svalbard has been covered by air photographs. Most of the West–
ern half of the island of Spitsbergen and all of Prince Charles Foreland have
been surveyed, some 6,200 square kilometers during 1957–1942 from Aero-photo–
grams on a scale of 1:50,000, about 10,000 square kilometers on a scale of
1:200,000 (1942–1943) and the remainder representing earlier less reliable
surveys. During the period 1907–1939, a total of about 110,000 su
[:
]
are kilo–
meters of the waters circumjacent to Svalbard and the area of Norwegian in–
terest in northeast Greenland was surveyed.
Systematic series of large-scale topographic maps of Svalbard for select–
ed areas of the western portion of Svalbard are available on a scale of 1:50,000.
An excellent large-scale 1:25,000 topographic map of Bear Island was published
as a revised edition in 1944. A preliminary edition of topographic maps of
areas in Kings Bay, Icefjord, Bell Sound and Bear Island of Spitsbe
^
rg
^
en on
a scale of 1:50,000 were published to accompany the
Svalbard Commissioner's
Report Concerning the Claims of Lands in Svalbard
, Oslo, 1927.
Since Cunnar Isacheen in 1906 and Gerard De Ceor in 1899–1902 carried
out topographic surveys in Svalbard and subsequently published large-scale
maps of those areas, a succession of privately sponsored and often well equipped
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
expeditions have carried out detailed surveys and published maps to accompany their reports. English, Swedish, German, Norwegian, French and American scientists particularly have sent expeditions to Svalbard. The English, perhaps more than any other nationality, have made notable contributions, especially the Oxford, Cambridge and other university expeditions. Some of the first field experiments in aerial photography in the Arctic were carried out in Svalbard, notably the surveys by Lieutenant Walter Mittelholzer in 1923 and the following year by George Binney, who led the Third Oxford Univ– ersity Arctic Expedition.
The northern, or arctic (Finnmark) fringe of Norway has been surveyed
and charted in detail since before World War I and the maps and charts pro–
duced by the Norwegian Topographic Survey and General Staff of the Army and
the Norwegian Hydrographic Office respectively, represent some of the most de–
tailed, large-scale (1:50,000) maps of the Arctic available.
The U.S.S.R. Sector
. Extensive topographic mapping and charting programs
for this sector of the Arctic are a product almost exclusively of the Soviet
period of control. Although numerous private as well as government-sponsored
expeditions had sailed into the Russian Arctic prior to 1918, for commercial
purposes, in search of the northeast or a northwest passage around the con–
tinent, or in quest of more favorable approaches to the North Pole, detailed
mapping activities generally were subordinated to other interests. As early
as the first half of the eighteenth century, the general outline of the Arctic
coast was known and had been recorded, though not always very accurately, on
maps. The voyages of Bering, the Laptev brothers, Ovtsyn and Promicheshchev
during this period of concentrated search for a Northern Sea Route partly ful–
filled the need for cartographic and hydrographic information on that area.
The results of these expeditions remained significant to the twentieth century.
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
Surveying in the Russian-Soviet Arctic prior to about 1920 was for the
most part concerned with successive attempts at discovery north and east along
the coast from the Kola Peninsula and particularly Arkhangelsk. The estuaries
of the larger rivers and much of the coast line east from Arkhangelsk to the
Ob and Yenesei, had been charted, as had also the Kamchatka-Bering Strait area.
Novaya Zemelya, Nordenskiold Archipelago, Franz Josef Land, the New Siberian
Islands and Wrangel Island had been mapped. Perhaps the most fruitful expedi–
tion of the early twentieth century in point of discovery and mapping was that
by Vilkitski, who led the Taimyr and the Vaigach from 1913 to 1915. In 1913
these ships, stationed in Vladivostok, were ordered into the Arctic and accom–
plished discoveries and surveys of islands along the Russian Arctic coast as
far as Starokadomskii Zemlya west of the Severnaia Zemlya Archipelago, but
were forced to return to Vladivostok. During 1914 and 1915, Vilkitskii, with
the same two ships, accomplished the east-west passage of the Northern Sea
Route and made many valuable contributions to the cartography of the area.
Significant among the other expeditions into the Russian Arctic during
the period immediately prior to World War I contributing substantial carto–
graphic information are: Sedov's fateful expedition into the area about Novaya
Zemlya and Franz Josef Land during 1912–1914, during which valuable surveys
were made; Rusanov's explorations and circumnavigation of Novaya Zemlya in
1909–1910; Vilkitskii's discovery and mapping of parts of Severnaia Zemlya,
Novosibirskii Island, Vilkitskii Zemlya, Zhukhov Zemlya, Wrangel Island, and
the mouths of several of the main rivers of the arctic coast including parti–
cularly the Kolyma; and finally the first successful air survey in the Arctic
made by Lieutenant Nagurski, whose five flights in 1914 carried him out from
Krestovaya Bay, on Novaya Zemlya, and over Lutke Bay, Barents Bay and Islands,
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
and along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, the longest flight being some 200 miles from the base.
The several decades following the establishment of the Soviet regime
have witnessed probably the most extensive government-sponsored attempt at
mastering the Arctic and have included widespread mapping programs. These
have been so numerous, and the surveys have been restricted almost entirely
to Soviet agencies about which since the beginning of World War II only in–
complete information is available, that only a brief sketch here is possible.
The All-Union Arctic Institute and the Central Administration of the Northern
Sea Route and their predecessor agencies have been the primary sources of
Soviet activities in the Arctic, the most important of which activities has
been a scientific approach to, and an apparently successful achievement in
opening and maintaining the Northern Sea Route. This achievement is to a
large extent a product of hydrographic and topographic mapping and as well
an intensive survey of the resources of the Soviet Arctic mainland. Scientific
textual and cartographic results of these activities find a ready outlet in
the publications of the two agencies, notably the
Transactions
and
Bulletina
of the
Arctic Institute
and
Materials for the Study of the Arctic
and
Problems
of the Arctic
, also of the Arctic Institute.
The period from about 1920 to 1930 was for the most part experimental and
was concerned primarily with establishing the overall topographic and hydro–
graphic features of the more than 6,000,000 square kilometers of Soviet Arctic
in order to facilitate and expedite the search for natural resources and poten–
tial avenues of transport and sites for settlement. So it was that emphasis
in hydrographic surveys was placed on the sea
[:
]
marginal to the continent and
the major tributaries thereto. Although hydrographic (both plan
[:
]
metric and
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
bathymetric) charts of the Barents, Kara and Laptev seas and the numerous bays, and the Co, Yenesei, Lena, Kolymn, and other rivers debouching into the arctic waters were compiled as a product of expeditions, detailed scien– tific surveys were left to the period beginning about 1930. Particular emph– asis was given to hydrographic surveys of the waters adjacent to Novoya Zemlya. One of the products of these surveys was the compilation and issuance of navi– gation atlases of the rivers and ice atlases and prognoses on ice conditions in the seas. Extensive use of the powerful icebreaker type of ship, notably the Sedov and the Lutke, during the latter part of this period, made possible more comprehensive and extensive surveys. Likewise, the establishment of wire– less, geophysical and mateorological stations on strategic sites, such as islands and peninsulas, helped coordinate the charting and napping program.
Topographic surveying expeditions during this period were fewer in number
and considerably less significant insofar as the area covered. Much of the
work was expended in the establishment of ground controls, as for example the
determination of more than 40 a
^
stron
^
omic positions adjacent to the Indigirka
River in order to facilitate the mapping of that river in 1928–1930 under J.K.
Tcheriklrin. Of the Arctic Islands, Novaya Zemlya received most attention by
topographers during this period. In 1924, a permanent geophysical observatory
was built at Matochkin Shar and in the same year several topographic surveys,
notably one of the east coast by the Leningrad Institute for the Study of the
North. During 1927–1930, the Novosibirskii group was surveyed by an expedi–
tion under N. W. Pineguin and a large-scale, detailed topographic map of Liak–
hov
[:
]
kii Zemlya was made. A small expedition under Dr. Savenko during 1926–
1929, in addition to other duti^es^ on Wrangel Island, completed a large-scale
topographic map of the island. It is notable that very little use was made
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
of serial photography. This initial period of mapping under the Soviet regime was exploratory in nature.
The period from about 1930 to 1939 in a decade of prodigious effort in
mapping the Soviet Arctic. It is a period during which the application of
improved methods in mapping, a growing resource of scientifically trained per–
sonnel, widespread use of serial photography and photogrammetry and modern map
compilation and reproduction methods as well as reorganized and expanded scien–
tific units having charge of the Arctic, gave a remarkable impetus to accomplish–
ment of the task.
During this period, most of the Arctic and Pacific coasts of the U.S.S.R.
were mapped and charted in detail, as were many of the islands of the Arctic
Sea. Surveys of most of the major rivers were completed and large-scale navi–
gation charts and pilot guides were issued for use th^ough with^ continued vig–
ilance as to their accuracy. All Soviet ships sailing in arctic waters were
required to conduct scientific hydrographic surveys, record information on the
status of the ice and weather, and to make the results available to the agencies
responsible for investigations in the Arctic, particularly the Hydrographic
Office. These prolific sources of information as well as the special hydro–
graphic expeditions of the Chief Administration for the Northern Sea Route and
the Arctic Institute have made possible the compilation of one of the best,
if not the best, series of large-scale, detailed hydrographic charts of the
Arctic, confined though they are to the Soviet Sector. The charts on scales
of from 1:100,000 to 1:500,00, some thirty-five in number,a result of surveys
mostly prior to 1940 and published since that date, have been issued as emer–
ency reproductions by the United States Hydrographic office, include topographic
information for the coastal areas, considerable detailed hydrographic informa-
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
tion such as soundings, obstructions to navigation, currents, radio, wireless, and polar stations, and of course the configuration of the contact between land and water. There can be few better current sources of cartographic in– formation on the outline of the U.S.S.R. extending into, and the islands with– in the Arctic Sea and the nature of the bathymetry and oceanography of that water area. The airplane for reconnaissance and photography and the specially staffed laboratories of the icebreaker and hydrographic vessels have been large– ly responsible for this success.
Significant as the published products of those hydrographic surveys are,
it is the prodigious effort and considerable success in topographic, geologic
and other mapping, and in the development of modern rapid methods of surveying
and in geodesy, that command attention. During the period 1930 to 1939, hun–
dreds of topographic and geodetic expeditions were sent out by scientific organ–
izations, mostly sponsored by, or in collaboration with, the Arctic Institute.
The results, though often published separately, were first combined in the
compilation of the "Geological Map of the Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics
...1937. Scale 1:500,000." which was published particularly for the Seventeenth
International Geological Congress meetings in Moscow in 1937. This map, ex–
pressed within the limitations of scale and in terms of available information,
presented a new planimetric outline of the Soviet Arctic. This was followed
by the publication of a thirty-two sheet "Planometric Map of the U.S.S.R. and
Adjacent Countries, 1938–1939," on a scale of 1:2,500,000 and in 1938 by a
twenty-sheet "Planimetric map of the European parts of the U.S.S.R.," on a
scale of 1:1,500,000.
With the publication of the first two volumes of "The Great Soviet Atlas"
in 1937–1939, Soviet cartography came of age and stands out as an epic in modern
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
cartography. Included within this atlas are maps of the whole Arctic and larger-scale relief maps of segments of the Soviet Arctic, which has been measured and its parts fitted and found to be quite unlike the old version. Let us select and note a few of the many expeditions which together made pos– sible these recent maps.
When in 1931 the Graf Zeppelin, a lighter-than-air ship, glided over
European U.S.S.R., Franz Josef Land, making a brief water landing in Calm
Harbor of Hooker Island, and then on over Severnaya Zemlys, Cape Cheliuskin,
Taimyr Sea, Dickson Island, Hara Sea, Novaya Zemlya, and returned to Berlin,
a new period in the mapping and charting of the Soviet Arctic dawned. One of
the products of this flight was topographic maps of parts of Novaya Zemlya,
Sovernaia Zemlya and other islands, resolved by photogrametric methods. At
once it proved the value of serial reconnaissance and photogrammetric methods
and stimulated modern mapping in the Soviet Arctic. Simultaneously a reorgan–
ized and considerably expanded Chief Administration for the Northern Sea Route
and particularly the Arctic Institute, came into being. One of its first
major mapping activities was the Anadyr-Chukchee expedition, which, from 1931
to 1934, largely under the leadership of Sergei Obruchev, surveyed and mapped
from the air as well as on the ground, a considerable area of heretofore pear–
ly, or unmapped terrain, and contributed hysometric maps of the region, some
on scales of 1:250,000 and 1:500,000, and one of the region on a scale of
1:1,000,000.
Geodetic positions were established in, and triangulation note were woven
across numerous areas, as for example the lower Indiga River (1930–1932), the
lower Lena River (1931), the Anadyr-Chukchi District (1931–1934), the coastal
area between the Lena River and Bering Strait (1931–1932), Lower Pechora River
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
area (1932), the Anni-Kolyma River region (1933–1935), Novaya Zemlya (1932– 1936), Novaskbirskii Zemlya (1934–1935), Tixi Bay (1934), Chaun District (1934– 1935), Nordenskiöld Archipelago (1935–1936), Pronchishobeva Bay (1935), Capes Cheliuskin and Schmidt (1935), the Taimyr, Anabar and Indigirks rivers (1935), Wrangel Island (1935), the Orulgan District (1936), Yenisei Bay (1937), and the Nordenskiold Archipelago (1938–1939). At least two comprehensive publica– tions have been issued as a product of these and other surveys. (1) V. G. Vasiliev and Others: "...[Catalogue of the Astronomical Points of the U.S.S.R. Sector of the Arctic]," Materials for the Study of the Arctic, No. 8, pp. 1–40, Leningrad, 1935 and (2) "...[Catalogue of the Astronomical Points of the U.S.S.R. Sector of the ArcticI." Published by the Chief Administration of the Northern Sea Route. Leningrad, 1937. 357 pp. and map.
A few of the topographic and geological surveys and expeditions sent out
during the period 1930–1939 bear notice. Sovernaya Zemlya, so long unsurveyed,
was first surveyed and mapped in considerable detail by an expedition from the
Arctic Institute in 1930–1932; a Mr. Lappo, observer on the airplane "Komsever–
put No. 3" (Dornier-Val flying boat) made the first serial topographic map of
Sverdrup Zemlya; the East Polar Expedition of the Air Fleet in 1931–1932 car–
ried out geological and planetable surveys of areas between Bering Strait and
the Lena River; G. A. Oushakov in charge of operations, made substantial changes
in the map of the Sergei Komenov Zemlya in 1932–1933; approximately 15,000
square kilometers of the Chelioskin Peninsula were mapped on a scale of
1:500,00; the Geological Prospecting Detachment operating in the Bulun District
planetabled on a scale of 1:25,000 selected areas in the Lena-Khatanga Region;
Rudolf Zemlya and adjoining islands were mapped topographically in 1933; and
mapping of large portions of the ice sheets of Novaya Zemlya was accomplished
by members of a glaciological station established at Russian Harbour in 1935.
During 1933–1935, the Arctic Institute Anui Expedition led by V. V. Vaker
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
mapped, topographically and geologically, in some instances on scales of 1:100,000 with 100 meter contours, large areas of hitherto unmapped terrain in the area between the Chaun and Kolyma rivers. Instrumental surveys were made of several islands in Franz Josef Land Archipelago in 1934 and subsequently, particularly with respect to establishing airbases; one of the first surveys was directed by air when M. K. Koshelev flow from the icebreaker Taimyr in 1934. A topographic map of the Chaun Disttict was compiled from the detailed topographic surveys of the West Chukotsk Geological Expedition in 1934–1935. By 1936 Novaya Zemlya had been very nearly completely mapped and it was pos– sible to compile and publish a large-scale topographic map (1:500,000 ?) of the island by the Arctic Institute in 1936. In 1935 several extensive serial surveying parties were in the field, the Aero-Photo Survey Expedition of the Central Hydrographic Department with a two-motored plane and an aerial camera, surveyed, with occasional weather difficulties, large areas of the coast and of the rivers of the arctic coast of Eastern Siberia, notably the Lena, Clenek, Vilnia rivers and areas into Yakutsk. In 1935 the Lavienty Geological Research Party of the Arctic Institute completed extensive topographic and geological surveys in the extreme northeastern Chukotsk Peninsula, Asia. During 1936 and 1937, an expedition of the Arctic Institute was in the Yana District and sur– veyed an area of some 35,000 kilometers from which a geological map on a scale of 1:1,000,000 and a topographical map on a scale of 1:500,000 were completed. By 1939 most of the Soviet Arctic had been surveyed in sufficient detail to make possible a serious attempt at compiling a topographical map on a scale of 1:1,000,000.
In 1934 the Arctic Institute completed the compilation of a hysometric
map of the Arctic on a scale of 1:20,000,000. In 1935 the Arctic Institute
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
announced that its Cartographic and Geodetical Section had been collecting all available information on topographic and other mapping in the Arctic and was preparing a comprehensive publication on "the Topographical Knowledge of the Soviet Arctic." In 1936 the same Section of the Arctic Institute publish– ed a detailed paper (with a map) on the "Computation of the Areas Occupied by the Soviet Arctic."
Numerous large-scale geological, botanical, glaciological, oceanographic,
and topographic maps of small areas accompany articles published in Soviet
scientific periodicals of which there are surprisingly many.
This period came to an end as World War II broke. In part this is a co–
incidence, in part an obvious consequence of the impending crisis. The period
that follows into the present is one of intensive effort at compiling on pro–
gressively larger scales (1:1,000,000 and larger) a systematic series of top–
ographic and other maps for tactical purposes.
Present (1939 to 1947) Status of Cartography of the Arctic
The following discussion of surveying in and mapping of the Arctic since
1939, is necessarily confined to a few significant activities. For details,
the reader is referred to the sources, particularly the finding aids, listed
in the bibliography.
The Whole Arctic
. Since about 1939 the "air age concept" has yielded
numerous maps of the whole Arctic and projections centered on the North Pole
or in the Arctic. Necessity directed the preparation of systematic series
of maps for use in flying as well as planning logistic covering considerable
distances in the Arctic. Some of the most effective, useful and generally
available should be described. For the sake of convenience these may be divided
into two groups: (1) maps of the whole Arctic, and (2) systematic series of maps
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
(sheets) together comprising the whole Arctic.
The first large detailed relief or physical map of the Arctic centered
at the Pole, compiled from basic sources and correcting many of the illusions
concerning the Arctic, probably was prepared by the Arctic Scientific Investiga–
tional Institute in 1940. This is a remarkably well compiled and clearly re–
produced colored map showing not only the land surface by hysometric tints
but the configuration and depths of the water areas of the Arctic by bathy–
metric tints. On a scale of 1:10,000,000 with clearly distinguished detail,
this map is one of the most useful, though unfortunately it has been produced
only in Russian.
Following closely on the publication of this map of the Arctic, the Can–
adian Hydrographic and Map Service in 1941 published what continues to be a
useful planimetric (base) map on a polar equidistant projection.
Recognizing the need for an overall topographic map of the Northern Hami–
sphere including the areas of the middle latitudes that are origins of the
principal treansarctic routes, the Arction Section of the Arctic, Desert, and
Tropic Branch of the United States Army Air Forces in collaboration with the
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, during 1943 and 1944, compiled and
drafted a map for publication by the Army Air Forces Aeronautical Chart Service.
This map on a scale of 1:6,336,000 at 65° north latitude was compiled from
more than 2,500 different sources including particularly compilations from
aerial photographs. Included on the map, in addition to contour lines showing
relief, are such elements as principal transport facilities, unexplored areas
of the Arctic Basin, the tree-line, settlements graduated by symbol according
to the size of the population, polar stations, factors and posts, land forms
such as glaciers and ice caps, and particularly place names that have been
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
approved by the United States Board on Geographical Names. The map is accom– panied by a useful Gazetteer and List of Sources.
Since 1946 the Air University of the United States Army Air Forces has
compiled and is publishing through the Aeronautical Chart Service a "Northern
Hemisphere Geography Series" of maps on a scale of 1:24,000,000 and on 1:12,000,000
in color including such subjects as are listed in the bibliography to this article.
These are excellent instructional materials.
Among the most useful generally available systematic series of maps of
the whole Arctic produced during the past six or seven years are the AAF Aero–
nautical Planning Charts of the World on a scale of 1:5,000,000. The whole
Arctic is covered in six matching sheets: Relief is shown by form line and
gradient tints; transport facilities, air facilities, settlements and significant
terrain features are shown. For overall planning these are among the best.
Probably the best overall topographic coverage of the whole Arctic with details
of terrain and culture and for which sheets, some 200 in number, are matched
to be assembled as a unit if necessary, are the "AAF Aeroneautical (Pilotage)
Charts of the World" on a scale of 1:1,000,000 and on a Lambert conformal pro–
jection, except above latitude 72°, for which a polar stereographic projection
is used. Those sheets are revised as new information warrants, and for parts
of the Arctic, particularly areas recently flown for aerial photography, this
is frequent. Indeed, this service is the closest approach to achieving the
mapping once planned for the International Map of the World.
The "Glacial Map of North America," published by the National Research
Council in Washington, is a product of faithful collaboration of geologists
in the United States and Canada and is an indispensable graphic tool for use
by the serious student of the Arctic.
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
What remains to be done in order to achieve a continuously up-to-date
accurate topographic map of the Arctic for the use of all peoples is a com–
plete interchange of cartographic information among nations. What has been
accomplished through the teamwork of Canadians and Americans in the Arctic dur–
ing the past seven years is a miracle of rapid mapping.
The United States (Alaska) Sector
. In the relatively short period of
some five years (1940–1946) Alaska has been mapped far more accurately than
more than ninety-nine percent previously had been mapped to that date. During
this brief period, the United States Army Air Forces in collaboration with the
United States Geological Survey was responsible for obtaining more than 35,000
aerial photographs which together cover the largest area ever mapped and fixed
in geographic position as a single physical unit. Using every modern technique
developed before and during the war, and with trimetrogon photography, more
than 292,000 square miles were photographed from flight lines spaced about
twenty-five miles apart. The first accurate planimetric map of Alaska (publish–
ed as Alaska Map E in 1946) by the United States Geological Survey with the
assistance of the United States Army Air Forces, is on a scale of 1:2,500,000
and represents a strikingly different configuration, hydrographic pattern, and
extent of glaciers than on any map of the area prior to this date. Thismap is
the product of the complete air coverage available. Large-scale accurate top–
ographic maps of selected areas of Alaska are now possible for use in regional
planning, settlement, construction of transport facilities and in flying.
From essentially the same basic sources of information, namely, trimetrogon
aerial photography and ground controls, the United States Coast and Geodetic
Survey during the war produced, and to date continue to produce, a highly accur–
ate series of hypsometric (topographic) aeronautical charts of Alaska on a scale
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
of 1:1,000,000. Alaska is covered in fifteen sheets. These sheets fit into a world-wide series of aeronautical charts on the same scale published by the United States Army Air Forces Aeronautical Chart Service, though in years before the war, the Coast and Geodetic Survey pioneered in this type of map. In addi– tion, aeronautical (topographic) flight charts covering the air routes in Alaska have been compiled and are being maintained up-to-date.
Because of the urgent need for accurate large-scale maps of Alaska and
contiguous areas of Canada, the Coast and Geodetic Survey early in the war
carried on extensive geodetic work in the area. Numerous triangulations and
leveling operations were carried out, particularly significant being the arc
of triangulation westward from Nenana along the Yukon River to Norton Sound,
and thence north and west on Seward Peninsula to Bering Strait and the arc of
triangulation and leveling for the Alaska Military Highway. In 1943 when map–
ping activities in Alaska probably were heaviest, the Coast and Geodetic Survey
completed 12,823 soundings, charted 1,234 square miles of water, surveyed top–
ographically about 100 square miles of coastal areas, and established 188 geo–
graphic positions.
In October 1947 the United States Army Air Forces revealed that among
its notable achievements in the Arctic recently in collaboration with the United
States Navy, more than 35,000 square miles were photo-mapped in the search for
oil reserves much of which area is along the arctic coast of Alaska. In 1946
the United States Navy Arctic Expedition initiated an intensive program of
search for oil reserves along the Arctic Sea flanks of the Brooks Range, one of
the products of which will be more accurate and numerous ground controls and
surveys of local areas.
United States Topographic Engineering Battalions and field mapping units
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
have made large-scale topographic maps of areas selected and occupied as sites for airfields, emergency landing strips, military installations, proving grounds and the like.
The Canadian Sector
. The period 1940 to date was ushered in by the rapid–ly mounting wartime needs for maps of the North American Arctic, particularly
in the eastern Canadian Arctic, for use in surveys for air ferry routes to
England by way of Newfoundland, Labrador and Greenland and in the western Can–
adian Arctic for use in establishing the best ferry routes from the United States
to the U.S.S.R. and in making surveys for the Canol pipeline and the Alaska
Military Highway. The almost total lack of adequate large-scale topographic
maps initiated one of the largest mapping programs in the history of North
America. The United States collaborated with Canada in mapping Canada and
particularly the Canadian Arctic. An extensive joint aerial photographic cov–
erage program was inaugurated, and the United States Army Air Force was made
responsible for systematic aerial photographic coverage of large areas.
Simultaneously with, and directly related to, these aerial surveys were
the establishment of nets of ground controls by geodetists and surveyors of
the Geodetic Service of Canada. During the period 1942 to 1945, unmapped areas
between Alaska and Labrador were visited by geodetic parties during the short
field season and some 215 stations were established. More recently, additional
stations have been determined particularly in the arctic islands.
In Canada aer^ial^ photography expedited the production of the Air Naviga–
tion Series of topographic maps on a scale of 1:506,880 which to date cover,
in barious degrees of completeness, all of Canada to the Pole. These are the
best available large-scale topographic maps that together comprise a series,
are a product of the most modern methods of compilation and reproduction and
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
are being continuously revised on the basis of additional information as the basic series of topographic maps of Canada. The Department of Mines and Re– sources issues from time to time large-scale geological and topographic sheets of selected areas of the Canadian Arctic. These are particularly significant because, being resolved from Aerial photographs and ground surveys, they reveal a landscape in such detail that it often defies correlation with all prior maps of the area.
During the war, the United States Hydrographic Office compiled and pub–
lished hydrographic charts, including topographic information, of strategically
important fjords and coastal areas, especially of Labrador and Buffin Island.
Naval Aviation Charts [Number 3, 10, 11 and 12] on a scale of 1:2,188,800 of
Canada, have been published with relief indicated by contour intervals of 1,000
feet, and land area being shown in grey tint. The United States Army Air Forces
Aeronautical Chart Service since about 1942, has been responsible for the pro–
duction of a 1:1,000,000 scale aeronautical chart, essentially a topographic
map of Canada, compilation being basically from the aerial photographs result–
ing from the considerable number of flights over Canada, by Army Air Forces
photo-greconnaissance units. Flight charts, essentially detailed topographic
maps of terrain showing air facilities along the route, were prepared and are
available for the eastern and western Canadian air routes. Topographical
engineer battalions surveyed areas for military installations, and large-scale
topographic maps were prepared.
The Danish (Greenland) Sector
. Greenland's strategic location astride
the potential air route between Europe and North America early in the war, if
not before, dictated its use by military authorities of the Nazis and Allies.
As a protective measure, the United States Army Air Forces early in the war
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
photographed the land-exposed margins of the island. The Army Map Service, during 1942–1944, prepared a series of topographic (form line) maps (twenty– nine sheets) on a scale of 1:500,000 extending north along each coast from Kap Farvel to latitude 74°. When the United States Armed Forces occupied Greenland and surveyed the area for advantageous sites for airfields, topo– graphic battalions prepared large-scale topographic maps of a number of the fjords and, to a limited extent, selected areas of the icecap. The United States Army Air Forces Aeronautical Chart Service, from aerial photographs and ground surveys and other sources, notably the Danish Geodetic Institute topographic maps, published a series of aeronautical (^topo^graphic) charts of Greenland on a scale of 1:1,000,000 which now are maintained up-to-date as part of their World Aeronautical Charts series.
Although the Danish Geodetic Institute survey of Greenland was well under
way on a modern scientific basis prior to the war, and large areas had been
photographed by aerial reconnaissance, the war precluded continuance of field
work but not of office work. Considerable effort was expanded in refining the
field data and in compiling additional sheets of the map on a scale of 1:250,000.
By 1946, 39 sheets had been published, each sheet comprising an area of about
12,000 square kilometers, eight were nearly completed in compilation, and work
on eleven had been initiated. In 1946 field work was resumed, primarily to
complete the mapping of the west coast south of latitude 73° to Kap Farvel.
Significantly, the Institute has completed a triangulation net of the first
order on the west Greenland coast from 60° 40′. The Institute is resuming its
program for surveying and mapping the entire land exposed areas of Greenland,
and has had mapping parties in the field since 1946.
With the publication in 1940 of Lauge Koch's "Survey of North Greenland,"
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
Meddelelser on Gr o ^ ø ^ nland , vol. 130, pp. 1–364, Ko^ø^benhavn, 1940, and an accompany– ing Atlas, a substantial contribution to the cartography of Greenland has been made. Particularly important is the map of Northeast Greenland (scale 1:750,000) which is the product largely of Koch's aerial surveys of 1938 and 1932–1933. The map was compiled in Bern, Switzerland, during the first of the war.
The Svalbard Sector
. Mapping of Svalbard during the period 1939 ti date
has been limited and for most of the war was held in abeyance. However, com–
pilation of maps of Svalbard by the Staff of Norges Svalbard-og-Ishava-Under–
s
o
^
ø
^
kelcer continued in Norway during most of the war. Maps of Tempelfjorden,
Kjellstr
[:
ü
]
adalon, Skansbrikta, Adventfjorden, Bellsund, Midterhuken and other
areas of the western half of Spitsbergen were compiled on a scale of 1:50,000.
A now edition of the 1:2,000,000 scale map of Svalbard was published, its prin–
cipal feature being that a more accurate distinction was made between ice-covered
and ice-free areas. At least three hydrographic charts of the waters west of
Svalbard and of northeast Greenland were compiled and printed. It is significant
to note that the immensely valuable sets of aerial photographs of Svalbard taken
by members of the staff in the late 1930's and representing very nearly complete
coverage, were evacuated to the Kongsberg mines during the latter part of the
war. Activities of the Norges Svalbard-og-Ishava-Unders
o
^
ø
^
kelser are being re–
organized and once again the task of prociding scientific surveys of Svalbard
are being undertaken.
During the war, ground forces of the Allies raided and photographed Sval–
bard and aerial reconnaissances were sent over the Svalbard area. The British
Geographical Section General Staff issued several large-scale maps and hydro–
graphic charts of Svalbard and its islands during the war. Probably the most
accurate map of North East land to date showing relief and being the product
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
of aerial photography, accompanies a statement by A. R. Glen in the Geographical Journal , vol. 98, p. 207, 1941, who, while in Svlabard during the war, obtained a copy of the recent Norwegian map of the area. The map reproduced is on a scale of 1:1,250,000.
The principal task remaining appears to be the compilation and publication
of topographic maps on scales of 1:50,000 and 1:100,000, from the available
aerial photographs for such areas as have not been covered.
The U.S.S.R. Sector
. During the period from 1939 to date, and particularly
during the war, two series of maps have been compiled, largely from surveys of
the periods to 1939, though nevertheless being recompiled as additional surveys
have been completed. One of these is the so-called IMW or International Map of
the World, on a scale of 1:1,000,000. Although a few sheets on this scale for
parts of the U.S.S.R. had been published as early as 1925, it was not until 1940
that the International Map of the World standards and format were adopted. In
that year the Central Bureau of Geodeay and Cartography began compilation of the
1:1,000,000 scale map and simultaneously issued a set of instructions for its
publication. During the six years from 1940 to 1946, a staff of some 100 or more
cartographers and other map-making specialists, working with basic cardographic
sources from the many different cartographic and geodetic offices in the country,
in the Cartographic Factory at Oask, completed (except for one relatively small
area in the interior of Taimyr Peninsula) a map of the U.S.S.R., including the
Arctic, in 180 matching sheets. Most of the European part of the U.S.S.R. has
been mapped on scales larger than 1:1,000,000.
The second series is a set of more than thirty-five large-scale (1:200,000
to 1:500,000) hydrographic charts of the arctic coast and islands compiled and
published by the Hydrographic Department of the Chief Administration for the
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
Northern Sea Route and published since 1940.
In 1940 the Chief Administration of Geodesy and Cartography of the
Soviet of Peoples' Commissars issued a remarkably well compiled eight-sheet
"Hypsometric Map of the U.S.S.R." in colors on a scale of 1:5,000,000 and
including all of the Soviet Arctic. In the same year the Arctic Scientific
Investigational Institute in Leningrad issued a "Physical (Hypsometric) Map
of the Whole Arctic" in two sheets on a scale of 1:10,000,000. This ranks
as one of the best maps of the whole Arctic and, centered at the North Pole,
presents one of the most accurate three-dimensional pictures of that area
to date because relief is shown hypsometrically and the water areas are shown
bathymetrically. Since about 1939, the Geological Committee of the U.S.S.R.
has published at intervals sheets on a scale of 1:1,000,000 together compris–
ing a "Geological Map of the U.S.S.R." These conform planimetrically to the
sheets of the 1:1,000,000 hypsometric map of the U.S.S.R. completed in 1946.
At least a dozen sheets have been issued for the European Arctic.
In one of the Official publications of the Arctic Institute,
Problemy
Arktiki, 1940 (3)
is an illuminating summary of the scientific activities
of that agency during the period 1920–1940. In addition to a map of the
Soviet Arctic showing the coverage of geological maps (1:1,000,000 and small–
er, 1:500,000, 1:200,000 and 1:100,000 and larger) there are statements de–
scribing the mapping program. During the twenty-year period, some 484,000
square kilometers were topographically surveyed of which some 92,000 square
kilometers were of a reconnaissance nature only. Of this total, nearly 478,000
square kilometers were mapped during the period 1930–1940. About 275 geodetic
positions were established, mainly second and third order. Prior to 1929 very
few maps had been compiled in and issued by the Arctic Institute. Between
1929 and 1939, however, 139 different maps in 371 different sheets were com-
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II.
piled and published by the Institute. It is only within the past few years that the Arctic Institute has been completely responsible for the entire process of mapping and map reproduction.
Unfortunately, though a good deal of surveying and mapping must be under
way in the Soviet Arctic, very little appears to have been made available to
foreign powers during the past few years. Examination of scientific Soviet
publications reveals that mapping programs are underway and that maps are
being published. (For recent scientific expeditions, see
A History of Scien–
tific Exploration of the Arctic Since the Introduction of Flying.
)
A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following bibliography is a selection of recent generally avail–
able sources that are helpful in obtaining more detailed overall and also
regional information on the status of cartography in the Arctic. It is
divided into the following categories and subparts thereof according to
the informational character of each item and in order to facilitate their
reference and use. Unfortunately it is not possible, for reasons of Nation–
al Security, to note certain helpful sources particularly with respect to
map coverage and special elements of reproduction. The finding aids and
the maps and charts selected are almost all official government in origin
and publication. Except for the products of individual expeditions limited
for the most part to small areas, recent systematic topographic and hydro–
graphic mapping of the Arctic is restricted almost entirely to organized
government surveys and in nearly every instance maps resulting from such
surveys incorporate proven results of private surveys into their maps and
charts.
I. REFERENCES ON THE TECHNIQUES OF SURVEYING IN AND THE MAPPING OF ARCTIC
REGIONS.
1. Achmatov, V. "Die Kartographie der Arktis innerhalb der Grenzen
der U.S.S.R., "
Petermann's Mitteilungen. Erg
a
^
ä
^
nzungsheft
, number
201, pp. 64–72, Gotha, 1929.
2. Ahlmann, H. W. "Scientific Results of the Swedish-Norwegian Arctic
Expedition in the Summer of 1931. Part III. The Inland Carto–
graphy of North East Land [Svalbard]."
Geografiska Annaler
, vol.
15, pp. 47–68, Stockholm, 1933.
3. Breitfuss, Leonid L. ...
Arktis der Derzeitige Stand unserer Kennt–
knisse
u
^
ü
^
ber die Erforsching der Hardpolargebiete.
Text sur
Historischen und Physikalischen karte. Berlin, 1939. 195 pp.
2 fold maps (German and English text.)
4. Cady, Wallace M. "Aerial Photographs as an Adjunct to Arctic and
Subarctic Geologic Reconnaissance."
Transactions New York Academy
of Sciences,
Series 2, vol. 7 (6), pp. 135–138, 194^5^.
5. Carroll, John "The Eastmain Experiment in Reconnaissance Mapping."
The Canadian Surveyor,
vol. 7 (10), pp. 2–11, Ottawa, 1942.
6. Cabot, Edward C. :The Northern Alaskan Coastal Plain Interpreted
from Aerial Photographs."
The Geographical Review,
vol. 37,
pp. 639–648, New York, 1947.
7. Curtis, Heber D. "Navigation near the Pole."
Proceedings of the
U.S. Naval Institute,
vol. 65, pp. 9–19, 1939.
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography - Selected Bibliography
8. De Geer, Gerard "Tome II. Physique Terrestre. M e ^ é ^ t e ^ é ^ orologie. Historie Naturelle. IXième Section. Topographic G e ^ é ^ ologie. 'Description Topographique de la Region Explor e ^ é ^ e G e ^ é ^ ologie.'" Missions Scientifiques pour la [: K ] esure d'un Arc de Meridien au Spitsberg Entreprises en 1899–1902...Mission Suedoise . Stock– holm, 1923. 38 pp. maps.
9. Eckert, Max
...Kartenkunde...
Berlin, 1943. 149 pp. illus. maps.
10. Gaveman, A.V. "...[Application of Aero-photo-survey to the hydro–
graphic work in Arctic regions]."
Izvestii
a
^
â
^
Akademii
a
^
â
^
nauk, U.S.
S.R., serie geographicheskaia
, 1940, No. 1, pp. 133–152, Moskva,
1940. (Short summary in English.)
11. Glen, A. R."The Oxford University Arctic Expedition, North East
Land, 1935–36."
The Geographical Journal
, vol. 90, pp. 193–222
and 289–314, London, 1937.
12. Grant, J.Fergus "Air Photographs Speed Reconstruction."
Canadian
Geographical Journal
, vol. 33 (1), pp. 19–37, 1946.
13. Hinks, Arthur R.
Maps and Survey
, 5th ed. Cambridge University
Press, 1944. 311 pp. illus. maps.
14. Hobbs, William H. "Visibility and the Discovery of Polar Lands."
The Geografiska Annaler
, vol. 15, pp. 217–224, Stockholm, 1933.
15. Jenkins, F. T. "An Aerial Photographic Survey in Labrador."
The
Canadian Surveyor
, vol. 7, (8) pp. 2–17, Ottawa, 1942.
16. Joerg, W. L. G.
Brief History of Polar Exploration since the Intro–
duction of Flying
. Special Publication No. 11, American Geo–
graphical Society. New York, 1930. Second revised ed. 95 pp.
17. Kedrov, L. "...[The description of the geographical basis to the
geological map (1:2,500,000) of the northern part of the U.S.S.R.
and the index to the map]."
Trudy Arkticheskogo institut [Trans–
actions of the Arctic Institute
], vol. 87 (2), pp. 1–57, Lenin–
grad, 1937. (In Russian.)
18. Killerich, A. "On the Hydrography of the Greenland Sea."
Meddelelser
om Gr
o
^
ø
^
nland
, vol. 144 (2), pp. 1–63, K
o
^
ø
^
benhavn, 1945.
19. Koch, J. P. "Survey of North-East Greenland."
Meddelelser om Gr
o
^
ø
^
nland
,
vol. 46, pp. 1–468, K
o
^
ø
^
benhavn, 1917.
20. Koch, Lauge "Survey of North Greenland."
Meddelelser om Gr
o
^
ø
^
nland
,
vol. 130 (1), pp. 1–369, K
o
^
ø
^
benhavn, 1940. Also an atlas of maps.
21. Lacmann, Otto
Geleitworte zu den bl
a
^
ä
^
ttern Clavering
o
^
ö
^
ya
, Jordan Hill
und Geographical Society -
o
^
ö
^
ya der karte von Nordöstgrönland.
Gotha, 1937. 57 pp.
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Part II, Selected Bibliography
22. Lindsay, Martin "The British Trans-Greenland Expedition. "Appen– dices I-II." The Geographical Journal , vol. 86, pp. 235–252, London, 1935.
23. Mason, Kenneth M. "The Stereographic Survey of the Shaksgam."
The
[:
]
Geographical Journal
, vol. 70, pp. 342–358, London,
1927.
24. Meiklejohn, I. F. "The Use of Woreless Equipment vy Expeditions."
The Polar Record
, no. 17, pp. 15–24, London, January 1939.
25. Miller, O. M. and Wood, Walter A. "Photogrammetrical Work of the
Expedition."
The Fjord Region of East Greenland
, American Geo–
graphical Society Special publication No. 18, pp. 267–287, New
York, 1935.
26. ----. "The Mapping of Northernmost Labredor."
Northernmost Labrador
Mapped from the Air,
American Geographical Society Special Publi–
cation No. 22, pp. 165–185, New York, 1938.
27. Mines and Geology Branch, Department of Mines and Resources, Ottawa:
"The National Air Photographic Library of Canada,"
The Geo–
graphical Journal
, vol. 99, pp. 257–260. London, 1942.
28. Ney, C. H. "Position Determination of Arctic Coast Lines."
The
Canadian Surveyor
, vol. 6 (6), pp. 6–14, Ottawa, 1938.
29. Norlund, N. E. and Sponder, M. A. "Some Methods and Procedures
Developed during Recent Expedition Surveys in South-East Green–
land."
The Geographical Journal
, vol. 86, pp. 317–329, London,
1935.
30. Ogilvie, Hool J. "Astronomic Control for Wartime Mapping of Northern
Canada."
Transactions of the American Geophysical Union.
vol. 27
(6), pp. 769–775. Washington, 1946.
31. ----. "The Coastline and Islands of Hudson Bay — an Ideal Field
for Geodetic Astronomic Work."
Transactions of the American Geophys–
ical Union, Section of Geodesy
, April 26, 1934, pp. 41–45, Wash–
ington, 1935.
32. Peters, F. H. and Smith, F. C. Goulding "Charting Perils of the Sea."
Canadian Geographical Journal
, vol. 32, pp. 67–87. 1946.
33. Pillewizer, Wolf "Die Kartographischen and gletscherkundlichen
Ergelnisse die Deutschen Spitzbergen Expedition, 1938."
Peter–
mann's Mitteilungon Erg
e
^
ë
^
nsungsheft
, number 238, pp. 1–46, Gotha,
1939.
34. Platt, Raye R. "Official Topographic Maps: A World Index."
The Geo–
graphical Review,
vol. 35, pp. 175–181, New York, 1945.
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Selected Bibliography
35. Reeves, E. A. Hints to Travelers. Vol. I. Survey and Field Astronomy . Royal Geographical Society, London, 1935. 448 pp.
36. Rosenbaum, L. "Scientific Results of the Swedish-Norwegian Arctic
Expedition in the Summer of 1931. Part II. Determinations of
Latitude and Longitude [Svalbard]."
The Geografiska Annaler,
vol. 15, pp. 25–46, Stockholm, 1933.
37. Schokalsky, Jules "Hydrographic Surveys Along the Northern Shores
of the Soviet Union."
The Polar Record
, Vol. 12, pp. 128–133.
Cambridge, 1936.
38. Schokalsky, J. M. "La carte physique de la r
e
^
é
^
gion polaire da Nord."
Comptes Rendus des Seanoes de 1'Academie des Sciences
, Paris,
vol. 199, pp. 1557–1559, 1934.
39. Schulz, B. "Neue karten von Gronland und Svalbard."
Annalen der
Hydrographie
, vol. 66 (4), pp. 201–204. 1938.
40. Seidenfaden, Gunner
Modern Arctic Exploration.
London, 1939. 189 pp.
(Re. mapping and serial photography in Arctic see pp. 59–77.)
41. Shirshov, P. P. "Oceanological Observations: Deep Soundings."
Comptes Rendus, Akademila Nauk, U.S.S.R., vol. 19 (8), pp. 569–
580. Moskva, 1938.
42. Sidorov, K. V. "...[The topographical knowledge of the Soviet
Arctic]."
Builletin Arkticheskogo Institit. [Bulletin of the
Arctic Instute
), 1935, no. 7, pp. 191–192 (in Russian) and p. 225
(in English). Leningrad, 1935.
43. Sargent, R. H. and Moffit, F.H. "Aerial Photographic Surveys in
Southeastern Alaska."
Part e of Bulletin 797. U.S. Geological
Survey,
pp. 143–160, Washington, 1929.
44. Smith, Philip S. "How the [U.S.] Geological Survey Serves Alasla..."
Engineering and Mining Journal
, vol. 141, pp. 54–56, April 1940.
45. Smith, F. C. Goulding "War Record of the Hydrographic and Map
Service."
The Canadian Surveyor
, vol. 8, pp. 14–20, Jan. 1946,
Ottawa.
46. Spender, Michael "Map-making during the Expedition..."
Meddelelser
om Gr
o
^
ø
^
nland,
vol. 104 (2), pp. 1–21, K
o
^
ø
^
benhavn, 1933.
47. --- "Terrestrische und Luft-Photogrammetric in Gr
o
^
ö
^
nland. Erfah–
rungen während der Teilnahme an dänischen Expedition in den
Jahren 1932–35."
Petermanns Mitteilungen
, 1939, pp. 153–158,
Gotha, 1939.
48. Taracouzio, Timothy A.
Soviets in the Arctic: an Historical Economic
and Political Study of the Soviet Advance in the Arctic
. New York,
1938. 563 pp. maps.
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartograpy, Selected Bibliography
49. Taylor, E. G. R. Hudson Strait and the Oblique Meridian." Image Mundi , vol. 3, pp. 48–52, 1939.
50. Trorey, L. G. "A Map in a Day."
The Canadian Surveyor,
vol. 8,
pp. 9–24, Oct. 1944.
51. Urvantsev, N. N. "[The Cartography of Severnoya Zemlya (Northern Land)]"
Izvestia de la Soci
e
^
é
^
t
e
^
é
^
Russe G
e
^
é
^
ographique,
vol. 65 (6), pp. 496–
515, Moscow, 1933. (In Russian with English summary. pp. 509–
515.)
52. Waugh, B. W. "Canada's Progress in Air Navigation Charting."
The
Canadian Surveyor,
vol. 8, pp. 12–16, Ottawa, July 1944.
53. ----. "Canada's Air Navigation Charts."
The Canadian Surveyor,
vol. 6, pp. 2–9, Ottawa, 1939.
54. Wright, John W. "Methods of [Arctic and low latitude desect] Survey."
The Geographical Journal,
vol. 107, pp. 170–173, London, 1946.
55. ----. "Survey on Polar Expeditions."
The Polar Record,
number 18,
pp. 144–168, London, 1939.
56. ----. "Methods of Survey in North East Land."
The Geographical
Journal
, vol. 93, pp. 209–227, London, 1939.
57. The Survey of Bj
o
^
ø
^
rn
o
^
ø
^
ya (Bear Island) 1922–1931."
Sicrifter Norges
Svalbard-ag Ishava-Unders
o
^
ø
^
kelser,
number 86, pp. 1–82, Oslo, 1944.
illus. map (1944).
58. "...[Computation of the areas occupied by the Soviet Arctic]."
Bu
u
^
û
^
[]lletin Arkticheskogo Institute (Bulletin of the Arctic Institute
)
vol. 1936 (3), pp. 105–114 (in Russian) and pp. 145–146 (in English).
Leningrad, 1936.
59. "...[
Catalogue of the astronomical points of the U.S.S.R. Sector of
the Arctic
]. Russia. Chief Administration of the Northern Sea
Route. Leningrad, 1937, 357 pp. and map.
II. FINDING AIDS (CATALOGS, ETC.) TO MAPS AND CHARTS
A. The Whole Arctic:
1.
Catalogue of Admiralty Charts and Other Hydrographic Publications.
1947
. Hydrographic Department, London, 1947. 262 pp. and 46
plates of index maps. Re: Arctic see pp. 32–35 and 206–215 and
plates A, D, D1, L1, O and V2.
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Selected Bibliography
2. (1) Verzeighnis der Hautischen karte under bücher für die Kriegs–
marine (ausrüatungs batalog). and (2) Index karton zum varseich–
nis..., Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine, Berlin, 1941. 191 pp.
and 30 plates of index maps. Re. Arctic see pp. 13–18 and
plates B. Ba, Da and H.
3. Index to Aviation Charts and Publications on Issuance by the Hydro–
graphic Office. Navy Department, Washington, July 1946 and sup–
plement to Jan. 1947. H. O. Publication No. I-V (R). Re. Arctic
see pp. 6–13 and 21.
4. Index Catalog of Hautical Charts and Publications. Hydrographic
Office, Navy Department, Washington, April 1947. 7 pp. and 110
index maps. Re. Arctic see: Sailing directions: Publications
numbers 73, 75, 76, 77, 122, 122A, 136; and hydrographic charts
see index sheets A, AA, AB, A–2, A–2x, B, I, S and V.
5. Aeronautical Chart Catalog. Feb, 1947. Published by the U.S. Coast and
Geodetic Survey, Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 33 pp.
text and index maps.
6. Catalogue of Maps Published by the Geographical Section of the
General Staff: and Amendments from 31 December 1941 to 31 July
1943. London, 1941–1943. 20 pp. 78 amendments and 69 index maps.
7. Catalog [of] Aeronautical Charts and Related Publications. Sixth Ed.
Sept. 1946. Headquarters, Aeronautical Chart Service, Air Trans–port Command, U.S. Army Air Forces, Washington, D. C. 86 pp. text
and index maps. Re. Arctic see: pp. 6–9, 12, 13, 15, 19, 21, 28,
64, 68, 69, and 82–85.
8. General Map Catalog [including index maps and descriptive lists
arranged by Army Map Service map series number and theater area].
Army Map Service, Office of the Chief of Engineers, War Depart–
ment, Washington, 1947. 124 index maps and descriptive lists.
9. Thiele, Walter Official Map Publications: a Historical Sketch and
a Bibliographical Handbook of Current Maps and Mapping Services
in the United States ... and Other Countries..., Chicago, 1938.
356 pp.
10. "...[An index map of the world showing map coverage by selected
scales, to 1937. Scale 1:70,000,000]." Sovetskain Atlasa Mira
[The Great Soviet World Atlas], Vol. I, Plate 7, Moskva, 1937.
11. "...[Index map of the U.S.S.R. Arctic showing the area covered by
geological maps on scales of 1:100,000, 1:200,000, 1:500,000
and 1:1,000,000 during the period 1920–1940]." Problemy Arktiki
1940, number 3, op. p. 22, Leningrad, 1940.
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Selected Bibliography.
B. The North-American European Realm:
1. American Sector
Catalog of Nautical Charts and Related Publications. Serial No. 665.
Published by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Dept. of Com–
merce. Washington, July 1946. 48 pp. and 41 index maps. Re.
Arctic see: Index maps A, 22–51 and lists on pp. 22–31 and 43.
Publications of the Geological Survey. U.S. Geological Survey,
Dept. of the Interior, Washington, May 1947. 300 pp.
Selected List of Geological Survey Publications [including maps]
on Alaska. Published by the Geological Survey, U.S. Dept. of
the Interior, Washington, 1942. See on back of Index Map of
Alaska.
Index Map of Alaska Showing Areas Covered by Selected Available
Reports and Maps of Alaska. Prepared by the U.S. Geological
Survey, 1942. Scale 1:5,000,000. Conic-type projection.
Published by the Geological Survey, U. S. Dept. of the Interior,
Washington, D.C. Dimensions: 19 x 26 inches.
2. Canadian Sector
Catalogue of Nautical Charts. Sailing Directions. Tidal Informa–
tion and Other Canadian Government Publications of Interest
to Mariners. Corrected to 1st Feb. 1945. Hydrographic and
Map Service, Dept. of Mines and Resources, Ottawa, 1945. 55 pp.
and index maps. Re. Arctic see:
p. 17. Hudson Bay and Strait (large-scale charts)
p. 25. Great Slave Lake (large-scale charts)
p. 34. Hudson Bay Route, Sailing Directions, 1940.
[Descriptive list of] Published Maps (1917–1946 inclusive) [to
maps of Canada]. Compiled by P. J. Moran. Mines and Geology
Branch, Dept. of Mines and Resources, Ottawa, 1946. 119 pp.
Re. Arctic see: pp. 1, 3–4, 51–56 and 76–96.
Annotated Catalogue of and Guide to the Publications of the
Geological
^
Geological
^
^
Survey, anada, 1845–1917
^
Geological Survey, Dept. of Mines,
[:
]
Ottawa, 1920.
544 pp. and index maps. Re. Arctic see: pp. 3–104, 313–320
and 355–387.
[Descriptive catalogue of] Published Maps (1917–1935 inclusive)
[of Canada]. Bureau of Economic Geology, Geological Survey,
Dept. of Mines, Ottawa, 1936. 19 pp. Re Arctic see: pp. 1,
11 and 15 thru 17.
Publications (1909–1946 inclusive) of the Geological Survey and
National Museum. Mines and Geology Branch, Dept. of Mines
and Resources, Ottawa, 1946. 103 pp.
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Selected Bibligraphy
3. Danish Sector
Fortesnelse over det Konigelige Sokort-Archivs forhandlines
Artikler [List of publications for sale at the Royal Danish
Hydrographic Office
]. K
o
^
ø
^
benhavn, 1944. 22 pp. Re. Arctic
See: pp. 9–10 (charts of Greenland).
Geodaetisk Institute Kart. 1940 [Danish Geodetic Institute Maps,
1940]
. K
o
^
ø
^
benhavn, 1940. Unnumbered pages and index maps. Re.
Greenland see: Section 16, Kort over Gr
o
^
ø
^
nland.
Dot Danske Geodaetiske Institute kart. Beskrivelse... [The
Danish Geodetic Institute Maps
.] K
o
^
ø
^
benhavn, 1940. 28 pp. Re.
Greenland see: p. 26. Index map showing coverage of maps,
(1:250,000 and 1:300,000) of Greenland.
4. Norwegian Sector
Katalog over Si
o
^
ø
^
karter og Farvannabeskrivelser...samt Arktiske
Si
o
^
ø
^
karter og Farvansbeskrivelser utgitt ay Norges Svalbard–
og Iebava-Unders
o
^
ø
^
kkelser. [Catalog of sialing charts...
published by the Norges Svalbard-og Ishava-Unders
o
^
ø
^
kkelser
]
Oslo, 1946. 12 pp. and 6 index maps. Re: Arctic Norway and
Svalbard see: pp. 10 and 11 and index maps 5 and 6.
Katalog over Landkarter [Catalogue of topographic (land) maps
of Norway]
. Oslo, 1942 (with additions to June 1945). 26 pp.
and index maps.
"
[De
scriptive list of] topographical maps and charts published
[by the] Norges Svalbard-og Ishavs-Undersokkelser, 1925–1944."
Skrifter. Norges Svalbard-og Ishava-Unders
o
^
ø
^
kkelser,
number 88,
pp, 1–71, Oslo, 1945. For list see inside cover and pp. 70–71.
c.
The Soviet-Finnish Realm
:
1. Yermolaev, M. M. and Petrenko, A. A. "...[Explanatory note to
the geological map of the northern part of U.S.S.R. Scale
1:2,500,000]."
Trudy Arkticheskogo Institut [TRansactions of
the Arctic Institute]
, vol. 87 (1), pp. 1–491, Leningrad, 1937.
(In Russian and includes a descriptive list of maps.)
2.
...Katalog kart I krug. espravlen na 1 vanvarava 1943 g. [Catalog
of maps and books, corrected to Jan. 1. 1943]
, Gidrograficheskoe
Upravlenie voenno-morskogo flota Souiza S.S.S.R. Moskva (?),
1943. 100 pp. Re. Arctic see: pp. 22–42.
3. Berg, L. S. "[Map of the U.S.S.R. on a scale of 1:1,000,000]."
Igvestiia Vaesouiznogo Geograficheskogo Obachestva,
Tom. 78
(5–6), pp. 575–578, Leningrad, 1946. (In Russian and includes
a statement concerning extent and nature of coverage.)
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Selected Bibliography
4. Kutafiev, S. "...[Development of the Soviet cartography for
twenty-five years (1919–1944)]."
Izvestiia Vsesouiznogo
Geograficheskogo Obschestva
, vol. 76, pp. 144–154, Lenin–
grad, 1944. (In Russian and includes descriptive refer–
ences to many different maps.)
III. SELECTED MAPS AND CHARTS:
A.
The Whole Arctic
:
1. "Map of the Northern Hemisphere North of 39° 30′ showing Topography
(contour)... Compiled, drafted and printed by the Coast and Geo–
detic Survey with the collaboration of the Arctic, Desert and
Tropic Information Branch, U.S. Army Air Forces. Published by
the Aeronautical Chart Service, U.S. Army Air Forces." Polar ster–
eographic projection. Natural scale 1:6,336,000 at 65° north
latitude. In four sheets each with a dimension of 40 x 34 inches.
Also a "Gazetteer and List of Sources" accompanies this map,
dated January 1945, Washington, D.C. 89 pp.
2. Weather Plotting Chart [outline map of] the Northern Hemisphere.
WRC-6–3. Polar stereographic projection. Compiled in and pub–
lished by the Headquarters of the Army Air Forces, 1944. Scale
at latitude 60° approximately 1 inch to 375 miles. Dimensions:
38 x ^38^ inches.
3. "Strategic Air Chart [with relief of the] Northern Hemisphere [showing
air line distances between selected places.] Compiled for the
U.S. Army Air Forces by the U.S.Coast and Geodetic Survey, Wash–
ington, D. C., June 1943. Polar stereographic projection. Scale
1 inch to approximately 380 statute miles at latitude 40°." In
two sheets. (Dimensions 27 x 49 inches.
4. "AAF Equidistant Chart of the World Centered Near Fairbanks, Alaska.
Scale 1:55,000,000." Published by the Aeronautical Chart Service,
U.S. Army Air Forces, Washington, D.C. 1947. Dimensions: 30 x 40
inches. Others are available for Thule, Greenland; Southampton
Island and Aklavik, Northwest Territories, Canada.
5. "Northern Hemisphere Geography [map] Series... Designed for Instruc–
tive Work at the AAF Air University, 1946–47. Scale 1:24,000,000.
Polar stereographic projection." Published by the Aeronautical
Chart Service, U.S. Army Air Forces, Washington, D.C. Dimensions
of each of 11 sheets: 36 x 36 inches. This set of 11 sheets in–
cludes the following:
GH-1. Political and Time Chart
GH-2. Physical Relief Chart
GH-3. Temperature Provinces and Ocean Currents Charts
GH-4. Annual Precipitation Chart
GH-5. Climatic Chart
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Selected Bibliography
5. Cont. GH-6. Vegetation Chart
GH-7. Density of Population Chart
GH-8. Economic Chart
GH-9. Transportation Chart
GH-10. Isobars and Prevailing Winds Chart - January
GH-11. Isobars and Prevailing Winds Chart - July
6. "AAF Aeronautical Planning [Topographic (contour)] Charts of the
World." Scale 1:5,000,000. Lambert conformal conic projection
except North Polar Region sheet which is polar stereographic.
Published by the Aeronautical Chart Service, U.S. Army Air Forces,
Washington, D.C., 1945–47. Dimensions of each sheet: 45 x 30
inches. Re.Arctic see: Sheets 1. Siberia, 2. Alaska, 3. Canada,
4. Greenland, 5. Russia and 41. North Polar Region.
7. "World Aeronautical [hypsometric] Charts." Scale 1:1,000,000.
Polar stereographic projection north of latitude 72° and Lambert
conformal conic projection south of this latitude. Published
by the Aeronautical Chart Service, U.S. Army Air Forces, Wash–
ington, D.C., 1943–47. Dimensions of each sheet 29 x 22 inches.
Re. Arctic see: Sheets 1 thru 200.
8. "U.S. Navy Air Navigation [Topographic (contour)] Charts of the
World." Scale 1:2,188,800. Mercator projection. Published
by the Hydrographic Office, U.S. Navy Department, Washington,
D.C., 1944–47. Dimensions of each sheet 54 x 35 inches. Re.
Arctic see: Sheets 1 thru 6.
9. "AAF Long Range Navigation Charts of the World." Scale 1:3,000,000.
Polar stereographic projection. Published by the Aeronautical
Chart Service, U.S. Army Air Force, Washington, D.C., 1945–47.
Dimensions of each sheet: 30 x 40 inches. Re. Arctic see: Sheets
1 thru 6 and 77.
10. "Physical [relief] Map of the Arctic [with insets]. Translated and
revised kby the American Geographical Society of New York from
map in Andree's Handatlas, 8th ed. 1924. Copyright 1929, Amer–
ican Geographical Society of New York." Scale 1:20,000,000.
Dimensions of each sheet 18–1/4 X 23 inches. Accompanying W.L.G.
Joerg:
Brief History of Polar Exploration since the Introduction
of Flying
. Amer. Geog. Soc. Special Publication, No. 11, N.Y. 1930.
11. "[Physical (colored) map of] The Arctic Regions. Prepared in the
Map Department of the National Geographic Society..." Scale
1:14,673,400. Azimuthal equidistant projection. Nat. Geog. Soc.
Washington, 1925, reprinted 1943. Dimensions of each sheet:
19 X 20 inches.
12. "Bathymetric Map of the Arctic Basin. By Fridljof Nanson. Revised
to 1927. Scale 1:20,000,000. Published by the American Geograph–
ical Society, New York, 1927. Dimensions of each sheet
[:
]
[:
]
10 X 15 inches.
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Selected Bibliography
13. "Ice Atlas of the Northern Hemisphere." H. O. [Publication]
No. 550. Published by the Hydrographic Office, U.S. Navy
Department, Washington, D.C., 1946. 106 pp. maps and biblio–
graphy. Dimensions of each sheet 24–1/2 X 24–3/4 inches.
14. "Carte Aeronautique de bane [of the world] 1935–36." Scale
1:10,000,000 at the equator. Mercator projection. In sixteen
sheets. Commission International de Navigation Aerienne, Paris,
1937.
15. "[Hypsometric] Karte des Nordpolargebietes [includes area latitudes
63° -80° N. and longitude 30° W-O° -60° E]. Herausgegeben vom
General-stab der Luftwaffe, 7 Abt. 1942. Stereographische Pro–
jektion." Dimensions of each 41–1/2 X 33 inches.
16. "Bathy-orographical chart of the North Polar Basin by John Barthol–
omew...1934. Scale 1:14,000,000." Accompanying John Mathieson:
"The Story of Arctic Voyages and Exploration."
The Scottish
Geographical Magazine
, vol. 50, pp. 281–308, Edinburgh, 1934.
Dimensions: 18 X 18 inches.
17. "[Planimetric or base map of] The Northern Hemisphere. [Compiled
in and published by the] Hydrographic and Map Service, Surveys
and Engineering Branch, Department of Mines, Canada." 1941.
Polar equidistant projection. Scale at latitude 65° approximately
285 miles to an inch. Dimensions: 36 X 36 inches.
18. "Special Polar Air Chart [in two sheets: coast and west]." Compiled
and drawn at the War Office. Printed by the Hydrographic Depart–
ment, Admiralty, London, 1944. Polar stereographic projection
(orthomorphic). Scale 1:4,000,000 at the pole. Dimensions:
31 X 46 inches (each sheet).
19. "Fizicheskaia karta arktiki [Physical (hypsometric) map of the
Arctic], 1940." Scale 1:10,000,000. Lambert conformal conic
projection. Glavnce Upravlenie Geodesii I Kurtografi [compiled
in the Arctic Scientific Investigational Institute]. Leningrad,
1940. In two sheets each 36 X 20 inches.
20. "Geographical [plemmetrio] map [of the] Arctic composed at the
1st cartographical factory by the engineers N. Lubvin and J. Hakkel
under the direction of the professors R. Samoilovich and D. Rudnew,
Leningrad, 1934." Polar stereographic projection (?) Scale
1:10,000,000. In two sheets each 35–1/2 X 24 inches.
21. "Arktika [Hypsometric map of the Arctic showing routes of significant
scientific expeditions and including as insets eleven hypsometric
maps of selected areas of the Arctic]." Scale of map of Arctic
1:20,000,000.
Sovetsk
a
i
a
Atlaa
a
Mira [The Great Soviet World Atlas].
Moskva, 1937. Vol. 1, plates 18–19. Dimensions: 20 X 24 inches.
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Selected Bibliography
B.
The North-American European Realm
:
1. Who^l^e Realm
"Glacial Map [including contours] of North America. Compiled
and edited by a Committee (Chairman Dr. Richard Foster Flint)
of the Division of Geology and Geography, The National Re–
search Council, Washington, 1945." Scale 1:4,555,000. In
two sheets each 55 X 41 inches. Published with a "Biblio–
graphy and Explanatory Notes," 37 pp. as Special Paper No, 60,
Geological Society of America, New York, 1945.
"Geological Map of the Dominion of Canada. Scale 1:3,801,600.
(Inset: Arctic Islands North of latitude 75° . Scale 1:6,336,00),
1945. Lambert conformal conic projection." Bureau of Geology and
Topography, Department of Mines and Resources, Ottawa, 1945.
2. American Sector
"Map E. [Planimetric map of] Alaska Compiled from all Authentic
Sources, Chiefly Maps of the Geological Survey and [aerial
photographs of the] Army Air Forces. Published by the Geo–
logical Survey, Department of the Interior, 1946." Scale
1:2,500,000. Conic-type projection. Dimensions 36 X 49 inches.
"Outline [Mao of] Alaska, 1947." Scale 1:5,000,000. Lambert
conformal conic projection. Published by the U.S. Coast and
Geodetic Survey, Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C.
Dimensions: 42 X 29 inches.
"[Topographic (stippled relief) map of] Northwest North America.
Special Strategic Map...1943. Scale 1:3,000,000. Lambert
conformal conic projection." Compiled in and published by
the Army Map Service, Office of the Chief of Engineers, War
Department. Dimensions: 32 X 48 inches.
"World Aeronautical [hypsometric] Charts of Alaska and North–
western North America. Scale 1:1,000,000. Lambert conformal
conic projection. Published by the Coast and Geodetic Survey,
Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 1945–47. Twenty charts
cover Alaska. Dimensions of each sheet: 21 X 28 inches.
3. Canadian Sector
"[Planimetric (base) map of the] Northwest Territories and Yukon
[and including the Arctic Islands Preserve] 1939. Scale
1:5,068,800." Compiled, drawn and printed in Hydrographic
and Map Service, Ottawa, 1939. Dimensions: 30 x 40 inches.
"Map 820–A. Geological Map of the Dominion of Canada, 1945.
Scale 1:3,801,600." Compiled and Printed in the Mines and
Geology Branch, Department of Mines and Resources, Ottawa,
1945. In two sheets each 44 X 31–1/2 inches.
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Selected Bibliography
"[Planimetric map of the] Cominion of Canada [including the
southern half of the Arctic Islands area], 1937. Revised
to 1945. Scale 1:6,336,000." Compiled and Printed in the
office of the Surveyor General and Chief of the Hydrographic
Service, Ottawa, 1945. Dimensions: 25 X 36 inches.
"[Map of Canada and Part of Alaska showing the] Average Date
of the start and End of Flying Season for Float and Boat Planes."
No date. Scale 1 inch to 325 miles. Compiled in and printed
by the Topogruphical survey of Canada, Ottawa. Dimensions:
9–1/2 X 14 inches.
"Air Navigation [topographic (from line, contour and bachure)
Charts of the Dominion of Canada, [Newfoundland and labrador],
1942 to 1947." Scale 1:506,880. Transverse Morcator project–
tion. Compiled, dream and printed at the Hydrographic and
Map Service, Ottawa. Dimensions (average): 27x30 inches.
"[Planimetric] Base Map of the North America Arctic from a Tracing
Furnished by Captain A.L. Washburn and Prepared by William
Eriosomeistor of the American Geographical Society, 1941, with
Additions by the Hydrographic office, 1943, as U.S.H.O. chart
Miscellaneous No. 10,586." Scale 1:3,375,000. Lambert con–
formal projection.
4. Danish Sector
"[Topographic map of] Gr
o
^
ö
^
aland. [From the survey of and compiled
in the] Geodeatic Institut, Kobenhavn, 1923–1947." Scale
1:250,000. Dimension of each sheet 27x22 inches. A set of
39 sheets published, and 19 being completed by 1947 (?)
"[Topographic (form-line) map of] Greenland. Prepared under the
Direction of the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army, by the Army
Map Service... Washington, D.C. 1944. A.M.S. 0401." Scale
1:500,000. Dimensions of each sheet 24x20 inches. In 29
sheets. Area includes east and west coasts from Map Farvel
north to 74°.
"[General map of] Gr
o
^
ö
^
nland [showing the area covered by ice and
that land exposed]. Geodastic Institut, K
o
ø
bonhavn, 1938.
Scale 1:5,000,000." Dimensions: 27–1/2x23–1/2 inches. Also
available on a scale 1:4,000,000.
[(Topographic) Map of North Greenland." Scale 1:300,000. sur–
veyed by Lange koch in the years 1917–1923. Published by the
Geodetic Institute of Denmark. In 19 sheets. Dimensions of
each sheet: 27x22 inches. Includes west coast from latitude
75° N to north coast and then east to longitude 20° W.
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Selected Bibliography
5. Norwegian Sector
"[Base map of] Svalbard." Scale 1:1,000,000. [complied and
published by] Norges Svalbard-og Inhave-Unders
o
^
ø
^
keleser, Oalo,
1937. Dimensions: 27–1/2 x 23–1/2 inches.
"[Topographic (hachure) map of] Spitabergen... Published by
the Geographical Section, General Staff, War office, 1942."
Scale 1:823,000. Dimensions: 40x30 inches.
"[Topographic (contour) map of] Bj
o
^
ö
^
ern
o
^
ö
^
ya, Svalbard. [Compiled
by the Norges Svalbard-og Ishave-Unders
o
^
ø
^
kelser, reproduced
and printed in the] Norges Geographic Oppmiling, Cslo, 1944.
Scale 1:25,000." Dimensions: 40–1/2x31–1/2 inches.
"Report of the Svalbard Commissioner Concerning the claims to
Land in Svalbard. [By Kristian Sidballe.] Copenhagon, 1927.
Also Cslo, 1927. Parts IA and IIA are text and parts IS and
IIB are large-scale topographic (contour) maps numbered 1–33
and a small-scale general map.
C.
The Soviet-Finish Realm
:
1. "...[Planimetric map of the U.S.S.R. and adjacent countries] 1938–
1939." Scale 1:2,500,000. Conic-type projection. Published
by the Geodetic and Cartographic People's Commissariat,
Leningrad. In thirty-two sheets.
2. "...[Planimetric map of the European parts of the U.S.S.R.] 1938."
Scale 1:1,500,000. Conic-type projection. Published by
the chief Administration of the State Geodetic Survey and
Cartography, People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs of
the U.S.S.R., Leningrad, 1938. In twenty sheets.
3. [Topographic (contour) map of Finland] Carte Internationals du
Monde. In two sheets. Eblsinki, 1933 and Turku, 1925.
Scale 1:1,000,000. Modified polyconic projection. Complied
in the Cartographic office of the coast and Geodetic Survey,
Helsinki, Finland.
4. "[Topographic (contour, form-line and hachure) map of] Eastern Asia
(AMS 5302), 1943–1947. Scale 1:1,000,000. Approximately 90
sheets assigned to cover area within Arctic of which 43 have
been published. Dimensions of average sheet: 24x24 inches.
5. "Hypeomotricheskaia karta SSSR [Hypsometric map of the U.S.S.R.]
Moskva, 1940." Scale 1:5,000,000. Glavnce Upravlenic Geo–
desii 1 kartografil Moscow, 1940. In eight sheets each sheet
26 x 21 inches.
EA-Hist. Friis: Arctic Cartography, Selected Bibliography
6. "Geologicheskaia karta SSSR. [Geological map of the U.S.S.R.] 1940...
[Compiled by] Komitet no delam Geologii..." Scale 1:2,500,000.
In thirty-two sheets. Dimensions of each sheet 27x22 inches.
7. "Geological Map of the Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics... 1937
... Published by the Organization Committee of the Seventeenth
International Geological Congress, moscow...Drafted and printed
at the 1st Cartographical Factory of the Chief Service of the
States' Survey and Cartography of the People's Commissariate of
Interior of the U.S.S.R...." Scale 1:5,000,000. In eight sheets
each 27 x 21 inches. (In Russian and English.)
8. ...Bol'shoy Sovetskiy Atlas Mira... [The Great Soviet World Atlas.]
Complied in and published by the Central Executive Committee and
the Commissars of Soviet Nationalities of the USSR, Moscow, 1937–
1939. 2 volumes.
9. "[Plainmotric map of] Sovetakaia arktiki 1 Subarktina [the Soviet
Arctic and Subarctic] 1939." Scale 1:10,000,000. Arktichoskii
Nauchno-issledovatelskit Institut Glavsevmsrputi, Leningrad, 1939.
Dimensions: 19 x 30 inches. Also reproduced with additional in–
formation on a scale of 1:6,000,000 in two sheets each 25x25
inches.
10. [Large-scale hydrographic charts of the U.S.S.R. Arctic Coast origin–
ally prepared by the Hydrographic office of the Administration of
the Northern Sea Route of the Soviet of People's Commissars of the
U.S.S.R., Leningrad, 1938–1942, and reproduced as emergency re–
production with transliterations by the U.S. Hydrographic office,
Navy Department, Washington, 1943–45.] Dimensions: various.
Horman R. Friis
Mapping of the Arctic: A selected bibliography
EA-History [Herman R. Friis]
MAPPING OF THE ARCTIC A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following bibliography is a selection of generally available sources
that are helpful in obtaining more detailed overall and also regional informa–
tion on the history and development of the mapping of the Arctic. This bib–
liography is divided into two parts corresponding in sequence to the two primary
divisions of the textual discussion, namely I. FOR THE PERIOD PRIOR TO ABOUT
1900 and II. FOR THE PERIOD AFTER ABOUT 1900. Within each of these divisions
the individual entries are arranged in strict alphabetical order in categories
corresponding in sequence to the subject breakdown in the textual discussion.
This has been done in order to provide ready cross-reference from text to bib–
liography for additional, often considerably detailed, information.
I. FOR THE PERIOD PRIOR TO ABOUT 1900
A. SIGNIFICANT COLLECTIONS OF MAPS AND SOURCES IN NORTH AMERICA RELATING TO
MAPS OF THE ARCTIC:
1. American Geographical Society, New York City, New York
2. Arctic Institute of North America, Montreal, Canada
3. Cartographic Records Branch, The National Archives, Washington, D.C.
4. Division of Maps, The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
B. BIBLIOGRAPHIC AIDS:
1. Almagia, R.: Monumenta cartographica Vaticans. Vol. 1. Planisferi
carte nautiche a affini dal secolo XVI al XVII esistenti nella
Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944. 157 pp. and maps; Vol. II,
Carte geographic a stampa di particolare pregio o rarita del
secoli XVI e XVII esistenti nella Bibliotheca Vaticana, 1948.
132 pp. and maps.
2. Ames, John G.: Comprehensive index of the United States Government,
1881–1893. Washington, D.C. 1905. 2 vols.
3. Andreev, A. I.: "...[New materials concerning Russian naval expeditions
and discoveries in the Arctic and Pacific oceans in the XVIII and
XIX centuries',"
Izvestiia...Russkoe geograficheskoe obshchestvo
, vol.
75 (5), pp. 34–35, Moscow, 1943. In Russian.
EA-History. Friis: Mapping of Arctic Bibliog.
4. Bacmeister, Hartwich L. C.: Russische bibliothek, zur kenntuiss des
gegenw
a
^
ä
^
rtigen zustandes der literatur in Russland... St. Petersburg,
1772–1789. 11 vols.
5. Brenneche, Wilhelm: "L
a
^
ä
^
nderkunde aussereurop
a
^
ä
^
ischer Erdteile. Polar–
gebiete, 1898–1904,"
Geographisches Jahrbuch
, vol. 27, pp. 343–375,
Gotha, 1905.
6. Breusing, Arthur: ...Leitfaden durch das wiegenalter der kartographie
bis zurn jahre 1600...Frankfurst, 1883. 33 pp.
7. Conway, Martin: Atlas of Spitsbergen, consisting of originals, Photo–
graphs or tracings of the maps examined by him during seven years
of researches, London, Royal Geographical Society, Map Collection,
1906.
8. Dall, W. H. and Marcus Baker: "Partial list of charts and maps relating
to Alaska and the adjacent regions,"
United States Coast and Geodetic
Survey, Pacific Coast Pilot
, Second Series, pp. 163–223, Washington,
1879.
9. Haack, Hermann: "Die Fortschitte der Kartographie (1930–36),"
Geograph–
isches Jahrbuch,
vol. 51 (1936), pp. 230–312; 52 (1937), pp. 3–74,
Gotha.
10. Harrisse, Henry: Notes pour servir
a
^
à
^
l'histoire,
a
^
à
^
la bibliographie
et
[:
]
a
^
à
^
la cartographie de la Nouvelle-France et des pays adjacents
1545–1700... Paris, 1872. 367 pp.
11. Hermanneson, Halldor: "...The Northmen in America (982 c.–1500); a
contribution to the bibliography of the subject,"
Islandica...,
vol. 2, pp.1–94, Ithaca, 1909.
12. Verner, Robert J.: Northeastern Asia, a selected bibliography;...
Berkeley, California, 1939. 2 vols.
13. Leland, Waldo G.:
[:
]
Guide to materials for American History in the
Libraries and Archives of Paris. Washington, D.C., 1932.
14. Mezhov, Vladimir I.: Bibliographia sibirica. Bibliographia des livres
et articles de journoux russes et
e
e
^
é
^
trangeres concernant la Sib
e
e
^
é
^
rie...
St. Petersburg, 1891–92.
[:
]
4 vols. in 3. See vol. 1 re. cartography.
15. Oberhummer, Eugen: "Bericht
u
^
ü
^
ber L
a
^
ä
^
nder-end V
o
^
ö
^
lkerkunde der antiken
Welt,"
Geographische Jahrbuch
, vol. 19, pp. 307–358; vol. 22, pp.
245–258; vol. 28, pp. 131–194, Gotha 1896–1905.
16. Paullin, Charles C. and Frederic L. Paxon: Guide to the materials in
London Archives for the history of the United States since 1783.
Washington, D.C., 1914, 642 pp.
EA-History. Friis: Mapping of Arctic Bibliog.
1
17. Pfaff, Christian G. F.: "Bibliographia groenlandica, eller Fortegnelse
paa vaerker, afhandlinger og danske manuskripter, der handle om
Gr
o
^
ø
^
nland indtil aereb 1880 incl...,"
Meddelelser om Gr
o
^
ø
^
nland,
vol.
13, pp. 1–247, Copenhagen, 1890.
18. Phillips, Philip L.: A list of geographical atlases in the Library of
Congress, with bibliographical notes. Washington, vols. 1 and 2,
1909; vol. 3, 1914; and vol. 4, 1920.
19. Phillips, Philip L.: A list of maps of America in the Library of Congress
...Washington, 1901, 1137 pp.
20. Phillips, Philip L.: Alaska and the northwest part of North America,
1588–1898; maps in the Library of Congress. Washington, 1898.
119 pp.
21. Ricci, Seymour de and W. J. Wilson: Census of medieval and renaissance
manuscripts in the United States and Canada. New York, 1935–1940.
3 vols.
22. Tillinghast, William H.: "Critical essay on the sources of information —
notes - the geographical knowledge of the ancients considered in
relation to the discovery of America,"
Narrative and Critical History
of America,
vol. 1, pp. 33–58, Boston, 1884.
23. United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (formerly Coast Survey): Annual
reports of the superintendent (now director) showing the progress
of the survey, 1852 to date. Washington, 1853 to date.
24. Watson, Paul B.: "Bibliography of the pre-Columbian discoveries of
America" in Rasmus B. Anderson:
America not Discovered by Columbus,
pp. 129–173, Madison, 1930.
25. Wickersham, James: "A bibliography of Alaskan literature 1724–1924..."
Miscellaneous Publication, Alaska Agricultural College and School
of Mines
, Fairbanks, vol. 1, pp. 1–635, Cordova, Alaska, 1927.
26. Wolkenhauer, Wilhelm: Leitfaden zur geachichte der kartographie in
tabellarischer
[:
]
darstellung... Breslau, 1895. 93 pp.
27. Wright, H John K.: "Notes and bibliography,"
Geographical Lore of the
Time of the Crusades
, pp. 365–543, American Geographical Society,
Research Series, no. 15, New York, 1925.
27. Wright, John K. and Elizabeth T. Platt: Aids to geographical research:
bibliographies, periodicals, atlases, gazetteers, and other reference
books. American Geographical Society, Research Series, no. 22.
New York, 1947. 331 pp.
28. Wright, John K.: "Notes and bibliography,"
Geographical Lore of the
Time of the Crusades, pp. 365–543, American Geographical Society,
Research Series, no. 15, New York, 1925.
29. Yarmolinsky, Abraham: Russian americana, sixteenth to eighteenth
centuries: a bibliographical and historical study. New York, 1943.
45 pp.
EA-History. Friis: Mapping of Arctic Bibliog.
C. GENERAL WORKS:
1. Avezac-Macaya, Armand d': "Coup d'oeil historique sur la projection des
cartes de geographie,..."
Bulletin de la Societie de Geographie de
Paris, cinquieme series 5,
vol. 5, pp. 257–361, 438–485, Paris, 1863.
2. Bagrow, Leo: "A. Ortelii catalogus cartographorum ...,"
Petermanns
Mitteilungen, Ergänzungsheft,
nos. 199 and 210, Gotha, 1928–30, 2 vols. maps.
3. Bardarson, Ivarr: Iver Beres Grønlands beskrivelse, med et kort og
forerindring af Arent Aschlund... Copenhagen, 1832. 12 pp. map.
4. Barrington, Daines: "Additional proofs that the polar Seas are open..."
Read ata Meeting of the Royal Society, Dec. 22, 1774,
m.p., n.d.
51 pp.
5. Barthold, W.: "Die geographische und historische erforschung des Orients,
mit besonderer berücksichtigung der russischen arbeiten,"
Quellen und
Forschungen zur Erd-und Kulturkunde, berausgegeben von R. Strube
,
vol. S, pp. 1–225, Leipzig, 1913.
6. Beazley, Charles R.: The dawn of modern geography. A
[:
]
history of ex–
ploration and geographical science... London, 1897–1906. 3 vols.
7. Berg, Lev S.: "Iz istorii otkrytiia Aleoutskikh ostrovov,"
Zemlevedenie,
vol. 26, pp. 114–132, 1924. In Russian.
8. Berg, Lev S.: Ocherki po istorii Russkikh geograficheskikh
[:
]
otkrytii
[Studies in the history of Russian geographical discoveries].
Akademii Nauk, Moscow, 1946. In Russian. 358 pp.
9. Berg, Lev S.: "Kartografickeskij mif-Anianskij proliv [a cartographical
myth-Anian Strait]."
Izvestiia. Ruzskoe Geograficheskoe Obahchestvo
,
vol. 68, pp.806–810, Leningrad, 1936. In Russian.
9. Berg, Lev S.: "Pervye karty Kamchatki," Izvestiia. Russkoe Geografi–
cheskoe Obshchestvo, vol. 75, pp. 3–7, Moscow, 1943. In Russian.
10. Berg, Lev S.: Ocherki po istorii Russkikh geograficheskikh otkrytii.
Moscow, 1946. In Russian.
11. Berg, Lev S.: "Kartograficheskij mif-Anianskij proliv [a cartographical
myth-Anian Strait'." Izvestiia. Russkoe Geograficheskoe Obshchestvo,
vol. 68, pp. 806–810, Leningrad, 1936. In Russian.
12. Berkh, Vasilii N.: The chronological history of the discovery of the
Aleutian;...]translated from the Russian, dated St. Petersburg,
1823, by Dimitri Krenov]. Seattle, 1938. 127 pp.
13. Bigourdan, G.: "Les origines de nos cartes geographiques,"
La Science
Moderne
, vol. 2, pp. 449–455, 505–513. 18 maps.
EA-History. Friis: Mapping of Arctic Bibliog.
14. Bjørnbo, Axel A. and Carl S. Petersen: Anecdota cartographica septentriona–
lia... [A Chronologically arranged series of cartographical sources
concerning the North from the 14th to the 17th century - English trans–
lation by Sophia Bertelsen]. Hauniae, 1908. 32 pp. maps.
15. Bjørnbo, Axel A.: "Cartographia groenlandica,"
Meddelelser om Grønland,
vol. 48, pp. 1–332, Kjøbenhavn, 1911.
16. Bob
e
e
^
é
^
, Louis T. A.: ...Opdagelzesrejaer til Gr
o
^
ø
^
nland 1473–1806..."
Meddelelser om Gr
o
^
ø
^
nland
, vol. 55, pp. 1–54, K
o
^
ø
^
benhaven, 1936.
17. Breitfus, Leonid L.: "Early maps of north-eastern Asia and of the lands
around the north Pacific. Controversy between G. F. Miiller and
J. N. Delisle,"
Imago Mundi
, vol. 3, pp. 87–99, London, 1939.
18. Brown, Lloyd A.: The story of maps. Boston, 1949. 397 pp. maps.
19. Bunbury, H. E.: A history of ancient geography... London, 1879. 2 vols.
20. Cebrian, Konstantin: Geschichte der kartographie; ein beitrag zur
entwicklung des kartenbildes und kartenwesens. Gotha, 1922. 129 pp.
21. Conway, William M. C.: No man's land, a history of Spitsbergen from its
discovery in 1596 to the beginning of the scientific exploration of
the country;... Cambridge, 1906. 377 pp. maps.
22. Cortes
a
^
ã
^
o, Armando: ...Cartografia e cartogr
a
^
á
^
fos portugueses des
seculos XV e XVI (Contribuic
a
^
ã
^
o para um estudo complete), Lisboa,
1935. 2 vols.
23. Coxe, William: Account of the Russian discoveries between Asia and
America. To which are added, the conquest of Siberia,... London,
1780. 344 pp. maps.
24. Dahlgren, Per Johan: ...Sveriges ajökarta... Lund, 1944. 413 pp. maps.
25. Dall, William H. (transl.): "Geographical Explorations: Early expedi–
tions to the region of Bering Sea and Strait. From the Reports and
Journals of Vitus Ivanovich Bering,"
Annual Report U.S. Coast and
Geodetic Survey, 1890
. Appendix No. 19, pp. 759–774, Washington,
1890. maps.
26. Daly, Charles P.: "On the early history of cartography, or what we know
of maps and map making before the time of Mercator,"
Bulletin of
the American Geographical Society
, vol. 11, pp. 1–33, New York, 1879.
27. Eckert, Max: "Die Landkarte und ihr Gel
a
^
ä
^
ride geschichte und tatsachen
der Geländedarstellung,"
Die Kartenwissenschaft.
.., vol. 1, pp. 399–496,
[:
]
Berlin and Leipzig, 1921.
EA-History. Friis; Mapping of Arctic Bibliog.
28. Eckert, Max: Die Kartenwissenschaft; forschungen und grundlagen zu
einer kartographie als wissenschaft. Berlin and Leipzig, 1921–25.
2 vols. illus. maps. See esp. vol. 1, pp. 1–48, 399–497; vol. 2,
pp. 1–34.
29. Fite, Emerson D. and Archibald Freeman: A book of old maps delineating
American history from the earliest days down to the close of the
Revolutionary War. Cambridge, 1926. 299 pp. including maps.
30. Forst, Johannes: Geschichte der entdeckung Grø
[:
]
lands von den
a
^
ä
^
ltesten
zeiten bis zum anfang des 19 jahrhunderts... Worms, 1906. 70 pp.
31. Forster, Johann R.: Geschichte der entdeckungen und schiffahrten im
Norden... Frankfurt an der Oder, 1784. 596 pp. maps.
32. Gerritsz, Hessel: Histoire du pays nomme Spitsberghe... Amsterdam,
1613. 30 pp. map.
33. Golder, Frank A.: Russian expansion on the Pacific, 1641–1850; an
account of the earliest and latest expeditions made by the Russians
along the Pacific coast of Asia and North America; including some
related expeditions to the Arctic regions. Cleveland, 1914.
368 pp. maps.
34. Greely, Adolphus W.: Handbook of polar discoveries. Boston, 1910.
336 pp. maps.
35. Günther, Siegmund: Studien zur geschichte der mothematischen und
physikalischen geographie. Halle, 1877–1879. 6 pt. in 1 vol.
36. Hammer, E.: "Die methodischen Fortschritte in der geographischen
Landmessung,"
Geographisches Jahrbuch
, vol. 22, pp. 37–118, Gotha, 1900.
37. Harrisse, Henry: D
e
^
é
^
[]
couverte et
e
^
é
^
volution cartographieque de Terre–
Neuve et des pays circonvoisins, 1497–1769. Paris, 1900. 420 pp.
38. Herrmann, Albert: "Die L
a
^
ä
^
nder des Nordens in Kartenbilde vom altertum
bis zum 19. Jahrhundert,"
Der Norden
, vol. 16, pp. 210–224, Berlin.
maps.
39. Herrmann, Albert: "Die Westl
a
^
ä
^
nder in der chinesischen Kartographie,"
in
Sven Hedin, Southern Tibet
, vol. 8, pp. 89–406, Stockholm, 1922.
40. Hermannsson, Halld
o
^
ó
^
r: "Two cartographers Godbrandur Thorl
a
^
á
^
ksson and
Th
o
^
ó
^
rdur Thorl
a
^
á
^
ksson,"
Islandica...
, vol. 17, pp. 1–44, Ithaca, 1926.
maps.
41. Hobbs, William H.: "The progress of discovery and exploration within
the Arctic Region,"
Annals of the Association of American Geographers
,
vol. 27, pp. 1–22, Albany, 1937.
EA-History. Friis: Mapping of Arctic Bibliog.
42. Humboldt, Alexander von: Exemen critique de l'histoire de la geographie
du nouveau continent,... Paris, 1836–1839. 5 vols.
43. Jitkov, B.: "K istorii issledovaniia Rousskogo Severa [Concerning the
history of exploration of northern Russia]",
Zemlevedenie
, vol. 26,
pp. 159–180, Moscow, 1924.
44. Kohl, Johann G.: "Asia and America: an historical disquisition concern–
ing the ideas which former geographers had about the geographical
relation and connection of the old and new World,"
Proceedings of
the American Antiquarian Society
, vol. 21, pp. 284–338, Worcester,
1911. maps.
45. Kordt, Veniamin A.: Materialy po istorii russkoe kartografii [Material
for the History of Russian Cartography]. Kiev, vol. 1, 1899; vol. 2,
1906; vol. 3, 1910. In Russian.
46. Kordt, Veniamin A.: Katalog vystavski po istorii kartografii Rossii.
Kiev, 1899. 73 pp. In Russian.
47. Kretschmer, Konrad: Geschichte der kartographie. Berlin, 1923.
164 pp. maps.
48. Kretschmer, Konrad: Die entdeckung Amerika's in ihrer bedentung fur
die geschichte des weltbildes... Berlin, 1892. 471 pp. and atlas.
49. Lelewel, Joachim: Geographie du moyen age. Bruxelles, 1850–1857.
6 vols.
50. Michow, Heinrich: "Weitere beiträge zur älteren kartographie Russlands,"
Mitleilungen des Geographischen Gesellschoft in Hamburg, vol. 22,
pp. 129–172, Hamburg, 1907. maps.
51. Miller, Konrad: Mappasmundi; die
a
^
ä
^
ltesten weltkarten. Stuttgart, 1895–
1898. 6 vols.
52. Miiler, Gerhard F.: Sammlung russischer geschichte... St. Petersburg,
1732–64. 9 vols.
53. Nansen, Fridtjof: Nord i Täkeheimen utforskningen av jordens nordlige
strøk i tidlige tider. Kristiania, 1911. 2 vols.
54. Nansen, Fridtjof: In northern mists... arctic exploration in early
times... New York, 1911. 2 vols.
55. Nordenskiöld, Nils A. E.: "The development of our knowledge of the
north coast of Asia,"
The Voyage of the Vega Round Asia and Europe...
Chapter 13, pp. 510–562, New York, 1882. Maps.
56. Nordenskiöld, A. E. Periplus: an essay of the early history of charts
and sailing directions. Stockholm, 1897.
57. Nordenskiöld, A. E.: Facsimile atlas to the early history of cartography.
Stockholm, 1889.
EA-History. Friis: Mapping of Arctic Bibliog.
58. Peschel, Oskar F.: Geschichte der erdkunde bis auf Alexander von Hum–
boldt und Karl Ritter. Munich, 1865. 706 pp.
59. Richter, Herman: ...Sk
a
^
å
^
nes karta fr
a
^
å
^
n mitten av 1500-talet till omkring
1700; bidrag till en historisk-kartografisk unders
o
^
ö
^
kning... Lund, 1929.
135 pp. Maps and atlas.
60. Ruge, Sophus: "Die entwickelung der kartographie von Amerika bis 1570
...,"
Petermanns Mitteilungen Ergilnzungsheft Number 106,
pp. 1–85, Gotha,
1892.
61. Ruge, Walter: "Aelteres kartographisches material in deutschen biblio–
theken,"
Koniglige Gesellschoft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen,
Nachrichten...Philologisch-historische klasse
. 1904, pp. 1–69;
1906, pp. 1–39; 1911, pp. 35–166, Leipzig.
62. Ruge, Sophus: Fretum Anian. Die geschichte der Beringstrasse und ihre
entdeckung. Dresden, 1873. 5 pp.
63. Ruge, Sophus: Abhandlungen und vortr
a
^
ä
^
ge zur geschichte der erdkunde...
Dresden, 1888. 268 pp.
64. Ruge, Sophus: Ueber compass und compaskarten. Dresden, 1868. 28 pp. Map.
65. Ruge, Sophus: Geschichte des zeitalers der entdeckungen... Berling,
1881. 542 pp. maps.
66. Santares, Manuel: Essai eur l'histoire de la cosmographie et de la
cartographie pendant le moyen-
a
^
â
^
ge, et sur les progr
e
^
è
^
s de la g
e
e
^
é
^
ographie
apr
e
^
è
^
s les grandes d
e
e
^
é
^
couvertes du X V e si
e
^
è
^
cle. Paris, 1849–52.
3 vols.
67. Schmidt, Fritz: ...Geschichte der geod
a
^
ä
^
tischen instrumente und verfahren
im altertum und mittelater... Neustadt an der a Heardt, 1935. 399 pp.
illus.
68. Schoy, Carl: Die geschichtliche entwicklung der polhöhen-bestimmungen
bei den älteren völkern. München, 1911.
69. Schutte, Gudmund: Ptolemy's maps of northern Europe: A reconstruction
of the
[:
]
Prototypes. Copenhagen, 1917. 150 pp. Map.
70. Stevenson, Edward L.: Portolan charts; their origin and characteristics...
New York, 1911. 76 pp. maps.
71. Stevenson, Edward L.: "Early Spanish cartography of the new world, with
special reference to the Wolfenbüttel-Spanich map and the work of Diego
Ribero,"
Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society
, vol. 19, pp.
369–419, Worcester, 1909.
72. Stevenson, Edward L.: Terrestrial and celestial globes; their history
and construction... New Haven, 1921. 2 vols.
EA-History. Friis: Mapping of Arctic Bibliog.
73. Suslov, Sergei Petrovich: Physicheskoya geographiia S.S.S.R... Leningrad
and Moscow, 1947. In Russian. 544 pp. Maps.
74. Sykes, Godfrey: "The mythical straits of Anian,"
Bulletin of the
American Geographical Society
, vol. 47, pp. 161–172, New York, 1917.
75. Teleki, Pal Gr
a
^
á
^
f: Atlas zur geschichte der kartographie der japanischen
inseln... Budapest, 1909. 184 pp. and maps.
76. Torfaeus, Thormodus: Grønlandia antiqua, seu, Veteris Grønlandiae
descriptio,... Havniae, 1706. 269 pp. maps.
77. Trap, F. H.: "The Cartography of Greenland,"
Greenland, Published by
the Commission for the Direction of the Geological and Geographical
Investigations in Greenland,
vol. 1, pp. 137–179, Copenhagen and
London, 1928.
78. Vivien de Saint-Martin, Louis:
e
e
^
é
^
tudes de g
e
e
^
é
^
ographie ancienne et
d'ethnographie asiatiqus... Paris, 1850–1852. 2 vols.
79. Wagner, Henry R.: "George Davidson, geographer of the northwest coast
of America,"
Quarterly of the California Historical Society
, vol. 11,
pp. 1–24, 1932.
80. Wagner, Henry R.: The car
^
t
^
ography of the northwest coast of America
to the year 1800. Berkeley, 1937. 2 vols. maps.
81. Weller, E.: "Petermanns tätigkeit und bedentung fur die geographie
der polaren gebrete,"
August Petermann. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte
der geographischen Entdeckungen und der Kartographie im 19. Jahrbun–
dert, pp. 64–112, Leipzig, 1911.
82. Wieder, Frederik C.: The Dutch discovery and mapping of Spitsbergen
(1596–1829), Amsterdam, 1919. 124 pp. 45 plates of maps.
83. Wieder, Frederick C.: Monumenta cartographica; reproductions of unique
and rare maps,... The Hague, 1925–1933. 5 vols. in 1.
84.
[:
]
Wolkenhauer, August: "Beiträge zur geschichte der kartographie and
nautik des 15 bis 17 jahrhunderts,"
Mitteilungen der Geographischen
Gesellschaft in München
, vol. 1, pp. 161–260, M
u
^
ü
^
nchen, 1906. Maps.
85. Wolkenhauer, August: Beiträge zur geschichte der kartographie und
nautik des 15. bis 17. jahrhunderts. Munchen, 1904. 79 pp. illus.
86. Wolkenhauer, Wilhelm: Aus der geschichte der kartographie. Bremen,
1912–1917. 5 vols.
87. Wright, John K.: ...The geographical lore of the time of the Crusades...
New York, American Geographical Society Research Series, No. 15,
1925. 563 pp. Maps.
88. Wroth, Lawrence C.: "The early cartography of the Pacific,"
Papers
of the Bibliographical Society of America
, vol. 38, pp. 87–268,
New York, 1944. Maps.
EA-History. Friis: Mapping of Arctic Bibliog.
89. Zondervan, Henri: Allgemeine kartenkunde. Ein abriss ibrer geschichte
und ihrer methoden. Leipzig, 1901. 210 pp. Maps.
90. Zurla, Placido: Sulle antiche mappe idro-geographiche lavorate in
Venezia... Venzia, 1818. 96 pp. Maps.
D. CARTOGRAPHY OF THE ARCTIC AS ACCOMPLISHED BY PEOPLES INDIGENOUS THERETO:
1. Adler, B. F.: "Karty piervobytnyh narordov [Maps of Primitive Peoples],"
Izvestia Impieratorskavo Obshchestvo Liubitielei Estiestvoznania,
Anthropologii i Etnografii, sostoyaszchavo pri Impieratorskom Universi–
tietie. TomCXIX, Trudy Geograficheskavo Otdielienia, Vypusk II,
pp. 1–350, St. Petersburg, 1910. In Russian.
2. Andree, Richard: "Anfänge der kartographie,"
Ethnographische Parallelen
und Vergleiche, pp. 197–221, Stuttgart, 1878.
3. Findeisen, Hans: "Landkarten der Jenissejer (Keto)"
Zeitschrift f
u
^
ü
^
r
Ethnologie, 1930
, pp. 215–226, Leipzig, 1930.
E. BABYLONIAN PERIOD:
1. Lutz, Henry F.: "Geographical studies among Babylonians and Egyptians,"
The American Anthropologist
, vol. 26, pp. 160–174, 1924.
2. Meek, Theophile J.: "The
[:
]
orientation of Babylonian Maps,"
Antiquity,
vol. 10, pp. 223–226, 1936.
F. GREEK AND ROMAN PERIOD:
1. Berger, Hugo: Geschichte der wissenschaftlichen erdkunde der Griechen.
Leipzig, 1903. 662 pp. Maps.
2. Günther, Siegmund: Das zeitalter der entdeckungen. Leipzig, 1912.
144 pp. map.
3. Heidel, William A.: "...Anaximander's book, the earliest known geographi–
cal treatise,"
Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, vol. 56, pp. 239–288, Boston, 1921.
4. Heidel, William A.: ...The frame of the ancient Greek maps... American
geographical society research series, no. 20, New York, 1937.
141 pp. Map.
5. Lelewel, Joachim: Pytheas und die geographie seiner zeit... Leipzig,
1838. 150 pp. Maps.
6. Lelewel, Joachim: Pythe
a
^
á
^
s de Marseille et la g
e
e
^
é
^
ographie et la g
e
e
^
é
^
ographie
de zon temps. Paris, 1836. 74 pp. Maps.
7. Schoy, Carl: ...Die geschichtliche entwichlungder Polhöhenstimmingen
bei den
a
^
ä
^
lteren V
o
^
ö
^
lkern. Hamburg, 1911. 33 pp.
EA-History. Friis: Mapping of Arctic Bibliog.
8. Ukert, Friedrich A.: Geographie der Griechen und R
o
^
ö
^
mer von den fruhesten
zeiten bis auf Ptolemaus. Weimar, 1816–1846. 6 vols. Maps.
9. Warmington, Eric H.: Greek geography. London, 1934. 269 pp.
10. Wethered, Herbert N.: The mind of the ancient world; a consideration
of Pliny's Natural history. London, 1937. 301 pp.
G. MOSLEM CARTOGRAPHY OF THE MIDDLE AGES:
1. Hennig, Richard: "Edrisi's Weltkarte und das arabiseh-chinesische
Weltbilde das 12 Jahrhunderts,"
Terree Incognitae...
, vol. 2, pp.
351–355, Leiden, 1937.
2. Herrmann, Albert: "Die älteste türkische Weltkarte (1076 n. Chr.),"
Imago Mundi, vol. 1, pp. 21–28, Berlin, 1935. Map.
3. Tudeer, Lauri O. Th: "On the origin of the maps attached to Ptolemy's
geography,"
Journal of Hellenic Studies
, vol. 37, pp. 62–76, 1917.
4. Hennig, Richard: "Arabische h
a
^
ä
^
ndler in nord-russland und am nordlichen
eismeer,"
Terrae Incognitae...
, vol. 2, pp. 221–240, Leiden, 1937.
5. Minorski
i
^
ĭ
^
, Vladimir F.: Hud
u
^
ú
^
ud al Alam, "The regions of the world,"
a persian geography, 372 A.H.–982 A.D. Oxford University Press
(translated from the Russian), 1937. 524 pp. Maps.
6. Schoy, Carl: "Aus der astronomischen geographie der araber... (973–
1048),"
Isis
, vol. 5 (1), pp. 51–74, Brussels, 1923.
7. Miller, Konrad: Weltkarte des Idrisi. Stuttgart, 1928. 31 pp.
8. Miller, Konrad: Mappae arabicas, arabische welt-und l
a
^
ä
^
nderkarten...
Stuttgart, 1927–31, 6 vols. Maps.
H. CARTOGRAPHY DURING THE PERIOD ABOUT 100–1500 AD:
1. Alfred the Great, King of England (849–901): The whole works of King
Alfred the Great: with preliminary essays illustrative of the history,
arts and manners of the ninth century... London, 1858, 2 vols.
2. Alfred the Great, King of England: A description of Europe, and the
voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan written in Anglo-Saxon by King Alfred
the Great;... and a map of Europe in the time of Alfred. London,
1855. 65 pp. Map.
3. Bevan, William L. and H. W. Phillott: Mediaeval geography. An essay
in illustration of the Hereford Mappa Mundi. London, 1873. 182 pp.
Maps.
4. Bjørnbo, Axel A.: "Adam of Bremen Nordensopfattelse,"
Aarbøger for
Nordisk oldkyndighed og historie, vol. 24, pp. 120–244, Kjøbenhavn,
1909.
EA-History. Friis: Mapping of Arctic Bibliog.
5. Bjørnbo, Axel A.: Der Däne Claudius Classøn Swart (Clandius Clavus)
der älteste kartograph des Nordens, der erste Ptolemäusepigon der
renaissance... Innsbruck, 1909. 266 pp. Maps.
6. Christy, Miller: The silver map of the world... a geographical essay;
including some critical remarks on the Zeno narrative and chart of
1558... London, 1900. 71 pp. Maps.
7. Cordier, Henri (ed.): The book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, con–
cerning the kingdoms and marvels of the east;... London, 1903.
2 vols.
8. De Costa, Benjamin F.: "[Inventio fortunata.] Arctic exploration [, with
an account of Nicolas of Lynn],"
Bulletin American Geographical
Society
, vol. 12, pp. 159–192, New York, 1880.
9. Fischer, Josef: "Die kartographische darstellung der entdeckungen der
Normannen in Amerika,"
International Congress of Americanists, 14th
session, 1904, vol. 1, pp. 31–39, Stuttgart, 1906.
10. Fischer, Josef: "Claudius Clavus, the first cartographer of America,"
United States Catholic Historical Society. Historical Records and
Studios, vol. 6, pp. 73–101, New York, 1911.
11. Fischer, Joseph: The discoveries of the Norsemen in America, with special
relation to their early cartographical representation;... London,
1903. 130 pp. Maps.
12. Fischer, Josef: "The tithes for the Crusades in Greenland, 1276–1282.
A contribution to the eclessiastical history of the northmen in
America," United States Catholic Historical Society. Historical
Records and Studies
, vol. 3, pp. 276–287, New York, 1904.
13. Hermannsson, Halldor: "The carotgraphy of Iceland," Islandica, vol. 21,
pp. 1–81, Ithaca, 1931.
14. Hermannsson, Halld
o
^
ó
^
r: "Two cartographers, Gudbrandur Thorl
a
^
á
^
ksson and
Th
o
^
ó
^
rdur Thorl
a
^
á
^
ksson,"
[:
]
Islandica
, vol. 17, pp. 1–44, Ithaca, 1926.
15. Kretschmer, Konrad: Die physische erdkunde im christtichen mittelalter...
Wien und Olmutz, 1889. 150 pp.
16. Kretschmer, Konrad: "Die mittelalterliche Weltkarte nach Anlage und
Herkunst," [in 'Hermann Wagner Ged
a
^
ä
^
chtnisschrift',"
Petrmanns
Mitteilungen, Erganzungsheft, no. 209, pp. 55–64, Gotha, 1930.
17.
17. Kretschmer, Konrad: "Die katalanische weltkarte der Biblioteca Estense
zu Modena,"
Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde
, vol. 32
(2–3), pp. 85–111, 191–218, 1897. Map.
18. Kretschmer, Konrad: ...Die italianischen portolane des mittelalters;
ein beitrag zur geschichte der kartographie
[:
]
und nautik. Berlin,
1909. 688 pp.
EA-History. Friis: Mapping of Arctic Bibliog.
19. Lelewel, Joachim: Tavola di navicare di Nicolo et Antonio Zeni et les
cartes des regions septentrionales a l'epoque de sa publication en
1558. Brussels, 1852. 36 pp. 4 maps.
20. Lonborg, Sven: Adam af Bremen och hans skildring af Nordeuropas länder
och folk. Uppsala, 1877. 181 pp.
21. McCubbin, James and Daniel T. Holmes: Orosian geography for students of
Anglo-Saxon, with maps and translation of the voyages of Ohthere
and Wulfstan. Edinburgh, 1902. 12 pp. maps.
22. Major, Richard H.: "The voyages of the Venetian brothers, Nicolo &
Antonio Zeno, to the northern seas, in the XIVth century...,"
Hakluyt Society Publications, First Series
, vol. 50, pp. i-cll and
1–64, London, 1873. Maps.
23. Major, Richard H.: "The voyages of the Ventian brothers Zeno to the
northern seas in the fourteenth century,"
Massachusetts Historical
Society Proceedings
, vol. 13, pp. 352–366, 1873–1875.
24. Malone, Kemp: "King Alfred's north: a study in mediaeval geography,"
Speculum
, vol. 5, pp. 139–167, Cambridge, 1930. 5 maps.
25. Sandler, Christian: "Die Anean-strasse und Marco Polo,"
Zeitschrift
der Gesellschaft f
u
^
ü
^
r a Erdkunde zu Berlin
, vol. 29, pp. 401–408,
Berlin, 1894.
26. Weinhold, Karl: "Die Polargegenden Europas nach den Vorstellungen des
deutschen Mittelalters,"
Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften
in Wien, Sitsungs berichte, Philosophisch-historische Classe
, vol. 68,
pp. 783–808, Vienna, 1871.
27. Whittaker, Thomas: Macrobies; or, Philosophy, science and letters in
the year 400. Cambridge, 1923. 101 pp.
28. Nordenskiold, Nils: ...Om br
o
^
ö
^
derna Zenos resor och des
a
^
ä
^
ldsta kartor
o
^
ö
^
fver
norden. Tal vid presidiets... Med Claudii Clavi karta och
beskrifning
o
^
ö
^
fver norden... Stockholm, 1883. 53 pp. maps.
29. Nordenskiold, Nils A. E.: Bidrag till Nordens
a
^
ä
^
ldsta kartografi...
Stockholm, 1892. 3 pp. and 9 maps.
30. Zurla, Placido: Di Marco Polo e degli altri viaggiatori veneziani pii
illustri dissertazioni... Venice, 1818. 2 vols. maps.
I. THE RENAISSANCE OF MAPS ABO
[:
]
T 1500 TO 1700:
1. Bagrow, Leo: "Sparwenfeld's map of Siberia,"
Imago Mundi,
vol. 4,
pp. 65–70, Stockholm, 1947.
2. Bernard, Henri: "Les
e
^
é
^
tapes de la cartographie scientifique pour la
Chine et les pays voisins (depuis le XVI e jusq
^
ú
^
a la fin du XVIII
e sie
e
^
è
^
le),"
Monumenta Serica,
vol. 1, pp. 428–477, Peiping, 1935.
EA-History. Friis: Mapping of Arctic Bibliog.
3. Conway, William M. C.: Early Dutch and English voyages to Spitsbargen in the seventeenth century... London, 1904. 191 pp. Maps.
4. Cross, William R.: "Dutch Cartographers of the Seventeenth Century,"
Geographical Review
, vol. 6, pp. 66–70, London, 1918.
5. Gernez, D
e
^
é
^
sir
e
^
é
^
: "L'Influence portugaise sur la cartographie nautique
n
e
^
é
^
erlandaise du XVI e siecle,"
Annales de Geographie
, vol. 46, pp.
1–9, Paris, 1937.
6. Keuning, J.: "The history of an atlas: Mercetor - Hondius,"
Imago Mundi
vol. 4, pp. 37–61, Stockholm, 1947.
7. Marinelli, Olinto: "Lo Stretto di Anian e Giacomo Gastaldi,"
Revista
Geografica Italiana, Annala 24, pp. 39–49, Firenze, 1917.
8. Michow, Heinrich: "Das erste Jahrhundert russischer kartographie 1525–
1631 und die originalkarte des Anton Wied von 1542,"
Mitteilungen
des Geographischen Gesellschaft in Hamburg, vol. 21, pp. 1–61, Ham–
burg, 1906.
9. Michow, Heinrich: Die ältesten karten von Russland, ein beitrag zur
historischen geographie. Hamburg, 1884. 91 pp. Maps.
10. Nachod, Oskar: Ein unentdecktes goldland. Ein beitrag zur geschichte
der entdeckungen im nordlichen Grossen ocean. Tokyo, 1900. 451 pp.
11. Richter, Herman and Wilhelm Norlund: "Orbis arctoi nova et accurata
delineatio, auctore Andrea Bureo Sueco; 1626,"
Meddelanden från Lunds
Universitets Geografiska Institution,
Avhandlung 3, pp. 1–49, Lund,
1936. Maps.
12. Rocart, Eugene: "Les cartographes du XVI e sie
c
^
ć
^
les. I. Jean de Surhon,"
Bulletin Soc
i
^
í
^
e
^
é
^
e Royale Belge de Geographie,
vol. 122–229, Brussels,
1928.
13. Ruge, Sophus: "Die entwickelung der kartographie von Amerika bis 1570...,"
Petermanns Mitteilungen Ergänzungsheft, no. 106, pp. 1–85, Gotha,
1892. 32 maps.
14. Stevenson, Edward L.: Maps illustrating early discovery and exploration
in America, 1502–1530... New Brunswick, N. J., 1903. 26 pp. and
12 maps.
15. Taylor, Eva G. R.: "French cosmographers and navigators in England and
Scotland, 1542–1547,"
Scottish Geographical Magazine,
vol. 46,
pp. 15–21, Edinburgh, 1930.
16. Taylor, Eva G. R.: "Robert Hooke and the cartographical projects of the
late seventeenth century (1666–1696)," Geographical Journal, vol. 90,
pp. 529–540, London, 1937.
EA-History. Friis: Mapping of Arctic Bibliog.
17. Taylor, Eva G. R.: Late Tudor and early Stuart geography, 1583–1650; a sequel to Tudor geography, 1485–1583. London, 1934. 322 pp.
18. Taylor, Eva G. R.: Tudor geography, 1485–1583. London, 1930. 290 pp.
Maps.
19. Titov, A. A.: Sibir VXVII vyekye. Sbornik starinnykh Russikikh statei
o S
i
^
í
^
biri i prilezbashchikh k ner zemlyakh. S prilozbeniem snimka so
starinnoi karty Sibiri. [Siberia in the seventeenth century. A collec–
tion of old Russian publications on Siberia and its borderlands
accompanied by a reproduction of an old map of Siberia.] Edited by
G. Yudin. Moscow, 1890. In Russian.
20. Wagner, Henry R.: Spanish voyages to the northwest coast of America in
the sixteenth century. San Francisco, 1929. 571 pp. Maps.
21. Wanwermans, Henri E.: Histoire de l'
e
^
é
^
cole cartographique belge et
anversoise du XVI e siecle. Brussels, 1895. 2 vols. in 1. Maps.
22. Winsor, Justin: "The maps of the seventeenth century, showing Canada,"
Narrative and Critical History of America
, vol. 4, pp. 377–394,
Boston, 1885.
23. Winsor, Justin: "The general atlases and charts of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries,"
Narrative and Critical History of America
,
vol. 4, pp. 369–377, Boston, 1885. Maps.
24. Winsor, Justin: "The cartography of the northeast coast of North America,
1535–1600,"
Narrative and Critical History of America
, vol. 4,
pp. 81–102, Boston, 1884.
25. Winsor, Justin: "Maps of the eastern coast of North America, 1500–1535,
with the cartographical history of the Sea of Verrazano,"
Narrative
and Critical History of America
, vol. 4, pp. 33–46, Boston, 1884.
J. THE REFORMATION OF CARTOGRAPHY ABOUT 1700 to 1800:
1. Bagrow, Leo: "Ivan Kirilov, compiler of the first Russian atlas
t
, 1689–
1737,"
Imago Mundi
, vol. 2, pp. 78–82, London, 1937.
2. Berg, Lev S.: Otkrytie Kamchatki i Ekspeditsi
i
^
ĭ
^
Beringa, 1725–1742.
Leningrad, 1935. In Russian. 411 pp. Maps.
3. Berg, Lev S.: Otkrytie Kemchatki i Ekepeditsi
i
^
ĭ
^
Beringa, 1725–1742 [The
discovery of Kamchatka and the Bering expeditions]. Akademii Nauk,
Moscow, 1946. In Russian. 379 pp. maps.
4. Cahen, Gaston: Les cartes de la Sib
e
^
é
^
rie au XVIII e si
e
^
è
^
cle. Essai de
bibliographie critique... Paris, 1911. 544 pp. maps.
5. Chernikov, A.M.:
[:
]
"Robota Akademi
i
^
ĭ
^
Nauk po izdaniyu pervogo nauchnogo
atlasa Rossii 1745,"
Vestnik
[:
]
Akademi
i
^
ĭ
^
Nauk
, no. 10, pp. 69–72,
Moscow, 1936. In Russian.
EA-History. Friis: Mapping of Arctic Bibliog.
6. Du Halde, Jean B.: Description geographique, historique, chronologique, politique et physique de l'empire de la Chine et de la Tartarie chinoise enrichie des cartes generales et des cartes particulieres, de des pays, de la carte generale et des cartes,... La Raye, 1736, 4 vols. Maps.
7. Egede, Hans P.: Det gamel Grønlands nye perlustration... Kjøbenhavn, 1741.
131pp. map.
8. Engel, Samuel: Memoires et observations geographiques et critiques sur la
situation des pays septentrionaux de l'Asie et l'Amerique... Lausanne,
1765. 268 pp. Maps.
9. Golder, Frank A.: Bering's voyages; an account of the efforts of the Rus–
sians to determine the relation of Asia and America. American Geogra–
phical Society, Research Series, no. 1–2, New York, 1922 and 1925.
10. Hallager, Morten: Udførlige og troevaerdige efterretninger om de fra
Rusland af langs med kysterne af Iishavet til søes giorte opdagelser;...
Vitus Berings og capitain Morten Spangbergs søe-reiser, foretagne i
aarene 1728, 1729, 1738, 1741 til 1743, paa det østlige ocean fra
Kamtschatka af til Japon og Amerika; samt en beskrivelse over de siden
den tid i dette hav fundne øer... uddragne af ovenmeldte søefarcres
dagbøger og af Statsraad Müllers, Adjunctus Stellers, Prof. de l'Isles,
Dr. Pallas's beretninger og skufter... Ki
o
^
ø
^
benhavn, 1784. 350 pp.
11. Ides, Evert Y.: Three years travels from Moscow over-land to China:...
with a large map of the countries, drawn by the ambassador upon his
journey... London, 1768. 153 pp. Maps.
13. Mackenzie, Alexander: Voyages from Montreal, on the river St. Lawrence,
through the continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific
Oceans: in the years 1789 and 1793... London, 1801. 412 pp. Maps.
14. Masterson, James R. and Helen Brower: "Bering's successors, 1745–1780:
Contributions of Peter Simon Pallas to the history of Russian explora–
tion of Alaska,"
Pacific Northwest Quarterly
, vol. 38, pp. 35–83;
109–155, Seattle, 1947.
15. Müller, Gerhard F.: Voyages from Asia to America, for completing the
discoveries of the northwest coast of America. To which is prefixed,
a summary of the voyages made by the Russians on the Frozen sea, in
search of a northeast passage. Serving as an explanation of a map
of the Russian discoveries, published by the academy of sciences at
Petersburgh... With the addition of three new maps... by Thomas
Jeffereys... London, 1761. 76 pp. maps.
16. Pokrovskii, Alensei A.(ed.): Ekspeditsiia Beringa. Sbornik Dokumentov.
Moscow, 1941. In Russian. 413 pp. Maps.
17. Sandler, Christian: Die reformation der kartographie um 1700. Mit 4 tabel–
larischen und text-beilagen und 6 kartenfafeln. Atlas. München, 1905.
25 pp. and maps.
18. Staeblin von Storcksburg, Jakob: An account of the new northern archipelago,
lately discovered by the Russians in the seas of Kamtschatka and Anadir
... London, 1774. 118 pp. map.
EA-History: Friis: Mapping Bibliography [: ]
19. Stralenberg, Philip J. T.: An historice-geographical description of the north and eastern parts of Europe and Asia... London, 1738. 463 pp. Map.
20. Strindberg, August: "Philipp Johann von Strahlenberg och hans karta öfver
Asien," Svenska Sällskapet för anthropologi och Geografi Tidskrift,
vol. 1(6), pp. 1–12, Stockholm, 1879. Maps.
K. THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN CARTOGRAPHY ABOUT 1800 to 1900:
1. Amund
[:
o
]
en, Roald E. G.: Roald Amundsen's 'The North West passage';...
'Gjoa' 1903–1907. London, 1908. 2 vols.
2. Barrington, Daines: The possibility of approaching the North pole
asserted... Illustrated with a map of the North pole, according to the
latest discoveries. New York, 1818. 187 pp. Map.
3. Dall, William H.: "Report of geographical and hydrographical explora–
tion on the coast of Alaska,"
Coast and Geodetic Survey, Annual
Report, 1873, Appendix
, pp. 111–122, Washington, 1874.
4. Koch, Lauge: "Survey of North Greenland [1852 to 1938],"
Meddelelser
om Grønland
, vol. 130(1), pp. 1–364, Copenhagen, 1940. Also an
atlas of 31 plates.
5. Nansen, Fridtjof: ...The bathymetrical features of the North polar seas
with a discussion of the continental shelves and previous oscilla–
tions of the shoreline. London, 1904. 231 pp.
6. Nansen Fridtjof: Farthest north; being the record of a voyage of
exploration of the ship 'Fram' 1893–96... New York, 1897. 2 vols. maps.
7. Nordenskiold, Nils Adolf E.: The voyage of the Vega round Asia and
Europe; with a historical review of previous journeys along the north
coast of the Old World. London, 1881. 2 vols. maps.
8. Petermann, August H.: "Das nördlichste Land der Erde,"
Petermanns
Mitteilungen
, vol. 13, pp. 176–200, Gotha, 1867. Maps.
9. Raisz, Erwin: General Cartography. New York, 1948. see pp. 45–56.
10. Supan, Alexander: "Kurze betrachtungen zur karte der grenzen der unbe–
kannten Polargebiets..."
Petermanns Mitteilungen
, vol. 43, pp. 15–
18, Gotha, 1897.
11. Vrangel, Ferdinand P.: Statistische und ethnographisehe naehrichten über
die russischen besetzungen an der nordwestk
u
^
ü
^
ste von Amerika...
St. Petersburg, 1839. 332 pp. Map.
Herman R. Friie
Arab Geography
[Figure]Encyclopedia Arctica Eloise McCaskill
Arab Geography
^
Readar Dearing July 74/50 Should be compared with Kimb
[:
]
d's ms
^
Arab geography
^
in the Middle Ages
^
kept alive the Greek tradition, espec–
ially the Ptolemaic, but also incorporated much
concrete
information collected by
^
Arab
^
geographers and travellers. Their
ideas of the North were derived largely from their commer–
cial intercourse with Russia in the east and north;
^
and with the Mohammedan Finish nation of the Bulgarians, more capital Bulgar lay on
the Volga (near the present form of Kogan);
^
and
their contact with the Scandinavian Vikings in the western
portions of the
[:
]
Moslem empire. Their literature in
this field extends from the ninth century throughout the
whole of the Middle Ages. Many thousands of Moslem coins,
dating chiefly before the eleventh century, have been found
in Esthonia, Livonia and Courland, testifying to the ex–
tent of their trade toward the North; and they are said
even to have penetrated Siberia.
^
A
^
While their formal geography
had little influence in medieval Europe, they transmitted
to the West the geographical concepts of Aristotle and
Ptolemy; and other branches of their science, especially
astronomy and mathematics, profoundly influenced the progress
of European discovery and exploration.
^
and In is generally accepted that they were responsible for the introduction of the compass
into Europe.
^
Yet
[:
]
^
as
^
their scien
ce
tific achievements were far in advance of those of medieval
Europe,
^
so
^
their taste for the fabulous
[:
]
even
[:
]
surpassed
the European. Thus the same author (Ibn Khord
a
^
â
^
d
bah) who
[:
]
^
tells
^
us that the earth is round like a sphere and gives a perfectly
clear description of the buoyancy of the air and of gravita–tion, also tells us of whales two hundred fathoms long and of
snakes that swallow elephants.
Read at Dearing June 24/50
Should be compared with Kimb[]d's MS.
The most important statements about the North in medieval
Arab Geography
Arabic literature were collected by Prof. Alexander Seippel in his Rerum Normannicarum fontes Arabici , in Arabic, pub– lished in Christiania, 1896. He translated many of these for Nansen's use in his In Northern Mists , and it is largely from the English translation of this work (London, 1911) that pas– sages ^ from the author ^ quoted below are taken.
One of the earliest supposed
^
Arab
^
voyages to northern climes is
that of Al-Ġazâl, shortly after 844 A.D. The earliest account
^
of it
^
,
however, comes to us from Ibn Dihya (died ca. 1235), who says
that he took it from 'Ibn Alqama (died 896), who reputedly had
it from Al-Ġazâl's own mouth.
[:
]
After the Moorish conquest
of Spain the Vikings, whom the Arabs called Maǵûs, made several
predatory expeditions to the Iberian Peninsula, the first of
these about 844, when they took and sacked Seville. We are told
that after that friendly relations were established between the
sultan of Spain, 'Abd ar-Rahmân II
^
,
^
and "the K
n
^
i
^
ng of the Maǵûs,"
and that the sultan sent Al-
G
^
Ġ
^
az
a
^
â
^
l as ambassador to the Norman
king's country, in a ship belonging to an ambassador of that
king. They first arrived at an island "on the borders of the
land of the Maǵûs people" (according to A. Bugge, probably the
Island of Noirmoutier, in the region of the Loire Normans).
Then they journeyed to the king, who lived on a great island in
the ocean, three days' journey, or three hundred Arab miles from
the continent. There they encountered an innumerable number of
Scandinavians (Maǵûs), who also inhabited many other large and
small islands in the vicinity; "and the part of the continent
that lies near them also belongs to them, for a distance of
Arab Geography
many days' journey." Formerly heathens, they are now Christians, except on certain of the islands. Those who are still heathen practice incest and other abominations, and the others war on these and carry them into slavery. This region has been identified as either the "island kingdom" of Denmark, or Ireland with the Isle of Man and the Scottish islands. The description of the reception of the embassy at the court of the king is vivid and real– istic, and in Nansen's opinion "bears a remarkable resem– blance to the peculiar method of narration of the Icelandic sagas."
One of the oldest of the Arabic geographers who writes
of the North, and whose work has been preserved, is Ibn
Khordâ
d
bah (died 912), mentioned above. Persian by descent,
he was the caliph's postmaster in Media. He tells us in his
book
On Routes and Kingdoms
, written between about 850 and
885, that upon the sea to the north of the Slavs, whereon
the "town" of Thule lies, no ship travels. The Russians
(Rûs, or Scandinavians in Russia) journey from the remotest
regions of the Slavs, southward to the Sea of Rum (Mediter–
ranean), and "there sell skins of beaver and fox, as well
as swords [?/." They also descended the Volga to the Caspian
sea, where their goods were loaded on camels for Bagdad.
Ibn al-Faqîh, about 900 A.D., had little information
about the North. He mentions only Amazons in the seventh
clime, and
^
in the "seventh sea"
^
the island of Thule, where "no ship ever puts in."
Ibn al-Bahlûl, about 910, gives
[:
]
Ptolemy's latitudes
of the northern regions, and tells of two islands of Amazons
in the extreme northern ocean, one with womenand one with men.
Arab Geography
There is some confusion between Sweden and Russia in
Ibn Ruste, about 912 A.D., who says that the "Rûs" live
on an island about three days' journey (about seventy-five
miles) long, covered with forests and
^
unhealthy
^
. bogs. They come in
ships to the land of the Slavs and attack them. They have
no settled life and live by trade in sable, squirrel and
other skins. They are tall, handsome and courageous. In
this passage there is apparently some idea of Denmark or
Sweden, but the references to unhealthy bog land and trade
in sables are doubtless connected with northern Russia.
About 922 A.D. Ibn Fadhlân stated in his work (accord–ing to Jaqût) that the Bulgarian king had told him that
at a distance of three months' journey northward from his
country there lived a people called
[:
]
Wîsu, among whom
the nights in summer were not even one hour
[:
]
long. This
name seems to have been commonly applied in Arabic to all
Finnish and Samoyed tribes in northern Russia and on the
coast of the Polar Sea. (Cf. the Russian name "Ves" for the
Finnish people in northernmost Russia, and Adam of Bremen's
"Wizzi." See Nansen, II, p. 143.) The account goes on to
say that the king once wrote to this people, and received
a reply from them in which they told of the people Yâǵûǵ
and Mâǵûǵ (see our article on Gog and Magog), who lived
over three months' journey distant from them,
[:
]
from
whom they were separated by the sea, and who subsisted on
a diet of great fish that were cast ashore.
Ibn Ǵafar (died about 948) states of the ocean sur–
rounding the earth that it is impossible to penetrate very
Arab Geography
far into that part of it in which the British Isles lie, and that "no one knows the real state of this ocean."
The widely travelled al-Mas 'ùdî in his great work
Meadows of Gold
^
, written before 950 A.D.,
^
tells us on the authority of certain Arab
astronomers that "at the end of the inhabited world in the
north there is a great sea, of which part lies under the
North Pole, and that in the vicinity of it
[:
]
there is a
town
^
[
^
or land
^
]
^
called Tulia
^
[
^
Thule
^
]
^
, beyond which no inhab–
ited country is found." In Siberia are the
[:
]
two rivers,
the black and the white Irtish, both considerable, surpassing
the Tigris and Euphrates in length. Their mouths are about
ten days' distance apart, and on their banks the Turkish
tribes Kaimâk and Ghuzz camp in both summer and winter. He
also gives an account of the extensive trade in furs between
northern Russia and the southern and western countries, and
tells of the ravages of the
[:
]
Norsemen in Spain and
the Mediterranean before 912. He held the ancient belief that
the Black Sea was connected, through the Sea of Azov, with
the Baltic.
In 1030 A.D. the famous astronomer and mathematician
al-Bîrûnî
^
, of Persian birth,
^
wrote his text-book in the elements of astronomy,
which contains some geographical information of interest to
us. He was the first Arabic author to use the name "Warank"
(Varangian) for Scandinavian, and calls the Baltic the Va–
rangians' Sea. (On history of this term see Nansen, II, p. 199,
note 4.) This sea bends to the east, and between its shore
and the uttermost lands of eastern Asia "there are countries
and mountains unknown, desert, untrodden." He says that in the
Arab Geography
northernmost regions beyond the seventh climate, only a few people, such as the Wîsû, the Varangians b and the Yugrians dwell. His primitive map shows the world as a round disc in the encircling ocean (the Oceanus of the Greeks), indented by five bays, of which the Varangians' Sea is one.
It is perhaps not inappropriate to mention here the
cosmography of the eleventh century Jew, Assaf Hebraeus,
written originally in Arabic, but known to us only in a
Latin and a Hebrew translation. He mentions beyond Scotland
the land of Norve (Norway), with an archbishopric and ten
bishoprics. In many of the northern lands, particularly in
Ireland, there are no snakes. Of the countries and islands
beyond Britain
^
,
^
Thule is the most distant, lying in the remote
northern seas. It has the longest day and beyond it is the
stiffened, viscous sea. In the Hebrides the inhabitants have
no grain but live on fish and milk. In the Orcades there
dwell naked people.
Abû Hâmid (1080–1169 or 1170) tells us that traders travel
from Bulgar to the land of the Wîsû, from whence the beaver
comes. They take thither swords with unpolished blades which
they buy in Persia. "They pour water over these, so that when
the blades are hung up by a cord and struck, they ring." With
these swords they buy beaver skins
/
from the inhabitants of
Wîsû, who in turn go with the swords "to a land near the dark–
ness and lying on the Dark Sea" (i.e., the
[:
]
Polar Sea), and
exchange them for sable skins. The inhabitants of the land of
darkness "take some of these blades and cast them into the
Arab Geography
Dark Sea. Then Allâh lets a fish as big as a mountain come up to them. ... They cut up its flesh for days and months, and sometimes fill 100,000 houses with it," etc. Nansen (II, pp. 145–6) believes that this passage may point to the peoples on the Polar Sea having obtained steel for their harpoons for sealing ^ , Walrus-hunting ^ and whaling from Persia, and says: "It seems to result from what may be trustworthy in these [: ] statements that there was fairly active commercial intercourse from Bulgar with the Vesses and with the peoples on the White Sea, and perhaps in the districts near the Polar Sea."
Though not the greatest of the Arab geographers, the
most famous in the western European world was 'Abdallâh
Muhammad al-Idrîsî, commonly called Edrisi. He is by far the
most interesting for our purpose, as he gives the most in–
formation about the North. Edrisi is said to have been born
in Ceuta about 1099 A.D. He was educated at Cordova, and
travelled extensively in Europe, including France and England,
and in Morocco and Asia Minor. He went to live at the court
of Roger II, the Norman king of Sicily, which during the
Crusades was a meeting-place of Normans, Franks and Greeks,
and
[:
]
^
wrote
^
his book
[:
]
^
between 1154 and
^
1170. Living in Sicily
at this time he was able to obtain much information from these
travellers, and from passing sailors and merchants. He tells
us that Roger collected through interpreters geographical
information from all of these, and other sources tell us that
Roger and Edrisi sent out
^
geographical
^
expeditions, with draughtsmen, in
all directions. Edrisi also tells us that Roger
also
caused
Arab Geography
a great map to be drawn on which every place was marked, and a silver planisphere [: ] , weighing 450 Roman pounds, to be engraved with the seven climates of the earth, with their countries, rivers, bays, etc. Edrisi's description of the earth, written for Roger in Arabic, was accompanied by a map of the world and seventy other maps.
Edrisi follows the Greek division of the inhabited world
into seven climates, extending to 64° N. lat. The region be–
yond this is uninhabited on account of the cold and snow.
Edrisi divides each climate into ten sections, so
^
^
that his book
book
contains in all seventy sections. (For a composite re–
presentation of northern Europe and regions to the north of it,
put together from eight of Edrisi's maps, see Nansen, II, p. 203
^
.)
^
The Dark Sea encircles the world, and no one knows what is be–
yond it.
After describing the British Isles Edrisi says that from
the end of Scotland to the island of Iceland it is two-thirds
of a day
[:
]
's sail in a northern direction; from the end of Ice–
land to the great island of Ireland, one day; from the end of
Iceland eastward to the island of Norway, twelve miles (! ?).
Iceland is 400 miles long and 150 miles broad.
Denmark is described as an island (or peninsula; the
word is the same in Arabic for both), round in shape, and is
thus shown on the map, connected with the continent by a nar–
row isthmus. Various towns are mentioned, including Als,
[:
]
Tönder, Copenhagen, Horsens, Lund and Sliaswiq (or the Arabic
equivalents of these). From Vendelskagen it is half a day's
sail to the island of Norway. What is perhaps Bornholm is
Arab Geography
shown as an island to the east of Denmark, near Lund, and is marked Derlânem on the map. To the south of Denmark is shown the coast of Poland, and to the east Sweden, also on the con– tinent. Farther east is the district of Finmark. In all of these regions towns and rivers are shown. Two towns in Finmark are "large but ill populated, and their inhabitants are sunk in poverty. It rains there almost continually." Still farther east comes the land of Tavast, where there are "many castles and villages, but few towns. The cold is more severe than in Finmark, and frost and rain scarcely leave them for a moment." Farther eastward still are Esthonia and the "land of the heathen."
Edrisi then turns to a description of Norway, which he
says is for the most part desert. It is a large country and
has two promontories, the left-hand one approaching
[:
]
Den–
mark and the other approaching the great coas t of Finmark.
Norway has three inhabited towns (only Oslô and Trònâ, or
Trondheim, can be read on the map). Provisions are scarce;
grain is harvested green and dried in heated houses on account
of the frequent rain and continual dampness. Unusually large
trees are found here. There are reported to be wild people in
the desert regions whose heads grow straight from their shoul–
ders, without any neck at all. There are many beavers, but
they are smaller than the Russian beavers.
According to Edrisi there are thousands of islands in
the Dark Sea, both to the north and west. Among these are the
two islands of men and of women Amazons; an island called
Sâra, where Alexander the Great landed and
[:
]
was attacked by
Arab Geography
the inhabitants; an Isle of Female Devils (cf. our article on Islands of Demons); an Isle of illusion, inhabited by small brown men with long beards; an Island of Abundance; an Island of Sheep and one of Birds (cf. Irish legends of St. Brendan and other voyagers), etc. He also mentions the Island of Shâland, presumably Shetland, which he seems to have confused with Iceland. He says that it is fifteen days' journey in length and ten in breadth, has three large and populous towns, ports where ships put in to buy amber and stones of various colors, [: ] etc.
Edrisi's map of the world is based to a great extent
on Ptolemy, although it shows much deviation. Nansen thinks
it possible that Edrisi was acquainted with some Roman map,
and that the similarity between it and the so-called Anglo–
Saxon map of about the eleventh century may point to some
older common source for both.
Ibn
[:
]
Sa'id (lived from early to late thirteenth
century) wrote a book about "The extent of the earth in its
length and breadth," which contains a few interesting re–
marks about
The North
northern regions. After telling us
that hunting falcons are obtained from Denmark (see our
article on falconry), he says:
"Around it are small islands where the falcons are found.
To the west lies the island of white falcons; its length from
west to east is about seven days and its breadth about four
days, and from it and from the small northern islands are ob–
tained the white falcons, which are brought from here to the
Sultan of Egypt, who pays from his treasury 1000 dinars for
Arab Geography
them, and if the falcon arrives dead the reward is 500 dinars. And in their country is the white bear, which goes out into the sea and swims and catches fish, and these falcons seize what is left over by it, or what it has left alone. And on this they live, since there are no ^ [ ^ other ^ ] ^ flying creatures there on account of the severity of the frost. The skin of these bears is soft, and it is brought to the Egyptian lands as a gift."
Ibn Sa'id also speaks of a women's island and a men's
island in the north, and of another great island, Saqlab
(Edrisi's Norway), beyond which lies no inhabited land in
the ocean either to the east or the north. The length of this
island is about 700 miles, and its width
[:
]
in the middle
is about 330 miles.
Jaq
u
^
û
^
t in the early thi
t
^
r
^
teenth century wrote a geograph–
ical lexicon, in which he included an article on Wîsû, sîtu–
ated three months' journey beyond Bulgar. He says that
the
at one time of the year the night is so sho
[:
]
t that one is not
aware of any darkness, and at another time one sees no day–
light. in his article on the river Itil or Volga he says that
the traders travel upon it as far as Wîsû and bring thence
"great quantities of furs, such as beaver,
[:
]
sable and squirre
^
l"
^
.
Al-Qazwi^î^ni^î^ (died 1283) also speaks of the land of the
Wi^î^su^û^ as being three months' journey beyond
[:
]
the land of the
Bulgarians, and describes the method of dumb trading that is
met with so frequently in medieval accounts of northern peoples.
He displays in his cosmography some very exaggerated ideas
about the northern winter and extends these to include even
central
[:
]
and Western Europe. He is apparently referring
Arab Geography
to Bergen in Norway when he writes: "Bergân is a [: ] land which lies far in the north. The day there becomes as short as four hours and the night as long as twenty hours, and vice versa. The inhabitants are heathens and worshippers of idols. They make war on the Slavs. They resemble in most things the Franks. They have a good understanding of all kinds of handicraft and ships."
Whereas, as we have seen above, the term Varangians'
Sea was applied by Arab writers to the Baltic, Nansen is
tempted to believe (II, p. 210) that in the
[:
]
following
passage Qazwînî is referring to Varanger or the Varanger–
fjord in Finmark: "Warank is a district on the border of
the northern sea. For from the ocean in the north a bay
goes in a southerly direction, and the district which lies
on the shore of this bay, and from which the bay has its
name, is called Warank. It is the uttermost region on the
north. The cold there is excessive, the air thick and the
cold continuous.
^
[
^
This region
^
]
^
is not suited either for
plants or animals. Seldom does anyone come
[:
]
there,
because of the cold and darkness and snow. But Allâh knows
best
^
[
^
what is the truth of the matter
^
]
^
."
'Ash-Shirazi, around 1300,
is apparently confusing
Ireland and Iceland. He
tells us that in the northwestern
quarter of the earth which is connected with the western
ocean, England is the largest of three islands and Ireland
the smallest. There the most handsome hunting-falcons are
found. The other island is Orknia. Where the latitude at–
tains to 63° the longest day is twenty hours. There is also
Arab Geography
an island called Thule, where the inhabitants"live in heated bathrooms on account of the severe cold that pre– vails there. This is generally considered to be the ex– treme latitude of inhabited land." He says further that the sea that the ancients called Maeotis is now called the Varangians' Sea. The Varangians A ^ a ^ re a tall, warlike people who dwell on its shore. "After the ocean has gone past the Varangians' country in an easterly direction it extends behind the land of the Turks, past mountains which no one traverses and lands where no one dwells, to the utter– most regions of the land of the Chinese, and because these are also uninhabited, and because it is impossible to sail any farther upon it ^ [ ^ the ocean ^ ] ^ , we know nothing of its con– nection with the eastern ocean."
Ad-Dimashqî (1256–1327) displays a queer mixture of
fact and fantasy concerning the northern regions in his
cosmography. He tells us that the habitable earth extends
up to
[:
]
66 5/12 °, and that the regions beyond this, up
to 90°, are desert and uninhabited. "The sea beyond the
deserts of the Qipdjaks
^
[
^
southern Russia, Turkestan and
western Siberia
^
]
^
in latitude 63° has a length of eight days'
journey, with a breadth varying to as little
[:
]
as three. In
this sea there is a great island, inhabited by people of tall
stature, with fair complexions, fair hair and blue eyes, who
scarcely understand human speech. It is called the Frozen Sea
because in winter it freezes entirely, and because it is sur–
rounded by mountains i^o^f ice. These are
[:
]
formed when
the wind in winter breaks the waves upon the shore; as they
Arab Geography
freeze they are cast upon the icy edges, which grow in layers little by little, until they form heights with separate summits, and walls that surround them."
Dimashq
i
^
î
^
says that
^
the
^
^
coasts of
^
the sea north of Britain turn in
a northwesterly direction.
[:
]
This sea has a great bay
called the Varangians' Sea, and "the Varangians are an
inarticulate people who scarcely understand human speech,
and they are the best of the Slavs, and this arm of the
sea is the Sea of Darkness in the north." While the coasts
extend still farther to the north and west, they lose them–
selves in the climate of Darkness, and no one knows what is
there. He tells a remarkable story of whales asserted by
the ignorant to be carried alive by angels to Hell to be
used there for various punishments, or cast up out of the
sea to be used
[:
]
as food for Gog and Magog.
Of interest to us is the description of Ibn Batûta (1302–
of the Land of Darkness and the journey thi
[:
]
her. He says
that this land lies forty days' journey from Bulgar, and
that the journey is made only in small cars (sledges) drawn
by dog
^
s
^
. This is because this desert region has a frozen
surface, upon which neither men nor horses can get a foot–
hold, but dogs with their claws can. Only rich merchants
undertake the journey, with about a hundred of these con–
veyances, provisioned with food, drink and wood. "As a
guide through this land they have a dog which has already
made the journey several times, and it is so highly prized
that they pay as much as a thousand dinars for one. This
Arab Geography
s ^ d ^ og is harnessed with three others by the neck to a car ^ [ ^ sledge ^ ] ^ , so that it goes as the leader and the others follow it. When it stops, the others do the same ..." etc. Here follows a description of the dumb barter, the mer– chants receiving sable, squirrel and ermine in exchange for their wares.
There can be no doubt, in view of the descriptions of
the North contained in the works of the representative au–
thors mentioned above, that the Arabs received independent
information, largely through trade, concerning that region.
Bibliography
The only ^ general ^ treatment ^ in English ^ as yet of Arab geographical knowledge as it relates to the North is contained in [: ] Fridtjof Nansen's In Northern Mists , London, 1911.
especially Vol. II, pp. 194–215 and 143–
147; also various references in both
vols.
As said
above, this is based upon Prof. Alexander Seippel's
Rerum Normannicarum fontes Arabici
(in Arabic), Fasc. I,
Christiania, 1896.
For a brief yet comprehensive treatment of the contributions of the Moslems to European geography, see J.K. Wright's Geographical Lore at the Time of the Crusades , A.G.S. Research Series No. 15, New York, 1925, Ch. III, pp. 77–87, and vari– ous references.
There is a French translation of Edrisi's work, G e ^ é ^ ographie d'Edrisi , by P.A.Jaubert, in Recueil de Voyages et de M e ^ é ^ moires publ. p. 1. Soc. de G e ^ é ^ ographie , V. Paris, 1836.
Skridfinns (Lapps)
[Figure]Encyclopedia Arctica Eloise McCaskill
(V.S. *
[:
]
I do not know how to entitle this article,
as I do not know what use you will make of it. I am thinking it might
be part of your large article on Lapland.)
Skridfinns (Lapps)
(in ancient and medieval literature)
The Skridfinns
^
,"skiing Finns",
^
(Lapps), called Finns in the earliest notices of
them, are first mentioned by Tacitus
^
(q.v.)
^
, who calls them "Fenni." H
[:
]
s
Germania
, written about 98 A.D. contains much fresh information about
northern regions, much of it derived from the exploits of his father–
in-law, Agricola (Q.V.).
^
Read at Dearing June 17/49 Good.
^
After writing about the Swedes (
Suiones
), Tacitus, who is also the
first to mention them, writes of other inhabitants of Scandinavia.
Beyond the Norwegians, he says, are the Peucini, Venedi and Fenni,
peoples of a different type, who have intermixed with Sarmatians (Slavs).
Although he does not specifically mention skiing, he speaks of the
Finns as traveling on foot with great speed, which would seem to imply
some hearsay of the use of skis. Tacitus says that these people live
in a state of savagery and poverty; have no arms, no horses, no
penates
.
They depend solely on hunting for a living, and for vegetable food
have only wild herbs. They have no iron and their arrows are headed
with bone. They clothe themselves with skins.
Tacitus says that he is doubtful whether to include the Finns
among the Germanic peoples or the Sarmatians
^
(Slavs)
^
. He is rather inclined
to classify them as Germanie, but believes that they have been
"debased" by marriage with the Sarmatians.
Claudius Ptolemy (q.v.), second century A.D., in enumerating
the lands and peoples of the remote North, mentions the "Phinni"
as the name of a people dwelling in Scandinavia ("
Scandia
"
)
, which
he and other writers up to the time of Saxo Grammaticus, 1185,
believed to be an island), and also in Sarmatia, near the Vistula.
Skridfinns
As Ptolemy was an astronomical rather than a descriptive geographer or a historian, he does not tell us anything about the life or cus– toms of these people. His knowledge of them is based upon the work of Marinus of Tyre (q.v.), who lived in the first half of the second century A.D., and whose writings are unfortunately lost, [: ] and are known to us chiefly through Ptolemy.
After this early period we find the term "Skridfinns" (Scrithifini,
(
Screrefennae, Crerefe
[:
]
ne, Rerefennae, etc.)
^
as well as Finns
^
applied to the Lapps, with
sometimes a distinction between Finns and Skridfinns. The first use
of the term
^
in extant works
^
is found in the
[:
]
^
writings
^
of the contemporaries Jordanes
^
(q.v.)
^
and
Procopius
^
(q.v.)
^
, fifth to sixth centuries A.D. The generally accepted derivation
is from the Norse "skri
[:
]
a" — to slide on the ice, to glide. The Norse–
men apparently characterized their Finnish (Lappish) neighbors on the
north as sliding on ski
^
s
^
, to distinguish them from other peoples near
them whom they also called Finns.
[:
]
. S. –
is the plural
"ski" or
"skis"?]
Jordanes, historian of the Goths, was a monk or priest who lived
in the East Roman Empire. He tells us
^
frankly
^
that his work
^
, written ca. middle of the sixth century,
^
is essentially a
summary, if a "poor repetition", of the now lost work of Cassiodorus
^
(q.v.)
^
,
the Roman historian and statesman under Theodoric, written probably
between 526 and 533,
and i
^
I
^
t was from this source that Jordanes took
his information about the North and the Skridfinns. We have reason to
believe, through a reference in Jordanes, that Cassiodorus, in turn,
may have borrowed some of his information about the North from an
older writer, Ablabius, otherwise unknown. (For fuller information
as to the probable sources of such knowledge at this period, see our
articles on Jordanes and Procopius.)
Jordanes, in writing of the inhabitants of Scandinavia (Scandza),
Skridfinns
which was still thought of as an island, includes among the inhab– itants of the furthest North the "Screrefennae," "who do not seek a subsistence in corn, but live on the flesh of wild beasts and the eggs of birds." He makes no mention of skiing.
The Byzantine historian Procopius, in his
De Bello Gothico
,
written also around the middle of the sixth century, conceived of
Scandinavia as the Thule of Pytheas (q.v.), and also thought of it
as an island. He tells us that among its inhabitants are the
^
"
^
Scrith–
ifini
^
"
^
(Lat. translation of his Greek
Skritiphinoi
),
[:
]
barbarous
people who live after the manner of beasts. They have no cloth, no
thread, but clothe themselves with the skins of the animals which
they hunt, and fasten the skins together with sinews. They have no
products of the soil, but live entirely by hunting. The infants, he
says, are nourished solely by the marrow of slain beasts.
^
"Put Ravenna geographer" here instead of on p. 4
^
Paulus Diaconus, or Warnefridi, (q.v.)
^
c. 720–c.797,
^
[:
]
the
historian of the Lombards, is
apparently
the first to describe the
ski-running of the Skridfinns, but he apparently did not understand
its technique very well. He says that their name, Scritobini
,
(in
some
[:
]
MSS. Scridowinni and Scritofinni), is derived from a word
meaning "to leap" in the "foreign", i.e., Germanic,
[:
]
tongue;
"for by leaping with a certain art they overtake the wild beasts
with a piece of wood bent like a bow." He evidently imagined ski–
running as a leaping instead of a gliding motion.
These people, he tells us, dwell on the "island" of
^
"
^
Scatinavia
^
"
^
(cf. Pliny, q.v.). They have snow, even in summer, eat nothing but the
raw flesh of wild beasts, and wear clothes of the skins "with the hair
on." He also mentions their use of the reindeer, which he calls "an
animal not unlike the stag," and says that he himself has seen a dress
Skridfinns
made of the hide of this animal, "bristling with hairs, and it was made like a tunic and reached to the knees, as the above-mentioned Scritobini wear it."
(Transfer what follows on the "Ravenna Geographer" to p.3,
before Paulus Diaconus, in proper chronological order.)
The anonymous Ravenna Geographer
^
of the seventh century speaks of the
^
land of the Rerefeni and Sirdifeni,
which lies on the northernmost coast of the ocean, and is colder than
all others. He gives as his source on these people "the Gothic scholar
Aithanarit," but what he says of them bears some resemblance to
[:
]
Procopius. He says that they dwell among the rocks of the mountains,
that both men and women live by hunting, and that they are unacquainted
with wine. He has no mention of ski-running, but he does speak of
neighboring peoples who "are swifter than all others."
We are on firmer ground when we come to the ninth century Anglo–
Saxon King Alfred (q.v.) and his Norwegian retainer Otter
^
(q.v.)
^
, the first
known discoverer of the North Cape, the Polar Sea and the White Sea.
King Alfred's knowledge of the North is derived
^
largely
^
from Norwegian and
Danish sources, and is reported to us in his own
interpolations or
additions
in
^
To
^
his translation of
[:
]
Orosius's
Seven Books against
the Pagans
. King Alfred calls the Skridfinns "Scride-Finnas".
[:
]
[:
]
He relates them to the principal dwellers in the Scandinavian
Peninsula thus: the Swedes (Svear, Sveones), are north of the Esthonian
^
(Osti)
^
arm of the sea, and are west of the Sarmatians (Russians?). To their
north, beyond the uninhabited tracts, is "Cwenland;"
[:
]
to their north–
west
^
are
^
the Scride-Finnas; and to their west the Norwegians. It is evi–
dent that King Alfred's Skridfinns are Lapps.
King Alfred's most valuable contribution toward knowledge
of the North is contained in the account of Otter's famous Arctic voyage,
Skridfinns
inserted in the before mentioned translation of Orosius. Ottar, who himself came from northernmost Norway, displays considerable knowledge of the Lapps, whom he calls Finns and Terfinns. He speaks of reindeer ("^wildrum^") as the chief form of wealth among these people, as also ^ among ^ the northern Norwegians. He himself, he told the King, had six hundred tame reindeer, and six decoy reindeer, the latter animals being held "very dear among the Finns, for with them they catch the wild reindeer."
The principal revenue of the Norwegians, according to Ottar,
was derived from the tribute paid by the Finns (Lapps), and consisted
of pelts, down, walrus tusks and ships' ropes made of walrus and seal
hide. Each Finn had to pay according to his rank, a chieftain usually
paying fifteen marten skins, five reindeer skins, one bear skin, ten
bushels of feathers, a coat of bear or otter skin, and two ships' cables,
one of walrus and the other of seal. The mention of walrus hunting is
of great interest as showing that it was practiced by
[:
]
both Nor–
wegians and
Finns
^
[:
Laofs
]
^
at that time
.
^
,
^
It is an interesting question as to
^
either of whom may have
^
which learned it from y^t^he other.
Ottar speaks of the Finns as living in a mountainous wilderness
to the north and east of his own homeland; the Terfinns as occupying
the whole of what we know as the Kola Peninsula, which he calls waste
and uninhabited except for these hunters and fishers and fowlers. He
encountered these people on his voyage around the North Cape into the
the White Sea, but from the context of the account it would appear
that he was already acquainted by report with them and their neighbors,
the "Beormas"
(
or Biarmes, perhaps the East Karelians
)
. (See Nansen, op.
cit., and our articles on Ottar and on King Alfred.)
Skridfinns
In [: ] gil Skallagrimsson's Saga, which was doubtless put into writing at a much later period, we read of the expeditio n ^ ns ^ of a contemporary of Otto, Thorolf Kveldulfsson, among the Finns or Lapps to collect their tribute. This was about 873 and 874. He traveled extensively into the interior and up into the mountains to collect this tribute, and Nansen (I, p. 231) remarks that it cannot have been only wandering hunters who paid it, but people who "must certainly also have had herds of reindeer." In the saga it is stated that Finmark lies much further north than various [: ] regions named, including Helsing– land, Kvaenland, Finland ^ and ^ , Kirjalaland (Karelia).
Adam of Bremen (q.v.), one of the great historians of the Middle
Ages, has something to say
^
^
about the Skridfinns in his famous
Gesta
Hammaburgensis
, begun in 1072. Book IV of this work, entitled "
Descrip
–
tio Insularum Aquilonis
," is one of the most important primary sources
of medieval knowledge of the North (and is the first in history to
mention
^
North America,
^
Vinland). After describing the people of Norway and Sweden
Adam tells us that between these two countries dwell the Finns and
other peoples, "who are now all Christians and belong to the church
at Skara." Then he goes on to say: "On the northern confines of the
Swedes or Normans dwell the Skridfinns, who are said to outrun the
wild beasts." He also tells of a small mountain people who were ac–
customed to come down into the
^
^
plains and descend upon the Swedes, but
who,
[:
]
though they were of moderate height, posseseed such strength
and agility that the Swedes were scarcely a match for them. They came
sometimes once a year, sometimes every third year, and unless they
were resisted with all force they would lay waste an entire district.
It is probable that it is here the roving mountain Lapps who are de–
scribed. (See Nansen, op. cit., and our article on Adam of Bremen.)
Skridfinns
Adam speaks of the people who dwell on the Arctic coast as so
versed in magical arts and sorcery that they can
[:
]
divine what
is going on in any part of the world, and can attract whales to their
shore by incantantions and sorcery and perform other wonders. This is
in keeping with later beliefs about the Lapps. He also speaks of skin–
clad hunters, in the most rugged mountains of this region, who wear
skins and speak a language hardly intelligible to the Norwegians.
These were most certainly Lapps. He refers to the Rhipaean mountains
of the Greeks and Romans, "shaggy with perpetual snow," and says that
the Skridfinns could not live in any place where there was not deep
^
?
^
snow (i.e., on account of their use of ski
^
s
^
). He mentions the animals
hunted among them as being the aurochs, reindeer, el
[:
]
, bison, black fox,
hare, white marten, and white bear.
In the
Historia Norvegiae
, of perhaps around 1180–1190, by an
unknown Norwegian author, we read that Norway is divided into three
zones parallel to the curved coast line, the first lying along the coast,
the second being the mountain zone, and the third, called the forest
zone, inhabited by Finns (Lapps), "but is not ploughed," being waste
land. The Lapps, in this third zone," are very skilled hunters, who roam
about singly and are nomads, and they live in huts
^
made of hides
^
instead of houses.
These houses they take on their shoulders, and they fasten smoothed
pieces of wood under their feet, which appliances they call 'ondrer',
and while the reindeer gallop along carrying their wives and children
over the deep snow and precipitous mountains, they dash on more swiftly
than the birds. Their dwelling place changes according as the quantity
of game shows them a hunting- ground when it is needed."
The Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, (q.v.), writing
[:
]
around 1185, who gives us the first/recorded
^
definite
^
recognition of the
Skridfinns
peninsular character of Scandinavia, writes of the Skridfinns as follows: "This people is used to an extraordinary kind of carriage, and in its passion for the chase strives to climb untrodden moun– tains, and attains the coveted ground at the cost of a slippery circuit. For no crag juts out so high but they can reach its crest by fetching a cunningg compass. For when they first leave the deep valleys, they glide twisting and circling among the bases of the rocks, thus making the route very roundabout by dint of continually swerving aside, until, passing along the winding curves of the tracks, they conquer the appointed summit. This same people is wont to use the skins of certain beasts for merchandise with its neighbors."
Saxo became the chief authority on the North for the later
Middle Ages. He is cited by Olaus Magnus (q.v.), 1490–1558, as the
chief authority for the chapters in his work which deal with "Biarmia,
Finmarck and Scricfinnia." He locates Scricfinnia between Biarmia
and Finmarck, but says that one long corner of it extends as far
southward as the Gulf of Bothnia. He devotes most of his chapter on
this region to a description of skis and skiing; and has many ref–
erences in his great
History of the Peoples of the North
to the skiing
of the Finnish peoples, both in sports and in warfare. In the chapter
in which he discusses ice warfare, he devotes much attention to such
warfare between the Finns and Russians.
Insert, above:
[:
]
, and in another chapter he describes the winter
combat between the Skridfinns and Russians, and says the former are
more successful because of their agility with skis.
When he writes of weaving, he
says that the women of Lapland are not so ingenious as the Northern
women in general, but "make their webs of the nerves of living crea–
tures, and fit garments of the skins of divers beasts; because in that
outmost country there grows no flax, nor do sheep breed there ... ."
In his extensive treatment of the reindeer (which he calls
rangifer
),
Olaus speaks of it as thriving particularly in "Great Lapland."
[: ] Skridfinns
Nansen (I,p.205)
is of the opinion
^
considers
^
that many of the early ac–
counts, especially that of Adam of Bremen, tend to show that there
were both Fishing Lapps and Reindeer Lapps in northern Scandinavia
in remote times, as now. These were called by the ancient and medieval
writers whom we have cited
^
,
^
Finns and Skridfinns. There was also a
people in southern Scandinavia who were called Finns, but were not
the people we now call Finns. From this
^
,
^
certain scholars concluded
that these were the same people as are now found in the northern
part, who were driven northward by later Germanic immigrants. But
this hypothesis has not withstood the test of later researches, and
Nansen considers the entire question difficult. He says:
"Since in Swedish and Norwegian the name has come to be applied
to two such entirely different peoples as, in Norway, the Fishing Lapps
and Reindeer Lapps and, in Sweden, the people of Finland, we must sup–
pose that in the primitive Norse language it was a common designation
for several non-Germanic races, whom the later Germanic immigrants in
south Scandinavia drove into the wastes and forest tracts, where
they lived by hunting and fishing." (The origin of the name "Finn"
as applied to a people or peoples is apparently unknown.)
Dr. A.M. Hansen (cited by Nansen, I,204–5)
^
has
^
considered that the
"Finns" of early history, whom he designates by the common term "Skrid–
finns", were a non-Aryan people, "wholly distinc
[:
]
both from the Finno–
Ugrian tribes and from the
^
Aryan
^
Scandinavians, who formed the primitive pop–
ulation of northern Europe and were related to the primitive peoples
of southern Europe, the Pelasgians, Etruscans, Basques and others."
[:
]
His hypothesis is that in Scandinavia they were forced northward
by the Germanic tribes, with whom they were later partially amalgamated;
Skridfinns
that in the east and northeast they were displaced by the later Finno– Ugrian immigrants; and that the last remnants of them are to be found in the Fishing Lapps and the Yenisei Ostyaks of northwestern Siberia.
Nansen does not agree with
^
this
^
thesis and advances anthropol
[:
o
]
gcal
and linguistic evidence against it (I,207–
^
232
^
211
). We have no space for
discussing this question, especially in view of the fact that much of
the evidence is nebulous. As Nansen says: "Scandinavian finds of
skulls of the Stone Age, and later, are so few and so casual that we
can conclude very little from them as regards the race to which the
primitive population belonged."
Nansen analyzes, in the light of his own expert knowledge of
Arctic peoples, the account of Ottar of Finns and Terfinns, which is
sufficiently detailed to
[:
allow as to g
]
to
give a fairly accurate
[:
]
^
picture
^
scription
of their culture and thus
[:
]
^
allow us to
^
draw some general conclusions
as to what manner of people they were. Nansen stresses the two distinct
modes of life revealed by Ottar. On the one hand his Finns were skilled
hunters and fishermen, even at sea, capable of paying a heavy annual
tribute in walrus ivory, cables of
[:
]
walrus and seal hide, eider–
down, etc. On the other hand, like the eastern reindeer nomads, they
also kept reindeer. From this Nansen concludes that an amalgamation or
concurrence of several different cultures must have taken place.
[:
]
He
discusses this at some length, and says that the rich find of imple–
ments at Kjelmö, on the southern side of Varanger Fjord, must belong
to the very same people whom Ottar describes
a
as Finns and Terfinns.
These excavations, made by Dr. O. Solberg in the early years of the
twentieth century, show that the objects must be the result of many
centuries of accumulation. Graves were also found at North Varanger,
Skridfinns
some of the same age as the implements, some later, but undoubtedly belonging to the same people as those whom Ottar describes. (For discussion of these archaeological finds, see Nansen, pp. 212 ff.)
[:
]
Nansen concludes that in the light of
[:
]
archaeological and
other evidence Ottar's Finns and Terfinns were certainly Lapps, and
essentially the same people as the present-day Lapps.
It is interesting to note that o
^
O
^
n medieval maps of the fifteenth
century, beginning with that of Claudius Clavus (q.v.) of about 1426,
the distinction is made between Fishing Lapps (Finns) and Reindeer Lapps
("Wild Lapps"). On this map we
[:
]
find on the Arctic Ocean, in northeast
Sweden, "Findhlappi," and farther north "Wildhlappelandi." On later
Clavus maps we find to the northeast of Norway a "Finlappelanth," and
farther north a "Pillappelanth" (Wildlappenland), with a "Finlath" in
the east. The Russians apparently made the same distinction, for the
English Ambassador to Russia in 1558, Giles Fletcher, writes:
"The Russe divideth the whole nation of the Lappes into two
sortes. The one they call 'Nowremanskoy Lapary,' that is, the Norvegian
Lappes. ... The other that have no religion at all but live as bruite
and heathenish people, without God in the worlde they cal 'Dikoy
Lapary,' or the wilde Lappes." (Hakluyt,
Principal Navigations
, Maclehose
edition, Vol. III, Glasgow, 1903, p.404)
Bibliography
Fridtjof Nansen: In Northern Mists , London, 1911, Vol. I, pp. 203–232, and various references
A.M. Hansen: Oldtidens Nordmaend , Christiania, 1901
O. Solberg: Die Wohnplätze auf der Kjelminsel in Süd-Waranger , Christiania, 1910
(For bibliography on the ancient and medieval writers cited or quoted
in this article, see our articles on those writers.)
Falconry
[Figure]Encyclopedia Arctica Eloise EcCaskill Popini
FALCONRY
^
about 3200 words
^
Falconry, the art of hunting with trained hawks, one of the
favorite sports of Europe during the middle ages, was an import–
ant source during that period of Europe's knowledge of the Arctic.
The most prized falcons were the great gerfalcons of the circum–
polar regions (also called "sakers", or sacred falcons): the Nor–
wegian falcon (
falco gyrfalco
Schleg.), the Icelandic falcon
(
falco gyrfalco Islandicus
), and, most desirable of all,
^
, partly because whitest,
^
the
snow-white
Greenland falcon (
falco candidans
, or
Greenlandicus
Gmel.).
These were larger, swifter and more difficult to obtain than the
more common but also prized peregrine or "pilgrim" falcons, found
in the northern forested regions as well as on the rocky cliffs
of lands and islands further north; and they became one of the
chief articles of luxury trade between Iceland, Greenland and the
European nations, and also the Orient.
The
^
origin and
^
antiquity of the sport itself will not be discussed here
save to mention that it seems to have been practiced many centuries
B.C. in Egypt, Arabia, Persia, Syria, India, China, Japan, and
probably other Asiatic and African countries. Persian and Arabic
manuscripts attribute its origin to a prehistoric Persian king.
There are references to hunting with hawks in Aristotle, Pliny and
other classical writers (Pliny mentions it in connection with people
of Thrace); but the Greeks and Romans apparently did not practice
it to any extent.
^¶^The
^
medieval
^
popularity of the sport in Europe has common–
ly been attributed to the renewed contact with the Orient through
the Crusades, but writings of the earlier middle ages show that it
was one of the most popular forms of hunting, long before the Cru–
sades, among the Anglo-Saxon, Frankish and other Germanic peoples,
Falconry
as well as in the Byzantine Empire. Du Cange (s.v. falco ) cites a letter from King Aethelbert II of Kent to St. Boniface (c.680– 754), while the latter was Archbishop of Mainz, telling him that the king has desired to be delivered to the Archbishop two fal– cons trained in the art of seizing cranes; and a letter from St. Boniface to Aethelbald, king of Mercia, saying that he has di– rected that a hawk and two falcons, among other gifts, be sent to the king.
^¶^ These and similar references indicate the popular–
ity of falconry in England and Germany at this period. We find
a capitulary of Charlemagne of 769 forbidding "to all servants
of God" the hunt or the woodland chase with dogs, or the keeping
of hawks or falcons. There are similar decrees of church councils
around the same period. Many documents reveal that the falconers
were honored palace officials of the Frankish kings and that the
Master Falconer was a very high dignitary.
The Crusades, bringing to Europe greater sophistication and
luxury tastes, trade and more leisure, stimulated the practice of
falconry and increased the demand for the beautiful gerfalcons of
the North. It seems to have been during and after the twelfth
century that these came to be extensively used and so became an
important item of trade. That the Saracens greatly desired them
is shown by a papal grant to Magnus Smek of Norway of the privi–
lege of sending falcons to Arabia for three years (
Diplomat. Norveg
.
no.202). When in 1396 the son of the Duke of Burgundy was captured
by the Saracens the Sultan Bajesid demanded and received as ran–
^
Amplify
^
som for him twelve Greenland falcons. More than a century before,
Marco Polo, in discussing the plentiful supply of white falcons
which the Grand Khan is able to obtain from his northernmost Asiatic
Falconry
realms, is witness to an extensive trade at that time in north– ern falcons between Europe and the Orient, for, he says: [: ^¶^] "It must not be supposed that the gerfalcons sent from Europe for the use of the Tartars are conveyed to the court of the grand khan. They go only to some of the Tartar or other chiefs of the Levant, bordering on the countries of the Comanians and Armen– ians".
^¶^ The Arab geographer, Ibn Sa
[:
]
i
^
î
^
d, in the thirteenth cen–
tury says of Denmark that from it are obtained "true falcons",
and:
"Around it are small islands where the falcons are found.
To the west lies the island of white falcons, its length
and
from west to east is about seven days and its breadth about four
days, and from it and from the small northern islands are ob–
tained the white falcons, which are brought from here to the
Sultan of Egypt, who pays from his treasury 1000 dinars for
them, and if the falcon arrives dead the reward is 500 dinars".
(Quoted by Nansen, II, p.208.)
The evidence would appear to be, then, that in the revival
of trade between E
^
u
^
rope and the Orient, gerfalcons were an import–
ant article of export from Europe to the Orient rather than the
reverse. In later times, with increasing curiosity in Europe con–
cerning Asia, and a belated appreciation of Marco Polo's narra–
tive, especially in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the
remotest regions of northeastern Asia were noted on maps as lands
where white falcons were found. An example of this is Martin
Behaim's globe of 1492, on which is noted on one of his large is–
lands in this part of the polar regions: "
Hie fecht man weisen
valken
" (Here they catch white falcons). Columbus also noted this
fact about northeastern Asia in his copy of Marco Polo.
Falconry
Meanwhile, from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, fal–
conry in Europe grew to the proportions of a passion among all
classes. Indeed, according to an old English saying, they were
graded for use according to rank:
^
"
^
An eagle for an emperor, a
gerfalcon for a king, a peregrine for an earl, a merlyn for a
lady, a goshawk for a yeoman, a sparehawk for a priest, a muskyte
for an holiwater clerk," etc. (The eagle was not indeed much
used, and we find references in me
a
diaeval literature to the abil–
ity of the gerfalcon to defeat an eagle.)
^¶^ Popes and prelates were
not exempt from the fad. We find falconers enumerated among the
chief officials of Pope Gregory IX (1227–1241). Special permis–
sion was granted by Charles VII of France to a noble priest to
^
[:
Re
]
word?
^
read early mass booted and spurred, with his white falcon perch–
ing on a corner of the altar.
The gerfalcon and the peregrine falcon became the most famous
of all the exports from the North to England, Flanders and thence
to southern Europe and the Moslem countries. King Philip Augustus
of France (1180–1223) took a white Greenland falcon with him on
the Third Crusade. They were highly prized both as gifts to roy–
alty and as a commercial commodity. Giraldus Cambrensis on his
visit to Ireland in 1146 speaks of the trade and commercial inter–
course between Ireland and Iceland and mentions gerfalcons and
peregrine falcons as being imported from Iceland and commanding
a high price.
The gerfalcon industry became a royal monopoly of
Norway in the thirteenth century. All the nests were owned by the
king of Norway and were guarded by royal officials.
Henry II of
England in 1162 paid 43 pounds, 5
3
s. ld. for falcons imported from
Norway.
^¶^ The birds were originally imported from Iceland to Norway,
Falconry
but as the demand for the rarer white birds grew, falcons from Greenland assumed more and more importance. We read of a trader named Rev (Fox) in the early twelfth century who had spent many years in Greenland as a trader and hunter and decided to go to Norway to live. He loaded his ship with walrus skins, tusks and furs, ^ polar bears and falcons, ^ and sailed to Norway. King Hakon did not give him the re– ception which he expected, and so he sailed to Denmark where he was well received by the king, to whom he presented various gifts, including polar bears and fifty falcons, of which fifteen were white and deemed very rare. In the thirteenth century King's Mirror ( Speculum Regale or Konungs Skuggsj a ^ á ^ ), a handbook of what the well-instructed thirteenth century prince should know, it is mentioned that Greenland has large numbers of the best falcons.
King John
The gerfalcon industry became a royal monopoly
of Norway in the thirteenth century. All the nests
^
in
[:
Iceland
]
and Greenland
^
were owned by
the king of Norway and were guarded by royal officials. Through–
out the thirteenth century a considerable amount of money was
taken into the Norwegian treasury through the gerfalcon trade.
The kings of Norway never failed to make use of the gerfalcon as
a gift for another king, for its value was such that it was con–
sidered the most pleasing of gifts, and through this several very
favorable commercial treaties between Norway and other countries
were consummated.
King John of England was one of the most enthusiastic fal–
coners of the middle ages, owning many birds and spending huge
sums for their care and training. In 1212 he sent a message to
the mayor of Lynn, advising him to watch carefully the gerfalcons
which were being brought from Norway. The following year he sent
Falconry
two men to Norway to purchase more falcons and paid 400 solidi to Henry Hautville for expenses for the trip, and made payments to Brien Oshen for training the falcons. In order to develop favorable commercial relations with Norway, King John gave the Norwegian merchants in England protection and as favorable con– ditions as possible. An early verbal agreement between the two kings later became a commercial treaty during the reign of Hen– ry III. When the latter ascended the throne of England, a mes– senger with six gerfalcons came to him from King Hakon of Nor– way, requesting friendship and the establishment of commercial relations.
Falcons were expensive to procure, train and maintain. The
distances
^
journeys
^
involved in procuring the most prized birds, i.e., those
from Iceland and Greenland, were long and often dangerous. Not
only was extensive capital necessary to operate a falcon monopoly,
but also an intimate knowledge of the business of procuring the
birds in their native habitats, or, as in the case of the peregrine,
during the autumn migrations. (In the middle ages birds bred in
captivity, "eyasses", were not held in esteem.) Falcons were on dis–
play at the great fairs. A special falcon mart was held at Valken–
swaard in Holland, which was attended by falconers from all over
Europe, large sums being paid at auction for particularly choice
birds.
The
^
Thus
^
falcon trade became
the one
^
an important
^
means of a
close
inter-relation
between the extreme North and southern Europe, and of the circu–
lation of knowledge about the North.
A voluminous literature on falconry and the chase arose,
much of it important in the development of ornithology and veterin–
ary science. Haskins ("The Latin Literature of Sport", in
Speculum
,
Falconry
July, 1927) says: "These treatises, chiefly relating to fal– cons, claim an ancient origin under such titles as the letters 'of Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion to King Ptolemy' and 'of Girosius the Spaniard to the Emperor Theodosius', and they have parallels in Byzantine literature. Those who derive fal– conry from the East would doubtless trace them all to the Ori– ent, but in these days of multiple hypotheses it is not neces– sary to assume a common origin for the Norway falcons supplied annually to King Henry II of England and the hawking which Marco Polo describes at the court of the Great Khan. Certainly the treatise which Adelard of Bath in the early twelfth century from 'King Harold's books' and his own experience shows no in– deb [: ] edness to the East, and the same is true of the work of one Grimaldus, 'Count of the Sacred Palace', which meets us in an eleventh-century manuscript at Poitiers. ^ [ ^ By the thirteenth cen– tury we have translations from the Arabic, notably the work of Moamin on the diseases of falcons and hawks turned into Latin ca. 1240 by Theodore, court philosopher of Frederick II, and the ^ [: Omit ? ] ^ similar work of a certain Yatrib. Another popular Latin treatise goes under the name of an imaginary King Dancus but cites the precepts of William, falconer of King Roger of Sicily, one of the earliest authorities on this art". Many of these concern s themselves mainly with the diseases of falcons, as does A [: ] bertus Magnus in that section of his treatise On Animals which deals with falcons ( De Falconibus ). ^ ] ^
The most noteworthy mediaeval work on falconry is the
De
Arte Venandi cum Avibus
(On the Art of Hunting with Birds) writ–
ten by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen,
prob–
ably
around 1244. It is most remarkable in revealing Frederick's
well-known independent and scientific spirit and has been called
Falconry
the first scientific ornithological treatise. Only that aspect of it pertinent to the subject of this article can be noted here. ^¶^ With regard to the regions which he discusses,
he
^
the Emperor
^
follows
the traditional division into climates, the third, fourth, fifth
and sixth climates being called
nostre regiones
(our climes).
Outside the Mediterranean he mentions
Britannia que vocatur
Anglia
(Britain which is called England), and Iceland, the home
of the gerfalcon, which he says lies between Norway and Green–
land, and whose "Teutonic" name, Yslandia, translated into Latin,
means "frozen, or region of ice" (
contrata seu regio glaceii
).
Here and on other islands of the
(It is worth noting that here
Frederick does something more striking than to tell where Green–
land is--he assumes it to be well-known and uses it as a point of
reference for giving the location of other countries.)
Here
In
Iceland, he writes, and on other islands of the sea of the far
north, on high and rocky cliffs, the falcons build their nests.
These falcons are better than all others, he says, for this
species
species
is the "girofalco" or gerfalcon, so-called from
"hiero
", the Greek word for holy or sacred, or from "
Kyrio
", the
Lord; hence it is the sacred falcon or falcon of the Lord
.
(
et
isti sunt meliores omnibus aliis, Girofalco enim dicitur a Hiero,
quod est sacer, inde gerofalco, id est sacer falco, vel a Kyrio,
quod est Dominus, inde Kyrofalco, id est Dominus falco, secundum
Graecam linguam
.) [It might be noted that others, including Gesner,
Historiae naturalium liber III
, say that the gerfalc
^
o
^
n's name is
derived from the Latin
gyrus
, because she circles many times around
her prey. O. Schrader derives it from the Old-Norse
geier
geir–
falki
, spear-falcon.]
^¶^ Frederick goes on to say that the gerfalcons
neither nest nor dwell on this
^
(south)
^
side of the seventh clime, nor
Falconry
move away from it toward the sixth, fifth or fourth, but nest and dwell from the seventh clime onward toward the Arctic pole. The falcons called " gentiles peregrini ", he says, originate in the very far North, beyond the seventh clime near the ocean, and nest in the high places of the northern islands just as the gerfalcons do; and they are called peregrines as coming from the sea ( de pelago ), because they cross over by sea from lands very far across the ocean. He believes that, although some people say the peregrines and gentiles are entirely differ– ent species, they are really one, and their differences arise solely because of the difference in climate, the greater cold of the places from whence some of them come giving them a whiter color and greater size and beauty.
Typical of later treatises on falconry, of which there are
many in the vernaculars as well as in Latin, is
Le Livre du Roi
Modus
, written in the latter part of the fourteenth century
^
;
^
and
^
it was
^
first printed in 1486 and frequently thereafter. This also shows
considerable knowledge of the North and of the existence of lands
[:
]
^
west of
^
the Atlantic. The author says that falcons are caught in the
lands of their habitation, or, as in the case of the peregrines,
while they are passing from one land to another. He says that the
P
^
p
^
eregrines are greatly valued because they are neither too large
nor too small. They
^
^
are caught on the cliffs of the sea, in Sweden,
Norway, and other countries of the North
^
"
^
very far distant, after
having crossed the sea.
^
"
^
V
^
v
^
arious mediaeval German works mention
the use of Iceland and Greenland falcons, especially for taking
the great bustard.
^¶^ The value of the northern birds
continued
^
increased
^
with
the popularity of the sport, and it was a white falcon which
Duke Albrecht presented to Katharine Parr in 1542. A modern fal
[:
]
Falconry
coner says that although "the three great northern falcons are not easy to procure in proper condition for training........their style of flight is magnificent; they are swifter than the pere– grine".
Mention has already been made of the appearance on maps of
northern Asiatic regions as lands where white falcons are found.
This is also true of various maps showing the north of Europe.
Examples are Angellino Dalorto's map of about 1325, a type which
was of fundamental importance to the representation of the North
on the Catalan compass charts; and Claudius Clavus's
^
later
^
text
^
(the "Vienna text
^
to ac–
company a revision of his earlier map of about 1427. On Dalorto's
map we read in the legend attached to Norway that from its deserts
are brought "birds called
gl
gilfalcos". (A map of 1339, signed
by Angellino Dulcert, but probably by the same man, has a picture
of a white falcon and the words, "
hic sunt girfalcos
".) Claudius
Clavus has noted that on the Norwegian promontory, Lister Ness,
white falcons are caught (
Liste promontorium, ubi capiuntur fal
–
cones albi
).
Marco Polo's abundant references to falconry are interesting
for a twofold reason: first, as reflecting the preoccupation of a
commercial traveler and gentleman of the thirteenth century with
the subject; and, second, because of the influence of these ref–
erences on later geographers in shaping their ideas of northern
and northeastern Asia. He describes falcons and the practice of
falconry as he encountered them all the way from eastern Persia,
through the realm of the Tartars (where the women attended to all
the business affairs, "the time of the men being entirely devoted
to hunting and hawking"), to the court of the Grand Khan, whose
"nobles,
gua
body-guards and falconers" were over 10,000 in number.
Falconry
There he learned of a people resembling Tartars, called Mekriti, a rude tribe, whose plain borders on the ocean and at its north– ern extremity. Near the plain, on the northern ocean, is a moun– tain, on which, as on the plain, the peregrine falcons have their nests. "When the grand khan is desirous of having a brood of per– egrine falcons, he sends to procure them at this place; and in an island lying off the coast, gerfalcons are found in such numbers that his majesty may be supplied with as many of them as he pleases. .......This island is situated so far to the north that the polar constellation appears to be behind you, and to have in part a southerly bearing". ^ look at a globe, think of yourself as being in China at the palace of Kublai khan, and you will see that strictly interpreted this refers to a country placed as are Iceland and Greenland. ^
European interest in falconry had a real influence on the ex–
pansion of geographical knowledge, through stimulating interest
both
in lands to the west of the north Atlantic as well as in the
regions of remotest Siberia and the circumpolar
regions
^
countries
^
in general.
Bibliography
:
Frederick II of Hohenstaufen: De Arte Venandi cum Avibus ., Ed. J.G. Schneider, Leipzig 1788.
Le Livre du Roy Mudus , Chambery, 1486.
Dame Juliana Berners: The Boke of St. Albans , 1486.
Paul Dahms: "Die Beizjagd in Altpreussen", in Archiv. f. Kul.-Gesch ., Berlin 1904.
E. Müller- Röder: Die Beizjagd und der Falkensport in alter und neuer Zeit , Leipzig, 1906.
J.E.Harting: Biblioteca Accipitraria, A Catalogue of books ancient and modern relating to Falconry . 1891.
C.H.Haskins: "The 'De Arte Venandi cum Avibus' of the Emperor Frederick II", in The Eng. Hist. Rev ., July 1921.
Studies in the History of Mediaeval Science , Cambridge, Mass., 1927.
Fridtjof Nansen: In Northern Mists , Vol. II, London, 1911.
Island of Mayda
[Figure]Encyclopedia Arctica Eloise McCaskill
Island of Mayda
Read May 9/50
Good
Of all
of
the legendary islands on medieval and later
maps, the island of Mayda has been the most persistent,
and is found as late as 1906 on a relief map published
in Chicago. Like the phantom island of Busse (q.v.) and
the legendary islands of Brazil (q.v.), St. Brendan, (q.v.),
^
the Isle of De
[:
]
rus, etc.,
^
it shifted its position, in the works of various cartog–
raphers, to different parts of Atlantic waters
^
;
^
and
^
it
^
frequently
appears off the coast of northern North America.
The origin of the concept of this island
or
^
and of
^
its name
is obscure, but very old. The name has sometimes been
ascribed to Arabic origin. As Babcock says (p. 82): "Not
very long after the conquest of Spain the Moors certainly
sailed the eastern Atlantic quite freely and may well
have extended their voyages into its middle waters and
beyond." But he appears rather dubious about the Arabic
origin of the name
^
;
^
for, although the Arabs did name
some of the islands of the Azores, as appears from Edrisi
and others, the name Mayda does not appear in their
writings or on their maps.
[:
]
While the Arabic impression
is strengthened by the
^
first or nearly the first form under which it appears,
^
form
Asmaidas
,
(i.e., on map of
New World in 1513 edition of Ptolemy), according to Babcock
^
(pp.82–83)
^
"any possible significance vanishes from the prefixed syl–
lable when we find the same map turning Gomera into Agomera,
Madeira into Amadera, and Brazil into Obrassil. Evidently
this
[:
]
map-maker had a fancy for superf
r
^
l
^
uous vowels
as a beginning of his island names."
Babcock shows, however
m
^
,
^
an Arabic association of this
Mayda
particular island under [: ] ^ another ^ name s , [: ] Brazir, on the Pizz a ^ i ^ gani map of 1367. While the name is evidently a modification of Brazil, this the particular island which we are discussing appears ^ , as a crescent-shaped island, named Brazir, ^ in addition to and a little west of south of the usual cir e ^ c ^ ular-shaped Brazil ^ , ^ to the west of Ireland. The words "Arabe" and "Arabour" in this locality on the map are decipherable, and although there is no st ^ a ^ te– ment that Arabs have been there, Babcock feels that the verbal association is significant. The ships depicted on the map are Breton. This is perhaps the first appearance on the ^ a ^ map of the island itself, called Asmaidas in the 1513 Ptolemy.
On the great Catalan map of 1375 the same crescent–
shaped island appears as Mam, which should
^
probably
^
be read Man,
the name now applied to the little island in the Irish Sea.
That the same name was first "carried farther afield and
applied to a remote island of the Atlantic Ocean" Babcock
[:
]
^
says,
^
and we know from the history of cartography, "is quite
in accordance with the natural course of things and the
general experience of mankind." While the name Man, as ap–
plied to the present island of that name,
my
^
may
^
have a differ–
ent derivation, "the chances are in this instance that the
Irish people whose navigators found Brazil Island
)
^
(
^
or imag–
ined it, if you please) did the same favor
o
for the crescent–
shaped "Man," quite over-riding for a hundred years any pre–
ceding or competing titles."
The Pinelli map of 1384 calls the
[:
]
island Jonzele
(I Onzele?), bringing it very close to Bra
l
^
z
^
il Island, and
Mayda
giving the two a more northerly location. The Soleri map of 1385 reverts to the original representation, and by the beginning of the fifteenth century the r representation of the pair, Brazil and Man, circle and crescent, became established on the maps, the latter sometimes without a name. This representation continues on into the sixte n ^ e ^ nth century, with the sudden and inexplicable u ^ s ^ ubstitution, however, of the name Mayda for that of Man. Among the maps of this period may be mentioned an anonymo s ^ u ^ s Portuguese map of 1519 or 1520, and the graduated and numb r ^ e ^ red Prunes map of 1 1 ^ 5 ^ 53, and Desceliers map of 1546.
Up to this point the island has been shown at
^
approximately
^
latitude
48° N., in the Atlantic off the coasts of Ireland and Brit–
tany. In 1560 (Nicolay
[:
]
) and 1566 (Zaltieri) suddenly
transferred it to
W
^
N
^
ewfoundland waters. On
[:
]
the Nicolay map
it is pla
v
^
c
^
ed just south of the Strait of Belle Isle, accom–
panied by Green Island and by Brazil, a little farther out
on the Grand Banks. Here it is called "I man orbolunda,"
a name which is puzzling to geographers and has not been
satisfactorily explained.
^¶^ Zaltieri sets
^
our island
^
it
a little more
outward, though still in distinctly an American position,
and calls it Maida. (But Ramusio in the same year, 1
6
^
5
^
66,
places his "Man" south of Brazil off the c
a
^
o
^
ast of Ireland.)
