(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
Grönland, Seine Eiswüsten im Innern und Seine Ostküste: Schilderung der Zweiten Dickson'schen Expedition Ausgeführt im Jahre 1883 (Classic Reprint) (German Edition)
(Excerpt from Grönland, Seine Eiswüsten im Innern und Sein...)
Baron Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskjöld was a Finnish-Swedish polar explorer and mineralogist.
Background
Adolf Erik Nordenskjöld was born on November 18, 1832, in Helsinki, the third of seven children of Nils Gustaf Nordenskjöld, chief of the Finnish mining department and a member of an old Swedish family that had settled in Finland. The boy took an early interest in natural history and mineralogy.
Education
He specialized in mineralogy and geology and collected minerals in parts of Finland and Russia while attending the University of Helsinki, where he obtained his degree in 1855.
Career
He finally settled in Sweden in 1858, where he took employment at the National Museum of Natural History in Stockholm. Nordenskjöld's first polar experience was in 1858 with the Swedish geologist Otto Torell to Spitsbergen. He followed this with other Spitsbergen trips: in 1861 with Torell, and as leader in 1864, 1868, and 1872-1873. Through these expeditions he made fundamental contributions to the knowledge of geography of the area. On the 1868 expedition, in the iron steamer Sofia, he went farther north (82°42'N) in the Eastern Hemisphere than anyone ever had. Two years later, Nordenskjöld led an expedition to the west-central coast of Greenland to collect minerals and fossils and study the inland ice. The visit stimulated his interest in exploring the interior of Greenland, where he believed there might be an ice-free forested area. Such an exploration took place in 1883, when two of Nordenskjöld's Lapp companions reached the central part of the ice cap, but they did not find an ice-free area.
Then Nordenskjöld turned his attentions to what was to become his major polar achievement - the making of the Northeast Passage. In the years before that trip, he had made two preliminary voyages, pioneering the use of ships on the northern sea route for trade with Russia. In 1875-1876 he accomplished passage of the Kara Sea to the mouth of the Yenisei River in Siberia, and this was repeated in 1876-1877. On June 22, 1878, Nordenskjöld sailed from Karlskrona, Sweden, on the steam vessel Vega, accompanied on part of its voyage by three other ships. The mouth of the Yenisei was reached on August 6, Cape Chelyuskin on August 19, and the Lena River on August 27. The ship was frozen into the sea on September 27 near Kolyuchin Bay, about 100 miles from the Bering Strait, and did not make the passage until July 1879. Before returning to Sweden via Japan, the Suez Canal, and the Mediterranean, Nordenskjöld visited parts of Alaska.
Nordenskjöld's later years were spent studying mineralogy and in gathering together old hand-drawn maps and charts. He had these published in two volumes entitled Periplus (trans. 1897).
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
Politics
During his studies at the university, Nordenskjöld had developed certain Swedish and Western sympathies which implied criticism of Russian political control in Finland. As a result, he incurred the displeasure of the authorities, and in 1856 he lost his mining office position and was forced to leave the country.
Membership
In 1893 he was elected to the Swedish Academy.
Connections
In 1863 he married Anna Maria Mannerheim, the aunt of Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim.