Raudfjorden (English: Red fjord) is a 20 km long and 5 km wide fjord on the northwestern coast 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 ...

. It has two southern branches,

Klinckowströmfjorden Klinckowströmfjorden is the eastern branch of Raudfjorden at Spitsbergen, Svalbard, on the divide between Albert I Land and Haakon VII Land. It is named after Swedish zoologist Axel Klinckowström. The glacier Raudfjordbreen debouches into the fj ...

and

Ayerfjorden Ayerfjorden is the western branch of Raudfjorden in Albert I Land at Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The glacier Chauveaubreen Chauveaubreen is a glacier in Albert I Land at Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The glacier is located between Renaudfjellet and Marstra ...

, split by the peninsula

Buchananhalvøya Buchananhalvøya is a peninsula in Albert I Land at Spitsbergen, Svalbard. It is located at the head of Raudfjorden, where the fjord branches into Ayerfjorden to the west and Klinckowströmfjorden to the east of the peninsula. It is named afte ...

. The fjord is situated on the divide between

Albert I Land Albert I Land is the land area of the northwestern part of Spitsbergen, Svalbard. It is bordered by Haakon VII Land to the southeast. To the northeast lies Raudfjorden and its inner branch, Klinckowströmfjorden, to the southeast Krossfjor ...

and

Haakon VII Land Haakon VII Land is a land area at the northwestern part of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, between Woodfjorden and Kongsfjorden. The area is named after Haakon VII of Norway. The highest mountain in Haakon VII Land is Eidsvollfjellet Eidsvollfjellet ...

History

Raudfjorden was named ''Red-cliff Sound'' by

Robert Fotherby Robert Fotherby (died 1646) was an early 17th-century English explorer and whaler. From 1613 to 1615 he worked for the Muscovy Company, and from 1615 until his death for the East India Company. Family ties There was a family of Fotherbys in Gri ...

, an English explorer and whaler, in 1614. The same year the Dutch named the fjord ''Monier Bay'', after the commissary-general of their whaling fleet that year,

Anthonie Monier Anthonie is a Dutch and masculine given name transliterated from Antonius in use in the Netherlands, Greenland, Suriname, Republic of Karelia, South Africa, Namibia, Belgium and Indonesia. The same spelling is a Norwegian feminine given name that i ...

. This latter name was first marked by the Dutch from 1620 onwards. The former name was later corrupted to ''Red Bay'', the name the fjord retains to this day. The cape separating its two southern branches was named ''Point Deceit'' by Fotherby the same year he explored the fjord, which is now known by its Norwegian equivalent, Narreneset.

References

* Conway, W. M. 1906. No Man's Land: A History of Spitsbergen from Its Discovery in 1596 to the Beginning of the Scientific Exploration of the Country. Cambridge: At the University Press. * Norwegian Polar Institut
Place Names of Svalbard Database
Fjords of Spitsbergen {{Spitsbergen-geo-stub