Sjuøyane (English: ''Seven Islands'') is the northernmost part of the

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 north of mainland

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, and some 20 km north of the eastern major island

Nordaustlandet Nordaustlandet (sometimes translated as North East Land) is the second-largest island in the archipelago of Svalbard, Norway, with an area of . It lies north east of Spitsbergen, separated by Hinlopen Strait. Much of Nordaustlandet lies under la ...

. The islands are the northernmost landmass reachable by normal means, being 1024.3 kilometers (637 mi / 553 nm) south of the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...

. In comparison,

Robert Falcon Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...

started his ill-fated

Terra Nova Expedition The ''Terra Nova'' Expedition, officially the British Antarctic Expedition, was an expedition to Antarctica which took place between 1910 and 1913. Led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the expedition had various scientific and geographical objec ...

1374 km (742 Nm) from the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

. Many of the islands are named after

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

explorers, most notably Captain Nelson.

Geography

As the name implies, this is regarded as a group of seven islands (including several islets and skerries), of which the three larger ones are: *

Phippsøya Phippsøya (anglicized as Phipps Island) is the largest island in Sjuøyane, an archipelago north of Nordaustlandet, Svalbard in Arctic Norway. It is located some 22 km north of Nordkapp on Svalbard proper and 8.5 km south of Rossøya, ...

Martensøya Martensøya (anglicized as Martens Island) is the easternmost island of Sjuøyane, which lies north of Nordaustlandet, part of the Svalbard archipelago in Arctic Norway. The island is named after the German physician Friderich Martens, who visite ...

Parryøya Parryøya ( en, Parry Island) is southernmost of the three larger islands in Sjuøyane, situated 15 km northeast of Nordaustlandet, Svalbard. Parryøya is separated from Phippsøya to the north by the 1.3 km wide Straumporten sound and ...

And the four smaller: *

Nelsonøya Nelsonøya (anglicized as Nelson Island) is a small island, part of Sjuøyane, north of Nordaustlandet. The island is named after the well known englishman Horatio Nelson, who served as midshipman aboard , under Captain Skeffington Lutwidge. The ...

Waldenøya Waldenøya (anglicized as Walden Island) is a small, rocky island just north of Nordkapp, Nordaustlandet on Svalbard. It is the westernmost part of Sjuøyane in the Svaldbard archipelago. The island is named after John Walden, who was a midshi ...

Tavleøya Tavleøya (English: ''Slate Island'') is one of Sjuøyane, north of Nordaustlandet. The island lies about 1 km west of the northern point of Phippsøya, separated by Marmorsundet (English: ''The Marble Sound''), and about 7 km south of ...

Vesle Tavleøya Vesle Tavleøya ( en, Little Slate Island) is the larger island of the two northernmost of Sjuøyane - the other being Rossøya, north of Nordaustlandet, Svalbard. Vesle Tavleøya is situated some 7 km northeast of Phippsøya Phippsøya (a ...

with

Rossøya Rossøya, sometimes referred to as Ross Island in English, is an island located in the Arctic Ocean. It is a part of Sjuøyane, a group of islands in the Svalbard archipelago, some 20 km north of the coast of Nordaustlandet, Svalbard in A ...

Rossøya, more a

skerry A skerry is a small rocky island, or islet, usually too small for human habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low sea stack. A skerry may have vegetative life such as moss and small, hardy grasses. They a ...

than an island, is at 80°49’44" the northernmost land of Svalbard and thus of

. Ice conditions are often difficult, but they are often earlier accessible than other parts of Svalbard further southeast because of the influence of the last drops of the

Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Current, North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida a ...

. Sjuøyane belong to the

Nordaust-Svalbard Nature Reserve Nordaust-Svalbard Nature Reserve ( no, Nordaust-Svalbard naturreservat) is located in the north-eastern part of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. The nature reserve covers all of Nordaustlandet, Kong Karls Land, Kvitøya, Sjuøyane, Storøya, ...

History

Sjuøyane were first marked on a map by the Dutchman Hendrick Doncker (1663). Pieter Goos (1666) and other cartographers soon followed.

Cornelis Giles Cornelis Giles (in Dutch: Cornelis Cornelisz. Gielis; – 2 July 1722) was a Dutch whaler, navigator, cartographer, and polar explorer. Life As a whaler in 1707, Giles traveled north of Nordaustlandet in Svalbard, and managed to reach a d ...

and Outger Rep (c. 1710) were the first to put the islands in their correct position. The islands may have been sighted as early as 1618, as an

Enkhuizen Enkhuizen () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West-Frisia. History Enkhuizen, like Hoorn and Amsterdam, was one of the harbor-towns of the VOC, from where overseas trade wi ...

whaler is said to have seen the islands this year. As map-makers often lagged years behind the actual discoveries of the archipelago, this claim may very well be true, although evidence is lacking.

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 Institute
Place names in Norwegian polar areas
* Norwegian Polar Institute Sjuøyane website page: http://cruise-handbook.npolar.no/en/northeast_reserve/sjuoyane.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Sjuoyane Islands of Svalbard

Geography

History

See also

References