Apparently the
^
moving
^
placing
of these
^
legendary
^
islands,
[:
]
such as Mayda, or
Man, Brazil, etc., further westward was due to the fact that
recent discovery had not revealed them in
[:
]
the positions
in which they were formerly supposed to be, and they were
consequently identified with land or islan
s
^
d
^
s actually
k
^
d
^
is–
covered to exist in the northwestern Atlan
c
^
t
^
ic.
Mayda
Later in the sixteenth century Ortelius
1
^
(
^
1570) and
Mercator (1587) present on their maps an oc
a
^
e
^
anic island
named Vlaenderen, which Babcock
^
(p. 90)
^
believes "certainly
[:
]
^
seems
^
intended for Mayda," as it is approximately in the old
position of this island. There is apparently no known
explanation of this name, though, as Babcock says, the
natural inference from the Dutch or Flemish look of the
word would be that some skipper of the Low Countries
thought he had happened upon such an island and reported
accordingly. "It may be," says Babcock,
^
"
^
th
s
^
a
^
t Ortelius be–
lieved in a rediscovery of Mayda and that for some reason
it should have the name latest given."
There is no point in listing here the
[:
]
numerous maps
of the seventeenth, eighteenth and ninetee
t
^
n
^
th centuries
which persisted in depicting, with slight variations in
position and name, the conventional Mayda. Typical of
these are the maps of John Speed (q.v.) in
h
his
Prospect
of the most Famous Parts of the World
of 1627, which,
though remarkably up-to-date, retained much imaginary
geography
^
of the North Atlantic.
^
, including that of the Zeno chart. On the Speed
maps
[:
]
the island, or group, is named "As
Maydas,"
^
a reversion to the Asmaidas of the Ptolemy 1513.
^
This might be a Portuguese plural, and the art–
icle prefix might explain
[:
]
the forms disc
s
^
u
^
ssed by Babcock
as of supposed Arabic orig
u
^
i
^
n as
^
being rather
^
of Portuguese origin —
i. e., Asmaidas would be As Maidas
^
(the Maidas)
^
; Agomera, A Gomera
^
(the Gomera)
^
;
Obrassil, O Brazil (the Brazil), etc.
From the beginning Mayda had an evil reputation. In
its more southerly location it was associated with dragons
Mayda
and sea-monsters; in the north, with the i y ^ c ^ y clashings and terrors of the north . Babcock ^ (p.91) ^ fancies [: ] that "it may be responsible for the probably quite imaginary Devil Rock, which appears in some relatively rec n ^ e ^ nt maps, per– haps as a kind of substitute for Mayda, much in the fashion that Brazil Rock took the place of Brazil Island when belief in the latter became difficult."
Babcock
shows quite
^
argues
^
convincingly th
t
^
a
^
t the old and
persistent hypothesis that Mayda was origininally some
outlying island of the Azores is implausible.
[:
]
The
Laurenziano map of 1351 and other sources
h
^
s
^
how that
^
all
^
the
islands of the Azores group were known before the middle
of the fourteenth century, and Man, later Mayda, appears
on many maps of the fifteenth century which also show the
Azores in full. He believes that "Mayda, if real, must have
been something more
t
^
r
^
emote and difficult to determine than
Corvo." He is inclined to the view that Ni
z
^
c
^
olay and Zal–
tieri were right in
^
thinking that
^
[:
]
Mayda
^
was America, and placing it
^
in the North Atlantic
[:
]
[:
]
in the locality of Avalon Peninsula,
Newfoundland, often supposed to be insular in early days,
or Cape Breton Island. The Breton ships depicted on the
Pizzigani map strengthen the view that the
[:
]
island may
have
^
been
^
originally been some part of America known to the
Breton fishermen.
Mayda
BibliographyW.H. Babcock: Legendary Islands of the Atlantic , New York, A.G.S. Research Series No. 8, 1922
A. von Humboldt: Examen critique de l'his ^ o ^ ire de la g e ^ é ^ o– graphie [: ] du nouveau n ^ c ^ ontinent et des progr e ^ è ^ gr e ^ è ^ s de l'astronomi w ^ e ^ nautique aux quin– zi e ^ è ^ me et seizi e ^ è ^ me si e ^ è ^ c ^ ć ^ les, 5 vols., Paris, 1836–1839, Vol. 2, p. 163
K. Kretschmer: Die Entdecking Amerika's in ihrer Bedeut i ^ u ^ ng für die Geschichte des Weltbildes , 2 vols. (text and atlas), Berlin, 1892. Ptolemy 1513 map is in Atlas, P1. 12, map 1; Portuguese map, P1. 12, map 2; Prunes map, P1. 4, map 5; [: ] ^ Descelters map, p1. 17. ^ Zaltieri, P1. 19, map 3. (Other maps in this atlas a s ^ l ^ so show Mayda.)
A.E. Nordenskiöld: Periplus , trans. by F.A. Bather, Stockholm, 1897. This gives the follow n ^ i ^ ng maps mentioned above: Catalan map, P1. 11; Pinelli map, P1. 15; Nicolay map, P1. 27 [: ] , Ramusio, Fig. 76, p. 163 [: ] ^ Descelters map, P1. 51 ^ This author's Facsimile Atlas gives: Ortelius, P1. 46; Mercator, P1. 47.
For Mayda on a modern map, see E.M.Blunt's New Chart of the Atlantic or Western Ocean , New York, 1814.
Islands of Demons
[Figure]Encyclopedia Arctica Eloise McCaskill
Islands of Demons
Ea Articles Mc Caskell
^
Read 24 June 50 at Dearing Good
[:
]
^
Islands of Demons in the Arctic regions appeared on
many medieval and early modern maps. These seem to be
akin in their origin and history to other legendary or
phantom islands in which a belief was held, such as the
islands desc
e
^
r
^
ibed in the narratives of St. Brendan (q.v.)
and other early Irish voyagers, the Island of Brazil (q.v.),
Mayda (q.v.), etc. (An exception to this statement is the
Island of Buss, "discovered" by Frobisher, which is in a
somewhat different category. See our article on Buss.)
In classical literature, just as we find tales of
fortunate or happy islands, there are also stories of islands
of diabolism. A good example of this is found in the
Vera
Historia
of the poet Lucian (
s
second century A.D.), in
which the voyagers come to a Hell Island, surrounded by
steep cliffs, where there
^
were
^
stinking fumes of asphalt, sul–
phur, p
u
^
i
^
tch, and roasted human beings. This description
is very similar to that of one of the islands in the St.
Brendan story, on the borders of Hell (which in medieval
lore was often thought to be in the North), with steep
cliffs black as coal, covered with fire, flames and evil
stench, where one of Brendan's monks, when he went ashore
to investigate, was immediately seized and roasted by
demons. It is not to be supposed, however, that there is
any direct connection between the tales of Lucian and
those of Irish Arctic voyages, as he was probably not
known to medieval Europe before about the fourteenth
Islands of Demons
century. The obvious explanation, of course, of all such islands in literature, whether imaginary or having some basis in fact (as in the St. Brendan story, where there is a probable connection with Iceland), is that they are derived from familiarity with volcanic islands. Volcanoes were popularly supposed to be entrances into Hell and the dwelling places of demons. (Gervase of Tilbury tells us in the thirteenth century that the bishop of Pozzuoli, while walking in the volcanic country near his city, had on several occasions heard the wailings of the damned and had actually seen the gates of Hell in a lake nearby.)
Apparently the first appearance on maps of a diaboli–
cal island (if the interpretation of the inscription is
correct) is the "Hand of Satan" on Bianco's map of 1436.
This, however, is in a southerly location, far out in the
Atlantic to the northwest of Spain and north of a very
large island "Antillia." The Ruysch map of 1508, which
also makes the startling announcement that an island about
midway between Greenland and Iceland had been destroyed
by combustion in the year 1456, shows two Islands of Demons
(Insulae Demonium) near the middle of the dreaded Ginnungagap
passage between Labrador and Greenland. Babcock says (p. 178):
"There is no suggestion of volcanic action in their case,
and it does not appear that any real islands occupied the
spot. The reason for the delineation and the name is still
to seek."
The famous Paris map of 1544, for a long time attributed
to Sebastian Cabot, shows an "Y. de Demones" near the
Islands of Demons
eastern front of Labrador below Hamilton Inlet. On the Agnese map a little later in the century this island is also shown on the Labrador coast but greatly enlarged. At about the same time what Babcock calls "the most pic– torial appearance" of the island (isola de demoni) is on the map of Gastaldi (for Ramusio), "with its eager and capering imps at the bleak and savage end of Newfoundland."
The Mercator map of 1569 reverts to the plural, "In–
sulae Demonium," and has them in the approximate locality
of the Gastaldi map, off the upper tip of Newfoundland.
The Ortelius map of 1570 likewise favors the plurality of
this "insular haunt of devils, " but prefers the site of
the so-called Cabot map, near Labrador.
Among the later examples of an Island of Demons in
cartography is the representation on several of the maps
in John Speed's (q.v.)
A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts
of the World
, London, 1627. Here the island is located in
the North Atlantic off the southeast coast of Greenland.
(Speed also shows the islands of Brazil and Mayda in this
region.)
Thus we find an established and general belief in an
island or islands of diabolical evil in far northern lat–
itudes. This may be connected on the one hand with volcanic
islands such as Iceland and Jan Mayen; and on the other,
where the islands are located on the northeastern coast of
America, with the fact that, as Babcock expresses it (p. 180)
"it is there that the Arctic current brings down its tremen–
dous freight, and tempests are at their wildest, and all
barrenness and bleakness at their worst."
Islands of Demons
BibliographyWilliam H. Babcock: Legendary Islands of the Atlantic , A.G.S. Research Series No. 8, New York, 1922
The Bianco map may be found in Nordenskiöld's Periplus , Stockho m ^ l ^ m, 1897, P1. 20; the Ruysch and Ortelius maps in his Facsimile-Atlas , Stockholm, 1889, Pl . ^ s ^ . 32 & 46. The Gastaldi map is shown in Justin Winsor's Cartier to Frontenac , Boston and New York, 1894, pp. 60–61. The "Cabot" and Agnese maps are in Kretschmer's Die Entdeckung Amerikas , 2 vols. (text and atlas), Berlin, 1892, refs. in atlas, Pls. 16 & 23. The Mercator map is in Jomard's Les monuments de la g e ^ é ^ ographie , Paris, 6 ^ [ ^ 1842–1862 ^ ] ^ , P1. XXI, 2. The Speed maps are in the his work cited in the above article.
The Medieval Church in New World
THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD
Eloise McCaskill
This article was written by Miss McCAskill in early June, 1949, and slightly
edited by V. Stefansson June 17, 1949. It was further edited by him, with
some additions, June 18–20, 1949.
Papal documents and other Church sources of the period 1070–1492 supply
us with much of our information for the medieval history of Scandinavians west
of the Atlantic, but especially for the early history of western Christianity.
The records and evidence which we consider in this sketch of the Church in the
New World center around Greenland, but some of the important sources are from
Iceland, which is considered to have had a parallel religious history. There
are sidelights upon Baffin Island, Labrador and theCanadian Arctic farther west,
with a glimpse of the St. Lawrence-New England region.
The conversion of the Scandinavians to Christianity occurred, generally
speaking, in the ninth and tenth centuries, but it started earlier, partly
through contact with the Irish and English. We read in certain Irish annals
of the seventh century about attacks of unknown pirates upon the Hebrides and
other islands, which must certainly have been Vik
^
i
^
ng raids. We know that by the
end of the seventh century Irish missionaries and anchorites were settled in
the Faroes and Shetlands,where they came into contact with the Norsemen. The
first definite records of Scandinavian invasions of Ireland and England are
from the eighth century; they were at their height in the ninth. Through such
contacts, though warlike, and through friction between the Danes and the Franks
at the time of Charlemagne, some knowledge of Christianity, and even influence,
must have penetrated to the Scandinavian peoples. Some influence, besides, must
have made itself felt through trade. Danes and Swedes had settled in Friesland
Church
and elsewhere in northern Europe for this purpose, and some of them doubtless became Christians, at least after a fashion.
The first definite mission to the North was undertaken by St. Willibrod
at the beginning of the eighth century. But this bore small fruit, although he
was favorably received by the Danish king. In 822, Ebbo, Archbishop of Rheims,
was appointed his legate to the North by Pope Paschal. Ebbo carried out a mis–
sion to Denmark in 823, but made only a few converts.
In 826 Harald of Denmark secured the support of Emperor Louis the Pious
for his disputed claim to the throne of that country by accepting baptism at
Mayence. On his return to Denmark he took with him the famous monk Anskar, of
the monastery at Corbie in Saxony, who has been called "Apostle of the Scandina–
via North." He made many converts in Denmark but his mission there was injured
by Harald's failure to regain the sovereignty. He was invited to preach in Swe–
den, and was hospitably received by the Swedish king Bern (Björn). After a year
and a half he was recalled by the Pope, made Archbishop of Hamburg, and given,
jointly with Ebbo, jurisdiction over the entire North. A bishop of Sweden, Gaut–
bert, was appointed, and a church was founded at Sigtuna.
Although little immediate progress was made in Denmark and no churches
were founded there until later, Anskar trained at his school in Hamburg many
youths from Denmark, Sweden and Norway who were to be influential in spreading
the gospel in
[:
]
those countries. Before his death in 865 Anskar was to see
the establishing of the first Christian church in Denmark,at Slesvik and the sec–
ond, soon after, at Ribe. He also undertook, himself, another mission to Sweden,
as legate of both Horic of Denmark and Louis the German. The latter
[:
]
^
had
^
appointed
him to the Bishopric of Bremen,afterwards united with the Archbishopric of Hamburg.
Summarizing
[:
]
the early spread of Christianity in theScandinavian countries, and
especially the devoted labors of Anskar, Allen Mawer writes (in
Cambridge Medieval
Church
History , III, 314–315):
"Anskar had done much for Christianity in the North. His own fiery zeal
had however been ill supported even by his chosen followers, and the tangible re–
sults were few. Christianity had found a hearing in Denmark and Sweden, but Nor–
way was as yet untouched. A few churches had been built in the southern part of
both countries, a certain number of adherents had been gained among the nobles and
trading classes, but the mass of the people remained untouched. The first intro–
duction of Christianity was too closely bound up with the political and diplo–
matic relations of Northern Europe for it to be otherwise, and the episcopal or–
ganization was far more elaborate than was required."
It is not possible in this article to follow in any detail the later ninth
and the tenth century invasions and incusions of the Scandinavians into various
parts of Western Europe, into Russia, whence they reached Constantinople, into North
Africa, and into the Orkneys, Shetlands, Iceland, Greenland
[:
]
and North America.
During this period of transition we often find a blending of the Christian and
heathen religions; of praying to the God of the Chrisians when the heathen gods
did not avail; or
[:
]
rejection of both the heathen gods and of Christ by men
(called in Iceland "the godless") who had faith only in their own strength. Christi–
anity, however, made steady advance through the period. In the early tenth cen–
tury we find heathen Vikings
[:
]
sparing churches and hospitals in
^
^
their raids. The
great Kin g Olaf Cuaran (Kvaran) spent hisold age as a monk at Iona, where he
died in 981. Scandinavian bish
^
o
^
ps held the primacies of both Canterbury and York
at one time in the tenth century. By the end of the tenth and the beginning
of the eleventh century the Northmen were in general becoming faithful sons of the
Roman Catholic Church.
Iceland was a place of refuge for Irish
[:
]
monks before 795, perhaps much
earlier. (See our article on Dicuil.) The first permanent Norse settlement was
Church
was made by the second of the Scandinavians to attempt it, Ingolf, in 874. Among the early Icelandic historians to give us an account of this settlement is Ari Thorgilsson, in the Islendingabok , written about 1122. He tells of the heathen Norsemen finding Irish Christians there ahead of them:
"The man is named INgolf, a Norwegian, about whom it is truly said that he
was the first to go thence (from Norway) to Iceland when Harald the Fair Haired
was 16 years old, that he went a second time some winters later . . . At that
time Iceland was forested from shore to mountains. There were already in the
country Christian people whom the Norsemen called Papar, but they went away
later for they did not want to dwell here in association with heathen. They
left behind them Irish books, bells and croziers, from which it may be seen
that they were Irish." (Quoted from translation by Stefansson in his
Greenland
,
p. 64)
We find these first pagan settlers from Norway soon joined by other Norse–
men, many of whom had lived in Ireland or Scot
al
^
land
^
or in the Orkneys and Shetlands,
and had intermarried with Irish and Scots. This brought in at an early period a
springling of Christians, chiefly women. By 930 there are said to have been
around 50,000 people in Iceland. In
1
981 the red-haired Erik, who as a child
had come to Iceland from Norway around 950 with his outlawed father, was himself
outlawed for three years because of manslaughter.
h
^
H
^
e decided to spend the period
in exploration of land reported to have been seen to the west by a colonist of
Iceland, Gunnbjorn.
Merely reviewing the broadest outlines of this well known story, we find
that Erik, with his family, slaves and their children, perhaps a neighbor or
two and a few freedmen, all to the extent of between twenty and forty people,
domestic animals and provisions, even
^
t
^
ually rounded Cape Farewell and landed
somewhere in what is now the Julianehaab District. The party lived well during the
Church
three years of exile. Erik explored the west coast at least as far north as Disko, liked the country and formed a colonizing plan. The saga tells us that "he thought people would all the more desire to go there if the land had an attractive name," and so he called it Groenaland, The Green Land.
On the return of Erik's party to Iceland, in 984, they sold Greenland
so successfully that the next spring a number of settlers, with twenty-five
ships, set out with him. Fourteen ships won through with between 300 and
400 people. Thus the Greenland colony was established by Icelanders, a'
few of whom were Christian.
In 999 Erik's son Leif sailed from Greenland to Norway. He was well
received at the court of King Olaf Tryggvason andthere spent the winter.
This was the period of the active introduction of Christianity into Norway.
King Olaf himself was an ardent proselytizer andwas spending much of his
[:
]
energy converting his fellow Norwegians, even, if need were, at the
point of the spear. He was preoccupied with a similar missionary design
upon Iceland and Greenland, and nothing was more logical than
that he should work upon the young Greenlander through the winter and induce
him to accept Christianity. This done, he persuaded Leif that since he
was now a Christian he ought to take some missionaries back to Greenland
with him. At frist Leif was reluctant, being doubtful as to how pleased
the Red Erik might be. But he finally agreed and the king gave him two
priests.
It was on this return journey that Leif missed Greenland and arrived at
a forested shore, the country known to learned Europe, following the account
of Adam of Bremen, as Markland, Land of Forests, and Vinland, Land of Wine.
From there they sailed northeastward to
[:
]
reach their home in Greenland.
The New World progress of Christianity was rapid from this time on.
Church
For in that year a message arrived not only in Greenland but also in Ice– land that Olaf Tryggvason desired both countries to accept Christianity. Stefansson ( Greenland , p.90) says: "Although in form no more than a wish, since the Norwe t ^ g ^ ian king had no rights in either of the countries, there was behind it a threat of force. This king had in his own land a well– known propensity for suggesting baptism in one year and forcing in the next at the point of a spear, so Icelanders and Greenlanders might have thought it the better part to accept the invitation rath ^ e ^ r than deal with a fleet of warships."
The two priests, on their arrival with Leif, were soon active and
successful. During the autumn of 1000 Leif's mother, Thjodhild, accepted
the new faith, became at once a fanatic, and refused to associate with her
husband Erik because he was a heathen. She built a church, near it erected
a separate dwelling for herself, and eventually gave her property to the
church.
About the time when Leif reached Greenland the Icelandic parliament
voted for Christianity; the Greenlandic parliament may have done likewise
but the record is not available. Stefansson points out (
Iceland
, p.xxiii)
that since we do not know the exact dates of these decisions we cannot be
sure whether it was the first American republic, as he has chosen to call
Iceland, or the second, Greenland, that became the first Christian nation
in the New World.
Both Iceland and Greenland w
^
e
^
re at first under the jurisdiction of the
Archbishopric of Hamburg, as were all the Scandinavian countries and islands,
or lands dominated by the Scandinavians or considered to have been discovered
by them, including the Shetlands, Orkneys, Hebrides, Faeroes, Iceland, Green–
land and Vinland. Adam of Bremen (q.v.) in his history of the Hamburg Church,
Church
c. 1072, speaks of the Icelanders as being especially good Christians, dis– cusses their attitude toward their bish ^ o ^ p, whom he says they regard as a king. He tells us how, when the Icelanders and Greenlanders sent emissar– ies to Hamburg to ask for a bishop, Archbishop Adalbert sent Isleph (Isleif) in 1055 as suffragan to Iceland and Greenland. From soon after that tiem on there were two regular bishops in Iceland, at Holar and at Skalholt. In the same year the first regular priest, apart from the missionary priests, were ordained in Hamburg to the Greenland priesthood, but never got there. In 1112 the priest Erik Gnupsson went to Greenland, and in 1121 left Greenland to visit Vinland, the St. Lawrence-New England region. On his departure he is spoken of as bishop, and was therefore probably episcopus in partibus in – fidelium .
No account has been preserved to us which relates the success or fai–
lure of this missionary bishop on the North American mainland or of his return
to Greenland. That he did return safely is known, for we have the notice
that he died in Greenland the year ----- (?)
^
[
^
supply from Duason
^
]
^
.
The first of the regular bishops of Greenland appears to have been
Arnald, who was nominated by King Sigurd the Crusader around 1124 and was
consecrated bishop (by the Archbishop of Lund) in that year. He attempted
to reach his seat in 1125 but got no farther than Iceland. He did reach
Greenland in 1126 and seems to have remained until
^
^
his death in 1150.
In 1152 the jur
s
isdiction over Greenland, as well
^
^
as over Iceland and
the Hebrides, was transferred by Pope Eugenius III from the Hamburg Arch–
bishopric to that of Nidaros (Trondhjem) in Norway. This was confirmed by
a letter of Pope Innocent III of February 13, 1206, addressed to the Arch–
bishop of Nidaros. From that time most of the relations between the Vatican
and Greenland were through the Norwegian Archbishop. From the sagas and other
Church
literary sources we learn that there were sixteen churches in Greenland, twelve in the Eastern Settlement and four in the Western. Their names and locations have been identified by Professor Finnur Jonsson in his topographic studies. (List may be found in Stefansson's Greenland , pp. 96–97.) Stefansson writes (pp. 97–98):
"The archeologists have been able to identify several of them. The
Herjolfsnes church has been found; the waves of the sea have cut away much
of the churchyard. The church at Höfdi has been located. So has the cathe–
dral church at Gardar; it was dedicated to St. Nicholas. Of red sandstone,
it was about seventy-five feet long, but only twelve or fifteen feet wide.
Near by were found pieces of a large church bell.
"The best preserved of all the ruins is that of the church at Hval–
seyjarfjord, now called by the Eskimo name, Kakortok. This building was
about fifty-two feet long and twenty-six feet wide; the walls, from four
to five feet thick, are still standing to heights varying from n
n
^
i
^
e to thir–
teen feet.
"In addition to the churches there were at least two other religious
institutions in Greenland: a monastery of the Augustinian order, dedicated
to St.
(
Olave and St. Agustine; and a nunnery of the Benedictine order.
The former was at Ketilsfjord; the land around the inner part of that fjord
was the property of the monastery. What are probably the ruins of its
[:
]
buildings have been
^
^
found at Tasermiutsiaq. The Benedictine nunnery was
at Hrafnsfjord, now called Unartoq."
Stefansson comments on the religious fervor of the Greenlanders
as shown by this construction, and says that at this time the population
of Iceland was between 50,000 and 75,000, as compared with 8,000 to 10,000
in Greenland, yet it was not until well within the nineteenth century that
Church
there were in Iceland churches as big as were tow or more of the largest Greenland structures of the Middle Ages. No medieval churches of Iceland are today represented by ruins that are any more than mounds; several of Greenland's churc has have walls standing. This is because of the difference in materials. For some reason Iceland, though everywhere rocky, never built churches of stone but only of sod. The Greenland churches had walls of stone, chinked with sod.
Tithes naturally had to be paid in
^
^
kind, and Greenland had various
valuable commodities — luxury goods as well as practical products. To
quote Stefansson: "The
^
^
largest contributor was the walrus, with ivory, a hide
that made the favored thongs of the Middle Ages, and 'fish' oil for the
lamps of Europ
[:
]
. There were also the skins of the
[:
]
est of the sea mammals
and their fat; and then of course the furs from land mammals, as well as
buckskin from reindeer." There was also produce from the North American
mainland and the Canadian arctic islands, chiefly the furs of various
animals not found in Greenland but obtained by the Greenlanders, no doubt
chiefly by trade with the people of Labrador but also by Greenlandic
hunters and trappers.
[:
]
The
[:
]
there were eiderdown and other feathers of
Greenland birds as well as woolen cloth. One of the most precious articles
of export was the falcon, especially the snow-white or so-called "Green–
land" falcon. (See our article on falconry).
In the Middle
[:
]
ges, when falconry was the chief sport of all classes,
it was not
[:
]
considered "sporting" among its chief connoisseurs to breed
the birds in captivity. They must be captured in the adult or semi-adult
stage in their native haunts and then trained. Thus this sport became one
of Europe's chief mediev
[:
]
l sources of knowledge of the Far North; of
Church
Greenland (cf. the treatise on falconry of the Emperor Frederick II of Hohen– staufen, and the prolific medieval literature on this subject); of Siberia (of Marco Polo, q.v.), etc. Polar bears were perhaps even more valuable; but, as Stefansson has pointed out, they were seldom marketed but "were reserved for gifts, a sort of recognized and respectable form of bribery." Some of the re– cords speak of these bears as trained, whi ^ c ^ h may mean no more than that they were naturally cubs when they were taken and had to be fed half a year, a year and a half, or longer before they could be sent to Europe with the sum– mer voyages of the ships that, in addition to their trading, carried the tax collectors of the Church and the goods they had collected as tithes.
That the tithes were not always easy of collection is demonstrated
by the following papal letters, written during the period of theCrusades,
when such products as walrus hides (for ships' cables) would be especially
useful in warfare. Since several of these letters throw considerable light
not merely on affairs of the Church in the New World but also on
[:
]
relations
between Greenland and Europe, we quote them extensively. On December 14, 1276,
Pope John XXI wrote to the Archbishop of Nidaros:
"Your Fraternity has informed Us that, whereas in the Kingdom of Norway,
the collection of the tithe for the Holy Land has been entrusted to you by
Apostolic Letters, in which it is expressly declared that you shall personally
visit all parts of the Kingdom for that purpose, this seems in a
[:
]
measure
impossible, since the dioces of Garda,
^
[
^
Greenland
^
]
^
subject to your province
and said Kingdom, is so far distant from the metropolitan church that, because
of the difficulties of navigation, one can scarcely make the voya
^
g
^
e, thither and
return, in less than five years; so that you doubt that the apostolic command, or
your own, can reach those parts within the time appointed for the payment of the
tithe; you have
Church
therefore besought the Apostolic See to provide some solution of the diffi– culty. Desiring, then, that the gathering of the tithe be carried on with earnest zeal, We order and command your Fraternity by Apostolic Letters that, if the foregoing conditions are true, you procure for those regions suitable and faithful persons, in regard to whom We purpose to bind your conscience, and who are to watch over and attend carefully to the collection of the tithe, and that you endeavor furthermore to provide other persons, accordingly as you will find it expedient for the tithe; nevertheless you should also [: ] apply your– self with diligent solicitude [: ] to the latter, that you may thereby prepare for yourself a reward from God, and merit more plentifully the favor of the Aposto– lic See."
The ARchbishop of Nidaros has been criticized for misinforming the Vatican
by saying that the voyage from Norway to Greenland and back took five years. How–
ever, it was only during the life of the Greenland republic, up to 1262, that
commerce was free and
[:
]
sailings numerous, usually several each year. After
the Greenland republic abolished itself, through agreeing to join the Kingdom of
Norway, there came into effect tactics through which the king sought to in–
crease his profits by maki
^
n
^
g the Greenland trade a monopoly, whereupon sail–
ings became fewer. The only chance which the Papal tax collector had for
passage from Norway to Greenland was with one of these ships; he could not
return by the same one, since it took him one or more years to visit all the
fjords for the collection of tithes. So probably the real minimum was a two
year journey for the collector, with possibilities of greater delay, for inst–
ance if
^
the
^
one Greenland ship was wrecked, as naturally would happen occasionally,
and did happen in some instance of which we have record. Besides the Archbishop
evidently did not consider the journey a pleasure jaunt and so was no doubt
anxious to paly up its difficulties when corresponding with his superiors in Rome.
Church
It seems that official me
^
m
^
ories were short at the Vatican, for we have
a document of only three
[:
]
years later which indicates that the remote–
ness of Greenland had needed further explaining to Rome. Nicholas III
wrote on January 31, 1279, to the Archbishop of Nidaros that in view of
what the Arch
i
bishop has just told him, perhaps it had been unwarranted
to excommunicate the Greenlanders for being so slow in paying the tithes,
the said slowness having resulted from the fact that "the island, on
which stands the City of Garda, is seldom visited by ships, because of
the dangers of the Ocean surrounding it. . ."
Three years later, March 4, 1282, Pope Martin IV wrote to the Arch–
bishop concerning the latter's double relation to Greenland and to the
King of Norway, and says, in part:
"Your Fraternity has informed Us that . .. the tithe of Greenland is
received entirely in cattle
[:
]
-hides, and sel-skins, and walrus tusks and
ropes of whale-skin, which you assert can hardly be sold at a fair price.
Wherefore you have asked to be instructed by the Apostolic See as to what
you shou
^
l
^
d do. . . We, therefore, commending your zeal, reply to your in–
quiry that you endeavor to convert into silver or gold the tithes . ..
of Greenland ... in as far as it will be possible to do so successfully
and with benefit, and that you send this, together withthe rest of the
tithe collected in that Kingdom for the good of the Holy Land, to the
Apostolic See as quickly as possible, faithfully specifying what and how much
is sent. For the rest, we have directed Our very dear son in Christ ...
the illustrious King of Norway, letters requesting that he
[:
]
neither
hinder, nor permit anyone to hinder, the free gathering of the tithe in
his Kingdom, to be disposed of for the benefit of the Holy Land according
to the decision of the Apostolic See..."
Church
There is a long silence here in Vatican documents pertaining to
Greenland, though others may yet be brought to light. We know from
various sources what some of the conditions in Greenland were during the
fourteenth century. We know the line of Greenland bishops from the time
of the above-mentioned first bishop down into the sixteenth century. Of
those who actually reached Greenland after Arnaldr, we apparently are sure
of only five: Jon Smirill, 1188–1209, who reached Greenland in 1190; Olafr,
1246–1280, who reached Greenland in 1247; Thordr, 1288–1314, who reached
Greenland in 1289, but left in 1310 and never returned; Arni, 1314–1349, who
reached Greenland in 1315; Alfr, 1365–1378, who reached Greenland in 1368
(Norway heard of his death only in 1383). (For complete list of the bishops
of Greenland, 1124–1537, see Stefansson and McCaskill edition of
The Three
Voyages of Martin Frobisher
, I, pp. liii–liv. The Introduction to that
work also c
^
o
^
ntains some discussion of the Church and the North, especially
Greenland.) The majority of the bishops of Greenland, even during the
period when it was possible to travel to that country, were unwilling to
face the hazards of a voyage thereto or the possible discomforts of resi–
dence in a strange and
^
^
remote land.
Through all the notices of Greenland after about the middle of
[:
]
the
fourteenth century runs the "cry of apostasy" with regard to the church
there. In 1347 occurred an episode which is of interest in more ways
than one. We read in the Icelandic Annals of that year that a ship with–
out any anchor came to Outer Straumfjord. There were seventeen men on
board, who had sailed to Markland (Labrador, wherethe Greenlanders habi–
tually obtained their timber), but on thehomeward voyage to Greenland
were driven off their course to Iceland. They proceeded in the following
year to Norway, as there was at that time no legally permitted sailing
Church
from Iceland to Greenland. They landed at Bergen in Norway and found that the royal trading ship Knarren (Knörinn) had returned from Greenland in 1346 and was not to sail again until 1355. Nansen (II, p.38) remarks: "From a royal letter of 1354, which has been preserved, it appears that extraordinary preparations were made for the fitting-out and manning of this expedition, to prevent Christi ^ n ^ ity in Greenland from 'falling ^ a ^ way.'" ( ^ O ^ n this voyage see our article about its commander, Paul Knutsson.)
An entry in the Annals of the Icelandic Bishop Gisli Oddson for the year
1342 says that "The inhabitants of Greenland voluntarily forsook the true
faith and the religion of the Christians, and after having abandoned all
good morals and true virtues turned to the people of America (
ad Americae
populos se converterunt
); some also think that Greenland lies very near
to the western lands of the world. From this it came about that the Christ–
ians began to refrain from the voyage to Greenland." Finnur Magnusson
(Gr
o
^
ø
^
nl. hist. Mind., iii, p. 459) believed that Addson got much of his in–
formation on Greenland from
^
the
^
Skalholt library which he had been studying up
to the time it was burned in 1630. He writes in Latin some time before 1637
the statement we have just quoted.
^
EA should have biog. of Lyschander
^
One of the things about this statement is that it is not known, beyond
conjecture, from what source it is derived. Oddson
^
demonstrably
^
borrowed much of his
material from Lyschander's
Grönlands Chronica
, and the above statement is
followed by some rather fantastic matter taken from this
[:
]
poem (however,
ultimately derived from Saxo, q.v., and
[:
]
Adam of Bremen, q.v.). But the
statement under discussion stands alone and is not found in Lyschander or
elsewhere, hence the suggestion that Oddson was depending on his memory of
what he had read in some Skalholt manuscript before the library was disturbed.
Gustav Storm regarded it as a hypothesis invented to explain "the disappearance
Church
of the old Norwegian-Icelandic colony."
Storm took the phrase, "people of America," to mean that the Greenlanders
had migrated to America. But Nansen (II, p. 101) takes the words at their
face value and thinks the term "people of Am
^
e
^
rica" to be simply a strained
expression which the bishop used to denote the "Skraelings" (Eskimos), who
inhabited both Greenland and the opposite American coasts, in contradistinction
to the Christian colonists. He says the passage means simply "that the Green–
landers had forsaken Christianity, given up good morals and virtues, and had
been converted to the beliefs and customs of theAmerican people..."
In Iceland and Scandinavia generally, as Nansen shows, Greenland was re–
garded as part of America; the missionary Hans Egede, for example, looked
upon the natives of Greenland in 1722 as Americans. Nansen concludes: "The
statement simply means that in 1342 a report came that the Greenlanders were
associating amicably with the heathen Skraelings (which was forbidden by the
ecclesiastical law of that time), and had begun to adopt their mode of life;
which, in fact, is extremely probable."
Professor Finnur Jonsson, of the University of Copenhagen, has been
[:
]
looked upon as the world's foremost authority on everything related to
Greenland which had literary sources, particularly Icelandic or other Scan–
dinavian sources. He published a summary of his results on the medieval
church of Greenland in Vol. II of the three volume GREENLAND,
[:
]
edited by
M. Vahl and others, Copenhagen and London, 1928. Another of the great
authorities was Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, famous for his arctic explorations
but distinguished also for his literary scholarship, with the advantage over
Jonsson of having spent one year among the Eskimos and Danes of Greenland,
as well as of understanding through his own long arctic career the potentia–
lities and probabilities of arctic hunting culture, as dinstinguished from
Church
the farming and urban life which has been the common background of continental and even Icelandic scholars. Jonsson and Nansen differ in their interpretation of the literary sources which bear upon the fate of the Greenland Christians and of the ^ ir ^ Christianity.
Our authorities differ squarely on the reference in the Papal documents
to the pirates descending upon the settlers, burning some of the churches,
killing some of thepeople, and carrying some away into slavery. Jonsson
thinks that these pirates were Eskimos, who burned, slaughtered and en–
slaved. Nansen thinks they were European freebooters, most likely British.
Among the reasons which Nansen gives for his view are the statements in the
Vatican records that the prisoners had been captured from open parts of the
coast, which is said to have been because the pirates were unable to reach
those who lived farther in the interior along the fjords; and that some
of the captured people were able to return to their homes after thirty
years. Nansen says that there is no record anywhere of Eskimos taking pris–
oners and enslaving them, but that this was commonly done by mediev
e
^
a
^
l Euro–
peans. Moreover, if the colonists had been enslaved by the Eskimos, no
reason is known why they would ever have been able to return to their homes;
but we do know that it was common in European slavery that captives were
eventually freed for one of several reasons — that they came into the owner–
ship of men who did not believe in slavery or whodid not want slaves; that
they were ransomed by their relatives; or that they were freed because of
diplomatic intercessions by one country with the rulers of another, which
in this case would have been a Scandinavian king negotiating with an English
or other European sovereign. But particularly absurd for Eskimos, says
Nansen, is
[:
]
the statement that these pirates were unable to reach people
who lived in the deep fjords. For the
Church
Eskimos in their skin boats, familiar with topography and the ice, would have had no difficulty in reaching the heads of the deepest fjords. But difficulty in penetrating the fjords is to be expected if thepirates were European sailing ships in operating in a complicated and to them unknown fjord system, especially where the waters might have been infested with bergs and sea ice.
The difference between these two authorities sums up in that Jonsson
thinks of the Church of Greenland, along with the European colonists, as
finally being destroyed by the Eskimos; Nansen thinks the destruction,
such as it was, can have been only of European derivation. He thinks the
Church in Greenland eventually lost out for the same reason that European
civilization lost out — there were insufficient sailings
[:
]
between
Greenland and Europe for keeping up the spiritual contact and for supply–
ing
l
^
s
^
uch necessities as iron. This compelled the Greenlanders to adopt
gradually the stone age cult
u
^
ur
^
e of their Eskimo contemporaries. The de–
cline of the Church was, in Nansen's opinion, only a part of the
[:
]
gen–
eral triumph of the Eskimo over the European way of life.
A point which interested Jonsson greatly, but to which Nansen pays
small attention, was the development in Greenland Christianity of a cult
of the Holy Virgin. So
[:
]
far as direct evidence goes, Mary worship is
known to us from Greenland chiefly through runic inscriptions found in
connection with the graveyards of the various churches. Jonsson has de–
scribed these finds at length in Vol. LVII of MEDDELELSER OM GRØNLAND. In
his mentioned GREENLAND summary Jonsson
[:
]
says with regard to the in–
scribed crosses and slabs of wood which had been placed in or over the
graves, that "the Holy
[:
]
Virgin plays a great part in these inscriptions
which throw a peculiar light on the religious life in this lonely place.
Church
These inscriptions probably date from about 1300 and are the work of [: ] ecclesiastics, at any rate whose which are composed in Latin." Some of the inscriptions are in Icelandic, others in both that language and Latin, [: ] some wholly in Latin.
In a different part of the same discussion Jonsson says that "it
appears that the worship of the
^
^
Virgin was common, and in this as in other
respects there seems to be close agreement withwhat is known elsewhere,
for instance from Iceland during
[:
]
14th century."
As to the Icelandic situation a good authority is the two-
[:
]
volume
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN ICELAND, Reykjavik, (1906
[:
]
?) by Bishop Jon
Helgasson. He says that in the 14th and 15th centuries there developed
the feeling that God the Father, and even God the Son, were unapproachable,
or
[:
]
least that it was not advisable to approach them directly but rather
through the intermediation of the Virgin. The concept was that both Father
and Son would be readily influenced by pleas from the Virgin; and that she
was compassionate, ready to listen to sinners and ready to intercede with
her Son and with the Father. This went to a point where finally (just
before the lutheran Reformation) the Trinity was receiving relatively
little attention
[:
]
in Iceland
[:
]
while Mary worship had developed recipro–
cally.
But although it is the view of scholars generally that most Church
developments were similar in Greenland and in Iceland, there was one
important difference which must be kept in mind - there were heathen
in Greenland, theEskimos, but none in Iceland.
The Church of Rome
had
has never been racist, so we do not expect
to find in Church documents, and indeed do not find, any warnings that
Europeans must not intermarry with Eskimos; but we do find warnings that
Church
they must not intermarry with heathen, which always has been theposition of the Church. This became an important issue in Greenland. The falling away from the true faith, mentioned in the papal and other documents, was evidently in large part a matter of intermarriages between Christians and heathen, which would of course lead also to a weakening or dilution of Christianity when Eskimo ideas were blended with those of the Church.
Basing ourselves, then, upon the great number of references to the Vir–
gin in Greenlandic inscriptions, and upon the known ascendancy of the Virgin
in Iceland as a likely parallel to Greenland development, we approach the
interesting question of
[:
]
whether there is medieval Christian survival
in the culture of the present day Eskimos.
In the Iceland of Erik the Red's time the people were chiefly pastoral,
their food derived from
[:
]
sheep, cattle and horses, their clothing from
the wool of the sheep. Fishing was
[:
]
relatively unimpor
^
t
^
ant and there
was no big land game. The situation was in large part reversed when the
Icelanders moved westward as colonists. True, the Greenland pasture was
as good, the colder winters were no more dangerous to stock,
[:
]
the prob–
lems of stabling and hay making were if anything esier. But in Greenland
they found abundant land game, everywhere caribou and in places the muskox.
It was not long till the colonists in Greenland were supplementing their
mutton, beef and horse meat with game, as we know from the sagas and confirm
archeologically today by examining refuse heaps. But the most impor
^
t
^
ant food
animals of Greenland were then, as they still are, the seal, walrus and be–
luga whale. As the Scandinavian methods of securing th
^
e
^
se were gradually
impoved with practice, the hunting of sea animals grew in importance. They
furnished more easily the lean and fat which the people needed and, perhaps
even more important, they provided the oil, leather and ivory which were
Church
required for trade with Europe and for paying the tithes of the Church.
Naturally the dependence on hunting increased in the thirteenth cen–
tury when the Greenlanders began to associate with the Eskimos whose meth–
ods, particularly with the seal, were necessarily better than the Scandina–
vian, since they have proved better than those of any European people
with
[:
]
whom the Eskimos are known to have come in contact. While this time
the huntin g of the Greenlanders, though important, had been supplementary
to the pastoral way of life. Now they were soon persuaded that it was sen–
sible to stop the drudgery of nursing along the domestic meat animals with
haying and stable tending and to shift the whole dependence to the equally
good animals which nature provided — indeed they were in some respects
better, since they furnished more valuable byproducts.
A
[:
]
pointed out by several writers, among them Nansen and the Norwegian
sociologist Eilert Sundt, the discovery by the Greenlandic Scandinavians
in the fourteenth century that the Eskimo way of life was better than the
European, for an arctic country, must have undermined whatever feeling of
superiority the Europeans had when they first met the Eskimos; then would
follow admiration, at least the subconscious feeling that the Eskimos, be–
ing more successful, represented a preferable type of culture. With that
admiration, and the resulting intermarria
t
^
g
^
es would come a growing respect
[:
]
for their ways of thinking, their lore and religion. Presently, in our
mind's eye, wesee two peoples living together in Greenland, Baffin Island
and Labrador, both of them mainly dependent upon hunting, the Icelanders now
more dependent than they ever had been upon the sea for food supply.
In Iceland the Icelanders, if possible even more than the Norwegians of
the Viking Age, were a sea faring people, and the god of the sea was import–
ant in their heathen religion. In a way that god was Aegir, but still Thor
Church
was considered the deity to worship at sea. Then to replace a Teutonic mythology, which had in it a great deal involving the ocean, came Christian– ity, a religion that originated in a semi-desert country among hersmen, farmers and city-dwellers, and the teaching of which had in it only a few passing references to thelore and needs of the sea. Accordingly, the Ice– landers felt that Jesus was a land god and ^ that ^ there was need that He be supple– mented by a deity of the ocean. Both the historical and the fictional sagas of the time abound in case histories of men who relied upon Jesus on shore but at sea either on Jusus and Thor [: ] together or on Thor alone.
We know that some of the coloni
^
s
^
ts who went from Iceland to Greenland
were in the habit of calling upon Thor when away from land. True, this
related in themain to storms, to navigation problems, and tosafety at sea;
but there is a logic about feeling that the god who controls the waters
is suseful too in pursuits like whaling and sealing. So when the Green–
landers began to be less and less deep sea navigators,
[:
]
more and more
hunters of the seal, walrus and whale, the Thor worship would be trans–
ferred from the control of storms to the control of such hunting conditions
as the movement of drifting ice and the approach of whales to land. Eventu–
ally the sea god would become the master of thesea creatures.
We know from Iceland that the power of Thor gradually waned, and also
that in the development of the Mary cult there grew up the feeling that
the sea was her special domain. This was through the assumption that she
[:
]
would intercede with God theFather on behalf of sailors and fishermen.
In this role Sancta Maria became to the Icelanders
Stella Maris
, Star of
the Sea.
We might suppose that, if anything, the importance of the Virgin in
[:
]
Church
Greenland would be higher than in Iceland. This gives a clue for answering what is const ^ a ^ ntly being asked, as to what evidence there is in the reli– gious thought or practices of the Eskimos that they were at all influenced by medieval Christianity. The likeliest place to look would be in things related to the ocean, since the blending of Icelandic with Eskimo blood would be accompanied by an ^ ever ^ increasing cultivation of the sea as the main food reliance.
Before coming to that, however, we might consider an important
reason why Christi
^
a
^
nity and the Eskimo religion do not blend easily. It
lies in the circumstance that the proper Eskimo religion has no concept re–
sembling the central ones of either monotheism or polytheism. They have no
god or gods. The essence of their thinking is that everything in what we
call nature is controlled by spirits which are neither good nor evil but
which will do the good or evil g bidding of those who control them. Our
attitude towa
^
r
^
ds God in
resembling the Eskimo
[:
]
concept of a powerful spirit. We do not think
of gunpowder as evil, but we think of men as evil who use gunpowder for
committing murder. Just so the Eskimo. He does not think of the spirit
that kills him, his wife or his children as evil but merely as one which
is under the control of an evil shaman. Neither the Eskimos nor we think of
the wind as evil, but we would think of those as evil who directed the wind
against us, if we had such a
[:
]
concept. The Eskimos do have this sort of
concept and think of that man as evil who controls the
[:
]
spirit that controls
the gale, but not of the spirit as evil which controls the gale.
When two systems of religious thinking differ as much as the
Eskimo and the Christian, it is likely that one of them will in a few
generations triumph completely over the other, if the two are geographically
Church
isolated, as they were during the Middle Ages in theGreenland-Labroador– Baffin Island sector. Accordingly, it is in line with expectation that few suggestions of parallels to Christianity have been found in Eskimo religious thinking, or of derivatives from Christianity. There is one exception to this rule, the sea spirit or goddess, Sedna .
In the west the Eskimos of Alaska do have something
[:
]
like
a deity in the raven; but all students have agreed that the raven myth has
been borrowed from the Forest Indians of northwestern North America. The on–
ly other spirit rem
^
i
^
nding of a deity known to us from the Eskimos is Sedna,
a female goddess or mighty spirit who dwells at the bottom of the sea and
controls the game animals, particularly the seals but also the walrus, the
whale, and even the fish.
The striking detail in which Sedna differs from all other pow–
er
[:
]
al spirits, at least those known to the Eskimos from Bering Strait to
Bathurst Inlet, is that she listens to arguments and pleadings — in other
words, to prayer. Prayer, suppli
^
c
^
ation, sacrifice and all forms of persuading,
rewarding or propitiating a spirit are for
^
ei
^
gn to Eskimo t
[:
]
inking. The regu–
lation Eskimo spirit acts partly through a fondness for the shaman, a
personal liking, but is mainly controlled by a talisman, a charm (such
as a rigamarole) or simply by the power of the individual shaman. This
means that a shaman
[:
]
controls the
[:
]
average spirit
[:
]
somewhat
as a gunman or an engineer controls a revolver or the flood gates of a
power dam, or indeed as a sorcerer might, in th
^
e
^
thinking of our ancestors,
control the wind or an eclipse. Few things are more alien to the typical
Eskimo, in the field which we call religious, than prayer in the Christian
sense. Yet it is essentially a prayer
[:
]
that the shaman uses when be
goes into a trance and visits Sedna where she holds court at the bottom
of the sea. He explains to her why this or that is necessary and pleads
Church
with her to do what is needed.
We do not have space here for more than the suggestion that
as the western Eskimos borrowed the raven from the forest Indians so may
the eastern Eskimos have borrowed Sedna from the Greenlandic Icelanders.
There is of course the question of whether Senda could have
been derived from "Stella" in
Stella
Maris or from "Sancta" in
Sancta
Maria. The phoneticians will argue about this at length and may come to
abstruse conclusions, but for the layman it is difficult to guess how an
Eskimo would pronounce an Icelandic, an English or a Latin word. We rest
with giving one small group of instances.
When Stefansson reached Coronation Gulf in 1910 he found still
living one man who, as a child, had seen Sir John Richardson and Dr. John
Rae during the Franklin search of 1848 and the years following. In common
with the rest of his group he referred to Richardson as Natsinna and to
Rae as Ura (Oo-rah).
These same people called Stefansson Napahinna, while Anahinna
was their name for his companion, Dr.R.M.Anderson. If Natsinna and Anahinna
are Richardson and Anderson, it would seem that Sedna might be Stella, parti–
cularly as the sound of st does not seem to occur at the beginning of a ward
in the Eskimo language. (Rice is lice to the Chinese because they have no
"r" sound.) So why
^
might
^
not an Eskimo use
Sed
- for
Ste
-. However, the phonetic
[:
]
probability seems higher for
Sancta
Maria appearing as Sedna.
The
locale
of the Sedna myth is Baffin Island and the region
from there west to King William Island. Baffin Island is the Helluland of
the Greenland records; this island and those west from it are the region
to which the mixed-blood people of Greenland would most probably migrate, if
they left their home country in any numbers.
Church
In 1341 Bishop Ha^á^kon of Bergen sent a priest, Ivar Bardarson or
Ba^á^rdsson (q.v.) to Greenland in the spiritual interest of the colonists.
He resided there for some years as steward of the bishop's residence to Gar–
dar, and appears again in Norway in 1364. According to a statement attri–
buted to him, he visited the Western Settlement, and at that early date
found the Eskimo way of living predominant there — farm animals grazing
in the meadows while the people were off somewhere, no doubt inland hunting.
The steady decline of the Christian religion is indicated by
a statement in the account of the Icelander Björn Einarsson Jorsalafari
("Jerusalem-farer", or pilgrim), who was driven ashore to the Eastern Set–
tlement with his four ships in 1385 and remained there until 1387. He tells
that "the bishop of Gardar was lately dead, and an old pries... performed
all the episcopal ordinations." This is apparently the only notice of a bishop
resident in Greenland at that period. Alfr, see above, was dead, and his
successor., Henrik, 1385–1391, is said elsewhere never to have reached Green–
land. In any event, after Björn's time no bishop came to Greenland though
a succession of them held the title and, let us hope, drew the pay.
After a long silence the Papcy
[:
]
remembered Greenland, or was
reminded, as shown by a 1448 letter of the
[:
]
humanist Pope Nicholas V. The
letter is addressed to the bishops of Skalholt and Holar in Iceland. But
as Nansen points out (II, pp. 114–115) it was not written to the two bishops
really officiating in Iceland at that time but to two imposters, the German
Marcellus and his confederate Mattaeus, who by means of false representations
had induced the Pope to consecr
e
^
a
^
te them bishops of Iceland. The latter
must be considered in
[:
]
this light, for it is evident that, with the
object of obtaining further advantages for themselves, the two false
bishops have written a story to the Pope about Greenland purportedly based
Church
upon a petition from the Greenlanders themselves. The Pope's reply says:
"We have heard with sad and anxious heart the story of that
same island, whose inhabitants and nativ es, for almost six hundred years,
^
[
^
really about 450 years
^
]
^
have kept the faith of Christ, received under the
preaching of their glorious evangelist, the blessed King Olaf, firm and un–
spotted under theguidance of theHoly Roman Church and the Apostolic See,
and where for all succeeding time the people, inflamed with eager devotion,
erected many temples of the Saints and a famous Cathedral, in which
[: divine]
worship was sedulously carried on," (So the Papcy still remembered in 1448
how King Olaf Tryggvason sent Leif Eriksson on the voyage which Christian–
ized Greenland — and discovered continental North America. But in speaking
of"their glorious evangelist, the bles
x
^
s
^
ed King Olaf," the Holy Father may
have been a little confused — he seemingly though of the great warrior
king and the Saint as if they were the same Olaf. In reality they were
some twenty years apart.)
The Pope then goes into the manifestly absurd report which
he has received, to the effect that the people had been attacked and en–
slaved by a cruel invasion of the "barbarians." Many, however, had es–
caped, returned to their dwellings, repaired their churches, etc., and now
desire a bishop and the ministry of priests. The Pope commandes the two
bishops whome he addresses to see to it that the needs of this people are
administered toin every
^
way
^
possible.
There is a possibility, as Stefansson haspointed out (
Voyages
of Martin Frobisher
, I, Introduction, p. 1) that the actual statements
about Greenland in the letter, in spite of their absurdities and confusion,
may have had an actual basis in recent news. For in 1446 an Icelander called
Björn the Rich, seomtimes confused with the above-mentioned Björn the Pilgrim,
Church
was likewise driven ashore in Greenland and wintered there. He got back to Iceland in 1447 and he may have brought out the news and complaints which are found in this papal brief.
Our next notice of Greenland in the Vatican archives is of
supreme interest. Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503), Rodrigo Borgia, a man
with a grasp of world affairs, wrote, soon after
[:
]
his ascension, a letter,
at once informative and dramatic, concerning Greenland. It shows compre–
hesive knowledge of things beyond the Atlantic on the very eve of that period
when there began an elaborate pretense that little, and preferably nothing,
had been known by Europe concerning the western world before Columbus. It
was written on behalf of a B
^
e
^
nedictine monk named Matthias who previously
had been appointed bishop of Greenland, and had expressed his desire to
^
^
go
there personally. In view of the importance of this letter it seems appro–
priate to quote in full translation (our own):
"Since, as we have
[:
]
learned, the church of the Garda is situated
at the ends of the earth in Greenland, and the people dwelling there are
accustomed to live on dried fish and milk for lack of bread, wine and oil;
and since the shipping to that country is very infrequent because of the
extensive freezing of the waters — no ship having put into shore, it is
believed, for eighty years — or, if voyages happened to be made, it could
have been, it is thought, only in the month of August, when the ice has thawed;
and since it is also said that no bishop or priest at all has been in charge
of that church in personal residence for eighty years or thereabouts — a
fact which, together with the absence of Catholic priests, has caused very
many of that diocese, who were once Catholics, grievously to renounce their
sacred baptismal vows — and since the dwellers in th
^
a
^
t land have nothing as
Church
a relic of the Christian religion except a certain corporal, which is shown once a year, and upon which a hundred years ago the body of Christ had been consecrated by the last priest then residing there; for these and other con– siderations, therefore, Pope Innocent VIII of blessed memory, Our predecessor, wishing to provide a suitable pastor for that church, which was at that time deprived of the solace of such, upon the ad i ^ v ^ ice of his brethren, of whom We were then one, appointed bishop and pastor to it Our venerable brother Matthias, bishop-elect of Garda, a professed [: ] member of the boly order of St. Bene– dict who, at Our instance, while We were yet in minor orders, had been announced as intending to sail there personally, fired by the greatest fervor of de– votion to lead back to eternal salvation the souls of the strayed and apostate, and freely and of his own accord to expose his life to the greatest danger for the sake of wiping out such errors.
"We, therefore, commending very highly the pious and praiseworthy
undertaking in the Lord of the said bishop-elect, and wishing to succor him
in the afore mentioned circumstances on account of his poverty, by which, as
[:
]
We have likewise learned, he is sorely pressed, do at Our own instance,
and with the certain knowledge of the consent and approval of
[:
]
Our brethren,
instruct and order, in a circular letter to Our esteemed sons, the scribes,
solicitors, keepers of the seal, registrars, and all the rest of the officials
of Our chancellery and of Our vault, that, under pain of excommunication,
lata sententia
,
ipso facto
incurred, they forward or cause to be forwarded
all and each of the Apostolic letters about and concerning the promotion of
the said church at Garda, to the said bishop-elect — this to apply in all
and each of
[:
]
their offices everywhere — gratis, for God, and without pay–
ment or levy of any tax, and without gainsay; and We likewise instruct and
command the clerks and notaries of the Apostolic treasury, at like instance
Church
and knowledge and under the aforesaid penalty, to hand over and consign to the said bishop-elect the letters and Bulls of this sort without payment or ex– action of any tax or even the tiniest fees, or any of the other fees usually paid in such cases, anything whatever to the contrarty nothwithstanding. Let this be done gratis everywhere because he is very poor."
Thus we have a document written during or just after the 1492 voyage
of Columbus, showing considerable detailed knowledge of these remote trans–
atlantic settlements, a knowledge which is possessed on the one han
[:
]
y a
poor Benedictine monk and on the other by the worldliest of all the Popes.
There is burning enthusiasm on the part of both for the restoration of
Christianity in the Greenland section of the New World.
Scholars have been put to it to conjecture why it was that, imme–
diately followi
^
n
^
g the circulariza
^
t
^
ion of the Church in northwestern Europe
through the long and informative letter which we have quoted, there de–
scended upon the Vatican and its immediate surroundings a pall of silence if
not of secrecy regarding the Christain lands beyond the sea. It has been
suggested, in partial explanation, that Alexander VI, as a Borgia, had two
important loyalties besides those of the Church — to his family, which
was Spanish, and to Spain, his mother land. This would give Alexander a
motive for trying to support Spanish claims to the lands glamorously reported
by Columbus. Naturally, then the Spanish
[:
]
Pope would think it wise to play
[:
]
down the Vatican's earlier knowledge of and activities in the countries that lie
west from northern Europe, thus north and possibly contiguous with the tropical
lands reached by the Spanish expedition.
Prior to Columbus, no one in Europe had apparently seen anything
glamorous, rich or particularly worth cultivatin about Greenland, about
Markland (Labrador), or about
[:
]
Vinland (probably the St. Lawrence
region and New England). But with the return of Columbus and the resultant
Church
publicity came the idea that the land farther south than Vinland was a part of Asia, containing the fabulous riches described by Marco Pole and others who had visited China and India. If Cuba was an Asiatic island, so were Greenland, Markland and Vinland.
No European power had cared much about possessing as
territories those northern lands of fur,
[:
]
fish and spruce forest; but
now several nat
^
i
^
ons, in particular Portugal and Spain, were eager for do–
minion beyond the Atlantic. Spain, it is suggested, wanted to put herself
in as good a legalistic position as could be managed, and so made claims
based upon the allegation that these
[:
]
western lands had been wholly un–
known until discovered by their agent, Columbus. With this issue to the
fore, the Spanish Pope discovered himself to be in a position to be help–
ful to his native land by ruling favorably to Spain in the dispute with
Portugal and in general b y promoting the idea that all of the New World
had been unknown until now freshly discovered by a Spanish expedition.
We must not let these speculations take us too far
afield, for we are here discussing merely the history of the Church in the
New World. In that relation we point out the curiously reciprocal facts
that the new enthusiasm of Alexander VI for Christianizing tropical and sub–
tropical lands beyond the ocean was in a way discounted by his loss of
interest in the 400–year bishopric about which, according to his own testi–
mony,1/2 he had been so much concerned as a priest, as a bishop and as a
first-year Pope.
But although the Church ceased publicizing its relation
to Greenland, her ecclesiastic machinery continued to function. Clergy
of lower rank continued to be advanced through the grades, and one of the
bishoprics to be occupied was that of Greenland. Matthias, although appointed
Church
by Innocent VIII, did not take his Greenland office until 1492, thus simultaneously with the ascent of Alexander VI to the Throne of Peter. We do not know when Matthias died; but his successor, Vincentius (Vincentius Petri Kampe), was appointed in 1520. Only three later references to him have thus far been discovered — in 1533, 1535 and when he died in 1537 as a prisoner of the Lutherans in Maribo Cloister, Denmark. All the Scandinavian countries had by then been definitely lost to the papcy, through the Luteran movement, and apparently the church of Rome saw no point in continuing to go through the motions of electing further bishops of Greenland, an island which the Vatican had long recognized as belonging to the now Luth r ^ e ^ an Kingdom of Norway.
There was an interval of about 400 years between the
[:
]
last
medieval publicizing of the Greenlandic bishopric, through the 1492 letter
of Pope Alexander VI which we have quoted, until the Church again took
active pride in its own relation to the New World during pre-Colu
^
m
^
ian
times. The World's Fair at Chicago, which actually took place in 1893, was
originally projected for 1892 and was to have celebrated the 400th anni–
versary of the attainment of the West Indies by Columbus. It was, in
fact, officially named the World's Columbian Exposition and the Vatican
decided to participate. An important element in this
^
participation was the
^
exhibition and
eventual publication of a number of papal letter, among them those from
which we have quoted
During the years just before and after the World's Columbian
Exposition there was also a supplementary Church activity in the publi–
cation of articles and books. Probably the most notable (apart from the
mentioned papal documents th
^
e
^
msleves) was the cartographical and historical
study of Father Joseph Fisher, KSociety of Jesus, who was professor of
Geography at the Jesuit College, Feldkirch, Austria. In its London
Church
edition, 1903, the title is The Discoveries of the Norsemen in America . The book is in itself a distinguished contribution to knowledge but also significant as a semi-official statement on the historic relation between the Church and the lands beyond the Atlantic during the period of more than 400 years that inter– vened between the Christianizing of Greenland, through the two Roman Catholic priests who landed there in the year 1000, and the 1492 visit to the West Indies by Columbus.
The history of the Roman Catholic Church in Greenland ends
technically, no
c
^
d
^
oubt, with the h^d^eath of her last bishop, and with the implied
renunciation of the northwestern transatlantic bishopric through the Vatican's
failure to appoint a successor to Vincentius. After that comes a church history
blank of nearly two hundred years, for the story of Protestantism in Greenland
does not properly begin either with the official shift of Denmark to Lutheran–
ism in 1536 or with the death of Vincentius in 1537; for, as explained in our
articles on Greenland, no step was then taken by the Lutheran church of the
Scandinavian countries which effectively made contact with the New World
Christians, although there was considerable talk and planning, both in Norway
and Denmark.
Before the Reformation, in the period covered by the quoted letters
of the popes, there had been abortive plans and even some accomplishments toward
strengthening the western Church. The most discussed of the expeditions was sent
out by King Magnus Eriksson of Norway and Sweden in 1354, as explained in our
article on its commander, Paul Knutsson. These efforts were for the strengthen–
ing of Roman Catholicism, which was naturally the Scandinavian point of view
before the Reformation. After the Reformation, expeditions were likewise
planned from the Scandinavian countries, butnow for thepurpose of rescuing the
Church
Christians there from Romanism and for bringing to them the new light of Luther– anism. There is a preponderance of reasons to believe that the effort of the Romanists were successful, at least to the extent that some of the protagonists did reach the Greenland bishopric; we know that the Lutherans failed, for the reco ^ r ^ d is clear that most of their plans never resulted even in abybody setting sail from the Scandinavian countries, while in the few cases where vessels set out they had to return without having made a landing, or at lest without seeing Christians.
But if the antagonistic religious forces of Europe, the Roman and the
Protestant, both failed in their purpose, there is
[:
]
nevertheless evidence
that western Christianity survived the Reformation.
It is a recognized
[:
]
principle in the comparative study of reli–
gions that symbols and symbolism are the most tenacious things about a religion
when it is losing ground. The chief symbol of Christianity is the cross. So
it is logical that the last direct testimony for the survival of Christianity in
Greenland which we possess in a report of the use of the cross. John Davis, the
English navigator, discovered in Greenland during the summer of 1586 an open
grave in
[:
]
which were several corpses dressed in fur clothes of a style recog–
nized by the English as Eskimo; but upon the grave rested a cross.
That there should have been more than one corpse in a single grave,
as reported by Davis, could have been the result of an epidemic; but more proba–
bly this
[:
]
indicated a further survival of a Christian practice, well known
from the historical Greenland period. The ground was frozen hard during winter
and the bodies of those who died during that season would be saved for burial next
summer, when a grave could more easily be prepared. Another
[:
]
reason for saving
frozen corpses
.
^
through the winter
^
was to give them the advantage of a church service next summer if
Church
a man in holy orders should arrive who could perform the lat rites. (True, the Greenlanders did evolve a method of getting around this need by plac ^ i ^ ng a stake in the grave in such a way that when it was being filled with earth the staff would remain upright and pointing down towards the breast of the deceased. When a priest arrived, perhaps years later, the staff could be pulled up, leav– ing a hole through which holy water could be poured down upon the dead, consum– mating the rites of the Church.
Thus Christianity in Greenland was no passing episode. For it beg
[:
]
n with
the landing of Erik the Red's colonizing party and closed so far as recorded,
with the observations of John Davis. Thus the known history of medieval or
Roman Catholic Christianity in Greenland extends from 986 to 1586, six hundred
years.
In 1722 when the Dano-Norwegian Protestants arrived under the Norwegian
Hans Egede (q.v.) they found no Roman Catholics whom they could save from the
clutches of the Vatican and they found no Europeans. Or at least there were
neither physiques which they re
^
c
^
ognized as Scandinavian nor forms of religious
belief and observance which they recognized as Christian. But elsewhere in this
Encyclopedia we have summarized the views of those
[:
]
who believe that in
physique the people whom Eged saw were mixed bloods rather than Eskimos; certain elements
while earlier in the present article we have indicated that certain elements
of medieval Christianity may be surviving to this day — not in Greenland, which
has had modern Protestant Christianity for two centuries, but in the Baffin–
King William sector, which has been converted to the Anglican and the Roman
churches only in our own day. It may be, then, that the last remnants of the
Christianity planted by the two priests who came to Greenland with Leif the
Lucky at the end of the tenth century may have overlapped the first Christianity
replanted in Baffin Island in the beginning of the twentieth century.
Church
BibliographyThe Vatican manuscripts referred to above are contained in the Norroena Society's publication, The Flatey Book and Recently Discovered Vatican Manuscripts concerning America as Early as the Tenth Century , London, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin, New York, 1908. Both Latin text and English translations are given.
See also:
F. Jonsson:
Greenlendingasaga
. Reykjavik (
[:
]
), 1899
F. Jonsson: "On the Icelandic Colonization of Greenland" in
Greenland
,
edited by M. Vahl and others, 3 volumes, Copenhagen and
London, 1928–1929.
V. Stefansson: Iceland, New York 1939
Greenland, New York 1942
V. Stefansson and E. McCaskill (editors):
The Three Voyages of Martin
Frobisher,
, London, 1938. The subject of what the Church
knew about the northern and western lands is treated in
the Introduction.
Allen Mawer: "The Vikings," in
Cambridge Medieval History
, Cambridge,
1936, Vol. III, Ch. XIII, pp. 309–338. This has a good
resume of the expansion of Christianity in the Scandinavian
North.
Shakespeare and the Arctic
EA-History (George B. Parks)
SHAKESPEARE AND THE ARCTIC
Shakespeare had his choice between two map view of the Arctic. The
"new map with the augmentation of the Indies," which is mentioned, as if
it were a matter of common knowledge, in
Twelfth Night
(3.2.85), offers
one view. This is the world map made expressly in England for the enlarged
second edition of Hakluyt's
Voyages
in 1598.It is a sailor's map, showing
seas and coast lines rather than countries and inland features, and quite
appropriately it leaves the northern regions great blank spaces of nameless
ocean. The spaces are the larger for two reasons. One is the use of the
Mercator projection, the first such use in England, and it is well known
that this projection enormously enlarges the polar areas by comparison with
the others. On this large Hakluyt map, which measures some 17 by 25 inches,
the region from 60° N. to 82° N., the top of the map, takes up as much room
as the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. Since the map extends only to 70° S.,
moreover, the Arctic actually occupies about one quarter of the world. Here
begins the familiar modern illusion which magnifies the size of the Arctic.
As one of the earliest readers of a Mercator map, Shakespeare may have been
one of the first to succumb to the illusion.
The other reason why the Arctic looms large on the Hakluyt map is that
its size is further increased by the crisscrossing of compass lines on this
sailor's map. No fewer than five wind roses in the arctic regions radiate
EA-History: Parks: Shakespeare and the Arctic
their respective 32 compass lines to the four corners of the world, and so carry the eye of the beholder in a continuous and magnifying motion. We know that Shakespeare especially noticed these lines, for his mention of the map relates especially to them. It is the pert Maria, director of the plot against Malvolio in the play, who describes her success in the words: "He [Malvolio] does smile his face into more lines than is in the new map with the augmentation of the Indies." Whether Maria, or her creator, was as much impressed by the immensity of the Arctic as by the lines which magni– fied it, we cannot tell
Shakespeare mentioned this map in 1601. He may have seen an earlier
map giving a different concept of the Arctic. When he was writing
The Comedy
of Errors,
perhaps in 1590, he turned to a map of the ancient world for some
of the place names which he used in the play. He found the map in the great
atlas of the Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius, the
Theatrum Orbis
Terrarum
first published in 1570. Undoubtedly in using this volume in its
1584 expansion, Shakespeare must have seen the first map in it, the elliptical
world map, which would be bound to attract his attention; and he may have seen
a copy of the same map again when Hakluyt reprinted it, as "one of the best
generall mappes of the world," in the first edition of his
Voyages
in 1589.
Here Shakespeare would have seen a different Arctic and Antarctic. For each
polar zone was covered by a continental land mass, called "Terra Cognita" or
"Nondum Congita." These hypothetical continents pushed hard upon the known
world, from which they were separated only by a continuous narrow strait in
the north, and by a generally narrow strait in the south which however expanded
into the breadth of the Pacific and Indian oceans. The arctic continent
which covers the pole, as Hakluyt redrew the map (for Ortelius left open
water at the pole itself), is particularly impressive. It caps the globe
EA-History: Parks: Shakespeare and the Arctic
by filling solid the space between 90° and 80°, and in one place it stretches down to 70°. South of it, a continuous strait or passage girdles the earth between 80° and 70°, dipping down below the Arctic Circle in two places, one where Hudson Bay was to appear and one in a corresponding opening in the Siberian coast. The strait is the more impressive because of the nearly continuous line to the south of the continents of Eurasia and North America, which are separated only by the equivalent of Bering Strait and by the island chain of Labrador, Greenland, Iceland, and other supposed lands.
The Elizabethan had his choice of these two Arctic, the landsman's
heavy land belts separated only by a narrow waterway, and the seaman's scanty
seacoast of what were still only islands (Greenland and others). Probably
he took little note of either, preferring to fall back on the more familiar
ancient concept of the Mare Congelatum north of 60°, or on the still preva–
lent theory of the Frozen Zone in which nothing could live. Explorers and
scientists campaigned against these theories, but probably to little purpose
in swaying the thought of the common man.
Shakespeare, for one, being less an intellectual than a poet, refers to
the Arctic in the conventional older terms, speaking of "the frozen bosom of
the North" (
Romeo and Juliet
, Act I, Scene 4, line 101); of the country
"Where Phoebus' fire scarce thaws the icicles" (The Merchant of Venice, II, 1,
5); and particularly the home of the north wind: "the angy northern wind"
(
Titus Andonicus
, IV, 1, 104), "the colic of puff'd Aquilon" (
Troilus and Cressida
,
IV, 5, 9), "the tyrannous breathing of the north" (
Cymbeline
, I, 3, 36), and
"the grisled north disgorges such a tempest" (
Pericles
, Gower, III, 47). He
is not so particular in his reference as to sound academic: he does not mention
EA-History: Parks: Shakespeare and the Arctic
the old names of Thule, Scythia, [: ] the Hyperborean Sea, though he doubt– less knew them. At the same time, he was not merely the man in the street. One piece of his geography, though not of the Arctic, shows that he knew his science. It is contained in Othello's remark about the Black Sea current: "the Pontic Sea, Whose icy current and compulsive course Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on To the Propontic and the Hellespont" (III, 3, 453–6), a commonplace of earlier oceanography.
Shakespeare's references, then, to the older idea of the Arctic,
though conventional, are vivid enough to lead us to look for his allusions
to the new Arctic, as "discovered" by the English and later the Dutch after
1553, in Skaespeare's own lifetime. Again he dissapoints us if we expect
him to be knowledgeable. His contemporaries refer occasionally to Greenland,
Nova Zembla, (Novaya Zemlya), the northern passage, the six months' night,
but not he. He is more allusive to the subarctic, which may for him have
been all one since the English came to it (specifically to Russia) by way
of the Arctic. He recalls the "frozen Muscovits" (
Love's Labour's Lost
,
V, 2, 265), "a Poland winter" (
The Comedy of Errors
, III, 2, 100), and "the
sledded Polacks on the ice" (Hamlet, I, 1, 63). From the Arctic proper he
remembered to speak only of the old tradition of the "Lapland sorcerers,"
amusingly assumed to work their trade even in Ephesus (The Comedy of Errors,
IV, 3, 11).
The new Arctic of contemporary discovery indeed comes to mention in
Shakespeare only once, and then only because of its human appeal. It seems
impossible to us that any Elizabethan could ignore the long struggle of the
discoverers, in the English northeast voyage to the White Sea and the edge
of the Kara Sea, in the English northwest voyage to
[:
F
]
robisher Bay and Davis
EA-History: Parks: Shakespeare and the Arctic
Strait, and in the Dutch northeast voyages to Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya. The story seems to have been too new, however, to make much impact on the poet's imagination. His one response to it is flippant. The same scene in Twelfth Night which mentioned the new map also mentioned the new Arctic The jesting Fabian rebukes Sir Andrew for his failure to woo the lady Olivia, and observes that as a result "you are now sailed into the north of my lady's opinion, where you will hang like an icicle on a Dutchman's beard, unless you do redeem it by some laudable attempt either of valour or policy" (III, 2, 27–31).
The reference is probably to the Dutch voyages, which were made
memborable by the wintering on Novaya Zemlya of William Barents and his
crew, the first Arctic wintering recorded of any western Europeans. If
it is cause for wonder that Shakespeare remembered the Dutch and not the
English ventures, the reason is merely in 1601 the Dutch were recent
(1595–97), whereas the English had ended for the time in 1587 and would
not recommence before Henry Hudson's voyages (1607–11). It is probably
for the same reason that Shakespeare does not mention the northwest dis–
covery, whereas he does refer, in 1600, to a "South-sea of discovery"
(
As You Like It
, III, 2.207), that is, a large and endless enterprise,
referring perhaps to a recent Dutch circumnavigation.
Altogether, Shakespeare knew of the Arctic casually, as most people
did and do, and in a somewhat old-fashioned manner though of ice and noth
wind, and was newly impressed by a map or two and by one important contem–
porary voyage to the north. One might say pedantically that he was not
"ocean-minded," being more at home in the Mediterranean, or in the Black
Sea, or of course, in the narrow seas of England. The
Othello
passage
EA-History: Parks: Shakespeare and the Arctic
quoted shows his acquaintance with the Black Sea, there are innumerable references to the English seas, and many of his plays are situated in the Mediterranean regions, from his first play, The Comedy of Errors to his last play, The Tempest. It is true that the storm and wreck of the latter were suggested by the narrative of a voyage to Bermuda, and there– fore in the Atlantic; but the island is apparently Mediterranean.
Revolutions of though come slowly, and Shakespeare's casual glimpses
of the new are all that we may expect of the layman. He does not mention
the Spanish Armada or Virginia. But at least he had an ear for a nautical
phrase, and he did his poetic duty by the new age of discovery when he
wrote of an imaginary "vast shore washed with the farthest sea" (
Romeo and
Juliet
, II, 2, line 85) and of "the wide world and wild watery seas"
(
Comedy of Errors
, II, 1, 21).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Cawley, Robert R. "The North," Book iii of The Voyagers and Elizabethan Drama, Boston, 1938.
2. Hakluyt, Richard. The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques & Discoveries of the English Nation , Glasgow, 1903; Vol. I, p.356, for reproduction of the world-map which appeared in the 1598 edition of the Voyages and which is referred to in Twelfth Night ; Vol. VII, pp. 268–277, for George Best's introduction to his account of the Frobisher voyages.
3. Journal of English and Germanic Philology 39, 93–97 (1940); "Shakespeare's Map for The Comedy of Errors. "
George B. Parks
Shakespeare and the Arctic voyages of William Barents
EA-History (Sarah M. Nutt)
SHAKESPEARE AND THE ARCTIC VOYAGES OF WILLIAM BARENTS
^
I
^
With hardly a dissenting voice William Shakespeare is acclaimed as
the greatest poet of our western civilization — perhaps the greatest the
world has ever known — yet critical thought is largely divided upon cer–
tain basic questions concerning the nature of the man himself. Traditional
English criticism for more than two hundred years has inclined to the be–
lief that Shakespeare was not only entirely conservative in his social,
political, and religious convictions, but that he also lacked a specially
intense interest in any of the main historic and intellectual forces that
shaped his age and made it the distinctive forerunner of our own. In an
article defending "The Modernity of Shakespeare" against influential con–
temporary upholders of the traditional view, George Coffin Taylor notes
how even so eminent a critic as the late Tucker Brooks could be led into
saying:
That entrancing, brilliant moss-back, Will Shakespeare, must
have been one of the last men in London with whom an up-to-date
Elizabethan would have thought of discussing politics or religion,
or geography or current affairs.
[Sewanee Review, 1934, p.445]
Following the lead of those critics, who, like Professor Taylor, oppose
the traditional view and insist that Shakespeare in his thinking was fully
EA-History. Nutt: Shakespeare and the Arctic Voyages of William Barents
abreast of his time, this writer has made an experimental examination of Shakespeare's works in close correlation with a somewhat detailed study of certain important Elizabethan trends to seek more definite evidence of his interest in some of them than has hitherto been discovered. One result of this interactive study is described below.
II
Geographical discovery was certainly one of the prime activities of
the Elizabethans, and Shakespeare lived and wrote when his country was
taking her place in the sixteenth century drive for world dominion in furious
competition with Spain, Portugal, France, and the Netherlands. New of
English and foreign voyages were read by the general public with avidity,
and it might be expected that the poet would share this common pursuit.
At least one book and several papers would have been devoted to listing and
describing Shakespear
^
e
^
's obvious references to ships and the sea and to strange
countries. Although there are many such references throughout the plays,
and some of the ship terms have been shown to be extremely technical, it
is pointed out that they are general terms which could have been picked up
casually by any Londoner. For the Thames, where shipping of all kinds
anchored, was the main thoroughfare of London, and seafaring men patronized
inns and public places all over the city and did not confine themselves to
a special district as they do in the sprawling metropolis today.
In addition to Shakespeare's numerous "incidental" geographical
references, it has recently been demonstrated that toward the end of his
career, in
The Tempest
, he made use of the documents describing the remark–
able voyage of Gates and Somers to Virginia (1609–10), and the wreck of
their vessel the
Sea Adventure
on an island of "the still-vex'd Bermoothes"
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[R.R. Cawley, PMLA, XLI, 688ff.]
So far this is the poet's only known use of any notable voyage. Are
we then to suppose that it was not until the end of his working life that
Shakespeare found time or inclination to read specific accounts of the
great European adventures? And if one refused to believe this, how could
an inquiry concerning his possible reading be legitimately implemented?
Studies of Shakespeare's imagery, while providing much evidence of his use
of the concrete metaphor, many of them taken from the humble objects and
events of daily life, have not been indicative of a method by which one
might investigate his intellectual interests. A better example is provided
by John Livingston Lowes, who, in
The Road to Xanadu
,examines Coleridge's
way of transmitting his reading matter in the poetic crucible. Very for–
tunately his book is based upon the
prima facie
evidence of Coleridge's
own notebook. But with Shakespeare, centuries of assiduous research has
failed to recover any such contributary knowledge. There remains then but
one recourse — the poet's works can be regarded as a kind of huge reverse
notebook, and with the utmost precaution, an examination of his metaphorical
language, particularly of an intensely poetic kind, can be made with probable
source material in mind.
A general survey of Shakespeare's obviously geographical terminology
reveals two attitudes toward the voyages running rather consistently through–
out the plays. One is sarcasm for the tall tales of the travelers, "tooth–
pickers from the furthest inch of Asia," with their stories of Prester John's
foot and the beard of the great Cham, and new world fantasies of half-human
creatures such as Caliban, and the "men whose heads do grow beneath their
shoulders." The other is the equation of commercial interest and geographical
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activity. In The Merchant of Venice , Antonio's seagoing commercial ven f ^ t ^ ures are described in impressive detail, later the bitter Timon observes that Gold is the "god" who rigs the bark and ploughs the foam. Many such in– stances could be cited. An allied theme almost as persistent is the employ– ment of freebooting customs as similes for the illicit love pursuit. Fal– staff in 2 Henry IV is a "globe of sinful continents," in The Merry Wives he is a voyager for whom Mesdames Ford and Page are regions "all gold and bounty," his "East and West Indies." The Wives also likened themselves to treasure ships pursued by the wicked privateer. In Romeo and Juliet there is much ship and sea metaphor, and Shakespeare here reverses the usual derogatory pursuit simile, Romeo romantically calls himself "a fair ship with sails spread to the wind," in another place Juliet is "the high top-gallant" of his joy.
All the metaphor noted above, the materialistic and the sordid as well
as the romantic, lies upon the surface of the text and its general meaning
is easy to identify. The deep and serious poetic image is much more thoroughly
integrated with its context, more deviously and subtly constituted, and there–
fore much harder either to identify or to trace to a source, as
The Road to
Yanadu
demonstrates. In his early
Comedy of Errors
Shakespeare wrote a
showy sustained piece of bawdry using a globe of the world — perhaps the
famous globe placed in the Middle Temple about 1592 — as a wickedly sug–
gestive symbol for a "spherical" serving-maid; but in the same play one
might not attribute to geographical interest a line where the brooding
imagination of the young poet glances obliquely at the fact that men in
his time have become "Lords of the wide world and wild wat'ry seas."
In
Measure for Measure
, written when Shakespeare had entered his
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"tragic period" (about 1604), there appears an impressive line with power– fully scenic quality, which, in an inquiry devoted to geographical imagery, virtually demands attention. The line is part of Claudio's well-known speech (3.1,118–132) where he dwells upon the sufferings of a disembodied spirit, after death. He speaks with horror of the delighted spirit, im– prisoned in the viewless winds, and blown with restless violence about the earth, exposed to the extremes of climate, from the burning heat of the tropics, to the "T ^ h ^ rilling region of thick-ribbed ice" (122. It seemed to this writer that no English snow or icy lake could call up so insistent a vision of the Arctic as this one line contains. One asks whether some explorer's story, oral, written, perhaps pictorial too, might not have evoked it.
A search through the annals of English explorers — Davis, Frobisher,
Fletcher, and others — failed to disclose writing quite decisive enough to
account for the almost topographical descriptiveness of "thick-ribbed ice."
One clue was found in a paper by C.H. Coote, "Shakespeare's New Map in
Twelfth Night
" [
New Shak. Soc. Pub
., 1878, pp.88–99]. Here the author
suggests that Shakespeare's very amusing use of geographical terms in which
he has Malvolic sailing into the north of Olivia's opinion, where he will
hang like an icicle on a Dutchman's beard (3.2,27–29), may have been inspired
by the voyage of William Barents to Novaya Zemlya in 1596. This suggestion
led to an examination of the story of the famous Dutch explorer, written by
Gerrit De Veer, a
[:
]
mem
[:
]
er of his party. It was almost immediately
apparent that this was the hope-for source. De Veer not only recounts a
stirring narrative of travel, hardship, and death, but the early editions
of his book contain more than a score of full-page engravings, pictures of
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high-piled ice fields, and of bearded Dutchmen and their encounters with the huge polar bears of Novaya Zemlya.
III
English geographical attention had been turned early toward the north
in the hope of finding a passage to the Orient and thus bypassing the
Spanish route where such active opposition was encountered. But the great
age of English exploration did not open until 1553, with the expedition
under Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor in search of a northeast
or polar passage. Their voyage into unexplored Arctic seas led directly
to the formation of the Muscovy Company, which for long sent an annual
trading fleet to Russian by way of the Arctic and White seas. The company
had a monopoly of this trade, which it defended from competition at home
and abroad, and through its sole agency many commercial, industrial, and
diplomatic activities linked England with the Czar's domain. Shakespeare
perhaps reflects this English interest in Russian in the Moscovite masque
in
Love's Labour's Lost
.
By 1580 the Dutch appeared in the Arctic to challenge English supremacy;
they established stations and traded at Kola and Archangel. In addition both
countries continued to send expeditions seeking a northern sea passage.
Toward the end of the century the Dutch were more successful than the
English in breaking down Portuguese supremacy in the East Indies. In this
field, competition between groups of Dutch merchants caused that famous rise
in the price of pepper which led directly to the founding of the English
East India Company. It was during this stirring and inquisitive period of
sixteenth century activity that news of the amazing voyage of Barents to
Novaya Zemlya arrived in England.
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Novaya Zemlya, a row of long, narrow islands curving from the northern
coast of Russia to within thirteen degrees of Pole, appeared to be the
insurmountable barrier to a passage to Cathay, since at that time no one
had any conception of the vast distances of Siberian coast, and the end–
less ice fields, and dangerous tides and currents that made the northeast
passage a problem unsolved until our time. The principal fear in the
sixteenth century was that the Russian coast connected with Novaya Zemlya,
making a land barrier reaching almost to the Pole.
Before Barents's time all attempts to pass the barrier had been made
at the straits between the Russian mainland and the southern end of the
Novaya Zemlya group. But there was another theory of a possible northern
sea passage. This was to sail straight across the Pole, where it was hoped
ice-free waters would be found. William Barents evidently held some varia–
tion of this theory; De Veer refers at great length to the idea that near–
ness to frozen lands and not height
[:
]
of latitude causes the impenetrable
ice in the straits. Robert Burton mentions this theory in the
Anatomy of
Melancholy
, when he reflects upon the numerous geographical questions so
rife during the Renaissance. He muses "whether the sea be open and navigable
by the Pole Arctic, and which is the likeliest way, that of Bartison [Barents?]
the Hollander, under the Pole itself, which for some reasons I hold best,
or by Fretum Davis, or Nova Zembla [Part 2, Sec.2, Mem3]."
The three voyages described by De Veer were the type of semiofficial,
government-subsidized venture so common in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, Several towns contributed ships to the first two expeditions
in 1594 and 1595. But in 1596 Amsterdam provided the only merchants will–
ing to continue the project. William Barents went on all three voyages
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as pilot-major of the combined fleets. His reputation as a navigator was high, both as possessing great knowledge of navigation and much experience and practical ability.
Gerrit De Veer, the author, a member of an illustrious Dutch family,
accompanied the last two expeditions as an historian, probably with the
rank of a minor officer. His narrative, simple in tone and full of teach–
nical details — fathom soundings, the declination of the sun, degrees of
latitude — has yet that quality of interest and enthusiasm which might
have served as an examplar of Claudio's delighted spirit. At times his
descriptions of nature become intensely poetic. He often speaks of the
terrific movements of the pack-ice and the strength of tremendous polar
bears as "admirable." He intersperses little personal anecdotes — what
the men said to each other in moments of comfort, how "they looked piti–
fully at one another" in moments of danger, how they laid wagers and made
jokes to keep up their courage "in their great misery." That his attitude
was humanely scientific is shown in his remarks about the nomadic Samoyeds,
whose "manner of...apparell is like as we vse to paint wild men; but they
are not wilde, for they are of reasonable judgment." Indeed, the only
bias he exhibits is his fondness for the theory of an ice-free polar sea.
This account of Barrents's expeditions is taken from a reprint of the
1609 English edition of De Veer's narrative, edited by the Hakluy Society
in 1853 under the title
The Three Voyages of William Barents to the Arctic
Regions
..., with an introduction by Charles T. Beke. A second Hakluyt
Society edition in 1876 contains an account of the Barents relics found
on Novaya Zemlya in the nineteenth century. Among them was a Dutch manu–
script translation of the account of the Pet and Jackman expedition to the
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Arctic in 1580; this indicates what a close watch the two nations kept upon each other's maritime exploits.
Accounts of the weather very naturally form the bulk of the Veer's
almost daily entries. Dr. Beke points out that although there is no
means of "determining the precise degree of cold to which they were
exposed, various incidents narrated by De Veer" indicate that it must
have been more than normally intense. The sound and fury of the raging
Arctic storms, the roaring of bears, the grinding and explosive rending
of the ice pack continually sound in the text; whenever he notes "faire,
cleare weather" he nearly always adds "and the sky full of starres."
These must have been very impressive in the brilliantly clear atmosphere
of the Arctic night.
The first voyage in 1594 was in the nature of a survey to determine
the possibilities of an entry by the straits into the Kara Sea. There
was no question of an attempt to find a more northerly passage, but a
large part of De Veer's introduction is taken up with a discussion of
his favorite theory, and with drawing comparisons of the equality of
degrees of heat in the latitudes on each side of the equator with the
supposedly analogous degrees of cold around the North Pole. On this
trip, the most notable event was an attempt to capture alive a tremendous
polar bear, which the men wished to show "for a strange wonder in Holland."
But the bear was so stubbornly strong and dangerous, that after a long
struggle they had to kill her
[:
]
in self-defense.
The second voyage (1595), from which much was expected, proved to
be a failure. In addition, two men were tragically killed. These men,
while looking for rock-crystal, "a kind of diamont," were foolishly care-
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less and were caught completely unaware by a huge bear and torn to pieces under the eyes of their helpless shipmates.
Barents's belief in the theory of an open polar sea must have been
one of the main spurs to the third undertaking. This was the voyage that
made the series of Dutch explorations so sensational throughout Europe.
Arousing interest from the beginning as the first attempt to try out the
far northern passage, it was also marked by the discovery of Spitsbergen.
The expedition left Holland early in May 1596, and after the discovery of
Spitsbergen, Barents rounded the northernmost point of Novaya Zemlya
about the first of August. But by the twenty-sixth of that month the
ship was fast in the ice, and the men were forced to admit that they must
spend the winter in that "wild, desert, irksome, fearfull, and cold country."
There they lived for ten months and two of the company died. By the 13th
of June, 1597, it was still impossible to free the ship; so they built
two small open boats and struggled seventeen hundred miles to Kola,
arriving there September 2, 1597. Three men died on the homeward journey,
and one of them was William Barents. His death, says De Veer, "put us in
no small discomfort, he being the chiefe guide and only pilot on whom we
reposed ourselues." Of the original seventeen men there were twelve
survivovrs and it is small wonder that their return to Holland caused
such amazement. They came to Amsterdam on November 1, 1597, "in the same
clothes, says De Veer, "that we ware in Noua Zembla, with our caps furd
with white foxes skins ... and being there, many men woundred to see vs,
as hauing esteemed vs long before that to haue bin dead and rotten."
Theirs was the first true polar voyage ever made, it was the first
time that an Arctic winter was successfully faced, and it deserves to stand
in the first rank among the polar enterprises of the sixteenth century.
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The journey home, in itself, was a feat of daring and good judgement in the fact of almost overwhelming obstacles; when one considers the condition of the men, weakened by scurvy, and after a year's residence fourteen degrees from the North Pole, it becomes a little short of miraculous.
The appearance of these Dutchmen long thought dead, and the tale of
their marvelous voyage, produced an immediate sensation in Holland. And
the ripple must have spread rapidly, for editions of their story in
several languages followed each other fast. The original Dutch edition,
Waerachtighe Beschryvinghe van drie seylagion
..., with its long title
like a publisher's blurb, was on the press of Cornelius Nicholas in
Amsterdam by the end of April, 1598; the same printer issued Latin and French
editions within a few months; and from Germany came an abridgment in August,
1598. An Italian translation was printed in Venice in 1599. Moreover,
reprints of many of these editions
[:
]
followed in a few
years. The achievements of the Dutch mariners were considered so remarkable
that as late as 1610 a correspondent of Thomas Hariot, on hearing of
Galileo's observations with the telescope, could write:
Me thinkes my diligent Galileus hath done more in his three
fold discoverie than Megallane in openings the streightes to the South
sea or the dutch men that were eaten by beares in Nova Zembla
[Henry Stevens, Thomas Hariot, p.116].
The printer John Wolfe entered an English title of the
Three Voyages
at Stationer's Hall, London, about the middle of June, 1598, but there is
no record of an English edition prior to William Phillip's translation in
1609. However, De Veer's book is certain to have circulated in England in
one or more languages; that Shakespeare saw it and read the text, very
shortly after its publication, it is hoped will be apparent from the en–
suing references.
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The Shakespearean passages that seem to refer most definitely to
De Veer's narrative are to be found in seven plays, perhaps in two others;
these nine plays cover several periods of his working years. They range
from
Henry V,
written in 1599, to
The Winter's Tale
and
The Tempest
tentatively dated in 1611, and among the last plays to be written. The
following quotations from Shakespeare's plays are taken from the text
of hiw
Works
edited by William George Clark and William Aldis Wright,
with the Temple Edition notes; those from De Veer's narrative are from
Three Voyages By the North-East
, published by the Hakluyt Society in 1853,
which uses the English translation of 1609. The illustrations are taken
from the engravings in the Latin edition of 1598,
Diarium nauticum seu
Vera descriptio trium navigationum
..., which were printed from the original
plates of the Dutch first edition.
| 1. Henry V 3.7.153. Foolish curs, that run winking into the mouth of a Russian bear and have their heads crushed like rotten apples! | Three Voyages , pp.62–63...some of our men went on shore ...to seek for stones, which are a kind of diamont...a great leane white beare...caught one of them fast by the necke...bit his head in sunder... |
In this quotation from
Henry V
, Orleans is referring contemtuously
to the English forces in France. Other factors entering into its composi–
tion are, of course, bear-baiting, and the custom, referred to by Ben
Jonson in the Induction to
Bartholomew Fair
, of gathering up the broken
apples dropped by the audience in the theater to feed to the bears in the
nearby garden. See also Plate IV.
