Prince Rudolf Land, Crown Prince Rudolf Land, Prince Rudolf Island or Rudolf Island (russian: Остров Рудольфа) is the northernmost island of the Franz Josef Archipelago,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and is home to the northernmost point in Russia. Owing to the island's location, its sheltered Teplitz Bay has served as a staging area for numerous polar expeditions.

History

The island was named by the

Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition The Austro-Hungarian North Pole expedition was an Arctic expedition to find the North-East Passage that ran from 1872 to 1874 under the leadership of Julius Payer and Karl Weyprecht. The expedition discovered and partially explored Franz Josef La ...

in honor of

Archduke Rudolf en, Rudolph Francis Charles Joseph , caption = Rudolf in 1887 , spouse = , issue = Elisabeth Marie, Princess Otto of Windisch-Graetz , house = Habsburg-Lorraine , father = Franz Joseph I of Austria , mother ...

(1858–1889), Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia. It belongs to the

Arkhangelsk Oblast Arkhangelsk Oblast (russian: Арха́нгельская о́бласть, ''Arkhangelskaya oblast'') is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It includes the Arctic Ocean, Arctic archipelagos of Franz Josef Land ...

administrative region of the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. During the second

International Polar Year The International Polar Years (IPY) are collaborative, international efforts with intensive research focus on the polar regions. Karl Weyprecht, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer, motivated the endeavor in 1875, but died before it first occurred ...

, a weather station established on the island was the northernmost scientific outpost in the world.Althoff, William F. ''Drift Station: Arctic Outposts of Superpower Science''. Potomac Books Inc., Dulles, Virginia. 2007. p. 38 Sheltered Teplitz Bay has been used as a stopping point for northbound ships. During 1899–1900, an expedition led by

Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, (29 January 1873 – 18 March 1933) was an Italian mountaineer and explorer, briefly Infante of Spain as son of Amadeo I of Spain, member of the royal House of Savoy and cousin of the Italian King ...

stopped in the area. The

Ziegler Polar Expedition The Ziegler polar expedition of 1903–1905, also known as the Fiala expedition, was a failed attempt to reach the North Pole. The expedition party remained stranded north of the Arctic Circle for two years before being rescued, yet all but one o ...

of 1903–1905, led by

Anthony Fiala Anthony Fiala (September 19, 1869 – April 8, 1950) was an American explorer, born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Jersey City, New Jersey, and educated at Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design, New York City. In early life he was engaged ...

left a large hut here. Owing to the steep terrain in Rudolf Island, the only airfield access is a small snow strip up a glacier. It was constructed in 1936 as a staging area for the world's first

drift ice station A drifting ice station is a temporary or semi-permanent facility built on an ice floe. During the Cold War the Soviet Union and the United States maintained a number of stations in the Arctic Ocean on floes such as Fletcher's Ice Island for resea ...

North Pole-1 North Pole-1 (russian: Северный полюс-1) was the world's first Soviet manned drifting station in the Arctic Ocean, primarily used for research. North Pole-1 was established on 21 May 1937 and officially opened on 6 June, some from ...

Geography

Rudolf Island is almost completely glaciated. It is located very close to the limit of permanent Polar ice. Its highest point is . The Middendorff Glacier ''(Lednik Middendorfa)'' covers the southeastern part of the island.Rudolf Insel (О. Рудольфа), Teplitz Bucht, Kap Fligely - Franz-Joseph-Land
/ref>

Cape Fligely Cape Fligely (; ''Mys Fligeli''), is located on the northern shores of Rudolf Island and Franz Josef Land in the Russian Federation, and is the northernmost point of Russia, Europe, and Eurasia as a whole. It is south from the North Pole. Histo ...

, located on Rudolf Island's northern shore, is the northernmost point of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and Russia.

References

External links

*
Images of buildings on the island
(

Flickr Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and professional ...

) Islands of Franz Josef Land Populated places of Arctic Russia Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria {{ArkhangelskOblast-geo-stub

History

Geography

See also

References

Further reading

External links