Van Mijenfjorden is the third-longest

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icel ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, 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 ...

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 rang ...

archipelago. It lies in the southern portion 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 Nor ...

island, south of

Nordenskiöld Land Nordenskiöld Land is the land area between Isfjorden and Van Mijenfjorden on Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The area is named after Finnish-Swedish explorer and geologist Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld. The coastal region of Nordenskiöld Land (Norden ...

and north of

Nathorst Land Nathorst Land is the land area between Van Keulenfjorden and Van Mijenfjorden on Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The area is named after Alfred Gabriel Nathorst Alfred Gabriel Nathorst (7 November 1850 – 20 January 1921) was a Swedish Arctic ...

. The fjord is long, being separated from

Bellsund Bellsund is a long sound on the west coast of Spitsbergen, part of the Svalbard archipelago of Norway. It is separated from Van Mijenfjorden by the islands of Akseløya and Mariaholmen. Bellsund is located south of Nordenskiöld Land and north ...

further out by

Akseløya Akseløya (English: Axel Island) is a long, narrow island (about 8.5 km long and 1 km wide) at the mouth of Van Mijenfjorden, separating Van Mijenfjorden from Bellsund. It is separated from the mainland by Akselsundet to the north, and ...

and

Mariaholmen Mariaholmen is an islet in Nathorst Land at the mouth of Van Mijenfjorden at Spitsbergen, Svalbard. It is located south of Akseløya Akseløya (English: Axel Island) is a long, narrow island (about 8.5 km long and 1 km wide) at the ...

. The settlement of

Sveagruva Sveagruva (), or simply Svea, was a mining settlement in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, lying at the head of Van Mijenfjord. It was the third largest settlement in the archipelago (after Longyearbyen and Barentsburg). Around 300 workers ...

lies on the fjord's north bank. The fjord is named after the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

whaler Willem Cornelisz. van Muyden, who was involved in the trade in 1612 and 1613. Van Mijenfjorden (an obvious corruption of Van Muyden's name) was originally called ''Lowe Sound'', while the small cove north of Axel Island (at the mouth of the fjord) was called ''Van Muyden's Haven''. This latter name was moved from its proper location by Giles and Rep (c. 1710) and "floated over" to where modern cartographers now wrongly place it.

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

External links

* ttp://folk.ntnu.no/sveinulo/at307f/vanmij2000.pdf Study Fjords of Spitsbergen Sveagruva Akseløya {{Spitsbergen-geo-stub