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| 2. Twelfth Night (a) 3.2.27 ...you are now sailed into the north of my lady's opinion; where you will hang like an icicle on a Dutchman's beard... | Three Voyages P.6. ...there was 4 ships set foorth... to saile into the North Seas... whereof William Barents was com– mander ouer the ships of Amster– dam.P.109 ...it frose so hard that as we put a nayle into our mouths, there would ice hang thereon when we tooke it out... [Beards are featured in most of the pictures.] |
| (b) 3.4.322 ...and pants and looks pale as if a bear were at his heels. | P.90. The beares ... came toward vs, wherewith we are not a little abashed ... and in all haste went to our boat againe, still looking behind vs to see if they followed vs. |
3.
All's Well That Ends Well
References from this play are from the scenes in Act Four, showing the
exposure of Parolles in the business with the drum. Bertram and others trick
Parolles with a made-up language.
| 4.1.16. Sec.Lord. He must think us some band of strangers i' the adver– sary's entertainment. Now he hath a smack of all neighboring languages; therefore we must every one be a man of his own fancy, not to know what we speak to one another...choughs language, gabble enough, and good enough. As for you interpreter, you must seem very politic...[Parolles is trapped, and the ala– rum sounds, line 69] 4.1.70. Sec.Lord. Throca movousus, cargo, cargo, cargo. All. Cargo, cargo, cargo villianda par corbo cargo. Parolles. O, ransom, ransom! do not bind thin eyes... [They seiz s e and blindfold him!] | Three Voyages, pp.223–4. [They met two Russian ships and among the Russians] were two that in friendly manner clapt ye master and me upon the shoulder, as knowing vs since ye former voiage. Wherewith they sayd Crable pro pal, which we vnderstood to be, Haue lost your ship? and we made answere, Crable pro pal ,as much as to say that we had lost our ship. And many more words we could not vse, because we understood not each other. [The Russians then asked if they had anything to drink] wherewith one of our men went into the scute and drew some water... but they shakt their heads, and said No dobbre, that is, it is not good. |
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| First Sold . Boskos thromuldo boskos. Par. I know you are the Muskos' regi– ment: And I shall lose my life for want of language: If there be here German, or Dane, or low Dutch, Italian or French, let him speak to me: I'll discover that which shall undo the Florentine. First Sold. Boskos vaudado; I under– stand thee, and can speak thy tongue. Kerelybonto, sir, betake thee to thy faith, for seventeen poniards are at thy bosom. Par . O! First Sold. ... Manka revania dulche. Sec. Sold. (Oscorbidulchos volivorco. ........................................ 4.1.97. Acordo linta 4.3.134. [Parolles enters the scene muffled.] 136. First Lord. Hoodman comes! Portotartarosa. ................................... 4.3.142. First Sold. Bosko chimurco. First Lord. Boblibindo chicurmurco. | P. 229. [Later they met another Russian ship] and we cried vnto them Candinees , Candinaes , where– by we asked him if we were about Candinaes, but they cryed againe and sayd, Pitzora , Pitzora, to shew vs that we were thereabouts. Pp.246–7. [Still later] we arriued before the Seven Islands ... and there found certaine fishermen, that asked us where our crable (meaning our ship) was, whereunto wee made answer with as much Russian language as we had learned, and said, Crable pro pal, which they vnderstanding said vnto vs, Cool Brabouse crable, whereby we vnder– stood that at Cool [Kola] there was certaine Neatherland ships. |
Shakespeare's macaronic language deserves the attention of an accom–
plished linguist, who would no doubt find much more interesting connections
in this "choughs language" than the present writer. One clue possibly
linking it with De Veer is the fact that Parolles immediately assumed the
unknown tongue to be Russian (4.1.75). Others are the mention of "seven–
teen poniards" and the very suggestive words
Portotartarosa
and
cargo,
the latter repeated several times. There were seventeen men in Barents's
company on the third expedition, and it might not be too strained to trans–
late the above-mentioned words into a sort of stream-of-consciousness com–
position of "carrying a cargo to Tartaria."
Another source of knowledge of some Russian customs and words in
England at the time was Giles Fletcher's
Of the Russe Commonwealth
(1591).
Fletcher gives samples of Fussian titles, names, and so forth; for example,
the "General of the Armie" is
Bulsha voiauoda
(L.57
r
); "duke-domes" are
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those of Volodemer , Plesko , Bezan, Cargapolia , Vagha , etc. (L.B 2 r ); a prayer is Aspody Pomeluy, Pomeluy merra hospody , etc. (L. 107 v ).| 4 . Measure for Measure (a) 2.1.38. | Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall: Some run from brakes of ice, and answer none: |
The Temple Notes give a discussion of the difficulties involved in
an understanding of this well-known crux, which is characteristic of the
usual critical handling of it. Some of the difficulties would seem to
be resolved by the following incident from De Veer. The phrase "brakes
of ice" is confirmed, although the unquestioned awkwardness of the lines
is not thereby explained, and no reconstruction is suggested by the con–
firmation.
Three Voyages
, pp.208–9. ... the ice came so fast in towards vs, that
all the ice whereon we lay with our scutes and goods brake and ran one
peece vpon another, whereby we were in no small feare, for at that time
most of our goods fell into the water. But we... drew our scutes further
vpon the ice towards the land ... and as we went to fetch our goods we
fell into the greatest trouble that euer we had before ...]for] as we
laid hold vpon one peece thereof the rest sunke downe with the ice, and
many times the ice brake vnder our owne feet. ... And when we thought
to draw vp our boates vpon the ice, the ice brake vnder vs, and we were
caried away with the scute and al by the driving ice. ... At which time ...
we beheld each other in pitiful maner ... [and] yt ye peeces of ice drave
from each other, wherewith we ran in greate haste vnto the scute...
See also Plate III, which illustrates the incident of running "from
brakes of ice."
| (b) 2.1.139. | This will last out a night in Russia When nights are longest there: |
There are many references to the time in the Arctic when one could
not tell day from night; the following questions from
Three Voyages
will
point these lines of Angelo's:
Three Voyages,
p. 121. The 4 of Nouember ... we saw the sunne no more,
for it was no longer above the horizon.
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P. 122. ... it was darke wether and very still ... at which time we
could hardly discerne the day from the night ...
P. 155. This [bear] grease did vs great good seruice, for by that meanes
we still kept a lampe burning all night long ...
| (c) 3.1.118. | Ay, but to die, and go we know not where; To lie in cold obstruction and to rot; This sensible warm motion to become A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice; To be imprisoned in the viewless winds, And blown with restless violence roundabout The pendent world; or to be worse than worst Of those that lawless and incertain thought Imagine howling: 'tis too horrible! The weariest and most loathed worldly life That age, ache, penury and imprisonment Can lay on nature is a paradise To what we fear of death. |
It is not supposed that De Veer's narrative was solely responsible
for the intense poetry of this passage, but it is quoted in its entirety
because the tragic memories of death and burial in the Arctic, the
piercing cold and the dangers these men endured, their fears in the
dark night and the imagined wonder and awe of the ice formations are
almost certainly a part of it. All these impressions merged in the poet's
mind and were recalled again by the tragic atmosphere of this bitter
comedy. The following excerpts from
Three Voyages
seem to have entered
most specifically into the composition of the passage:
Three Voyages,
p. 108. That day our carpenter dyed as we came aboard
about evening ... we buryed him vnder the sieges in the clif of a hill,
hard by the water, for we could not dig vp the earth by reason of the
frost and cold ...
P. 211. The same day dyed John Franson of Harlem ... at which time the
ice came mightily driuing in vpon vs ...
P. 256. ... hauing estemed vs long before that to haue bin dead and
rotten.
P. 5. [Here in the margin are the words:] Comparison of the heate under
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the line, with the cold under the North Pole. [The text:] It is also manifest, that vpon the south and north side of the line of the sunne ... [: ] between both the tropicos ... it is as hot as it is right under the line. What wonder then should it be, that about the North Pole also, and as many degrees on both sides, it should not bee colder then right vnder the Pole? I will not affirm this to bee true, because that the coulde on both sides of the North Pole hat ^ h ^ not as yet beene discouered and sought out, as the heat on the north and south of the Line hath beene.
P.64. ... the ice came in so thicke and with such force, that we could
not get through.
P.74. ... the longer wee sayled the more and thicker ice we found. ...
wee came to so great a heape of ice, that wee could not saile through it,
because it was so thicke ...
P.107. That night againe it froze two fing[: w]rs thicke in the salt water of
the sea ... That night it frose aboue two fingers thicke.
P.128. ... it froze so sore within the house that the walls and the roofs
thereof were frozen two fingers thicke with ice ...
P.164. ... the ice in the sea cleauing faster and thicker together...
P.167. ... the ice came still more and more driuing in, and made high
hilles by sliding one upon the other.
P.171. ... the ice was in such a wonderfull manner risen and pile vp one
vpon the other that it was wonderfull, in such manner as if there had bin
whole townes made of ice, with towres and bulwarkes round about them.
P.184. ... the ice laie so high and so thicke one vpon the other ...
P.156. ... in the night time, as we burnt lampes and some of our men laie
awake, we heard beasts runne vpon the roofe of our house, which by reason
of the snowe made the noise of their feete sound more than otherwise it
would haue done, the snow was so hard and cracked so ... whereby we thought
they had beene beares; but when it was day we sawe no footing but those of
foxes, and we thought they had been beares; for the night, which of it selfe
is solitarie and fearefull, made that which was doubtfull to be more doubtfull
and worse feared.
There are other references to ice and snow in
Measure for Measure
,
particularly with reference to the supposedly 'cold' nature of Angelo. He
is called "a man whose blood is very snow-broth" (1.4.57–8). See also
3.2.117–119, and the Temple notes at 4.1.1. The missing Duke is also
reported to be "with the Emperor of Russia." These allusions, all more
EA-History. Nutt: Shakespeare and the Arctic Voyages of William Barents
or less conventional, merely indicate the frequency with which the general thought of such subjects appear in this play. They may or may not have been inspired by De Veer.| 5. Macbeth3.4.99. | What man dare, I dare; Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, The armed rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger; Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble: ... . . . . . . . |
Three Voyages
, p.15. ...the beare shewed most wonderfull strength ...
for no man euer heard the like to be done by any lyon or cruel beast.
P.90. The beares rose vp vpon their hinder feete to see vs ... and they
rose vpright and came towards vs ...
| 6. King Lear3.4.9–11. | Thou'dst shun a bear; But if thy flight lay toward the raging sea, Thou'dst meet the bear i′ the mouth. |
No one incident in De Veer's diary suggests this line, but since the
main dangers encountered on Novaya Zemlya were the constant attacks by
bears, and the perils of their seventeen-hundred mile return through the
Arctic sea in small open boats, it might be a general summing up of their
position. See plates I and IV, and the reference to
Three Voyages
(pp.62–64),
under
The Winter's Tale
below.
7. The Winter's Tale
This includes a whole scene (3.3) on the perhaps unjustly notorious
sea coast of Bohemia, "a desert place" which was "famous for the creatures
of prey that keep upon it."
| 3.3.1–80. [The Clown and the Shepherd find the baby, see the shipwreck and watch Antigonus being eaten by the bear.] | Three Voyages , pp.62–64. ...a great leane white bear comes so– dainly stealing out, and caught one of [the men] fast by the necke. |
EA-History. Nutt: Shakespeare and the Arctic Voyages of William Barents
| 3.3.98. And then for the land-service, to see how the bear tore out his shoul– der-bone; how he cried to me for help and said his name was Antigonus, a nobleman. But to make an end of the ship, to see how the sea flap-dragoned it, but first how the poor souls roared, and the sea mocked them; and how the poor gentleman roared, and the bear mocked him; both roaring louder than the sea or weather. Name of mercy, when was this, boy? Now, now: I have not winked since I saw these sights: the men are not cold under water, nor the bear half on the gentleman: he's at it now. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.132. Go you the next way with your findings. I'll go see if the beare be gone from the gentle– man and how much he hath eaten; they are never curst but when they are hungry: if there be any of him left, I'll bury it. That's a good deed. If thou mayest discern by that which is left of him what he is, fetch me to the sight of him. Marry, will I; and you shall help me to put him i′ the ground.5.2.66. What, pray you, became of Antigonus . . .? Like an old tale still, which will have matter to rehearse, though credit be asleep and not an ear open. He was torn to pieces with a bear. | ... The beare at the first falling vpon the man, bit his head in sunder, and suckt out his blood, wherewith the rest of the men that were on land ... ran presently thither either to saue the man, or else to driue the beare from the dead body; and having charged their peeces and bent their pikes, set vpon her, that still was deuoring the man, but perceuing them to come towards her, fiercely and cruelly ran at them, and gat another of them out from the companie, which she tare in pieces ... [Those on the ship went as fast as they could to the shore to help.] And ... being on land, we beheld the cruell spectacle of our two dead men, that had been so cruelly killed and torn in pieces by the beare. [They planned how best to kill the beare, without danger of another death.] Wherevpon three of our men went forward, the beare still deouring her prey, not once fearing the number of our men. ... The purser stepping somewhat further for– ward presently ... shot her into the head, between the eyes, and yet shee held the man in her mouth, but shee beganne somewhat to stagger; wherewith the purser and a Scotishman drew out their courtlaxes, and stroke at her so hard that their courtlaxes burst, and yet she would leau v e the man. At last [another] man with all his might stroke the bear vpon the snowt with his peece ... the bear fell to the ground, making a great noyse, and [the man] leaping vpon her cut her throat ... Wee buryed the dead bodies of our men in the States Island. |
Plate IV illustrates this tragic incident in
Three Voyages
. In Shakes–
pear's scene in
The Winter's Tale
we seem almost to be looking at the pic–
ture when the boy notes "how the bear tore out [Antingonus's] shoulder-bone."
In the next act (4.3.77) Autolysus shams an accident and cries "I fear my
shoulder-bone is out." And very queerly in
Coriolanus
, a somewhat earlier
play, the hero is said to be wounded "I' the shoulder and i' the left arm."
EA-History. Nutt: Shakespeare and the Arctic Voyages of William Barents
Here there seems to be no connection with De Veer, except that the places on Coriolanus's body are identical with the position of the bear's claws in the picture.
It has been remarked that there was really no necessity for the scene
with the bear in
The Winter's Tale;
Antigonus could just as easily have
been taken out of the action by the shipwreck. But there were two white
bears in London at the time. Ben Johnson used them as an attraction in
his masque,
Oberon, the Faery Prince
, which was performed at court, Janu–
ary 1, 1611. Which one, Shakespeare or Jonson, took the lead in engaging
the services of the bears in unknown. Considering the experiences of
De Veer's companions, polar bears must still have been a "strange wonder"
in European cities, and the novelty could be used profitably. One can
imagine Shakespeare discussing the bears' acting capabilities with their
keeper, perhaps telling him the "old tale" of Novaya Zemlya, and express–
ing his surprise that such ferocious, stubborn creatures could be kept
under control. The keeper mught have explained that hunger made those
other bears so insistently bold, saying "they are never curst but when
they are hungry."
| 8. The Tempest1.2.287. | ... thy groans did make wolves howl and penetrate the breasts of ever angry bears ... |
Was this a last glance at the old tale of the stubborn and fierce
beasts of Navaya Zemlya?
IV
The year 1609 saw a revival of interest in the search for a north–
east passage. The Dutch East India Company had persuaded Henry Hudson
EA-History. Nutt: Shakespeare and the Arctic Voyages of William Barents
to leave the employ of the Muscovy Company to make a new trial for them and a rival group of Dutch merchants immediately sent out another expedi– tion. The open-polar-sea theory gained new adherents. Thomas Pavier finally printed Phillip's translation of De Veer's narrative; it was dedicated to the governor of the Muscovy Company.
The eleven-year delay in publishing the English translation of the
Three Voyages
may perhaps be explained by remembering that a very success–
ful Dutch voyage to India had been made in the years 1595–1597 by the Cape
of Good Hope route. This expedition returned to Holland in 1597, just about
the time the Arctic survivors arrived. John Wolfe published the story of
this Indian voyage in 1598; in the same year he brought out Linschoten's
translation from the Spanish of the
discours of voyages into ye Easte and
West Indies.
The most reasonable explanation of the delay, therefore,
must be that the practical failure of all the northeast voyages (1552–1597)
caused the mercantile interests to give up further attempts in this direction,
and to bend all their energies toward perfecting the longer, but successful,
water route to India. They naturally encouraged the publication of litera–
ture designed to enlist public capital in these ventures.
Wolfe died in 1601, but with the revival of interest in the northeast
passage in 1609, it was natural that some arrangement should be made to take
up Wolfe's "copyright" and to publish so important a book as:
The true and perfect description of three voyages so strange and woonderfull,
tha
t the like hath neuver been heard of before: Done and performed three
yeares, one after the
^
^
other, by the ships of Holland and Zeland, on the north
sides of Norway, Muscouia, and Tartaria, towards the Kingdomes of Cathaia &
China; shewing the discouerie of the straights of Weigates, Noua Zembla, and
the Countrie lying under 80. degrees; which is thought to be Greenland: where
neuver any man had bin before: with the cruell Beares, and other Monsters of
the Sea, and the vnsupportable and extreame could that is found to be in those
places. And how that in the last Voyage, the Shippe was so inclosed by the Ice
,
EA-History. Nutt: Shakespeare and the Arctic Voyages of William Barents
that it was left there, whereby the men were forced to build a house in the cold and desert Countrie of Noua Zembla, wherein they continued 10 monethes together, and neuver saw nor heard of any man, in most great cold and extreame miserie; and how after that, to save their lives, they were constrained to sayle aboue 350. Duchmiles, which is above 1000. miles English, in little open Boates, along and over the maine Seas, in most great danger and with extreame labour, vnspeakable troubles, and great hunger. Imprinted at London for T. Pauier. 1609 .
The question still remains in what form Shakespeare became familiar with
the book. Since the English edition contained no illustrations it is highly
probable that he either owned or had easy access to one of the foreign editions.
His varied references suggest to this writer that the book made a powerful
initial impression, and that he returned to it in the years that followed.
He could certainly have used a Latin edition with perfect ease, or he may
have had access to the manuscript of Phillips's translation. In this con–
nection it is suggestive to remember that Parolles in
All's Well
has a "smack
of all neighboring languages" (4.1.18), and can speak German, Danish, low
Dutch, Italian, and French, but not Russian. It is almost impossible not to
connect the "choughs language" of
All's Well
, which Parolles so readily assumed
to be the language of "the Muskos regiment," with the snatches of Russian
patois in De Veer.
There may be other allusions to the
Three Voyages
in the plays, such as
the very probable "still winter, In storm perpetual" of
Winter's Tale
(3.2.213),
but
[:
]
they do not seem specific enough to be included.
EA-History. Nutt: Shakespeare and the Arctic Voyages of William Barents
BIBLIOGRAPHYThis article has been adapted, with some changes in the introductory matter, from one originally appearing in Studies in Philology , [: ] , 239– 264, under the title "The Arctic Voyages of William Barents in Probable Relation to Certain of Shakespeare's Plays," to which the interested reader is referred for notes and a fuller bibliography.
All the editions of Gerrit De Veer's narrative published in Amsterdam for Cornelius Nicholas had illustrations and maps made from the same plates. In his introduction to the two Hakluyt Society editions of De Veer, Three Voyages By the North-East (1853 and 1876), Dr. Beke devotes twenty-one pages (cvil-cxxxxviii) to a comprehensive description of the early editions, abridgments and abstracts of Barents's story. The list of abridgments and abstracts runs well into the eighteenth century.
For an account of the Muscovy Company and early English relations with Russia the writer consulted Edward P. Cheyney, A History of England (2 vols), I, 311–342, and for general accounts of English geographical literature in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, chapters iii and iv, by Charles N. Robinson and John Leyland, Cambridge History of English Literature. See also the article "Arctic," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14th Edition.
Shakespeare's ship and sea terms are treated by W. B. Whall in Shakespeare's Sea Terms Explained , 1910. A background study of English geographical knowledge and activity during Shakespeare's lifetime, supple– mented by many references from the plays is provided in an interesting article by J.D. Rogers, "Voyages and Exploration: Geography: Maps," in Shakespeare's England (2 vols, 1932), I, 170–197, and in the same volume
EA-History. Nutt: Shakespeare and the Arctic Voyages of William Barents
"The Navy: Ships and Sailors," by L.G. Carr Laughton, 141–169, has interest– ing and valuable material. Both articles have valuable bibliographies.The suggestion that the Muscovite masque in Love's Labours Lost may owe something to English interest in Russian trade, and consideration of the dates of Shakespeare's plays are to be found in E. K. Chambers, William Shakespeare (2 vols, 1930), I.
This writer believes that studies of poetic imagery, including the present effort, should be subject to the kind of warnings and evaluations contained in "Analysis of Imagery: A critique of Literary Method," by Lillian H. Hornstein, Publications of the Modern Language Association , LVII, no.3, pp.638–653. Caroline F.E. Spurgeon studies Shakespeare's sea and ship terms in a very general manner in her Shakespeare's Imagery (1939); see especially pp.24–26, and her index under "Sea and Ships."
Sara M. Nutt
The Hanseatic League
[Figure]Ruediger Bilden
THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE
During the late Middle Ages the commerce of northern Europe was
dominated by that rich and powerful association of German mercantile
towns known as the Hansa, Hanse, or Hanseatic League. For centuries
this formidable organization came very near exercising monopolistic control
over the canying trade in northern waters as far as the Arctic. Their
influence spread east in the Old World Arctic beyond the White Sea
even to the Kara Sea; in the New World it reached to the Europeans on
the West Coast of Greenland who were then in contact with the North
American mainland.
Although used in a restricted sense long before, the name Hansa
was not applied to the League as such until relatively late, the middle
14th century,
W
when the German merchants in diplomatic or commercial
relations began to refer to themselves as "de stede van der dudeschen hanse"
(cities of the German Hansa) or "Hansa Theutonica." Contemporary English
documents speak of the "Dutch Hanse of Almayne" (Allemagne, Germany). The
League did not, in fact, come into existence within a few years or decades.
Its development was slow, just as its eventual decline and disintegration
was gradual and protracted. Its first rudimentary beginnings can be
placed in the early 11th century, while its final demise occurred in
the 17th century, in the wake of the Thirty Years' War, which also
marked the ruin of the Empire and Germany. Hanseatic power was at its height
for more than two centuries, roughly from 1300 to 1500, but even before
Hanseatic League
and after these dates it was a force to be reckoned with in North European affairs.
The Hanseatic League was strictly a medieval institution and the
reasons for its emergence and rise to the hegemony are necessarily varied
and complex. The chief causes can, however, be readily ascertained. In
the first place, the German towns were destined to attain commercial
importance and eminence by virtue of their strategic geographical location.
Situated as they were, astride the courses and along the mouths of the
natural highways, the rivers flowing from the central uplands of the
continent northwest into the northern seas, they had within their
grasp the opportunity to play the
Hanseatic League
role north of the Alps and Carpathians which the Italians were ^ towns ^ were playing in the Medit t er ^ r ^ anean. Their favorable position was further strengthened by the progr a ^ e ^ ssive German expansion and colonisation eastward between the 10th and 14th ^ 15th ^ centuries. This movement put the entire ^ ^ southern Baltic shore, from Holstein to the Neva River ^ , ^ in German hands, caused important trade centers to develop in this area, from Lü beck to Reval; and provided the Hansa ^ with a constant and helpful ally ^ in the powerful Teutonic Order with a constant and helpful ally . Moreover, neces– sity gave impetus to the utilization of this geographic advantage through organization. The continuous waning of the imperial authority, especially after the extinction of the Hohenstaufen dynasty in 1254, and the consequent feudalization and intermittent anarchy were felt primarily in northern Ger– many. The thriving commercial towns, in order to protect themselves against the ^ ^ warring and rapacious territorial lords and safeguard their routes, staples, and markets, were compelled to band together in an association strong enough to do what the Emperor could ^ not ^ or would not do.
The opportunity of the German towns was considerably enhanced by local
conditions in northern Europe. At the time the potential rivals could offer
no serious threat, partly because they were still lacking in the requisite
economic and urban development and partly because they were handicapped by
political
^
internal
^
disorganisation
,
^
and
^
social backwardness, internal
strife
^
,
, and by
^
foreign wars,
or like factors.
Russia was barbaric and under the Tartar yoke. Poland was
disunited and cut off from the sea. The Scandinavian countries, after a pro–
mising early development, sank into a period of progressive stagnation and
feudalization, characterised by constant struggle between royal power and
nobility. England was prevented from assuming its natural role as chief
competitor largely by the interminable French wars and the subsequent
dyanstic
^
dynastic
^
conflict. Holland was still in the Empire and not yet ready for commercial
importance. Finally, the Flemish towns, though very flourishing, were not as
Hanseatic League
strategically placed for northern trade and were, moreover ^ , besides, ^ more directly subject to the authority and interference of imperious princes, the Counts ^ of ^ Flanders and later the Dukes of Burgundy; besides, they were to a considerable degree the helpmates and confederates of the Hansa towns.
The field was thus wide open
^
,
^
and the Hansa moved in and increasingly took
possession, becoming thereby the chief intermediary between north and south,
east and west. Its commercial domain was essentially bounded by the Alps and
Carpathians in the south and the countries of its four great Kontors or main
factories, Novgorod, Bergen, London, and Bruges. But its activities and in–
fluence, economic or otherwise, extended far beyond: from subarctic Norway,
Iceland, and, probably, Greenland to Hungary and northern Italy; from subarctic
Russia to Brittany and Aquitained, Portugal and Spain. Within this periphery
the Hanseats or Hansards were the central traders, the middlemen and carriers
distributing a multitude of commodities, luxuries as well as staples and ne–
cessities indispensable to European Christian civilisation. Some of the im–
portant products were: grain from central and eastern Europe; fish (chiefly
salt herring and dried cod) from the Baltic, Norway, and subarctic waters;
salt from northern Germany and Brittany; wool from England, Spain, Burgundy,
Scotland, and Iceland; fine cloth from Flanders and later England; coarser
materials from Germany, Scotland, and Iceland; linen from Flanders, France,
Germany, Holland, and Ireland; iron, copper, and lead from Sweden, Bohemia,
and Hungary; granite and limestone from Sweden; wines from Germany, France,
and southern Europe; dried fruit and oil from the Mediterranean; furs and
skins from
subarctic and
northern Russia,
^
Siberia,
^
[:
subcratic
]
^
subarctic Norway
^
Norway,
Siberia,
Iceland,
and Greenland; timber, wood, tar, pitch, wax, honey, flax, tallow, and hides
^
from
^
Poland and central and southern Russia; sturgeon from the Volga and Caspian;
silks, velvets, spices, dies, cotton, gold, and gems from the Orient; silver
from Germany, Bohem
[:
]
, and Sweden; hunting falcons, whale and walrus products,
eiderdown from Greenland, Iceland, and the White and Cara Seas.
Hanseatic League
During the height of its
^
greatness
^
power
^
domination
^
^
power
^
the League was a political
^
force
^
power
of the
first order, whose friendship and alliance was sought and welcomed
^
[:
]
^
by European
monarchs and potentates. It could threaten and coerce and even dictate to
kings, wage prolonged and successful wars, conclude important pacts and treaties
and impose blockades and boycotts paralysing the countries affected. The
burgher-merchants of the great Hanseatic centers were at the time unquestion–
ably the most skilled and subtle diplomats of northern Europe, whose realism
and shrewdness almost invariably outwitted their royal or princely opponents.
For better or worse, the League was a
^
^
potent and influential factor in the
life and history of the countries bordering on the seas which it proudly and
arrogantly considered its own. In spite of all warranted criticism of its
selfishness and the effects of its policies, it undeniably contributed in
large measure to the progress of civilization and culture in the area in
question.
Notwithstanding the effectiveness of its organization over a long period,
the Hansa was not a corporation, union, or tightly-knit body. Rather it was
a relatively loose confederation of association of aristocratic municipal
republics, for purposes of trade by land and sea. In negotiations with Eng–
land in 1469 and again with Burgundian emissaries at Utrecht in 1471 the Hansa
envoys rejected the definition of their organisation as "quaedam societas,
collegium, universitas, seu unum corpus vulgariter nuncupatum Hanza Theu–
tonica ". They flatly declared " dat se nicht eyn corpus wesen, noch geweset
hadden, wolden ok noch eyn corpus wesen " (that they were not a corporation
nor had been one nor wished to become one)
,
but were only an association of
municipalities for safeguarding trading rights and privileges acquired abroad.
^¶^ That this statement is essentially correct would be indicated by the not in–
frequent dropping out and reentering of League members, dissension and con–
flict among them, or the pursuit by a prominent town or group of towns of po–
licies antagonistic or injurious to the course accepted by the majority.
Hanseatic League
In fact, the League had no constituted governing body nor common council, trea– sury, armament, diplomatic service, law, or seal, although the Lübeck law was adopted by a good many members. Organisational matters, commercial or poli– tical relations, procedures, contributions, etc . were dealt with as the si– tuation demanded at the irregular meetings of representatives (Hansatage, Hansa Diets) in some important town, usually, but not necessarily, Lübeck. The decisions were incorporated into a protocol called " Recess ". That under the circumstances the organisation functioned as well as it did is significant of the character of the times.
Membership in the League fluctuated considerably over the centuries. Pro–bably, it did not, even during the period of greatest success and prosperity,
exceed seventy-odd towns of some importance, while with affiliated minor com–
munities and districts it may have reached at times twice that number or more.
The members were grouped territorially in Thirds and Sixths under unofficial
leaders
.
^
--
^
t
^
t
^
he Rhenish towns under Cologne, the Westphalian under Dortmund, the
Saxon under Hamburg or Bremen, the Wendish (Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and
Brandenburg) under Lübeck, the Prussian under Danzig, and the Livonian under
Riga.
^¶^ In addition the League comprised, in somewhat looser connection, central
and south German and Silesian members, like Frankfurt on Main, Augsburg, Ulm,
Nürnberg, Breslau, etc., and even Dutch and Swedish towns
,
where resident
German merchants had gained a controlling interest in commercial and municipal
affairs. An early and prominent member until its destruction by the Danes in
1360 was Wisby on the Island of Gotland, which was at the time almost wholly
German in character and leader in the east Baltic and Russian trade.
In this
respect it was succeeded by
Lübeck
,
which
became the accepted unofficial head [: o]
of the League, followed in order of importance by Cologne, Hamburg-Bremen,
Dortmund, Danzig, Riga, Rostock, Wismar, Lüneburg, Brunswick, Magdeburg, Soest,
Stralsund, Stettin, Königsberg, Reval, Elbing, etc.
Hanseatic League
^¶^ The rather inchoate
^
Hansa
^
body was held together by a common interest in guaranted
trading privileges and profits and by the threat of expulsion (Verhansung),
usually
quite
effective. Even great Free Imperial Cities like Cologne and
Bremen were compelled to ask penitently for readmission after Verhansung.
Abroad the
Hansa
^
League
^
acted pretty well in harmonious accord, although not always.
Its avowed policy was to obtain, through negotiation, treaties, and charters,
decided advantages (favorable treatment by the sovereign with regard to se–
curity, taxation, duties, and tolls)
,
amounting to a position of outright
predominance. The undeclared objective was
, however,
monopolistic control of
the carrying trade, to the exclusion of all competitors, foreigners as well as
natives of the country concerned. Due to the conditions of the time the latter
aim was largely achieved.
^¶^ During its apogee, and even beyond, the Hansa en–
joyed a virtual monopoly of the carrying trade of Germany, Scandinavia, the
Baltic, and western and northern Russia, and in other areas,
^
(
^
England, Flanders,
Holland, Poland, Bohemia,
Hungary, and
Iceland,
^
)
^
at least
approached this po–
sition. Toward the attainment and preservation of
^
^
this privileged status, its
chief instrument was a patient, realistic
,
and astute diplomacy, unhampered
by squeamish scruples, and a flexible system of alliances, ever adroitly ad–
justed to changing situations.
Recourse to arms was avoided if at all possible. War, though not rare in
Hanseatic history, was a last resort to be employed only against direct attack,
as in the case of the
flagrant
sack of Wisby
^
by
^
King Waldemar Atterdag of Denmark
(1360
^
1360
^
) or upon persistent abrogation of guaranteed rights, as in 1
[:
]
70–73
^
1470–73
^
during the English War of the Roses. Fleet action was used frequently against
the ever-present pirates and privateers, notably against the notorious Vita–
lian Brotherhood (Victualien Brethren, Viktualien Brüder
[:
]
^
)
^
, which infested
the Baltic and North Sea for decades
^
,
^
(
about 1390–1430
0)
.
^¶^ Generally,
however,
the League pursued a devious game of neutrality in the incessant dy
s
nastic
Hanseatic League
and territorial wars of the age, skilfully playing one contestant against the other and reaping thereby a rich harvest of commercial concessions and gain. Apart from diplomacy, it most effective weapons were reprisals: suspension of trade, boycott, and blockade. When the Hansa shut down its factories and posts in a country and cut off export and import, it meant ultimate economic paralysis. In the end the opponent was forced to open negotiations, in which the merchant envoys almost invariably won all or most of their demands.
^¶^ Con–
sidering that the Hansa had always potent allies, controlled the chief trade
routes and markets, and supplied the staples and necessities, this outcome is
not surprising. A useful lever was also the Hanseatic banking activity, in
which, unlike
in
Lombard and Florentine transactions, commercial gain was the
primary object. Financially harrassed rulers bent on war, like English kings
during the Hundred Years' War and Scandinavian monarchs during their endless
armed conflicts, used the Hansa, which always disposed of large mobile capi–
tal, as money lender or pawn broker. In returning the latter obtained new
concessions or satisfactory confirmation of old charters.
In judging Hanseatic motives, methods, and practices it is well to remem–
ber that the standards of the age were quite different. The League's royal
and princely adversaries
[:
]
^
were
^
,in their own dynastic game,
if anything were,
if anything, even more wanting in ethical qualms. The merchants were merely
more realistic and skilled in seizing and exploiting a given or potential
advantage. Certainly, the rulers who finally broke the Hanseatic hold on
northern commerce
,
were, except for Gustav Vasa of Sweden, scarcely examples
of altruism or champions of human rights and liberties (Ivan III and Ivan the
Terrible of Russia; Hans, Christian II, and Frederic II of Denmark; and the
Tudors of England). Monopoly did not then bear the stigma it does now. It
was inherent in the civilization of the time and was eagerly sought by all
and practiced widely, though, perhaps,
^
[: by none on quite the a scale to quite equal the Hansa.]
^
not on such scale.
Hanseatic League
In contrast to its diplomatic and political ethics, the Hansa maintained
a high standard of commercial integrity, with regard to quality of goods,
weights and measures, prices and currency. In this respect rigid discipline
was imposed and observed, and therein lies in part the explanation of Han–
seatic success. However, a part from all benefits bestowed, the League's mono–
polistic activities undeniably retarded the healthy development of some
countries, especially Norway.
^
These effects
[:
]
into the Arctic particular through Hanseatic interference with the Greenland
[:
]
^
When the Hansa at last entered upon its definite decline, the basic rea–
son was not amorphous organisation or selfish policy, but inability to con–
form to the changing times and new forces
^
that were
^
in the making. The League had al–
ways experienced ups and downs;
and
the final w
ae
^
ea
^
kening was gradual and uneven
throughout the association and the trading area. Although still strong, its
position had already been impaired by a series of developments during the 15th
century: the expansion of Burgundy into the Low Countries; decentralisation
of trade in the Netherlands; migration of the herrings from the Baltic spawn–
ing grounds to the North
^
^
Sea; rise of Dutch commercial competition; humiliation
of the Teutonic Order and loss of West Prussia to Poland
^
[] 1466)
^
; conquest of Novgorod
by Muscovy (1471–78); progressive stagnation of Iceland and decay of the
Greenland settlements; etc. But these were merely related
un
^
or
^
unrelated fore–
runners of the force which forever destroyed Hanseatic hegemony during the
following century: the emergence of the centralized state with strong royal
authority and an awakened national consciousness and economy. In
^
^
succession,
country after country abrogated summarily the ancient Hanseatic privileges,
curiously enough, last of all England (1598).
At the same time
,
new routes, outside the Hansa's orbit were opened;
and the
geographical discoveries shifted the center of commercial gravity from
the inland seas to the oceans. Meanwhile Germany was sinking ever
^
deeper
^
into terri–
torialism and disunity. The Reformation and religious strife eliminated
Hanseatic League
all hope of consolidating the imperial power. Discord spread within the League and caused the withdrawal of inland towns, notably the rich Imperial Cities on the Rhine and in the south, which effected new commercial alignments. Finally, important seaboard members, among them the leader Lübeck, were cripple ^ d ^ by democratic movements ^ directed ^ against the established merchant-patrician oligarchy.
After
the first quarter of the 16th century
^
1525
^
the Hansa was
,in fact,
doomed, although it lingered on for another century. It could not adjust it–
self to the revolutionized situation. Without a strong united Germany it
could no
^
t
^
longer
effectively compete with the new national states. Within
such a Germany it would have had no place or reason for existence. The Han–
seatic League was inherently
^
^
medieval in form
^
,
^
spirit, institutions, methods, and
orientation. It was born of the Middle Ages and died with the Middle Ages.
It was no historical accident that its rise and greatness coincided with the
confused and unstable centuries between the crest of feudalism and the ap–
pearence of the national state.
^¶^ The term 'Hansa' evidently stems from a
Gothic-Old German-Old English word meaning a troup or company of combat
t
ant
men; and the Middle German-Middle French 'hanse', a fellowship, association,
gild
^
guild
^
. In the 11th century it described a band of merchants
,
travelling or
working together, for companionship and protection, in foreign parts, like the
"men of the Empire" or "men from Cologne" in London or the German traders
operating from Gotland in the Baltic.
^¶^ The first 'hanse' were permanent
settlements of the commercial representatives of a specific German town. Be–
cause their trade was valued, they were early granted special privileges, sub–
sequently enlarged, as, for example, in England in 1157, 1194, 1236, and 1260.
Soon different'hanses' in a foreign community merged in a single body,a
German factory. By the middle 13th German commerce had established over the
northern area a ring of central depots or Kontors (London, Novgorod, Bruges,
Bergen)
,
with numerous subsidiary stations. About the same time major towns
in Germany formed leagues for protection of their mutual interests at home
Hanseatic League
and abroad. Thereafter these bodies amalgamated in one association, the Hansa, which had its commercial empire already fully staked out by the previously– existing 'hanses' of its members.
An early and important 'hanse'existed in Wisby in Gotland, a strategic–
cally situated trade center and mart in the eastern Baltic, frequent
ly
^
ed
^
already
in the days of the Northmen. It subsequently attracted German merchants to the
extent of becoming practically German and a leading Hansa town. Its importance
rested in part on the exploitation of the lucrative Baltic herring fisheries,
on which foundation the Wendish towns (Lübeck, Wismar, Rostock, etc.)^,^ like–
wise^,^ rose to commercial greatness. Its chief significance, however, was the
opening of the Novgorod Kontor and the rich trade between the West and the
vast territory in the east and northeast of Europe.
Novgorod, a semi-independent urban principality, which was only indirectly
and briefly subject
the
to the Mongol Khans, was in the late
m
^
M
^
iddle
^
A
^
a
ges the
commercial metropolis of what was then Russia and the outlet for the hinter–
land to the south, east, and north. Located in the northwest, on the Volkhov
River, near Lake Ilmen, its immediate territory comprised the basin of the
Neva and the southern tributaries of the Finnish Gulf. At the same time,
Novgorod commanded the portages into the upper reaches of the great river
systems of the area, the Volga draining
^
^
into the Caspian, the Dnieper into
the Black Sea, and the northern Dvine into the White Sea. Its commercial
greatness began in the 12th century, lasted over four hundred years, and
thus coincided with that of the Hansa, with which, in fact, it was most in–
timately connected. To the Hanseats Novgorod was easily accessible from the
Gulf of Finland by way of the Neva and Lake Ladoga.
^¶^ By the end of the cen–
tury German merchants from Wisby and other
later
Hansa towns were already
firmly established there, and in 1199
a treaty was concluded giving them
^
were granted by treaty
^
Hanseatic League
special exemptions and privileges. The ^ y ^ rapidly began to monopolize the whole Novgorod, i.e. Russian, trade, edged out all European rivals, and established their famous Kontor (St. Petershof) , which was second in importance only to that in Bruges. Frequent difficulties, owing to the low ^ unruly ^ commercial morality of the Russians, the haughty behavior of the Germans, and the peculiar rela– tions between the to e ^ w ^ n and its princes, were always settled in favor of the Hanseats, through application of the commercial blockade, against which Novgo– rod was helpless. A final treaty in 1392 ("the Cross-kissing of John Niebur") confirming all previous agreements and the Hanseatic monopoly, remained in force until Novgorod's independence and prominence were destroyed. After the sack of Wisby (1360) the Wendish and Prussian towns, particularly Lübeck, led in the Russian trade.
Although the Hansa established secondary Kontors in other West Russian
communities (Pskov, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Smolensk, Narva)
,
its trading activitie
^
s
^
do not seem to have penetrated beyond the immediate area.
On the other hand,
^
In turn
^
Novgorod did not trade in the West. It gathered the manifold products of its
far-flung hinterland and exchanged them at the Hanseatic Kontor for the much–
desired European commodities, such as English wool, Flemish cloth, Bay salt,
Baltic herring, Norwegian cod, German beer
^
etc.
^
as well as numerous manufactures
and luxuries sold to the Russian and Mongol nobles. These, in turn, it dis–
tributed as far as the Black Sea, Caspian, Siberia, and the Arctic.
^¶^ The goods
which the Hanseats shipped back to the West were valuable and diverse and came
from three well-defined areas. First, there were products coming, by way of
the great rivers, from the Bosporus, Black Sea, and Caspian or, by caravan
route, from the Orient. Secondly, the great bulk came from Russia proper
(upper and middle Dnieper and Don and upper Volga basins and West Russia)
and the region of the Golden Horde: chiefly grain, hides, skins, tallow, honey,
Hanseatic League
timber, pitch, tar, hemp, and flax. Russian honey and wax were in great demand throughout Europe; the one for universal use as sweetening and the other for the manufacture of candles so indispensable in the elaborate Catholic ^ for illumination and religious ^ rituals. Thirdly, the most valuable, though not perhaps most bulky, products originated in the immense northern territory which the Novgorodians called " Závoloch'e " (land beyond the portages) and which extended north and east of the Baltic– Arctic - ^ d ^ ivide.
závoloch'e, subarctic Russia and northwestern Siberia, from the White Sea
beyond the Urals to the mouth of the Obi River, was the commercial possession
proper of Novgorod and the basis of its wealth and power. Individual Novgo–
rodians had staked out immense private domains in this
bleak
^
Vast
^
country, sparsely
populated by Finn
^
o
^
-Ugrian tribes and Samoyeds, who were periodically raided
for tribute by the former. Practically all the produce of Závoloch'e reached
Novgorod and the Hansa; and
^
most of
^
it was valued and highly-p
^
r
^
ized
, indeed
. The
largest item by far was furs (mink, sable, marten, ermine, beaver, fox, seal,
polar bear, etc.) Furs were a source of great profit to the German merchants,
as they were bought
quite
cheaply and sold, after having been cured and worked
in the Hanseatic factory, at high prices in the West European markets
^
,
^
for use
on the fur-trimmed sumptuous ro
l
^
b
^
es universally worm by the medieval nobles
and wealthy burghers of both sexes.
^¶^ Another costly product of Závoloch'e was
the white hunting falcon, highly
valued
^
esteemed
^
by kings, princes, and nobility. Ad–
ditional exports of the polar sea and subarctic land mass were silver, mica,
fish, whale bone and oil, walruss
hides
^
hides tusks
^
(traded as
ivory
)
^
,
^
and walrus hides,
from which a widely-used rope noted for exceptional strength and durability
was made. The latter, according to contemporary sources was employed for
ships
^
'
^
(
cables, shore ropes,
clappers in hanging bells
and, generally, all pur–
poses for which the ordinary hawser or cable could not serve so well. Albertus
Magnus tellsin the 13th century that walrus rope was commonly sold at the fair
Hanseatic League
in Cologne. There must have been considerable walrus hunting at the time, but, while the Hansa merchants shipped all or most of the hides and ropes, not all came from Závoloch'e; a large quantity came ^ also ^ from the Iceland-Greenland area of ^ and [: ] ^ Finmark ^ , ^ by way of the Bergen Kontor.
Hanseati
[:
]
enterprise, through its Novgorod Kontor, stimulated and sustained
a large Russian and subarctic trade when others were not ready to assume that
role. The Kontor and Novgorod's greatness lasted
,
until
^
,
^
at the end of the
15th century, the expanding centralized state of Muscovy
,
reached out into
the northwest. After Ivan III had plundered and subjected
(1478
[:
]
)
the town
(1478
o
^
ø
^
^
)
^
, Novgorod sank to the level of an ordinary Russian provincial com–munity. In 1498 the Kontor was closed and the Hansa removed its commercial
activity to other West Russian deposts (Pshov, Po
[:
]
otsk, Narva, etc.), albeit
its control was definitely gone.
^¶^ Ivan the Terrible subsequently cancelled
all Hanseatic privileges and shut the Germans out of Russia for twenty years.
Without their special rights and Novgorod as intermediary, especially in Závo–
loch'e, the Hanseats were reduced to the status of other foreigners, who now
came in increasing numbers. The final blow was the opening of the White Sea
^
route
^
through Richard Chancel
e
^
lo
^
r's voyage in 1553 and the founding of the English
Muscovy Company in 1555.
During their centuries of monopoly the Hanseats had successfully kept
foreign merchants, including the English, out of Novgorod. When England
started its aggressive commercial policy in the 16th century, it was logical
that, in view of German control of the Baltic, its navigators should seek
contact with Russia by way of the White Sea, with the
^
commercial
^
discovery of which they
are credited. The Hansa was thus indirectly responsible for the finding of
a valuable new trade route. However, there is every indication that the Kola
Peninsula, White Sea, and even the Cara Sea were known at an early date, pos–
sibly the
11th
^
11th
^
century
^
,
^
to the Norwegians, who appear to have frequented this
Hanseatic League
arctic region over an extensive period for whale, walrus, and seal hunting, of which they did a great deal.
^¶^ To the Norsemen the Novgorodian Závoloch'e
was known as'Bjarmaland', which, as the Historia Norwegiae tells us, was in–
habited by" various peoples who are in the toils of heathendom, namely the
Kiriali and Kwaeni, horned Finns and both Bjarmas". During the ascendancy
of the Hansa these voyages fell in abeyance, owing, in part at least, to Ger–
man interference. If the Norwegians knew, the Hanseats must also have known
about the open waters, around Finmark and the Kola Peninsula, to the Russian
polar hunting grounds. Having easy and direct access to Russia through the
Baltic and No
g
^
v
^
gorod and receiving from the Novgorodians at their Kontor
all
the arctic products
which they could handle
, they, as calculating busin
[:
]
ssmen,
were not interested in the long and arduous journey to the White Sea. In view
of their control of Norway's trade and the lim
^
i
^
tations on its shipping and man–
power, they prefer
^
r
^
ed to see the latter utilized in the lucrative exploitation
of
^
the
^
fisheries
fisheries
off Norway and Finmark and in the
Greenla
Iceland-Green–
land commerce. Hence the Hansa
would
discouraged fitting out ships for voy–
ages
^
^
into the Russian polar area. Why duplicate effort and have the Norwegians
^
do
^
what the Novgorodians were already doing with such profit to the Hansa?
In the three S
^
ea
^
ndinavian countries
^
the carrying
^
trade was
wholly
^
mainly
^
in Hanseatic hands
during the late Middle Ages. Commercial domination, a virtual monopoly, began
with the granting of rights to Lübeck, Hamburg, Wisby, etc. by King Hakon IV
of Norway in 1247, King Eric Clipping of
d
^
D
^
enmark in 1259, and Earl Birger,
Regent of Sweden, in 1261. Starting with protection for their navigation, the
Hanseats managed to extend their priv
e
^
i
^
l
ie
^
e
^
ges by agreement, by prescription,
and by force, fighting with success all attempts to keep them to the strict
letter of the original treaties.
^¶^ At this time there were three powers in
Scandinavia: the nobility, the king, and the Hansa. The last astutely ex–
[:
]
^
ploited the incellent
^
struggle between the first two, in order to cement
[:
]
Hanseatic League
its hold on the three countries. Deprived of revenue by the progressive in– roads of feudalism, the ruler was compelled to seek the financial assistance of the rich League and become its servant. When he attempted to consolidate the royal power, he was confronted with the alternative danger, loss of na– tional independence to foreigners. Thus the Hansa became the dominating ele- political element in the North and ever utilized this position toward its sole aim: commercial monopoly and exclusion of all rivals, especially the English and Dutch. This state of affairs ended only when in the 16th century a strengthened royal authority fostered native trade and placed the Germans on the same footing with other foreigners.
In Sweden, as in Russia, the pioneers of Hanseatic penetration were Wisby
and Lübeck. When in the late 13th century the former, almost wholly German,
came under Swedish sover
^
e
^
ignty, its status as a Hansa town was not affected.
Other Swedish towns were, in fact, members of the League. At the time German
mercha
t
nts were settled in Stockholm and other Swedish ports in such num
n
^
^
ers
and exercised such influence that they acquired the right to elect half the
members of the town councils. Sweden had not as yet developed a real urban
and mercantile class and, therefore, was dependent on the Hanseats, whose
presence and activities were over many years a distinct economic and cul–
tural benefit to the country.
The Hansa exported nearly all Swedish products, the most important of
which
were, by far,
came from the great herring fishing grounds off Sweden's
southernmost provinces, then in part held by Denmark. The fisheries off
A
^
a
^
Scania and subsidiary industries, such as the importa
[:
]
ion of salt, were prac–
tically a
Hanseatic
monopoly of the Hansa towns and the very cornerstone of
their commerce and wealth. Salt herring from Scanör and Falsterbo in Scania,
where a modified Kontor was main
a
tained and a great international fair was
held during the fishing season, was sols
s
^
d
^
throughout Christendom as an indis-
Hanseatic League
pensable article of diet during the innumerable fast days. In addition, the Hanseats exported from Sweden essential raw materials like iron, copper, sil– ver, granite, and limestone, the latter two important to Europe for the construction of ecclesiastical, public, and private buildings.
On the whole, relations between the Hansa and Sweden were rather amicable,
except during the duration of the
C
^
K
^
almar Union. Generally, the League sided
with Sweden against Denmark, the predominant Scandinavian power and the Hansa's
chief antagonist. German preeminence in the country ended only when urban
and civic progress encouraged enlightened strong rulers, back
^
ed
^
by popular sup–
port, to inaugurate a policy of national self-interest, resulting in the can–
cellation of Hanseatic political prerogatives by Sten Sture in 1471 and of
commercial privileges by Gustav Vasa some sixty years later. Thereafter
Swedish
^
national
^
commerce flourished and the Germans shared in it strictly on a reci–
procal basis. The
herring
fisheries had greatly declined even before then,
due to the migration of the herring to the North Sea and Dutch competition.
The northern country most completely under Hanseatic domination was
undoubtedly Norway, the reasons for which are not difficult to ascertain.
After a promising early development and expansion, the Norse kingdom entered
in the 13th century upon a long period of political disorganization and social
and economic arrest, coincidental with the rise of the Hansa. A feudalism
introduced from abroad produced an ever-sharpening conflict between nobility
and royal authority, aggravated by subsequent union with Denmark.
^¶^ Far larger
in territory than today,
the country
^
Norway
^
was comparatively backward
^
commercially
^
and sparsely
inhabited. While the aristocracy lost its national instinots, the sturdy
yeomen and peasants in the valleys and fjords had as yet no po
p
^
l
^
itical inter–
ests. The
once
navigation and commerce launched by the Vikings
^
centuries earlier now
^
became in–
creasingly stagnant and there was no burgher class su
^
ff
^
iciently developed to
stem the commercial invasion of the prosperous, more advanced, and strongly-
Hanseatic League
organised German towns.
^¶^ Though poor in resources on land, Norway was vitally
important to the Hanseats because of the superb Norwegian seamanship and the
riches to be derived from the adjoining northern waters and the Norse settle–
ments beyond the sea
^
, in Greenland and Inland.
^
Hence they made
it
^
Norway
^
the location of one of their four
great bulwarks, the Kontor in Bergen, and secondary factories elsewhere.
A German depot was established in Bergen in the middle 13th century, under
the leadership of Lübeck. Early infringement of trading privileges by King
Eric II Priesthater and his officials led to a
successful
Hanseatic blockade
of Norway
and the Treaty of Tönsberg (1294 []), the provisions of which formed
the basis of all future commercial intercourse between Norway and the Hansa.
Exploiting these advantages to the fullest in the early 14th century, the
German merchants built their famous center, the "deutsche Brücke (German
bridge) in Bergen, compelled the expulsion of their English and Scottish
rivals, and began to monopolize almost entirely Norwegian trade with the rest
of Europe. Their position was further cemented by the Peace of Stralsund
(1370) and the Treaty of Kallundsborg (1376).
^¶^ Nonetheless, there were
grave disturbances of relations during the following century and a half, re–
quiring the constant vigilance of the Hanseats. In the frequent wars of the
^
Danish
^
Kalmar Union kings of Norway the League was always involved, either as a belli–
gerent or a suffering neutral. Sometimes the Hanseats were expelled from Ber–
gen for years and
^
on
^
other occasions had to apply suspension of trade or blockade
to obtain adjustment
s
of grievances. Moreover, Bergen was plundered and burn–
ed by the pirates (Victualien Brethren^)^( in 1394 and again in 1428.
Incea
Increasing resent
^
ment
^
of the overbearing attitude and restrictive policies of
the Germans by the natives, the gradual growth of Norwegian social cohesion
and national sentiment, and the demand of a rising burgher element for parti–
cipation in the rich trade centered in the homeland created increasing friction
and ultimately led to the restoration of Norwegian economic independence.
Hanseatic League
Still the Hansa managed to retain its privileged status in Norway till well into the 16th century.
While the Hanseats had a virtual monopoly of Norwegian exports and the
trade passing through Norway, their position with regard to imports was not
quite as exclusive. Other foreign traders (English, Scottish, Dutch, Flemish,etc.)
were at times resident in Bergen and other ports and brought in goods
on a modest scale. Hanseatic diplomacy and political or economic pressure
was
^
were
^
always directed toward keeping out these
objectionable
intruders. The
subject figured frequently in negotiations with the English kings, whose ef–
forts to gain admittance into Norway for their clamorous subjects were, how–
ever, usually hampered by international complications and financial obligations
to the Hansa towns.
^¶^ When foreign competitors did enter, they were, more often
than not, placed at a disadvantage by the adroit Hanseats with regard to num–
ber of ships admitted, tolls and levies, type of merchandise, conditions of
sale, etc. In most cases they had to sell their best wares to the Germans
at prices imposed by the latter. In these circumstances, these rivals, no–
tably the English, eager to share in the rich fisheries and
^
in
^
arctic and sub–
arctic trade, had increasingly recourse to privateering and pir
^
a
^
cy,
in-far
especially in far northern waters.
Under the commercial regime built up by the Hansa Norway became
wholly
dependent on the latter for importation of vital necessities, manufactured
goods, and raw materials, such as grain, wool, cloth, metals, salt,
leather
^
honey
^
.
wax, etc. By contrast, its internal economy contributed little of great va–
lue to the Hanseatic carrying trade, sa
f
^
v
^
e perhaps
^
timber, tar, [: and],
^
butter. But this deficiency
was compensated for many times by Norwegian fishing and shipping in the inter–
est of the Hansa.
^¶^ Norwegians had previously f
u
^
i
^
shed a great deal in adjacent
waters and
^
had
^
hunted, probably, as far
^
east
^
as the Cara Sea. With the 13th century
Hanseatic League
and the advent of the Hansa a great change took place in the commerce of nor northern Europe, due to the introduction of big staple articles, Norwegian dried cod and Baltic salt herring. The Hanseats systematically organized the production exploitation of the fisheries, both Norwegian and Baltic, on an in– ternational scale. They supplied the mobile capital, business experience and [: ] directing brains, processing a p ^ P ^ aratus, warehouses, export vessels, and foreign markets, while the Norwegians furnished mainly manpower, seamanship, fishing vessels and ^ maritime ^ skill. The distribution of Norwegian dried cod and haddock reach– ed such proportions in the 14th and 15th centuries that neither Europe, the Hansa, nor Norway could have done without this industry. How the League valued the humble fish is indicated by its coat of arms, consisting of half Lübeck eagle and half cod surmounted by a crown.
Under Hanseatic stimulation and direction Norwegian fisheries were ever
extended northward and northwestward. Important new grounds were developed
around the country's subarctic province
^
,
^
Fin
^
n
^
mark. While
^
^
the economic superiority
of the German merchants stifled Norwegian trade overseas and polar navigation
and hunting
^
,
^
and severely handicapped the growth of an independent burgher
class, it did not work entirely to Norway's disadvantage. It made Bergen a
great
staple
^
[:
]
^
for northern fish, helped to develop native fishing to a pre–
eminence lasting till today, and resulted in fishing-folk settling along the
coast of Finmark as far as the Varanger Fjord, thus making this province, here–
tofore people
s
^
d
^
entirely by Lapps, truly Norwegian.
During the hegemony of the Hansa Bergen was also the center of collect–
ion and distribution for the products of a prosperous trade in furs with Lapps
and Finns to the far north and
^
with the Norse - speaking lands west of the Atlantic,
^
of Norways
colonies overseas, primarily
Iceland
and Greenland. While these commodities did not equal the dried fish in bulk
or value, they were, nevertheless, much in demand and some were highly-prized.
The more important Icelandic exports were: hunting falcons, heavy or coarse
Hanseatic League
wool cloth ( w ^ V ^ admal), wool, woolen rugs and cloaks, sheepskins, mutton, eider– down, sulphur, fish, fox furs, butter, tallow, and whale ^ and coolliver ^ oil. Exports from Greenland included falcons, walrus ' ivory ' , walrus hides and rope, furs (fox ^ , ^ seal, p ^ o ^ lar bear, etc.) , hides (cattle, sheep, reindeer ^ caribou ^ ) , and whale bone and fat . ^ , ^ ^ with small amounts of wool and [: butter ] . ^ While some of these goods made no great impress on the European economy, others did, either because of their scarcity and value or because they were widely used for a variety of purposes. Falcons from Iceland ^ , ^ and Greenland ( subarctic Russi [: ] ) were most highly esteemed throughout the Christian and even the Saracen world. 'Ivory' ^ Walrus ivory ^ was sought for the manufacture of crosses, statuettes, ^ handles, ^ medallions, girdles, chessmen, trinkets, ornaments, and Church decorations. There is a record of a very large sale (1337) in Flanders of wa walrus tusks shipped from Bergen; they must have come ^ mainly ^ from Iceland or Greenland and ^ must [: ] ^ brought by the Hansa from the Norwegian to the Bruges Kontor. The excel– lence and extensive use of walrus rope has already been mentioned in connection with Novgorod. Whale products, sulphur, eiderdown, and furs were also valuable goods and widely used. Iceland's w ^ V ^ admal was needed for a variety of purposes.
The fisheries of Iceland developed relatively late, in the 14th century,
but soon assumed considerable proportions; in particular, a superior kind of
salt herring
^
and cod
^
was exported by the subarctic island. So important did these
fisheries become that they were the cause of a great deal of 'piracy' and
poaching in Icelandic waters on the Hanseatic-Norwegian monopoly. The English,
in particular, were active in this respect.
With regard to some of the mentioned articles (falcons, ivory, walrus
rope, whale products, furs, etc.), there was undoubtedly competition between
the Bergen and Novgorod Kontors, which both distributed them in quantity over
Europe. But such was the demand that neither the
Ice-land
Iceland-Greenland
area (Bergen) not the Russian subarctic region (Novgorod) could alone meet
it. The former supplied probably more falcons and whale products, while the
^
latter
^
Hanseatic League
furnished the greater amount ^ quantity ^ of furs and, posibly possibly ^ , ^ walrus ivory and rope. ^ Still Vatican documents make special mention of the execellent walrus rope from Greenland. ^
The chief imports into Iceland and Greenland were grain, flour, timber,
tar, pitch, wax, fine cloth, silk and linen (in bulk and garments), honey,
and wine. But it was the former rather than the latter which needed these
commodities in any quantity or was sufficiently advanced and wealthy to pay
for luxury goods. Moreover, by
the end of
the
14th
^
15th
^
century the Greenland
settlements
were
^
decreasing in
had decreased in commercial importance
^
decaying and unable to buy
and even Iceland was losing its
former puchasing power. As in the case of Norway, the commodities furnished
by these countries were economically far more important to Europe than those
sent in return.
The Hansa, during its long commercial supremacy in Northern Europe, un–
doubtedly, handled an overwhelming amount
, if not all at times,
of Icelandic
and Greenlandic exports and imports. With regard to the latter it had a
virtual monopoly of the northern trade in necessities like grain, iron, timber,
wax, tar, pitch, and honey and in luxuries like silk, Flemish cloth, and wine.
As for exports, it controlled in Bergen the almost exclusive station of transit
and, through its Bruges and London Kontors and member towns from Holland to
Sweden and Esthonia the chief outlets for distribution throughout Europe.
The question remains to what extent the Hansa monopolized the far-northern
commerce with Norway as intermediary or traded with Iceland and Greenland
directly, in some sort of competition with others. The Hansa became prominent
at the very time (1247–6I) when the two Norse settlements united with Nor–
way politically
^
so that the
^
and the independent
trade of
^
both
^
the Icelanders
^
and Greenlanders fell
^
began to decline
and fall
into Norwegian hands. In 1294 commerce with the tributary countries
of Norway
were
^
was
^
declared to be a royal monopoly, which the king could farm out
to Norwegian subjects. Bergen was then the staple for all Icelandic-Greenland–
ic products and, naturally, the Hansa was the beneficiary. In these circ-
Hanseatic League
cumstances, no real need existed for direct Hanseatic intercourse with the Norwegian possessions overseas - there were, in addition, ^ to Iceland and Greenland ^ the Faroes and, until 1468, the Shetlands and the Orkneys. Considering, however, the loose bonds between the members of the League and the separate course steered at times by individual towns, irrespective of League decisions, it is reasonable to assume that during the 14th century some Hanseatic vessels touched occasionally at these far-off islands to pick up a valuable cargo. But this trade cannot have amounted to much until the following century.
English, Scottish, and Irish traders seem to have carried on a lively in–
tercourse with the northern islands, especially Iceland, up to the end of the
13th century. At the time, the Greenland trade was, probably, for the most
part in the hands of the Icelanders, who either shipped the goods to ports in
northern Europe or delivered them to the visiting merchants from the south.
This situation changed radically with the advent of the royal monopoly and the
ascendancy of the Hansa. The Icelanders disappeared as independent traders
and the English and other European merchants ceased to frequent the far North
during the 14th century. Commerce with all possessions overseas became en–
tirely a prerogative of Norwegian merchants in the great staple Bergen, to the
ultimate benefit of the Hansa.
^¶^ Early in the 15th century, however, the English
reappeared in northern waters. It is recorded, for example, that in the first
decades of that century ships sailed adventurously from Lynn "by nedle and by
stone ...unto the costes colde" of Iceland and established a profitable trade
with the inhabitants. The very wording of the report indicates that it was a
new development, that visits to Iceland must have been
unknown or
rare for
many years
^
a longtime before
^
. English calls at Icelandic ports multiplied during the succeeding
decades. Bristol, particularly, became active in the new trade, partly because
^
of
^
its geographical location and partly because of the prominence of experienced
Norwegians in its mercantile population.
Hanseatioc League
The main attraction of the northern waters to the English was the profit–
able fisheries which had developed meanwhile around Iceland (herring and cod)
and the Faroes (cod and halibut), in addition, no doubt, to the arctic pro–
ducts, which were always in demand. The constant encroachment upon the Norwe–
gian monopoly and the numerous acts of brutality and violence committed by the
English visitors in Iceland - on one occasion they slew the Norwegian governor
- caused the Kalmar Union kings of Norway, very likely prodded by the inter–
ested Hansa, to make repeated bitter remonstrances to the English monarchs,
particularly Henry VI. Treaties between the two countries outlawed the illicit
intercourse, and the English rulers, under pressure, sternly, but possibly
with
^
tongue in cheek
^
cheek in tongue
, forbade their subjects to sail to the islands under Nor–
wegian sovereignty. But all representations and prohibitions notwithstanding,
the trade continued and, if anything, increased up to the latter part of the
century. As a matter of fact, the English interlopers acquired during the
time a sizeable share of Icelandinc commerce.
Meanwhile these inroads had brought the Hanseats, threat
^
e
^
ned in their
vital Bergen trade, on the scene. Fearful le
a
st the desirable arctic and sub–
arctic commodities be cut off at their very source by the English, Hansa ships
began to sail in increasing numbers to the n
^
o
^
rthern waters
^
,
^
beginning with the
first decades of the 15th century. There is abundant evidence of direct Ger–
man intercourse with the Shetlands and Faroeas, Iceland and even Greenland.
In the first place, King Eric's - Eric of Pomerania, King of Denmark, Norway,
and Sweden - dictum in 1425
prohibiting
^
forbidding
^
the Germans to go to the islands, and
subsequent royal mandates, would hardly have been issued if such voyages had
not been sufficiently frequent to warrant royal intervention. Secondly, the
English merchants in defending themselves against accusations of violence in
Iceland
^
,
^
laid their misdeeds at the door of Hanseats then present on the
islad-
island. Furthermore, at the time companies were formed in important Hansa
Hanseatic League
towns by the men who regularly sailed to specific countries in the League's commercial orbit. Besides those of the Flanders, Egnland, Scania, Bergen, Novgorod seafarers, there were also the companies of the Iceland voyagers (Islandfahrer). Finally, the Bergen Kontor compla ^ i ^ ned strenuously at the Hansa Diets against the Hanseats, who, circumventing Bergen, went directly to the islands, and tried to have such voyages stopped.
The situation had actually reached the point where the Kontor was losing
trade through serious competition. At the time, the Norwegian merchants in
Bergen had been thoroughly crushed and eliminated by the Germans, who now com–
pletely controlled the country's commerce. The 'Norderfarer', Norwegians who
fished and hunted in arctic waters and gathered the products of Finmark, Ice–
land, Greenland, etc, were
wholly
dependent financially on the Bergen Kontor
and worked
exclusively
for its account. The latter had thus within the Nor–
wegian monopoly a smoothly-functioning monopoly of its own and had no desire
to lose through what it considered unlawful activities of other Hanseats.
^¶^ In
spite of all protests, however, German direct intercourse with Iceland steadily
increased until in 1494 the Kontor finally acquiesced and permitted Hanseatic
trade with Iceland, though not with other islands. Evidently, the situation
had gotten completely out of hand. This deci
[:
]
ion was, in fact, rather belated
since King Christian I had faced realities decades earl
^
i
^
er by granting the
Germans and English free trade in Iceland.
During most of the 15th century the Hanseats had waged a bitter struggle
with other foreigners, chiefly the English, over the important arctic and
subarctic fisheries, especially around Iceland, and ultimately emerged vic–
torious. Crowding out all their rivals, they dominated,
fishing and trading
though
^
they did
^
not monopolize
d
, fishing and trading in the area, from the end of the
century
^
^
for another hundred years. Hamburg and Bremen appear to have been the
H [: ] seatic League
active Hansa towns in the Iceland-Greenland region.
Although the Greenland commerce steadily diminished to the
vanishing point — the settlements became commercially extinct by
the middle 16th century — it probably was still rather considerable
during the preceding century and most of it went to the Hanseats.
Hamburg ships are reported to have called at Greenland harbors as
late as 1537 and 1539. It was likely they who brought to Greenland
the mid-European fashions in clothing of the 1450–1500 period which
are found in the garments of corpses buried in Greenlandic church–
yards, preserved for our archaeologists by the chill of the frozen
ground. In all likelihood they continued their voyages after 1539
for whale, walrus, and seal hunting, just as English, Dutch, French,
and Basque vessels
[:
]
plied Greenland waters during the latter half
of the century for the same purpose. It may well have been Hanseats
who brought to Greenland the European wares seen there by Sir Martin
Frobisher in 1578.
Hanseatic League
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bi
l
bliographies
^
Bi
l
bliographies
^
^
:
^
There is no independent bibliography for Hanseatic history. The best is to
found in Dahlmann-Waitz, Quellenkunde (see below)
Primary Sources
^
Primary Sources
:
^
Bremisches Urkundenbuch.
Vols, I–IV (–1433). Bremen, 1863–93.
Codex Diplomaticus Lubecensis
. Abt. I, Urkundenbuch der Sta
[:
]
t Lüb
a
^
e
^
ck. 11 vols
(Verein für Lübeckische Geschichte), Lübeck, 1843 ff.
Ennen, L., and Eckertz, G.,
Quellen zur Geschichte der Stadt Köln
. 6 vols.
Cologne, 1860–1875.
Hamburgisches Urkundenbuch.
Ed. Lappenberg, J.M. Vol. I, (–1300), Hamburg,
1842.
Hansische Geschichtsquellen
. (Verein für Hansische Geschichte). Erste Folge
7 vols., Halle, 1875–95. Neue Folge, 7 vols., Berlin, 1897, 1900; Leipzig,
1906; Lüback, 1922; vols. VI and VII no date.
Hansiches Urkundenbuch.
Vols. I–X, Leipzig, 1876–1907.
Inventare Hansischer Archive.
Vols. I and II, Kölner Inventar (1531–1591),
Vol. III, Danziger Inventar (Verein für Hansische Geschichte), Leipzig,
1896–1913.
Lappenberg, J.M.,
Geschichtsquellen des Erzstiftes und der Stadt Bremen
.
Bremen, 1841.
-------
Urkundliche Geschichte des Londoner Stahlhofes
. Hamburg, 1851.
Recesse und andere Akte der Hansatage von 1256–1430
. Part I, 8 vols, (Hist.
Commission BAW), Leipzig, 1870–1917. Part II, 1437–78, 7 vols. (Verein für
Hansische Geschichte), Leipzig, 1876–92; Part III, 1477–1530, 8 vols., 1881–
1910.
Tratziger, Adam,
Chronica der Stadt Hamburg bis 1557
. Hamburg, 1865.
Weinrich, C.
Danziger Chronik
. Danzig, 1855.
Secondary Sources
^
Monumenta Histori
[:
]
a Norvegiae
^
. Ed. Storm,
[:
]
ustav. Latinske Kildeskrifter til
Norges Historie i Middelalderen. Christiania, 1880.
Secondary Sources
Secondary Sources
^
:
^
Agats, A.
Der hansische Baienhandel
. (
[:
]
bh. zur mittleren und neueren Ge–
schichte, V) Heidelberg, 1904.
Bartold, F.W.,
Die Geschichte der deutschen Hanse
. New ed. 2 vols., Magdeburg
and Leip
[:
]
.
Berg, F.E.,
De Nederlanden en het Hanseverbond.
Provinciaal Utrechtsch Geno
^
o
^
t-
Hanseatic League
schap van Kunsten en Wetenschap. Nieuwe Verhandelingen, IX), Utrecht, 1833.
Buck, W.,
Der deutsche Handel in Nowgorod bis zur Mitte des 14 Jahrhunderts
.
St. Petersburg, 1895.
------
Der deutsche Kaufman in Nowgorod bis zur Mitte des 14 Jahrhunderts.
Heidelberg
Berlin, 1891.
Colvin, Ian D.
The Germans in England, 1066–1598.
London, 1915.
Daenell, Ernst R.
Die Blütezeit der deutschen Hando
: Hansische Geschichte von
der zweiten Halfte des 14 bie zum letzten Viertel des 15 Jahrhunderts. 2 vols.,
Berlin, 1905–6.
-----
Zur hansischen Schiffahrt im Mittelalter
. (In: ZuFriedrich Ratzels
Gedächtniss) Leipzig, 1904.
Girgensohn, P.,
Die
[:
]
kandinavische Politik der Hanse
, 1375–95. (Upsala Univer–
tets Arsskrift
[:
]
, Upsala, 1898
Hansische Geschichtsblätter
. (Verein für Hansische Geschichte), Bremen,
1923 ff.
Hering, Ernst.
Die deutsche Hanse.
Leipzig, 1943.
Lindner, T.
Die deutsche Hanse.
4th Ed., Leipzig, 1
0
^
9
^
11.
R
^
e
^
esenkampff, N. G.,
Der deutsche Hof zu Nowgorod bis zu seiner Schliessung
durch Ivan III in Jahre 1494.
Dorpat, 1854.
Nash, E.G.,
The Hansa. Its History and Romance.
London, 1929.
Sartorius, G.F.,
Geschichte des hanseatischen Bundes
. 3 vols., Göttingen,
1802–8.
Muscovy or Russia Company
EA-History (R.N. Rudmose Brown)
MUSCOVY OR RUSSIA COMPANY
The Portuguese discovery at the end of the fifteenth century of
a sea route to the east stimulated other maritime nations to look for
new ways independent of the African route which the Portuguese jealously
guarded in their own interest. Up to that time branches of the Hanseatic
League dominated the foreign trade of Great Britain, and the Merchant
Adventurers of London showed little enterprise except in trading with
the Netherlands. The Cabots began the search for a northwest passage
in the hope of getting past the awkward hindrance of North America, and
in London the Merchant Adventurers founded the Muscovy or Russia Company,
which received a charter in 1553 to push trade relations to the northeast
and reach the wealth of Cathay by dealings with Russia. Sebastian Cabot,
who had entered English employ, is generally credited with this new move
of the London Merchants and is said to have drawn up instructions for the
first voyage which was to reach "Cathay and divers other regions, dominians,
islands and places unknown." The expedition was under the command of
Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor (qq.v), who carried letters
to the "Kings, Princes, and other Potentates inhabiting the North East
partes of the worlde, toward the Mighty Empire of Cathay." They sailed
in 1553 in three ships. Chancellor returned with one ship; the others
were lost. From the White Sea Chancellor reached Moscow and gained much
new information.
EA-History. Brown: Muscovy or Russia Company
In 1556, the Merchant Adventurers, who had now obtained a Charter
of Incorporation, sent Stephen Burrough (q.v.), who had been with Chancellor,
to search for the Northeast Passage. The ice of the land-locked Kara (q.v.)
proved to be an obstacle and little was achieved. Again in 1580 the
expedition of A. Pet and C. Jackman (qq.v) was thwarted by that ice.
But the Muscovy Company persevered in its attempts and in 1584 one of
its vessels reached the mouth of the Ob in Siberia, but that was their
furthest east; trade with Russia then absorbed their interest. The Company
also tried to find a way to the northwest. M. Frobisher (q.v.) in 1574
was licensed by the Muscovy Company and H. Hudson (q.v.) was a servant of
the Company on his first voyage in 1607.
The discovery of Spitsbergen by the Dutchman Barents in 1596 drew
the Muscovy Company's interest to that island group. The first ship to
reach Spitsbergen under their auspices was the
Grace
under Stephen Bennet,
which in 1603 renamed Bear Island Cherri Island, after one of the members
of the Muscovy Company. Bennet was back again the following three years
and again in 1608. He found walrus in great numbers and reported galaena
or lead ore. In 1607, Hudson was there looking for a way to the east.
In 1609 Jonas Pool began a series of visits and reported may whales in
the waters around Bear Island and on the west of Spitsbergen. For a time
walrus were a more attractive prize than whales, since the English with
no expert harpooners had to learn the whaling industry from Basque and
Breton whalers. Before long, however, the Muscovy Company's whalers
were active in Spitsbergen waters, competing not only with Dutchmen, Danes
and other foreigners, but also with English interlopers from Hull, London
and other ports. The Muscovy Company in 1613 obtained from King James a
EA-History: Muscovy or Russia ^ C ^ ompany
monopoly to all the Spitsbergen whale fishery and ownership of the bays which were used for boiling down the blubber. W. Baffin and R. Fotherby on be– half of the Company in 1614 set up the King's Arms at various places on the northwest coast of Spitsbergen. The chief argument in favor of English sovereignty over "King James his New Land" was the entirely fallacious one that Willoughby was the discoverer of Spitsbergen. He was never near it. The Dutch Government did not protest the British action and the Dutch whalers ignored the English pretensions and arrived at the fishery with their own charter from the Prince of the Netherlands. Eventually, after much quarreling, English and Dutch whalers made their own allocation of bays and both ignored the Danes. At length in 1642 the Spitsbergen fish– ery was thrown open to the ships of all nations, but the fisheries had long ceased to be of much value. Thereafter the Muscovy Company figures little in the history of the Arctic, although it continued to trade with northern Russia until the eighteenth century and was more often known as the Russia Company.
R. N. Rudmose Brown
The Zeno Voyages
[Figure]Encyclopedia Arctica Eloise McCaskill Popini
T ^ he ^ Zeno Voyages
^
Reed or Dearing and read
[:
]
ept 30/48 letter written to Olive
^
The Zeno voyages, alleged to have been made
^
by two Venetian brothers
^
to
the
lands and islands
of the North Atlantic in around 1380 or 1390 and long considered by his–
torians to represent a pre-Columbian discovery of
^
arctic and antarctic north
^
America, are derived
from a book and map published in Venice in 1558. Since that date the
story has
constituted
^
been
^
one of the major puzzles of history. The map im–
mediately threw the cartography of the regions
concerned
into a con–
fusion which was not finally dispelled until Peary in 1895 proved the
insularity of Greenland.
Although from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries a small min–
ority of geographers and cartographers doubted the authenticity of the
voyages, the first it was generally accepted and upheld. The first writer
to attack the Zeno narrative with force and effect was Admiral Zahrtmann,
Hydrographer to the Danish Royal Navy. His paper on the subject, published
in Copenhagen in 1833, was soon afterwards translated into English, with
such effect that the controversy waxed violent throughout the century. In
1873 R.H.Major, F.S.A., of the British Museum, edited
The Voyages of the
Brothers Zeno
for the Hakluyt Society and purposed to end the controversy
once for all. He
sincerely
believed that he had
[:
]
proved beyond the shad–
ow of a doubt the
complete
genuineness of the story. His conclusions ap–
peared convincing, were widely accepted, and are largely responsible for
a continued belief, derived from text-book teaching, in the indubitable
historicity of the voyages. In his introduction he attacked Admiral
Zahrtmann with
actual
fury,and his work,
^
though
^
scholarly and impressive
though
it is
, is a good example of the emotional intensity sometimes aroused in
scholarly
^
learned
^
controversies.
^¶^ In 1898, however, Frederic William Lucas, in his
Annals of the Voyages of the Brothers Nicol
o
^
ò
^
and Antonio Zeno
, swung the
Zeno Voyages
completely ^ pendulum ^ in the opposite direction. Since the publication of his monu– mental work, which also displays much emotion but is more objective than Major's, historians have generally rejected both the ^ Zeno ^ narrative and the ^ its ^ map as spurious. Such is the present status of the question. Lucas, too, believed that with his work it was closed, and it would indeed be diffi– cult to refute most of his evidence except in the light of new evidence. It is of course possible that such may appear. One is reminded of the printer's motto which appears on the title page of the Zeno book, Veritas filia temporis — "Truth is the daughter of time".
Nicol
o
^
ò
^
Zeno (June 6, 1515-August 10, 1565) was author or compiler of
the book and map. He was a member of a
^
famous
^
distinguis^h^ed
patrician family of
Venice, which could boast of a Doge, several notable statesmen and war–
riors, and a Cardinal in its ranks. He was a direct descendant
of
of the
Antonio Zeno of the book, concerning whom little appears in the annals of
Venice except that he seems to have died in or before 1403. The father of
the younger Nicol
o
^
ò
^
was a Catarino Zeno, who was the grandson of Catarino
Zeno, "il Cavalliere", Ambassador from Venice to Persia in 1471–73, (An
account of the latter's travels
[:
]
in that country is published in the same
volume as the account of the northern voyages.) Nicol
o
^
ò
^
himself had a dis–
tinguished career. He was a member of the Council of Ten of Venice, and
was sent in 1543 as member of an embassy to the Emperor Charles V. He also
had considerable reputation as a writer,
[:
]
mathematician and geographer, and
is said to have written an univ
a
^
e
^
rsal history, or
Storia Universale
, which
is not extant.
As for the elder Nicol
o
^
ò
^
Zeno, it appears that there were
^
at least
^
three per–
sons of this name in Venice in 1379. This was revealed through
^
results of the
^
the inves–
tigations of Cardinal Zurla, published in 1808, one of the chief Zeno au–
thorities and
^
a
^
staunch supporter of the truth of the narrative. His conclusion
Zeno Voyages
as to which of the three was the traveller has been universally accepted by proponents of both sides of the question. This is in conformity with what Nicol o ^ ò ^ the younger tells us in the genealogy at the beginning of his narrative: that his own direct ancestor, Antonio, and Nicol o ^ ò ^ the Cavalier, the heroes of the narratives, were brothers of the famous Carlo, who in 1382 saved the Venetian Republic. (Carlo enters into the picture ^ of the northern voyages ^ only inso– far as the letters upon which the narrative is supposedly based were ^ allegedly ^ written to him.)
^¶^ We find this Cavalier Nicol
o
^
ò
^
Zeno da S. Canzian as one of the pa–
tricians who took part in 1367 in the election of the Doge Marco Cornaro,
and in 1382 that of the Doge Michele Morosini. In 1367 he
was
also appears
as one of the twelve sent by the Venetian Senate to Marseilles to bring
the Pope to Rome. In 1379, during the war between Venice and Genoa, he com–
manded a galley ag
^
a
^
inst the Genoese. In 1380 he appears to have been a sort
of secretary of war (
savio per la guerra
), and in 1382 an ambassador to
Ferrara. Lucas
^
says
^
points out
(p.62) that "the only confirmation yet found of
the allegation by Nic
l
^
o
^
o
^
ø
^
^
l
^
o
^
ò
^
Zeno, the younger, that a 'Nicol
o
^
ò
^
Zeno' did go on
a voyage to the North Sea in the ninth decade of the fourteenth century"
is the fact that the name does actually appear in the list of the annual
Flanders voyages as "that of the Captain appointed to the command of the
Flanders galleys, on the 22nd of January, 1385". (Lucas makes a point of
noticing that Major, although he refers to this list, previously published
by Rawdon Brown, overlooks this important point which would have strength–
ened his case.)
^¶^ In Muratori's
[:
]
Rerum Italicarum Scriptores
(tome22,
p. 779) this same Nicol
o
^
ò
^
, called "
Ser Dracone
" (because of the dragon adopt–
ed in his coat-of-arms), is mentioned as one of the three Syndics elected
on November 26, 1388, to take possession of the city of Treviso. These are
the most important known facts in the life of the alleged polar
[:
]
traveller.
The dates must be considered in any interpretation of the narrative.
Zeno Voyages
^
Part Missing ?
^
This
^
The book which tells of the real or
alleged
fictitious Zeno voyages
^
appeared in Venice, December, 1558, as a small octavo volume,
^
[:
]
→
^
containing fifty-eight printed folios and a woodcut map,
under the title:
^
more into bibliog ?
^
De i Commentarii del/ Viaggio in Persia di M. Caterino Zeno il K./
& dell e guerre fatte nell' Imperio Persiano,/ dal tempo di Vssuncassano in
quà./ Libri due./ Et dello Scoprimento/ dell' Isole Frislanda, Eslanda,
Engrouelanda, Esto/ tilanda, & Icaria, fatto sotto Polo Arctico, da/ due
fratelli Zeni, M. Nicol
o
^
ò
^
il K. et M. Antonio,/Libro uno./ Con un disegno
particolare di/ tute le dette parte di Tramontana da lor scorperte./ Con
gratia, et privilegio./
^
^
Device, with motto, VERITAS FILLIA TEMPORIS
^
^
In Venetia/ Per Francesco Marcolini. MDLVIII./
(Annals of the Journey in Persia of Messire Caterino Zeno, Knight,
and of the wars waged in the Persian Empire in the time of Ussancassano
^
[uzun Hasan, the Turkomou chief]
^
Two books. And of the Discovery of the Islands Frislanda, Eslanda, and
Icaria, made under the North Pole, by the two brothers Zeni, Messire
Nicol
o
^
ò
^
the Knight and Messire Antonio. One book. With a detailed map of
all the said parts of the North discovered by them. With permission and
privilege. Venice. By Francesco Marcolini. 1558.)
The book was
in fact
published anonymously, but the internal
evidence leaves no doubt that the author and "compiler" was the younger
Nicol
o
^
ò
^
. The Dedication, by the printer
^
and publisher
^
, Marcolini, is to the learned
Daniel Barbaro, "p^P^atriarch of Aquilegia". Marcolini was himself a man of
some note. Born in Forli, he went to Venice in 1534. "There", according to
Lucas, "his great and varied abilities soon brought him into friendly and
even intimate relations with such leading intellectual men as Daniel
Barbaro,...Jacope Tatti Sansovino, the architect and sculptor, Luigi Dolce,
Antonio Doni, Titian and Pietro Aretino. He is said to have been an excel–
lent 'amateur' in architecture and drawing, a clockmaker, an antiquary, an
author, a sculptor and a wood-engraver. His design for the bridge at
Murano was chosen from among many
others
. Aretino, writing to Sansovino
in 1545, calls this bridge a 'miracle of construction'. As a printer,
Marcolini produced numerous important works, many of them illustrated".
The story of the
^
origin of the
^
book and the map, according to the compiler, is as
follows. When he was a small boy, he says, he came across some family
documents. These were a book written by Antonio Zeno describing "the
countries, the monstrous fishes, the customs and laws of Frislanda, of
Zeno Voyages
Islanda, of Est ^ l ^ anda, of the kingdom of Norway, of Estotilanda, of Drogio, and, lastly, the life of Nicol o ^ ò ^ , il Cavaliere , ... with the discoveries made by him, and the matters relating to Grolanda;" as also a document by Antonio describing "the life and exploits of Zichmni, a prince certainly as worthy of immortal remembrance as any other who has ever lived in this world, on account of his great valor and many good qualities. In this life may be read of his discoveries in Engroui^oui^landa on both sides, ^ sp ? O.K. ^ and of the city built by him". He also came into the possession of some old family letters ^ ,he says ^ . Being too young at the time to appreciate the worth of these papers ^ , ^ he ^ h ^ ad destroyed or mutilated many of them, to his ever– lasting regret. Nevertheless, in order that the memory of these things might not be lost, he had pieced together the fragments as best he could in order to "make reparation to that age, which, more than any other yet gone by, was interested in the many discoveries of new lands in those parts where they might have been least expected, and which was very much given to the stud u ^ y ^ both of recent accounts, and of the discoveries of unknown countries made by the great spirit and great enterprise of his ancestors". He also says that he had found among the old effects in his house an ancient navigating chart ^ of the northern regions ^ which was all old an d rotten, but that it had occurred to him to draw out a copy as best he could and in this he thought he had succeeded tolerably well.
Such are the materials, according to its compiler,
from
^
upon
^
which the
Zeno narrative depends. While some of the names in the text and on the
map were not new, such as "Engrouilanda", "Islanda", etc., others, such
as "Estotilanda" and "Drogio" had
^
apparently
^
never been heard of before. The excep–
tion to this may possibly be the mention, in a manuscript of doubtful
date, but supposedly of 1536, by a relative of the Zeno family, Marco
Barbaro. This is a work on Venetian noble families,
^
entitled Discendenze Patrigue
^
and in the ge
^
n
^
ealog–
ical table of the Zeno family he make
^
s
^
the following entry under the
Zeno Voyages
name of Antonio Zeno: "He wrote with his brother, Nicol o ^ ò ^ the Cavalier, the voyages of the islands under the Arctic Pole, and of those discoveries of 1390, and that by the order of Zicno, King of Frisland, he went to the continent of Estotiland in North America. He dwelt fourteen years in Frisland, four with his brother Nicol o ^ ò ^ , and ten alone". It seems impossible on the basis of available evidence to determine the significance of this. The statement ^ (which has also been made by Ortelius and other subsequent writers) ^ is at variance with the Zeno narrative, ^ which gives the date 1380 and ^ which gives a full account of the voyage in which Antonio Zeno failed to find either Estoti– lan ^ d ^ or Drog e ^ i ^ o and of his return [: ] .
The narrative itself consi
^
s
^
ts of letters from the elder Nicol
o
^
ò
^
Zeno
to his brother Antonio, from Antonio to the ot
[:
]
brother Carlo, and con–
necting passages
from
written by the editor and compiler, the younger
Nicolo. It begins with a family history of the Zeni beginning with Messire
Marin Zeno in 1200, who was elected "Governor in some of the Republics
of Italy"; which is brought down to the time of the writer. Then is in–
corporated the voyage of Nicolo,
^
supposedly taken
^
from his letter
y
^
t
^
o his bro
y
^
t
^
her Antonio.
He conceived, it says, "a very great desire to see the world, and to
travel, and to make himself acquainted with the various customs and lan–
guages of men, in order th
[:
]
t, when occasion arose, he might be better able
to do service to his couńtry, and to acquire for himself fame and honour".
The narrative then continues:
"Therefore, having built and fitted out a ship from his own private
means,
[:
]
...he left our seas, and, having passed the Straits of Gibraltar,
sailed for some days across the Ocean, always holding his course towards
the North, with the intention of seeing England and Flanders. While in
these seas, he was assailed by a great tempe
[:
]
st. For many days he was car–
r
^
i
^
ed by the waves and the winds without knowing
[:
]
where he might be,
until, at last, discovering land, and not being ab
o
^
l
^
e to steer against
Zeno Voyages
such a fierce storm, he was wrecked upon the Island of Frislanda. The crew and a great part of the goods...were saved; and this was in the year one thousand three hundred and eighty. The Islanders, running tog a ^ e ^ the ^ r ^ in great numbers, all ready-armed, attacked Messire Nicol o ^ ò ^ and his men, who, all wearied by the storm they had passed through, and not knowing in what country they might be, were not able to make the least counter attack,... . ... ^ t ^ hey would probably have been badly treated if good fortune had not so ordered that, by chance, a Prince with an [: ] armed [: ] following happened to be in the neighborhood. He...spoke in latin, and demanded of what nation they were...; and, when he discovered that they came from Italy,..., he was filled with the greatest joy. Then, as– suring them all that they [: ] should receive no injury, and that they were come into a place in which they should be most kindly treated, and well looked after, he took them under his protection and his good faith".
This man was a great lord, the account says, and possessed some islands
called "Porlanda, near to Frislanda on the south
i
^
s
^
ide, the r
e
^
i
^
chest and
most populo
^
u
^
s in all those parts. He was named Zichmni, and, besides the
aforesaid little Islands, he ruled over the dominion of the Duchy of
Sorant, situate on the side towards Scotland".
The second letter from Nicol
o
^
ò
^
to Antonio further describes the ex–
ploits in war and fame in maritime affairs of Zichmni, who, "perceiving
that Messire Nicol
o
^
ò
^
was a prudent person, and greatly skilled in mari–
time and military matters", made him captain of a fleet of thirteen
^?^ ships to sail to the west. The
^
y
^
"made themselves master
^
s
^
of Ledovo and
Ilofe, and of some other small Islands". In a bay called Sudero they
took
^
,
^
in a country called Sanestol
^
,
^
some boats laden with salt fish.
Here they met Zichmni, who with his army had come ahead of them. They
Zeno Voyages
then sailed further westward and reduced other islands ^ ^ and lands to the possession of Zichmni. In all of this Zeno [: ] emerges as an experienced pilot without whom., with his Venetian mariners, the [: ] Scots, or whatever they were, would have gone on the rocks. After this T ^ t ^ he "Prince" greatly commended Zeno, made him a knight, and gave rich presents to the people under him. Then Nicol o ^ ò ^ , "departing from that place, in a manner of triumph for the victory achieved, " went in the direction of Frislanda, the principal city of the Island. This [: ] place is situated on [: ] its South– eastern side, at the entrance to a bay, of which there are many in that Island, in which they take fish in such abundance that they lade many ships with them, and supply Flanders, Brittany, England, Scotland, Norway and Denmark, deriving very great riches from this traffic."
The next portion of the account is supposed to be
written by
com–
piled from
Antonio's
^
Nicolo's
^
own written account, and deals with
Nicol
o
^
ò
^
's
^
his
^
voy–
age to Greenland. It speaks of the letters written by Nicol
o
^
ò
^
to Antonio,
praying him to join him, with some ships. This Antonio did, in Frislanda.
