Showing posts with label norway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label norway. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

123 - Queen Maud Land, Antarctica



Home of two S African research stations.

Queen Maud Land is an English translation of Dronning Maud Land, the official name in use by Norwegian authorities and British Antarctic Survey on the part of Antarctica claimed by Norway as a dependent territory, on January 14, 1939. This claim, like all others in the Antarctic, is not universally recognized and is subject to the terms of the Antarctic Treaty System. It has a land area of approximately 2.5 million square kilometers (one million sq mi), mostly covered by the Antarctic ice sheet lying between the British claim, at 20°W and the Australian claim, at 44°38'E. Norway has not officially elaborated as to the northernly and southernly extent of their claim. This explains why the Norwegian claim is illustrated differently from other claims on some maps of Antarctica. It is however generally assumed that the Norwegian claim follows the norms of the other Antarctic claims. The Norwegian claim has been officially recognised by Australia, France, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The territory is named for Princess Maud of Wales (1869–1938), Queen consort of King Haakon VII of Norway.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

50 - Kapp Wien, Jan Mayen Island, Norway


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On the E coast of the Sør-Jan peninsula. The island is about halfway between Norway and Greenland. A little wikihistory:

The first known discovery of the island was in 1614. There are earlier claims and possible discoveries: Some historians believe that an Irish monk, Brendan, who was known as a good sailor, was close to Jan Mayen in the early 6th century. He came back from one of his voyages and reported that he had been close to a black island, which was on fire, and that there was a terrible noise in the area. He thought that he might have found the entrance to hell.