Shpanberg Island (), sometimes Spanberg Island, is an island of the

Nordenskiöld Archipelago The Nordenskiöld Archipelago or Nordenskjold Archipelago () is a large and complex cluster of about 90 islands in the eastern region of the Kara Sea. Its eastern limit lies west of the Taymyr Peninsula. The archipelago is part of the Taymyrsk ...

in the

Kara Sea The Kara Sea is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. Ultimately the Kara, Barents and Laptev Seas are all ...

, off the coast of

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

in Russia. Administratively, the island belongs to

Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krai) of Russia located in Siberia. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Krasnoyarsk, the second-largest city in Siberia after ...

, a

federal subject of Russia The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation () or simply as the subjects of the federation (), are the administrative division, constituent entities of Russia, its top-level political division ...

, and is part of the

Great Arctic State Nature Reserve The Great Arctic State Nature Reserve () is a nature reserve in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. With an area of , it is the largest reserve of Russia and Eurasia, as well as one of the largest in the world. History The Great Arctic State Nature Reserv ...

, the largest nature reserve of Russia.

Geography

Shpanberg Island is located in the central area of the archipelago on the southern side of the Lenin Strait. The island is long and has a maximum width of . Cape Razvodnoy (мыс Разводной) is the headland at its SE end and Cape Ustalosti (мыс Усталости) at its NE end. It is part of the Pakhtusov Islands (острова Пахтусова) subgroup of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago. The closest islands are Petersen Island to the southeast, Dobrynia Nikitich Island to the SW and Pakhtusov Island to the west.

Google Earth Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...

The climate in the archipelago is severe and the sea surrounding the island is covered with fast ice in the winter and often obstructed by pack ice even in the summer.Fast ice conditions near the ''Nordenskjold Archipelago''
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History

In 1900, the islands of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago were explored by Russian Navy Captain

Fyodor Matisen Fyodor Andreyevich Matisen or Mathiesen (; , – 19 December 1921) was an officer of the Russian Imperial Navy, hydrographer, and explorer. Matisen explored and mapped wide areas of the coast of the Kara Sea and the Laptev Sea in the Russia ...

, who named most of them. The survey was done during the first wintering of the

Russian polar expedition of 1900–02 Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

on behalf of the Imperial

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

led by geologist

Baron Eduard Von Toll Eduard Gustav Freiherr von Toll (; 1902), better known in Russia as Eduard Vasilyevich Toll and often referred to as Baron von Toll, was a Russian geologist and Arctic explorer. He is most notable for leading the Russian polar expedition of 1 ...

aboard ship '' Zarya''. This island was named after the Dano-Russian naval officer and explorer

Martin Spanberg Martin Spanberg (; died 1761) was a Danish-born Russian naval officer who took part with his compatriot Vitus Bering in both Kamchatka expeditions as second in command. He is best known for finding a sea route to Japan from Russian territory an ...

, who served as one of

Vitus Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering ( , , ; baptised 5 August 1681 – 19 December 1741),All dates are here given in the Julian calendar, which was in use throughout Russia at the time. also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering (), was a Danish-born Russia ...

's lieutenants in both Kamchatka expeditions,Glynn Barratt. ''Russia in Pacific Waters, 1715-1825''. UBC Press, 1981. . Pages 35-37. performed the first

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and helped accelerate Russian occupation of the Kurils in series of voyages in 1738, 1739, and 1742.

References

External links

Shpanberg Island; Wikimapia
{{Kara Sea Islands Islands of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago Islands of Krasnoyarsk Krai

Geography

History

Further reading

References

External links