Then Nicol
o
^
ò
^
was sent
^
with a fleet
^
to attack "Estlanda[]". After doing this, with success,
he was driven by a storm to "Grislanda", determined to attack "Islanda", but
found the latter island so well fortified that he could not, and decided
^
to attack
^
seven other islands, called "Talas, Broas, Iscant, Trans, Mimant, Damb
[:
]
^
erc
^
,
and Bres". He took possession of them, built a fort in Bres,
and
left
Messire Nicolo in charge, and returned to Frislanda. Nicol
o
^
ò
^
determined to
set out in the spring on a voyage of discovery. But it was not until July
of the following year that, with his small ships, he sailed towards the
north and arrived in Engroueland
^
[Greenland]
^
. Here he found a Dominican monastery and
a church dedicated to St. Thomas, near a volcanic mountain. The buildings
w
were warmed by a spring of hot water, and there were covered gardens
warmed throughout the year by the same spring.
Zeno Voyages
The building materials used were the stones and lava from the
volcano. In the middle of the arched roof of a house
[:
]
^
was
^
a compluvium,
but there was not much need for this, for there was little rain and
"the first-fallen snow melts no more until nine months of the year
have passed, for so long does their winter last".
The monks live
^
d
^
mainly on wildfowl and fish, which
are
^
were
^
purveyed
to them by the people who live
^
d
^
on this coast. The houses of these latter
are
^
were
^
circular in shape, twenty-five feet in diameter, and all
have
^
had
^
a hole
in the roof to let in air and light. Many boats
come
^
came
^
hither in the sum–
mer from the neighboring islands and from the cape upon Norway and
[:
]
from
Trondhjem and
bring
^
brought
^
all manner of goods, including grain and wood and
cloth, which they trade for fish and skins. The Friars come from Norway,
Sweden and other countries, but most of them c
o
^
a
^
me from "Islande".
The skin-boats of the
natives
^
fishermen
^
resemble
^
d
^
shuttles. The natives
turn
^
ed
^
them out" so strong and sound, that it is certainly a miraculous
thing to observe how, during tempests, they fasten themselves inside,
and allow them to be carried over the sea by the waves and the winds
without any fear of being wrecked or drowned; and, if they do strike on the
land, they stand safely many blows."
The compiler says at this point that Nicol
o
^
ò
^
discovered a river in
Greenland, "as may be seen in the map made by me".
in
Nicol
o
^
ò
^
fell ill,
returned to Frisland, and soon afterwards died there. Antonio succeeded
to his riches and honors, "but, although he tried many ways, and begged
and prayed much, he could never succeed in getting back to his own home,
because Zi
[:
]
hmni, being a man of spirit and valour, had resoo^l^ved ... to
make himself master of the sea. Wherefore, availing himself of the ser–
vices of Messire Antonio, he desired that he should sail with several
Zeno Voyages
small ships towards the West, to obtain information as to the existence of some very rich and populous Islands on that side, discovered by some of his fishermen; which discovery Messire Antonio narrates in one of his letters, written to his brother , Messire Carlo, with so much detail that, except that we have changed the old language and style, we have let the matter stand as it was."
This story, usually called by writers "The Frisland Fisherman's
Story", tells how, twenty-six years before, four fishing-boats, sailing
from Frisland, were driven by a tempest to an island called Estotilanda,
lying more than a thousand miles (
miglia
) westward from Frisland. Six of
the men from one of the
[:
]
boats which was wrecked were seized
by the islanders, conducted to a beautiful city and taken before the King.
He summoned all his interpreters, but found none who had any knowledge of
the language of the fishermen, except one who spoke Latin, and who had
been cast upon the same island by a similar tempest. The King willed that
they should remain in this country. They obeyed his command, "because they
could not do otherwise", and remained there five years and learned the
language. They found the island "rather smaller than Iceland, but more
fertile, having in the middle a very high mountain from which spring
four rivers, which water it". The inhabitants were quick-witted, pos–
s
essed arts, had an abundance of metals, especially gold, and had a dis–
tinct language and letters. The
re
^
ir
^
trade was with Greenland, whence they
received furs, sulphur and pitch.
Towards the south, said the fisherman, there was a great and pop–
ulous country rich in gold, with woods of immense extent. There grain was
sowed and beer was made. There were walled cities and villages. The inhab–
itants "make small sh
o
^
i
^
ps and navigate them, but they have not the load–
stone, nor can they indicate the North by the compass". The King of Estoti–
land despatched the fishermen, with twelve small ships, towards this
Zeno Voyages
country, which was called Drogio; but they ran into a great storm and were wrecked on the shores of a country (presumably Drogio, but the narrative is not specific here) where most of them were eaten by cannibals. But the fisherman and his companions, by showing the natives how to fish with nets, escaped with their lives. His fame spread, and a neighboring chief made war upon the chief who was his protector, and [: ] captured the fisherman and his companions. He was forced to spend thirteen years in these parts, being handed about among more than twenty-five chiefs. According to his story, "it is a very large country, and like a new world". The people are ignorant, go naked , ^ , suffer from the cold, ^ have no metal, live by hunting, carry lances of sharpened wood and bows, and are cannibals. "But the further one goes towards the South-west, the greater civilization one finds, because there the climate is more temperate, so that that there are cities, and temples of idols wherein they sacrifice men, whom they afterwards eat. In these parts they have some knowledge of gold and silver, and use them."
The fisherman eventually escaped, leaving his companions behind,
made his way to Drogio, and returned to Estotilanda in a ship from that
country. There he grew rich, equipped a ship of his own and returned to
Frislanda bearing news to Zichmni of the discovery of a rich new country.
Thereupon, writes Antonio Zeno, Zichmni resolved to send him with a fleet t
to those parts, but finally de
[:
]
ided to go along also as its captain. Three
days before their departure the fisherman, who was to have been their
guide, died. Nevertheless Zichmni would not abandon the voyage. They
steered their course towards the west, stopped at the islands of Ledovo
and Ilofe, and "went far out into the deepest ocean". After a fierce storm
which lasted eight days, they discovered land in the west, and took re-
Zeno Voyages
fuge in a quiet and secure port of an island. Many armed people ran to the shore. Zichmni made signs of peace, and the islanders sent to him ten men who could speak ten languages, but the only one whom the voya– gers could understand was a man from Iceland. He told them that the is– land was called Icaria, and that all the kings who had ruled over it were called Icarus, after its first king, who was the son of Icarus, King of Scotland, who had conquered the island, given the islanders laws, left his son there as king; and had sailed on and been drowned in a storm. "On account of his death in this manner, they still called that sea Icarian, and the King of the Island Icarus".
In spite of mutual overtures, when the Frislanders disembarked to
obtain wood and water, they were attacked and forced to set sail. With
a fair wind they reached land after sailing for six days to the west.
They entered a good harbor and saw afar off a great mountain which cast
forth smoke. They obtained water and wood, fish and sea-fowl, and "so
many birds' eggs that the half-famished men were able to eat their fill".
The inhabitants were smal and lived in caves. Zichmni found the climate
so healthy and the soil so good that he thought of building a city there.
But most of his men rebelled, and so he sent them home with the ships,
retaining only the rowing boats, with the men who were willing to remain.
Antonio Zeno, as captain of the return fleet, sailed towards the east
continuously
^
for twenty-eight days
^
without seeing land; turned south-west and after five days
reached the Island of Neome. He says
[:
]
that, knowing this country, he per–
ceived that he had passed Iceland. Afetr three days he reached Frislanda.
The compiler then states that he finds nothing further except what
he is able to
[:
]
^
judge from
^
conjecture, but that from another letter he gath–
ers that Zichmni built a town in the port of the island discovered by him;
Zeno Voyages
also that he did his best to explore Greenland, with its rivers, "because I see these described in detail in the map, but the description is lost".
The
The
Zeno book and map were immediately accepted by
^
most of
^
the learned
world of Europe
^
and their influence was enormous.
^
.
The map, which bears the date 1380, was copied, with
slight alterations, in Ruscelli's Italian edition of Ptolemy, published
in Venice in 1561. Ruscelli gives credit to Nicol
o
^
ò
^
Zeno the younger, and
speaks of him as being "in those two most noble sciences, that is to say,
history and geography, universally held to have, at this day, few equals
in the whole of Europe". The map appears in the Ptolemy of Moletius, in
Latin, published in Venice in 1562. He dedicates his commentary on the
sixth and seventh chapters of Ptolemy to Caterino Zeno, son of Nicol
o
^
ò
^
the younger. The narrative was incorporated in the second edition of the
second volume of Ramusio's
Navigationi et Viaggi
, Venice, 1574.
Outside of Italy both narrative and map were accepted as genuine
by such great cartographers as Gerard Mercator and Abraham Ortelius.
The errors of the map were incorporated in Mercator's great map of the
world, published at Duisburg in 1569, and in two maps in Ortelius's
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
, Antwerp, 1570. On Mercator's map "Estotiland"
appears for the first time upon the continent of America. Lucas writes:
"The unfortunate acceptance by Mercator of Zeno's representations has
probably done more than anything else to disseminate the errors of the
Zenian geography, as Mercator's maps were reprinted and recopied very
frequently." Frisland appears, together with Iceland and Feroe, on the
1570 map of Sigurdus Stephanius
^
(Sigurdur Stefansson)
^
, head of the school at Skalholt.
When Martin Frobisher (q.v.) made his voyages in 1576–7–8 in search
of a Northwest Passage to Cathay and came to Greenland in 61° N.lat., he
mistook it for "Frisland", misled by the Zeno map, which places the south–
ern point of Greenland between 65 and 66° N. lat., and the south of
Zeno Voyages
Frisland at 61°, about the true position of Cape Farewell. The learned mathematician, Dr. John Dee (q.v.), adviser to the Frobisher expeditions, accepted most of the Zenian geography, as is shown by many of his state– ments and his map of 1580. The Zeno narrative first appeared in English in Hakluyt's Divers Voyages of 1582. The famous Molyneux globe of 1592, the only known example of which is in the Library of the Middle Temple in London, shows Frislanda, Drogeo ^ (which appears as part of Labrador) ^ and other Zenian names. John Davis wrote in a letter of 1586 of having sailed to Iceland "and from thence to Groen– land, and so to Estotiland", etc.
Frisland is mentioned in the account of the apocryphal voyage of
Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado
to
^
through
^
the Strait of Anian (q.v.), alleged to have
taken place in 1588. While Sebastian Munster died six years before the
Zeno publication, many Zenian names and islands are shown on the maps
in posthumous editions of his
work.
Cosmography
. In Livio Sanuto's
Geografia
, 1588, the Zeno brothers are credited with the discovery of
the most northern regions. Among other influential authorities who ac–
cepted some or all of the Zenian geography may be mentioned: Peter
Plancius, 1594; Cornelius Wytfliet, 1597 (he accepts the brothers as the
first discoverers of Labrador, under the name of Estotiland); Linschoten,
1599; De Bry, 1601; Hessel Gerritsz, 1612 (on his map to illustrate
Hudson's voyages); Gudbrand Thorlacius, 1606; Purchas, 1625–6; Luke Foxe,
1631; Hugo Grotius, 1642; La Peyrere, 1647, etc. These are only a few of
the outstanding geographers
^
and authors
^
who accepted and supported the Zeno story and
map, in whole or in part. The Zenian material was incorporated in innumer–
able books and maps.
There were exceptions, however, to
There were
exceptions
, however,
to
those who doubted the
story
^
authenticity of the voyages
^
, especially as practical navigators were
finding that, as Lucas expresses it, "there was at least as much fiction
Zeno Voyages
as fact in the map". Arngrim Jonas ^ (Arugrimur Jonsson) ck with[] ^ , the Icelandic scholar, in his Specimen Islandiae , ^ , published in Amsterdam in 1643, ^ exposes many of the fallacies of the Zen o ^ i ^ an geography and his– tory, denying absolutely the existence of the Zenian islands to the east of Iceland and deriding the account of the flourishing winter gardens in Greenland. Arnoldus Montanus, in his De Nieuwe en onbekende Weereld , Amsterdam, 1671 (edited in English by Ogilby under the title America in London, 1671), says that Zeno "has set down many things that have little resemblance to the truth according to what is found by credible navigators; and therefore we cannot depend on Zeno's discovery". The English geographer, Moses Pitts, shows Frisland and some other Zenian names on his maps in his English Atlas of 1680, but expresses doubt concerning them, and with re– gard to the narrative writes: "It is not our business to write or repeat romances". The French geographer Baudrand, in his Geographical Dictionary of 1681, doubted the truth of the Zeno story. The Icelander Torfaeus [: ] , royal historiographer to the king of Denmark, rejected the narrative altogether in his Historia Vinlandiae Antiquae published in 1715. The Danish missionary Hans Egede refers in his Description of Greenland , 1745, to the Zeno story, but does not accept it as true. The French historian Charlevoix, in his Histoire Generale de la Nouvelle France , 1744, speaks of the ^ Zenian ^ Estotiland of as "a fabulous country which never existed except in the imagination of the two brothers Zani, Venetian nobles". David Crantz doubted the voyages in his History of Greenland , 1765.
The Italians
^
writers
^
continued stoutly to maintain the authenticity of the
voyages. An exception to this is the learned Tiraboschi, who, while de–
clining to decide the issue, in his
Storia della Letteratura Italiana
,
1772–95, points out some of the glaring improbabilities. Another Italian,
Padre Coronelli, in 1688 advanced the theory that, since navigators had
not been able to find Frisland, it must have been submerged if the re–
port of it were not fabulous. Many other writers after this held to the
Zeno Voyages
theory of submergence, including Peter Kalm, the Swedish naturalist.
But
^
Still
^
Zenian geography continued to influence the maps
^
and geographical works
^
throughout
the eighteenth century. Toward the end of the century, however, a genuine
controversy over the authenticity of the voyages began which has lasted
until the present. In 1784 Dr. John Reinhold Forster wrote in German his
History of the Voyages and Discoveries made in the North
, which was trans–
lated into English and published in London in 1786. He appears to be the
first writer to devote
[:
]
extended study to the narrative and to
identify the mysterious place names in the light of actual geography, as
well as to identify the mysterious Zichmni. Forster accepts the truth of
the narrative, saying that after carefully inspecting and translating the
book, "it was in the highest degree evident to me, that the whole of this
relation is true, as, in fact, it contains within itself the strongest
proofs of its own authenticity". His
^
reasons
^
conclusions
are not convincing, how–
ever, nor do they stand up in the light of more recent evidence. He sug–
gests that Frisland was in reality the Faroe Islands, a theory also advanced
in the same year by Buache in his
Memoire sur l'isle de Frislande
, and
since generally accepted as explaining the origin of the name. In Zichmni
Forster sees Henry Sinclair, descendant of the ancient Earls of Orkney,
who in 1379 was invested with the Orkneys by Hakon, King of Norway.
In the early nineteenth century Cardinal Placido Zurla
^
, staunch supporter of the voyages,
^
conducted ex–
haustive researches into the history of the Zeno family.
^
His work, published in 1808,
^
These
contrib–
uted much to the scholarship of the subject. Kerr, in his
Collection of
Voyages, published
in
1811–24, expresses the opinion that the entire Zeno
story is a fabrication.
^
Sir John
^
Barrow, in his
Chronological History of Voyages into
the Arctic Regions
, published in 1818, accepts the essential truth of the
story, identifying Frisland as "Feroesland", Estotiland as Newfoundland or
Labrador, and Drogio as Nova Scotia. The civilized inhabitants of
[:
]
Zeno Voyages
Estotiland he believes, with Malte-Brun, to have been descendants of the Scandinavian colonists of Greenland and Vinland. Washington Irving, in his History of Columbus , 1824, rejects the Zeno story.
^¶^ In 1828 Lieut.
W.A.Graah of the Danish Royal Navy was sent by his government on
[:
]
a
voyage of exploration to Greenland. In his account of this voyage he refers
with incredulity to the Zeno story. Admiral Zahrtmann, likewise of the
Danish Royal Navy, attacked the narrative in a paper published in 1833.
Although much information since available had not come to light, he
recognized the possibility that the narrative and map were based on later
sources than the younger Nicolo claimed, and points out that some of the
place names, as for example the names of the bishops' sees in Iceland —
"Scalodin" and "Olensis" — were drawn from ecclesiastical sources. Baron
von Humboldt in 1836 leaned toward accepting the voyages as genuine.
For years many other writers accepted the story as genuine, excusing the
compiler's geographical blunders on the ground of his ignorance of the
northern languages.
In 1873 Major, as mentioned above, believed that he had estab–
lished for all time the
veracity
^
truth
^
of the Zeno story. Of Major's work Lucas
writes: "He claims to have freed the Zeno documents from the discredit
under which they had laboured; to have tracked the causes of the errors
and misconceptions
^
^
which had led to that discredit, and to have performed
other literary feats, for evidence of which we have
sought
in vain
sought in his pretentious work... . But Major's work remains, in England
and America at least, the standard work upon the subject". Major accepted
the identification of Frisland with the Faroe Island
[:
]
, and attempted to
show that the strange names in the Zeno narrative corresponded to the
names of islands in the Faroes, Shetlands and Orkneys. Likewise he accepted
Zeno Voyages
"Zichmni" as "Sinclair". He believes that all discrepancies can be ex– plained upon the ground of the compiler's misunderstanding of the ma– terials available to him and his ignorance of northern geography. Fur– thermore, writes Major, no one "who is acquainted with the genius of the southern mind, would condemn a tendency to a certain amount of hyperbole, especially in the record of the deeds of an ancestor, as involving any conscious want of integrity". He points out the supposed application by Columbus (q.v.) in the latter's account of his voyage beyond Iceland in 1477 of the name Frislanda ^ ^ to one of the northern islands ^ Iceland ^ . He feels ^ sure ^ cer- tain that certain obscure place names in the Zeno account are due to a phonetic transcribing by a southerner of northern place names. For example, he finds sees in"Talas" Yelli, in "Broas" Barras, in "Iscant" Unst, in ^ " ^ Mimant" Mainland, in"Dambere" Hamna, in "Bres" Bressay, all in the Shet– Land Islands;"Grislanda"is Gross-ey in the Orkneys, "Bondendon" is Norder– dahl,"Podanda" ^ or "Porlanda" ^ is Pentland, "Contanes" is Caithness, etc. He accepts the story of the monastery and settlement in Greenland as founded on informa– tion concerning the Norse Greenland colony; and cites the Greenland sail– ing directions of Ivar Bardsen ^ (Bardarson) ^ (q.v.) of 1349 and Captain Graah's account of his voyage to Greenland in 1828 as confirmatory of hot springs in Green– land. He also makes much of the fact--and this is perhaps his strongest point--that on the Zeno map the Greenland settlements lie on the west and not the east coast. They were actually on the west, but in the time of the younger Zeno this had generally been forgotten by cartographers, and, ac– cording to Major, if he had forged the map he could not have been so accu– rate. The reports of Estotiland and Drogio Major explains as news of Amer– ica, as far down as Mexico, obtained by the Zeno brothers. "Icaria", sup– posed by many commentators to represent some part of America, Major [: ]Zeno Voyages
considers to be Kerry, and finds in the story of the Kings of Icaria being called Icarus after the son of Daedalus, King of Scotland, the only fable in the entire narrative.
In conclusion Major puts the question as to why he should have de–
voted "all this toil and analysis...to a document so unimportant in size and
of such limited contents", and proceeds to answer
^
:
^
the question as follows:
"1. If the realities which have been here laid bare had been detected
any time during the last three centuries and a quarter, so that the site
of the lost East Colony of Greenland
^
[
^
i.e. the eastern settlement on the
west c
[:
]
oast
^
]
^
had been proved to demonstration instead of being a matter
of opinion, the Kings of Denmark would have been spared the necessity of
sending out a great number of unsuccessful expeditions; and
"2. A number of learned disquisitions by some of the most illustrious
literati
in Europe would have been rendered superfl
^
u
^
ous.
^
[
^
Here Major is
waxing sarcastic in particular with regard to Admiral Zahrtmann, whom he
attacks with fury throughout his entire introductory essay.
^
]
^
"3. The Zeno document is now shown to be the
latest
in existence, as
far as we know, giving details respecting the important lost East
^
Colony of
^
Green–land,
[:
]
which has been so anxiously sought for.
"4. It is the
latest
document in existence, as far as we know, giving
details respecting the European settlers in North America, — although a
century before Columbus's great voyage across the Atlantic,— and show–
ing that they
^
still
^
survived at that period.
"5. The honour of a distinguished man, whose only faults as regards
this ancient story, fruitful in mischief as they have been, were that he
did not possess the geographical knowledge of to-day, and that he in–
dulged in the glowing fancies and diction of his sunny country, has been
vindicated: and
Zeno Voyages
"6. The book which has been declared to be "One of the most puzzling in the whole history of literature' will henceforth be no puzzle at all."
Thus the status of the Zeno question
^
remained
^
until in 1898 Frederick W.
Lucas published his
Annals of the Voyages, etc
. In this he gives credit
to Prof. Gustav Storm for first exposing the falsities of the narrative
^
and map,
^
,
but points out that Storm's work is not generally known. He
[:
]
^
believes
^
, on the
basis of Storm's work, that the origin of the Zeno map lies in the
Zamoiski map of 1467 and three other maps of the same type found in
Florence by Nordenskiöld
,
^
in 1888,
^
and in the Olaus
^
Magnus
^
map of 1539 (Venice), dis–
covered in the Munich Public Library in 1886. He finds no real resemblance
between the names "Zichmni" and "Sinclair", and points out that Forster's
conjecture is based on an erroneous date for the supposed voyage of the
elder Nicol
o
^
ò
^
Zeno, who Zurla proved could not have left Venice on a northern
voyage before 1389 or 1390. At th t date Sinclair could not have been a
rebel to the King of Norway, for there was no King, but Queen Margaret,
"the Semiramis of the North" ruled over the three Scandinavian kingdoms.
Furthermore, in 1379 Henry Sinclair took an oath of
fidelity
^
fealty
^
to Hakon,
King of Norway and Sweden, and in 1388 was a Norwegian Councillor of
State.
He
^
Lucas
^
suggests
a
what he
considers a more logical identifi–
cation, if there be any truth in the narrative, with the Vitalian pirate
Wichmann, whose depredations took place at about the same period.
^
He
^
Lucas
ridicules Major's identification of place-names, quoting the
saying that "in philology all consonants are interchangeable, and vowels
don't count".
He
^
Lucas
^
suggests
a
what he
considers a more logical identifi–
cation, if there be any truth in the narrative, with the Vitalian pirate
Wichmann, whose depredations took place at about the same period.
Lucas then takes up the map evidence
extensively,
^
at length,
^
showing that
many of the maps extant at the time of the younger Zeno bore names which
appear on
the
Greenland and Iceland on the Zeno map, and that the Zeno
names could easily have been derived from these maps.
Zeno Voyages
His conclusions are as follows. ^ He concludes ^ that, though Nicol o ^ ò ^ and Antonio Zeno may have made a northern voyage and written letters to Venice during their travels, the younger Zeno did not compile his narrative from any such letters, but from the published works of Olaus Magnus and other authors and cartographers; that the accounts of Greenland are untrue, and the map was concocted from various maps; that the motive for the ^ the younger Zeno's ^ story and the map "is to be found in the a desire to connect, even indirectly, the voyages of his ancestors with a discovery of America earlier than that by Columbus, in order to gratify the compiler's family pride and his own personal vanity, and to pander to that Venetian jealousy of other mari– time nations (especially of the Genoese) which was so strong in the early days of the decadence of the great Venetian Republic, and which, later on, appeared so forcibly in the works of Terra-Rossa, Zurla, and other Venetian writers." His ultimate conclusion is that "Zeno's work has been one of the most ingenious, most successful, and most enduring literary impostures which has ever gulled a confiding public."
Miller Christy, in his
Silver Map of the World
, published in 1900,
accepts, as most writers since Lucas have done, this conclusion, and calls
Lucas's book "one of the most masterly works recently published on any
phase of the history of geography". Lucas, he finds, "has shown conclus–
ively that the Zeno book was, at best, little more than a fraudulent con–
coction
[:
]
from earlier books and charts". But, Christy continues: "He
has endeavored also to maintain that the Zeno chart is equally fraudu–
lent; but, on this point, his arguments seem somewhat less conclusive".
Christy deals rather extensively with the Zeno question under the head–
ing, "The Causes of the Misconception as to the
p
^
P
^
osition of Frobisher's
Discoveries" (pp.22–39), and in his Appendix B (pp.49–67). In the Appendix
he says that it seems to him permissa^i^ble, without in any way belittling
Zeno Voyages
Lucas's researches, to consider the question: "Is it not possible that both the Zeno Story (even though [: ] , in the main, obviously fraudulent) and the Zeno Chart (even in spite of its many and manifest errors) may each have had some real basis in fact--have neen based (that is) on real doc– uments, however imperfect; and, if so, to what extent in the case of each?"
While he finds the narrative almost wholly a work of fiction, he
feels that, like many another work of fiction,
it nothing
it may be found–
ed on fact, and that no
factor
fact or argument has yet been advance
[:
]
to
prove the contrary. He points out that there is nothing inherently improb–
able in the statement that the brothers Zeno of Venice voyaged to the
Northern Seas "and there underwent shipwreck and other adventures at the
end of the Fourteenth Century". He thinks it "in no way inherently improb–
that, one hundred and fifty years later, there were ..., in the possess–
ion of their descendants in Venice, documents describing their adventures
and a rotten and imperfect old Chart
^
^
portraying the region visited".
Of the chart he has much more to say.
He
He feels that the very errors,
looked at closely, afford some evidence that
they were
the chart was based
on authentic cartographic documents of earlier date; and that these errors
were introduced "through unfortunate misconception rather than deliberate
fraud". The younger Zeno makes no attempt to conceal the fact that he had
restored the map, and in one place speaks of it as "the map made by me".
The unintelligible proper names do not necessarily prove fraudulence, Lucas
believes, and he points to the fact that there is scarcely an engraved map
of the first three quarters of the sixteenth century which does not possess
many errors due to mistranscription or misreading of the names on the more
or less illegible manuscript charts of the preceding century, especially if
these were in a language foreign to the transcriber.
Zeno Voyages
[:
]
He
^
Christy
^
then
points to the fact
^
says
^
that the most striking feature of the
map is the great errors in latitude, a feature which Lucas
[:
]
did little
more than notice. Taking six of the countries
^
on the Zeno map
^
which are easily recogniz–
able, but are placed much too far north, Christy corrects their latitudes
and according as they fall into their true position also corrects the
latitudes of the unrecognizable
features
^
places.
^
(The errors in longitude are an
entirely different matter, as they are a feature common to all charts of
the period.) The
[:
]
six countries easily recognizable are Scocia (Scotland),
Islanda (Iceland), Estland (Shetland), Dania (Denmark, Norvegia (Norway),
Engroneland (Greenland). He then superimposes the corrected Zeno map upon
an actual map. The effect is astonishing. These known lands all fall into
their correct positions. Most striking is the fact that
^
on the Zeno map
^
Greenland corres
^
ponds
^
-
to reality
more
^
perhaps more
more nearly
^
than on any other map
^
known to have been
^
published
^
earlier.
^
before the Zeno chart.
Estotiland becomes the eastern point of Labrador. Drogio
[:
]
falls
into the exact position of the northern extremity of Newfoundland. The
strait in between would represent the Strait of Belle Isle.
^¶^ Lucas had
[:
]
already suggested this identification, apparently believing that the lands,
[:
]
discovered on the Cortereal voyages (q.v.) of 1501–2, were
taken by Zeno from Portuguese charts of the period which show them as
islands called "Terra Corterealis". Christy believes that the type of
Greenland shown on the Zeno map is "an interesting cartographic relic of
the early Scandinavian explorations of that country", and that it, as
well as the adjacent coastline of Labrado
[:
]
and Newfoundland, may have
^How about Greenland on the Claudius Clavus map?^ been derived from some ancient Scandinavian chart now lost. Some of the
fabulous
^
Zeno
^
islands may have been derived from the
^
commonplace
^
fabulous islands, such
those of St. Brendan and Brazil (q.v.), which appeared on nearly all maps
of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Others may result from dupli–
cation by the younger Zeno of the same islands, such as the Shetlands,
Zeno Voyages
through his use of various earlier and discrepant maps in "reconstructing" his "rotten old map". An example of this is the mysterious "Frislanda", which, as Lucas had previously pointed out, had more features in common with Iceland than the Faroes, the usually held to be the source.
Christy suggests that what may have happened is that Nicolo and Antonio
Zeno really may have made voyages to the North Atlantic about 1390, suffere d
shipwreck there and served under some chieftain or sea-rover whom they
called Zichmni, and written letters home to Venice; that their descendant,
the younger
^
Nicolo
^
Zeno may have mutilated those letters, as he
^
indeed
^
says he did; that
later he sought to remedy the damage, but, finding himself unable satis–
factorily to do so, "cooked" his materials extensively in order to make a
readable and exciting narrative, that he may have possessed an old chart
of the North Atlantic
^
^
that was in a rotten and imperfect condition (though
it may never have belonged to his ancestors); that, in attempting to restore
it in order to make it illustrate his narrative, he introduced various
incongruities, "partly fresh features taken from later maps, which, either
through ignorance or lack of skill, he showed more or less wrongly: partly
fresh features which seemed to be necessary to make it accord with the
Narrative as he understood it, or with the bogus passages he had intro–
duced into it"; and that, "between his deliberate 'cooking' of the Narra–
tive and his efforts... to restore the rotten old Chart, he produced the
most perplexing historico-geographical work ever put forth".
It would seem, then, that the Zeno factors,
although killed off as discovers by Lucas, have
been resurrected by
Lucas
^
Christy
^
, if not quite in this
earlier tall stature.
Zeno Voyages
Bibliography
For a Zeno bibliography of 389 titles consult
^
in
^
the work of Lucas, cited
below,
^
see
^
his Appendix VI, "Chronological List of the Principal Authorities,
Literary and Cartographical", pp. 209–224. This
fully
covers the subject
^
well
^
through 1898.
Nicol
o
^
ò
^
Zeno:
De I Commentarii del Viaggio in Persia.etc. ... et dello
Scoprimento
, etc. (full title given in text
^
of this article, above
^
), Venice, 1558
(Lucas prints beautiful facsimile plates of the book and map,
as also an English translation)
The two most important works on the subject are:
R.H. Major:
The Voyages of the Venetian Brothers, Nicol
o
^
ò
^
and Antonio Zeno
,
to the No
t
^
r
^
thern Seas, in the XIVth Century, Comprising the
Latest Known Accounts of the Lost Colony of Greenland; and of
the Northmen in North America before Columbus
. London, Hakluyt
Society, 1873 (contains English translation of narrative and
facsimile of map)
F.W.Lucas:
The Annals of the Voyages of the Brothers Nicol
o
^
ò
^
and Antonio
Zeno in the North Atlantic about the end of the Fourteenth
Century and the Claim founded thereon to a Venetian Discovery
of America. A Criticism and an Indictment
, London, Henry
Stevens Son and Stiles, 1898
Among the more important later works are:
Miller Christy:
The Silver Map of the World
, London, Henry Stevens Son and
Stiles, 1900
^
Eloise should give some account of these
^
W.H.Babcock:
Legendary Islands of the Atlantic
, New York, American Geograph–
ical Society, 1922
Richard Hennig:
Terrae Incognitae
, Vol. III, pp. 317–325, (in German),
Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1938
The Cortereal Voyages
[Figure]Encyclopedia Arctica Eloise McCaskill popini
The Cortereal Voyages
Read and slightly edited
Aug 31/48
Joa^ã^o Vaz Cortereal
^
(d.1496)
^
was an alleged pre-Columbian discoverer of
America (Newfoundland)
[:
]
in 1472. His sons Gas
l
^
p
^
ar and Miguel made well–
authenticated voyages to the Northwest in 1500–1502. Little is known of
the father before 1474, when he was granted the captaincy of Angra in the
Island of Terceira. The sole authority for his alleged voyage is apparent–
ly the tale told by an Azorean collector of family history and local
gossip, Gaspar Frutuoso (1522–91), in his
Saudades da Terra
(not yet pub–
lished in full).This work makes no pretense of being serious history, and
Frutuoso generally prefixes his statements by the phrase,
dizem alguns
,
"they say".
He relates that Jo
a
^
ã
^
o Vaz Cortereal, in company with A^Á^lvaro Martins
Homem, discovered the Newfoundland of the Codfish (
Terra Nova dos Bacal–haus), and on his return was rewarded with the captaincy in Terceira.
Other details of his exploits which Frutuoso gives are so fantastic as to
make the entire account untrustworthy.
^
He credits
^
t
Jo
a
^
ã
^
o Vaz with fabulous
defeats of
^
victories over
^
the Castilians at sea (otherwise unrecorded), with the discovery of Ter–
ceira and the Cape Verde Islands (discovered long before his day) "and
some parts of the West and of Brazil" (the latter
being
discovered after
his death).
The story
, in Frutuese's ^same^ words,
was incorporated by
^
father
^
Ant
o
^
ó
^
nio Cordeiro
^
(or Cordeyro)
^
in his
Historia Insulana
in 1717
.
^
, with the date 1474, however, altered to read 1464.
^
Prof. S.E.Morison deems this compilation
of Azorean history "more blameworthy than Frutuoso for spreading false
news, because it was supposed to be serious history",.
whilst
There was,
however, apparently sufficient cause for the elder Cortereal's becoming
a legendary figure.
[:
]
Prof. Morison says that
^
"
^
he seems to have
reigned as a sort of dictator in Terceira, whose people feared him greatly
^
,
^
Cortereal Voyages
and made up sto [: ] ies about his prowess". He had been chamberlain to D. Fernando, Duke of Viseu, the grantee of Terceira, who died in 1474, and whose widow in that year [: ] conferred upon Jo a ^ ã ^ o Vaz the captaincy of Angra. The account published by Cordeiro (translation by Larsen) follows:
As the vice-royship of Terceyra was thus vacant...thereupon there landed
at Terceyra two noblemen who came from the land of stockfishes
^
[
^
Terra do
bacalh
a
^
ã
^
o
^
]
^
which they had gone out to discover by order of the Portuguese
king. One called himself Jo
a
^
ã
^
o Vaz Cortereal and the other Alvara Martins
Homem. Now as soon as they had procured information about the island, it
pleased them so much that they returned to Portugal and petitioned that
they might have it i.e. the government of it as a reward for their services,
and as our infante Dom Henrique had already died then and had been succeeded
as governor of the Order of Christ by the infante Dom Fernando whose widow
the infanta D.Brites was still alive and as such was the guardian of her
son the duke, Dom Diego, who was a minor, this infanta reward d the two
noblemen who applied for the vice-royship of Terceyra by dividing it between
them both, in two vice-royships of which one comprised Angra, the other
Praya....Therefore the deed of the gift of the vice-royship of Praya, made
out to Alvaro Martins Homem, must be among the archives of the castle at
Praya. The deed of gift to Jo
a
^
ã
^
o Vaz Cortereal is extant; I have seen it in
an old register in the archives of the castle of Angra, etc.
The deed of gift was also seen by Henry Harrisse, who published it in
his
Les Corte-Real et leurs voyages
in 1883. Neither in this nor in a later
deed of gift conferring upon him the additional captain
[:
]
y of S
a
^
ã
^
o Jorge, is
there any mention of voyages of discovery, but the grant is made "in con–
sideration of the services that Jo
a
^
ã
^
o Vaz Corte Real, gentleman of the
household of
[:
]
the said Lord my son, has performed for the Infante
my Lord and his father (whom God keep)",
[:
]
^
etc.
^
This is purely negative evidence, however, and as such inconclusive. But
Prof. Morison believes
^
with Harrisse
^
that the total weight of
^
additional
^
negative evidence is very
strong: the documents which record the voyages of the sons make no mention
of a voyage by the father;
^
further,
^
" Martin Behaim, who lived in the Azores in the
1480's and married a sister of Jo
a
^
ã
^
o Vaz's son-in-law, and who in 1492 in–
scribed all he knew
a
^
(
^
and somewhat more) about Portuguese discoverie
[:
]
on a
famous globe, neither mentions this alleged Newfoundland discovery nor
Cortereal Voyages
gives information that might have been derived from such a voyage"; moreover, there is no allusion to it t in the letters-patent issued to Gaspar and Miguel, nor in the works of the poet Jer o ^ ò ^ nimo Cortereal, great-grandson of Jo a ^ ã ^ o Vaz, "who chants the praises of his family in no restrained terms".
Dr. Sofus Larsen, on the other hand, accepts the voyage as authentic
on the evidence of
supposed
^
documents which tell of
^
joint enterprises of discovery on the part of
the Danish and Portuguese kings; and in particular a letter of 1551 from
the Burgomaster of Kiel to King Christian III of Denmark referring to the
two admirals, Pining (q.v.) and Pothorst, "who were sent out by your maj–
esty's royal grandfather, King Christiern the First, at the request of his
majesty of Portugal, with certain ships to explore new countries and is–
lands in the north", and who
[:
]
raised on a rock lying off Greenland a
"great sea-mark on account of the Greenland pirates, who with many small
ships without keels fall in large numbers upon other ships..."etc. ^¶^ The
voyage or voyages of Pining and Pothorst to Greenland took place between 1472
and 1481. Another Dan
[:
]
sh expedition under Johannes Scolvus (q.v.) took place
in 1476, according to the Gemma Frisius globe of
[:
]
1537.
^¶^ Dr. Larsen
believes that the Pining-Pothorst, Scolvus and Jo
a
^
ã
^
o Vaz Cortereal voyages
were one and the same. He accepts as conclusive proof of the Cortereal voy–
age the appearance on several maps of the northern regions by the
p^P^ortu–guese cartographer Joa^ã^
o Vaz Dourado, on a stretch of coast north and east of
newfoundland the place-names
Baia de Joa^ã^o Vaz
and
Terra de Joa^ã^o Vaz
.
Prof.
Morison has
ably refuted
^
argued strongly against
^
Larsen
^
,
^
arguments,
^
.
^
but it
^
It
^
will be impossible to
decide the case for or against the voyage of the elder Cortereal unless
further evidence turns up.
Cartereal Voyages
Jo
a
^
ã
^
o Vaz died in 1496 and his eldest son
^
Vasqueanes
^
succeeded to the cap–
taincy of Angra. On May 12, 1500, the King, D.Man
[:
]
^
o
^
el
^
,
^
issued letters
[:
]
patent to the youngest son, Gaspar, giving him the captaincy of any is–
lands he might discover with all the feudal rights then enjoyed by Por–
tuguese governors, "forasmuch as Gaspar Corte-Real...has made efforts in
the past, on his own account and at his own expense, with ships and men,
to search out, discover and find by dint of much labor and expenditure of
his wealth and at the risk of his life, some islands and a mainland, and
in consequence is now desirous of continuing
the
^
this
^
search". The records of
his previous efforts are lost, but the letters-patent are proof that he
had been engaged in previous activities towards the west.
^
The elder brothers rasqueaues and Miguel contributed to the expenses of the 1500 expedition.
^
There
^¶^ It has been
suggested, in view of the fact that D.Manoel had
^
also
^
issued letters-patent for
discovery in 1499 to Jo
a
^
ã
^
o Fernandes (or Fernandez, q.v.), the "
Labrador
",
who somehow left his impress upon the nomenclature of North America, that
there was some connection between Gaspar Cortereal and the "ploughman"
from the Azores. Whether the Labrador had accompanied John Cabot (q.v.) is
a matter of dispute. While Morison does not hold with this theory, accepted
by Biggar, he does believe that the wording of the patent "suggests that
both Fernandes and the king knew about the Cabot voyages of 1497–98, sus–
pected that Cabot's new found land was on the Portuguese side of the
Tordesillas treaty line, and proposed to seize and hold it before the
English went any further". Whether the two, Fernandes and Cortereal,
joined forces or made independent voyages is uncertain.
In any event, the first completely authenticated Cortereal
[:
]
expe–
dition
^
, commanded by Gaspar,
^
left Lisbon the summer of 1500 and went to the east coast of Green–
land by way of the Azores and Iceland, proceeding north into Denmark Strait,
but getting turned back there, to the west or northwest of Iceland, by the
south-moving ice of the
^
East
^
Greenland current. They then turned southwesterly
Cortereal Voyages
along the coast, rounded Cape Farewell (to which they gave the signif– icant name of "Look-at-me-and-leave-me" -- Cabo de Mirame et Lexame on the Pilestrina map), and penetrated north beyond latitude 63°.
^¶^ According to
Damian de Goes, whose
[:
]
Chronica do felicissimo Rei dom Emanuel
,
published in Lisbon in 1566, is one of the chief sources for the voyages,
they here came in contact with white Eskimos, described by Gaspar Cortereal
as "very wild and barbarous, almost to the extent of the natives of Brazil,
except that these are white". This
was
^
appears to have been
^
in the present Gothaab district,
which in location corresponds to the more northerly of the two mediaeval
European Greenland colonies. Stefansson observes (
Great Adventures
, p.143):
"The obvious suggestion has been made that these white people were Euro–
pean Greenlanders who had not yet intermarried with Eskimos sufficiently
to become darker than were the Portuguese observers themselves". De Goes
compares them in their customs
^
^
to "the Laplanders who live likewise in the
north between the 70
th
and 75
th
degrees of latitude, and are subject to the
kings of Norway and of Sweden".
According to Biggar, the limit of their exploration on the west
coast of Greenland seems to have been Sukkertoppen in 65°20′. Here they
seem to have been stopped by the ice, and one reads on the early maps
^
based on their voyage
^
"Icy Island" (
Ilha do Caramelo
), "Icebergs" (
Ilhas congeladas
), etc.
They turned southward, set their course homeward, and reached Lisbon in
safety sometime in the autumn of 1500. They reported that they had reached
a land called Greenland (
terra verde
) which had numerous snow-clad moun–
tains. They believed that it was the coast of
^
northeastern
^
Asia and that a further voy–
age might produce important results. They therefore wished to follow up
with a second expedition the following summer to locate the spice countries
by way of the west.
Cortereal Voyages
Accordingly, a fresh expedition of three ships, still commanded
by Gaspar, was fitted out, in the spring of 1501. Part of the expenses was
again borne by the elder brothers. A member of the expedition was a cer–
tain Jo
a
^
ã
^
o Martins from Terceira, who seems to have been an illegitimate son
of Jo
a
^
ã
^
o Vaz Cortereal.The three vessels left Lisbon on May 15 and set
their course for Greenland. For four weeks they fell in with no land, and
in the fifth week replenished their water supply from some
large
icebergs.
Holding their course a few days longer in the hope that they would soon
sight Greenland they only fell in with an immense pack of drift ice. For sev–
eral weeks thereafter they held a northwest course. They crossed what is now
Davis Strait in apparently good weather. In the progress of a storm
^
^
they mis–
took two icebergs for two islands and named them respectively "Storm" and
"
t
^
T
^
empest" Islands; these names appeared on maps for many years.
^¶^ Several
weeks later
they
^
Cortereal
^
sighted land, our Labrador, just north of what the Green–
landers had been calling Markland, in the present Okkak region, near lati–
tude 58°N.
The high northernmost point
of Labrador which they reached they named
Cabo do Marco
(Cape Boundary,now
Table Hill, 2,000 feet high).
Since towards the north they saw nothing but a high barren
shore they decided to follow the coast southward, in the hope that in this
direction they might reach the land of spices. The high northernmost point
of Labrador which they reached they named
Cabo do Marco
(Cape Boundary,now
Table Hill, 2,000 feet high).Following the coast southward
^
as they proceeded
^
they named num–
erous
other
points, and had their first chance to turn west when they reached
Hamilton Inlet, which they entered and penetrated to the Narrows, about thir–
ty-five miles up, where the breadth is only one third of a mile. On account
of the many caribou seen here they named this the
Bai
[:
]
das Gamas
(Bay of Does).
Sandwich Bay to the south they named
Baia dos Usos Brancos
(White Bears Bay).
Just north of the Strait of Belle Isle, perhaps St. Lewis Bay, they
found trees so large they were too big for the masts of
[:
]
even the largest
ships. They were now in the old Markland-Labrador lumbering regions of the
Cortereal Voyages
mediaeval ^ European ^ Greenlanders. They also found a variety of luscious berries, plentiful game ^ -- ^ , caribou, foxes, sables, otters, wolves and wild-cats, salmon, herring and cod. They declared that falcons, sought for so many centuries in far lands and prized by Europeans (see ^ our ^ article "Falconry"), were as numerous in that region as sparrows in Portugal. In the same vi– cinity they met with a band of natives, either Eskimos or Naskapi Indians. [: ] Schooled in the African slave trade, the Portuguese kidna l ^ p ^ ped some sixty of these natives, [: ] whom they found fair and strong in appearance, and crowded them under the hatches for sale as slaves when they should return to Portugal.
They passed Belle Isle Strait, thinking it to be an ordinary inlet, as
it was always considered to be until after Cartier's exploration of 1534.
It was now the beginning of September, and as they had coasted the mainland
for some six hundred miles they decided that the two vessels with the slaves
should head for Lisbon, while Gaspar Cortereal should continue his journey
southward with the
other
^
third
^
ship to determine the relation of the coasts they
were following to the islands that had been discovered by Columbus. The two
ships with the natives on board arrived in Portugal in safety, one on the
ninth and the other on the eleventh of October. King Manoel was pleased
with the report of a country that produced timber in plenty which would
be excellent ship-building material for the East Indian fleet, but more
especially with the prospect of new slave-hunting grounds.
Meanwhile the weeks passed without any news of Gaspar Cortereal.
His brother Miguel determined to go in search of him, and on January 15,
1502, received letters-patent to do this and also to make
[:
]
^
independent
^
discoveries.
On May 10, with
two or
three vessels, he sailed from Lisbon. In June this
third Cortereal expedition was in Newfoundland. On June 24 they entered
what is now the harbor of St. John's, which they named St. John's River.
Cortereal Voyages
It was decided that the three ships should part and each search a dif– ferent part of the coast, and keep a rendezvous in St.John's harbor on August 20. Two of them met as agreed upon, without, however having seen [: ] a trace of Gaspar Cortereal. The third, under Miguel, did not keep the tryst, and was never heard from again.
^¶^ It might be mentioned here that
the famous Dighton Rock in Narragansett Bay in Massachusetts, which is
covered with pictographs and inscriptions, has been carefully studied
by Professor E.B. Delabarre, who has isolated from these the following:
"MIGVEL CORTEREAL V DEI HIC DUX IND 1511"., together with a triangular
design resembling the royal arms of Portugal. He makes of this that Miguel
was shipwrecked somewhere along this coast, became a "
dux
" or chief of
Indians, and was commemorated on his d ath by a member of his crew with
this Latin inscription.
When Miguel's ship failed to return to Portugal with the other two
the King was greatly distressed and prepared a fresh expedition in the
spring of 1503 to set out in the hope of finding some trace of either
Miguel or Gaspar. The third
^
and eldest
^
brother, Vasqueanes, Governor of the islands
of St.George and Terceira, desired permission to accompany the expedition,
but the King would not consent. The two ships sent out returned in the
autumn without having discovered a trace of the two missing brothers, who
[:
]
were then given up for lost. This ended the Portuguese search for Asia
^
,
^
or
a route to Asia
^
,
^
by way of the northwest.
Bibliography
The Cortereal Voyages
Bibliography
The important documents are printed in
H.P.Biggar:
The Precursors of Jacques Cartier
, 1497–1534, Ottawa, 1911
See also:
H.P.Biggar:
The Voyages of the Cabots and of the Corte-Reals to North
America and Greenland 1497–1503
(Extrait de la
Revue Hispanique
,
tome X), Paris, 1903
Henry Harrisse:
Les Corte-Real et leurs voyages au Nouveau Monde
,
Paris, 1883
Sofus Larsen:
The Discovery of North America Twenty Years before Columbus
,
Copenhagen and London, 1925
S.E.Morison:
Portuguese Voyages to America in the Fifteenth Century
,
Cambridge, Mass., 1940
Fridtjof Nansen:
In Northern Mists
, London, 1911, Vol. II,
[:
]
Ch.
XXXX
XV
S.E.Morison:
Portuguese Voyages to America in the Fifteenth Century
,
Cambridge, Mass., 1940
V.Stefansson and O.R. Wilcox:
Great Adventures and Explorations
, New York,
1947
Brazil Island
[Figure]Encyclopedia Arctica Eloise McCaskill Popini
Brazil Island
Brazil, as an island in the north Atlantic west of Ireland,
appears on numerous maps and sea charts from the early fourteenth
century through the sixteenth; and turns up as late as the nine–
teenth, as Brazil Rock on Pardy's
General Chart of the Atlantic
of 1830, and as the Island of Brazil on Findlay's map of sea cur–
rents of 1853.
There is reason to believe that both the name and the idea
of the island first came into cartography through Gaelic sources
and were perhaps fused with Germanic (including Anglo-Saxon) and
Arabic concepts and terminology. Brazil as a personal name has
been common in Ireland from ancient times. "Breasail" is identi–
fied by Hardiman (
History of Galway
) as a pagan demigod. Applied
to the island the word takes on many forms in addition to the two
mentioned, as: Brasil, O'Braesail, Hy Braesail, Brazil, Bersil, etc.,
and carried the implication of blessed or fortunate isle (
bress
,
good fortune or prosperity;
ail
, isle), a sort of Irish Valhalla.
As the word
bras
in old Germanic had the meaning of "glowing" or
"glowing coal" (cf. Fr.
braise
, Port. and Sp.
braza
, Eng.
brazier
,
etc.), it has been suggested that the Norse, through their contact
with the Irish, saw in the "Brasil" of Irish lore the fire-island
of their own departed heroes (cf. Siegfried story). It is interesting
to note that brazil is also a miner's term in England for iron py–
rites and that, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, coal
containing much pyrites "has been locally known as the Brazzles
[miner's dialect pronunciation] from time immemorial." Hooson's
Miner's Dictionary, 1747, calls "Brassil" "a ponderous shining
Substance".
Brazil
The issue is further confused--or clarified, as one may choose t
to view it--by the fact that in the middle ages red dyewood (orig–
inally the East Indian brow
[:
]
sh red sappan wood) was called brazil
(a word derived by some from the Arabic
wars
, saffron, or, according
to Humboldt, possibly remotely derived from the Arabic
bakkam
, of
similar meaning). It was this significance of red dyewood which in
later ages gave a name to modern Brazil. The 1762 edition of Du
Cange's
Glossarium
of mediaeval Latin defines
Brezillum
as a wood
which colorists use, and derives the word, with a question, from
the
^
"
^
Gaelic
Bresil
.
^
"
^
The Paris 1840 edition of the same work defines
Brasile
^
Brasile
^
as "a certain tree, from the juice of which an excellent
red color is obtained" and says that "the marrow of this tree is
of no use to painters, but it is to dyers of cloth and to writers."
Italian commercial treaties of the twelfth century mention
grana
de Brasill
(grain of Brazil) in lists that include wax, furs, in–
cense, indigo, etc. The use of the word "grain" is obscure to us, but
suggest a powdered or granulated substance derived from brazil wood.
Marco Polo refers several times to the prevalence of brazil or brazil
wood in the East, including a shrub which grew in great abundance in
Sumatra, some seeds of which, brought back to Venice and sown, never
came up.
Apparently the first appearance of Brazil in c
o
^
ø
^
^
a
^
rtograp
g
^
h
^
y was on
the map of Angelino Dalorto of Genoa made in 1325. Here the island
was placed in the position it was to retain: west of Ireland, at
varying distances. On some maps, as early as the Atlantean Medicean
of 1351, a second island named Brazil was also placed further south,
west of Cape St. Vincent. To this new island Pizzigani
^
in 1367
^
added a third
Brazil, west of Cape Finisterre. The appearance of these two new
Brazils in cartography seems to indicate that voyagers of the early
Brazil
fourteenth century reached the Azores and found or thought they had found there brazil wood. But with this aspect of the problem we have no space to deal here . It might be mentioned that this plurality of islands called Brazil was eliminated on the maps in the epoch of the great discoveries, and only the one in the north remained.
On the Dalorto map Brazil was shown as a circular island of
considerable size, and bears the inscription
Insula de montonis
sive Brazil
. The phrase
de montonis
has given rise to a great de
[:
]
l
of controversy, Nansen and others interpreting it as a Latinization
of the French
mouton
, and thus making it the Isle of Rams, or the
Sheep Island of St. Brendan's voyage and of Edrisi. But this inter–
pretation would appear unnecessary, as in mediaeval Latin
montonus
meant heap or hill; and on other maps (such as Freducci, 1497:
montanis
; an anonymous compass chart of 1384:
Monte Orius
; various
portolan charts of the fifteenth century:
montorius
) the idea of
mountains, not sheep, is dominant.
Other maps which show the island are too numerous to
enumerate
^
list
^
.
The same general characteristics of roundness and westwardness from
Ireland are retained. Of particular note is the modification, first
occurring on the Pizzigani map of 1367, before mentioned, of the
round shape (of his northernmost Brazil) by a canal dividing it into
halves. This feature became very frequent in the fifteenth and six–
teenth centuries. Nansen thinks that this channel may be the river
which in the legend of St. Brendan ran through the
Terra Repromissio–nis
and which Brendan was not able to cross. Significant also is the
novelty
^
first
^
introduced on the celebrated Catalan map of 1375, which con–
verts the disc into an annulus of land surrounding a circular body
Brazil
of water dotted with islets. The preferred explanation thus far advanced, as Babcock says, is connects these islets with the Seven Cities of Portuguese and Spanish legend. But he points out that there seem to be nine islands, not seven, that it is not clear what necessary relation exists between islands and cities, nor whence the idea is derived of the central lake or sea as a background , and that the location of the Island of Seven Cities in t the North Atlantic is wrong, as it was supposed to be in the south and was often identified with "Antilia". (It might be noted that this map is also one of those which has a second Island of Brazil in the south, west of Cape St. Vincent.) The [: ] Babcock offers a very interesting theory, as follows:
"Now in all the Atlantic Ocean and its shores there is one re–
gion, and one only, which thus incloses a sheet of water having isle–
lands in its expanse, and this region lies in the very direction
indicated on the old maps for Brazil. I allude to the projecting
elbow of northeastern North America, which most nearly approaches
Europe and has Cape Race for its apex. Its front is made up of New–
foundland and Cape Breton Island. The remainder of the circuit is
ma
made up of what we now call southern Labrador, a portion of eastern
Quebec province, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. This irregular
ring of territory incloses the great Gulf of St. Lawrence, which
has within it the Magdalens, Brion's Island, and some smaller is–
lets, not to include the relatively large Anticosti and Prince
Edward. It has two rather narrow channels of communication with the
ocean, which might readily fail to impress greatly an observer
whose chief mental picture would be the great land-surrounded, island–
dotted expanse of water.
[:
]
[He points out elsewhere that other
[:
]
no major have been more impressed by
the separation of Newfoundland, due to the Straits of
[:
]
and
the waterways (of the Gulf) connecting them behind the great island, and
stressed this feature on the maps showing the divided island.]
The surrounding land would
^
itself
^
almost certainly
be regarded as insular, for there was a strong tendency to picture
Brazil
everything west of Europe in that way, even long after the time when most of these maps were made. Even when Cartier in 1535 as– cended the St. Lawrence River it was in the hope of coming out again on the open sea--a hope that implies the very conception an insular mass inclosing the gulf, not differing essentially from the showing of the Catalan map of 1375. The number of islands is immaterial. We may picture the Catalan map-maker dotting them in from vague report as impartially as the far better known Lake Corrib is besprinkled with islands in most of the old maps--far more plen– tifully than the facts give warrant."
Also of major significance is a Catalan map of about 1480 (pre–
served in the Ambrosiana in Milan and reproduced by Nordenskiöld in
1892), which, in Babcock's opinion, "deserves cle
^
a
^
rly to rank as the
only map before Columbus, thus far reported, which shows a part of
North America other than Greenland." The latter had appeared on the
well known Claudius
^
Clavus
^
map of 1427, and the 1480 Catalan map also shows
it as a northwestern land mass beyond Iceland, with the name
Illa
Verde
(Green Island). South or west of south of this Greenland, at
a slight interval, and southwest of Iceland, is a large circular
island named Brazil. Since "its position is that of Labrador, or
perhaps Newfoundland, as it would naturally have been understood
and reported by the Norse explorers," Babcock concludes that "it
can be nothing but one or both of these regions of A
merica with
perhaps neighboring lands." (While there is also another Brazil of
the divided kind in the middle Atlantic about where it is shown on
other maps, this seems to be the usual deference
for
^
To
^
authority so
often manifested in cartography, and Babcock believes it "may well
be set aside as a survival without significance.")
In view of the above one might be impressed by Gustav Storm's
Brazil
theory that Brazil was the wooded land or "Markland" of the Norse Greenland colonists, if his reasoning were tenable that "brazil" could mean a forested land in general instead of a place where red dyewood might be found. The latter meaning the word of course had, but this was independent of its earlier use among the Irish as ^ a ^ a name for an island in the north Atlantic. Storm, as well as Father Fischer, who followed his theory, were ^ was ^ ignorant of the Irish myth about the is– land and of the earliest maps upon which the island appeared. In other words, Storm's idea of Brazil as part of the American conti– nent can be supported, but not by his reasoning.
In Irish lore Brazil was the blessed or fortunate isle. That
this significance was understood by at least some cartographers is s
shown by the inscription attached to the island of "Berzil" on Fra
Mauro's map of 1459:
Queste isole de Hibernia son dite fortunate
(These islands of Ireland are called fortunate), ranking it as one
of the "Fortunate Islands". The analogy, by transference of meaning,
to an island surrounded by fire, or "glowing" (
bras
), accessible to
Norse heroes, is plausible. By an independent line from the Orient
brazil came to mean in Europe either red dyewood or the place where
it might be found, and in this sense gave its name to islands placed
on the maps in the south Atlantic, and eventually to the nation
Brazil. The fourth meaning referred to above, of iron pyrites, or
"a ponderous shining substance" has apparently never been noticed in
this connection, and it is just possible that further search might
yield a tenable theory of the application of the word in this sense
to an island or land where this or similar ore was found in "heaps"
(
montonis
). In literature and common usage pyrite or pyrites meant,
in fact, not only iron pyrites, but had its literal Greek meaning
Brazil
of "fire-stone" or any stone that could be used in striking fire. Its The color (of iron pyrites), "yealow, like the fire his flame", was often noted. Nodules of pyrite ^ s ^ have been found in primitive barrows and elsewhere under conditions showing its use as a prim– itive means of producing fire. The Eskimos and other peoples of the North use iron pyrites for making fire. Stefansson describes it as "universally used by the copper Eskimos in kindling fire", and as an article of trade by tribes who possess deposits of it to the surrounding tribes. He reports the Eskimos as carrying chunks of it, about the size of lemons, partially covered by raw– hide to prevent freezing of the hands when it is grasped for striking sparks. The "fool's gold" which Frobisher carried back to England in ship loads from Baffin Island to England was, in terms of miner's usage, brazil. Whatever the derivation of the name as applied in cartography to an island in the north Atlantic, there can be little doubt that it was known land to the west of Ireland, very likely somewhere near southern Greenland.
add
next p.
Encyclopedia Arctica Eloise McCaskill Popini
Addition to Brazil Island , at end.
Spaniards and Portuguese who traded with Irish ports were convinced that
such a land lay to the west of Ireland, and two old sailors independently
told Columbus about it, as his son Ferdinand Columbus and Bishop Las Casas,
his biographers,
^
inform
^
tell
us. Bristol sailors also believed in a Brazil in a
northern latitude west of Ireland. A prominent merchant of Bristol, John
Jay, who had trading connections with Iceland and Portugal, sent out in
July, 1480, an eighty-ton ship, commanded by John Lloyd, "the most expert
shipmaster of all England", "to traverse the seas" in search of the Island
of Brazil. This account, in William of Worcester's
Itinerarium
, under date of
1480, is apparently the first actual record of an English expedition for the
discovery of lands in the North Atlantic. They were obliged to return in
September, the chronicle tells us, because of storms and lack of supplies,
and entered an Irish port. The Spanish Ambassador in England, Pedro de Ayala,
wrote in 1498 to the Spanish Sovereigns: "For the last seven years the people
or Bristol have equipped two, three and four caravels to go in search of the
island of Brazil and the Seven Cities according to the fancy of this Genoese."
The "Genoese" here referred to is John Cabot. Among the expeditions sent out is
probably that of Nicholas Thorne (q.v.) of 1494, as well as Cabot's of 1497–8.
^
end
^
Memorandum
: On p.4 please omit the following, 11.7–9: "and that the location
of the Island of the Seven Cities in the North Atlantic is wrong, as it was
supposed to be in the south and was often identified with 'Antilia'".
add
next p
Brazil
BibliographyWilliam Babcock: Legendary Islands of the Atlantic , New York, A.G.S., 1922, pp.50–67 (contains map references; also consult for further bibliography)
Fridtjof Nansen: In Northern Mists , London, 1911, pp.226–230
^ Stefansson Library: Unpublished material ^
Busse Island
[Figure]Encyclopedia Arctica Eloise McCaskill Popini
BUSSE ISLAND
Busse Island is one of the most recent as well as one of the
most enigmatic of the numerous "disappearing" islands on record,
and, as Babcock puts it, is "the one moderately large phantom
island the time and occasion of whose origin are securely re–
corded." On the homeward journey of Frobisher's ships from his
third expedition to Baffin Island in 1578, one of his vessels,
called the
Emmanuel
or
Busse of Bridgwater
, a small, strong
fishing craft, which had become separated from the other ships,
reported that she discovered on the 12 of September a "great is–
land" off the coast of Greenland at a little to the north of 57°
N.Lat
N.Lat. The first published account of this discovery was in the
same year, in the
True Discourse
about the Frobisher voyages by
George Best, who was a passenger on the second and third. He men–
tions that the
Busse
discovered to the southeast of "Freseland"
(in reality, Greenland) a great island which was never yet found
before, and sailed three days along the coast, "the land seeming
to be fruitful, full of woods and a champion country."
As Best was on a different ship and knew of the discovery
only at second hand, the account of an eye-witness, one Thomas
Wiars, passenger, is of more interest. This was printed in Hak–
luyt's
Principall Navigations
, Vol.III, 1600, p.44. Wiars tells
us that the
Busse
, being in some distress on account of the wind,
had been left behind in Frobisher Bay and was forced to ride out
the storm until the following day, September 3. They "fell in with
Frisland" on the evening of September 8, sailed in a southeasterly
direction "and continued that course until the 12 day of September,
when about 11 a clock before noon, they descried a land, which
was from them about five leagues, and the Southermost part of it
Busse Island
was Southeast by East from them, and the Northermost next, North Northeast, or Northeast. The Master accompted that the Southeast point of Frisland was from him at that instant when he first de– scried this new Island, Northwest by North, 50 leagues. They ac– count this Island to be 25 leagues long, and the longest way of it Southeast and Northwest. The Southern part of it is in the latitude of 57 degrees and 1 second part, or there about. They continued in sight of it, from the 12 day at 11 of the clock, till the 13 day three of the clock in the after noon, when they left it: and the last part they saw of it, bare from them Northwest by North. There appeared two Harbors upon that coast: the greatest of them seven leagues to the Northwards of the Southernmost point, the other but four leagues. There was very much ice near the same land, and also twenty or thirty leagues from it, for they were not clear of ice, til the 15 day of September after noon. They plied their Voyage homewards, and fell with the West part of Ireland about Galway, and had first sight of it on the 25 day of September."
Neither the Best nor the Hakluyt maps illustrating the Frobisher
voyages show the island, which was apparently first portrayed on the
Molyneux globe of 1592. It places the island between latitudes 58°
30′ N. and 59°
^
N.
^
; between longitudes 27° and 30° W. On the Plancius
chart, 1594, it was a little farther south and a bit farther east.
On the Caart Thresor of 1595 Busse lies between latitudes 58° and
59° N., between longitudes 31° and 32° W., and shows a detailed
coastline. For seventeen years after 1595 the island is not found
on any charts that we now possess, but seems to have appeared on
marine charts which have not survived. This may be deduced from a
statement of Captain Thomas Hall, an Englishman serving under
Christian IV of Denmark and Norway. During May, 1605, Hall was on
Busse Island
his way to Greenland in search of evidence concerning the fate of the Icelanders who had colonized it in the middle ages. On May 26 he writes:
"This evening we looked to have seen Busse Iland, but I doe
verily suppose the same to be placed in a wrong Latitude in the
Marine Charts. The sixe and twentieth at noone, wee
^
^
were in the
latitude of 57 degrees 45 minutes."
Over a year after his failure to sight Busse, Hall, approach–
ing
^
south
^
Greenland from the east, relates that on July 23, 1606, he
was
appr
"steering betweene the West North-west and the West by
North, being at noone in the latitude of 56 degrees 10 minutes,
having, by reason of a Northerly current, contrarie to my expect–
ation, made a West way Southerly two and twentie leagues". The
compass, he says, varied more than a point to the westward. He
then writes:
"The first of Iuly wee saw Land, being eight leagues off,
with great banks of Ice lying off South-west; wee, setting our
tacks aboord, laid off East by South and East South-east, to
double the same. About two a clocke, having doubled the same,
wee went away West and by South all this evening and night fol–
lowing. This Land I did suppose to be Busse Iland; it lying more
to the Westwards then it is placed on the Marine charts.
"The second day, thicke weather, with the winde at North
Nert
North-west, we steering West and by North. This afternoone, we were
in a great current setting South South-west; the which I did sup–
pose to set betweene Busse Iland and Freseland over with America....
Henry Hudson tells us that in June, 1609, on his third voyage
he steered his course "to find Busse Iland,......to see if it lay
in her true latitude on the chart or no." After two days search the
accounted themselves near the island, "but could not see it."
Busse Island
Various other distinguished navigators of the early 17 century
do not mention Busse. But, whether through the success of Hall in
finding and "doubling" it in 1606 or through the reports of some
unknown navigator, "Bus" (after a banishment from all but the sea
charts) appeared on Hessel Gerritszoon's map of 1612. While Luke
Fox
[:
]
in 1631 and Thomas James in 1632 did not on their voyages search
for Busse,
they
both believed in it and showed it on the maps illus–
trating their expeditions. While James's presentation is patently
copied from Gerritszoon's, Foxe's does not resemble earlier ones and
he apparently had other sources of information. (He shows three is–
lands south from "Frisland" and mentions in his text the prospect of
good fishing about the island of Busse.)
From 1632 to 1668 the map makers reverted to substantially the
same picture that can be drawn from the story of the eye-witness
Wiars. Busse was 60 or 70 miles from north to south, with the north
coast indicated as problematic. Its middle was usually near lat.
58° N., and the east and west coasts between meridians 27° and 30° W.
Then comes a remarkable contribution in a work of great authority,
the
English Pilot
of John Seller, hydrographer to the king, published
about 1673. This contains a "Breviate" of the historic voyage which
was the first trading venture of the English to Hudson Bay and re–
sulted in the establishment of the Hudson's Bay Company. Here Seller
gives, as based on Capt. Zechariah Gillam's Journal of this voyage,
1668, a passage said elsewhere in the volume to refer to Busse:
"On the third day of June, he weighed from Graves^[hyphen] -^end, and on the
thirteenth following, he saw fair Isle bearing N.E. by E., two
leagues off...
"The fourteenth day, Orkneys bore south, 18 leagues off, and
fair Isle, S.E. by E., eight leagues from them; and [he] steered
Busse Island
away from Orkneys N.W. somewhat westerly.
"On the first day of August following, he saw Land bearing west
from them, two miles off, and judged it to be an island, being dark
and foggy weather, having sailed due west 524 leagues and a half,
seeing great flocks of small Birds; and, in sounding [he] found
120 fathom Water, the Land or Island (which he rather supposed it
to be) bearing west 2 miles from them, being in Lat.59 deg. 35 min.
"The second of August, having still steered away west 528
leagues and a half, he saw a small Island, being then in the Latitude
59 deg. 43 min.
"The third day, he saw the Land bearing from the W.N.W. to the
S.W. by W., with one Island lying about four Leagues from the Main,
being then in the Latitude of 59 deg. 34 min...."
Elsewhere in his
Pilot
Seller tells us that Gillam's vessel,
"in her way, made the Land of Buss, lying between Iseland and Groen–
land; and in his
Atlas Maritimus
of 1675 he describes Busse as about
140 leagues southwest from Iceland, at about 57° 36′ N., not yet
fully discovered, but seen by some, including Capt. Gillam. An even
more striking contribution by Seller's
Pilot
to the Busse record is
an account of a fishing voyage by Capt. Thomas Shepherd:
"
A Description of the Island Buss
: This Island lieth in the Lat–
itude of 58 deg. 39 min. It bears W. by N. half a point Northerly,
from the Mizen-head, in Ireland, distant about 296 leagues". Here
follows an account of its discovery and naming on Frobisher's voyage
and the information that the two harbors are called Rupert's Harbour
and Shaftsbury's Harbour, and that two small islands lie off the
east point of the island. Then the
Pilot
continues:
"This island was further discovered by Captain Thomas Shepherd,
in the
Golden Lion
, of Dunkirk, in the year 1671, at the charge of
Busse Island
Mounsier[s] Kiel, Spawlding, and Kicquerts, Lords of that Town. The said Captain Shepherd brought home the Map of the Island that is here annexed; and reports that the Island affords store of Whales, easie to be struck, Sea-horse, Seal, and Codd in a [: ] undance; and sup– poses that two Voyages may be made in a year. The sea is clear from Ice, unless in September. The Land low and level to Southward, and some hills and mountains on the N.W. end. The variation was here, in the Year 1671, 9 degrees west. There lieth a Bank about 12 Leagues to the southward of the Island that hath good store of Fish upon it, and is about 15 Leagues in length, lying chiefly N.N.W. and S.S.E., having 40 fathom and [: ] 6 fathom Water upon it.
"This Island hath several times been seen by Captain Gillam in
his Passages to and from the North-West".
The map which accompanies the Shepherd statement gives Buss as
quadrangular, with a range of mountains or high hills along its north–
west coast, a particularly high elevation at its north tip, with sev–
eral hills variously spaced through the rest of the island, with con–
siderable stretches of flat land, with three inlets that are narrow
and run directly into the land, of which two are on the southwest side
while one is on the northeast. The map shows a curved promontory near
the southeast corner which encloses Robinson Bay. The mentioned south–
west inlets are named Rupert's Harbor and Shaftsbury Harbor; the one
facing northeast is Arlington's Harbor. There are several other
^
^
names
on this large scale draft of the island; still more names appear on
a smaller representation of the island on Seller's chart of the At–
lantic. Most of these are derived from organizers of the Hudson's
Bat^y^ Company.
So long as Busse depended for its shape, size and position on
the rather vague descriptions of 1578, it remained fairly consistent
Busse Island
in location and in outline; but after the detailed description and precise map given by Seller the island grew shiftier in charted position, more variable in size and shape. For this the likeliest explanation would seem to be that many reported having seen land in this general region but gave for it varying descriptions and posi– tions. Vivid in the minds of sailors, ubiquitous on charts, Busse was an accepted reality until past 1700. Then came numerous voyages to her approximate latitude and longitude, but none with the fortune to see an island. It became necessary to reconcile the many affirm– ative sources with the many negative. Thus around the middle of the 18 century Busse Island, with analogy to ancient Atlantis, became the Sunken Land of Busse.
John Van Keulen was apparently the first to cast Busse in the
role of a modern Atlantis. His chart of 1745 has a legend that: "The
submerged land of Buss is now-adays nothing but surf, a quarter of a
mile long, with a rough sea. Most likely it was originally the great
island of Frisland". (See
Frisland
.) Nevertheless he depicts the isl^-^
land on his chart as larger and more substantial than it had been on
any previous chart. This delineation was copied by John Anderson,
Burgomaster of Hamburg, in his 1746 work on Iceland, Greenland and
Davis Strait, which had wide circulation throughout Europe. But
Anderson also supports Van Keulen's doubts about the existence of
Busse, report
ing a certain captain as telling him that he had spent
two months in the region where the island was supposed to be located,
had watched for it carefully, and had found nothing that showed above
water, which had great depth as indicated by his soundings. The cap–
tain, however, "observed an inexplicable surf extending over a short
distance, notwithstanding a depth of 100 fathoms; in consequence of
which, the water in that place was higher than in the sea round about
Busse Island
He also saw water of a greenish colour, and a drifting mass of all sorts of green marine sea plants. Is it not the most probable hypoth– esis that there are at the sea-bottom hot springs which cause this elevation and disturbance of the water?"
All reports are negative from these who deliberately sought Busse
or had chance opportunity during this period. Most of them drew con–
clusions unfavorable to the possibility of Busse as a real land; but
there is a notable exception in Lieutenant Richard Pickersgill, who
had accompanied Captain James Cook on one of his great voyages and
later commanded a voyage of his own to Baffin Bay that took him past
the Busse locality. Writing a few years before his death in 1780
[:
]
he
argued that Busse probably existed, as an island and not a bank. There
was in his mind no doubt that the land had been truly reported from
Wiars to Shepherd, and he condiders it unreasonable to suppose that
so great a land could have submerged "without so violent a concussion
as must have affected the north of Europe". He reports many vessels
as having seen breakers thereabouts, and says that he himself had seen
"shag, gulls, and other signs of land not far hence"; and elsewhere
expresses "no doubt but that, if I had had time (as I had evident
tokens of land) I might have discovered it."
In 1818 Sir John Ross on his voyage in search of the Northwest Pas–
sage took the time to make a careful investigation in the region of
Busse and found no signs of it. He concludes that he is "inclined to
imagine, that when ships have been struck in this quarter by heavy
seas, the shocks have erroneously been attributed to the Sunken land
of Busse". In 1819 Parry made numerous soundings in the locality with–
out finding bottom; and again in a more westerly, and, as he believed,
more probable location, with the same result. In 1828 Lieutenant W.A.
Graah, in command of a Danish expedition to Greenland, after "passing
Busse Island
what is called on maps the Sunken Land of Busse, which is reported in the most recent British sailing directions as a danger to sail– ors", concluded that "it may be considered settled that no such dan– ger lurks in this vicinity".
But faith in Busse as a land that could be found if sought for dil–
igently lasted until even recent times; for Sir John Scott Keltie,
Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society of London, was able to
write in
Harper's Magazine
of July, 1907, that Busse, an "island,
some fifty thousand square miles in area, kept its place on maps down
to the great physical atlas of Keith Johnston in the middle of the
nineteenth century [1856]. Expeditions were sent out repeatedly to
search for it, but with as little result as in the case of Antilia.
Yet it was mapped in detail, and its features named with as much con–
fidence as if it had been Iceland or the Faroes. Even yet
[:
]
e find
authorities of reputation maintaining a belief in the existence of
Buss Island, and accounting for
its
^
the
^
disappearance of this fifty thou–
sand square miles of land by a sudden convulsion which sank it some
hundreds of fathoms below the surface of the ocean".
In attempting to explain by all logical possibilities the persist–
ent testimony as to the existence of this disappearing island, it
would seem that at least mass dishonesty may be ruled out at the be–
ginning. Too many of the observers are known to have been able and
reliable navigators for all of them to have fabricated the story.
The second possibility is that the witnesses were honest but mistaken
Possibly what they saw was a mirage of real land that was far but
seemed to be near; possibly it was a fog bank, or a vast field of
ice that was drifting slowly or simulating land through sculpture
of hill and valley, through boulders and mud and even grass upon the
surface. Such burdened sea ice, originally developed near a shore,
Busse Island
has been reported frequently. Stefansson, for instance, tells of finding it to the north of Canada in 1916. He says in The Friendly Arctic :
"...we found on top of some ice that was two years old or over,
a gravel and boulder ridge eighteen paces long. At its highest point
it was about five feet higher than the ice on which it rested and had
an average width of between ten and fifteen feet. The ridge was com–
posed of mud, gravel, slate and boulders, the largest weighing over
a hundred pounds. Some lumps of soil with lichens I took to show that
it had been formed by a landslide from some steep and not entirely
barren land. Apart from this earth ridge, the ice was a perfectly ord–
inary old floe. It was now lying thirty or forty miles from the near–
est land and the depth of water underneath it was probably over thirty
fathoms, although we were unable to sound right at that point; no
sounding we got in the vicinity showed less than twenty-six fathoms".
Indeed such such fields have been described from just about where
Captain Hall was when he reported Busse, near southern Greenland. For
example, John Barrow, describing upon the authority of a manuscript
submitted to the British Admiralty by Lieutenant Richard Pickersgill
a scene in the ocean pack near Cape Farewell, says: "Among the
ice
field-ice were several lofty islands, on one of which was much earthy
matter many feet deep, and pieces of rock several hundred pounds
weight each, with gravelly streams of fresh water pouring down its
sides". In the case of Hall, the issue seems a clear one of alterna–
tives: he either saw a real land (which in that case later sank) or
else he saw and mistook for land the kind of ice described in the
above quotations. According to Stefansson, drifting ice may have so
much earth upon it that even such keen observers as a group of Eski–
mos will mistake the floe for a genuine island.
Busse Island
Another possibility which might expalin the origin of the
Busse report is that the observers may have seen a real land which
was at the distance it seemed; but that they were
^
so
^
mistaken about
the
their latitude, and more especially their longitude, that they re–
ported as an island well to the east of Greenland what was actually
a part of Greenland itself.
The hypothesis of the sinking of Busse received further sup–
port in the 20 century by the report in 1903, by Capt. de Carteret
of the cable ship
Minia
^
,
^
of a submarine range, in latitude 53° N. and
longitude 35° W., of ocean bottom mountains 8,000 feet high between
Ireland and Newfoundland.
Bibliography
William H , . Babcock: Legendary Islands of the Atlantic , A.G.S., N.Y., 1922
V.Stefansson and E. McCaskill (eds.): The Voyages of Martin Frobisher , London, 1938
Miller Christy: "Busse Island", in C.C.A.Gosch: Danish Arctic Expedi–tions to Greenland 1605 to 1620, BK.I: Expedi–tions to Greenland, Hakluyt Soc. Publs., 1st Series, Vol.96, London, 1897, Appendix B, pp. 164–202
Polar Entrances to Hollow Earth (Symmes Theory)
EA-History (Leila F. Clark)
POLAR ENTRANCES TO HOLLOW EARTH (SYMMES THEORY)
Imaginative literature is full of tales of adventures underground,
and even science has now and then had some serious supporters of a hollow
earth theory. Baron von Humboldt in his great work
Kosmos
says, according
to the English translation:
"Leslie has ingeniously conceived the nucleus of the world
to be a hollow sphere, filled with an assumed 'imponderable matter
having an enormous force of expansion'. These venturesome and
arbitrary conjectures have given rise in wholly unscientific cir–
cles to still more fantastic notions. The hollow sphere has by
degrees been peopled with plants and animals... Near the north
pole at 82° latitude, whence the polar light emanates was an
enormous opening, through which a descent might be made into the
hollow sphere, and Sir Humphrey Davy and myself were even publicly
and frequently invited by Captain Symmes to enter upon this sub–
terranean expedition: so powerful is the morbid inclination of
men to fill unknown spaces with shapes of wonder, totally unmindful
of the counter evidence furnished by well-attested facts and univer–
sally acknowledged natural laws. Even the celebrated Halley, at
the end of the seventeenth century hollowed out the Earth in his
magnetic speculations... It has thus been attempted, even in our
EA-History: Clark: Hollow Earth Theory
own day, to clothe in a scientific garb the quaintly-devised fiction of the humorous Holberg."
Of all the literature, scientific or fanciful, serious or satirical,
on the hollow earth, probably no writing ever gave rise to so much wide–
spread temporary publicity or, in the end, had more far-reaching though
indirect effect on polar exploration than the following circular sent out
from St. Louis, Missouri, by the Captain Symmes whom Baron von Humboldt
mentioned:
"April 10, 1918
"I declare the earth is hollow, habitable within; containing
a number of concentrick spheres; one within the other, and that it
is open at the pole twelve or sixteen degrees. I pledge my life
in support of this truth, and am ready to explore the hollow if
the world will support and aid me in the undertaking.
"John Cleves Symmes
Late Captain of Infantry"
The circular stated further that the author selected Dr. S. L. Mitchell,
Sir H. Davy and Baron H. Von Humboldt as his protectors. He asked one
hundred brave companions to start from Siberia in the fall, equipped with
reindeer and sledges, on the ice of the frozen sea, and engaged to find a
warm rich land, stocked with animals and vegetables, if not men, on reach–
ing one degree northward of latitude 82°. The expedition would return the
following spring.
The circular, it is claimed, was sent out to learned institutions in
the United States and in Europe, and to every town and village of any size
EA-History: Clark: Hollow Earth Theory
in the United States.
The author of this remarkable document was a man of good family, a
nephew of the John Cleves Symmes famous for the "Symmes Purchase" in Ohio,
and for the founding of the city of Cincinnati. He served in the United
States Army for many years and he had fought with distinction in the War
of 1812. He is said to have had "a good common English education," a
special interest in science and mathematics and a continuing thirst for
more knowledge, but otherwise little is known of his education. Just when
or how he first conceived his theory is not known. In one of his "Memoirs"
dated June 24, 1818, he himself says, "Since last January my mind has been
almost entirely devoted to the study of nature's laws, both abroad and at
my reading desk." His son Americus states that his father evolved the
theory from his own researches and from the accounts of naviga
f
^
t
^
ors in
polar seas, Ross, Howe, Parry, Mac
ek
^
ke
^
nzie and others. How much access
Symmes had to good reading before the formulation of his theory we can
only conjecture. Later the large private library of James McBride, one
of the prominent converts of his theory, was open to him and undoubtedly
furnished him with a good deal of material for his arguments. There is no
evidence, however, that he ever saw Holberg's satire, mentioned by Humboldt,
"A Journey to the World Under Ground, by Nicholas Klimius," first written
in Latin in 1741, and later translated into most of the European languages.
In this, the supposed narrator descended to his adventures in the hollow
earth through a cave in a mountain near Bergen, Norway. It is doubtful but
not impossible that he may have read Klopstock's "Messiah," perhaps in the
English translation published in 1814. Klopstock's seraph descended into
the depths of the earth through an opening "in the silent recess of the
EA-History: s ^ C ^ lark: Hollow Earth Theory
unregarded north pole" past "uninhabited coasts; while mighty rivers... lash the hollow shores... Where, far from us, the earth turns on its centre, is a vast concave filled with a pure ether, in the midst of which is a sun". This rather more nearly than other fanciful conceptions of the hollow earth published before Symmes's day, suggests his own seriously proposed concept of the hollow earth, open at the poles, and with great rivers rising within its depths.
Symmes believed not only that the earth was a hollow sphere but that
the whole structure of the universe was one of hollow spheres. He argued
that unformed matter in rotation tends to form concentric spheres, that
centrifugal force throws rotating matter from the axis, the heavier
materials first and farthest, until a balance between centrifugal force
and gravity was reached, and a hollow sphere open at each end of the
axis formed. At first Symmes argued that, on the same principle, hollow
spheres would be created within hollow spheres, and that the earth was
made up of at least five concentric spheres. Later he seemed to have
dropped the multiple sphere hypothesis and to have confined his arguments
to the existence of only one inner world.
Symmes looked for and found support for his theory everywhere in
nature, from the rings of Saturn, from sunspots which he believed showed
the inner sphere of the sun through fractures in its crust, from, the hollow
structure of geodes, bones, feathers and hair, and from the shapes assumed
by magnetized iron fil
l
ings. God himself having showed a predilection for
hollow forms would probably have created a hollow earth.
The polar openings of the earth, Symmes said, were very wide, the one
in the Arctic four thousand miles, and that in the Antarctic six thousand
EA-History: Clark: Hollow Earth Theory
miles across. The crust of the earth he estimated to be about a thousand miles thick, and the curvature of the verge so gradual that a navigator might sail for fifteen hundred miles without any realization of having sailed over the rim of the outer world onto its inner surface. Because of the angle of the earth's axis, he showed by elaborate calculations that the light and heat of the sun would penetrate far into the earth's interior. Even at the equator, beyond the direct reach of its rays there would not be total darkness because of the light that would be reflected from the con– cave surface. The coldest areas of the earth would be at the outer edges of the polar openings, beyond which would be found a region of mild and equable climate. Explorers who reported open water beyond the frozen zone of the Arctic had unrealizingly penetrated to the borders of this region. The birds, seals, deer and other animals of whose mysterious northern migrations Symmes had heard must repair to this region each year.
The scorn and derision with which Symmes's circular, and its reprint–
ing with accompanying
Memoirs
as a supplement to the
Western Spy
in
Cincinnati in 1819, were received deterred Symmes no whit in his earnest
championing of his theory and his eagerness to put its truth to the test,
and he devoted all the rest of his life to writing and lecturing about it.
Symmes's earnestness and zeal, his sincerity and obvious sanity
gradually gained him a good many converts, some of them men of education
and ability. Prominent among them was James McBride who anonymously wrote
a book in behalf of the theory.
Symmes had started lecturing on his theory about 1820, and in spite
of the derision with which it was received had aroused so much popular
interest in it that petitions asking for financial aid and ships for it
were sent to Congress in 1822 and in 1823, from Kentucky, Ohio, South
EA-History. Clark: Hollow Earth Theory
Carolina and Pennsylvania. The times were ripe for interest in extending the trade and commerce of the country, and the incidental testing of Symmes's theory furnished an immediate peg on which to hang arguments for polar exploration. The petition presented by Mr. Johnson of Kentucky in January, 1823 shows the general tenor of the popular sentiment in Symmes's favor:
"The petition of the subscribing citizens respectfully
showeth that, in our opinion, both the national honor and public
interest may be promoted by the equipment of an exploring party,
for the purpose of penetrating the Polar regions, beyond the
limits at present known; with a view, not only of making new
discoveries in geography, natural history, geology, and astronomy,
but of opening new sources of trade and commerce.
"And it is our further opinion, that Captain John Cleves
Symmes, late of the United States Army, who professes to have
originated a new theory of the earth, which may be verified by a
voyage to the North, will be a suitable person (assisted by men
of science and experience) to be intrusted with the conduct of
such an expedition.
"Independently of the truth or error of Symmes's theory,
there appear to be many extraordinary circumstances, or phenomena,
pervading the Arctic and Antarctic regions which strongly indicate
something beyond the Polar circles worthy of our attention and
research.
"We, therefore, pray Congress to pass a law granting an
exploring outfit, in conformity to our memorial; and thereby at
EA-History. Clark: Hollow Earth Theory
at once subserve the cause of philosophy and the earnest wishes of your constituents."
The petitions were for the most part humorously received; there were
motions to refer them to the Committee on Foreign Relations and to the
Committee on Commerce, "the object of the memoralists being probably to
[:
]
establish commerce with the interior inhabitants." In the end they
were all ordered to lie on the table and nothing came of them. Symmes
was later invited to join a Russian polar expedition but his impoverished
financial condition did not permit him to accept.
Early in 1824, a benefit performance for Symmes's proposed polar
expedition was given at the Cincinnati Theatre, and in May, at a lecture
in Hamilton, Ohio, the audience passed a resolution stating that it believed
the Symmes theory deserving of serious attention and worthy of the attention
of the American people. This favorable attention was, however, far out–
weighed by the more general ridicule of the theory. A novel entitled
Symzonia
,
a Voyage of Discovery
, written under the pseudonym Adam Seaborn,
in 1820 burlesqued the theory, and there was much other humorous as well
as serious criticism of it.
In 1825, Symmes, accompanied by his stepson Anthony Lockwood, and by
Jeremiah N. Reynolds, his most active conv
r
^
e
^
rt, started on a lecture tour
of the East. Reynolds had grown up in Wilmington, Ohio and had spent three
years at Ohio University in 1819–1822, but apparently he did not meet Symmes
until 1824, after Symmes and his much ridiculed "Symmes's Hole" had been
in the public eye for some years. Reynolds seems to have been the better
lecturer of the two, but Symmes's earnestness, simplicity and sincerity
won more or less sympathetic interest for him even though few converts to
EA-History. Clark: Hollow Earth Theory
his theory were made. In Philadelphia Reynolds left Symmes and continued lecturing independently. At first there seems to have been no ill-will between the two men, but only some differences of opinion. Symmes argued for an expedition to start from Siberia, with reindeer and sleighs, while Reynolds wished to go south because he thought the geographical discoveries to be made in that direction would be of greater importance. Later there was an open breach, and even some talk of a duel. The subject was variously discussed in print and one newspaper satirically suggested that it should, by all means take place, but not in New York, that Congress should grant appropriations for two expeditions, one to the Arctic, the other to the Antarctic, should furnish the two contestants with cannon and should let them settle their differences through "Symmes's Hole," using snowballs for ammunition.
Symmes's lecture tour took him as far east as Portland, Maine, and
as far north as Quebec. The newspapers of the day were full of accounts
of his lectures and the consensus of many of them was that, although there
might be nothing in the theory itself, an exploring expedition might add to
geographical knowledge and open new channels of commerce while incidentally
testing its truth or falsehood.
Symmes's health, never good, suffered from vicissitudes of his travels
and from the cold of Canada and he was forced to return to New York in 1827.
He seldom lectured afterward, but spent some time with his relatives in New
Jersey, before, seriously ill, he returned to his home in Hamilton, Ohio,
where he died on May 28 or 29, 1829.
With Symmes died the popular interest in Symmes's Hole, but not in
polar exploration. Reynolds seems early to have stopped making the testing
EA-History. Clark: Hollow Earth Theory
of the theory his principal argument for an Antarctic expedition but con– tinued with unabated enthusiasm and vigor to seek governmental support for one. He went himself on a voyage of sealing and discovery and in 1834 wrote a book about it, Voyage of the United States Frigate Potomac , published 1834.
Reynold's efforts, more than those of any other one person, were
probably responsible for the act of May 14, 1836, authorizing the President
"to send out a surveying and exploring expedition to the Pacific Ocean and
South Seas," but he engaged in a prolonged newspaper and pamphlet contro–
versy with Mahlon Dickerson, the Secretary of the Navy, about the expedition,
and when the United States Exploring Expedition was finally ready to sail in
1838 under the command of Captain Charles Wilkes, Jeremiah W. Reynolds, who
had aspired to be its histroiographer, was left behind. No Antarctic expe–
dit
^
i
^
on since has sailed without consulting the records of "Wilkes Expedition,"
and the ethnological, zoological, and botanical specimens brought back by
the scientists who accompanied it formed the nucleus of the present U.S.
National Museum's collections.
Symmes and his theory have had no small effect on fantastic tales of
adventure during and since his day. The imaginary descriptions of the polar
regions in Edgar Allen Poe's early tales give strong evidence of his having
drawn on the images publicized by Symmes and Reynolds.
The Adventure of Hans
Pfall
,
the Descent Into the Maelstrom
,
the MS Found in a Bottle
, and the
Narrative of A. Gordon Pym
, especially, show more or less clearly familiarity
with the Symmesian theory. Mr. Robert F. Almy in his admirable article on
J. N. Reynolds published in the
Colophon
in 1937, points this out, and believes
that Poe probably learned more of Symmes's theory from Reynolds than from
Symmes's own writings.
EA-History. Clark: Hollow Earth Theory
Other less famous tales of life at the poles, over the frozen verge,
or within the earth, have appeared from time to time showing similarities
to the Symmesian concept or actually mentioning his theory. Serious pro–
ponents of a hollow earth, habitable within, with or without acknowledged
familiarity with the Symmes theory, have also come forward, even as late
as 1920. One of them, William Reed, whose
The Phantom of the Poles
was
published in 1906, is said to have had a considerable following and to
have formed a "Hollow Earth Club" which flourished for a time.
Leila F. Clark
Search for the Northwest Passage
EA-History (D. M. LeBourdais)
SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE
Ever since the day when Marco Polo returned with tales of the riches
of Far Cathay, men of Europe dreamed of a short route to Asia. It was
for this that Columbus sailed away to the westward; and when it became
known that his new land was not an outlying part of the Far East, but
actually a further obstacle to be surmounted in attaining that dreamed-of
goal, expedition after expedition sought a way round.
As the greatest seafaring people in succession to the Portuguese and
Spanish, the English took the lead in this quest. For many years a
government prize of
^
£
^
20,000 awaited any English mariner who should succeed
in discovering the Northwest Passage; and as a result the map of the arctic
regions is sprinkled thick with English names; and its beaches are strewn
with English bones.
Ut was with the riches of Cathay as bait that John Cabot sailed on his
voyages of 1497 and 1498; but, although he skirted the coast of North America
for about 1,800 miles, he did not realize that the land lying along the
western horizon was not part of Asia. His voyages were not, therefore, part
of the quest for the Northwest Passage. His son Sebastian knew that America
was a new continent and may possibly have had a Northwest Passage in mind
when he sailed some years later. Nevertheless, the search for the Passage
may be said to have begun in reality with the voyages of Martin Frobisher
in 1576, 1577, and 1578.
EA-History. LeB i ^ o ^ urdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
John Cabot had received his charter from King Henry VII of England.
