Svalbard
Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...
archipelago. It lies east of
Wilhelm Island
Wilhelm Island ( no, Wilhelmøya) is an island in the Svalbard archipelago. It is situated northeast of Olav V Land on Spitsbergen, in Hinlopen Strait. Its area is 120 km².
About 33.5 % of the island is covered with ice. The island was nam ...
and northeast of
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...
.
The island consists of two parts: an eastern part with a length of about with an east–west orientation, and a western part with a length of about with a north–south orientation. The two parts are connected by a sandbank. The island is a low basalt cliff that reaches an elevation of above sea level in its northeast part, to the southwest, and to the east. The closest neighboring islands are
Deegen Island
Deegen Island ( no, Deegenøya) is a minor island in the Bastian Islands in the Svalbard archipelago. It lies east of Wilhelm Island and northeast of Spitsbergen.
The elongated island has a length of with an east–west orientation, but its w ...
about to the west and
Tobiesen Island
Tobiesen Island ( no, Tobiesenøya) is one of the Rønnbeck Islands in the Svalbard archipelago. It lies in Hinlopen Strait northeast of Cape Weyprecht on Spitsbergen. It is the northernmost and easternmost island in the archipelago.
The island ...
about to the south. The wildlife consists largely of polar bears.
The Bastian Islands were discovered in 1867 by the Swedish-Norwegian polar explorer
Nils Fredrik Rønnbeck
Nils Fredrik Røn(n)beck ( sv, Rönnbäck, March 22, 1820 – January 4, 1891) was a Swedish-Norwegian polar skipper and ice pilot. He discovered Franz Josef Land in 1865.
Life
Rønnbeck was born Nils Johansson Söderlund in Storön in Kalix, in ...
, who was the first to sail around Spitsbergen. Most of the Bastian Islands were named during the First German North Polar Expedition in 1868, led by
Carl Koldewey
Carl Christian Koldewey (26 October 1837 – 17 May 1908) was a German Arctic explorer. He led both German North Polar Expeditions.
Life and career
Koldewey was the son of merchant Johann Christian Koldewey and his wife Wilhelmine Meyer. Koldewey ...
, and this island was named after the German geographer and cartographer Heinrich Kiepert.