Hamburgbukta (

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 ...

: ''Hamburg Bay'') is a one-kilometer-long bay on the western side of

Hoelhalvøya Hoelhalvøya is a peninsula in Albert I Land at Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The peninsula is named after Arctic explorer Adolf Hoel. It is located south of Magdalenefjorden. Among the glaciers of the peninsula is Gullybreen Gullybreen is a glacier in A ...

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 ...

, Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago.

History

The French were the first to occupy it in 1633, calling it ''Port Louis'' or ''Refuge Français''. On the southern shore of the bay they built a

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industr ...

station. In 1634 two

men-of-war tried to drive out the French, but failed. In 1637 they were driven out of Hamburgbukta by the Danes. They abandoned it in the following year after being harassed by the Danes once more. It was named ''Ulfeldts Bay'' by the Danes, in honor of Corfits Ulfeldt, who was responsible for driving away the French in 1637–38. In 1644 the first

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

ships came to the bay. They came to the bay again in 1648, and in later years, which resulted in the bay being named after the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

port. Later the bay was used by

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

trappers. In 1818, a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

expedition, while anchored in

Magdalenefjorden Magdalenefjorden is an 8 km long and up to 5 km wide fjord between Reuschhalvøya and Hoelhalvøya, Albert I Land, on the west coast of Spitsbergen, the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago. It is large enough to accommodate ev ...

, which lies just to the north, they met Russian hunters from Hamburgbukta. One of the British officers went with them to the bay, where he found that they had built "a comfortable wooden hut, well lined with moss, divided into three compartments".Conway (1906), p. 268.

Footnotes

References

* * * Norwegian Polar Institut
Place Names of Svalbard Database
Bays of Spitsbergen Whaling stations in Norway Whaling in Denmark Whaling in Norway History of Hamburg {{Spitsbergen-geo-stub