He was in a sense a transitional character. Like Columbus, he was a Genoese;
Columbus sailed in the service of Spain, hitherto the grestest maritime nation;
but Cabot sailed for England, Sapin's successor on the seven seas. When
Frobisher was organizing his expedition, Queen Elizabeth was on the throne,
and England was well into that great era of expansion, literary, scientific,
and commercial, which was to result in the transfer of world leadership from
Spain to England. No longer need England depend upon foreign navigators;
her seamen, pushing out from their own narrow seas, were pressing their
little caravels into the farthest reaches of the oceans; Drake and Cavendish
were sailing round the world, challenging the might of Spain wherever they
met it; while a host of others of the same breed were "singeing the beard"
of the Spanish king nearer home. Piracy was their trade; but because they
preyed upon their trade rivals — whose countries were not necessarily at war
with England — their activities were looked upon with a lenient eye by their
Queen and countrymen.
One of these was Martin Frobisher
1
, who had served a hard apprenticeship
1
before gaining a reputation as a capable and intrepid mariner. Tiring for a
time of tasting Oriental riches at second hand through the capture of
Spanish galleons, he became imbued with the desire to find a direct route
to those riches round the north of America. Had not Magellan found in the
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
south a strait leading directly from the Atlantic to the Pacific? Should not there also be a strait at the northern end?
Through the interest of the Earl of Warwick, Frobisher's scheme for
a voyage of discovery was brought to the attention of the Court, and in
due course the Privy Council directed the Muscovy Company, then holding
a monopoly in the trade of parts unknown, to assist him in his plans.
This the company at first declined to do; but one of its officers, Michael
Lok, becoming interested in Frobisher's venture — with some further pres–
sure from the Privy Council — secured a license for him and thenceforth
was his enthusiastic supporter. Lok was an influential London merchant,
interested in exploration as well; and through him, as well as largely
from him, Frobisher secured funds for his three expeditions.
The first expedition, which sailed on June 7, 1576, with Frobisher as
admiral and pilot, consisted of the
Gabriel
, a new ship of from fifteen to
twenty tons, the
Michael
, from twenty to twenty-five tons, and a pinnace
of from seven to ten tons. The crew numbered thirty-five. As the little
ships neared Greenland waters, storms were encountered during which the
pinnace with four men foundered; and the
Michael
, became separated from
her consort, returned to England, reporting the
Gabriel
lost. But Fro–
bisher and his little craft were not lost; that is to say, they were alive,
but they were lost insomuch as they did not know where they were. Charts
of the time were very inaccurate; islands were shown that did not exist,
and existing lands were wrongly shown. After an abortive attempt to go
ashore near the southern end of Greenland, Frobisher rounded that land and
sailed westward till, on July 28, he saw ahead of him a land of vast extent,
with what seemed to be a strait leading to the westward. It was easy for
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
him to believe that it might be the northern counterpart to that of Magellan. This he called "Frobisher's Strait," shown on present-day maps as Frobisher Bay, a large inlet in the southeastern corner of Baffin Island.
Landing, on August 19, on one of the islands at the entrance to the
"strait," Frobisher first encountered natives. At the beginning their
relations were amicable, but eventually — on whose side was the blame
cannot now be assessed — the natives became hostile; five of the expedi–
tion's remaining eighteen men were spirited away and never seen again.
Before leaving a week later, Frobisher captured an Eskimo man, whom he
took to England, arriving there on October 9.
Since it was believed that the entrance to the Northwest Passage
had been found, the backers of the expedition would probably have been
well pleased, even though Cathay had not been reached. But now occurred
one of those strange, unforeseeable events that sometimes control the
fates of men. Before Frobisher had set forth on the venture, Lok had
extracted from him a promise to hand over on his return "the first thinge
that he founde in the new land," which, as it turned out to be, was a piece
of black stone picked up on the beach when the first landfall was made.
For some reason Lok now became obsessed with the idea that this
piece of stone was gold-bearing; and despite reports to the contrary by
the assay master of the Tower and others equally reliable, Lok persisted
in that belief until he finally found an assayer or alchemist who, after
testing the stone, claimed to have recovered a small quantity of gold.
This was enough to start rumors that never ended. Although Lok never
dissembled his views regarding the value of Frobisher's "ore," it was
taken as natural that the finders of a gold mine would deny it in order
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
to keep the find to themselves, and that this accounted for the discrep– ancies in the stories.
A company, the Cathay Company, was organized under charter from
the Crown for the purpose of developing the new mines — and, incidentally,
of promoting the Northwest Passage and establishing a colony. This time
there was little difficulty in securing capital. The belief was general
that America was a land of gold; had not a golden harvest been flowing out
of Spain for decades past? The Queen herself subscribed
^
£
^
1,000 and lent a
"tall" ship, the
Aid,
of two hundred tons, which, with the
Gabriel
and
Michael
, comprised the fleet under Frobisher's command when it set sail on
May 26, 1577. On board were one hundred and twenty persons — the limit
set by the Queen — consisting of ninety mariners, gunners, carpenters,
etc., and thirty made up of miners, refiners, merchants "and other
necessarie persons."
The voyage westward was relatively uneventful. Again Frobisher was
unable to set foot on Greenland owing to the presence of ice, complicated
by fog, and consequently pressed on to his new land of the previous year,
which was reached on July 17. No trace of the five lost men was seen and
little was done in the way of exploration, but about 200 tons of rock was
loaded aboard the
Aid
. The flotilla then returned to England, Frobisher
having abducted a native family, all of whom died soon after arrival in
England. Although the 200 tons of stone produced no more real gold than
the small sample secured on the first boyage, faith in its value was not
lessened in the promotors' eyes. The Queen presented Frobisher with a
gold chain and
^
£
^
100, naming his new land "Meta Incognita."
Next year no less than fifteen ships were fitted out, and plans were
made with a view to establishing a colony of 120 persons in Met
^
a
^
Incognita,
EA p ^ - ^ History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
in addition to bringing back 2,000 tons of ore. The ore was duly brought back — eventually to be used for road-mending; but the colonization scheme was not carried out because part of the timbers intended for the colonists' home had gone down with the one ship lost on the way out. Exploration, however, if they had only known it, was more successful. On sailing west– ward from Greenland, Frobisher with part of the flotilla bore too far to the south and, missing Meta Incognita, sailed some distance into what he called "Mistaken Strait" before retracing his steps. This was undoubtedly what later became known as Hudson Strait; and if he and his associates had not been so greatly obsessed by the lure of gold he might have proceeded into the great bay lying farther to the westward.
Thus ended Frobisher's dream of discovery. It is hard to say what he
might have accomplished had not green intervened. The outcome was bankruptcy
and a debtor's prison for Michael Lok, while Frobisher returned to his
piracy until his services were required by his Queen for a greater enter–
prise — the war with Spain, associated ever after with the dispersal of the
Great Armada. The net result of Frobisher's exploits was a considerable
amount of geographical confusion — and the painful realization on the part
of sundry Elizabethan adventurers that "not all is gold that glitters,"
for Frobisher's ore was iron pyrites, known even yet as "fool's gold."
The search for the Northwest Passage was taken up a decade later by
an entirely different sort of person, John Davis, an educated man in addition
to being an aco
[:
]
^
m
^
plished navigator. He grew up in Devonshire with the
Gilberts and their half-brothers the Raleighs, Walter and Carew; and it
was Walter Raleigh, then at the height of his favor at Court, who induced
the Queen to grant a charter "for the search and discoveries of the North-
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
West Passage to China." It was Walter Raleigh, too, who introduced Davis to William Sanderson, a wealthy and liberal-minded merchant, who became one of the principal backers of the ent[: e]rprise.
The expedition comprised two small vessels, the
Sunshine
, fifty tons,
and the
Moonshine
, thirty-five tons. The crew consisted of a carpenter,
eleven seamen, a boy,
[:
]
^
and
^
four musicians
. The latter were shipped for the
purpose — probably with Frobisher's experience in mind — of soothing the
breasts of such savages as might be encountered. The little ships sailed
out of Dartmouth Harbor, June 7, 1585; and, through the fog, on July 20 the
rugged mountains along the east coast of Greenland were seen, probably near
Cape Discord. Davis called it the "Land of Desolation." Against the shore,
the ice floes were packed solid; and Davis therefore cruised southward until
beyond the southern tip of Greenland, later named Cape Farewell by him.
Entering the strait since called by his name, he sailed northwestward until,
on July 29, he put into an island-studded fjord which he called Gilbert Sound,
in honor of his childhood associates, where the settlement of Godthaab now
stands.
Here the four musicians were called upon to work their magic; whether
or not it was due to their efforts, amicable relations were established with
the natives. After three days in Gilbert Sound, sail was set on a northwesterly
course and, on August 6, land on the opposite side of the strait was seen.
Davis cast anchor in an inlet which he called Totnes, after a west county
place; the high land, beyond, received the name of Mount Raleigh; the bay
nearly surrounding Mount Raleigh, he called Exeter Sound; the point to the
north was named Cape Dyer, while the one to the south he called Cape Walsing–
ham after the Secretary of state who, with Dyer, was a supporter of the
expedition.
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
Sailing south from Totnes on August 8, Davis explored Cumberland
Sound, although, because of un
[:
]
avorable winds, not quite to its head, whi
h
^
c
^
h
left him with the impression that Cumberland Sound might yet prove to be
the passage he was seeking. Continuing southward on August 23, he headed
homeward, arriving at Dartmouth on September 30, well satisfied with the
results of this first expedition.
Next year, the
Mermaid
, 120 tons, and a pinnace called the
North Star
,
ten tons, in addition to the
Sunshine
and
Moonshine
, constituted the squad–
ron that sailed from Dartmouth on May 7. Sighting the southern end of
Greenland on June 15, and following the course of the previous year, Davis,
in the
Moonshine
, again made his first landfall at Gilbert Sound, where he
remained a fortnight. The natives were friendly at first, but unfortunately
this did not continue. The
North Star
was lost; and, after they had done a
certain amount of exploration that need not be detailed here, the
Mermaid
and
Sunshine
were sent back to England. Davis himself sailed across to the
west side of his strait, which he explored southward, past the entrance to
Hudson Strait, along the coast of Labrador as far as Newfoundland, before
heading for home on September 11. This voyage, while causing him to think less
of Cumberland Sound as a possible Northwest Passage, left him confident that
one did exist.
Davis' third voyage began at midnight, May 19, 1587, when the
Sunshine
,
the
Elizabeth
, a new ship, and the
Ellen
, a 20-ton pinnace, sailed out of
Dartmouth Harbor. On June 16, anchors were dropped in Gilbert Sound and
Davis set about the disposition of his ships. This time he was determined
to bring back to his supporters something more substantial than geographical
information: he
[:
]
ould exploit the Newfoundland fisheries, tested the previous
year, The
S
i
^
u
^
nshin
d
^
e
^
and
Elizabeth
were told off for the purpose, while he
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
proceeded with exploration in the little Ellen . Sailing northward from Gilbert Sound, he reached 72° 12′ N. latitude on June 30, where a lofty cliff on an island lying off the Greenland coast was named by him "Sander– son his Hope" after the patron of the enterprise. Prospects for the dis– covery of the Passage seemed very favorable; there was "no ice towards the north, but a great sea, free, large, very salt and blue, and of an unsearch– able depth."
Further progress to the north was stopped, however, by a strong,
adverse wind which forced Davis to turn westward, running in this direction
for forty leagues without sighting land. On July 2, a great ice field was
encountered, lying north and south, the "Middle Pack" of later whalers.
Crusing southward along the edge of this ice, he doubled its southern end
and continued westward, and, on July 19, sighted once again his Mount Raleigh
and put into Cumberland Sound, which he proved was no strait.
Continuing southward, Davis again passed the entrance to a great strait
of which he says in his log: "We fell into a mighty race, where an island of
ice was carried by the force of the current as fast as our barke could sail.
We saw the sea falling down into the gulfe with a mighty overfal, and roaring,
with divers circular motions like whirle-pooles, in such sort as forcible
streams passe thorow the arched of bridges." The cape at the southern
entrance to the strait he named Cape Chudleigh, after a Devon family, and
proceeded on his way to the rendezvous with the other two ships off the coast
of Newfoundland. The ships were not found; the
Ellen
struck a rock and
nearly foundered; but Davis sailed her home, reaching Dartmouth harbor on
the 15th of September.
This was the last voyage of John Davis in quest of the Northwest Passage
2EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
Like Frobisher, he was able to be engaged in other work for the Queen for the next little while; but his name remains for all time on the map of the world. Of him, his biographer, Sir Clements Markham, writes: "Davis con– verted the Arctic regions from a confused myth into a defined area, the physical aspects and conditions of which were understood so far as they were known. He not only described and mapped the extensive tract explored by himself, but he clearly pointed out the work cut out for his successors. He lighted Hudson into his strait. He lighted Baffin into his bay . . . But he did more. His true-hearted devotion to the cause of Arctic discovery, his patient scientific research, his loyalty to his employers, his dauntless gallantry and enthusiasm, form an example which will be a beacon-light to maritime explorers for all time to come." 1
The next of the immortals could have achieved that status by virtue
of his achievements alone; but by his tragic death his claim was made doubly
sure. Despite the fact that the record of his life comprises but four years,
the name of Henry Hudson is written large upon the map of North America.
Because one of his four voyages was made in the service of Holland, it is
often stated that he was a Hollander and his name is even misspelled to con–
form to that idea; yet ye was an Englishman, typical of his day and generation.
His first voyage, in 1607, under the auspices of the Muscovy Company,
was an attempt to find the Northwest Passage by sailing over the Pole, an
idea which at the time had considerable support. He sailed northeastward
along the coast of Greenland, but was unable to find an opening through the
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
ice pack to the open polar sea that was believed to exist. Next year, for the same company, he attempted the Northeast Passage, this time fail– ing to find the looked-for opening in the ice between Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya. Hudson sailed from Amsterdam on his third voyage with the object of exploring the coast of America. After some exploration along the coast to the southward, he landed on Manhattan Island and as– cended the river that bears his name, little dreaming of the great city that would one day arise on its shores. On his return to England, he was ordered to devote his time in future to the service of his own country.
Sir Thomas Smith, great Elizabethan merchant and patron of exploration,
and another lesser figure, Sir Dudley Digges, headed a group who were per–
sistent in their efforts to discover the Northwest Passage. In 1602, they
had dispatched George Weymouth in the 55-ton
Discovery
to search in the
direction of Davis' "Furious Overfal." Weymouth sailed 100 leagues up the
strait later named for Hudson, but otherwise his voyage added nothing to
geographical knowledge. Still driven by their obsession, these worthies
now employed Hudson to go on from where Weymouth left off. Among those
in the
Discovery
with Hudson was his son Jack, now 17 years old, who had
accompanied him on previous voyages; Robert Juet, the mate; Thomas Wood–
house, a mathematical student; Habakkuk Prickett, a former servant of
Sir Dudley Digges; Robert Bylot, an experienced sailor; and Henry Green,
a ne'er-do-well, befriended by Hudson. Sailing on April 22, 1610, the
Discovery
crossed the Atlantic without untoward incident, but difficulties
began immediately the strait was entered. For weeks, the little ship
shuttled back and forth from shore to shore as ice blocked its progress,
and some time was spent dodging about in what is now Ungava Bay. Working
gradually westward, however, Salisbury Island was sighted on August 2, and
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
sailing on through a "great and whurling sea," the Discovery reached the western end of the strait. This, Hudson called Cape Wolstenholme, after one of his patrons, and a cape on a small island nearby, breeding-place of myriads of wild fowl, he called Cape Digges, now known as Digges Island. Hudson's journal stops; and the story from here on is according to Prickett, and therefore open to suspicion. From August 3 to November 1, the Discovery crept down the eastern shore of Hudson Bay to the head of James Bay, where she was frozen in.
During the long, inactive winter, which in any circumstances would be
trying for men unaccustomed to the life, members of the crew became dis–
affected. A plot was hatched, Hudson attempted to satisfy the men by
making Bylot mate instead of Juet, but the disgruntled sailors were not
mollified. Henry Green seems to have been the ringleader, assisted by the
boatswain, William Wilson, and three of the crew. Food began to run short
before spring, which fanned the discontent. Hudson hoped, by strict ration–
ing, to hold out till the wild fowl of Cape Digges were reached on the
return journey.
Habakkuk Prickett and five others were sick in their bunks with scurvy,
and all were
^
on
^
extremely short rations when the
Discovery
broke out of winter
quarters and headed northward on June 12, 1611. The mutineers now decided
to strike. Their plan was to jettison the captain and such members of the
ship's company as were friendly to him in order to augment the food supply
for themselves. According to Prickett, Green and Wilson came to his bunk
with the plan three days after the ship had left winter quarters, excusing
it on the ground that only fourteen days' provisions remained. He says he
tried in vain to persuade them to desist; yet he did nothing to warn the
captain. He is rated in history as a scoundrel.
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
On the morning of the day fixed, as Hudson came out of his cabin,
he was seized by the mutineers. The carpenter and one or two others rushed
to his aid, but were overpowered. Then Hudson, his son, Woodhouse, and the
sick men, except Prickett — nine in all — were forced into the shallop,
which was out adrift. They were never seen again.
Eleven men remained aboard the
Discovery
, soon to be reduced to six,
later to five. On July 29, as the five principal mutineers, unarmed, were
bartering with Eskimo on Digges Island, they seem to have been attacked
without provocation; Green was killed outright; the others, grievously
wounded, died soon after returning on board. Surviving were: Bylot, who
took command, Pricket, Juet — who died soon after — and three others.
They had succeeded, however, in shooting some 300 birds which, severely
rationed, with a little meal, kept them alive until they reached England,
where Bylot and Prickett were evidently able to give a satisfactory account
of their actions. Prickett became the historian of the voyage and Bylot
continued to sail in the employ of Sir Thomas Smith and his associates.
These venturesome spirits, now incorporated by Royal Charter as The
Company of the Merchants of London Discoverers of the North-West Passage —
if for no other reason, perhaps, than to justify the name of their company —
were more determined than ever to find the elusive Passage. They immediately
planned another attempt, selecting Thomas Button, a capable and experienced
seaman, as their commander, to whom were entrusted two ships, the
Discovery
already familier to us, and the
Resolution.
The expedition sailed from
London in May 1612, equipped for eighteen months. Among those on board
were Bylot and Prickett.
It is difficult to realize how fanatically the people of those days
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
believed in the existence of the Northwest Passage; it was inconceivable to them that it should not exist. Perhaps the following letter, which Button carried from King James I for delivery to the Emperor of Japan, or other eastern potentate, will help to show how convinced they were;-
"James, by the Grace of the Most High God, Creator and only
Guider of the Universal World, King of Great Brittaine, France, and
Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc.,
"Right high, Right Excellent, and Right mightie Prince, divers
of our subjects, delighting in navigation and finding out of unknowne
countries and peoples, having heard of the fame of you and of your
people, have made a voyage thither of purpose to see your countries,
and with your people to exercise exchange of Marchandize, bringing
to you such things as our Realmes doe yield, and to receive from you
such as y
rs
affoord and may be of use for them, (it being) a matter
agreeable to the nature of humane societye to have commerce and
intercourse each with other. And, because, if they shalbe so happie
as to arrive in y
or
Dominions, that you
^
^
may understand that they are
not persons of ill condition or disposition, but such as goe upon
just and honest grounds of trade, Wee have thought good to recommend
them and their Captain, Thomas Button, to your favor and protection,
desiring you to graunt them, while they shalbe in y
or
country, not
only favor and protection, but also such kindness and entertainment
as may encourage them to continue their travailles and be the beginning
of further amitie between you and us. And we shall be ready to
requite it with the like goodwill towards any of y
rs
that shall have
cause or desire to visit our Countries."
1
3
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
Button found Hudson Strait relatively free of ice and reached the Bay
without much difficulty, continuing westward, south of Southampton Island,
which he named, till, much to his disgust, he was stopped by the western
shore which presented an unbroken coast line in either direction. Turning
south, he cruised along the bleak Hudson Bay coast, missing the entrance
to Churchill Harbor, and eventually, to gain shelter from a storm, put
into the estuary of a river, which he called Port Helson. There, on the
bank of a small creek, he wintered. He and his men suffered extremely
from the cold, against which they were inadequately protected, and some
died, while the
Resolution
was crushed in the ice.
With the return of summer, Button, with all the survivors in the
doughty little
Discovery
, sailed northward along the coast, again missing
Churchill Harbor, up Roe's Welcome almost as far as Wager Inlet before
turning south, convinced that no passage existed anywhere along that coast,
and returning to England.
Not much of the western shore of Hudson Bay now remained to be explored,
and the possibility of a passage in that quarter must surely have seemed
remote, yet the Company of Merchants were not dismayed. In 1615, an expe–
dition sailed for the Bay which, while it added little to geographical
knowledge, was noteworthy in that, associated with Captain Robert Bylot,
was William Baffin, whose name will ever be linked with the search for
the Northwest Passage. A scientific navigator like Davis, Baffin's ob–
servations were of great value to later navigators. He was convinced that
if there was a passage out of Hudson Bay, it would prove to be a relatively
small one; and that when the real passage was discovered, it would lead
out of Davis Strait. He was right on both counts.
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
Baffin had a chance to test his theories the following year (1610)
when he and Bylot were again sent out in the
Discovery
to try for a
passage by way of Davis Strait. On May 30, the granite cliffs of "San–
derson his Hope" were in sight. Ice was encountered, but toward the end
of June he was in Melville Bay, which he found comparatively free of ice;
and on July 1 he reached the "North Water" of later generations of whalers.
In 78.8° N., he named a bold headland, Cape Dudley Digges, a deep bay
twelve leagues farther on, Wolstenholme Sound, and an opening at his
farthest northern point, in latitude 78° N., he named after Sir Thomas
Smith, thus perpetuating for all time the names of three of his patrons,
two of whom had already been so honored by previous grateful navigators.
Running down the west shore of the bay, he named Jones and Lancaster
sounds after other supporters, thinking them to be inlets of some sort;
but, had he known it, in Lancaster Sound he had discovered the most prac–
ticable route of the Northwest Passage, which, however, was to remain a
secret for over two hundred years.
1
4
Although the lead given by Davis and Baffin was to lie dormant
through two centuries, and despite all the evidence gained from the many
expeditions to Hudson Bay, possibility of a passage in that direction was
still an obsession in many minds. In 1631, two expeditions sailed for the
Bay. Thomas James, in the
Henrietta Maria
, of about 70 tons, sailed from
Bristol, while Luke Foxe, in the
Charles
, somewhat larger, sailed from
London. The former carried a letter from King James I to the Emperor of
Japan; and all evidence indicates that Captain Foxe was no less confident
5EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
that a passage to the Orient existed. After reaching the Bay, both cruised up and down the west coast, James from the southern end of the bay since named after him as far as Cape Eskimo, while Foxe reached Roe's Welcome, although he did not go as far south as James. The latter wintered at Charlton Island, in James Bay, where he and his men suffered severely, three dying there. Foxe wintered at Port Nelson, his men suffering also, but without loss of life. The second year, both sailed into what is now called Fox Channel. They met only once during their peregrinations about the Bay; and Foxe, according to his sprightly journal, seems to have enter– tained a very poor opinion of his contemporary. James' Strange and Dangerous Voyage is said to have been one, if not the chief, source of Coleridge's Ancient Mariner. 1
Almost forty years were to elapse before a prow was again to plow
the waters of Hudson Bay. In 1670, King Charles II granted a charter to
another group of adventurers, this time not for exploration with trade on
the side, but for trade with exploration as merely incidental; and thence–
forth no year passed that English ships did not slip quietly into the Bay
with their loads of trade goods and supplies and as quietly slip away
with cargoes of precious furs.
Toward the end of the eighteenth century, the British once more took
up the quest for the Northwest Passage. Now, instead of being sponsored,
as in Elizabethan times, by a group of London merchants, the expeditions
were commissioned directly by the Admiralty; the Arctic was to become one
of the chief peace-time training grounds for British naval officers.
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
This time the attempt was made from the west. The great Captain
James Cook, reaching the Pacific Bay by way of the Cape of Good Hope,
wailed up the west coast of North America in 1778. In latitude 60° N.,
he explored an inlet or river mouth for a distance to 70 leagues without
reaching its head. Now known as Cook's Inlet, it was for many years called
Cook's River, and some who were interested in the possibility of a North–
west Passage clung to the hope that it might prove to be a navigable stream
leading perhaps from some point accessible to the Atlantic as well. Cook
was turned back By ice floes at Icy Cape, in latitude 70° 41′ N.; and,
despite his death in the Hawaiian Islands the following winter, the expe–
dition made another unsuccessful attempt in 1779 to reach a more northerly
point, after which it was presumed that a passage did not exist anywhere
along the coast, except, perhaps, at Cook's river or inlet.
Early in the nineteenth century — after the strenuous years of the
war with Napolean — the British Admiralty again took up the quest. By
this time, John Barrow, the most persistent and optimistic of promoters of
Arctic expeditions — especially in search of the Northwest Passage, the
existence of which was with him an article of faith — was embarked on
his forty-year tenure of office as Second Secretary of the Admiralty,
during which all his efforts were unswervingly devoted toward keeping the
British public and the Admiralty interested in the project that lay near–
est his heart.
In 1818, largely due to Barrow's interest, an elaborately outfitted
expedition sailed for Baffin Bay under the command of Captain John Ross.
His fleet consisted of two ships, the
Isabella
, 385 tons, and the
Alexander
,
252 tons, which, it will be seen, showed a considerable advance in size over
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
the caravels of Davis and Baffin. In the meantime, too, great strides had been made in the art of navigation. Commanding the Alexander was Lt. W. E. Parry, destined to become one of the greatest of arctic navigators, while in the Isabella with Ross was the latter's nephew, James C. Ross, later to become the discoverer of the north and south magnetic poles, whose fame is exceeded only by that of Parry.
Ross was specifically instructed to explore the possibility of a
passage out of Baffin Bay. He found Smith and Jones sounds blocked with
ice and seemed to see mountains at the head of the latter which precluded
the possibility of any passage there. He then sailed into Lancaster Sound,
but gave up the attempt to reach its head when he saw what appeared to be
mountains in the distance, marking the end of the sound. He allowed him–
self to be too easily persuaded; it is more than probable that he had
already convinced himself that no practicable passage out of Baffin Bay
existed.
When Ross reached England with his negative report, the flood gates
of John Barrow's wrath were let l
l
^
o
^
ose. He had pinned his hopes on a
successful outcome to the expedition and had predicted that a passage
would undoubtedly be found, especially by way of Lancaster Sound, and
he never forgave Ross for letting him down.
It was therefore essential that another expedition should be dis–
patched to Baffin Bay to finish what, according to Barrow, Ross had left
undone. Command of this expedition was given to Lt. Parry, who had sailed
under Ross. Two ships were supplied him, the
Hecla
, 375 tons, and the
Griper
, 180 tons. The two ships' roster of officers comprised many,
including James C. Ross, who were to become famous in Arctic navigation
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
before the Northwest Passage was finally discovered.
Sailing from Deptford on May 4, 1819, Parry headed directly for
Davis Strait, up which he proceeded to latitude 73° N., he forced his
way through the Middle Ice and, on July 30, found himself off the entrance
to Lancaster Sound. Time and again he was held up by ice and adverse
winds; but he persisted in his westward course. A broad opening to
the south, he called Prince Regent Inlet. Since, for the time, he was
prevented by heavy ice from continuing westward, he turned down this
passage till again blocked by ice and returned to find the way clear into
what he called Barrow Strait, extending due west from the end of Lancaster
Sound. Shortly after passing an island that he named for Lt. Beechey, an
immense opening appeared to the north, which he called Wellington Channel.
It was entirely free of ice, but Parry passed it by, taking advantage of
every opportunity to gain ground to the westward. Early in September,
when in what he called Melville Sound, Parry's ships crossed the 110th
meridian, which earned for him and his crews the standing parliamentary
award of
^
£
^
5,000. Shortly after, the ships were laid up in a harbor on
the south shore of Melville Island, called Winter Harbor. The follow–
ing year was not so favorable for navigation; Parry was able to make only
fifty miles — to 113° 48′ W. longitude — west of his winter quarters,
so, satisfied that he had discovered the passage to Bering Strait, he
returned with his expedition to England — and fame.
The Admiralty now rushed to completion a second expedition to be
commanded by Parry, this time to explore the possibilities of a passage
through either Roe's Welcome or Fox Channel. The
Griper
had proved to
be a poor sailer and consequently was replaced by the
Fury
, 377 tons
.
^
,
^
EA-History. LaBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
which Parry took as his flagship, He decided, rightly as it turned out, to advance up Fox Channel instead of Roe's Welcome, and after the usual difficulties with ice and adverse winds, arrived at the mouth of Repulse Bay, which at that time was considered a possible western passage. This Parry disproved and ^ ^ pressed onward up the coast. Winter overtook him, however, before he had determined whether or not such a passage existed farther north; consequently it was not till the following August that a strait was discovered to which Parry gave the name Fury and Hecla. He was unable, however, because of ice, to proceed very far into the strait. The second winter was spent at Iglooik; but the third summer was disappoint– ingly short, the health of the crews was becoming impaired, and without having achieved anything further in the way of gaining access to the strait, Parry sailed for home.
Parry's third voyage took him back to Lancaster Sound and the scene
of his first triumph; but the fates were not with him this time, and he
was unable to get as far to the west as on his first momentous voyage.
The expedition occupied two years, and much valuable information was
secured. The
Fury
, however, was lost in Prince Regent Sound and both
crews returned to England on board the
Hecla.
Supplies landed from the
Fury
were to prove of great value to later expeditions.
Meanwhile, Captain John Ross had fumed at home, hoping for a chance
to wipe out the blot of his previous expedition; but Barrow's hostility
was a barrier to Admiralty support. Eventually — and not without the
Admiralty's blessing — he succeeded in interesting a wealth distiller
named Felix Booth who contributed
^
£
^
17,000 of the sum required, Ross sup–
plying
^
£
^
3,000 himself. The expedition, which sailed in May, 1829, did
not contribute anything toward the discovery of the Northwest Passage,
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
although a host of new names appeared on the map; but the expedition is worthy of note for two particular reasons: its ship, the Victory , was the first to be equipped with steam for use in Arctic exploration; and during this expedition, James C. Ross discovered the North Magnetic Pole.
The
Victory
sailed and steamed up Davis Strait to Lancaster Sound,
proceeding westward to Prince Regent Sound. Ross explored the west coast
of what is now Somerset Island and Boothia Peninsula in the hope that a
channel might be found leading westward in a lower latitude than Barrow
Strait and Melville Sound, which were so often filled with ice. Passing
Fury Point, where Parry's supplies were found to be in good condition,
Ross continued beyond Parry's southernmost point and, unfortunately for
his record, missed Bellot Strait, the only passage westward from the waters
he was then navigating. He however went ashore and took possession of the
land in the name of King George IV, naming it Boothia Felix Land after his
patron, who thus for the sum of
^
£
^
17,000 attained a degree of immortality
such as he could never have attained otherwise. As September drew near its
end, Ross began looking for a suitable harbor in which to winter and found
one which he named Felix Harbor, for the second time perpetuating the name
of his patron.
The engine had given trouble from the start; and there on that
arctic beach the crew, with much satisfaction, dumped it and its boiler.
To men reared in the tradition of sailors, the
Victory
was now much
improved by having been rid of such newfangled contraptions. The winter
passed as most winters passed in such circumstances. But the next year
the ice in the harbor did not clear until September 17 and the
Victory
had sailed only three miles when she was again permanently beset and forced
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
to spend another winter. It was during the following spring that J. C. Ross, on a sledge expedition from the ship, reached the approximate posi– tion of the North Magnetic Pole, which he fixed in latitude 70° 6′ 17″ and longitude, 96° 46′ 45″. It has moved since and its location has been re-established a number of times.
The
Victory
made only four miles in 1831, and when the spring of 1832
eventually came, Ross decided to abandon ship and get out of the Arctic
with small boats. Here the provisions left by Parry when the
Fury
was
lost, already heavily drawn upon by Ross, proved a further lifesaver.
But the difficulties of navigation, even in small boats, were more than
bargained for; and the dispirited navigators were forced to spend a fourth
winter in the region, living in a house built on shore. The following year
navigation was not so difficult and they made their painful way out into
Lancaster Sound where, on August 26, they were picked up by Captain Humphreys
in the
Isabella
, the ship in which Ross had sailed on his first unfortunate
expedition.
Despite Parry's great success on his first
h
^
v
^
oyage, the failure of his
two subsequent voyages and the ill-success of John Ross led to a dimunition
of interest in the Northwest Passage; but John Barrow, now Sir John, had
lost none of his faith. Even though others were sceptical of its value,
if and when discovered, he still felt sanguine that a practicable passage
would one day be found. And as prosperity returned to England with the
expansion of the Empire and more than a generation of freedom from major
wars, the Admiralty again began to look with favor upon Arctic exploration
as a field of employment and honor for otherwise idle naval officers.
Furthermore, interest in trade which had acted as a stimulus to Elizabethan
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
adventurers was now supplanted by interest in science.
Queen Victoria had been on the throne seven years when the planning
of Barrow and others reached its fruition. Added to scientific interest
was the fear that some other nation might forestall England in a field
in which Englishmen had been preeminent for three centuries. All these
factors built up a strong case for further Arctic exploration, and plans
were accordingly laid.
Command of the new expedition was given to Sir John Franklin, who had
had previous experience in the arctic regions, both by land and by sea,
even though he was already fifty-nine years of age. He was supplied with
two ships, the
Erebus,
of 370 tons, and the
Terror
, of 340 tons. With
Franklin in the
Erebus
was Captain Fitzjames, as second in command; Captain
Crozier, who had sailed as a midshipman under Parry, commanded the
Terror
.
The two ships carried a total of 129 officers and men.
With high hopes the ships sailed from England on May 18, 1845; and
none of their six-score-and-nine brave men ever saw England again. In the
next dozen years nearly two dozen expeditions were sent out, first in the
hope of bringing succor to men marooned on some arctic beach — had not
Ross' party spent four years in the Arctic and eventually returned, even
though their ship had been left behind? — and then, after all hope of their
survival had been regretfully abandoned, of finding some evidence or record
of their fate. Expedition after expedition drew a blank; and it was not
till nine years after their departure that the first meagre evidence was
secured, except for the discovery, in 1850, of the spot where the
Erebus
and
Terror
had spent their first winter and the graves of three sailors
who were buried there. In the year 1853, Dr. John Rae, an experienced
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
arctic traveler in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, had encountered an Eskimo on Boothia Peninsula who told him that four years before a party of white men had been seen by other Eskimos traveling southward over the ice along the shore of King William Island, dragging a boat. Some time later, he told Rae, Eskimos had found the bodies of some thirty men on the mainland, a day's journey northwestward of the mouth of Great Fish River, and five other bodies on Montreal Island. The Eskimos believed that the men had died of starvation, and that before they died some of them had been driven to eating the flesh of their own dead. Rae bought from the Eskimo a number of silver trinkets and a silver plate bearing Franklin's name, which he forwarded to the Admiralty, and claimed the award that had been offered for information concerning the fate of Franklin and his men. Since his information had been at second-hand, there was some objection to paying the award; but eventually he and his companions received the money.
In the meantime, the search was conducted also by way of Bering Strait.
In 1850, an expedition was dispatched by the Admiralty which, although
contributing nothing toward a solution of the riddle of Franklin's fate,
was eventually to prove the existence of a Northwest Passage. Captain
Richard Collinson, who commanded the expedition, sailed in the
Enterprise
,
while the other ship of the expedition, the
Investigator
, was under
Commander Robert McClure. The ships sailed for the Strait of Magellan
on January 20, which they reached about the middle of April; but when they
had passed through the Pacific, they were separated by a storm and did
not see each other again.
McClure headed for Bering Strait by way of Hawaii and, after some
difficulty with ice, rounded Point Barrow, continuing eastward along the
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
north Alaskan coast. Turning northward at Cape Bathurst, he sailed up the strait he called Prince of Wales, separating Banks Island from Victoria Island, but was stopped by ice within sight of what later be– came known as McClure Strait. Returning, he rounded the south end, and passed up the west side of the island. At Mercy Bay, so named by McClure, on the northwest coast of Banks Island, the Investigator went aground never again to move. Here the winter was spent and in the spring McClure and his men were rescu [: ] d by members of another searching expedition opera– ting from Baffin Bay. Thus they were the first ever to travel from the Pacific to the Atlantic by the long-sought Northwest Passage.
Meanwhile, Collinson, in the Enterprise, had followed McClure up the
Pacific, arriving at Point Barrow two weeks after his colleague had gone
eastward. Held up by ice, he withdrew from the Arctic to s
end the winter
in Hong Kong. The next year he got past Point Barrow before the end of
July and, following in McClure's track, sailed up Prince of Wales Strait
to a point somewhat more northerly than that attained by McClure before
being turned back himself by heavy ice. Then, as McClure had done, he
sailed round the south of Banks Island and up the west coast, but, finding
no suitable harbor, returned to Prince of Wales Strait where, in Walker
Bay, he spent the winter.
When his ship was broken out of winter quarters in September, 1852,
Collinson continued along the south shore of Victoria Island to Cambridge
Bay, where he spent his second winter. The following season, by sledge
journeys he searched the southeast coast of Victoria Island as far as
Gateshead Island when, unknown to him, he was within sight of King
William Island, where Franklin's men had perished. Although, unlike
EApHistory. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
his junior officer, Collinson did not actually make the Northwest Passage, he had nevertheless sailed the Enterprise through the narrow channels along the north coast of the continent for a distance comprising more than ten degrees of longitude. And when at last the Northwest Passage was actually traversed by ship from one ocean to the other, the route pioneered by Collinson was the one followed. He tried to get out to the Pacific in 1853, but his ship was again beset near the mouth of the Mackenzie and it was not till the following year that he reached England.
By this time Great Britain had blundered into the Crimean War, and
much more tragic issued occupied the minds of the British people. Franklin
and his men may
^
^
not have been forgotten, but the search for them was ended.
The Admiralty, satisfied with the evidence secured by Rae, was not disposed
to divert men, money, and equipment for such a purpose. But Lady Franklin
still continued to press for an expedition which might once and for all
determine to as great a degree as possible the fate of her husband. She
had already spent largely of her own money, but drawing again upon her
dwindling resources and opening a subscription that was well supported by
a public that still held its zest for arctic expeditions, she secured
funds enough to outfit an expedition. She bought the
Fox,
a former
pleasure craft with an auxiliary steam engine. As commander, she chose
Captain Leopold McClintock, who had spent several seasons in the Arctic
as a member of different expeditions engaged in the Franklin search ahd
had set a record for sledge exploration. He chose Lt. W.R. Hobson as his
second-in-command.
The expedition sailed on June 30, 1857. Sailing and steaming along
the west coast of Greenland, the
Fox
was beset by ice in Melville Bay
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
and drifted southwards for eight months. The following year McClintock got through Lancaster Sound and down Prince Regent Inlet to Bellot Strait, through which he sailed, but found heavy ice at its western portal. He wintered in a small baynear the eastern entrance to Bellot Strait which he called Port Kennedy; and in the spring of 1859 carried on the search southward from there by dog sledge. McClintock examined one side of King William Island, while Hobson examined the other. McClintock en– countered groups of Eskimos who confirmed the reports secured by Rae, although he did not himself discover any Franklin relics, except those he bought from the Eskimos, and the skeleton of a white man found face– downward on the ground.
Hobson was more successful. In Erebus Bay, he found a boat on a
sledge in which were two human skeletons, with some clothing, 40 pounds
of chocolate and a little tea; and at Point Victoria he found the
following record:-
"28 of May H.M. ships 'Erebus' and 'Terror' wintered in the
1847 ice in lat. 70° 05′ N.; long. 98° 23′ W.
Having wintered in 1846–7 at Beechey Island, in lat. 74° 43′ 28″ N.,
long. 91° 31′ 15″ W., after having ascended Wellington Channel to
lat. 77°, and returned by the west side of Cornwallis Island.
"Sir John Franklin commanding the expedition.
"All well.
"Party consisting of 2 officers and 6 men left the ships on Monday
24th May, 1847.
"Gm. Gore, Lieut.
"Chas. F. DesVoeux, Mate."
The date of wintering at Beechey Island is obviously in error; it
should read, "1845–6".
But around the margin of the same paper another story was told, much
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
more tragic, as follows:
"April 25, 1848. — H. M. ships 'Terror' and 'Erebus' were deserted
on the 22nd April, 5 leagues N.N.W. of this, having been beset
since 12th September, 1846. The officers and crews, consisting of
105 souls, under the command of Captain F.R.M. Crozier, landed here
in lat. 69° 37′ 42″ N., long. 98° 41′ W. Sir John Franklin died
on the 11th June, 1847; and the total loss by deaths in the expe–
dition has been to this date 9 officers and 15 men.
(Signed)
"F.R.M. Crozier,
"Captain and Senior Officer.
"and start tomorrow, 26th, 1for
Back's Fish River."
(Signed)
"James Fitzjames,
"Captain H.M.S. Erebus
6
McClintock estimated that the total weight of the boat and sledge found
by Hobson was 1,400 pounds, the sledge alone, of stout oak, weighed 650
pounds. He remarks upon the great quantities of clothing found. Although
British navigators had been sailing the Arctic seas for centuries, it is
perhaps typical of them that they never learned to adopt ways of life suited
to the region; they seem to have been unable to bring themselves to adopt
the methods perfected during ages of experience by the Eskimos. Conse–
quently, instead of using boats made of skins which could be carried across
ice floes and launched again in the next open water, they dragged heavy
wooden boats over land and ice; they loaded themselves with heavy woolen
clothing which soaked up perspiration and then froze into stiff boards,
instead of using light, comfortable Eskimo clothing. It is not likely
that any other people would have battled so heroically for s
i
^
o
^
long as the
English did without learning anything from experience. McClinto
^
c
^
k, it is
EA-History. LeBourdais: Search for the Northwest Passage
true, used dogs and lived in snowhous [: ] s when traveling, depending upon game for some of his food; but he was almost the first to do so; and he never fully mastered either the art of snowhouse building or of arctic hunting.
The search for Franklin closed most of the gaps on arctic maps.
The Passage had been discovered, but was evidently not practicable for
commercial purposes. The Arctic was not abandoned, however, but now,
until attained by Peary in 1909, the North Pole became the objective
of the adventurous of a dozen countries.
It was not till the twentieth century that a ship actually made the
Northwest Passage. In 1903, Roald Amundsen sailed from Norway in the
47-ton auxiliary schooner
Gjoa
, spending two winters in King William
Island making astronomical observations, and in 1905–06 sailed westward
past the point where the
Erebus
and
Terror
were abandoned, along the narrow
coastal waters first navigated by Collinson, to Beaufort Sea, familiar
to whalers for fifty years, and thence by way of Bering Strait to the
Pacific.
D. M. LeBourdais
The Dixon-Meares Controversy of 1790-1791
EA-History (Wm. Kaye Lamb)
THE DIXON-MEARES CONTROVERSY OF 1790–1791
The Dixon-Meares Controversy of 1790–1791 followed upon the publica–
tion by John Meares of the account of his travels entitled
Voyages made
in the Years 1788 and 1789 from China to the North-West Coast of America
(London, 1790). The accuracy of the text at many points was challenged
immediately by Captain George Dixon in a pamphlet entitled
Remarks on
the Voyages of John Meares, Esq. in a letter to that gentleman
(text
dated December 1, 1790). Meares promptly published
An Answer to Mr. George
Dixon
(dated January 1, 1791), and the latter's rejoinder,
Further Remarks
on the Voyages of John Meares, Esq.
(February 12, 1791) appeared some six
weeks later.
To some extent the quarrel was a personal one, for it is clear that
Meares and Dixon disliked one another cordially. They had met first in
Prince William Sound in May, 1787, where Dixon had found the trading vessel
Noetka,
of which Meares was master, lying helpless after having passed the
winter there and lost half her crew by disease. In his
Voyage Round the
World
(London, 1789), Dixon had expressed the opinion that the plight of
the crew had been due to the immoderate use of liquor "of a very pernicious
kind" as well as to scurvy, an accusation that Meares hotly resented.
Dixon's first pamphlet was inspired by the extravagance of Meares'
claims, and by the way in which he had appropriated credit and discoveries
EA-History. Lamb: Dixon-Meares Controver [: ] y
due to others. Thus the general map of the northwest coast in the Voyages was entitled: "Chart of the N.W. Coast of America and N.E. Coast of Asia, explored in the Years 1789." Without making any specific claims, this caption clearly inferred that all significant additions made to the chart of the region since Cook's last voyage had been due primarily to Meares's explorations. This Dixon showed conclusively was not the case, and he pointed out instance after instance in which Meares had made use of maps and charts prepared by others. Meares did his best to counter the charge, but without much success. "I most frankly confess," he wrote in his Answer to Dixon, "that when I sailed on my second voyage, I furnished myself with your chart, and every chart that promised to be of the least service to me." His failure to acknowledge the fact was, he contended, quite unintentional. Dixon remained unconvinced, and returned to the attack in a blunt paragraph in his Further Remarks :
"I shall here give a list of all the charts which you acknowledge to
have made use of in compiling yours; at the same time, give me leave to
observe, that you did not own yourself indebted to any person whatever,
until you were forced to it. The charts I allude to, are Lieutentnat
Roberts's, Mr. Arrowsmith's, Captains Berkley, Maurelle, Hanna, Lowrie,
Guise, Portlock, and my
^
^
own: were all the parts you have taken from the
above charts, extracted from that part of the North West Coast of America
betwixt the latitude of 60° north and 47° north in your chart, I am apt
to think there would be a very small portion of land remaining."
Some fuel may have been added to the controversy by the fact that
Meares had expunged the name Dixon Entrance from his map, and had renamed
the strait Douglas's Entrance, in honor of the captain of one of his own
ships.
EA-History: Lamb: Dixon-Meares Controversy
Dixon was annoyed further by Meares's habit of writing with assumed
authority about matters of which he could have had little or no personal
knowledge. He was highly critical, too, of Meares's estimates of the
financial returns that might be won in the fur trade. Meares had stated
that sea-otter skins sold for $100 each. Dixon, citing his own experience,
contended that, when marketed in any quantity, they would fetch only a
fraction of that sum.
Dixon's criticisms undoubtedly did much to discredit Meares's
Voyages.
Upon more than one occasion Dixon hinted that the book was actually the
work of a hack writer, and not of Meares himself. This may indeed explain
in part both its relatively lively and interesting style, and its unreliable
nature. In any event its reign was brief, for it was superseded completely
as a reference work on the region by Vancouver's
Voyage of Discovery
, which
appeared in 1798.
Reference:
<bibl>
The Dixon-Meares Controversy
(Toronto, Ryerson Press, 1929). A reprint
of Dixon's two pamphlets and Meare's rejoinder with notes and an historical
introduction by F. W. Howay.
</bibl>
Wm. Kaye Lamb
The Franklin Search
EA-History (R.N. Rudmose Brown)
THE FRANKLIN SEARCH
In the north of Baffin Bay in Latitude 74° 48′
^
N.
^
and Longitude 66° 13′
^
W.
^
,
moored to an ice floe waiting to cross to Lancaster Sound, the
Erebus
and
the
Terror
, with Sir John Franklin's expedition on the way to find the
Northwest Passage, were spoken on July 26, 1845 by the British whaler
Enterprise
and thereafter were lost to view. With the ships were lost
also the 125 officers and men. No polar expedition before or after that
of Franklin ended in a tragedy of that magnitude. In the long run the loss
of the Franklin Expedition was the greatest motive that has ever stimulated
international cooperation in polar exploration. For over thirty years
official and private expeditions scoured almost all the island coasts of
arctic Canada and charted much of that area. The total number of British
and American search expeditions by land and sea was over forty and the
total cost cannot have been less than
^
£
^
1,000,000 ($5,000,000), equal to
five or ten times that much money of a century later.
The age-long quest for a northwest passage that would facilitate trade
between Europe and Cathay by overcoming the inconvenient obstacle of the
Americas, revived in the second decade of the nineteenth century. Several
successful but strenuous expeditions fired enthusiasm and put the British
Navy on its mettle. The quest was formidable in view of the dangers that
polar exploration offered in those days, but the lure was all the greater.
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
The Erebus and Terror had returned in 1843 from a most successu^f^ul expedi–tion to the Antarctic under Sir James Clark Ross who had discovered a large and probably continental area of land in South Victoria Land, so reestab– lishing the ancient belief in a Terra Australis which Cook's Expedition of 1772–75 had apparently shattered. Both ships returned in excellent condition. Sir John Franklin, of wide arctic experience, but already nearly sixty years of age, was given command with Captain F.R.M. Crozier, lately returned from the Antarctic, as second in command. Lieutenant Graham Gore had also had arctic and antarctic experience. But the majority of the 129 officers and men were new to the conditions. Each vessel was fitted with a small steam engine and propeller, but their steaming rate was only three knots.
Before his departure from the Thames on May 26th 1845, Franklin had been
furnished, as was the naval style, with detailed instructions of the courses
he was to take in the Arctic, and these were based largely on the discoveries
of W.E. Parry in 1819 and Franklin himself in 1825–26. Broadly speaking
there remained an unpenetrated area of most resistant inaccessibility, lying
between Melville Sound and Barrow Strait on the north, Dease Strait on the
south. Prince Regent Inlet on the east and Banks Island on the west.
Somewhere in that area existed, in all probability, the last links in the
Northwest Passage. Into that unpenetrated area routes must be found, and
if possible routes that offered water deep enough for sea-going vessels.
Already in 1836 Sir John Barrow (q.v.), with less knowledge than was
available to Franklin, had advocated a route southward and westward from
Cape Walker at the entrance of Peel Sound near the western end of Barrow
Strait. He preferred this to a more western route and believed that it
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
would lead to an open sea in which Banks, Wollaston and Victoria Lands were only small islands. Franklin did not subscribe to all Barrow's views, especially in the prospect of an open Arctic Sea. Thus an alternative route via Wellington Channel was envisages.
Franklin's instructions included the following which determined the
main line of the search expeditions. He was to go westward from Baffin
Bay
with
via Lancaster Sound, Barrow Strait and Melville Strait " 'till
you have reached the longitude of that portion of land which Cape Walker
is situated, or about 98° W′. [Cape Walker lies on Russell Island on the
south of Barrow Strait north of Prince of Wales Island]". From that point
we desire that every effort be used to endeavour to penetrate to the south–
ward and westward in a course as direct towards Behrings Strait as the posi–
tion and extent of the ice, or the existence of land, at present unknown,
may admit." But if his advance in that direction should be arrested by
ice Franklin was advised to try the strait between Devon and Cornwallis Islands
if it should be open. That is to say, the Wellington Channel of Parry,
leading north into the Parry Archipelago, which was then unknown ground.
This alternative route was probably a very welcome choice to Franklin who
was inclined to agree with Parry on the impenetrability of the pack-ice to
the southwest of Melville Island. It is noteworthy too that in the document
in the Admiralty Records, of which Franklin's last instructions were no doubt
a verbatim copy, the alternative route via Wellington Strait appears as a
marginal entry, possibly suggested by Franklin himself (vide R.J. Cyrian).
The earliest search expeditions were thus provided with fairly clear
indications of Franklin's probable route at least as far as Barrow Strait.
Beyond these the field was wide. As time went on, the area to be searched
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
for possible wandering survivors was naturally more extensive with a likeli– hood of more southern coasts as a retreat to the Hudson's Bay Company's mainland trading posts would probably be the aim. It was evident that deep water channels alone could have been followed by the ships, which dres 23 feet, and that only on the coasts was it likely that cairns with records would be found.
Strange to say, Franklin was not ordered to leave records in conspicuous
places to mark his route, but he was expected, when north of Latitude 65°
to throw overboard sealed bottles containing accounts of the work done.
"There was rightly" says Stefansson, "no worry for them (Franklin and his men)
at the end of the first year! There was too little worry at the end of the
second." The ships had each three years' stores, but scurvy in those days
dogged the progress of explorers and little was known of the technique of
life and survival in polar regions. In the winter of 1846–47, John Ross,
an old friend of Franklin, tried to arouse the Admiralty to a sense of the
possible need for immediate relief, but in vain. Nothing was done except
too late in the season to offer rewards to whalers for searching Lancaster
Sound, presumably for deposited records, but the Hudson's Bay Company was
more awake and its directors knew the dangers that Franklin might have to
face. Many tried and dauntless employees were available. But the Franklin
search owed most to
[:
]
ir John Richardson and Dr. John Rae, both incomparable
arctic travelers. Their
[:
]
arliest journeys were not inspired by the Franklin
search, although after Franklin had sailed, the Hudson's Bay Company men
foresaw the possibility in their west-to-east routes of cutting across
Franklin's probable north-south route. As early as 1847, Dr. R. King
who had been with Back in 1833–36 agitated in vain for a party to go to
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
the Back River area. He continued this advocacy but without success, as late as 1856. If it had been adopted, part of the Franklin Expedition might have been saved, but naval opinion, not too well informed, did not favor it. In 1848 Rae and Richardson charted coasts between the Mackenzie Delta and Cape Kendall and, after wintering at Fort Confidence on Great Bear Lake, Rae reached Dulphin and Anian straits but was prevented by ice from crossing to Wollaston Land (Victoria Island). Two years later Rae returned to the search from Fort Confidence, reaching the mouth of the Coppermine River and crossing Dolphin and Anian straits, he was the first white man to visit Wollaston Land. He then went west to Longitude 117° 17′ W. on Prince Albert Sound (Russell Gulf). Returning he crossed Dulphin and Anian straits again and reached Kendall River on June 10, 1851. Up to that date Rae had traveled that summer on foot a distance of 1,100 miles in 33 days, one of the most remarkable of all arctic journeys. Then, the same summer, he went east and examined the east coast of Victoria Island, reaching Longitude 101° 25′ W. on August 12th. He was then, although he did not know it, within 50 miles of where over three years earlier, the icebound Erebus and Terror were abandoned. From Victoria Island Rae hoped to cross Victoria Strait to King William Island and had he been able to do so would probably have discovered the ships and solved the riddle of the end of the expedition.
By 1848 Britain was awakening to the probability of a disaster
that caught imagination as only naval disasters in polar regions can do.
The search began in earnest in that year in the dispatch under Sir James
Clark Ross of Antarctic fame of
H.M.S. Enterprise
of 530 tons and
H.M.S.
Investigator
of 480 tons, with a complement each of 70 officers and men.
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
Each vessel was furnished with a steam launch. Two lieutenants on the Enterprise were F.L. McClintock and R.S. McClure who were both to take a leading part in the search in years to come. This was a disappointing expedition owing partly to bad conditions. The ships were held up by ice in the dreaded Melville Bay, and did not reach Pond Inlet near Lan– caster Sound until August 25th. Thence they made Cape York on the east of the entrance to Prince Regent Inlet. Ross hoped to winter at least one of his ships at Melville or even Banks Island, in which case he would probably have made the Northwest Passage in the following summer. But paci ice barred his way and both ships were frozen in on September 11 in Port Leopold on Somerset Island, where the neighborhood was searched and depots were laid. The winter was severe and trying. In the spring of 1849 some notable sledge journeys were made along the north and west coasts of Somerset Island, and Peel Sound was visited. No trace of Franklin was found. Not until August 20th, 1849, did the ships break out of the ice. Conditions were bad. Ross' plan to examine the north side of Lancaster Sound and Barrow Sound was impossible to carry out. The ships drifted with the pack for 24 days and eventually passed into Baffin Bay. When they were freed on September 25th, Ross decided that it was too late to resume the search and sailed for home.
The
North Star
, 500 tons, Capt. J. Saunders, sent to relieve Ross
was forced to winter in Wolstenholme Sound, Greenland, and landed its
stores at the Wollaston Islands where Ross never called, before sailing
for home. It reached England after Ross had returned. The same year,
1849, Dr. R. A. Goodsir took passage in the
Advice
, a Dundee whaler, in
the hope of getting news of his brother who was surgeon on the
Erebus
,
but had no success. Next year Goodsir was back in the north with Penny.
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
By 1850, the British Admiralty, and indeed the country in general,
was awakened to the magnitude of almost certain disaster. It was probably
too late to hope for survivors, but the disappearance of two ships and well
over a hundred officers and men presented a problem that must be solved.
The search in the year 1850 alone involved fourteen official and private
vessels. The largest expedition was that of Capts. H.F. Austin and E. Om–
manney in
H.M.S. Resolute
and
H.M.S. Assistance
with the steam tenders
Pioneer
,
Lieut. S. Osborn and Intrepid Lieut. Cator. Capt. F.L. McClintock and Lieut.
Clements R. Mar
hk
^
kh
^
am were in the
Assistance
: The ships were provisioned for
three years. Following Franklin's route, they went by Baffin Bay to Lancaster
Sound with orders to reach Melville Island by Barrow Strait. Other vessels
were also following this route. The whaler
Lady Franklin
of 200 tons, Capt.
W. Penny, and the
Sophia
113 tons, Capt. A. Stewart, the Felix 120 tons, Sir
J.C. Ross, to which the Hudson's Bay Company, voted 9500, and the schooner
Prince Albert
, Capt. C.C. Forsyth, bought and equipped by Lady Franklin.
In August that year there was a great gathering of vessels in Melville Bay
awaiting an icefree way to Lancaster Sound. The
Lady Franklin
and the
Sophia
were to explore Wellington Channel and Austin's fleet was to examine Prince
of Wales Island and the nearby coasts.
There were also two American brigantines, the
Advance
of 144 tons and
the
Rescue
of 51 tons, unde
f
^
r
^
Lieutenant E.J. de Haven and Mr. S.P. Griffin
with E.K. Kane as surgeon. These American ships were provided by Henry
Grinnell of New York after Lady Franklin had appealed in vain to President
Taylor for official help from the United States. "I am not without hope"
she wrote, "that you will deem it not unworthy of a great and kindred nation
to take up the case of humanity which I plead, in a national spirit and thus
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
generously make it your own." She offered to add ^ £ ^ 3000 to the reward of ^ £ ^ 20,000 for anyone who brought the first news of the Franklin Expedition. President Taylor at once promised to do what he could and in January 1850, in a message to Congress submitted the subject for discussion. It appeared however that the United States had no suitable ships and no constitutional authority to grant financial aid. Then came forward Henry Grinnell of New York, who believed, be it said on no adequate evidence, that most of the crews of Franklin's ships were living with the Eskimo, either unwilling or unable to risk wscape. It was a fantastic theory but it accounted for his purchasing and fitting out the two small vessels. The President was author– ized to call for volunteers from the Navy to form the crews, and the vessels, officers and men were put 'under the laws and regulations of the Navy until their return.' De Haven's instructions were to find Franklin. He had no definite course laid down. The ships left Brooklyn on May 22nd, 1850 and all went well to Lan d ^ c ^ aster Sound, although crossing Melville Bay took twenty-one days.
Soon after the American and English ships met and a detailed examination
of the neighboring shores began, led very soon to the discovery at Cape Riley
by E.O. Ommanney of traces of Europeans, a cairn but no records and signs of
a camp. On Beechey Island a few miles away Penny and Kane found many more
relics, remains of stone huts, bits of canvas, parts of a boat and a heap of
kindling wood. No known explorer except Franklin could have left traces at
these spots. Farther up Wellington Channel on the coast of Devon Island,
other unmistakable relics of Duropeans wre found, tin canisters, scraps of
newspapers of 1844, etc., etc. and atl
^
a
^
st all doubts were removed by the
discovery on Beechey Island of the graves of three men of the
Erebus
and
Terror
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
and many other relics. Evidently the expedition had spent the winter of 1845–46 at Beechey Island.
At last there was definite news although no word of the end. The
Prince Albert
immediately (1850) sailed for England with the news and Capt.
Forsyth evoked some criticism for not following up the discoveries though
at the end of the open season this was scarcely possible. She returned
however in 1851 under Capt. #. Kennedy with a French volunteer Lieut. J.R.
Bellot on board, and wintered at Batty Bay on Prince Regent Inlet, being
liberated in the following August only by a canal being cut through the
floes. Among other strenuous efforts Kennedy and Bellot sledged 1,100
miles in 97 days, finding Bellot Strait and traveling round north Somerset.
Kennedy proved himself a remarkable able sledger, traveling even in mid–
winter and using snow huts for shelter. His technique was well in advance
of his day.
In the fall of 1850, de Haven's two ships
Advance
and
Rescue
, said to
be unsuited for wintering purposes, were turned homeward to America, but in
vain. Caught in the ice they drifted north in Wellington Channel to Lati–
tude 75° 25′ N., Longitude 93° 31′ W. and discovered Murdaugh Island off
Cape Manning, and an extensive land which was named Grinnell Land. In
October the drift changed to a slow southward movement and throughout the
winter beset in the pack and battered by ice and wind the ships drove
on until June 5th, 1851 when they were released off Cape Walsingham in
Dover Strait, and returned to the United States in September
To return to the English ships in the autumn of 1850: The
Lady Franklin
and
Sophia
and the
Felix
wintered in Assistance Bay at the south end of
Cornwallis Island and Austin's squadron was frozen in at Griffith's Island
not far off. Before winter began, some depots to assist spring sledging were
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
laid down. In the spring of 1851 the east and west sides of Wellington Channel were examined, but open [: ] water prevented the sledgers from getting far north. Austin entrusted to Ommanney the principal journey around Cape Walker and to its south. He discovered and outlined the northern half of Prince of Wales Island, nothing that shoals along the northern side discouraged navigation. S. Osborn, R.D. Aldrich, F.L. McClin– tock and Surgeon A.R. Bradford also made notable journeys. The 7,000 miles or so of sledge travel by officers and men set the high standard but arduous technique of naval and other sledging for many years to come. It was a well organized and successful expedition. Its discoveries included besides the south and east coasts of Prince of Wales Island, the south and east coasts of Melville Island and the south and west coasts of Bathurst Island. The return home of Austin's and Penny's ships in the fall of 1851 without a second wintering evoked much criticism which led to a parliamentary inquiry. Both men were exonerated, the disagreement between them had been on the course to take. Penny did not believe in any further search to the north of Wellington Channel, and Austin with equal firmness doubted the wisdom of going west or south of the channel.
Meanwhile, though the Lancaster Sound route was a favored approach
of research expeditions, the Bering Strait route was not forgotten. Already,
in 1848, the
Plover
Capt. T.E.L. Moore and the
Herald
Capt. H. Kellett were
allotted to that approach. They were joined in 1842 by R.A. Sheddon's
private yacht
Nancy Dawson.
Their man work was on the northwest coast of
America, the seas to the north and the lower reaches of the Mackenzie River.
Their most important discoveries were Herald Island and a sight of Wrangel
Island, but they found no trace of Franklin nor any real link in the
North West Passage.
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
Much more important was the expedition of 1850–55 of the
Enterprise
Capt. R. Collinson, and the
Investigator
Capt. R. McClure. Leaving
England on January 11th 1850, the two ships met again in Magellan Strait.
McClure was first at Bering Strait and in spite of his instructions
"against suffering the two vessels...to separate" pushed on into the
Arctic Sea. Collinson, taking the standard route, was behind McClure's
Investigator
which, although a slower ship, got ahead by following a
shorter route through the Aleutian Islands. McClure certainly showed
initiative and lost no chance of finding a way northwarz
s
^
d
^
to where
Franklin's ships might be found. The anxiety of the Admiralty now spurred
by public opinion, stressed the object of the expedition, namely "to obtain
intelligence and to render assistance to Sir John Franklin and his com–
panions and not for the purpose of geographical or scientific research."
Kellett, with the
Herald
still in Bering Strait, meeting McClure 20 miles
north of Cape Lisburne told him that the
Enterprise
had not yet arrived
in these waters and strongly advised McClure to wait. Kellett went even
further and as McClure's senior officer practically, if not verbally,
ordered him to wait, but in vain. McClure went on and rounded Barrow
Point on August 5th.
It has been said that McClure was more anxious to find a North West
passage than to bring help to the Franklin survivors. Be that as it may,
he was assuredly a man of great initiative and tireless energy. Beyond
Cape Bathurst which McClure passed on August 31st, he was beset in the
pack and had a narrow escape but he stood north and early in September
reached Nelson Head on the south of Banks Island where he placed a record
in Latitude 71° 6′ N., Longitude 103° W. This was a new coast. Thence
he turned east and discovered Prince of Wales Strait, along which he sailed.
It was late in the season and the
Investigator
was caught in the ice in
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
the strait after reaching the Princess Royal Islands. After much pre– carious drifting the ship was frozen in on September 30th at Latitude 72° 50′ N.
In October, with a sledge party, McClure reached the northern end
of the strait in Melville Sound thus proving Banks Land to be an island,
and, much more significant, establishing the existence of at least one
continuous waterway between Atlantic and Pacific. In July and August 1851
when McC
o
^
lu
^
re tried to work his ship northward, he was baffled and reached
only Latitude 73° 14′ N. and then turned and tried a course round the south
and west
^
of
^
Banks Island. It was hard going with heavy pack and at times rough
water off a precipitous coast. When at length an apparently sheltered bay
was reached it was fittingly named Bay of God's Mercy or Mercy bay with
Providence Point commandin
t
^
g
^
its entrance. Here were possible winter
quarters. The bay was clear of ice and the ships anchored on September23rd.
The hunting parties had small success with game and there were no Eskimos.
One of the first of many sledge journeys in the following spring was
across McClure Strait to Winter Harbour on Melville Island to leave a
record which was found (see b
l
^
e
^
low) by Mecham of Belcher's expedition.
Other sledge journeys examined and rough
t
^
l
^
y charted the north coast of
Banks Island and some of Wollaston Land, and as far north as Prince
Patrick Island. The following summer the ice in Mercy Bay did not break
up and the expedition had to face another winter. Scurvy was taking its
toll; little game was secured and no Eskimos had yet been seen.
In the spring of 1853 McClure determined to make a retreat in two
parties, one to go east toward the whalers that frequented Lancaster Sound,
the other to go south by boat toward the coast of North America and the
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
Hudson's Bay Company's forts. Both parties might have won through but it was unlikely, for the men were riddled with scurvy, food was short and the old clumsy sledging technique would no doubt have been followed.
The likelihood of another Franklin disaster, though one on a smaller
scale, was obviated by the arrival on April 16th, 1853, the eve of the
retreating parties setting out, of Lieut. Bedford Pim, with a sledge
party from Sir Edward Belcher's ships at Dealy Island. McClure's record
deposited at Winter Harbour had been found by G.F. Mecham on October 12th
1852, too late for a journey of succour that season. Under orders from
Sir E. Belcher, the
Investigator
was abandoned the following spring, all
hands crossing the ice of Barrow Strait to the
Resolute
and
Intrepid
at Dealy Island near Winter Harbour. Caught in the pack these two ships
failed to get clear in 1853 and had to spend another winter in the ice,
their second winter, and the
Investigator
crew their fourth. In due time,
McClure and his men were transported to the relief ships
North Star
and
Phoenix
and reach England in September 1854. McClure and his men were the
first to make the North West Passage; but they made it by abandoning one
ship and walking across a frozen strait to another.
Meanwhile Collinson in the
Enterprise was p
ursuing ann independent
course and one equally productive of discoveries. He reached Cape Lisburne
two weeks behind McClure and, failing to find a way eastward past Point
Barrow, was back at Cape Lisburne on August 31st. There he learned from
a record that McClure had gone on. The
Enterprise
went out of the Arctic
to winter and was back at Point Barrow on July 25th 1851. Collinson reached
Banks Island and sailed up Prince of Wales Strait to within 60 miles of
Melville Sound of Parry, so nearly did he make the last link in a North West
EA-History: Brown: The Franklin Search
passage, as McClure had already done. The Enterprise wintered in Walker Bay toward the south end of Prince of Wales Strait. In 1852 the Enter–prise entered Prince Albert Sound in Wollaston (Victoria) Land and eventually sailed along Dolphin and Union Strait and Dease Strait to Cambridge bay a fine piece of navigation in a tortuous, shallow and un– charted channel. Here the Enterprise was not far from the waters that the Erebus and Terror had reached and so another North West passage was unconsciously established. In one of the Finlayson Islands near Cambridge Bay, Collinson found a piece of wood, marked with the British Government's broad arrow, which may or may not have been a piece of wreckage from the Erebus and Terror, a few miles to the east. There were also indications among the Eskimos, at the time not fully understood, that a ship or two ships were held in the pack ice in what is now known as Victoria Strait. Collinson then decided to return home.
In those days of course there was no radio or other quick communication,
so it was rare for a search expedition to know what its fellow competitors
or even predecessors had done until a long time had passed. Consequently
Collinson and McClure knew nothing of Sir E. Belcher's squadron of ships.
The
Enterprise
was at Cape Bathurst on September 1st 1853 and was caught in
the pack of what is now the north coast of Alaska at Camden Bay, on September
14th. There she had to winter and finally returned home via the Cape of
Good Hope, on May 17th 1855.
A committee of the House of Commons appointed to consider the matter awarded
^
£
^
5000 to McClure for the completion of the North West passage and
^
£
^
5000 to
his officers and crew. This decision was not altogether acceptable.
a
^
A
^
mong
the dissentients was Sir Roderick Murchison who thought that Collinson had
earned prior claim. McClure was also knighted.
EA-History: Brown: The Franklin Search
Meanwhile other search expeditions had been at work. In 1852
Capt. E.A. Inglefield led a summer search of Smith Sound in the
Isable
.
His choice of route was partly decided by a vague rumor, emanating in
Greenland or perhaps among the whalers, that the natives of Wolstenholme
Sound had exterminated the entire expedition. The story was found to be
utterly false. Inglefield took his ship to Latitude 78° 28′ N., some
43 miles beyond Baffin, and charted in broad outline some 600 miles of
coast in Smith and Jones Sounds. He gave the name of Ellesmere Land to
what was formerly known as North Lincoln. This was a successful expedition
even if it threw no light on the Franklin problem.
Next must be noticed
i
^
a
^
n American expedition by the same route, later
called by Peary the American route to the Pole. In 1853 H. Grinnell and
G. Peabody fitted out the
Advance
which E. Kent Kane was to take via Smith
Sound to the north and investigate his belief that survivors of the Franklin
crews had thrown in their lot with Eskimo tribes. With Kane was Dr. I. Hayes.
On August 7th the
Advance
at the mouth of Smith Sound met with heavy ice and
had a dangerous time. By the end of August, however, the ship was in
Latitude 78° 43′ N. and found winter quarters at Rensselaer Harbour (Lat.
78° 37′ N.). Several difficult sledge journeys accomplished little. Most
significant were the journeys of Hayes to Grinnel Land and W. Morton and
H. Hendrick to Cape Constitution.An attempt to reach Beech Island and
Belcher's ships 400 miles away failed. It was hoped to avoid a second winter
by retreating to Upernivik but this venture failed and the spring of 1855
found the men exhausted and riddled with scurvy. At length in that year
they managed to make Upernivik and return to the United States. A later
[:
]
expedition of I Hayes to the same area in
1860 does not properly concern the Franklin search.
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
The last of the official British search expeditions was that of Sir
Edward Belcher in 1852–34. It was on a grand scale. The squadron, which
was to take the Lancaster Sound and Barrow Strait route and examine Well–
ington Channel, consisted of the
Assistance
Commr. G.H. Richards, the
Resolute
, Capt. Kellet,
the Pioneer
, Lt. Sherard Osborn,
the Intrepid
,
Commr. L. McClintock, and the
North Star
, Lt. W.W. Pullen. The squadron
reached Wellington Channel on August 14th 1852. The
Assistance
and the
Pioneer
went up Wellington Channel and wintered in Northumberland Sound
in Latitude 76° 52′ N. Exmouth and Cornwall islands and Belcher Channel
were discovered and in the following
[:
]
pring Cornwallis, Bathurst, and
Melville islands were examined.
The
Resolute
and
Intrepid
went west to Melville Island. Ice preventing
the use of Winter Harbour, they wintered at Dealy Island. In the spring a
great programme of sledging was successfully carried out. Specially notable
was McClintock's journey of 1,400 miles to Prince Patrick Island and F.
Mecham's 1,163 miles over difficult ground in the same direction. Here
was old-fashioned sledging at its best, but not without hints of a newer
technique. Many additions to the chart were made, but all the work was in
areas Franklin never touched. In Winter Harbour Mecham found the note left
by McClure, a discovery that led to the despatch of Lieut. Bedford Pim the
following spring and the rescue of McClure and his men.
Owing to the ice holding fast in 1853 it was probable that the ships
would have to spend another icebound winter. Belcher with his own weakened
crews and McClure's men to look after, took the bold step of ordering the
abandonment of four ships and retained only the
North Star
which had wintered
at Beechey Island. Thus all the crew returned hom in September 1854, mainly
on the relief ship the
Phoenix
. The wisdom of this decision was later confirmed
by the Admiralty.
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
The
Resolute
, however, was yet to make a striking voyage. Abandoned
in May 1854 in Latitude 74° 41′ N., Longitude 101° W., she was found in
Davis Strait off Cape Dyer, north of Cumberland Sound, in Latitude 64° 22′
N., sixteen months later and b
^
r
^
ought safely to New London, Connecticut,
by Capt. J. M. Buddington of the American whaler the
George Henry.
She
was refitted by Congress at a cost of 10,000 dollars and presented to
Great Britain as a token of good will. Age and decrepitude led to the
breaking up of the ship in 1879–80 when Queen Victoria ordered a table
to be made from the best of her oak timbers and presented to the President
of the United States.
Sir E. Belcher's was the last of the great naval search expeditions.
The enthusiasm of the Admiralty waned with the loss of four ships and
failure to add to the solution of the Franklin mystery. In March 1854
the names of Franklin and his brother officers were officially removed
from the Navy list. The Crimean war and its problems replaced those of
Franklin. It was unfortunate, since the area to be searched had been
whittled down to a relatively small compass and the final solution of
the problem could not be far off. The lapse of official effort met
with much criticism, especially on the part of Lady Franklin, and the
Hudson's Bay Company.
However, when official efforts ceased the search was not abandoned.
Of all the Hudson's Bay Company's searchers the most assiduous was Dr. John
Rae who was one of the most expert travelers that the Arctic has ever known.
He moved with few companions, little equipment and no tent, depending on
the game the country produced. His methods were entirely different from
the arduous and heroic methods of the naval sledgers; they were more
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
successful, with a smaller outlay of effort. But the Navy was slow to learn and looked askance at a man who adopted native technique and lived and survived like an Eskimo. Rae's great journeys have been detailed elsewhere (see Rae, John). Here it is necessary only to note his journey of 1854 of which he himself brought an account to London in October of that year.
While completing the survey of the west coast of Boothia, Rae met a
party of Eskimos on Pelly Bay, from whom he learned that a "party of
white men had perished from want of food some distance to the westward
in the spring of 1850. They numbered about forty and were dragging a boat."
By signs Rae understood that a ship or ships had been crushed in the ice.
They were retreating to the south where caribou might be found. Later,
the same year, the Eskimos had found "on the continent" the bodies of some
thirty persons and five "on an island all near" a large stream (Backs or
Great Fish River). The story of these Eskimos was second hand but very
circumstantial and clearly true. Rae acquired from them a number of relics,
mainly spoons, forks, buttons, etc., which were subsequently identified as
belonging to several of Franklin's officers.
The locality referred to by the Eskimos was some 50 miles away from
Rae's encounter and he did not visit it himself but hurried home to give the
news to an expectant world. There now could be no reasonable doubt that the
ships had been sunk or abandoned and that officers and men had fallen in
an attempt to retreat to the south. But Lady Franklin was not satisfied
and was prepared to spend all her means in discovering the details of the
disaster. Rae was awarded the
^
£
^
10,000 offered by the British Government
"to any party or parties who, in the judgment of the Board of Admiralty
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
shall, by virtue of his or their efforts, first succeed in ascertaining their fate." The reward was first offered in March 1850 but Rae had no knowledge of it until the payment was made. The writer of this article had this statement confirmed some years ago by Mrs. Rae, widow of Dr. John Rae.
The Hudson's Bay Company in 1855 sent J. Anderson and J.G. Stewart
down the Backs (Great Fish) River to investigate Rae's report. They con–
firmed and amplified it and brought further relics obtained from the Eskimo.
On Montreal Island in the estuary of the Great Fish River, remains of a
boat with Terror branded on it were discovered. No paper or document was
found. Still Lady Franklin was not satisfied. She appealed to the Prime
Minister in 1856 for a new search and her appeal was widely supported by
naval and scientific men, but to no avail.
Lady Franklin then equipped the steam yacht
Fox
(177 tons) and sent it
north under the command of Sir L. McClintock who was given leave by the
Admiralty to follow up Rae's discoveries. His objects were threefold,
first to the discovery of any possible survivors of the expedition, secondly
the recovery of documents and personal relics and thirdly confirmation of
the apparent discovery by Franklin of a North West Passage.
A winter was wasted when the ship was caught in the dangerous ice of
Melville Bay. The next season the ship went by Lancaster Sound and Prince
Regent's Inlet to Bellot Strait. On the way a call was made at Beechey
Island to place a tablet sent out by Lady Franklin in the American expedi–
tion of 1855 but by unforeseen circumstances left by that expedition at the
Greenland station of Disco. Passage of Bellot Strait being impossible,
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
winter quarters were found at Port Kennedy at its eastern end. Depots were laid at once and the following spring a series of long sledge journeys was begun. McClintock showing himself a master in the art of sledging. In the spring Allen Young, the sailing master of the Fox , crossed Peel Sound and searched the southern coasts of Prince of Wales Island while McClintock circled the coasts of King William Island and found many relics on the west and south. Most exciting however was the discovery by Lieut. W.R. Hobson of a Franklin record at Victory Point. (For details see Sir John Franklin, Erebus and Terror .)
This document settled the outstanding problems. It recorded the
death of Sir John Franklin on June 11, 1847, the besetment and abandonment
of the ships after two years' imprisonment in Victoria Strait and the
attempt of the survivors to reach Backs River. Finally it showed con–
clusively that by reaching Victoria Strait from the north and so linking
it up with previous discoveries from the west, the North West Passage or
rather a North West passage was discovered. The expedition collected great
numbers of relics of all kinds, both from the ground and from Eskimos, and
learned fairly circumstantial accounts of the disaster of the retreat.
But neither ship was found, nor was the wreck of either definitely located.
There is however little doubt that one ship sank at the western end of
Simpson Strait and the other in Rae Strait. The
Fox
returned to England
in September 1859.
Now at last there seemed to be no further call for searching for
Franklin's fate. There was, however, the hope of finding other records
and determining the ultimate fate of the ships. C.F. Hall, an American
Footnote: This record is reproduced in facsimile in the Voyage of the Fox
by Sir F.L. McClintock. The original is in the Museum of the United Services
Institution in London.
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
black smith with an interest since boyhood for polar literature, was one of those who believed that a few Franklin survivors might still be living amongst the Eskimos. His advocacy of continuing the search brought him financial support. His first expedition to Frobisher Bay had no relation to Franklin but gave him valuable experience; he quickly acquired a jargon command of the local speech, though he never mastered the true Eskimo language.
Hall's second voyage, again with modest equipment and exiguous funds,
began in 1864 with a landing with two Eskimos from the whaler
Monticello
at Depot Island near Chesteffield Inlet, Hudson Bay. He spent one year
there and subsequently three years at Rae's old quarters known as Fort Hope
^
o
^
n Repulse Bay. From more than one Eskimo source he heard a strange story
that Crozier and probably one or two other men of Franklin's complement
were stillalive. This story spurred his eager efforts, but by the time he
left the Arctic in 1869,after extensive travels, he discredited the tale.
Hall brought home many Franklin relics as well as the bones of Lieut. Le
Vesconte, an officer of the
Erebus
, but he did not elucidate much further
the story of the disaster. Nor did he add much to geographical knowledge.
One more expedition was prompted however to probe the tales of living
survivors. That was the expedition of Lieut. F. Schwatka of the United
States Army and W.H. Gilder. The story of a white man living among the
Eskimo cropped up again from the same district, this time told to Capt.
Barry, a whaler wintering 1871–73 at Repulse Bay. The Schwatka expedition
left in July 1877, wintered among the Eskimo at Chesterfield Inlet, Hudson
Bay, four whites and several Eskimos. Thence they made for Backs River and
crossed Simpson Strait to King William Island. This land was thoroughly
EA-History. Brown: The Franklin Search
searched. Many relics were collected and brought back, ultimately to be given to the British Nation, but none of the documents that Schwatka had hoped for were found. The expedition in spite of its extensive travels added little to geographical knowledge. It returned home in 1879.
In 1875, sixteen years after his return in the
Fox
, Sir Allen Young,
who had taken so distinguished a part in the McClintock expedition bought
and fitted out the
Pandora
of 438 tons. She was a barquentine with an
auxilliary engine. Her task was not to find relics of Franklin so much
as to complete the North West passage by the Franklin route.
[:
]
ll went
well until in Peel Sound in Latitude 72° 14′ N. the ship was held
^
up
^
by
congested pack and rather than winter, Young returned to England in October
the same year. A hope of trying again in 1876 did not materialize.
History of Arctic Exploration Since the Introduction of Flying, with Selected Bibliography
EA-History: Canada (Herman R. Friis)
HISTORY OF ARCTIC EXPLORATION SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF FLYING (THROUGH 1947)
Contents
| Page | |
| Introduction ............................................................................................................ | 1 |
| The Whole Arctic ........................................................................................................... | 3 |
| Period Prior to World War I .................................................................................... | 3 |
| Period World War I to about 1930 ......................................................................... | 7 |
| Period about 1930 to World War II ........................................................................ | 14 |
| Period World War II through 1947 ......................................................................... | 19 |
| The North American-European Arctic ........................................................................... | 24 |
| Period Prior to World War I .................................................................................... | 24 |
| Period World War I to about 1930 ......................................................................... | 25 |
| Period about 1950 to World War II ........................................................................ | 26 |
| Period World War II through 1947 ......................................................................... | 28 |
| The United States (Alaskan) Sector ............................................................................... | 31 |
| Period Prior to World War I .................................................................................... | 31 |
| Period World War I to 1930 .................................................................................... | 32 |
| Period 1930 to World War II ................................................................................... | 33 |
| Period World War II through 1947 ......................................................................... | 35 |
| The Canadian Sector ..................................................................................................... | 37 |
| Period Prior to World War I .................................................................................... | 37 |
| Period World War I to about 1930 ......................................................................... | 38 |
| Period about 1930 to World War II ........................................................................ | 40 |
| Period World War II to 1947 ................................................................................... | 44 |
| The Danish Greenland Sector ....................................................................................... | 48 |
| Period Prior to World War I .................................................................................... | 49 |
| Period Prior World War I to about 1930 .................................................. | 50 |
| Period about 1930 to World War II ........................................................................ | 52 |
| Period World War II through 1947 ......................................................................... | 58 |
| The Norwegian (Svalbard-Jan Mayen) Sector ............................................................... | 62 |
| Period about 1906 to World War I ......................................................................... | 62 |
| Period World War I to about 1930 ......................................................................... | 63 |
| Period about 1930 to World War II ........................................................................ | 64 |
| Period World War II through 1947 ......................................................................... | 66 |
| The Soviet Sector .......................................................................................................... | 68 |
| Period Prior to World War I .................................................................................... | 69 |
| Period World War I to about 1930 ......................................................................... | 70 |
| Period about 1930 to World War II ........................................................................ | 74 |
| Period World War II through 1947 ......................................................................... | 89 |
| Bibliography .................................................................................................................. | 94 |
EA-History: Canada (Herman R. Friis)
HISTORY OF ARCTIC EXPLORATION SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF FLYING
(
THROUGH 1947
)
INTRODUCTION
The use of airplanes and lighter-than-air craft in the Arctic prior
to about 1920 must be considered as purely experimental and, with a few
exceptions, actually cannot be said to have been successful. It was the
improvement of aircraft and air facilities during World War I that revived
flying in the Arctic in the 1920's and gave rise to and greatly expedited
the extensive surveys and explorations that followed. Likewise, the in–
crease in use and numbers of icebreakers, a growing awareness of the need
for the establishment of an over-all plan for the systematic scientific
survey of each sector, and a considerably greater number of t ained expedi–
tions going into the field with a definite purpose, characterized the period
between World War I and II. Scientific exploration, research, and surveys
in the Arctic during and since World War II have been surprisingly differ–
ent from those prior to this period. The long-range specially equipped
airplane, wireless and radio, radar and Loran safety and navigational de–
vices, the electrically operated aerial camera, improved clothing and special
gear, perfection of all-purpose vitamins and a concentrated diet, and a large
increase in the number of personnel with experiences in and training for
the Arctic, set the present period apart from all the preceding. To these,
of course, must be added the political and economic motives of the nations
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
having spheres of influence in the Arctic and recently the products of unprecedented large-scale Federal Government-sponsored experiments in many vital aspects of securing the Arctic for particular purposes.
The number of individual expeditions into the Arctic, the areas ex–
plored, and the volume of published and unpublished literature available
is so considerable that the following discussion admittedly is only in the
nature of a rapid survey of significant and representative types of scienti–
fic explorations in the Arctic since the introduction of flying. For the
reader interested in greater detail and a more comprehensive history of
scientific exploration, reference should be made to the selected Biblio–
graphy.
Scientific explorations in the Arctic prior to about 1935 have been
particularly well described and documented in a number of recent publica–
tions. These include W.L.G. Joerg:
Brief History of Polar Exploration
Since the Introduction of Flying
, New York, 1930; Leonid Breitfuss:
Arktis
der Derzeitige Stand Unserer Kenntnisse über der Erforschung der Nordpolarge–biete...,
Berlin, 1939; Andrew Croft:
Polar Explorations
, London, 1939;
Mikhael A.D. D'
i
^
î
^
akonov:
Puteshestvi
i
^
î
^
a v pol
i
^
î
^
arnve strang...,
Leningrad,
1933; A.W. Greely:
The Polar Regions in the Twentieth Century
..., Boston,
1928; James G. Hayes:
The Conquest of the North Pole; Recent Arctic Explora–tion, New York, 1934; Jeannette Mirsky:
Northern Conquest; the Story of
Arctic Exploration from Earliest Times to the Present
, London, 1934; Vil–
hjalmur Stefanson:
Unsolved Mysteries of the Arctic
, New York, 1939; and
Timothy A. Taracouzio:
Soviets in the Arctic; an Historical
,.
Economic and
Political Study of the Soviet Advance into the Arctic
, New York, 1938.
A history of scientific exploration in the Arctic since the introduction
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
of flying begins shortly after the close of World War I, although for the
record and because certain activities prior to this period indicated the
potentialities of flying, it is well to examine briefly several aspects of
exploration in the Arctic before 1920.
A discussion of scientific exploration falls naturally into the follow–
ing four periods of development: (1) Period prior to World War I; (2) World
War I to about 1930; (3) About 1930 to World War II; and (4) World War II
through 1947. For the sake of convenience, the following regional break–
down is made: The Whole Arctic; the United States (Alaskan) Sector; the
Canadian Sector; the Danish (Greenland) Sector; the Norwegian (Svalbard–
Jan Mayen) Sector; and the Soviet Sector.
THE WHOLE ARCTIC
Period Prior to World War I
When on August 8, 1709, the Portuguese monk Bartholome
^
ô
^
Lorenzo Guzma
^
ô
^
for the first time flew his self-designed and self-constructed lighter-than–
air ship, an "air balloon," and prophesied that such "aeronauts" would be
used in discovering and exploring the polar regions, modern scientific,
rapid investigation of the so-called inhospitable Arctic was initiated. Yet,
it was almost two hundred years after this before the first successful as–
cent, though with ultimate disastrous results, was made by lighter-than-air
craft, and more than this period until heavier-than-air craft was first used
in exploration in the Arctic. It is, of course, impossible to chronicle all
of the real or fancied proposals for the utilization of aircraft in explora–
tion of the Arctic, but a few will serve to note trends during the nineteenth
century that gave rise to the first successful flight.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Edmond Charles Genet, one-time first Minister of the French Republic,
and brilliant student of world affairs, after becoming a citizen of the
United States, was author of a letter dated Albany, New York, January 15,
1926, in which significantly he proposes "the construction of an aerial
vessel or aeronaut by the means of which our fellow citizens could in a very
short time and very conveniently explore all the polar countries." The
scheme was to build an airship which could lift 60,000 pounds "besides the
decks and appendages" and that would not cost more than $10,000. Probably
the first actual use of balloons in the Arctic pointing the way to the future
was when the French
La Recherche
expedition under the leadership of Paul
Gaimard explored the coast of Svalbard in 1840 and during their stay released
experimentally several captive balloons. In 1845, Dupuis-Delcour proposed a
project for investigating the middle North Polar area. This was followed by
a succession of schemes and projects such as that in 1863 by Marechal and
by Meissel, in 1870 by Gustave Lambert, and in 1871 by Tridout and Silbermann.
The project proposed by Meissel in 1863 was very detailed and envisaged a
balloon of 22,500 cubic meter capacity, with a combination of lighter-than–
air gas and a chamber for warming air. The flight was to begin from St. Peters–
burg — but never got underway. In 1872, Civelle worked out a plan for a
balloon of 18,000 cubic meters, with facilities for ten passengers and pro–
visions for a month, the balloon to be shipped to a point at or beyond 70°
North latitude and flown from there. In 1876, Julius Payer, in reviewing the
results of the Weyprecht-Payer expedition to the Franz Josef Land region in
1872–1874, stated that the most expedient way by which to achieve the North
Pole would be by an airship. In 1874, Dr. Stephen, Director of the German
General Postal Service, proposed a world postal service to be carried by
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
lighter-than-air craft and probably by way of the North Pole. These pro– jects stimulated the English Commander Cheyne to submit his plan to the Royal Geographical Society in 1874, for approval and sponsorship, which ultimately were given. He proposed the building of several small (900 cubic feet) airships to be shipped to some convenient place in northeastern Greenland, preferably near a deposit of coal, that the expedition establish a base there, ready the airships, and, when weather seemed favorable, make a dash for the North Pole. This plan remained approved — on paper. This was followed in 1880 by a similar plan, but for three small gas-filled bal– loons, proposed by Koksnail. A significant paper venture was proposed by Gustave [: ] and Besancon, who worked out a detailed plan for an airship with a 15,000 cubic meter capacity to leave France in the summer of 1892 for Spitsbergen, then fly over the North Pole to North America or to north– ern Asia. Herbert D. Ward in his book A Dash to the Pole , in 1895 advised that an aluminum airship should be constructed for exploration in the polar regions. These and other plans for polar exploration by air, though they did not result in a flight in the Arctic, served to point up an interest of the times and together are the backdrop against which successful flying in the Arctic must be focused.
When on August 6, 1930, Dr. Gunnar Horn and his party from the Norwegian
sealer
Bratvaag
went ashore on White Island, east of Svalbard, and discovered
among other effects, a book titled simply "The Sledge Journey, 1897," and
in the pocket of a coat a diary, a dramatic conclusion was drawn to the first
flight in the Arctic. With these effects were the remains of Solomon August
Andr
e
^
é
^
e, a Swedish aeronaut, and his two companions, Fraenkel and Strindberg,
who, on July 11, 1897, in the 170,000 cubic foot capacity gas-filled balloon
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
the Eagle , scared northeastward into the sky over Danes Island, Spitsbergen, until they reached an altitude of about 2,270 feet, only to float about on the fickle winds, ultimately to drop to the ice on July 14 in 82° 56′ North and 29° 52′ East, after a flight of 65 hours, suspiciously marking the end of the first flight in the Arctic, and an air attempt to reach the North Pole. From here they sledged to White Island where they perished.
Andr
e
^
é
^
e's fateful flight did not deter further attempts at flying to
the North Pole, for Walter Wellman, in 1906, completed construction of an
airship and established a base near Andree's in Spitsbergen. In 1907, Well–
man's attempted flight resulted in spanning only the length of the fjord.
Undismayed, he returned in 1909 and was successful in flying some 60 miles
over the pack ice north of Spitsbergen at which point he was forced to land
and fortunately was rescued by the expedition of Gunnar Isachsen. Certain
Germans, notably Graf Zeppelin, were convinced of the usefulness of the
Zeppelin airship in exploration of the Arctic and accordingly, in 1910, dis–
patched an official commission to the Kings Bay region of Spitsbergen to
study the possibilities. This was the first scientific, on-the-spot, survey;
meteoralogical surveys were made, terrain analyses were prepared, and cer–
tain facilities such as a hangar and sheds were built. The commission re–
ported favorably, though an exploring expedition was not sent, probably be–
cause of the impending international crises.
Probably the first penetration of the Arctic by heavier-than-air craft
was in 1913 when the Vilkitskil expedition, including the icebreakers
Vaigach
and
Taimyr
, unsuccessfully attempted to open the Northern Sea Route between
Bering Strait and the Atlantic Ocean. This expedition carried a Maurice
Farman airplane piloted by Aleksandrov, but the plane remained grounded
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
during the entire voyage. The first recorded flight of an airplane in the Arctic was made in 1914 when Lieutenant Nagurski and his Farman hydroplane were dispatched from the Pechora to Krestovaia Bay in Novaya Zemlya to assist in the rescue of the Sedov expedition. From this bay Nagurski made five flights, the longest of which was to Barants Island, 200 miles away, and another of 70 miles was out over the Barants Sea pack ice. Amundsen's plans for using an airplane in conjunction with ground and water exploration almost achieved fruition when, in 1914, he purchased a Farman biplane and readied it for loading aboard the Maud for surveys north of Bering Strait, but World War I abruptly postponed his undertaking until 1918.
