Novaya Zemlya - the history of this place
On our vast territory of the motherland you can see a large number of islands. In this article, we will discuss Novaya Zeitung Island, an archipelago located in northern Russia. The Orange Islands, the northernmost point of the archipelago, were discovered by barents expeditions in 1594 and named after Prince Moritz of the Netherlands.
The island has a large walrus habitat. During the Great Discovery period, Sindland Island was a wintering ground for expeditions that failed to break through the Arctic Ocean ice sheet. Even in the twelfth to fifteenth centuries. There was a temporary settlement on Novaya Zemlya Pomors, who moved to the archipelago for fishing and hunting.
They carried with them everything they needed to spend the winter on the island – from firewood to materials for building huts. Over time, a unique Pomeranian hunter culture developed on the island. Novaya Zeitung Island was discovered by Europeans in the 16th century. Related to the search for a northeast sea route to India to replace the southern route controlled by Spain and Portugal.
The road was very difficult, with ice blocking out of Novaya Zemlya, so many sailors had to spend the winter in the harsh conditions of the archipelago; still others were destined never to return to their homeland. In the summer of 1594, navigator Willem Barents led an expedition to the Northeast Passage.
The first attempt to find a trade route was unsuccessful, and in 1596 a new expedition was equipped. During another arduous journey, the team was forced to spend the winter on Novaya Island as the ship Mercury was frozen in an ice harbor at the northeastern tip of the archipelago of Severny Island.
It was not until June 14, 1957, that the Barron detachment managed to continue sailing, but the navigator himself died at the northwestern tip of the archipelago. Later, already in 1608, the English navigator Henry Hudson visited Novaya Zemlya, where he also tried to find a northeast shipping route. In the middle of the seventeenth century. The vessels of the Danish expedition arrived at Novaya Zemlya with similar targets.
At the same time, Russian expeditions began to be sent to Novaya Zemlya, as the Russian Empire was interested in exploring new sources of silver and copper ore. At first, however, they all ended with the deaths of most of the participants. Savva Loshkin made his first successful trip to the archipelago between 1760 and 1761: he was then able to overcome the path along the east coast of Novaya Zemlya.
The traveler who initiated the novaya scientific exploration was Fyodor Rozmyslov (died 1771). On July 10, 1768, he and his team set out from Arkhangelsk to Novaya Zemlya, where they reached their goal a month later. Here, Róz Meslov engaged in the search for mineral deposits, meteorological and geodetic studies.
In addition, he compiled a list of the Strait of Martoch Kinshaar. The archipelago remained uninhabited until the 19th century, and it was used as a transit point and as a place for fishing and hunting. However, in order to minimize the risk of occupying sparsely populated lands, by the end of the century, the islands began to settle gradually, however, mainly the Nenets family.
At the beginning of the twentieth century. There are still many blank spots on the map of Novaya Zemlya, so research expeditions are constantly working on the islands of the archipelago. In particular, the Novaya Zemlya expedition of 1911 is famous for the discovery of the ancient abandoned settlement of Pomor.
