King Frederick VIII Land ( da, Kong Frederik VIII Land) is a major geographic division of northeastern

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

. It extends above the Arctic Circle from 76°N to 81°N in a N/S direction along the coast of the Greenland Sea.

History

This vast desolate region was still uncharted territory around 1900. It was explored by the 1906–08

Danmark Expedition The Denmark expedition ( da, Danmark-ekspeditionen), also known as the Denmark Expedition to Greenland's Northeast Coast, and as the Danmark Expedition after the ship, was an expedition to the northeast of Greenland in 1906–1908. Despite being ...

, the 1909–12 Alabama Expedition and by J.P. Koch's 1912–13 Danish Expedition to Queen Louise Land, when the ruling monarch was Frederik VIII (1843 – 1912) The area between 79° and 81°30´N was first marked as 'King Frederick VIII Land', after King Frederick VIII of Denmark then the ruling monarch, by the 1906–08 Danmark Expedition in its maps of the region. Einar Storgaard used the name again in a 1927 map —he also proposed a division of the region into a northern and a southern part with a border along Nioghalvfjerd Fjord. Finally the name came into general usage only after the publication of the 1931–34

Three-year Expedition to East Greenland The Three-year Expedition ( da, Treårsekspeditionen) was an exploratory expedition to East Greenland that lasted from 1931 to 1934 financed by the Carlsberg Foundation and the Danish state. The expedition included aerial surveys. Many geograph ...

''(Treårsekspedition)'' reports.

Geography

King Frederick VIII Land stretches between 76°N along the middle of the

Bessel Fjord Bessel Fjord is a fjord in northeastern Greenland. Administratively it belongs to the NE Greenland National Park area. History The area around the mouth of this fjord was referred to as "Bessel Bay" at the time of the 1869–70 Second German Nor ...

in the south and 81°N, the boundary running along the middle of the Independence Fjord and the Academy Glacier. It is bordered by

King Christian X Land King Christian X Land ( da, Kong Christian X Land) is an area of northeastern Greenland. History This area was named after King Christian X of Denmark and Iceland (1870 – 1947), who rose to the throne in 1912. At the time of the Three-year ...

on the south, the

Wandel Sea The Wandel Sea ( da, Wandelhavet; also known as McKinley Sea) is a body of water in the Arctic Ocean, stretching from northeast of Greenland to Svalbard. It is obstructed by ice most of the year. This sea is named after Danish polar explorer ...

to the north,

Peary Land Peary Land is a peninsula in northern Greenland, extending into the Arctic Ocean. It reaches from Victoria Fjord in the west to Independence Fjord in the south and southeast, and to the Arctic Ocean in the north, with Cape Morris Jesup, the nort ...

to the northwest, and the Greenland Ice Sheet to the west. All its territory is included in the large Northeast Greenland National Park zone. King Frederick VIII Land includes mountain ranges, such as the Princess Caroline-Mathilde Alps, nunataks, such as

Queen Louise Land Queen Louise Land ( da, Dronning Louise Land; kl, Nuna Dronning Louise) is a vast mountainous region located west of Dove Bay, King Frederick VIII Land, northeastern Greenland. Administratively it is part of the Northeast Greenland National P ...

, and vast

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

expanses, such as the Storstrommen, the

Zachariae Isstrom Zachariae Isstrom ( da, Zachariae Isstrøm; Isstrøm being the Danish word for ice stream) is a large glacier located in King Frederick VIII Land, northeast Greenland. This glacier was named by the Denmark expedition 1906–08 after Georg Hugh R ...

and the Nioghalvfjerdsbrae of far northeastern Greenland. In the areas of the shore it also includes

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, Förden and East Jutland Fjorde, Germany, ...

s, such as the

Skaer Fjord Skaer Fjord, ( da, Skærfjorden, meaning "Reef Fjord") is a fjord in King Frederick VIII Land, northeastern Greenland. History Skaerfjorden was named by the 1906-1908 Denmark expedition, which named it thus owing to the numerous reefs and skerr ...

, the Ingolf Fjord and the Borge Fjord in Dove Bay, as well as numerous coastal islands, such as Hovgaard Island in the shore of the Greenland Sea or

Princess Thyra Island Princess Thyra Island ( da, Prinsesse Thyra Ø) is an uninhabited island of the Wandel Sea, Greenland. The island is within King Frederick VIII Land in the Northeast Greenland National Park. The island was named after Princess Thyra of Denmark. G ...

in the Wandel Sea. The Greenland ice sheet reaches the shore at

Jokel Bay Jokel Bay ( da, Jøkelbugten) is a large bay in North Eastern Greenland. The area of the bay is uninhabited. Administratively Jokel Bay and its surroundings belong to the Northeast Greenland National Park. The bay was named after an old Norse wor ...

. Flade Isblink, the largest independent ice cap in Greenland is also located in King Frederick VIII Land. The area of King Frederick VIII Land is practically uninhabited. Currently the only two inhabited places are: * Danmarkshavn weather station is on the southern shore of the

Germania Land Germania Land or Germanialand is a peninsula in northeastern Greenland. Despite the high latitude it is largely unglaciated. History This peninsula was named by Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen, leader of the Danmark expedition, to commemorate its survey ...

Peninsula.Danmarkshavn
/ref> It was named by the 1906–08 Danmark Expedition after 'Danmark', the ship of the expedition which wintered there. * Nord, a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

weather station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include tempera ...

located further north in the Crown Prince Christian Land Peninsula.

Image gallery

References

{{reflist Geography of Greenland

History

Geography

Image gallery

See also

References