This initial experimental period of flying in the Arctic closed with
the beginning of World War I. Significantly, both lighter-than-air craft
and airplanes had been successfully flown. Likewise, the North Pole had
been reached by Robert E. Peary in 1909, going overland by sledge. The
Northeast Passage around Asia had been completed from east to west by Vil–
kitskii in 1914–1915 and Amundsen in the
[:
Gjöa
]
successfully negotiated the
Northwest Passage from east to west in 1903–1905. Arctic institutes for
scientific research had been established in Oslo, Norway, 1906, Cambridge,
England, 1913, and on Disko Island, Greenland, in 1905. Scientific polar
exploration was coming of age, and aircraft particularly were responsible.
Period World War I to about 1930
Two principal objectives served to spearhead the use of airplanes in
the Arctic during this period: (1) flight over the Pole and long-distance
polar flying, and (2) use of the airplane in reconnaissance for the best
leads for navigation through the arctic ice fields. For the Arctic as a
whole the goal of aviators was directed toward achieving the North Pole.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
The Soviet in 1920 established the Northern Scientific Industrial Expedition (an institute for scientific studies in the Arctic), which in 1925 was changed to the institute for the Study of the North, and in 1930 became the important All-Union Arctic Institute of the U.S.S.R. within the Central Administration of the Northern Sea Route. In 1953, the agency Archives for Polar Explora– tion was founded in Kiel, publishing Polarforschung .
A year after the close of World War I, Walter Brun, a German, revived
lighter-than-air ship projects by suggesting that an organization be formed
to establish regular flights from the capitals of Europe by way of Arkhangel,
the Arctic basin, Nome or Unalaska, to the capitals of eastern Asia and North
America. In the meantime, Amundsen, reviving his plans of 1914, in 1917
launched the
Maud
, a
Fran
-type ship, in Tromsö, and on July 15, 1918, sailed
from Norway projecting his route eastward toward Bering Strait and ultimately
Seattle which he finally achieved in the spring of 1921, thus being the first
navigator to accomplish successfully the Northwest Passage. Short of funds,
Amundsen in 1922 succeeded in being replenished by the Norwegian Parliament
to the extent of some $60,000 and once again set sail in the
Maud
, but unfav–
orable ice conditions and Amundsen's growing interest in aviation in the
Arctic diverted his ambition and he left the
Mard
in charge of Captain Wisting
who successfully directed the drift of the ship in the Arctic Basin during
the period 1922–1925, Dr. Hareld V. Sverdrup carrying out valuable scientific
investigations.
When the
Maud
left Seattle, in 1922, a Junkers monoplane and a small
Curtiss reconnaissance plane were included. The Curtiss plane after two
short flights crashed. The Junkers plane was unleaded at Point Hope, Alaska,
and taken to Wainwright, on the arctic coast of Alaska, just east of the 160°
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
West Meridian and opposite Spitsbergen. Amundsen proposed to fly from Wainwright over the Pole to Spitsbergen and had enlisted the assistance of interested parties, notably the Junker-Hammer Expedition of Germany, in– cluding particularly Lieutenant Walter Mittelholzer, of the Swiss Air Force. This party established headquarters at Green Harbour in Spitsbergen in June 1933. In the meantime Amundsen, wintering over in Alaska with Lieutenant Ondal, was preparing for trial runs, the first of which in May, 1923, re– sulted in a hopelessly damaged plane. Amundsen wirelessed the Junker-Hammer Expedition base that the flight was cancelled. Thus ended probably the first directed attempt at flying over the North Pole by airplane. Yet, it was not in vain for Lieutenant Mittelholzer in Spitsbergen successfully carried out a number of highly profitable flights, one of more than 500 miles over Svalard, meticulously observed relevant elements of navigation and aerology, and pioneered the use of aerial photography with commendable results.
In 1923, Major General Sir Sefton Brancker, Director of Civil Aviation
in Great Britain, speaking at Shoffield, England, with marked enthusiasm
assured his audience that probably within the next decade mail between Japan
and England would be carried by air over the Arctic Basin. The following
year Rear Admiral William A. Moffitt, Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics of
the United States Navy, stated that Polar Basin air routes connecting England,
Alaska, Japan, and northern Asia were assured for the near future. At the
time the United States Navy, having successfully pioneered a voyage of the
dirigible
Shenandoah
(ZR-1) across the United States, was planning a flight
into the Arctic to explore the "white spot" between Alaska and the Pole. The
flight ultimately was not approved. In the same year part of the round-the–
world flight of the United States Army Air Service, the hydroplanes
Chicago
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
and New Orleans , included arcs of travel in the lower Arctic, notably Labrador Iceland, and Greenland. In 1924 Aeroarctic, the International Society for the Exploration of the Arctic by means of aircraft, was founded in Berlin, and remained in existence until 1937, in 1931 numbering about 400 members in 22 countries and during the period 1928–1931 publishing the journal, Arktis .
Amundsen, in 1925, appeared on the threshold of achieving one of his
fondest hopes, flying to the North Pole, by teaming up with Lincoln Ellsworth,
who, with his father, placed two Dornier-Wal seaplanes at Amundsen's disposal.
Assembled at Kings Bay, Spitsbergen, the two planes with three men in each,
on May 21, 1925, departed for the North Pole, Lieutenant H. Riiser-Larsen,
Royal Norwegian Navy, being chief pilot. Arriving at a position of 87° 43′
North latitude and 10° 21′ West longitude, a check showed that, after eight
hours of flying, about half of the fuel supply was exhausted, and a landing
was made in a lead in the ice. One plane was abandoned, and after consider–
able effort and five unsuccessful attempts to take off, the entire party of
six in one plane returned to Spitsbergen on June 15. This flight is remark–
able not only because it was so skilfully carried out and arrived at a point
within a visible distance of 90 miles of the Pole, but that more than 100,000
square kilometers of surface was observed with no show of land; moreover,
echo soundings taken at the point of descent showed a depth of 3,750 meters,
confirming Nansen's conclusions, at least for this area, of a deep polar basin.
In 1925, Commander F. A. Worsley led a British expedition to Spitsbergen
with the purpose of flying to the North Pole. However, the only flight
achieved was over the sea in the vicinity of North East Land. During the
summer of the same year, Richard E. Byrd, commanding officer of the United
States Naval Aviation Arctic Unit, was attached to the MacMillan expedition
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
with a base at Etah, Greenland. With Floyd Bonnett, Byrd on August 16, made experimental flights in a Loening amphibian, one of three amphibians sup– plied by the Navy, over Ellesmore Island and then, successively, flights were made westward toward Cape Sabine and Bache Peninsula, one as far as Eureka Sound, and a number east over the inland ice cap north of Inglefield Gulf, Greenland. A total of more than 5,000 miles were flown, 30,000 square miles had been observed, much of it for the first time, and all this without a forced landing.
The year 1926 dawned suspiciously for arctic flying, witnessing success–
ful accomplishment of flights into the inner Arctic and to the North Pole.
In January, Byrd was granted leave to prepare an expedition and in April left
Brooklyn for Spitsbergen with a 200 horsepower three-engined monoplane and
a contingent of about 50 personnel, mostly volunteers. When Byrd arrived in
Kings Bay, Spitsbergen, on April 29, he found the Amundeen expedition prepar–
ing the airship
Norge
for a flight to the Pole. After an initial difficulty
in takeoff, Byrd's monoplane, carrying a load of 10,000 pounds, including
food for ten weeks and a complement of sledging equipment, left the base and
headed toward the Pole which was reached after about eight hours' flying.
The amazing accuracy with which Byrd accomplished his return mission and the
precision with which his expedition was carried out speak eloquently for
Byrd's leadership. The North Pole had now been circled by airplane.
Amundsen and Ellsworth, in the airship
Norge
,
^
built in Italy and piloted by General Unberto Nobile,
^
its designer, who had
flown it to Spitsbergen under its own power, left King Bay on May 11, 1926.
The
Norge
successfully circled the Pole on May 12 after four and a half hours
flight from Spitsbergen, and then glided down the 156th meridian toward Alaska
where in about seven hours they landed at Teller, completing a remarkable
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
transpolar flight. The North Pole had now been circled by airship.
Sir Hubert Wilkins, for some time interested in continuing his earlier
(1913–1918) explorations in the Arctic north of Alaska, spent favorable
periods during 1926 in flying supplies from Fairbanks to Point Barrow,
where he intended establishing his base for operations to the north. Much
new territory was disclosed, particularly across segments of the Brooks
Range. By 1927, Wilkins and Eielson were ready for their pioneer work in
the Arctic Basin, particularly in penstrating the unknown area between the
track of the
Norge
and the track of the
Jeannette
. The significant flight
of the season began on March 29, when, in five and a half hours, they flow
northwest from Point Barrow for about 500 miles and at a point about 77° 45′
North and 175° West, landed on the pack ice. A depth of 5,440 meters, the
greatest until then recorded in the Arctic Sea, was sounded with an echo
sounder. On the return flight they ran into difficult weather and were forced
to land on the pack ice some 100 miles northwest of Point Barrow. During the
next six days they drifted eastward about 200 miles, then abandoned the plane
and walked the 80 miles to Beechey Point on the Alaskan shore.
Wilkins' 1926 and 1927 work was experimental and laid the groundwork
for one of the most remarkable accomplishments in aerial navigation during
this period. In a twenty hour flight from Point Barrow through the Arctic
via northern Greenland to Spitsbergen, on April 15–16, 1928, Wilkins demon–
strated an exceptional ability in maintaining a predetermined course.
In the same year General Nobile, whose first voyage with Amundsen in
1927 had whetted his interest in leading an expedition of his own, accepted
the Italian Government's offer of the airship
Italia
, somewhat larger than
his own designed
Norge
, and, after flying the ship from Rome to Spitsbergen,
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
programmed several flights into the Arctic, one eastward to Severnaya Zemlya and the other to the North Pole. Determination of the western coast of Sever– naya Zemlya was the objective of the first mission, and this flight demonstrated as well the non-existence of Gillis Land as plotted. Leaving Kings Bay on his flight to the Pole on May 23, Nobile went first to Cape Bridgman in north– ernmost Greenland, then successfully circled the Pole and headed back, but when almost in sight of Spitsbergen (in 81° 15′ North and 25° 20′ East) occur– red the tragedy that has so indelibly stamped the expedition. The Italia , which had been buffetted by unfriendly winds, encased in sheets of ice, and enveloped by inhospitable atmosphere, broke up. Crashing upon the pack ice, part of the burning balloon was severed from the main body and with several members of the crew in it, drifted away, leaving no trace despite intensive search during 1928 through 1930.
Russia, Sweden, France, Finland, and other countries hastened parties
by airplane and other means to rescue the survivors from the pack ice. Lund–
borg, the Swedish aviator, landed and initiated the rescue, but it was the
10,000-ton Soviet icebreaker, the
Krassin
, built in Newcastle in 1917 and
commanded by Samoilovich that completed the rescue after a Soviet flier on
July 10 discovered the Malmgren group. The Soviet icebreaker Sedov, off
western Franz Josef Land, was under orders to participate. Amundsen, in a
seaplane obtained from France and flown by the skillful French aviator, Guil–
baud, set out from Tromsö on June 18 for Kings Bay, but discovery of the
wreckage of their plane alone remained to indicate that this mission ended
the career of the "supreme adventurer." The rescue effected by the
Krassin
went far in stimulating official and popular Soviet interest in the use of
icebreakers, exploration in the Arctic, and in the use of airplanes in arctic
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
exploration. The upsurge of Soviet interest in long-range aviation was best shown in 1929 when the pilot Shestakov flew by stages from Moscow to Vladivostok, the Aleutian Islands, and ultimately Seattle.
When, early in November of 1929, news was flashed that the wintering
American fur-trading schooner,
Nanuk
, ice-bound off Cape Schmidt, was in
difficulty, Carl Ben Eielson and Frank Dorbandt each flew out from Teller,
Alaska, to that vessel and successfully returned six persons. On November
9, leaving Eller on their second flight, they encountered unfavorable weath–
er. Dorbandt returned safely; the bodies of Eielson and his mechanic Earl
Borland were discovered near their wrecked plane on January 25, 1930.
Period about 1930 to World War II
The North Pole having been reached by airplane as well as airship, and
test flights having been made in several regions of the Arctic, application
of flying to exploration naturally turned to the scientific advantages to be
derived. The International Society (Aeroarctic) for the Exploration of the
Arctic, organized in 1924, sponsored one of the most profitable and well
organized scientific air expeditions, indeed, the last flight by airship into
the Arctic, when, during the summer of 1931, the
Graf Zeppelin
, commanded by
Dr. Hugo Eckener and with a group of specially chosen scientists, left Berlin.
The airship glided successively over Helsingfors and Leningrad, where a stop
was made, then on to Franz Josef Land; near Hooker Island in this archipelago
the Soviet icebreaker Malygin was sighted, the Zeppelin descending briefly to
the ice nearby for the first such descent by an airship in the Arctic, then
floating on over a succession of small islands and on to Severnaya Zemlya.
Over Severnaya Zemlya a series of highly instructive nine-lens photographs
was taken, and the ship moved on to Dickson Island, Novaya Zemlva, and then
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Leningrad, completing in several days what would have required months by ship. Most important were the results in aerology, glaciology, photogram– metry, and air navigation.
Sir Hubert Wilkins, in 1931, demonstrated, at least experimentally,
what he had proposed in 1919 before the Royal Meteorological Society in
London, that a submarine might be suitable for exploration in the Arctic.
Arriving at Longyear City, Spitsbergen, on August 19, the season was too
far advanced to permit execution of the original plan for making a complete
crossing of the Arctic Sea to Bering Strait by way of the North Pole (about
3,000 miles), but an experiment was carried out along the edge of the ice
in latitude 82° N., damage to the horizontal rudders precluding more than a
short-lived attempt at nosing under the 15-foot ice cover.
Following quickly on the success of the
Graf Zeppelin's
flight and in–spired by the new fields opened by the transarctic and polar flights of the
1920's, the early 1930's witnessed a succession of long flights in the southern
Arctic and related middle latitude land margins. Several of the significant
flights are described in the regions to which they are related.
The International Polar Year (1932–1933) was participated in by countries
having areas in the Arctic as well as countries whose interests were primar–
ily cooperation in science. Nearly 100 stations were established throughout
the Arctic. The observations of a meteorological,
[]
terres–trial magnetic, auroral, and general scientific nature carried out during a
more or less simultaneous period of time went far in making possible certain
generalizations with respect to weather, climate, and other phenomona.
The year 1937 once again catapulted international interest toward the
North Pole and transarctic flying, not solely as flights to the Pole, but
EA-Histo. Friis: Hi tory of Arctic Exploration
rather as serious scientific attempts at proving the practicability of long–
distance arctic flights connecting the continents in the Northern Hemisphere
by way of the North Pole. These flights were not so much a result of skill
and daring as of careful, painstaking planning, detailed scientific interest,
and tremendous improvement in airplanes. This year was truly a Soviet year
of accomplishment. Three different, yet closely related, activities of the
Soviet in the Arctic during 1937–1938 went far in increasing man's knowledge
of that area and how it might be better understood and used. These activities
were (1) the North Polar Drift Station, (2) the flights to and across the
North Pole, and (3) the drift of the icebreaker
Sedov
(1937–1940).
During a discussion between Dr. Otto Schmidt and his companions aboard
the
Sibiriakov
while on a survey in the Soviet Arctic in 1932, the feasibility
of and plans for a scientific station at the North Pole were revived. In 1935,
following several years of profitable and eventful use of airplanes in the
Soviet Arctic, notably in the Chukotsk area and in the rescue of survivors
of the
Cheliuskin
disaster off Wrangel Island, plans for a North Pole station
were in the blueprint stage and the following February the plans were sub–
mitted to and approved by Joseph Stalin, the entire project to be directed
by the chief Administration of the Northern Sea Route, of which Dr. Otto
Schmidt was head.
In the spring of 1936, Vodopianov and Makhotkin flew from the mainland
to Franz Josef Land, carrying on a general reconnaissance on route, and on
Franz Josef Land the four prospective members of the North Pole Station in–
itiated work on the equipment. During March of 1937, the four planes to fly
the expedition to the Pole flew to Franz Josef Land. On May 4, P. G. Golovin
and four associates flew to the Pole on a reconnaissance mission requiring
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
five hours, but were unable to land because of cloud cover. On May 21, favorable flying conditions prevailed and the first of four planes, the N-170 piloted by Vodopianov with Dr. Schmidt aboard, left Rudolf Island for the North Pole, arriving there slightly less than seven hours later, and made the first landing at the Pole. On the 25th, the three planes N-169, 171, and 172 took off one after another at short intervals from Rudolf Island and arrived at the Pole.
The North Pole Station was constructed, the four scientists, I. D.
Papanin (leader), with E. K. Fyodorov (astronomer and magnetician), E. T.
Krenkel (radio operator), and P. P. Shirshov (hydrobiologist), each with
considerable arctic experience, prepared for their year-long vigil on the
ice and the four planes and personnel returned to Rudolf Island. On May 29,
the station radioed that the floe had drifted 45 nautical miles in a south–
easterly direction; thereafter it continued its equatorward journey, eventual–
ly skirting the east coast of Greenland. During the drift, a nearly continu–
ous sequence of scientific activity was carried out that added greatly to
the fields of biology, oceanography, terrestrial magnetism, meteorology, and
aviation. On February 19, 1938, after about 1,125 nautical miles of drift,
the ice floe had shrunken to such a precariously small unit of surface that
the four men left it off the east coast of Greenland and boarded the Soviet
icebreaker
Taimyr
, one of four ships that had responded to the station's radio
request for help. Thus ended one of the most important pre-World War II scien–
tific expeditions in the Arctic.
On June 18, 1937, a Soviet ANT-type low-wing monoplane, with 2,000 gallons
of fuel and piloted by V. Chkalov with two companions, left Moscow, flew over
the North Pole, and after 2 days, 15 hours, and 17 minutes of non-stop flying,
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
covering a distance of 5,400 miles, landed at Portland, Oregon. On July 12, the Soviet ANT 25–1, piloted by Mikhail Gromov with two companions, left Moscow, flew over Novaya Zemlya early the next morning, crossed the North Pole at 10,000 feet in a blinding snowstorm, then flew over Banks Island in the Beaufort Sea, Great Bear Lake, Canada, British Columbia, San Frencisco, and landed at San Jacinto, east of Los Angeles, the afternoon of July 14, completing a non-stop flight of about 6,300 miles in 2 days, 14 hours, and 20 minutes.
On August 12, the Soviet heavily loaded 34-ton N-209 piloted by S. Lev–
anevskii with five companions left Moscow on a long distance flight to the
United States. The plane was last heard from shortly after passing the North
Pole at a height of almost four miles. Numerous rescue operations were under
way almost immediately. Nine Soviet planes and two icebreakers were sent out;
the American flier J. Crosson completed three search flights north from Fair–
banks, Alaska; R. Handall flew down the Mackenzie River and then to Point
Barrow; H. Hollick-Kenyon and J. Cheesman flew in the Canadian Arctic; J.
Mattern, who had been rescued by Levanevskii in 1933 made several flights to
Point Barrow. Particularly active was Sir Hubert Wilkins, who during Septem–
ber flew five missions covering some 19,000 square miles north of Alaska and
Canada; again on January 14, 1938, he continued his search from Aklavik,
Northwest Territories, flying to within about 400 miles of the Pole. Several
Soviet planes assembled on Rudolf Island continued the search; Vodopianov, on
October 7, flew a reconnaissance to the Pole and then down along longitude 122°
West to latitude 83° 33′ North, and J. D. Noshkovsky, on April 4, 1938, com–
pleted a round-trip to the Pole. No trace of Levanevskii and his crew has
been found. Within less than a year (1937–1938) ten different Soviet planes
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
had been to the North Pole and beyond or return.
The drift of the Soviet icebreaker
Sedov
, caught in the ice of the Lap–
tev Sea on October 23, 1937, and its ultimate release on January 13, 1940, is
truly a saga of more than ordinary interest. The scientific observations
carried on during the 812-day drift have contributed much to our knowledge
of the Arctic, notably in oceanography, glaciology, nautical engineering, and
meteorology.
This period closes with an attempted non-stop flight by Soviet aviators
east-west from Moscow across the southern tip of Greenland to New York. Leav–
ing Moscow on April 28, 1939, the plane made good progress but encountered
difficult weather over New Brunswick and was forced down, being wrecked on
Miscon Island in the St. Lawrence River.
Period World War II through 1947
This period witnessed remarkable scientific advances and discoveries
in the Arctic. Indeed, it may be said that the aggregate of scientific ac–
complishment during this period surpassed the totality of all periods preceding
it. Many of these accomplishments are described in the following discussion
of research and exploration in the Sectors. A few of the noteworthy results
in the Whole Arctic should be noted.
The United States, Canada, the Soviet Union, England, and to some extent
Germany, envicaging the possibilities of arctic warfare and use of the Arctic
as a vital link in the over-all world pattern of logistics, organized and often
with a considerable expenditure of money carried out extensive scientific ex–
periments particularly with respect to living, traveling, fighting, flying,
mapping, exploring and a host of other discoveriesin the Arctic. So much has
been learned, so many discoveries have been made, and such a multitude of in-
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
ventions have been created that present-day, organized, scientific Government– sponsored explorations are strikingly different from those of pre-1940 and success now generally is assured.
Significant among accomplishments was the building of so-called
[:
]
of
flow of land-lease and other material from the "Arsenal of Democracy" (the
United States), east by air across Labrador, Greenland, Iceland to England
and beyond, and by water route from England to Murmansk, and west from the
United States through Canada to Alaska, the Soviet Arctic, and ultimately
European U.S.S.R. In protecting the long convoys of vessels plying the "Mur–
mansk Run" from England, British long-range reconnaissance planes often made
flights from England east into the Kara Sea and areas east and north of Novaya
Zemlya, complementing those of the Soviet in the east and of the United States
Army Air Forces Air Transport Command and the Royal Canadian Air Forces in the
west. Regular flights of up to thirty-six hours were a matter of routine. One
of the most important results of these flights and those made into the Green–
land Sea was the information on the state of the ice, the areas of pack ice,
and the edge of the ice. Over the Alaska-to-Soviet Arctic route alone (first
opened in 1942) during the period 1942 through 1944, more than 5,000 military
aircraft were ferried to the Soviet; 2,200 of these were ferried across during
the first six months of 1944.
Two of the most important postwar flights in the Arctic were those made
by the Royal Air Force Lancaster airplane
Aries
in May 1945. One of these was
a flight on May 16–17 from Reykjavik, Iceland, to the North Pole, which was
achieved at about 14,000 feet shortly before 2 o'clock A.M. of May 17, and
return to Meeks Field in Iceland at 9 o'clock A.M. On May 18, the same crew
of eleven, including Wing Commander D. C. McKinley, left Reykjavik for a high
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
latitude flight across much of northern Canada and followed prearranged zigzag courses leading ultimately to Whitehorse in northwestern Canada. A long distance nonstop flight then was made from Whitehorse across the north– ern Arctic Islands of Canada, the northern part of Greenland, eastern Iceland, and ultimately a landing was made at Shawbury in England. These flights achiev– ed two important results: (1) a demonstration of successful high-latitude orientation by Commander K. C. Maclure, and (2) the feasibility of carrying out a magnetic survey from an airplane. The flights covered 20,000 nautical miles during which some 30,000 instrument readings were made and the North Magnetic Pole was determined to be a considerable distance north-northwest of its charted position.
D. B. Karelin, in a recent (1946) article describes a Soviet flight to
the North Pole on October 2, 1945. M. Titlov, pilot and leader of the expedi–
tion, in a twin-engined Douglas-type airplane with a crew of five, left Khat–
anga Bay, flew over Cape Cheliuskin and Cape Molotav (Severnaya Zomlya) to
the North Pole, achieved six hours after leaving; the return flight was
^
[:
]
^
made
by a new route, Kotelny Island (Novosibirski Islands) to Chokurdakh near the
mouth of the Indigirka River. The entire flight, lasting more than fifteen
hours, covered more than 4,000 kilometers and an estimated 30,000 square kilo–
meters of heretofore uncharted area was observed. This is one of the few
flights to have reached the Pole during the winter and to have made ice ob–
servations of the high latitudes its primary objective. This was the eleventh
^
Soviet flight to the Pole.
^
^
A year later, on Octo
^
ber 5, 1946, the United States Army Air Forces'
Superfortress, the
Pacusan Dreamboat
, Commanded by Col. C. S. Irvine, on a
remarkably wide-sweeping are from Honolulu to Cairo (October 4–6) by way of
Alaska, Canada, and Greenland, flow over the North Magnetic Pole (Boothia
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Peninsula region) and confirmed the computations of the Aries flight of the year before that the magnetic pole is some 200 miles north-northwest of its present charted position. (Later studies ind cate that the north magnetic pole is in northwestern Prince of Wales Island, near 73° N., 100° W.) This flight, a total of 9,422 nautical miles, lasted 39 hours and 35 minutes, much of the flight through the Arctic being at about 20,000 feet.
Early in the spring of 1946, a United States Army Air Forces Superfortress,
with a pressurized cabin for high altitude flying and complete Loran equipment,
left Edmonton, Canada, with a crew of twelve, stopped at Fairbanks for refuel–
ing, and then, climbing to an altitude of 30,000 feet, flew to the North Pole
and returned to Edmonton by way of Fairbanks, a flight of more than 5,000 miles
in 23 hours. This flight was for the purpose of testing Loran-type radar and
navigation in high latitudes, particularly in relation to the North Magnetic
Pole.
In 1946, the Arctic Institute of North America, after several years of
preparation, formally established headquarters in Montreal as a privately en–
dowed institution specializing in scientific polar research and information as
well as sponsoring projects for field and laboratory research in the Arctic.
Under the able directorship of Dr. A. Lincoln Washburn this organization,
combining talents in the United States with those in Canada, will go far in
maintaining a high level of arctic research in North America.
On March 17, 1947, the United States Army Air Forces inaugurated one of
the most remarkable activities in the history of the Arctic, namely, scheduled
flights to the Pole in the interests of science. Without secrecy, on the morn–
ing of March 17, a B-29 converted from a bomber into a weather observation
station specially equipped for arctic flying, and with Brigadier General Donald
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
M. Yates, Army Air Forces weather expert, and a picked crew aboard, left Ladd Field, Fairbanks, Alaska, and some eight hours later was over the North Pole. From "Position North Pole" an uncoded weather report was broadcast and made available to all weather forecasting agencies of this and other countries. Most of the 3,600 mile flight was at 10,000 feet. Early in October, 1947, a United States Army Air Forces Weather Service display at Andrews Field, near Washington, D. C., included a B-29 bomber converted into a weather station, the Polar Queen . This airplane, from the 59th Reconnaissance Squadron, based at Fairbanks, Alaska, and its crew of twelve, had a record of eleven routine flights to the North Pole and return, for the purpose of obtaining and trans– mitting weather information. Early in the spring plans were laid for daily flights to the Pole.
On October 19, 1947, the United States Army Air Forces made public a
statement of progress of some of its recent activities in the Arctic including:
(1) Three instead of one Magnetic North Pole exist and each has been accurately
mapped; (2) since July, 1946, the Forty-sixth Reconnaissance Squadron had
flown over 5,000 hours and one million miles in the Arctic, including more
than 100 flights over the North Pole; (3) approximately 35,000 square miles
of terrain had been covered by aerial photography in cooperation with the United
States Navy; and (4) a system of navigation had been developed for the Arctic
that enables planes of a squadron to fly anywhere and know their location with–
in a mile and calculate drift with only one degree of error.
This is indeed a fitting climax to a period of near-miracle accomplishment
in the Arctic and bears out in full the wisdom in Bartholomeo Guzmao's prophetic
remarks in 1709, two hundred and thirty-eight years earlier, that such "aero–
nauts" would be used in discovering and exploring the polar regions.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
THE NORTH AMERICAN-EUROPEAN ARCTIC
Period Prior to World War I
When Amundsen negotiated from east to west the difficult Northwest
Passage in his 47-ton
Gjöa
during 1903–1906, the North American Arctic received
its full share of attention. Since then numerous expeditions have crossed
from one sector to ^the other^. A few of the more significant should be men–
tioned.
The Anglo-American Polar Expedition of 1906–1908, commanded by Captain
Einar Mikkelsen and including Vilhjalmur Stefansson, had as its primary ob–
jective exploration of the Beaufort Sea. The expedition ship became frozen
in, and was so severely damaged by ice pressure that it was abandoned. The
party wintered on Flaxman Island. Subsequently Mikkeslsen undertook a sledge
journey from Alaska over the ice to 72° 3′ North latitude and 150° West longi–
tude. During the Stefansson-Anderson Ethnological Expedition's four-year work
in the Mackenzie Delta area 1908–1912, Stefansson visited Point Barrow and
while there compiled a vocabulary of over 9,000 local Eskimo words and became
proficient in native dialects. Beginning immediately after the
Titanic
dis–aster in 1913, hydrographic explorations have been made yearly in the Davis
Strait area between Greenland and Canada. Since 19 these have been carried
on by the United States Coast Guard in the interests of the International Ice
Patrol (particularly 1928–1939).
During 1913 to 1917 Donald B. MacMillan led the Crocker Land Expedition
to northwestern Greenland and Ellesmore Island. From Etah as a base several
long sledge journeys were made into and over Ellesmere Island to Axel Heiberg
Island up to 82° 30′ North latitude and 108° 22′ West longitude. A daring
sledge journey was also made to Upernivik.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
The Canadian Arctic Expedition, led by Vilhjalmur Stefansson, during the
period 1913–1918 in three small ships, including the ill-fated
Karluk
, accom–
plished against seemingly insurmountable odds a remarkable amount of original
scientific work, including particularly explorations in the Parry and Sverdrup
archipelagoes and discovery of Brock, Borden, Meighen, and Perley islands.
Several sledging parties, one under R. M. Anderson, carried out extensive
surveys along the north coast of Canada. R. Bartlett, in command of the
Karluk
when it was crushed and sank off Herald Island, and 11 men reached Wrangel
Island; Bartlett and a companion sledged to the Siberian mainland; the remain–
ing members on Wrangel Island were rescued by ship the summer of 1914.
Period World War I to about 1930
Appropriately, the Fifth Thule Expedition, led by Knud Rasmussen, intro–
duces this period. During 1921–1924, Rasmussen completed a primarily ethno–
graphical survey by boat from Thule, Greenland, to north of Southampton Island
and then by sledge to Hudson Bay, Coronation Gulf, Mackenzie Delta, to Alaska,
where he arrived in 1924, and thence to Wrangel Island for a short 24-hour
stay and return to Alaska. In 1928, the United States Coast Guard ship
Marion
carried out notable oceanographic work in the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay area,
setting a precedent for further scientific work of this nature. In August,
1928, B. R. J. Hassell and P. D. Cramer in a Stimson-Detroiter monoplane, the
Greater Rockford
, left Rockford, Illinois, for Europe but were forced down
near Mount Evans at the western edge of the Greenland ice cap and after 14 days
were rescued by the Third University of Michigan Greenland Expedition. In
July, 1929, a twin-motor Sikorsky hydroplane, the
Untin Bowler
, left Chicago
for Europe by way of Greenland but was sunk by floating ice in Port Burwell,
Labrador.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Period about 1930 to World War II
Encoura ged by proven efficiency of airplanes in the Arctic and a second
look at a globe which indicated the great-circle shortening of the generally
accepted water routes between the European and North American continents, this
period witnessed a succession of attempts at establishing long-distance flights
as well as scientific surveys of probable landing fields along the routes that
appeared potentially suitable. Some of the more significant flights are the
following:
Captain Wolfgang von Gronau, in 1930, completed the first flight from
Europe to North America following the route Sylt Island, Reykjavik, Angmagssa–
lik (Greenland) around the southern Greenland coast to Ivigtut, Cartwright
(Labrador), to New York. The following year, in a Dornier-Wal plane, von
Gronau flew from Sylt Island to Reykjavik, Scoresby Sound, thence over the
Greenland ice cap at about 9,000 feet to Godthaab on the west coast, Labrador,
and ultimately Chicago. The British Arctic Air Route Expedition, under the
leadership of H. G. Watkins, surveying an air route between England and Canada
by way of southern Greenland, carried out extensive meteorological, topograph–
ical, and botanical surveys southwest from Angmagssalik (1930–1933), and dur–
ing the 1930–31 season, two De Haviland Moth airplanes were flown and aerial
photography taken over southern Greenland. Parker D. Cramer and Oliver Paquette
in 1931 flew from Detroit over the Greenland ice cap to Reykjavik and then
were lost in a storm at sea between the Shetland Islands and Stavanger, Norway.
Charles A Lindbergh and Anne M. Lindbergh in 1933 successfully completed a
carefully planned circum-Atlantic flight between North America and Europe by
way of Greenland, flights in the Arctic including one from Cartwright to Gothaab,
Holsteinsborg, across Davis Strait and return to Holsteinsborg, then up to about
EA-History Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
70° North latitude and return, and then over the Greenland ice cap to Eski– monaes, north of Angmagssalik, and flights southward and ultimately to Rey– kyavik. In 1934, John Grierson, of England, in a Fox-Moth 130-horsepower single-motor airplane flew from Londonderry to Iceland, Angmagssalik, over the Greenland ice cap to Godthaab and New York. In 1935, Thor Solberg, a Norwegian, and Paul Oscanyan, an American, successfully completed a flight from Cartwright to Julianehaab (Greenland), over the Greenland ice cap to Angmagssalik, then to Iceland, and Bergen, Norway, in twenty days. And in 1938, Lauge Koch completed one of the most successful and carefully planned flights from Copenhagen to Spitsbergen and crisscross over Peary Land, the northeastern corner of Greenland, primarily to determine the precise topo– graphic conditions and to cover the area by aerial photography, the peninsular character of Peary Land being proved.
In addition to these flights, several significant hydrographic investi–
gations were undertaken, notably those by the United States Coast Guard Ship
General Greene
annually from 1928–1935, whose activities were directed prim–
arily to oceanographic observations and surveys; and those of the German North
Atlantic
Meteor
Expedition during 1937–1938, a continuation of the oceano–
graphical, biological, and meteorological surveys begun during 1925–1927, and
led by A. Defant in 1937 and by O. von Schubert in 1938. In 1937–1938, Miss
Louise Boyd led the
Veslekari
Expedition to East Greenland, Jan Mayen, and
Iceland and obtained considerable valuable information of an oceanographical
and a geological nature. During the period 1929–1934, an experimental and
apparently successful drive of some 3,000 reindeer by land was made from Buck–
land Bay in western Alaska under the leadership of Andrew Bahr to Richards
Island at the mouth of the Mackenzie River. The completeness with which this
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
was conducted was in part a product of nearly seven years of field research made by the Canadian botanists Erling and Robert Porsild, and a mapping of the route by means of reconnaissance aerial surveys.
The scientific products of these and other expeditions in the North Amer–
ican realm were used to their full measure in the preparation of intelligence
and terrain studies for use in operational activities in the Arctic during
World War II and were found to be immensely valuable.
Period World War II through 1947
This period witnessed a prodigious effort on the part of the United States
and Canada to explore, survey, and master the North American Arctic. It called
forth immediate Government-sponsored projects which rapidly increased in num–
ber and scope of work. The United States Army, Navy, Air Forces, and other
organizations constructed experimental laboratories, carried on extensive train–
ing programs, and prepared volumes of studies in and about the Arctic; indeed,
more was accomplished during this period than had been achieved in all the
preceding periods. Air bases, ferrying commands, proving grounds, new harbor
facilities, materi
e
^
é
^
l depots, and a host of other activities associated with
scientific tests and experiments were established on sites in the Arctic, many
of which had previously been an empty land surface. Radio and meteorological
stations were set up in many isolated and far northern areas for the purpose
of defense and guidance to expeditions and fliers. Men and machines, ideas
and discoveries, failures and success all were crowded into a seven-year period
in unprecedented numbers to assure ultimate conquest of the Arctic. A few of
the more notable achievements ought to be noted.
Two of these events occurred almost simultaneously: (1) the successful
negotiation of the Northwest Passage from west to east, and (2) the completion
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
of the Alaska Highway. The Alaska Highway, long dreamed of, suddenly loomed as a military necessity and in the incredibly short time of six months during 1943, 1,671 miles of road was constructed from Edmonton to Fairbanks across muskegs, through forests, across more than 200 streams and rivers, and over mountains as high as 4,200 feet. During 1940–1942, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ship St. Roch , an 80-ton patrol vessel with a 300-horsepower engine and a dozen years of arctic service, under command of Sergeant (later Inspector) H. A. Larsen, negotiated the first successful west to east crossing of the Northwest Passage. This was followed in 1944 by the inspiring return crossing of the Passage by the ship, the first, in a single season and by a different, possibly better, route through Barrow Strait and Melville Sound.
During March, 1946, the 45,000-ton aircraft carrier
Midway
, of the United
States Navy, carried out Operation Frost Bite in Davis Strait between south–
west Greenland and Labrador, an escort of three destroyers, a complement of
58 aircradt, and over 2,500 men taking part in the operations. Under the com–
mand of Rear Admiral John H. Cassidy, this operation, lasting 26 days, tested
technique in, and methods of, aircraft and carrier operations in the Arctic,
and clothing, radar, Loran and related equipment, as well as personnel. Dur–
ing the summer of 1946, several United States Navy and Coast Guard icebreakers
and accompanying tenders, under command of Captain Richard Cruzen, operated
experimentally in the waters west of Thule, Greenland, being interested in
cosmic ray, sunspot, and similar phenomena as related to radio and navigation.
This exercise, Operation Nanook, included two Navy Martin Mariners, specially
equipped, that flew to within 45 nautical miles of the North Pole, one plane
flying between Greenland and Canada and over the Polar Sea, and the other over
Cape Columbia, Greenland, and over the Polar Sea.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
During the summer of 1946, the United States Navy Operation Iceberg,
consisting of five submarines operating from their base at Honolulu and under
command of Rear Admiral R. R. McCann, carried out tests in Bering Strait and
Chukotsk Sea areas, particularly with regard to the effect of sea water layers
of various temperatures. Arriving at 70° 21′ North latitude, the edge of solid
ice blocked further tests northward.
A permanent winter (polar) field testing station has been established
in Port Churchill by the United States and Canadian Army Engineers. In 1946,
the United States Army Air Forces conducted extensive arctic flights from
bases in Alaska, the Aleutians, Canada, and Thule in Greenland. These opera–
tions included not only flights near, but to the North Pole, and long flights
in search of weather data; several planes had to be rescued from the Greenland
ice cap, and considerable areas between Seward Peninsula and Greenland were
covered by aerial photography, correcting many errors.
During 1947, joint Canadian and United States operations in the Arctic
were to include naval expeditions to the Arctic Islands, daily Army Air Force
weather-gathering flights to the Pole, establishment of permanent weather sta–
tions (one in Melville Sound), oceanographic and magnetic research, and ex–
ploration and mapping of the coasts of uncharted or poorly charted areas. In
the summer of 1947, a United States Navy expedition of three vessels, led by
the icebreaker
Edisto
and commanded vy Captain Robert S. Quackenbush, made four
further attempts to break through the ice-blocked Northwest Passage north of
Devon Island. One of the completed objectives of this expedition was the
establishment of a large central weather station and air strip on Cornwallis
Island, north of Devon Island, which will serve as a supply base for all the
American-Canadian Arctic stations. This same expedition supplied the joint
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Danish-American Weather Station at Thule, Greenland, which has been in opera– tion for a year, and sends supplies and rasonde apparatus to the recently established joint Canadian-American station at Eureka Sound on Ellesmeere Island, only 600 miles from the Pole. This station was established entirely by air from Thule early in the year. By October 1947, three primary stations equipped with Loran were to be in operation in the North American Arctic, the forerunners of a navigational network in the Arctic. The "master" station is located at Campbell Lake in Northwestern Canada and the two "slave" stations are at Cambridge Bay, Canada, and Point Barrow, Alaska. The Campbell Lake station was built by air, 1,400 tons of equipment having been flown in by United States Air Transport Command as "Project Beetle."
THE UNITED STATES (ALASKAN) SECTOR
Period Prior to World War I
Explorations and surveys in Alaska prior to World War I, except for the
littoral and islands of the Pacific Ocean and several mineralized interior
regions, were limited almost entirely to Government-sponsored field parties.
The United States Geological Survey, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the War
and Navy Departments, the Office of Indian Affairs, and the General Land Office,
in approximately this order of frequency, carried out scientific programs dir–
ected primarly toward achieving a more complete fund of information on subjects
of special importance to the particular agency. Significant among these agencies,
the Geological Survey (Alaskan Branch) undertook, almost annually, mineral and
topographic surveys which were, for the most part, related in extent and loca–
tion to mining and other extractive interests. During the period just prior
to 1905, the United States Army, Departments of Alaska and Columbia, completed
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
a number of surveys, particularly for trails, wagon roads, and telegraph routes. Two of the best sources of information on scientific exploration in Alaska during this and the following periods are the Bulletins of the United States Geological Survey, Washington, D. C., 1900–1930, and the published Documents of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, Washington, D. C., 1900–1930. Numerous small parties sought land claims to mineralized areas during the Gold Rush of the late 1890's and subsequently entered and explored parts of Alaska, but few left records, and what was accomplished could not, for the most part, be con– sidered scientific exploration.
Period World War I to 1930
During and shortly after World War I, there was a renewed interest in
Alaska, primarly because of the obvious importance of its natural res urces
in the prosecution of the war. The first flight of an airplane from the United
States to Alaska was undertaken and completed in 1920 when Captain Streett of
the United States Air Service in an Army De Haviland, during the period July
15-August 23, flew from New York to Nome on a reconnaissance mission in search
of suitable landing fields and supply bases. The United States Geological Survey,
Alaskan Branch, established as a special scientific unit to undertake systematic
geological, topographical, and other surveys of Alaska, under the able direc–
tion first of A. E. Brooks and later of Philip Smith, made considerable pro–
gress during the 1920's. Of the notable achievements, several should be men–
tioned. In 1923–1924, three parties under the direction of Sidney Paige,
mapped and surveyed geologically for the first time the until then little known
Naval Petroleum Reserve, a tract of some 35,000 square miles lying between the
Arctic Sea and the Brooks Range. Stephen R. Capps, a veteran Alaskan geologist,
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
on behalf of the United States Geological Survey, during the period 1925– 1927, explored the terrain northwest of the Alaska Range culminating in Mount McKinley. During 1926–1927, Gerald Fitzgerald and W. R. Smith were engaged in field surveys in northern Alaska. Completion of the railroad from Seward to Fairbanks in 1923 was the culmination of extensive surveys extending back to the 1890's.
Ales^š^ Hrdl
i
^
î
^
cka, of the Smithsonian Institution, during the period 1926–
1938, annually investigated the history of aboriginal man in Alaska, notably
the Aleutians and the Bering Sea islands and made startling conclusions re–
garding the migration of Asiatic peoples into the North American continent,
most of which have been published by the Smithsonian Institution. Between
1926 and 1934, archaeological investigations were conducted in the Bering Sea
area by the Bunnell-Geist Bering Sea Expedition and the Alaska College Expedi–
tion. On July 17, 1934, the first flight from Alaska to St. Lawrence Island
in Bering Strait was made by these expeditions. William B. Osgood Field, in
1926, initiated his five-year period expeditions to Alaska, sponsored by the
American Geographical Society, with the primary object of determining the
extent and nature of variation of the glaciers.
Period 1930 to World War II
This period witnessed a striking increase in the number of privately
sponsored expeditions to Alaska, although most of the areas covered were in
the Subarctic. The United States Government agencies, under the New Deal
administration and particularly certain resettlement projects, notably in
the Matanuska Valley, stepped up the number and scope of their annual field
operations. A hydrographic and geodetic survey of the Aleutian Islands was
begun by the United States Navy in 1933, airplanes taking part in the survey
EA-Histo. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
operations. The United States Coast Guard Bering Sea Patrol continued to maintain watch over sealing operations in the Bering Strait area and coin– cidentally to conduct surveys.
Non-Government expeditions to Alaska during this period include the
following: the Bradford Washburn expeditions of 1930 to the Coast Ranges;
1932–1934, mapping, testing equipment, and completing glaciological studies
in the Fairweather Range; in 1935 aerial photography and ground surveys in
the mountainous Yukon area; in 1937 successfully climbing Mount Lucania
(17,150 feet); in 1938 the Prince William Sound area; in 1940 the Glacier
Bay area; and in 1941 the Mount Hayes Range, both for glaciology and aerial
photography. The Danish-American Archaeological expedition, including K.
Birket-Smith and F. de Laguna, in 1933 carried out investigations in the Cook
Inlet region. Father Bernard J. Hubbard, during 1933–1939, investigated sev–
eral regions and obtained information of a vulcanological, archaeological, and
geological nature. In 1934, Miss I. W. Hutchison, a veteran of the Arctic,
carried out botanical investigations on Herschel Island and in the region of
Point Barrow. Dr. Victor E. Levine, during the period 1934–1940, conducted
a detailed anthropological investigation of the Alaskan Eskimos. Significant
results of the Walter Wood Yukon Expeditions, sponsored by the American Geo–
graphical Society, 1935, 1936, 1939, and 1941, include development of techni–
ques for parachuting supplies, glaciological studies by Robert Sharp, and aerial
photography by Walter Wood, particularly in the St. Elias region and the Can–
adian-American boundary area to the east. And in 1939–1940, an archaeological
expedition led by Froelich Rainey, of the University of Alaska, investigated
sites at Point Hope.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Period World War II through 1947
When World War II opened, the United States immediately accelerated
its routine surveys of Alaska. Government-sponsored and equipped expeditions
in considerable numbers moved into Alaska to accomplish in five years what had
required decades to barely get started. Numerous airfields, roads, and small
settlements of soldiers were established; aerial photography of the entire
territory was initiated and completed; a comprehensive detailed survey was
made of the mineral resources; harbors were constructed where no facilities
had reviously been available; and, significantly, proving grounds and experi–
mental laboratories were built in the Arctic to serve as the basic fund of in–
formation on improvements or changes in living and fighting a war in the Arctic.
A few of these should be noted.
Fairbanks rapidly became the nerve canter of a large program of scientific
research and development, the Army Air Forces Proving Ground at Ladd Field and
the United States Army Engineers laboratories, being most important. Many
items of mountain, arctic, and emergency clothing and equipment were developed
by the United States Army Quartermast Corps and Army Air Forces during 1941–
1942 and in 1942 were tested in the Mount McKinley region, parachuting of sup–
plies being one of the techniques developed on a large scale at this time.
In 1941, an Army Air Forces four-motored Boeing bomber, based at Fairbanks,
flew a 1,500-mile sweeping are through the Arctic during a seven and a half
hour flight, the crew clad in very light "underwear-like" electrically heated
clothing. In 1943, the United States Army Engineers, in less than a year, com–
pleted a 1,000-mile-long gasoline-distribution pipeline from Skagway to Fair–
banks, and in the same year completed the 1,600-mile-long Alaska Military High–
way. The Army Signal Corps, in the spring of 1943, completed a 2,000-mile
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
telephone line from Edmonton to Fairbanks, the line being capable of simul– taneously carrying vocal, radio, and telegraph messages direct with Washington Headquarters. In 1944, the Civil Aeronautics Authority announced that it had constructed 31 Far North and Far West airports in Alaska big enough to handle the largest planes; 8,165 miles of Federal airways, complete with radio, weather reports, and point-to-point information had been completed. During 1944–1946, the United States Navy, utilizing its experienced Seabees, initiated and carried out extensive explorations of the Naval Petroleum Reserve, some 35,000 sqaure miles along the arctic coast of Alaska. Organized in 1944, amphibious landings were made on the Alaskan arctic coast during the summer of that year; heavy machinery was landed and moved to points as much as 330 miles inland; airfields were constructed; airplanes began the routine of photographing the region; crews began test drillings, all part of a long-range program of investigation of the Petroleum Reserve.
During 1946–1947, two important military exercises were carried out in
the Alaskan Arctic. Task Force "Frigid," under command of Col. Paul A. Riechle,
was in the field during the winter months to test the effect of arctic environ–
ment on personnel and Army Ground Forces equipment of every kind; about 1,500
men and possibly 800 vehicles are said to have been used in sustained tempera–
tures as low as -60° F. Task Force "Williwaw" included some 1,500 picked soldiers
under command of Col. Joseph D. Rainey, and carried out exercises on the Aleut–
ian Islands, testing the effect of heavy rainfall, cold snaps, sudden thaws,
and other elements of weather, on clothing, personnel, and equipment. In June
1947, the United States Army Air Forces announced that it was organizing and
equipping parachute rescue teams for Alaska to aid in the rescue of downed air–
craft. In May 1947, General Devers reported that the United States was planning
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
a second winter (1947–1948) of extensive tests of personnel and equipment in the Arctic, particularly the transportability of infantry. This followed the United States Navy's request to Congress for funds to begin the construction of a new unit of the Navy for special duty in the Arctic. The Army Engineers have been conducting extensive and systematic investigations of permanent frozen soil (permafrost) in their laboratories and fields near Fairbanks. The United States Navy in August 1947 established a biological research center at Point Barrow, primarily to determine the human needs for life in the Arctic.
THE CANADIAN SECTOR
Period Prior to World War I
Transfer to Canada by the British Government of all the islands north of
the North American Continent almost immediately initiated expeditions to the
islands to take formal possession. Captain J. E. Bernier led the first official
Canadian Expedition in July 1908, when, with 43 men in the ship
Arctic
, he
visited Etah on Smith Sound and then the Barrow Starit and Melville Sound areas;
the winter of 1908–1909 was spent in Parry's Winter Harbour, and the following
summer soundings were taken in Byam Martin and Austin Channels, and then down
Barrow Strait; and in 1910, attempting to make the Northwest Passage by way of
Melville Island, Bernier failed but made surveys of Baffin Island between Fury
and Hecla Strait and Cape Kater. A. P. Low, on the Dominion Government Expedi–
tion to Hudson Bay and the Arctic Islands in the
Neptune
, in 1903–1904, added
greatly to the geological information of the area. In 1911, Bernard Hantzsch
achieved the first crossing of Baffin Island, but died in Foxe Channel during
the last stage of his adventure. Crawford Noble, Jr., had preceded Hantssch's
crossing by nine years when he surveyed the margins of Nettilling Lake. Due
largely to Vilhjalmur Stefansson, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and others
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
many of the islands in the archipelago were discovered and often astronomical observations were taken. The Crocker Land Expedition under D. B. MacMillan, in 1913–1917, added considerably to the terrain information of the far north– ern islands. The Hudson's Bay Company added materially by expanding its ad– ministrative area and increasing the number of posts. In 1912, the Nascopie began its annual summer voyage to the posts of the Eastern Canadian Arctic. The scientific results of this Government-manned operation have added greatly to the knowledge of the northern islands.
Period World War I to about 1930
Both the Eastern and Western Canadian Arctic and the far northern islands
during this period received increasing attention, not alone by Government agen–
cies seeking an estimate of the natural resources, but as well by religious
groups, such as the Oblate Fathers of the Roman Catholic Church and the mission–
aries of Protestant churches, and privately sponsored scientific groups. The
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Patrols and the annual cruise of the Canadian
Dominion Government ship, the
Nascopie
, with a growing number of scientists
who carried on reconnaissances along the route, aided materially in increasing
terrain information about the details of local areas. During this period the
number of air flights increased. At first such flights were largely experi–
mental and of a reconnaissance nature; toward the close of the period the flights
became systematic and of a practical nature, particularly when turned to ex–
ploration for minerals and aerial photography for mapping.
The first flights in the Northwest Territories kwere made in 1921 when on
March 21, with Lieutenant Gorman in command, two airplanes left Peace River
Crossing and circled by way of Fort Vermilion, Hay River Post, Fort Simpson,
Bear Lake, and return, taking photographs, all under the sponsorship of the
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Imperial Oil Company. In 1922, the Canadian Government Arctic Expedition in the ship Arctic, established Police Patrol bases and surveyed areas as far north as Ellesmore Island. On this expedition, Squadron Leader R. S. Logan surveyed areas of the Arctic Islands with a view to their serving as bases for a "short hop" by plane between Europe and Canada. During the period 1923–1930, Major L. T. Burwash, F. D. Henderson, and others investigated Baffin Island, King William Island, the east coast of the Mackenzie delta; Burwash, during the season 1923–1924, trekked from the east shore of Cumberland Sound, Baffin Island, on Baffin Sound, to Cape Dorset, some 1,500 miles away, a remarkable journey; and in 1925 Burwash negotiated the first crossing of the Canadian coast line from west to east.
J. D. Soper's explorations of Baffin Island, in 1925–1926, covered 600
miles in thirty-eight days and made notable discoveries in the Foxe Basin, cor–
recting existing maps. In 1925, Lieutenant Colonel J. Scott Williams flew a
Viking Amphibian with a group of geologists and prospectors from Prince Rupert
to Wrangel, Alaska, Telegraph Creek, and Dease Lake to Lower Post and other areas
in the Northwest Territories. The Putnam Baffin Island Expedition of 1927 made
significant contributions particularly to the knowledge of the northern coast
of Foxe Peninsula and the deep reëntrant at the southeastern corner of the Foxe
Basin. Between January and April of 1927, Bernt Balchen and Captain Stevenson
flew a Western Canada Airways plane loaded with materi
e
^
é
^
l and men from Kettle
Rapids to Fort Churchill. The highly important Government-sponsored reconnais–
sance flights over Hudson Strait in 1927–1928, revealed a great deal of informa–
tion concerning terrain and hydrography, as well as contributing much aerial
photography for use in the preparation of hydrographic charts. The Rawson–
MacMillan Expedition of the Field Museum of Natural History spent the years 1927–
Ea-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
1928 in Labrador and Baffin Island. In 1928, Henry G. Watkins led a small but highly efficient party to Labrador for sledging and surveying especially out from Rigolet on Lake Melville. During 1928–1929, commercial air trans– port companies initiated a decade of relatively extensive operations for prospectors in the Mackenzie District. In 1929–1930, George M. Sutton carried out ornithological and other scientific studies on Southampton Island. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Patrols during the late 1920's made remarkable ex– plorations and corrections of the maps of Ellesmere and adjacent arctic islands, the patrols of Constable G. T. Makinson in April 1928 and Inspector A. H. Joy being of striking importance in terrain information. This period closes, fittingly, with the first successful flight over, and aerial photography covering the North Magnetic Pole by Major L. T. Burwash and his pilot W. E. Gilbert, in 1930.
Period about 1930 to World War II
The number and scope of expeditions into the Canadian Arctic during this
period increased considerably over the preceding. For the most part, these
were small groups of highly trained specialists, geologists, oceanographers,
biologists, ornithologists, topographers, mineral prospectors, and the like.
In 1930, Dr. H. H. E. Krueger and R. A. Bjare left the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police Post at Bache, Ellesmere Island, on a reconnaissance designed as a pre–
liminary to a much larger expedition the following year, with the plan of
reaching the most northerly part of Axel Heiberg Island. No further trace has
been had of them except that one of the searchers, Constable Hamilton, discov–
ered a record at Peary's Cairn at the northeast corner of Axel Heiberg Island.
In 1931, the Oxford University Exploration Club completed a biological survey
of the Akpatok Island in Ungava Bay; Christopher J. D'Aeth, organizer of the
EA-History Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
group, died during a severe blizzard. During 1933–1934, the Bartlett-Norcross Effie Morrissey Expedition attempted unsuccessfully to force its way westward through Fury and Hecla Strait; the expedition arrived at Melville Peninsula, then returned by way of Foxe Basin and through Foxe Channel, having made a biological collection and charted Foxe Basin. Polar Year Stations at Cape Hopes Advance, Chesterfield Inlet, Coppermine, and Fort Rae proved successful in obtaining coordinated scientific information, particularly on weather and climate. During 1933–1935, T. H. Manning began a series of exceedingly im– portant surveys, mainly topographic, of Southampton Island. David Irwin, a young American, after a short stay with the Reindeer Trek, left Aklavik with only a dog sledge, and during 1933–1935, made a startling 2,000-mile journey to King William Island and Boothia Peninsula. J. M. Wordie led an expedition to Melville Bay and northeast Baffin Island in 1934.
The year 1934 was particularly auspicious in the number of expeditions and
the scope of activities in the Canadian Arctic, including the following: F. K.
Pease's search for relics of the Sir John Franklin Expedition and for landing
fields for an air route. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police schooner,
St. Roch.
left its winter quarters at Tree River in Coronation Gulf and by way of Herschel
Island and police posts returned to Vancouver. The Bowdoin University Expedi–
tion aboard the ship
Bowdoin
, led by D. MacMillan, conducted zoological, botan–
ical, and geological investigations in Labrador and Baffin Island. Father
Dutilly, a veteran arctic botanist, whose work in the Arctic has continued through
1947, carried out successful botanical and entomological investigations in
the area about Herschel Island. R. Bartlett, sponsored by the Academy of
Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, cruised into the Arctic again this year
(1934) to Kane Basin, Kennedy Channel, and nearby areas. Significant Royal
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Canadian Mounted Police patrols were made (a) from Tree River to Coronation Gulf, led by G. T. Makinson, (b) from Pond Inlet to Home Bay, Baffin Island, led by Constable L. A. Austin, and (c) from Pangnirtung to Lake Harbour, Baf– fin Island, by Corporal McInnes. Finally the Oxford University Ellesmere Land Expedition, led by Noel Humphreys and organized by Edward Shackleton, made surveys during 1934–1935, particularly on sledge journeys, that contribut– ed highly important terrain information and that resulted in corrections to the map of Ellesmere Island.
In 1935, A. D. McLean made aerial surveys of alternative routes into the
Yukon and concluded that Fort Nelson to Lower Post was the best. In this
year the
Nascopie
, during a 10,000-mile patrol, reached Craig Harbour, Elles–
mere Island, only 950 miles from the North Pole. Eight commercial voyages
were made by six different ships through Hudson Strait to Churchill during
the short ice-free season, airplanes and weather station reports assisting
in the movement. Charles Camsell, Deputy Minister of the Department of Mines,
completed a 4,000-mile aerial survey of northwestern Canada, extending into
the Mackenzie District.
During 1936–1938, Robert Bentham surveyed areas in southern Ellesmere
Island, and made valuable contributions in geology and glaciology. In 1936–
1939, the British-Canadian Arctic Expedition, in the
Polecat
, led by T. H.
Manning and including scientific personnel of high quality, completed surveys
of Baffin Island,
[:
]
Southampton Island, and islands to
the north, particularly valuable results including more accurate delineation
of shore lines and terrain and biological and geological information. In 1936,
the Canadian Government icebreaker
N. B. McLean
, guided fifteen vessels through
Hudson Bay and Strait.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
In 1937, the
Nascopie
on its annual patrol in the Eastern Arctic, ex–
tended her patrol into Regent Inlet from the east, and in Bellot Strait met
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ship,
Aklavik
, which had come through the
Northwest Passage from Vancouver; thereafter when possible, freight was ex–
changed in this manner annually. In this year R. J. Bray and P. D. Baird, of
the British-Canadian Arctic Expedition, returned south on the
Nascopie
and
announced that maps of western Baffin Island were inaccurate and that at
least 2,000 square miles of area must be added. One of the most important
arctic expeditions was that led by D. Haig-Thomas to northwest Greenland and
Ellesmere Island for the purpose of mapping; as a result of extensive sledg–
ing operations an excellent general topographic map of Ellesmere Island was
made. The J. M. Wordie Arctic Expedition to northwest Greenland and Elles–
mere Island carried out mapping and meteorological observations. On July 24,
1937, the ice cleared away sufficiently for the
St. Roch
to leave Cambridge
Bay, Victoria Island, and at the entrance to Dolphin and Union Strait, the
masts of the Hudson's Bay Company schooner
Fort James
could be seen, the en–
trance being blocked with ice. The
Fort James
was crushed by the ice, but
the crew was rescued by the
St. Roch
which ultimately was freed of the ice.
V. Tanner, Professor of Geography at the University of Helsingfors, engaged
in geological work on the east coast of Labrador. During 1937–1938, the
American Meteorological Expedition, led by C. J. MacGregor, meteorologist
with the United States Weather Bureau, established a base near Etah, Green
land, and completed valuable magnetic, meteorological, auroral, and general
exploratory observations, particularly over Ellesmere Island. Under the
capable charge of Roy Fitzsimmons, successful terrestrial magnetism studies
were carried out. Commander I. Schlossbach, U.S.N. (retired), completed several
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
flights from the base at Etah out over Ellesmere Island, Axel Heiberg Island, and Nansen Sound, partly in search of the reported Crocker Land.
During the period 1938–1941, A. Lincoln Washburn and his wife, Tahoe
Washburn, initiated significant intensive scientific surveys of a geomorpho–
logical and glaciological nature along Coronation Gulf and the islands to
the north, particularly striking being their survey of Helman Island. M.
de Poncin, sponsored by Soci
e
^
é
^
t
e
^
é
^
de G
e
^
é
^
ographie of Paris, in addition to ethno–
graphical work in the King William Island area, made a journey to the North
Magnetic Pole. Constable Shillingford, during January 1939, made a flight
from Coppermine to northwestern Victoria Island, one of a series of flights
by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who by then had acquired airplanes for
routine work between posts.
Period Worl War II to 1947
Almost at its onset World War II tapped the varied experiences of arctic
explorers and scientists in Canada. The Department of Mines and Resources,
the Royal Canadian Air Force and Army, scientific research agencies, the
Hudson's Bay Company posts, and, significantly, the arctic posts of the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police, coordinated their activities individually and collec–
tively and established as well close collaboration with the United States.
These activities have been so numerous and their scope so considerable ^th^at
only a very few can be mentioned; then, too, for reasons of national security'
many cannot at this time be discussed.
Almost at the beginning of the war, it became obvious that Axis strategy
included complete isolation of the American continent as a source of materi
e
^
é
^
l
and personnel. One of the first programs for the development of the Canadian
Arctic as a defensive bastion and later a base for offensive action, was the
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
establishment of a series of air bases along selected routes and the con– struction of bases for patrols and listening posts.
When the need for fuel oil and gasoline for use in military operations
in Alaska and in northern Canada became pressing at the beginning of 1940,
one of the most likely sources of supply was the oil reserves in the vicinity
of Norman Wells in the Mackenzie District. Accordingly there evolved the
Canol (Canadian Oil) project, sponsored and accomplished for the most part
under the authority of the United States Army Engineers. In June of 1942,
the first of a series of flights was made over the little-explored Mackenzie–
Yukon divide between Norman Wells and Whitehorse in search of the best route
for the pipeline and a parallel all-weather service road. The project was
completed twenty months later, but was little used because of the unexpected–
ly rapid turn of events in the North Pacific War. This project, the then
most northerly producing oil field on the continent, was estimated as poten–
tially capable of producing seven times its proven production of 3,000 barrels
of oil per day in 1944. The 577-mile-long project includes tank farms, pump–
ing stations, a dozen air fields along the route, a telephone line parallel with
the pipeline, and an all-weather route and camps, a major industrial undertak–
ing in the Arctic, costing some $130,000,000.
In November 1943, Major M. Q. Hancock and Sergeant R. C. Weiss of the
United States Army Air Forces, in a Douglas C-47 "Skytrain," flew to Fort Ross,
1,000 miles north of Churchill and rescued one woman and three men whose rations
were nearly exhausted, because of the two-year period during which aid by ship
could not be got to them. On April 7 of the same year, a United States Army
Air Forces plane had landed on the sea ice near the post and left a radio and
a few supplies. During the war, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Hudson's Bay Company posts played an important part in maintaining a vigilant radio and wireless watch on activities in the Arctic, and because of their special knowledge of the area, contributed mightily to air-rescue operations. A closely knit system of alert contact was maintained. In November 1942, an ionosphere station, one of twenty-four such stations in the world, was set up at Clyde, on Baffin Island.
The Canadians, increasingly more concerned over their defenses in the
Arctic, during 1944–1945 and to date have carried out a series of tests, task–
force-like operations, of personnel and equipment. Several of these should
be noted. Exercise Eskimo, commanded by Brigadier M. H. S. Penhale, included
2,000 soldiers of all ranks, and was a march over a distance of 366 miles in
37 days in Saskatchewan during January and February of 1944. Exercise Polar
Bear, held in the Coast Range mountains between Williams Lake and Bella Coola,
consisted of 1,154 personnel, and covered a distance of 626 miles in 55 days
during February to April 1945. On these maneuvers, significant features in–
cluded air supply and preparation of advance air bases. Late in March, Exer–
cise Lemming, under the leadership of Major P. D. Baird and including Lieuten–
ant T. H. Manning as naval observer, and eleven men, left Churchill in six
vehicles drawing sleds loaded with supplies and gasoline, and traveled over–
land to Padlei, returning to Churchill in April, after ten days of travel,
completing 650 miles over rough terrain in winter.
In 1945, P
e
^
è
^
re Arth
e
^
é
^
me Dutilly, with two other scientists and three
Indian guides, completed a traverse across northern Labrador, his twelfth
successive reconnaissance in the Arctic, which yielded more than 4,000 sheets
of pressed plants, this traverse of some 400 miles being accomplished in 27
days.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
One of the most important recent Canadian peacetime operations was
Exercise Musk Ox, a joint Canadian-United States operation commanded by
Lieutenant Colonel P. D. Baird, carried out primarily to test equipment and
terrain transportation, that is, the effects of severe winter weather and
travel on caterpillar tractors, snowmobiles, and heavy equipment, as well as
on personnel, clothing, and rations. Supplies were dropped by plane and
glider. The trek lasted from February 15, 1946, to May 6, starting from
Churchill and moving 900 miles north to Cambridge Bay, Victoria Island, thence
900 miles to Fort Norman by way of Coppermine, and finally 1,200 miles south
to Edmonton.
During the latter part of August 1946, a small, light, highly mobile
Canadian Army unit of some 50 vehicles, investigating the defenses of the
Canadian Northwest, completed a 1,860-mile truck trip along the Alaska High–
way to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and return. Operation Packhorse carried
out by the Royal Canadian Air Force during the summer of 1946, was mostly by
water along the coasts of Labrador, Baffin Island, and Hudson Bay, in the
wooden supply ship
Beaver
, the primary purpose being to test the Sperry gyro–
compass, electric steering equipment, and eadio, radar, and echo-sounding
apparatus. Probably the first glider landing and "snatch pickup" in the Arctic
was accomplished jointly by United States and Canadian personnel in conjunc–
tion with Exercise Musk Ox. A C-47 airplane towing a glider loaded with sup–
plies and a 3,000-pound engine required by one of the snowmobiles in Exercise
Musk Ox left Norman Wells and five hours later landed the glider at Coppermine.
A pickup station was erected on the snow and the plane picked up the glider
and returned it to Norman Wells. In the summer of 1946, a Canadian airborne
expedition including geodesists flew over the Foxe Basin and Baffin Island area
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
in two Canso and two Norseman airplanes and mapped the Spicer Islands in Foxe Basin.
This period fittingly closes with the end of the career of one of the
most celebrated and widely remembered of Canadian arctic cargo ships, the
Nascopie
. Destined to be retired from active arctic service the next year,
the
Nascopie
on July 21 with little warning struck an uncharted roof off
Beacon Island, at the entrance of Dorset Harbour. Crew, personnel, and mail
were removed safely; the
Nascopie
was abandoned, a total loss but forever a
cherished memory in the proud hearts of those many Arctic-bound personnel
who knew her best.
THE DANISH GREENLAND SECTOR
Greenland perhaps more than any other Arctic possession, has experienced
a long period (nearly 75 years) of Government-sponsored continuous scientific
exploration and research. Perhaps because of its size as the largest island
in the world, its extensive ice cap and its mass extending far into the near
polar area, it has long been a kind of proving ground for expeditions as well
as a natural arctic laboratory for studies in glaciology, aerology, geology,
biology, and a host of other sciences. With the possible exception of the
Soviet Arctic since 1930, Greenland has been the most frequently explored area
in the Arctic. Any attempt to chronicle these expeditions since the beginning
of the twentieth century would require considerable space and cannot be more
than briefly outlined here. One of the best sources of information on the
scientific products of many of these expeditions is the
Meddelelser om Gro^ø^n–land
series Volumes 1 through 145, Copenhagen 1876 through 1945.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Period Prior to World War I
Once the North Pole had been achieved by sledging operations under
Admiral Robert E. Peary in 1909 from northern Ellesmere Island, scientific
activities in Greenland turned to intensive exploration of small selected
areas of the coast and inland ice, and to coastal reconnaissances. Captain
Einar Mikkelsen, almost simultaneously with Peary's ultimate attainment of
the North Pole, set out in the
Alabama
from Denmark for northeastern Green–
land in search of the lost Mylius-Erichsen Expedition (1906–1908). The
Alabama
expedition (1909–1912) arriving at its destination, Shannon Island in
northeastern Greenland, wintered there and the following spring Mikkelsen and
I. P. Iversen sledged across the inland ice to Denmark Fjord. Successful in
finding caches of notes, particularly drawings, left by the Mylius-Erichsen
Expedition, they returned to Shannon Island to find their ship crushed by the
ice, its crew having left. Mikkelsen and Iversen were required to spend two
more winters on the island, but they had accomplished part of their mission.
In 1910, Knud Rasmussen, initiating his remarkable series of Thule expeditions,
established an Eskimo colony at Thule in northwestern Greenland. In 1912,
with Peter Freuchen, Rasmussen began the First Thule Expedition, a sledge
journey to northeast Greenland over the ice cap from Markham Glacier, at 78°
North latitude in Smith Sound, to Danmark Fjord and thence to Independence
Fjord and return to Thule, making significant terrain surveys notably in the
Independence Fjord area. In 1912–1913, the Danish Expedition to Dranning
Louise Land under J. P. Koch and Alfred Wegener wintered in Denmark Harbor on
the east coast. A crossing of the inland ice was made in the same years by
the Swiss glaciologist A. de Quervain and physicist P. L. Mercanton and others
from Ritenbenk on the west coast to Dove Bay on the east coast.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
During 1916–1918, the Second Thule Expedition under Knud Rasmussen,
and including Lauge Koch (geologist), Peter Freuchen (naturalist), and Thorild
Wulff (botanist), completed a highly important sledging journey from Melville
Bay north and then east along the northwestern coast of Greenland to De Long
Fjord; the party returned over the inland ice by way of Inglefield Land, mak–
ing many doscoveries of terrain and correcting existing maps. During this
period many small scientific expeditions of a special-interest nature carried
on surveys in Greenland. These included H. P. Steensby and Thomas Thomsen
for ethnological studies in 1909; V. C. Frederiksen and E. Jespersen for
archaeological studies, and V. Nordmann for biological studies in 1911; L.
Bob
e
^
é
^
, general archives studies in 1912, 1914, and 1915; and O. Bendixen for
topographical surveys and K. Birket-Smith for ethnographic investigations in
1918.
Period World War I to about 1930
During 1919, Knud Rasmussen carried out the Fourth Thule Expedition to
southern Greenland primarily to study folklore of the Eskimos, and O. Bendixen
on a separate survey continued his topographic surveys of 1919. Lauge Koch,
veteran student of northern Greenland, in 1920–1923 led the Hans Egede Jubilee
Expedition to Cape Robertson on the northwestern coast of Greenland and thence
sledged along the northern coast past Cape Bridgman to Independence Bay, then
over the inland ice to Humboldt Glacier, and then Inglefield Fjord and return,
auspiciously completing the first of a succession of important surveys of north–
ern Greenland. In 1924–1925, Einar Mikkelsen led an expedition to Scoresby
Sound and founded an Eskimo colony under the sponsorship of the Scoresbysund
Committee of Denmark. The Norwegian Michael Sars Expedition, led by J. Hjort,
initiated a series of biological and oceanographical investigations in the
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Greenland Sea.
In 1925, the First Hesse Greenland Expedition led by H. K. E. Krueger
completed geological investigations between Disko Bay and Umanak Fjord. J. B.
Charcot in the famous
Pourquoi Pas?
initiated a long series (1925–1936) of
oceanographical and other scientific investigations in the area between and
including Iceland and Greenland. The MacMillan Expedition, sponsored by the
American Geographical Society, completed terrain and general scientific in–
vestigations in the region around Etah; as a part of the expedition Lieutenant
Commander Richard E. Byrd made successful airplane flights in northern Green–
land.
In 1926, a number of investigations were made, the most important of
which include Lauge Koch's East Greenland Expedition to King Christian X Land
for geological and topographic surveys; J. M. Wordie's
Heimland
Expedition to
the East Greenland coast, particularly Franz Josef Fjord and the Pendulum and
Sabine islands for geological surveys. The year 1926 was also marked by the
first of the highly significant University of Michigan Greenland Expeditions
(1926–1933) under W. H. Hobbs and including Laurence McK. Gould, Earle Church,
Ralph Belknap, William S. Carlson, Max Demorest, and others, to southwestern
Greenland. The University of Michigan expeditions were primarily for meteor–
ological observations and geological and topographical investigations, a par–
ticular study being made of the anticyclone hypothesis for Greenland. In 1927,
a Danish radio weather station, and in 1928 a seismographic stati
^
on, were
^
established in Scoresby Sound. During 1927 and 1928, Miss I. W. Hutchison
carried out horticultural studies in several parts of southern Greenland. The
Godthaab Expedition, led by E. Riis-Carstensen, in 1928 completed extensive
biological and hydrographic surveys in Davis Strait and Baffin Bay; in the
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
same year Lauge Koch continued his geological investigations in northern Greenland; and the Oxford University Greenland Expedition, led by F. G. Longstaff, worked in south Greenland.
The year 1929 not only concludes this period but is one of the most im–
portant. Alfred Wegener's Greenland Expedition completed preliminary inves–
tigations on the southern part of the inland ice for the highly important
Eismitte weather station set up in 1930, and carried out two sledge recon–
naissances over the ice cap. The Second Hesse Expedition, led by H. K. E.
Krueger, continued geographical surveys in northwestern Greenland, and in 1930
Krueger, R. Bjare, and a Greenlander left for Ellesmere Island where they were
lost. The East Greenland Expedition to King Christian X Land in 1929–1930,
led by Lauge Kech, achieved notable results from geological, hydrographical,
and other scientific investigations. The Cambridge University East Greenland
Expedition, led by the veteran arctic scientist, J. M. Wordie, completed geo–
logical surveys along the east coast. The Norwegian
Veslekari
Expedition, led
by A. K. Orvin, carried out geological and biological surveys along the eastern
coast.
Period about 1930 to World War II
This period witnessed a considerable increase not only in the number of
expeditions, but in the scope and nature of scientific research being carried
out in Greenland. In part this was a response to a general increase in inter–
est in the Arctic.
One of the first scientific expeditions of this period was the Alfred
Wegener Greenland Expedition which, during 1930–1931, among other activities
of particular importance to meteorology, established Eismitte at 71° 3′ North
and 40° 3′ West, and over a period of a year or more carried out important
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
researches in meteorology, seismology, and glaciology. Upon the basis of these studies the conclusion was reached that the Greenland ice cap occupies a deep basin surrounded by a rim of 6,000-foot-high mountains, and that the center of the ice cap has a thickness of some 7,500 feet. Wegener and Scheideck's attempt to replenish the stores at Eismitte resulted in their tragic death.
Coincidental with the Wegener Expedition, the British Arctic Air Route
Expedition carried out meteorological and topographical investigations in
the Angmagasalik area, establishing a weather station on the ice cap at 67°
5′ North and 41° 48′ West. A Courtauld remained at the station alone during
the winter, and several sledging reconnaissances were made over the ice cap.
The Norwegian
Veslekari
Expedition, led by Adolf Hoel, achieved success in
oceanographical and geological surveys along the middle East Greenland coast.
Knud Rasmussen, during 1931 and 1932, led his Sixth and Seventh Thule Expedi–
tions along the little-surveyed southeastern Greenland coast and completed
archaeological, ethnographical and cartographical surveys. During 1931–1934,
Lauge Koch led his three-years expedition in the ships
Godtheab
and
Gustav
Holm
to King Christian X Land for topographical and geological surveys, a
notable achievement being the record-breaking advance in 1933 of the
Gustav
Holm
to Norske Islands in 79° North. From here Lauge Koch completed air
photographic flights over northeastern Greenland as far north as 82° 20′ North.
Arne Hoygaard and Martin Mehren completed a crossing of the inland ice from
Umanak to Franz Josef Fjord, a total distance of 621 miles, and averaged fif–
teen miles a day. The Louise Boyd
Veslekari
Expedition to Franz Josef and
King Oscar fjords of East Greenland, in 1931 and 1933, achieved notable re–
sults particularly in geology and oceanography.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
The H. G. Watkins East Greenland Expedition to Lake Fjord, near Ang–
magssalik, in 1932–1933, continued the meteorological investigations of the
preceding year; Watkins was drowned in a kayak seal hunt. Many Polar Year
(1932–1933) parties were in the field on Greenland for weather and related
observations, notably at Thule, Angmagssalik, Godthaab, Scoresby Sound, Jul–
ianehaab, and twenty other places. In 1933, the Permanent International
Court of Law declared Denmark had complete sovereignty over Greenland. In
the same year, several expeditions of importance completed their work, not–
ably J. B. Charcot's
Pourquoi Pas?
Expedition to Scoresby Sound and Angamgs–
salik for biological, anthropological, and oceanographical surveys; the Uni–
versity of Michigan-Pan American Airways Greenland Expedition carried out
notable observations in southern Greenland, the station being located at the
base of the Upper Nugssuak Peninsula; and the Norwegian
Polarbj
o
rn
Expedition
under Adolf Hoel completed topographical and geological surveys in northeast
Greenland, particularly between Davis Sound and Shannon Island. Significant
expeditions during 1934 include the British Trans-Greenland Expedition led
by Martin Lindsay, which mapped, photographed, and collected geological speci–
mens along the route from Mount Forel to Scoresby Sound, a journey of about
1,180 miles accomplished in 103 days of sledging; Paul E. Victor, during 1933–
1937, led the French Ethnographical Expedition to Angmagssalik and from there
conducted sledge journeys and research.
In 1935, the Anglo-Danish Expedition, led by A. Courtauld and L. R. Wager,
in addition to archaeological and geological work, ascended a 12,250-foot
peak in Watkins Range of southern Greenland, and during 1935–1937 a Danish
expedition carried out archaeological and ethnographical studies in the Thule
District. Lauge Koch's Geological Expedition to East Greenland during 1936–
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
1938, in the Gustav Holm , was a continuation of his earlier topographical and geographical surveys between 70° and 75° North latitude. J. B. Charcot's Pourquoi Pas? , a veteran ship in the Greenland Sea area and of many important expeditions to Greenland, in 1936 while en route home to France, was totally wrecked with a loss of all hands but one, when leaving Reykjavik during a storm. In the same year the Oxford University Greenland Expedition, led by P. G. Mott, surveyed in considerable detail several fjord areas of the south– west coast and carried out marine and vegetational surveys.
The year 1937 was a momentous one for the Arctic as a whole, particularly
the Soviet transarctic flights and Polar Drifting Station. Greenland during
this and the following year witnessed the final flourish of private expeditions
before the advent of World War II. Expeditions during this several-year per–
iod include Louise Boyd's
Veslekari
Expedition to East Greenland, Iceland,
and Jan Mayen for geological and oceanographical investigations; the Polish
Expedition to West Greenland in 1937, led by Aleksander Kosiba of the Geo–
graphical Institute of Lwow University, Poland, completed glaciological, geo–
logical and related work along the southwest coast; the Norges Svalbard-og
Ishavs-Undersøkelser in a two-ship expedition carried on supply contacts with
Norwegian stations and huts along the east coast; and Captain Robert Bartlett
completed his thirteenth expedition to the Arctic when his 1937 expedition
in the
Effie M. Morrissey
penetrated as far north as 78° 45′ in Kane Basin
and stopped at Cape York.
The Oxford University Exploration Club Expedition, led by J. C. G. Snyder,
in 1938 completed meteorological and topographical surveys on the ice cap and
in the vicinity of Sukkertoppen on the southwest coast. Lauge Koch in 1938
completed a highly important air expedition to Peary Land in northeastern
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Greenland. Koch's first attempt from Kings Bay, Spitsbergen, on May 7, was thwarted by fog and snow; the second, on May 10, resulted in a six-hour flight to the area around Ingolf Fjord; and the third, on May 15 and 16, resulted in considerable success, during which the Dornier-Wal airplane, flying at about 7,500 feet, performed perfectly, allowing numerous excellent aerial photographs to be made. Final results showed that no land exists be– tween Spitsbergen and Greenland and that significant corrections must be made in maps of northeastern Greenland. C. J. MacGregor, United States Weather Bureau meteorologist, with Roy Fitzsimmons, magnetician, and others, during 1937–1938, established a base at Etah, northwestern Greenland, carried out meteorological, auroral, and terrestrial magnetic observations as well as sledging operations on Ellesmore Island and Greenland. During this year the Louise A. Boyd Expedition in the Norwegian sealer Veslekari began its ocean– ographical work at Jan Mayen, then east to Svalbard, and west through the pack ice to Greenland where a landing was made at Ile de France, probably the second farthest north ever achieved by ship on this coast. South from here several stops were made for geological and terrain studies. Four dif– ferent Norwegian expeditions were made to eastern Greenland in 1938 mostly to study ice conditions and to supply Norwegian bases in the area.
E. G. Bird, the British ornithologist, spent 1936–1938 in the vicinity
of Myggbukta, the Norwegian base in northeastern Greenland. The Akademische
Alpenclub Zürich Expedition to Eastern Greenland in 1938, under the leader–
ship of Andr
e
^
é
^
Roch, completed sledging operations onto the ice cap back of
Angmagssalik and made studies in glaciology, photography, and sledging equip–
ment. Under the auspices of the Hermann Göring Foundation, an expedition
led by J. Herdemerten made ornithological studies particularly of the falcon,
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
and simultaneously Arthur Christiansen carried out a Danish-sponsored ob– servation on the west coast between 64° and 67° North. Two British expedi– tions, the Oxford University and the Cambridge University, were in Greenland in 1938. The former worked in the Evighods Fjord area on the west coast studying glaciology, meteorology, and radio communication; and the latter, led by H. I. Drever, completed work in geology, archaeology, experimental psychology, meteorology, and glaciology at Umanak Fjord. A Danish Geological Expedition led by A. Rosenkrantz carried out a detailed investigation of igneous and sedimentary rocks on Nugssuak Peninsula. A Norwegian-French Expedition led by Willie Knutson and Count Gaston Micard established a meteor– ological station in latitude 77° N. and wintered in a harbor at Koldewey Island. Another expedition led by the Frenchman, Hubert Garrique, establish– ed a base on Disko Island to carry out studies in radioactivity and spectro– graphic methods.
The year 1939 was the last of a succession of years of productive scien–
tific research in Greenland during peacetime preceding World War II. The
Norwegian-French expedition of 1938, having established a main meteorological
station in Germania Land and five substations in the vicinity — two on
Koldewey Island — continued into 1939, weather reports being sent to the
Meteorological Institute in Oslo four times a day. A. Mittelholzer, a Swiss
geologist, continued his 1938 investigations at Eskimonaes into 1939, as did
the Danish Expedition under A. Rosenkrantz on Nugssuaq Peninsula. Hans Ahl–
mann led a small expedition to Clavering Island during 1939 and 1940 to study
glaciology. The Danish Northeast Greenland Expedition of 1938 to Mørkefjord
continued its work into 1939 and planned to remain to 1942, completing con–
tinuous records of air temperature, precipitation, and other elements of
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
weather. Count Gaston Micard, one of the leaders of the Norwegian-French Expedition to the Koldewey Island area, was stricken ill and flown to the Norwegian sealer Veslekari by plane in a miraculous rescue. Hans Ahlmann and his assistant, after a profitable glaciological study on Clavering Is– land, returned to Sweden, leaving Kaane Rodahl there to continue his studies in diet. St. Andrew's University Expedition spent the summer at Igdlorssuit carrying out geological and topographical investigations. A Danish Thule and Ellesmere Island Expedition led by J. van Hauen, during 1939–1940, com– pleted geological and zoological surveys in northwestern Greenland and Elles– mere Island.
Period World War II through 1947
During World War II Greenland early became not only a military threshold
between the European theatre of war and the North American"Arsenal of Democ–
racy," but as well a grand arctic laboratory in which an increasing number of
highly significant experiments and tests of men, machines, and supplies were
carried out. Likewise, it witnessed a widespread application of results
learned by peacetime expeditions, such as those conducting meteorological,
glaciological, and aeronautical investigations. Because Greenland straddles
the cyclonic storm tracks flowing into Europe, knowledge of Greenland weather
could be used in forecasting optimum operational activity over Europe, and
consequently the Allies as well as the Nazis early sought and established
weather bases on the island. The Germans early set up weather stations on
the east coast and supplied them by submarines as well as airplanes and sur–
face ships. The Allies at first were able only to complete their activities
on the protected west coast but ultimately established weather stations on
the ice cap and on the east coast, having routed the Germans. Probably the
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
most important single activity was the building of air bases, the so-called Crystals, along the southern and western coasts, used for servicing and basing fighter and other airplanes on their way to Europe and as bases of operations for reconnaissance air patrols flying the Greenland Sea and the North Atlantic in search of enemy craft. Air, sea, and other rescue units were organized and operated out from these bases, either as sledging or as airborne operations. Studies of the optimum in arctic clothing, diet, health, shelter, and a myriad of other daily needs were remarkably successful. The United States Coast Guard, attached to the United States Navy, carried on continuous reconnaissance of the seas around Greenland and achieved notable results in sweeping the area of enomy surface and submarine craft. Many per– sonnel with arctic, particularly Greenland, experience, aided in the military programs on that island. A few of these accomplishments should be noted; many cannot be discussed for reasons of military restrictions.
In the summer of 1941, Bernt Balchen, veteran Norwegian polar explorer,
later Colonel in the United States Air Forces, commanded an expedition to
survey Greenland for sites for adequate air bases, ultimately selecting sev–
eral on the west coast, the farthest North American bases when the United
States entered World War II. In the same year Lieutenant Commander McCloskey
of the Coast Guard cutter
Northland
, of the Greenland Patrol, halted a sus–
picious looking icebreaker named Buskee and learned that Nazis had established
stations on the east coast. The
Northland
raided a site and captured twenty
Nazis, who were taken to the United States and interned. In 1943, intelli–
gence information indicated that the Germans had established a base on Sabine
Island on the east coast. United States Army Air Forces B-17 Liberators and
Forts commanded by Colonel Balchen, flew from Iceland to Bontekoe Island in
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
eastern Greenland; from there they flew over and bombed out the base, the Coast Guard cutters Northland and North Star with troops from the Greenland Base Command moving in as one of the northernmost battle operations during the war. A Lieutenant Ritter, authority on the Arctic and a geologist, was in command of the German weather base, having been there since 1941, the unit making ground observations five times and radiosonde once daily, results be– ing radioed in code to the German Naval High Command in Berlin, thus aiding immeasurably in German plans, particularly in breaking through the European coastal blockades.
During the early days of the war three major air ports were constructed
one at the head of Narsarssuak Fjord on the south coast, a second in south
Ström Fjord on the west coast, and a third at Ikateq, north of Angmagssalik,
on the east coast. In 1942, the occupying forces of the United States began
the erection of a network of weather stations along the southern half of the
Greenland coast, supplementing the Danish station farther north. Several ex–
tensive surveys of the inland ice for establishing air routes were made, at
first with more misfortune than success. In 1942, a task force, led by Major
C. A. K. Innes-Taylor, experienced polar explorer, surveyed Comanche Bay and
inland area on the east coast, and the party left there wintered over. During
this winter the eminent glaciologist, Max Demorest, Lieutenant in the United
States Army Air Forces, lost his life in the heroic but vain efforts to rescue
the crew of a bomber wrecked on the ice cap. During 1942–1944, the Task Force
Unit established a number of weather stations, including Cape Adelaer and
Comanche Bay. Of major significance was the establishment of the Ice Cap
Weather Station on the crest inland from Kjöge Bay near Angmagssalik, the in–
land-ice weather research being in charge of Captain Herbert G Dorsey, exper-
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
ienced student of polar weather. Preliminary to establishing this station a number of striking sledging surveys were made from Comanche Bay, one by con– tinuous-tread-over-snow-surface vehicles (T-15's) and motor toboggans, others by dog teams, and one by combined T-15's and dog teams. In these F. Alton Wade, experienced polar geologist, played a major role. The Ice Cap Detach– ment, in addition to obtaining valuable meteorological and geodetic informa– tion, proved that a permanent-type inland-ice weather reporting base can func– tion, and, in fact, is highly desirable. Planes, notably Norseman ski-equipped, landed and took off from the ice cap.
During 1943–1945, the Ground Rescue office of the First Arctic Search
and Rescue Squadron of the United States Army Air Forces in the Greenland
Command carried out notable salvage and rescue operations, some of them on the
Greenland ice cap. By 1944, the Nazis once again had established themselves
in northeastern Greenland, this time in three places. During late summer
and fall of this year, the United States Coast Guard cutters
Eastwind
,
South–wind,
Northwind
and
Storis
carried out a successful operation, capturing the
Germans and destroying the stations. The stations had been established by
air, long-range German bombers having been used. United States Army Engineers
were mainly responsible for construction work on the island, constructing
roads (some asphalt-topped), building hangars, leveling areas for air fields,
and accomplishing many other tasks rarely dreamed of as possible in the Arctic,
and doing so in a very short period of time.
With the end of the war and a return to peacetime activities, expeditions
to Greenland are once again active, and several have got under way, notably
the so-called United States Navy Operations. One of these, under Captain
Richard H. Cruzen, in July 1946, reached Thule; the expedition included Navy
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
and Coast Guard vessels, and was primarily interested in navigational and weather conditio [: ] s in the Arctic and in cold-weather wartime training. A French expedition was planned for 1947 to establish an international research project on the Greenland ice cap. The Danish Government has renowed its scientific and administrative activities in Greenland, one of the largest projects being that of completing the already nearly accomplished task of mapping the island.
THE NORWEGIAN (SVALBARD-JAN MAYEN) SECTOR
Period about 1906 to World War I
With the organization and official recognition of the Norges Svalbard–
og Ishavs-Undersøkelser in Oslo, Norway, in 1906, organized systematic scien–
tific exploration of Svalbard and certain Norway-claimed areas in Greenland
may be said to have begun. A succession of carefully planned Norwegian ex–
peditions mostly under Adolf Hoel, director of the organization, have been
sent to Svalbard almost annually since then and valuable scientific results
have been obtained and published. This organization often assisted foreign
expeditions to the island. During the period prior to about the end of
World War I, expeditions were concerned primarily with topographic and hydro–
graphic surveys, particularly of Spitsbergen proper and of Prince Charles
Foreland. Large-scale topographical and geological surveys were carried out
in several potential mineral (coal) areas, notably Advent Fjord, Ice Fjord,
Kings Bay, Wood Bay, Wijde Bay, and Ekman Bay, and several glaciers and pen–
insulas. Attempts were made to develop the coal-bearing areas, notably in
Advent Bay. Meterological observations were made, and, according to accounts,
the first permanent radio station in the Arctic was set up at Green Harbour
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
(1911). During 1909, 1912, and 1914, Dr. W. S. Bruce and others made ex– tensive terrain studies and completed a survey of Prince Charles Foreland. Dr. R. H. Rudmose Brown, J. M. Wordie, J. Mathieson of the Ordinance Survey, and others accompanied Dr. Bruce on these surveys. In 1910, Lieutenant W. Filchner used Spitsbergen as a training ground for his 1911–1912 Antarctic Expedition. Lieutenant Schroeder-Strong in 1912 with three companies made a sledge journey across Hinlopen Strait to North East Land and suffered con– siderable difficulties; Gunnar Isachsen and Girard De Geer carried on exten– sive topographic and oceanographic surveys in Spitsbergen; and other scien– tific groups explored in Svalbard. Because of the strategically favorable situation of northwestern Spitsbergen, the Kings Bay region particularly was used as a base by most of the aerial attempts at reaching the Pole during this period.
Period World War I to about 1930
Two repeating themes of activity dominate the kind and extent of scien–
tific exploration and work carried on during this period. The first is the
crescendo in efforts made at achieving the North Pole by air from Spitsbergen,
already described in detail under The Whole Arctic. The second is the con–
certed effort at detailed terrain analysis both by official Government and
private organizations. Norway's acceptance of sovereignty over Svalbard on
February 9, 1920, innaugurated a period of remarkably active and systematic
control, yet with considerable freedom for private research which increased
notably.
The Norges Svalbard-Og Ishava-Undersøkelser continued annual scientific
expeditions to Svalbard and during this period accomplished considerable top–
ographic and hydrographic mapping, surveying topographically on large scale
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
most of the western half of Spitsbergen and all of Prince Charles Foreland, Bear Island, and Hope Island. Considerable work of a geological, botanical, oceanographical, and meteorological nature and observations in terrestrial magnetism were accomplished by this organization during this period. Partic– ularly valuable publications of some of these expeditions, notably the ones to the Kings Bay area, Bear Island, Hope Island, the several west coast fjords (Advent, Eis, and Lille), and Horn, Bell, and Cross Sounds have appeared as Skrifter of the organization. The staff of the organization in 1927 completed the compilation and publication of some 33 maps and boundary descriptions of recognized mining claims in Svalbard on a scale of 1:50,000. During 1924, Thor Iversen, commanding the Norwegian Government's fishery investigations in the waters around Svalbard, made a reconnaissance of Hope Island and pub– lished a detailed topographic study of the island.
Significant among private expeditions to Svalbard were two pioneering
aerial photography reconnaissances, one by Lieutenant Walter Mittelholzen in
1923, and the other by George Binney in 1924. During this period some of the
most significant privately sponsored expeditions were the Oxford and Cambridge
expeditions. The Cambridge group, including the 1921 expedition to Jan Mayen,
carried on botanical, glaciological, geological and ornithological work. The
Oxford group, beginning in 1921, was more numerous and was primarily ornith–
ological, glaciological and informational; the 1923 expedition was primarily
to North East Land and to the Mount Newton district; and the 1924 expedition
to North East Land featured particularly aerial photography and flying.
Period about 1930 to World War II
Official activities of the Norges Svalbard-og Ishava-Underøkelser during
this period achieved notable results in the nearly complete aerial and ground
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
survey of Svalbard and in considerable oceanographic work in the circumjac– ent waters. In addition, the annual expeditions included detailed studies in geology, botany, zoology, terrestrial magnetism, and meteorology. The hydro– graphic expeditions under Lieutenant Rolf Kjaer during the seasons 1930–1932 carried out extensive surveys. In 1932, Alfred Koller made glaciological studies in Spitsbergen. A. K. Orvin, a member of the staff, led an expedi– tion to set up lighthouses and wireless stations on the coast of Spitsbergen. During this period, almost annually, the Norwegian Fisheries Board expeditions under Captain Thor Iversen made fishery investigations and hydrographic sur– veys. Three parties were sent out in 1939, two topographical and one hydro– graphical.
Privately sponsored expeditions included the following: the Cambridge
Spitsbergen expedition of 1932, led by R. M. Jackson, made a preliminary top–
ographical and geological investigation of the New Friesland region; Hans
Ahlmann led the Swedish-Norwegian expedition to North East Land in 1931 and
in his usual careful way accomplished a great deal of valuable scientific
work, particularly on the inland ice, the mapping of nearby islands, and an
investigation of the "Andr
e
^
é
^
e-Italia" current; a small Cambridge expedition
made a comprehensive faunal investigation of Bear Island in 1932; the Polish
Polar Year expedition carried on work on Bear Island in 1932–1933; during
1933 a large Oxford University expedition, organized and led by A. R. Glen,
conducted topographical, geological, and meteorological surveys in the New
Friesland area; several Swedish Polar Year stations under the charge of F.
Lindholm were erected on the west coast of Spitsbergen in 1932–1933; Hermann
Ritter carried out intensive glaciological observations in Wijde Bay during
1933–1935; a Polish expedition led by A. B. Dobrowolski investigated glaciers
Ea-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
in Bell Sound in 1934; an accurate detailed survey of the north coast of North East Land was made in 1935–1936, led by A. R. Glen; a joint Norwegian– Swedish Spitsbergen Expedition in 1934 carried out glaciological and meteor– ological investigations in the Cross Bay district; Ernet Sorge and companions visited Icefjord for glaciological observations; a small party of German geog– rafers, including W. Dege and other scientists, conducted surveys in north– wes tern Spitsbergen; the Finnish Aerological Expedition worked in the kings Bay area; H. Riehe led a German expedition to Horn Sound in 1937 to carry on general scientific investigations; the London Imperial College of Science ex– pedition, led by A. King, spent the summer of 1938 on Jan Mayen, mapping and obtaining information in botany, marine biology, ornithology, cosmic rays, and meteorology; the Cambridge Spitsbergen Expedition led by L. H. McCabe completed geomorphological work in western Spitsbergen in 1938; Ernst Hermann in the summer of 1938 experimented with landings and take-offs of a new type of German air– plane in the pack ice off western Spitsbergen; and an international geological expedition (Swedish, British, and Norwegian) was organized for work in Wijde Bay and Icefjord in 1939.
This period closes with the beginning of World War II which almost immed–
iately involved Svalbard for reasons of strategy as well as logistics. What
information had been learned and acquired by the many expeditions to Svalbard
immediately became confidential intelligence.
Period World War II through 1947
Svalbard's principal role during the war was threefold: (1) to serve as
a base from which significant and necessary meteorological information could
be gathered, particularly with respect to the state of the ice, and continuous
information on the elements of weather'; (2) to serve as a base of operations
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Exploration in the Arctic
for use in relation to the convoy route to the U.S.S.R.; and (3) to serve as a base for refueling ships, particularly because of the available coal re– serves and mining installations.
With the loss of Norway to the Nazis early in the war and their attack
on the U.S.S.R., the position of Svalbard at once became of primary concern
to all forces. In August and September, 1941, the coal mines and coal stocks
at Longyear City and at Barentsberg were destroyed by combined Allied opera–
tions, composed primarily of Canadians, and the Norwegian and Russian inhabi–
tants were removed. It was known by the Allies that German patrols had oper–
ated in Svalbard waters during the fall of 1941, and in the spring of 1942 a
British Coastal Command plane, piloted by Flight Lieutenant Hawkins, completed
a non-stop, twenty-seven-hour reconnaissance flight from a base on the Shetland
Islands to Svalbard and return. A series of flights was made during the spring,
one flight on May 12 including the attack and destruction of a German HE-211
and a German Control Station in Icefjord. During the spring, a Norwegian force
of some one hundred men under Colonel Einar Sverdrup, in two small vessels from
the British Isles, attempted to land on Svalbard. Four German FW-200-K's
sighted the vessels
Isbjorn
and
Selis
, set them afire, and killed a number of
the party, including Colonel Sverdrup. The remainder of the force made their
way to Barentsburg and established quarters in an old drill house, from which
extensive ski patrols were made and intelligence as to the German activities
was gathered. On May 26, the Coastal Command sent the first of four flights
to remove the wounded. By the middle of June the Germans evacuated their forces
and Svalbard was left in Allied hands. Green Harbour and several other sites
were established as military bases and particularly as meteorological stations.
A German fleet, including the
Tiroitz
and
Scharnhorst
, in Septembe^r^ 1943 entered
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Icefjord but were repulsed by a skillful barrage from the one hundred defend– ing Norwegians with three old coastal guns.
Numerous air reconnaissances were carried out from Svalbard by planes
of the British Coastal Command who completed many meteorological observations
in the adjoining Greenland and Barents seas. Studies were made of the state
of the ice in addition to reconnaissance over the convoy route to spot for
leads and to combat the Nazi submarine, air, and surface craft along the route.
In 1947 the Russians, several thousand strong, reoccupied their installa–
tions on Svalbard, particularly in the area about Barentsberg, to reopen the
mines. During 1947, the Norwegians were actively engaged in reestablishing
their scientific interest in Svalbard, including particularly the formation
of a Norwegian Polar Institute — the Norsk Polarinstitutt, successor to the
Norges Svalbard-og Ishavs-Undersøkelsen.
THE SOVIET SECTOR
The Soviet Sector including nearly one-half of the entire Arctic and
with a continuous continental shore line facing onto the Arctic and a relative–
ly few clusters of islands beyond, stands out in physical contrast with the
highly multinsular nature of the North American-European sectors. Scienti–
fic interest in the Soviet Arctic is almost entirely a product of the Soviet
regime; successful and widespread exploration of the Soviet sector is mostly
a product of the periods 1930 to 1947. Exploration of the Soviet North has
remained almost entirely in the control of the central government, and since
1930 in the nearly complete charge of the Administration for the Northern Sea
Route, most of the scientific exploration being carried out by one of its sub–
divisions, the Arctic Institute.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Period Prior to World War I
The disastrous results of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 revived Russia's
interests in the problem of achieving the Northeast Passage, not only for
reasons of commerce but also as a military necessity. In 1912, an expedition
commanded by Lieutenant Brusilov left Alexandrovsk, on the Murmansk coast, to
survey the Passage. The expedition was caught in the ice pack, only two sur–
viving the catastrophe. Almost simultaneously a similar expedition, the Hydro–
graphic Expedition of the Arctic, including two ships, the
Taimyr
and
Vaigach
,
1910–1912, under command of Captain I. S. Sergeev, accomplished successive
annual cruises from Vladivostok northward as far as the Taimyr Peninsula,
which was reached in 1912. In 1913, Sergeev was taken ill and command was
given to Captain Boris Vilkitskii who carried out remarkable surveys from
Vladivostok into the Arctic Sea as far west as Starokadomskii Island, but
being besieged by ice fields he returned to Vladivostok. The next year Vii–
kitskii left Vladivostok with his two ships and by September of 1915 had ac–
complished the remarkable feat of passing through the Northeast Passage to
Archangel. Many other smaller expeditions accomplished local surveys and
achieved notable results particularly in the Kara Sea area and to the Ob and
Yenisei rivers. In 1905 more than twenty-five expeditions with 18,000 tons
of freight sailed to the Yenisei from Archangel. When in 1914 the first met–
eorological-wireless station was set up on Vaigach Island and the following
year another on Dickson Island considerable strides had been made in regular–
izing navigation in the Kara Sea area. Expeditions, some private, surveyed
and explored in the Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya area. Lieutenant Nag–
urskil's five flights, the first recorded by airplane, have already been de–
scribed.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Period World War I to about 1930
With the establishment of the Northern Scientific Industrial Expedition
in 1920 and its reorganization in 1925 as the Institute for the Study of the
North, Government-sponsored and organized exploration of the Soviet Arctic
began in earnest. Indeed, scientific and systematic exploration of the Arctic
under the complete control of a central government got under way and over a
period of nearly thirty years has accomplished a great deal though perhaps
not always wisely. What the Soviet has done in the Arctic, particularly under
the charge of the Arctic Institute, must be admired, not only for the area
covered but for the valuable scientific results, particularly in hydrography
and cartography. Simultaneously with hydrographic survey parties being sent
into the Barents, Kara, and Laptev seas for extensive oceanographic surveys,
and the scientific parties sent to Novaya Zamlya, Franz Joseph Land, and other
islands for terrain studies, cartographical, geological, and other physical
science survey, parties covering selected areas of the Soviet Arctic contribut–
ed increasing funds of highly valuable information. During this period the
surveys and investigations were more in the nature of probing and a testing
of techniques, setting the stage for the period of intensive widespread sur–
veys to follow after 1930. By the end of this period the Soviet had recognized
the value of the airplane in exploration and mapping, of meteorological-radio
stations as aids to navigation on the seas and in the air, of building up nuclei
of scientifically trained personnel, and of programming its work according to
a carefully prepared plan. A few of the accomplishments of this period may
be noted.
Soviet interest lay first in the Arctic Sea and the several seas hugging
the northern coast of the U.S.S.R., emphasis being primarly on the problem of
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
opening the Northeast Passage. These expeditions, often icebreakers and hydrographic vessels, included the following: the icebreaker Solovel Budimir–ovich, commanded by Captain T. Rekstin, in 1920 was caught by a storm off Kanin Mos, was swept along in the drift ice through Kara Strait into the Kara Sea to about 73° North latitude and 63° 25′ East longitude, where it was wrecked and the crew rescued. A hydrographic expedition under Roze in the same year was sent to the waters around Novaya Zenlya and charted its west coast. In 1921 the Maritime Institute sent the icebreaker Malvgin into the Orange Islands are ato chart the waters and ice, and in the same year the Taimyr expedition under Roze carried out hydrographic surveys in the vicinity of Novaya Zemlya, which island in 1925 was completely circummavigated by the Scientific Trading Expedition in the Elding , and the waters charted. In 1927, the Soviet Academy of Sciences sent the Poliarnaiz Zveza to carry out hydro– logical and biological surveys of the Laptev Sea. In 1924, the Soviet ice– breaker Krasnvi Okitizbr , commanded by Davydov, surveyed the waters around Wrangel Island and completed astronomic and magnetic observations. The Persei in 1923 initiated a succession of some 50 expeditions it was to carry out be– tween that date and 1935 by charting the waters around southern Franz Josef Land. In 1929, Vladimir Vize in charge of the Sedov , surveyed the waters a– round Franz Josef Land and in 1930 the Sedov surveyed the seas around Severnaya Zemlya.
Other notable expeditions whose primary purpose was other than hydrographic
include the following: the Central Administration of Public Construction in
1921 made a reconnaissance of the coastal area between the Ob and Yenisei rivers.
In 1920 the Kupava expedition, including geologists, made a detailed survey of
the coal deposits on Novaya Zemlya. In 1923, extensive geologival and topo-
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
graphical surveys of Novaya Zemlya were made and at Matochkin Shar a radio station and a meteorological station were set up in 1923 and 1924 respective– ly. In 1924, the Leningrad Institute for the Study of the North sent a top– ographical and geological expedition to Novaya Zemlya. During the period 1925 to 1930, the Soviet Academy of Sciences sent out a number of geological topo– graphical, botanical, and similar expeditions to the Yakutsk region with sig– nificant results, many of which have been published. During 1927–1930, the expedition to Severnaya Zemiya by E. W. Pinegin established a polar station, and meteorological, geological, and cartographical surveys on a large scale were carried out. During 1927, the Zarnitsa , commanded by Captain Gaken and the zoologist, Gorbunov, made hydrobiological, geological, and other surveys of the area between Novaya Zemlya and Franz Joseph Land. In 1928–1929, A. Tolmachev led and expedition to Taimyr Peninsula for geographical and botanical research. J. Chirikhin, in 1928–1931, led a primarily hydrological expedition to the Indigirka River basin and among several discoveries established that the Ilin Tas or Moma Mountains are parallel to the discovered Cherski Range. Otto Schmidt, veteran arctic scientist, in cooperation with Rudolf Samoilo– vich, led and expedition in the Sedov to Frenz Josef Land to establish a geo– physical observatory and a radio station at Tikhaya Bay and carried out hydro– logical and hydrobiological surveys. In 1929 the icebreaker Litke expedition with a new party of scientists for Wrangel Island carried out ornithological, geological and oceanographical surveys in the waters around the island. By the end of this period it became obvious that success of the expeditions was largely dependents upon the use of icebreakers and icebreaking cargo steamers.
Aerial exploration during this period, though for the most part purely
experimental, achieved several notable results. In 1924, there were initiated
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
by official orders probably the first concerted and planned efforts to use airplanes in reconnaissance over ice fields in order to convoy ships through the most favorable leads. In this year Chuknovskii, in a Junkers seaplane brought to Yugorski Shar by the steamer Iushar , made twelve flights on both sides of Novaya Zemlya and concluded that airplanes could be used in ice reconnaissance, aerial photography, and hydrographical survey, particularly in assisting navigation. The following year Chuknovskii in one plane and Kalvits in another pioneered the first Soviet air line from Leningrad to Archangel to Novaya Zemlya. During the summer the fliers rendered valuable assistance to vessels in the Kara Sea expeditions. In 1926, Kalvits com– pleted significant flights in the vicinity of Wrangel Island and across the arctic pack, providing information for better maps. Chuknovskii in 1925 completed flights in the Kara Sea area. In 1926, Kalvits carried out ex– periments with a ship as a base in arctic waters, and in the same year Bab– ushkin used an airplane for surveying sea life. In 1927, Lukt and Koshelev, piloting a Z-16 and an IN-13, respectively, traced out an air route between Cape Severnyi and Wrangel Island and westward along the coast to the Lena River, and then on to Irkutsk. The following year the Sovetskii Sever , a bi-motored plane, left Vladivostok with G. Krassinski and A. Volynski for Archangel and then Leningrad but was lost in flight and proved the inadvis– ability of carrying out such flights without adequate facilities along the route. Concluding this initial period of flying in the Soviet Arctic, Kal– vits in his hydroplane made significant flights of ice reconnaissance, in– forming the icebreaker Litke as to the best navigable leads.EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Period about 1930 to World War II
This period witnessed remarkable advanced in the science of exploration
and in the use of aircraft in accelerating the survey of arctic areas. This
was a period of applying the results of numerous experiments carried out dur–
ing the preceding period. The dearth of qualified scientific personnel dur–
ing earlier periods diminished. The Arctic Institute became the primary nuc–
leus from which most of the plans and programs for scientific research in the
Arctic were generated. Of the hundreds of different expeditions sent out dur–
ing this period it is possible to note only a few and these include the follow–
ing: In 1930, the icebreaker
Sedov
, with Otto Schmidt, Rudolf Samoilovich,
Vladimir Vize, and others, went to Franz Josef Land for detailed botanical,
geological, zoological, and microbiological surveys of the islands in the
archipelago. On their return the expedition discovered Vize Island and in
the Severnaya Zemlya area a number of islands were discovered. During the
summer of 1930, the icebreakers
Lenin
and
Malygin
escorted forty-six steamers
through the Kara Sea and between the mouths of the Ob and Yenisei rivers, and
three Dornier-Wal planes coordinated their flights with the navigation of the
steamers for a seasonal total of over 18,000 kilometers flown. The
Malygin
had on board a weather station that coordinated reports with shore stations
and the airplanes and prepared synoptic forecasts as well as charts for use
in escorting the convoys. G. P. Sheika led a geological expedition to the
Indiga River and surveyed more than 2,500 kilometers of its course. During
1930–1931, N. N. Ourvantsev in charge of the Scientific Research Station
established on Sergei Kamenev Islnads, carried out several sledging journeys,
surveyed the islands, and discovered that Severnaya Zemlya is an ancient folded,
structurally complex area.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
During 1931, a number of significant expeditions were the following: The
icebreaker
Lomonosov
and
Malvgin
comprised an expedition to Franz Josef Land
for the purpose of obtaining data on meteorology, hydrology, and general geo–
graphical subjects. The East Polar Expedition of the All-Union Association
of the Civil Air Fleet explored the proposed air line between Uellen and Cape
Severnyi. The Beluka sailed east from Archangel on August 6, and on the 18th,
at Dickson Island,met B. G. Chuknovskii and his Dornier-Wal airplane. The
plane flew east to Taimyr, then northwest in order to investigate the ice,
finding that there were zones of open water within three to seven miles of
the shore, and guiding the ship east to Cape Sterlegov. M. M. Yermolayev
completed large-scale geological and topographical surveys along the southern
shore of Novaya Zemlya. On July 28 and August 8, reconnaissance flights were
made over Sverdrup Island, north of Dickson Island, to investigate its terrain
and ice conditions. The Arctic Institute during this year sent out the initial
expedition for a detailed topographic study of the Anadyr-Chukotsk region.
The year 1932 was made particularly important by the accomplishments of
the icebreaker Sibiriakov expedition, sent by the Arctic Institute and led by
Otto Schmidt, its director. Included was an airplane. The icebreaker left
Archangel on July 28 and on October1 arrived at Bering Strait, though in a
crippled condition, being the first to negotiate the Northeast Passage in one
season, thus demonstrating the practicability of communication between Europe
and the eastern Soviet. While on route, extensive biological, geological, and
hydrological investigations were completed. In the same year, the icebreaker
Rusanov
expedition, with Rudolf Samoilovich in charge, left Archangel in mid–
July and sailed east, discovering a group of islands between Dickson Island
and Severnaya Zemlya, then on to Shokalsky Strait where three islands were
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
discovered, and navigating Cape Cheliuskin for the first time, returned to Archangel by way of Novaya Zemlya. The Enipovich , a small sailing vessel, was sent out by the Oceangraphic Institute, the expedition being led by N. N. Zubov, and completed work in the area between Franz Josef Lnad and the Murmansk coast, the voyage lasting thirty-four days and covering more than 3,000 miles. A small party of scientists from the scientific research station on Hooker Island, in the Franz Josef Land group, made glaciological and geo– logical surveys of several of the adjacent islands of Alger and Hall. The polar station on Hooker Island was expanded considerably under the leadership of I. D. Papanin in preparation for the Polar Year observations. The ice– breaker Taimyr surveyed and charted a large area in the Barents and Kara seas. The Anadyr-Chukotsk Expedition under Sergei V. Coruchev continued the aerial surveys and completed an aerial survey of Wrangel Island. Long flights across the Chukotsk Peninsula were made and revealed extensive mountain ranges. Dur– ing this year several significant flights were made, including particularly A. D. Alekseev's flight to Cape Cheliuskin and from there to Severnaya Zemlya and Kemenev Islnad in the eastern Sovist Arctic, Berdnik carried out a series of ice reconnaissances for vessels plying the Vladivostok to Nizhno-Kolymsk route, significant of which was his four-hour flight from Cape Iakan to Cape Aachim, making possible the safe convoy of ships around Cape Billings by the icebreaker Litke , and his reconnaissance from Aion Island to Nizhne-Kolymsk and return. Two hydroplanes were used for reconnaissance by the large Trans– port Expedition (eight vessels) organizing a river fleet in the Kolyma River area. During 1932, the icebreaker Lenin convoyed vessels through the Kara Sea, twenty-five to Igarka and three to Novy Port, all but two of which were non– Soviet. The Civil Air Fleet was engaged in establishing an air lien betweenEA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Sverdlovsk and Obdorsk. I. A. Landin led a group of scientists from Vladi– vostok to the northeastern Soviet Arctic to investigate the possibilities for an air route from Bering Strait to the mouth of the Lena River.
The year 1933 was significant for progress made in development of the
Northern Sea Route, the increase in facilities for conducting field research
parties, the development of aviation in the Arctic, and the establishment of
polar stations. A few of the notable expeditions and scientific results
should be mentioned. The
Cheliuskin
, an icebreaker-type of ship, under the
command of Otto Schmidt, attempted the complete navigation of the Northeast
Passage from west to east and return, the relief of the Wrangel Settlement,
and intensive hydrographical, oceanographical, and related scientific invest–
tigations on route. Reaching the vicinity of Wrangel Island in November, under
unfavorable conditions, the ship attempted to return to Murmansk by the same
route, was frozen in and drifted in the ice for about 1,250 miles when the
ship was wrecked and the 104 personnel escaped and established a base on the
ice, the command of the expedition sending a request for aid. A remarkable
series of rescue flight in Russian and American-made airplanes was made during
March and April of 1934 from the Sevict Arctic mainland, aviators doronin,
Galishev, and Vodopianov operating from Vladivostok; Kamanin and Molokov from
Providence Bay; Levenevski, Slepnev, and Ushakov from Alaska; and Liapidevski
from Cape Uellen. Simultaneously the icebreaker
Krassin
covered the 12,000
miles from Europe through the Panama Canal to Providence Bay in fifty-two days.
The icebreaker
Sibiriakov
, under the leadership of V. J. Vize, completed an
extensive series of surveys and observations in hydrography, geology, botany,
and zoology particularly in the Kara Sea and Gulf of Yanisei during a one-season
trip from Archangel to Cape Cheliuskin and return. The Arctic Institute sent
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
a large scientific expedition under W. K. Essipov to Novaya Zemlya for field work in ornithology, biology, hydrography, and geology. The Siberian Hydro– graphic Department of the Northern Sea Route, using specially equipped steamers, completed a survey of more than 1,000 miles of coast line along the Arctic Sea between and extending up to the Ob and Yenisei rivers, and the Piasina River Delta was explored. A. S. Eremenko, who led a survey party, investigated the possibilities for a railway from Yugor Strait to Vorkuta. From July 16 to October 4, a small expedition on board the S. S. Smolny carried out extensive surveys, particularly in hydrography and cartography, in the Franz Josef Land area, making significant changes in maps and terrain of the islands and dis– covering new islands. An air line was established between Archangel and Naryan Mar. The icebreaker Sedov during the summer completed oceanographical surveys in the Kara Sea, assisted in the surveys of Severnaya Zemlya and Sergei Kamenev Island, established a new polar station on Uedinenya Island, and convoyed two groups of steamers through the Kara Sea. A glaciological station was established on the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, and in addition to actinometrical, geophysi– cal, and similar studies carried out studies of the relation of the ice cap to weather and climate of the region.
Among important flights during the year are the following: Pilot Lindel
accomplished a flight along the route Krasnoyarsk, Bulun, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, to
Tiksi Bay and in addition flew more than 15,000 kilometers, making reconnais–
sance over the Laptev Sea coast and in the lower Lena River. G. A. Stranbe
completed a flight from Verkhneudinsk, to Khabarovsk, Spask, and Viadivostok;
he then flew to Anadyr and under severe flying conditions flew the American
pilot Mattern from Anadyr to Nome and went on to Cape Severnyi. Ice reconnais–
sance of the area between the Chukotsk Peninsula and Wrangel Island was performed
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
in the airplane H-4 by M. Chernyavsky. A. D. Alexeev in the airplane H-2 made six flights during the period August 16 to August 30 and in addition a series of ice reconnaissances between Dickson Island and Severnaya Zemlya, and assisted the Sibiriakov to open water. During the summer, Kozlov com– pleted an air reconnaissance of the western Kara Sea, and surveyed Vaigach Island. M. J. Babushkin in an airplane that was attached to the icebreaker Cheliuskin made numerous flights during the eastward voyage of that ship. Polar stations were provided with airplanes for use in ice reconnaissance. Over forty ships were at work in Arctic waters during the navigation season.
The activities of 1933 were carried into 1934 with renewed vigor and
interest. The use of icebreakers, establishment of polar stations, the use
of airplanes in ice reconnaissance and surveying, the increase in number of
trained scientists and specialists, and an integrated program of field re–
search were largely responsible for the success of 1934 and subsequent years.
The following are a few of the outstanding accomplishments during 1934. Polar
stations such as the ones at Russian Harbour, Calm Bay (Hooker Island), Cape
Cheliuskin, Dickson Island, Cape Uellen, Sergei Kamenev islands, Wrangel
Island, and Uedinenya Island served as nuclei for special scientific research
in meteorology, cartography, geology, zoology, and glaciology.
The icebreaker
Malygin
surveyed the shipping route from Cape Zhelaniya
(Novaya Zemlya) to Vilkitski Strait, and Dickson Islnad to Vilkitski Strait,
making a detailed oceanographic study. During the summer the icebreaker
Litke
accomplished the remarkable achievement of completing the transit of
the Northeast Passage from Vladivostok to Murmansk in the period June 28 to
September 20, V. J. Vise leading the scientific staff responsible for hydro–
graphical, biological, and particularly glaciological surveys, valuable assist-
EA-Hist. Friis: History of arctic Exploration
ance during the ship's passage being given by air reconnaissance, radio and weather stations along the route. This was the first vessel to navigate suc– cessfully the entire Northern Sea Route in one season from east to west. An airplane attached to the ship made several air reconnaissances. A permanent airbase on Rudolf Islnad in Franz Josef Land was completed and equipped in 1934. The icebreaker Yermak completed a 11,000-mile survey and convoy opera– tion, 6,000 miles being in the Kara Sea, the Arctic Sea and to the Ob and Yen– isei rivers; oceanographical and biological investigations were carried out. The Arctic Institute established a station to study permanently frozen sub– soil at the mouth of the Igarka River. The Sedov , with R. L. Samoilovich in charge of the expedition of twenty-eight scientists, carried out extensive oceanographical surveys in the northern and northwestern parts of the Kara Sea between July 19 and October 2.
During this year (1934) the Institute for Scientific Polar Exploration,
under the direction of N. N. Zubov, sent the hydrographic vessel
Persei
into
the Arctic Sea for its fiftieth voyage, for a total of some 60,000 miles, 5,000
of which were through ice. An investigation of the Taimyr Peninsula for petrol–
eum was made by six expeditions who continued their work into 1935. N. N.
Urvantsev completed a reconnaissance by snowmobile across Taimyr Peninsula to
Cape Cheliuskin and back, the first such use of this vehicle in the Soviet. A
number of expeditions were at work in the Chukotsk Peninsula, notably K. Vakar
in the Kolyma River area, Ditmar in the watershed of the Anadyr Mountains, S.
Obruchev in the Chaun Bay area, and an Arctic Institute expedition to the east–
ern part to investigate coal and petroleum deposits.
Significant flights during 1934 include the following: The pilot Koshelev
carried out a flight from Tikhaya in Franz Josef Land, was forced to land on
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
the ice cap some distance from his base, and ultimately returned on foot. He made a total of twenty flights in the area. Lindel completed ice reconnaissance flights from Cape Cheliuskin and during several flights conducted meteorological studies at about 10,000 feet above sea level. Alekseev flew from the Kamenev Island to Severnaya Zemlya and returned a group of Scientists and their equip– ment to the mainland. Lindel, operating out of Taimyr Peninsula, flew more than 52,000 kilometers during ice reconsissanoes in the Laptev Sea. Golovin in his airplane traced the proposed air route from Irkutsk to Tikai Ray. Roz– hanski made numerous reconnaissance flights from the Krassin while in the vic– inity of Wrangel Island. A regular summer air route was opened between Kras– noyarsk and Dudinka. Air bases were established or enlarged at Cape Severnyi, Tiksi Bay, Cape Cheliuskin, Cape Zhelaniya and Tikhaya.
The year 1935 appears to have stressed the development of an integrated
systems of ice reconnaissance by airplane, an increase in weather and redio
facilities, and emphasis on the research work of polar stations. Of the flights
the following may be noted. V. S. Molokov initiated systematic air-sea in–
vestigation in the eastern section of the Northern Sea Route, completing a
flight in a hydroplane of some 21,000 kilometers that extended along most of
the eastern arctic coast and islands. V. D. Volossiuk, N. G. Tarnovsky, and
others carried out a total of 18,200 kilometers of flying in two airplanes
directed particularly toward ice reconnaissance and mapping in the Franz Josef
Land area, a total of forty-four flights and 159 hours. Air pilot Galyshev
covered a distance of 10,500 kilometers in his reconnaissance flight from Mcscow
to Tikei Bay. V. S. Motckov, during his flight from Moscow to Dickson Islnad,
covered 13,000 kilometers. Volopianov and Lindel flew from Moscow to Cape
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Schmidt, and Vodopianov flew on to Wrangel Islnad. These flights were made mostly during the winter of 1934–1935. By the end of the year three air lines had been established, (1) Krasnoiarsk to Dudinka to Dickson Island, (2) Tiumen to Khart to Novy Port, and (3) Yekutsk to Tiksi Bay. Several short reconnais– sances were Cape Schmidt to Wrangel, Cape Schmidt to Herald Island, and Uellen to Cape Schmidt to Shalaurov Island to Uellen.
Additional scientific investigations include the following: During 1935
the vessels
Anadvr
and
Stalingrad
, leaving Vladivestok, delivered 4,100 tons
of goods at Kolyma. The
Stalingrad
on its return was loaded at Igarka with a
cargo of lumber for London. A number of ships delivered 9,280 tons of cargo
to establishments along the Chukotsk coast. The icebreaker
Sadko
left Arch–
angel on July 6 and returned September 28 after an eventful voyage of hydro–
graphical, geophysical, meteorological, and related investigation in the area
north of Svalbard, the Greenland Sea, Kara Sea, and Franz Josef Land, mapping
2,400 miles of ice, taking 2,500 soundings, discovering Ushakov Island and
carrying out many ice reconnaissances with the several hydroplanes that were
aboard. The
Vanzetti
on July 8 left Leningrad and in the same season arrived
at Vladivostok with a cargo of grain. Over seventy vessels took part in the
1935 navigation season of the Northern Sea Route. Thirty-five foreign and
ten Soviet ships with cargo were convoyed through the Kara Sea by the ice–
breaker
Lenin
, assisted by air reconnaissance. D. S. Duplitzki led the scien–
tific party aboard the icebreaker
Krassin
investigating the Chukotsk Sea and
the area east of Wrangel Island. The
Iakra
with a general cargo completed a
one-season navigation of the Northern Sea Route from Leningrad to Vladivostok.
The
Malvgin
expedition, led by F. A. Kireev, investigated the navigation route
from Gape Zhelanyi to Vilkitski Strait and Dickson Islnad, discovered new islands
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
and made extensive durrent and general oceanographical investigations. The North Chukotsk Expedition of the Arctic Institute completed a topographical survey of over 52,000 square kilometers preparatory to compiling a map on a scale of 1:1,000,000 of the Anadyr-Chukotsk area. N. N. Mutafi led a geo– logical survey party to the lower Piasina River and discovered coal beds some eighty-five miles above the mouth.
By 1936, the numerous expeditions into the seas north of the Soviet Arctic
had obtained a volume of information which made possible a considerably more
accurate series of hydrographic charts, particularly for the Barents and Kara
seas. A few of the activities during 1936 should be noted. One of the most
significant was the convey under the personal leadership of Otto Schmidt, Dir–
ector of the Administration for the Northern Sea Route, in the icebreaker
Litke
from Murmansk to Bering Strait, his third such expedition, a new and better
route being discovered through De Long Strait. Salling vessels equipped with
auxiliary motors are said to have been used on the Northern Sea Route and to
have completed the transit from Murmansk to Vladivostok in one season. Al–
though 1936 generally was not a favorable year for extensive long-range opera–
tions because of excessive ice, the icebreaker
Sedov
, forcing its way through
the ice, carried a hydrographical expedition along the coast to Cape Cheliuskin
and then surveyed in the Nordenskiöld Archipelago, discovering that Talmyr is
not one but several islands. The icebreaker
Sadko
, equipped with scientific
laboratories, completed explorations in the Kara Sea and made significant geo–
logical, hydrographic, terrain, and other scientific investigations, parti–
cularly in the vicinity of Novaya Zemlya, Frans Josef Land and Dickson Island.
Among the notable achievements of the
Sadko
were the penetration of the ice in
the area about Rudolf Island to rescue the icebreaker Rusanov that had been
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
caught in the ice, and the preparation of a new chart of Franz Josef Land. During this year the Arctic Institute directed three hydrographic parties in the field, one to the Kara Sea, a second to Yugorski Shar and a third to Nov– aya Zemlya. This year witnessed expeditions on four new specially-built arctic ships, the Politotdelets , Evgenov , Papanin , and the Vize , to survey the western section of the Kara Sea. The Temp surveyed Laptev Strait. By the end of 1936, ten lighthouses had been erected along the N rthern Sea Route cast of the Yamal Peninsula, there having been none prior to 1934. Several convoys of ships led by the icebreakers Litke and Krassin completed the west to east transit of the Northern Sea Route during the summer season, a total of fourteen ships accom– plishing this feat during the season.
This (1936) was the year during which the Soviet achieved considerable
international recognition for its long-range flights. Several of these may be
noted. Pilot V. S. Molokov during the summer completed a perimetric flight
of the Soviet Arctic in a two-engined airplane under near-commercial air line
conditions, covering some 26,000 kilometers with numerous stops, including
Moscow, Krasnoiarsk, Yakutsk, Petropavlovsk, Commander Islands, Cape Schmidt,
Wrangel Island, Dickson Island, Archangel, and Moscow. This flight stimulated
plans for regular air traffic along the route. Of equal importance was a nearly
6,000-mile non-stop flight by V. P. Chkalov in an ANT-25 in two and a half days
from Moscow to Kola Paninsula, Barents Sea, Franz Josef Land, Sergei Kamenev
Island, Petropavlovsk, Chhotsk Sea, Chita, Omsk, and Moscow. This flight proved
the need for a more comprehensive meteorological service, more accurate maps of
magnetic information, and de-icing equipment. Several winter flights were made
between Cape Cheliuskin and Severnaya Zemlya to reestablish meteorological ser–
vice, an a flight was made during March from Moscow to Vaigach Island. In the
EA-Hist. Friis: History of ARctic Exploration
early spring M. V. Vodopianov and V. M. Makhotkin, each in a plane specially fitted for arctic flying, flew from Moscow to Frans Josef Land, this being the first time that Franz Josef Land had been reached directly by an airplane. These flights and the expeditions carrying out scientific field work in the Soviet Arctic paved the way for the eventful year to follow.
The year 1937 was one of the most auspicious in the history of the Soviet
Arctic, particularly in aerial exploration and in the establishment of the North
Pole Station. The latter and the long over-the-Pole flights have been discussed
under the Whole Arctic. Several of the flights in the Soviet Arctic may be noted.
The USSR-W6, a semi-rigid type of airship of some 19,500-cubic-meter volume, was
ordered from Moscow to the Greenland Sea for operations in connection with the
drifting North Pole Station. Caught in a storm in the vicinity of Kandalaksha,
Soviet Lapland, the airship was destroyed, and thirteen of the nineteen members
of the crew perished. Shortly after Levenevski's disappearance in his flight
over the North Pole, M. Vodopianov led four four-engined airplanes to Rudolf
Island in Franz Josef Land and reconnaissance search flights were sent out toward
the Pole; shortly thereafter four more airplanes specially equipped for night
flying were added to the Rudolf Island until. A special Arctic Branch of the
Soviet Air Force is said to have been formed during this year to carry out ice
reconnaissance along the Northern Sea Route. Emphasis in the Soviet Arctic ap–
pears to have been on the increase in the number and the research facilities
of the Polar Stations and the development of bases near them for the purpose
of serving as nuclei from which aircraft could be deployed in a series of over–
lapping fans of air reconnaissance. In the far north Rudolf Island in Franz
Josef Land became a primary air base.
During 1937 an increasing number of scientific expeditions were sent out
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
by the Arctic Institute and other Government Agencies. One of these was led by N. A. Sirin during 1936–1937 and completed three separate geological and two general prospecting surveys to the arctic part of the Ural Mountains. Four major hydrographical surveys were completed: (1) P. V. Orlovsky led an expedition in the icebreaker Sedov to the Laptev and East Siberian seas; (2) A. Kireev led an expedition to the Kara Sea and Vilkitski Strait in the icebreaker Malygin : (3) A. E. Klabe led an expediton to Nordenskiöld Archipelago in the steamer Papanin and carried out experiments in radio range finders as well as topographical and geodetic surveys; and (4) J. K. Smirnitski led an expedition to Sannikov Strait in the Jergenov for echo– sounding and general oceanographical surveys. During an east-west transit of the Northeast Passage, the Litke completed meteorological and oceano– graphical surveys particularly with respect to ice prognosis. J. J. Gakkel led an expedition aboard the steamer Mossoviet to make a Murmansk to Petro– pavlovsk (Kamchatka) and return cargo voyage in one season. The icebreaker Taimyr between May and June completed extensive ice surveys in the Kara Sea and marine biological investigations in the vicinity of Novaya Zemlya. Dur– ing 1937–1938, the icebreaker Sadko , with a party of scientists under R. L. Samoilovich and V. Vize, completed an eventful survey which originally was programmed to be an exploration of the seas north of Severnaya Zemlya and Novosibirsk Islands. A radio station was established on Henrietta Island; soundings made in 78° North and 118° East indicated depths of nearly 8,000 feet, and hydrographic charts were prepared. Upon completing this work the Sadko expedition, ordered to assist in the convoy of ships in the Northern Sea Route, was beset by ice west of the Novosibirsk Islands and along with it the icebreakers Sedov and Malygin . The three ships drifted north of andEA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
parallel to the drift route of the Fram. In April 1938, 184 of the 217 men comprising the total of the crews were rescued by airplanes led by A. Alexeev and brought to Tiksi Bay. In August of 1938, the icebreaker Yermak freed the Sadko and Malygin. The Sedov was left behind with a crew of fifteen men under Captain Badigin with equipment for scientific invest– tigations. The draft of the Sedov continued into 1940.
Since the beginning of 1938 the amount and quality of information made
available to the world concerning Soviet activities in the Arctic has de–
creased considerably. That a great deal was accomplished seeme not to be
questioned. Such information as has been made available verges more on the
spectacular than on the routeine and it is therefore difficult to appraise
accomplishments. During 1938 the Arctic Institute and the Administration
of the Northern Sea Route appear to have been reorganized, the emphasis be–
ing more on the establishment and maintenance of bases along the Northern
Sea Route, a comprehensive survey and exploitation of the resources of the
arctic coasts, and surveys of the coast line, than on numerous expeditions
into the Arctic Seas. The steamer
Kamchadal
, a Soviet hydrographic survey
vessel that had left Leningrad in July 1937, arrived in Vladivostok during
October after completing the transit of the Northern Sea Route. The timber
carrier
Robochi
, which had drifted with the
Kamchadel
during late 1937 and
part of 1938, was crushed in the ice, the crew and cargo being transferred
is the
Kamchadal
before it was freed by the icebreaker
Krassin
in the summer
of 1938. The newly constructed icebreaker Stalin attempted unsuccessfully
to reach the ice-held
Sedov
and in so doing, between September 13 and October
3, worked through the pack ice between Cape Cheliuskin and 85° North and
142° East, only 46 kilometers from the
Sedov
. During the latter part of
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
February three airplanes, piloted respectively by G. K. Orolov, A. D. Alexeev, and P. G. Golovin, left Moscow and arrived at Kotelny Island, despite highly unfavorable weather conditions and the fact that the area had not been flown in before. These planes rescued 184 of the crews of the ice-^held^ ^ice^breakers Sedko, Malvgin , and Sedov.
Available information indicates that at least seven different scien–
tific units were in the field during 1938 for the newly formed Hydrograph–
ical Department of the Northern Sea Route. The areas surveyed were the
Kara Sea, Tiksi Bay, Providence Bay. Three of the seven expeditions were
to winter over in the central and northern parts of the Nordensköld Archi–
pelago and Severnaya Zemlya. Investigations included oceanography, meteor–
ology, and particularly ice reconnaissance. Several small units are report–
ed as having been sent to the northeast coast of the Soviet Arctic to pros–
pect for minerals. On May 24, M. V. Vodopianov in the airplane USSR-N-170
left Moscow to begin a series of important flights. The area covered in–
cluded the circuit from Amderma to Novaya Zemlya, Vaigach Island, Bely Island,
and back to Amderma. Carrying a group of scientists headed by N. N. Zubov,
the noted hydrographer, the plane flew the 6,000-kilometer route in thirty–
four hours, the studies being directed primarily toward ice reconnaissance,
specifically the distribution and number of icefloes, their age and nature,
direction of drift, per cent of open water, and the extent of hummocky ice,
areas of ice being sprayed with bright-colored paint to aid later scientists
in determining the speed and direction of drift. The icebreaker
Malygin
was
to have undertaken an investigation of the southeastern portion of the Kara
Sea, the icebreaker Papanin to survey areas farther east in conjunction with
the hydrographic survey ships
Toros
and
Nord
, and the
Sadko,
having been
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
repaired, was to have charted the area in the vicinity of Novosibirsk Islands.
Period World War II through 1947
There can be little doubt that the Soviet, aware of the practicability
of the Northern Sea Route, her extensive arctic frontier facing poleward
toward the North American Arctic, and the rapid development of adequate
means for living and moving about in the Arctic generally, has maintained
not only a constant vigil in her Arctic but as well must have continued ex–
tensive exploration there. Only a few, often disconnected bits of inform–
tion have been released. These may be noted in the following discussion. Dur–
ing the War, the Arctic Institute is said to have maintained seventy-seven
scientific stations in the Soviet Arctic. Periodic air surveys of the drift
ice of the Arctic Sea, carried out during the summer months of the years 1924
to 1943, indicate that the area of ice had shrunk during this period by some
million square kilometers.
One of the most significant Soviet accomplishments in the Arctic during
this period was the completion in January 1940 of the 812-day drift of the
icebreaker
Georgi Sedov
in the central part of the Polar Basi^n^, an area about
which little was known until this time. The
Sedov
was rescued by the ice–
breaker
Stalin
in January 1940 after a sensational penetration of the ice
surrounding the
Sedov
north of Svalbard. The drift of the
Sedov
, begun on
June 15, 1937, carried the ship to within about 300 miles of the North Pole
Among the accomplishments of the scientists aboard the ship are included sev–
eral scores of deep sea measurements, with recorded depths up to 5,180 meters;
eighty observations of terrestrial magnetism, severalhundred astro^n^omic ob–
servations, and gravimetric research; about 5,000 meteorological and hydro–
logical observations; and records of the physical and mental endurance of the
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
expedition. Investigations indicated that there is a considerable wealth of animal and plant life in the ocean deeps of as much as 10,000 feet. Ob– servations of the polar air currents indicate that continued investigations would lead to highly valuable results. The Sedov expedition confirmed Nan– sen's conclusion that ice in the polar basin moves counterolockwise around the pole of inaccessibility, and that a submarine ridge exists between north– east Greenland and northwest Spitsbergen. The Sedov expedition proved the nonexistence of the legendary Sannikov Land. It is significant to note that the drift of the Sedov began about the time the Soviet North Pole station was set up and during the same year that the three Soviet long-range flights over the North Pole were undertaken, a crest in Soviet Arctic activities.
During the summer of 1940, the icebreaker
Sedov
expedition, led by V. I.
Vorobyev, completed oceanographical and other scientific surveys in the Kara
Sea, and during the same season the icebreaker
Malvgin
completed similar
surveys in the East Siberian Sea. Information indicates that more than 100
ships, about a sixth of the Soviet merchant marine, used the Northern Sea
Route. This was made possible by the rapid development of strategically
located facilities, such as weather, air reconnaissance, ports of entry and
safety, and primarily because of the establishment of coal deposits at essen–
tial intervals along the Route, such as coal from the Sangara mines for the
depot near the Lena River mouth, from the Norilsk mines for the depot near
the Yenisei River mouth, and from the Silyansk mines for the depot near the
Kolyma River mouth. It is reported that during the period 1940 to 1943,
Soviet explorers covered more than 385,000 square miles of until then unknown
areas in
^
the
^
Arctic and that a charting of the ice in the central part of the
Polar Basin was undertaken. Information in captured German documents was
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
made public in the fall of 1947 showing that on July 3, 1940, the German cruiser Komet , disguised as a steamship and commanded by Admiral Eyssen, was convoyed through the Northern Sea Route from west to east by the then noutral Soviet, using the icebreakers Stalin, Lenin, and Kaganovich. Ultimately when the Komet was beyond Bering Strait, it dropped its disguise and raided Allied shipping in the Pacific.
Soviet sources note that in 1941 nearly fifty expeditions were sent into
the Soviet Arctic. Significant discoveries included a second magnetic north
pole said to be between Wrangel Island and Franz Josef Land; that in the area
of the "Pole of Inaccessibility" the ocean is from 6,000 to 11,000 feet in
depth; and that north of 78° not only young ice but areas of open water are
included within the spaces between the pack ice. These facts appear, in part
at least, to be a product of an extremely important flight by Ivan Cherivichny,
who on March 5, 1941, left Moscow in the seaplane USSR-N169 accompanied by
V. Accuratov and three other scientists from the Arctic Institute. The flight
was to Archangel, over the Kara Sea, north to Franz Josef Land, around Severnaya
Zemlya, across the Khatanga River mouth, and then over Novosibirsk Islands to
Wrangel Island. On April 3 the plane left Wrangel Island and landed on the
ice in latitude 81° 02′ North and longitude 180° East for four and a half days
of observations. A third flight was made on April 22 to a landing on the ice
in latitutde 78° North and longitude 170° East for six days observations. Ob–
servations included meterology, gravimetrics, ice drift and currents, terres–
trial magnetism, and hydrology. Cherivichny's return flight from Wrangel Island
began on May 5, when he landed on Kotelny Island. On May 6 he flew to Cape
Zhelanyi, thence to Ma^to^ch^kin^ Shar, and then by way of Amderma to Moscow, where
he arrived on May 11. The positions of the three stops on the ice enabled a
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
great deal of information to be gathered with respect to the depth, direction, and velocity of drift of the ice.
In September 1943 it was announced by the Soviets that the North Pechora
Railway had been completed from Vorkuta some 700 miles northeast of Archangel
and that now coal mined in the Pechora field could be got quickly to the arctic
seaports.
In September 1945, two scientists, Tikhcmirov and Goltsman, of the Arctic
Institute, set up a meteorological station on Vize Island located between Frenz
Josef land and Severnaya Zemlya. Shortly after this the USSR-N331, a twin–
engined airplane of the Administration of the Northern Sea Route commanded by
M. A. Titlov, completed a series of flights of more than 20,000 kilometers from
Cape Cheliuskin over the Arctic Sea. Ice reconnaissance included particularly
the Kara Sea and ^th^e Laptev Sea and, significantly, achieved the North Pole.
Late in the fall ^th^e Soviet Scientific Research ship
Iceberg
, while on a survey
of the eastern Laptev Sea, discovered an uncharted island. An expedition led
by Mychalenko on the icebreaker
Sedov
completed a hydrographical survey of the
sea north of Novaya Zemlya.
During 1946, a number of expeditions completed significant surveys. These
include M. A. Titlov's eight flights over Barents Sea and Franz Josef Land as
far north as 85° during a period of twenty-two days in March and April. I. S.
Kotov completed air reconnaissances over the East Siberian and Chukotsk seas.
In this year the Soviet announced a new Five Year Plan for the Arctic to in–
clude the sending of some 540 hydrographic expeditions to establish lighthouses,
radio stations, and beacons, to prepare and use some 170 ships and 200 airplanes
in this work, and to set up forty polar bases and laboratories. I. A. Arnoldi
and V. V. Yefremov headed an expedition to posts along the Northern Sea Route
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
to carry ^ ^ on experiments in the effect of the polar night and intense cold on personnel at the polar stations. The icebreaker North Pole , with four sep– arate scientific parties of the Administration of the Northern Sea Route on board, left Vladivostok for oceanographical work in the Chukotsk, East Siber– ian, and Laptev seas, there to be aided in their work by airplanes. The ex– pedition was led by Mikhail Somov and was particularly interested in the physical character and limits of the continental slope. Vladimir Vize, of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, announced plans for an air expedition into the hitherto unexplored central Arctic for oceanographical and geological research and extensive air photo surveys. The Arctic Institute in March noted that it was designing drifting, automatic radio-meteorological type stations, to be set up or dropped according to a pattern, which when completed within two years would cover the central Arctic with a network of meteorological stations. The Institute was responsible for training personnel to take part in this pro– gram as well as to prepare maps of the state of the ice along the Northern Sea Route. A map of the arctic ice pack, completed by M. A. Titlov, was announced as being available for use in August 1946.
Aerial photography of the Kara and Laptev seas was carried out on a large
scale in the early months of 1947 in order to assist in the preparation for
the opening of the Northern Sea Route navigation. During the spring of 1947,
the polar station on Rudolf Island in Franz Josef Land was re-opened after
a five-year lapse in its use. In May the Arctic Institute announced that a
large air expedition including 200 trained staff workers was to leave Leningrad
in June to establish a series of meteorological stations in the Arctic.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
BIBLIOGRAPHY
This bibliography comprises only generally available publications on
the Arctic that have been selected on the basis of their summary or synoptic
statements concerning scientific exploration in the Arctic since the intro–
duction of flying. A considerable number of publications on the Arctic have
appeared within the past twenty years, many of which have been written by
members of expeditions and have included helpful statements concerning
scientific results. Scientific periodicals are one of the best, most fre–
quently used mediums for summarizing results of expeditions; some of the
most frequently used are listed under
Periodicals
. Additional finding aids
to sources will be found under
Bibliographic Aids
. The following biblio–graphy is arranged according to the sequence followed in the preceding text–
ual discussion.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC AIDS:
Books
The American Geographical Society. New York:
Current Geographical Publica–
tions
. Additions to the Research Catalogue of the American Geo–
graphical Society, vols. 1–10. New York, 1938–1947.
Bistrup, H.
Oversigt over Meddelelser om Groøland afsluttet e marts 1941
.
København, 1941, 83 pp. and supplement to 1945. 32 pp.
Dutilly, Artheme A.
Bibliography of Bibliographies on the Arctic
. The
Catholic University of America. Washington, D. C., 1945. 47 pp.
Map.
Geological Survey, Department of the Interior. Washington:
Publications of
the Geological Survey
. Washington, May, 1947. 300 pp.
Geological Survey, Department of Mines. Ottawa:
Annotated Catalogue of and
Guide to the Publications of the Geological Survey, Canada, 1845–
1917
. Ottawa, 1920. 544 pp. and index maps.
Hulth, Johan M. ...
Swedish Arctic and Antarctic Explorations. 1758–1910
;
Bibliography. Uppsala, 1910. 189 pp.
Irsfeld, Hubert L.
Material in the National Archives Relating to Army Activ–
ities in the Arctic and Subarctic, 1870–1939
. Typescript copy
on deposit in the National Archives Library, Washington, D. C.
1947. 25 pp.
John Crerar Library. Chicago: ...Union Catalogue of Literature on Greenland.
Pub. by the John Crerar Lib. as a Report on Work Projects Admin–
istration, Official Project No. 65–1–54–273 (3). Chicago, 1940.
75 pp.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Kalinine, E.
Bibliographie des Ouvrages r
e
^
é
^
cents concernant les R
e
^
é
^
gions
Polaires
. Leningrad, 1934.
Kommissionen for Videnskobelige Undersøgelser i Grønland. Denmark:
Fortenelse over Meddelelser om Grønland afsluttet i marts
1938.
Udarbejdet af H. Bistrup. København, 1938. 35 double
columns.
Library of Congress, Division of Bibliography. U. S.:
Alaska. A Selected
List of Recent References
. Compiled by Grace Hadley Fuller.
Washington, 1943. 181 pp.
Mines and Geology Branch, Department of Mines and Resrouces. Ottawa:
Publications (1909–1946 inclusive) of the Geological Survey
and National Museum
. Ottawa, 1946. 103 pp.
The National Archives. Washington:
Guide to the Material in the National
Archives
. Wash. 1940. 303 pp.
The New York Times Newspaper. New York:
Index to the New York Times News–
paper
. N. Y. 1900–1947.
Pinegin, N. V. Biblioth
e
^
è
^
que populaire scientifique de la r
e
^
é
^
gion septentri–
onale.
Publications relatives
^
à
^
la r
e
^
é
^
gion de Nord.
Ar^k^hangelsk,
1933. 150 pp.
Royal Geographical Society. London: Recent Geographical Literature, Maps
and Photographs.
Supplement to the Geographical Journal,
vols. 1–64
. London, 1918–1941.
Taracouzic, Timothy A.
Soviets in the Arctic: an Historical, Economic and
Political Study of the Soviet Advance in the Arctic
. N. Y.,
1938. For bibliography see pp. 501–546.
United States Works Progress Administration. New York: Annotated Biblio–
graphy of the Polar Regions...
Bibliographies and Indices of
Special Subjects
. Project No. 465–97–3–18. N. Y. 1938. Part I.
41 pp.
Vilenskii, E. and
C
^
Č;
^
ernenko, M. Vysokie Siroty.
Poliarnaia Biblioteka
[A Polar
Bibliography]. Glavsevmorputi, Leningrad, 1939. 280 pp.
Vsesoi
u
^
û
^
znyi Arkticheski
i
^
ĭ
^
Institut. Leningrad:
Bi
u
^
û
^
lleti
^
ń
^
Arkticheskogo In–
stituts
[Bulletin of the Arctic Institute]
1931–1936
. Leningrad,
1931–1936. Very comprehensive bibliographies of the Arctic are
included with each issue.
Vseso
u
^
û
^
znyi Arkticheski
i
^
ĭ
^
Institut. Leningrad:
Novaja Semlja, Bibliografits–
zeskij Ukasetel
[A Bibliography of Novaya Zemlya]. The Chief
Administration of the Northern Sea Route. Leningrad, 1935. 240 pp.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Wickersham, James.
A Bibliography of Alaskan Literature. 1724–1924
....
Cordova, Alaska, 1927. 635 pp.
Wright, John K. Aids to Geographical Research.
American Geographical Soc–
iety Reseach Series Number 22
. N. Y. 1947. 331 pp.
Periodicals
Below, A. M. and Schidlowski, A. F. "Bibliographisches Verzeichnis der
wichtigsten Literatur über die Taimyr-halb-insel und Sever–
naja Semlya (Nordland),"
Petermanns Mitteilungen
, Ergänzung–
sheft, vol. 216, pp. Gotha, 1933.
Breitfuss, Leonid. "Das Nordpolargebiete [A Bibliography],"
Geographisches
Jahrbuch
, vol. 47, pp. 129–270, Gotha, 1932.
Hader, Fritz. "Osterreichisches Archiv für Polarforschung der Gegenwart.
I. Jan Mayen; II. Der Nordpol,"
Mittellungen Geographische
Gesellschaft
, vol. 80, pp. 155–157, 274–275, 301–303, Vienna,
1937.
Innis, Harold A. "Literature of the North American Arctic Regions Reviewed,"
Canadian Historical Review
, vol. 23, pp. 401–407, Tornto, 1942.
Murdock, George P. "Ethnographic Bibliography of North Americs,"
Yale Anthro–
pological Studies
, vol. 1. pp. 1–168, New Haven, 1941.
Towne, Jackson E. "A Bibliography of Polar Exploration..."
Bulletin of
Bibliography
, vol. 15, pp. 144–146, 167–168, 187–191; vol. 16,
pp. 12–15, Boston, 1935–1936.
Vartdal, H. "Bibliographies des Ouvrages norv
e
^
é
^
giens relatifs au Greenaland
(Y compris les ouvreges islandais anterieurs a l'an 1814),"
Skrifter Norges Svalba
[:
]
Ishavs-Unders
kelser
, number 54,
pp. 1–119, Oslo, 1935.
Washburn, A. Lincoln. "Recent Polar Publications,"
The Polar Times
, number 10,
supplement, pp. 1–41, N. Y. 1940.
----. "Polar Societies and Clubs throughout the World,"
The Polar
Record
, number 15, pp. 51–55, Cambridge, 1938.
PERIODICALS:
Akademii
a
^
à
^
Nauk, Institut Geografi
i
^
ĭ
^
. Leningrad: ...Problemy fizichesko
i
^
ĭ
^
geografi
i
^
ĭ
^
, vols. 1–12. Leningrad, 1934–1946.
Akademii
a
^
à
^
Nauk. Lenigrad: Doklady... Comptes rendres de l'Acad
e
^
é
^
mie des
sciences de l'URSS, Nouvelle s
e
^
é
^
rie (1933) vols. 1–55. Leningrad,
1933–1947.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Akademii
a
^
à
^
Nauk. Moscow: Izvestii
a
^
à
^
Akademii
a
^
à
^
Nauk, S.S.S.R. Serie Geogra–
ficheskai
a
^
à
^
i Geofizicheskai
a
^
à
^
. vols. 1–11. Moscow, 1939–
1947.
----. Loningrad: ...Trudy. Institut fizichesko
i
^
î
^
geografi
i
^
ĭ
^
, vols.
1–33. Leningrad, 1931–1939.
----. Leningrad: Trudy Poli
a
^
à
^
rnai
a
^
à
^
kommissii
a
^
à
^
, vols. 1–28. Lenin–
grad,
[:
]
1930–1936.
The American Geographical Society of New York:
The Geographical Review,
vols.
1–37. N.Y. 1916–1947.
American Polar Society, New York:
The Polar Times
, numbers -123, June 1935–
December 1946.
Arctic Institute of North America. Montreal:
Bulletin
, number 1–
Montreal, 1946 to date.
Association de G
e
^
é
^
ographes Francois. Paris:
Bibliographie G
e
^
é
^
ographique
Internationale, vols. 11–49. Paris, 1900–1939.
Canadian Geographical Scoiety. Montreal: Canadian Geographical Journal...
vols. 1–35. Montreal, 1930–1947.
Coast Guard, Treasury Department. United States: ...International Ice Observa–
tion and Ice Patrol Service in the North Atlantic Ocean...
Bulletins, 1914–1947. Wash. 1915–1947.
Der Deutschen Geographischen Gesellschaft. Berlin: Zeitschrift der Gesell–
schaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin, vols. 1902–1943. Berlin,
1902–1943.
Det Kongelige Danske Geografiske Selskab. K
benhavn: Geografisk Tidsskrift, vols.
16–50, København, 1900–1947.
Geografiska Sällskapet i Finland. Helsingfors: ...Acta Geographica, vols. 1–9.
Helsinki-Helsingfors, 1927–1945.
Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, Washington: Bulletins, 169–947.
Wash. 1900–1945. Professional Papers, 1–212. Wash. 1902–
1946. Special Publications (Alaska). Wash. 1898–1901.
Water-Supply Papers, 1–1040. Wash. 1896–1947.
Hudson
^
's
^
Bay Company. Winnepeg: The Beaver. A Magazine of the North, Outfits
1–278. Winnepeg, Oct. 1920-Sept. 1947.
Institut po Izuchenii
u
^
û
^
Severa. Leningrad: Trudy Severnoi
a
^
à
^
Nauchno-Promyslovoi
a
^
à
^
Ekspeditsii
a
^
à
^
[TRansactions of the Institute for Scientific
Exploration of the North], vols. 1–50. Moscow, 1920–1930.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Justus Perthes' Geographischer Anatalt. Gotha: ...Petermanns Mittellungen ...
vols. 61–89. Gotha, 1915–1943.
----.
Ibid
....Petermanns Mitteilungen Erg
a
^
ä
^
nzungsheft, numbers 36–
237. Gotha, 1910–1939.
Kommissionen for Videnskabelige Undersagelser i Grønland. Denmark: Meddelelser
om Grønland....vols. 1–145. København, 1879–1945.
The London Geographical Institute. Geography...the Quarterly Journal, vols.
1–32. London, 1901–1947.
Mecking, Ludwig and Others (edit.). Geographisches Jahrbuch, vols. 38–58.
Gotha, 1900–1943.
Nansen, Fridtjof and Others (editors): Arktis; vierteljahrsschrift der Inter–
nationalen gesellschaft zur Erforschung der Arktis mit Luft–
fahrzengen..., vols. 1–4. Gotha, 1928–1931.
National Geographic Society. The National Geographic Magazine, vols. 1–92.
Washington, 1889–1947.
The New York Times Newspaper. The New York Times (Daily and Sunday) Newspaper,
1900–1947. N.Y.C. 1900–1947.
Norges Svalbard-og Ishavs-Undersøkelser. Norway: Skrifter om Svalbard of
Ishavet, numbers 1–88. Oslo, 1927–1946.
Norske Geografiske Selskab. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift, vols. 1–8. Oslo,
1926–1941.
Polskiego Towarzystwa Geograficznego. Przeglad Geograficzny (Revue Polonaise
de G
e
^
é
^
ographic), vols. 1–18. Warszawa, 1918–1939.
Royal Geographical Society. The Geographical Journal..., vols. 15–109. London,
1900–1947.
Royal Scottish Geographical Society. The Scottish Geographical Magazine, vols.
16–63. Edinburgh, 1900–1947.
The Scott Polar Research Institute. The Polar Record, numbers 1–32. Cambridge,
England, 1931–1947.
Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi. Geografiska Annaler, vols.
1–28. Stockholm, 1919–1946.
----.
Ibid
. Ymer. Tidskrift..., vols. 20–66. Stockholm, 1900–1946.
Vseso
i
^
î
^
uznyi Arkticheski
i
^
ĭ
^
Institut. ...Arctica (Arctic Regions]..., vols. 1–5,
Leningrad, 1933–1937.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Vseso i ^ î ^ uznyi Arkitickeski i ^ ĭ ^ Institut. Biulletin Arkticheskogo Instituta [Bulletin of the Arctic Institute], 1931–1936. Leningrad, 1931–1936. Vseso i ^ î ^ uznyi Geografisheskoe Obshchestva. Izvesti i ^ î ^ a..., vols. 1–78. Leningrad, 1872–1946. Vseso i ^ î ^ uznyi Arkticheski i ^ ĭ ^ Institut. ...Problemy Arktiki...[Problems of the Arctic], numbers 1937–1940. Leningrad, 1937–1940. ----. Ibid . ...Trudy Arkticheskogo Instituta Transactions of the Arctic Institute], vols. 1–140. Leningrad, 1933–1939. The Canadian Surveyor. Vols. 1–9. Ottawa, 1930–1947. Geographische Zeitschrift. vols. 16–43. Leipzig, 1910–1937.
WHOLE ARTIC:
Books
American Geographical Society of New York: ...Problems of Polar Research; a
Series of Papers by Thirty-one Authors. [Edited by W.L.G. Joerg].
New York, 1928. 479 pp. illus. maps.
Bidou, Henry. La conqu
e
^
ê
^
te des p
o
^
ô
^
les. Paris, 1940. 347 pp. illus. maps.
Breitfuss, Leonid L. ...Arktis der Derzeitige Stand Unserer Kenntnisse ü
die Erforschung der Nord polargebiete...Berlin, 1939. 195 pp.
illus. maps.
----. Das Nordpolargebiet, seine Natur, Bedeutung und Erforschung...
Berlin, 1943. 179 pp. illus. maps.
Bruce, William S. Polar Exploration. New York, 1911. 256 pp. illus.
Bussoli, Nino. ...Esplorazioni polari (1773–1938). Milan, 1942 ? 290 pp.
illus. maps.
Croft, Andrew. Polar Explorations. London, 1939. 268 pp. maps.
D'i
a
^
â
^
konov, Mikhail A. Puteshestii
a
^
â
^
v poli
a
^
â
^
rnye strang. [The Arctic Regions.
Bibliography...] Leningrad, 1933. 207 pp. illus. maps.
Denuc
e
^
é
^
, Jean. Les exp
e
^
é
^
ditions polaires depus 1800. Liste des ētats-majors
nautiques et scientifiques... Anvers, 1911. 160 pp.
Dobrowolski, Antoni B. Wyprawy polarne (Polar Expeditions]. Warszawa, 1925.
359 pp. illus. maps.
Eksped
i
^
î
^
su
a
^
â
^
SSSR na Severnyi pol
i
^
î
^
us, 1937: Severnyi polius zavoevan bol'shevi–
kami. Moskva, 1937. 215 pp. illus. maps.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Elias, E. L. Les explorations polaires (Pôle Nord, Pôle Sud). Paris, 1930.
300 pp. illus. maps.
Flury, Arthur. Statistik über sämtliche ozeanflugversuche. St. Gallen,
Switzerland, 1932. 47 pp. map.
Forstinger, R. Durch die luft zum Nord-und Südpol; berichte und schilderungen
über die zeit 1896 in den Polargebieten ausgefuhrten fluge...
Breslau, 1935. 62 pp.
George, Pierre. ...Les r
e
^
é
^
gions polaires...Paris, 1946. 207 pp. illus. maps.
Gouzy, Rene^é^
. ...Dans le ciel des poles; explorations d'autrefois — d'au–
jourd'hui...Geneve, 1931. 206 pp. maps.
Greely, A. W. The Polar Regions in the Twentieth Century. Their Discovery
and Industrial Evolution. Boston, 1928. 270 pp. illus. maps.
Hayes, James G. The Conquest of the North Pole; Recent Arctic Exploration.
New York, 1934. 317 pp. illus. maps.
Houben, Heinrich H. Nordpolarfahrten. Leipzig, 1944. 93 pp.
Hassert, Kurt. Die Polarforschung. Geschichte der Entdeckungareisen zum
Nord-und Südpol von den ältesten Zeiten bis zur Gegenwart.
Leipzig, 1914. 134 pp.
Institut für Meereskunde. Polarbuch. Neue Forschungsfahrten in Arktis und
Antarktis mit Luftschiff U-Boot, Schlitten und Forschungsschiff...
Berlin, 1933. 130 pp. illus.
International Society for the Exploration of the Arctic Regions by Means of
Aircraft. Das Luftschiff als Forschungsmittel in der Arktis...
Berlin, 1924. 61 pp. maps.
Joerg, W. L. G. ...Brief History of Polar Exploration Since the Introduction
of Flying. American Geographical Society Special Publication
No. 11. New York, 1930. 95 pp. illus. maps.
Khmyznikov, Pavel K. ...Opisanie plavni
i
^
ĭ
^
sudov...1878 no. 1935... Leningrad,
1937. 180 pp. illus. maps.
Kublank, Walter. Mit Flugzeng und Luftschiff zum Nordpol...Reutlingen, 1930.
31 pp.
Laktionov, A. F. ...Severny
i
^
ĭ
^
poli
u
^
û
^
us...Arkangelsk, 1939. 233 pp. illus. maps.
Mäcken, Lutz. Der flug zum pole...Stuttgart, 1925. 80 pp. illus. maps.
Markham, Sir Clements R. The Lands of Silence; a History of Arctic and
Antarctic Exploration. Cambridge, 1921. 539 pp. illus. maps.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Martin, Harald: Flykten över Attenten; Atlantiflygningarnas historik intill
1936. Stockholm, 1936. 246 pp. illus. maps.
Mattias, Joachim and Heinze: Tod und sieg über den Weltmeeren; das buch der
Ozeanflüge. Berlin, 1937. 212 pp. illus. maps.
Miller, Francis T. The Flight to Conquer the Ends of the Earth; Byrd's Great
Adventure, with the Complete Story of Polar Explorations for
One Thousand Years... Philadelphia, 1930. 383 pp. map.
Mirsky, Jeannette: Northern Conquest; the Story of Arctic Exploration from
Earliest Times to the Present. London, 1934. 386 pp. illus.
maps.
Nansen, Fridtjof: ...Die Erforschung der unbekannten Innerarktis, karte der
höhen, teifen und strömmgen im nordpolarbecken... Gotha, 1929.
8 pp. map.
Office of Naval Research, U.S. Navy Department: Across the Top of the World.
U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1947. 71 pp.
Rasumssen, Knud: Heldenbuch der Arktis. Entceckungereisen zum Nord-und Südpol.
Leipzig, 1933. 318 pp. illus. maps.
Rohde, Hans: Die deutsche auslands-und meeresforschung seit dem weltkriege.
Berlin, 1931. 337 pp. illus. maps.
Romanovsky, V. ...Le Spitsberg et la Sib
e
^
é
^
rie du Nord. Paris, 1943. 200 pp.
illus. maps.
Samoilovich, Rudol'f L. ...Put' k poli
u
^
û
^
su. Leningrad, 1933. 63 pp. illus.
map.
----. Der Weg nach dem Pol. Bielefeld und Leipzig, 1931. 38 pp.
illus. map.
Segal, Louis: The Conquest of the Arctic. London, 1939. 284 pp. maps.
Seidenfaden, Gunnar: Modern Arctoc Exploration [translated from the Danish
by Naomi Walford]. London, 1939. 189 pp. illus. map.
Stefansson, Vilhjalmur: Unsolved Mysteries of the Arctic. New York, 1939.
351 pp. maps.
Züchner, Ernst: Der weisse Magnet; Polarfahrten un fünf Jahrhunderten. Berlin,
1932. 205 pp. illus. map.
Taracuzio, Timothy A. Soviets in the Arctic; an Historical, Economic and Polit–
ical Study of the Soviet Advance into the Arctic. New York, 1938.
563 pp. maps.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Vercel, Roger: ...A l'assaut des p
o
^
ô
^
les, r
e
^
é
^
cit. Paris, 1938. 253 pp. maps.
Zedwits, Franz: In Banne der Pole. Ein Heldenbuch von Polarforschen und
ihren Fahrten. Gutenberg, 1938. 182 pp. map.
Zeidler, Paul Gerhard: Polarfahrten... Berlin, 1927. 511 pp. illus. maps.
----. Das Luftschiffs als Forschungsmittal in der Arktis. Ein
Denkschrift mit vier Anlagen. Berlin, 1924. 62 pp. illus.
map.
Periodicals
Ahlmann, W. Hans: "Aktuell polarforschung."
Nordisk Tedskrift
, vol. 1,
pp. 1–19. Stockholm, 1929.
Arnaud, Georges: "L'aeronautique dans les r
e
^
é
^
gions polaires,"
Annales de
G
e
^
é
^
ographie
, vol. 34, pp. 477–480. Paris, 1925
Bowman, Isaiah: "Polar Exploration,"
Science
, vol. 72, No. 1870, pp. 439–449.
Washington, 1930.
Breitfuss, Leonid L.
[:
]
Die Erforschung des Nordpolargebists in Jahren 1913–
28. Die Innere Arktis und der europaische Sektor,"
Geograph–
isches Jahrbuch
, vol. 44, pp. 289–374, Gotha, 1929.
----. "Die Erforschung der Arktis mit dem Luftschiff,"
Petermanns
Mitteilungen
, vol. 71, pp. 162–165. Gotha, 1925.
----. "Die 'Arktis' und die 'Aeroarctic."
[:
]
Ein historischer Riickblick."
Arktis
, vol. 1, pp. 39–44,
Gotha, 1928.
----. "Das Nordpolargebiet (1913–31),"
Geographisches Jahrbuch
,
vol. 47, pp. 129–270. GOtha, 1932.
----. "Internationale Studiengesellschaft zur Erforschung der Arktis
mit dem Luftschiff (Aeroarctic)..."
Petermanns Mitteilungen
Erganzugsheft
, vol. 191, pp. 1–115, Gotha, 1927. illus. maps.
----. "Die Erforschung der Arktis mit dem Luftschiff,"
Petermenns
Mitteilungen
, vol. 71, pp. 162–165. Gotha, 1925.
Brown, R.N. Rudmose: "Recent Polar Work — Some Criticism."
Polar Record
,
no. 5, pp. 62–66, Cambridge, 1933.
----. "New Arctic Expeditions." Nature, vol. 117, p. 696. London,
1926.
----. "Arctic Exploration and Research."
The Scottish Geographical
Magazine. Vol. 62, pp. 97–99. Edinburgh, 1946.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Bruns, Walter: "Wissenschaftliche Arbeiten im Luftschiff über der Arktis."
Atlantis
, 1931, pp. 596–701, Leipzig, 1931.
Debenham, F. "Some Aspects of the Polar Regions."
Report of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science
, Norwich, 1935.
pp. 79–88.
----. "Some Aspects of the Polar Regions."
The Scottish Geographical
Magazine
, vol. 51, pp. 273–283. Edinburgh, 1935.
Defant, A. "Deutsche meereskundliche Forschungen 1928 bis 1938."
Zeitachrift
der Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde zu Berlin
, 1939, pp. 81–102.
Berlin, 1939.
De Geer, Gerard: "Flygfärder och Polarforschung fr
a
^
á
^
an Andr
e
^
é
^
e till våra dagar."
Jorden Runt, Magazin
..., 1930. pp. 577–608. Stockholm, 1930.
illus. maps.
Drygalski, Erich von: "Die Probleme den Polarwelt."
Petermanns Geographische
Mitteilungen
, vol. 81, pp. 303–313. Gotha, 1935.
Easton, C. "Vijftig Jaar poolonderzock, 1875–1925 [Fifty Years of Polar Ex–
plorations, 1875–1925]."
Tijdschrift Koninklijk Nederlandisch
Aardrykskundig Genootschap
, vol. 43, pp. 17–54, Amsterdam, 1926.
illus. maps.
Hackler, Fritz: "Die Durchquerung und Erforschung der Arktis mit dem Unter–
seeboot."
Geographische Zeitschrift
, vol. 35, pp. 616–621,
Gotha, 1929.
Hall, G. Scott: "Polar Exploration and Survey by Air."
Journal of the Royal
Aeronautical Society
, vol. 31, pp. 890–900. London, 1927.
Hobbs, William H. "The Progress of Discovery and Exploration within the Arctic
Region."
Annals of the Association of American Geographers
,
vol. 27, pp. 1–22, Lancaster, Pa., 1937.
Hoel, Adolf: "Die Verwendung von Luftfahrzeugen bei der Erforschung der Polar–
gebiete."
Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde zu Berlin
,
1938, pp. 161–175, Berlin, 1938.
Hulth, Johan M. "Swedish Arctic and Antarctic Explorations, 1758–1910."
Kungligs Svenska velenskapskakademiens årsbok for år 1910
.
Bilaga 2, pp. 1–189, Uppsala, 1910.
James, R. W. "Research in the Polar Regions."
Discover
... vol. 7, pp. 245–
248, London, 1926.
Krogh, R. von: "Fra sjømaling ved Svalbard og Grønland, 1924–1937."
Norsk
Tidsskrift for Sjøvesen
, number 56, pp. 53–73 and 113–127,
Oslo, 1938.
Krueger, Hans and Breitfuss, Leonid: "Noch einmal die Arktis und das Luftschiff."
Petermanns Mitteilungen, vol. 74, pp. 103–107. Gotha, 1928.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Krueger, H. K. E. "Recent Geological Research in the Arctic." American
Journal of Science, 5th series, vol. 17, pp. 50–62, New Haven,
1929.
Ljungdahl, Gustav S. "Luftskeppet som
[:
]
hjälpmedal vid arktisk forskning..."
Ymor
..., vol. 52, pp. 213–232. Stockholm, 1932.
Mathiesen, John: "The Story of Arctic Voyages and Explorations."
The Scottish
Geographical Magazine
, vol. 50, pp. 281–308, London, 1934.
illus. maps.
Platt, Raye R. "Recent Exploration in the Polar Regions."
The Geographical
Review
, vol. 29, pp. 303–309, New York, 1939.
Rabot, Charles: "Les r
e
^
é
^
gions polaires pendent la guerre."
Revue de G
e
^
é
^
ographie
Annuelle
, vol. 9, pp. 49–138, Paris, 1922. illus. maps.
Rikli, "Aus der Erforschungsgeschichte der Polarwelt."
Neujahrsblatt
Naturforschung Gesellschaft, Zurich
, vol. 138, pp. 1–44,
Zurich, 1936.
Roddis, Louis H. "The United States Navy and Polar Exploration."
Proceedings
of the United States Naval Institute,
, vol. 68 (10), pp. 1309–
1378. 1942.
Rouch, Jules: "Les exp
e
^
é
^
ditions aeriennes au p
o
^
ô
^
le Nord."
Revue G
e
^
é
^
n
e
^
é
^
ral des
Sciences
, vol. 39, pp. 703–709; vol. 40, pp. 45–52, 175–177,
300–308, Paris, 1928–1929.
Rungaldier, R. "Der Erforschung der Polarwelt auf dem Luftwege."
Mitteilungen
Geographische Gesellschaft
,
Wien
, vol. 69, pp. 252–258. Vienna,
1926.
Samoilowitsch, R.L. "Les probl
e
^
è
^
mes de l'arctique."
Revue Scientifioue
, vol. 73
(No. 2), pp. 40–49. Paris, Jan. 26, 1935.
----. "
[:
]
Schematische übersicht der wichtigsten Flugzeng-und Luft–
schiffahrten in der Arktis (1838–1932),' Die Arklisfahrt des
Luftschiffes 'Graf Zeppelin' im Juli 1931."
Petermanns Mittei–
lungen Erganzungsheft
, No. 216, pp. 31–32, Gotha, 1933.
Scott, J. M. "Notes on Current Polar Expeditions."
The Geographical Journal
,
vol. 84, pp. 247–251, London, 1934.
The Scott Polar Research Institute.
^
T
^
he Polar Record, numbers 1–32. Cambridge,
England, 1931–1947. Oue of the b st sources on current polar
explorations and expeditions.
Skattum, O. J. "Nordpolen og del ukjente Nordpolstrok. En Menneskealders
Utviklung kfq 'Fram' ferden til 'Nor
^
g
^
e' ferden."
Norsk Geo–
grafisk Tidskrift
, vol. 1, pp. 129–152, Oslo, 1926.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
UNITED STATES SECTOR:
Books
Bruet, Edmond: L'Alaska: G
e
^
é
^
ographie-Exploration-G
e
^
é
^
ologie... Paris, Biblio–
th
e
^
è
^
que G
e
^
é
^
ographique, 1945. 451 pp.
Clark, H. W. Alaska, the Last Frontier. New York, 1939. 246 pp. illus. maps.
Periodicals
Hrdl
i
^
ĭ
^
cka, Ales^š^: "Where Asia and Alaska Meet. Systematiic Smithsonian Ex–
plorations in Alaska and the Bering Sea Islands, 1926–1938."
Asia Magazine, vol. 39, pp. 354–359, New York, 1939.
Smith, P. S. "Explorations in Northwestern Alaska."
The Geographical Review,
vol. 15, pp. 237–254. New York, 1925.
CANADIAN SECTOR:
Books
Canada. Department of the Interior. Northwest Territories and Yukon Branch,
Ottawa: ...Canada's Arctic Islands. Log of Canadian Expedi–
tion, 1922, by J. D. Craig...With an Appedix: Aviation in
the Arctic, by Major R. A. Logan...Ottawa, 1923, 27 pp. illus.
----.
Ibid
. ...Canada's Arctic Islands. Canadian Expeditions, 1922
and 1923, ...1924...1926. Ottawa, 1927. 54 pp.
Lee, Herbert P. Policing the Top of the World. London, 1928. 250 pp. maps.
McLean, N. B. Report of the Hudson Strait Expedition, 1927–1928. Ottawa,
1929. 221 pp. charts.
Steele, Harwood E. R. Policing the Arctic; the Story of the Conquest of the
Arctic by the Royal Canadian (formerly North-west) Mounted
Police. London, 1936. 390 pp. illus. maps.
Periodicals
Baird, P. D. and Robinson, J. L. "A Brief History of Exploration and Research
in the Canadian Eastern Arctic."
The Canadian Geographical
Journal
, vol. 30, pp. 137–157, Ottawa, 1945.
Blanchet, G. H. "Searching the Arctic by Aeroplane."
^
Ibid
. vol
^
. 1,pp. 641–
662. Ottawa, 1930.
Marriott, R. S. "Canada's Eastern Arctic Patrol."
Ibid
. vol. 20, pp. 156–
161, Montteal, 1940.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Robinson, M. J. and J. L. "Exploration and Settlement of Mackenzie District,
[:
]
.W.T."
Ibid
. vol. 32, pp. 246–255, and vol. 33, pp. 42–49,
Montreal, 1946.
Wilson, C. P. "^N^ascopie, the Story of a Ship."
The Beaver
...Outfit 278,
pp. 3–11. Winnipeg, 1947.
DANISH SECTOR:
Books
Gilberg, Aage: ...Verdens nordligete laege. København, 1943. 167 pp. illus.
maps.
Hobbs, William H. Exploring about the North Pole of the Winds. New York, 1930.
376 pp. illus. maps.
Kosiba, Aleksander: ...Grenlandia. Liv
o
^
ó
^
w, 1937. 479 pp. illus. map.
Krabbe, Thomas N. Greenland, its Nature, Inhabitants, and History. Copen–
hagen, 1930. 129 pp. illus. map.
Rodahl, Kåre: The Ice-capped Island. Greenland. London, 1946. 142 pp.
illus. maps.
Stefansson, Vilhjalmur: Greenland. Garden City, N.Y. 1942. 338 pp. illus.
Periodicals
Bistrup, H. "Ekspeditioner og Undersøgelsearejaer...I. Kronologisk
Oversigt. II. Ordnet Alfabetisk.
Oversigt over Meddelelser
om Grønland afaluttet e Marts 1941
. pp. 14–31, Kobenhavn,
1941 and supplement to 1945.
Edstr
o
^
ö
^
m, Axel: "Tva^å^ a^å^rhundraden av denskt arbete pa^å^ Gronland."
Xmer
, vol. 43,
pp. 393–432, Stockholm, 1923.
Hobbs, William H. "Greenland, the Advances of a Decade (1921–1931)."
Papers
of the Michigan Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters
, vol. 18,
pp. 363–411, Ann Arbor, 1932. illus. maps.
Horn, Gunnar: "Recent Norwegian Expeditions to Sout-East Greenland."
Norsk
Geografisk Tidsskrift
, vol. 7, pp. 196–205, 452–461. Oslo, 1939.
Koch, Lauge: "Dansk Argejde i østgrønland."
Y
[:
]
er
, vol. 48, pp. 48, pp. 253–281,
Stockholm, 1928.
----. "Survey of North Greenland."
Meddelelser on Greenland
, vol. 130
(1), pp. 1–364, København, 1940. illus. maps. Excellent
summary of expeditions 1852–1938.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Kolsrud, Cluf: "Til Ostgrønlands historie."
Norsk Geografisk Tidskrift
,
vol. 5, pp. 381–412. Oslo, 1935.
Mathiassen, Therkal: "Knud Rasmussen's Sledge Expeditions and the Founding
of the Thule Trading Station."
Geografisk Tidsskrift
, vol.
37, pp. 3–30, Copenhagen, 1934.
Orvin, A.K. "Norges Svalbard-og Ishavs-Undersøkelsers ekspedisjoner til
Nordøst-Grønland i årene 1931–1933."
Norsk Geografiska
Tidsskrift
, vol. 5 (2), pp. 72–94. Oslo, 1934.
Trap, F. H. "The Cartography of Greenland." Greenland..., vol. 1, pp. 137–
179, Copenhagen, 1928.
Wandel, C. F. "Scientific Investigations in Greenland." Greenland, ...,
vol. 1, pp. 37–136. Copenhagen, 1928.
Wright, John K. "The Exploration of the Fiord Region of East Greenland. A
Historical Outline."
The Fiord Region of East Greenland
,
American Geographical Society Special Publication No. 18,
pp. 316–357. New York, 1935.
NORWEGIAN SECTOR:
Books
Arnesen, Odd: Svalbardboken. Oslo, 1935. 168 pp. illus. maps.
Brown, R. N. R. Spitsbergen. An Account of Exploration... London, 1920.
319 pp. illus. maps.
Nansen, Fridtjof: ...Spitzbergen. Leipzig, 1921. 327 pp. illus. maps.
Nathorst, Alfred G. and Others: Swedish Explorations in Spitzbergen, 1758–
1908. Stockholm, 1909. 89 pp. illus. maps.
Rabot, Charles: ...Spitsberg, escale polaire. Exploration et tourisme, 1194–
1934. Rouen, 1935. 99 pp. illus. maps.
Zimmermann, Maurice:
E
^
É
^
tat
[:
]
scandinaves; R
e
^
é
^
gions polaires boreales. Paris,
1933. 328 pp. Illus. maps.
Periodicals
Khothe, Herbert: "Spitzbergen. Eine Landeskundliche Studie."
Petermanns
Mitteilungen Erganzungsheft
, number 211, pp. 1–109, Gotha,
1931. illus. maps.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Norges Svalhard-og Ishavs-Undersøkelser: "Jan Mayen. En oversikt over øens
natur, historie og betydning."
Norsk Geografiska Tidskrift
,
vol. 2 (7), pp. 411–444, Oslo, 1929. illus. map.
Pillewizer, Wolf: "Die Kartographischen und gletscherkundlichen Deutschen
Spitzbergenexpedition 1938."
Petermanns Mitteilungen Ergan–
zungscheft
, Number 238, pp. 1–46, Gotha, 1939. Illus. maps.
----, "Report on the Activities of Norges Svalbard-og-Ishavs–
Undersøkelser 1906–1944."
Skrifter om Svalbard og Ishavet
,
numbers 1, pp. 1–104; 73, pp. 1–125; and 88, pp. 1–77, Oslo,
1929, 1937, and 1945 respectively.
SOVIET SECTOR:
Books
Taracouzio, T. A. Soviets in the Arctic: an Historical Economic and Political
Study of the Soviet Advance into the Arctic. New York, 1938.
563 pp. maps.
Tolmachev, A. I. Severnye poli
a
^
à
^
rnve strany. 2. ispravlennoe, dopolnennoe
izdanie. Arkhangel'sk, 1935. 136 pp.
Urvan
^
&tcirc;
^
sev, Nikola
i
^
ĭ
^
N. Severnai
a
^
â
^
Zemli
a
^
â
^
. Kratki
^
î
^
Ocherk... [Severnaya Zemlya;
A Short Survey of Exploration.] Leningrad, 1933. 53 pp.
illus. maps.
Wiese, Vladimir In. Istorli
a
^
à
^
issledovanii
a
^
à
^
Sovetskoi Arktiki... [A History
of Exploration in the Soviet Arctic. The Barents and Kara seas].
Arkhangelsk, 1934.
----. (Die Meere der Sowjet-Arktis. Geschichte ihrer Erforschung).
Leningrad, 1936. [In Russian]
Periodicals
Achmatcv, V. "Die Kartographie der Arktis innherhalt der Grenzen der U.S.S.R."
Patermanns Mitteilungen Erg
a
^
ä
^
nzungsheft
, vol. 201, pp. 64–72,
Gotha, 1929.
----. "Cartography of the Arctic within the Limits of the U.S.S.R.
Frontier."
Hydrographic Review
, vol. 7, pp. 160–169. Monaco,
1930. maps.
Arnesen, Odd "Russerne erobrer Arktis fra luften. Den
^
^
f
o
^
ö
^
rste drivende
videnskapelige ekspedisjon."
Polar-
a
^
å
^
rboken. utgitt av Norsk
Polarklubb
, 1931, pp. 69–75. Oslo, 1937.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Bauer, H. A. "Recent Oceanographic Work in the Russian Arctic." Trans–
actions of the American Geophysical Union, Section of Ocean–
ography. April 27, 1934. pp. 209–211. Washington, 1935.
Breitfuss, Leonid L. "Die Erschiessung des eurasiatischen Nordens. 30
Jahre eigener arbeit an der wissenschaftlichen und Kulturellen
Erschliessung des n
o
^
ö
^
rdlichen Eismeres 1898–1928."
Petermanns
Mitteilungen Erganzungsheft
, number 207. pp. 1–58. Gotha,
1930. illus. map.
----. "Die Erforschung des Polargebietes Russiach-Eurasiens See-und
Landreisen W
o
^
ö
^
hrend der Jahre 1912–1924."
Ibid
. number 188,
pp. 1–113, Gotha, 1925. illus. maps.
Buinitsky, V. H. "25rh Anniversary of the Arctic Scientific Research Institute."
Izvestli
a
^
à
^
Vseso
i
^
î
^
uznogo Geograficheskogo. Obslichestvo
, vol. 77,
pp. 309–321, Leningrad, 1945.
Horn, Gunnar "Franz Josef Land. Natural History, Discovery, Exploration,
and Hunting."
Skrifter, Svalbard-og-Ishavet
, number 29, pp.
1–54. Oslo, 1930.
Mason, Kenneth "Notes on the Northern Sea Route."
The Geographical Journal
,
vol. 96, pp. 27–41, London, 1940.
Samoilovitch, R.L."Explorations in Novya Zemlya and the Barents Sea Executed
by the Institute for the Exploration of the North.:
Arktis
,
vol. 1, pp. 2–11, Gotha, 1928. illus. map.
----. "Die Fl
u
^
ü
^
ge in den Polargebeiten und die Arktisfahrt des
Luftschiffes 'Graf Zeppelin,' 1931."
Petermanns Mitteilungen
Erg
a
^
ä
^
nzungsheft
, number 216, pp. 9–32. Gotha, 1933.
---- and Others: "...[Novaya Zemlya Expeditions, 1921–1927 under R. L. Samoilc–
vitch]."
Transactions of the Institute for Scientific Ex–
ploration of the North
. vol. 40, pp. 1–361. Moscow, 1929.
maps. (In Russianand German.)
Samoilovitch, R. L. "Kurze Beschreibung der Kiisten und Meeresbusen von
Norvaja Semlja."
Arktis
..., vol. 3, pp. 65–72, Gotha, 1930.
----. "Les progr
e
^
è
^
s r
e
^
é
^
alis
e
^
é
^
s dans l'exploration des r
e
^
é
^
gions arctiques
sovi
e
^
é
^
tiques."
Transactions. 1st All-Union Geographical Congress
,
1933 (2), pp. 76–85, Leningrad, 1934.
Schmidt, O. J. "L'exploration de l'Ar
^
c
^
tique en Union sovi
e
^
é
^
tique."
Comptes
Rendus du Congr
e
^
é
^
s International de G
e
^
é
^
ographi^e^, Varsovie
,
1934.
vol. 4, pp. 355–370. Varsovie, 1938.
----. "L
[:
]
exploration de l'Arctique en U.R.S.S."
Annales de l'Institute
Oc
e
^
é
^
anographicue
, vol. 16 (4), pp. 521–530, Paris, 1937.
EA-Hist. Friis: History of Arctic Exploration
Schokalsky, Jules "Recent Russian Researches in the Arctic Sea and in the
Mountains of Central Asia."
The Scottish Geographical
Magazine
, vol. 52, pp. 73–84. Edinburgh, 1936.
Smolka, H. P. "The Economic Development of the Soviet Arctic."
The Geo–
graphical Journal
, vol. 89, pp. 327–343. London, 1937.
Toepfer, H. "Russische Kulturarbeit im hohen Norden..."
Geographische
[:
]
Zeitschrift
, vol. 36, pp. 212–223. Leipzing, 1930.
Tolmacheff, J. P. "A Few Remarks on Exploration of Arctic Eurasia."
Arktis
,
vol. 1, pp. 25–28, Gotha, 1928.
Transehe, N. A. "The Siberian Sea Road. The Work of the Russian Hydro–
graphical Expedition to the Arctic 1910–1915."
Geographical
Review, vol. 15, pp. 367–398. New York, 1925. illus. map.
Wilkins, Sir Hubert "Russian Exploration."
Science
, vol. 99, pp. 67–69.
January 28, 1944.
Wiese, V. "Trading Navigation in the Kara Sea."
The Polar Record
,
number 6, pp. 90–94. Cambridge, 1933.
----. "XX Let Arkticheskogo Instituta [Twenty Years of the Arctic
Institute, 1920–1940]."
Problemy Arktiki
, 1940 (3), pp. 5–22,
Leningrad, 1940.
Herman R. Friis
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