Belaya Zemlya

Belaya Zemlya ( _ru. Белая Земля, lit. "White Land") is a group of three cold, glacierized islands. It is a geographical subgroup of Franz Josef Land, Russian Federation.

Belaya Zemlya is separated from the main Franz Josef group by a 45 km broad strait known as Proliv Severo Vostochnyy.

This area was named Hvidtenland (Norwegian: "White Land") by Fridtjof Nansen, who reached this desolate place on August 5th 1895 during his polar expedition. In his map he drew four islands. Since the limit of permanent ice crosses Belaya Zemlya, it is often difficult to distinguish between land and sea. However, as the cartography of the Franz Josef Archipelago became more accurate, it became apparent that it was a group of three islands:

* Eva Island (Остров Ева-Лив), or "Eva-Liv Island". With 25 km in length, this is the largest island of the group. Eva Island was named after Fridtjof's wife Eva Nansen (died in 1907).

* Adelaida Island or "Adelaide Island" (Остров Аделаиды). Only 2km in length, this is a very small island. It is located 5 km to the southwest of Eva Island's western end. Adelaide Island was named in honor of Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

* Frieden Island (Остров Фреден), sometimes also spelt "Fryeden" because of the transliteration from the Russian. This is a larger oval-shaped island, with a length of 8.2 km. It lies 2.5 km south of Adelaide Island. Frieden Island is named after the German word for "Peace".

Belaya Zemlya is the point of the Franz Josef Archipelago that Valerian Albanov was trying to reach when he left the Svyataya Anna with part of the crew, but owing to the polar ice drift and the abundance of polynias along his route, he ended up far to the southwest in Alexandra Land.

References

* [http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/poles/mapslides/nansen/ Fridtjof Nansen's early map]
* [http://islands.unep.ch/CEO.htm]
*Eva Nansen: [http://forum.pravda.ru/index.php?showtopic=636&st=20]
*Names in Russian: [http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BA_%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B2_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%B8]