Fridtjof-Nansen-Land

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Fridtjof-Nansen-Land ( Norwegian Fridtjof Nansens Land ) was the official Norwegian name of a territory on the south east coast of Greenland that was proclaimed by Norway on July 12, 1932 and occupied until April 5, 1933. It was named after the Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen . The name was also intended for the Franz-Josef-Land for a time.

background

At that time Norway viewed Greenland as an old Norwegian possession and refused to recognize Danish sovereignty over the unpopulated areas of the island. The occupied area was in the southern section of the East Greenland coast, 1170 kilometers south of the territory occupied a year earlier Eirik Raudes Land . In contrast to the latter area, however, the Norwegians were never active in southeast Greenland before 1931, or not since the time of the Grænlendingar settlement.

geography

The area extended between Lindenows Fjord at 60 ° 30 ′ N ( 60 ° 30 ′ 0 ″  N , 43 ° 2 ′ 12 ″  W ) and the Bernstorff Isfjord at 63 ° 40 ′ N 63 ° 40 ′ 0 ″  N , 40 ° 29 ′ 31 ″  W (around 240 kilometers southwest of the Danish-administered Inuit settlement Tasiilaq ). This area had a north-south extension of around 370 kilometers. It was once simply called the Southern Coasts by the Norwegians who were active in the region . The Danish landscape name in this region is King Frederik Vl Coast . This is somewhat broader and describes the east coast from the southern tip of Greenland at 59 ° 50 ′ N ( Cape Farvel ) to 65 ° N (Køge Bugt or Pikiutdleq).

International Court of Justice

The interstate conflict was brought by Denmark to the Permanent International Court of Justice , which after lengthy hearing and investigation on April 5, 1933, ruled in favor of Denmark on all points. The judgment did not name the territory of Fridtjof-Nansen-Land, unlike Eirik Raudes Land, but nevertheless referred to all Norwegian activities on the east coast of Greenland. Norway recognized the verdict on the same day, so the occupation ended after just under a year (and that of Eirik Raudes Land after just under two years).

colonization

In the summer of 1931 the hunting and radio stations Finnsbu (on the southwest coast of Graah Fjord at 63 ° 22 ′ 57 ″  N , 41 ° 18 ′ 4 ″  W ) established in the area of ​​Norway in the north and Torgilsbu (in the north of the entrance to Nanuseq Fjord at 60 ° 32 ′ 0 ″  N , 43 ° 11 ′ 0 ″  W ) in the south, which also served as research stations for the Second International Polar Year 1932–1933. On instructions from the Norwegian government, Finn Devold (1902–1977) hoisted the flag in Finnsbu. During the Second International Polar Year 1932-1933 the station Storefjord ( Danish Kangerlussuaq ) was in operation, but it was far north of the territory ( 68 ° 18 ′ 0 ″  N , 32 ° 14 ′ 0 ″  W ). Otherwise, the territory was uninhabited at the time, although there is ample archaeological evidence of an earlier Inuit settlement. The last small Inuit village was Imaarsivik (formerly Nukarbik) at 63 ° 21 ′ 0 ″  N , 41 ° 5 ′ 0 ″  W near the later Finnsbu station. The village was visited in 1829/30 by Wilhelm August Graah and later by Gustav Frederik Holm . According to Holm, 21 people still lived there in the 1880s, including only five men.

Finnsbu station was abandoned after the judge's ruling, while Torgilsbu continued to operate until 1940. In September 1940, the station was destroyed to forestall a takeover by the German Reich , which had occupied Norway five months earlier. During the Second World War , the Allies had stations at Cape Adelaer ( 61 ° 52 ′ 0 ″  N , 42 ° 25 ′ 0 ″  W ) and at Skjoldungen ( 63 ° 11 ′ 0 ″  N , 41 ° 20 ′ 0 ″  W ).

From 1960 to 1977 the LORAN station Qudtleq (Kudtleq) was maintained at 61 ° 32 ′ 28 ″  N , 42 ° 13 ′ 50 ″  W , at the southeast end of the island of the same name.  Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMapf1Georeferencing

Administrative affiliation

When the administrative division of Greenland into three districts, West Greenland , East Greenland and North Greenland , began in 1940 , the former Norwegian territory fell to East Greenland (the former division of Greenland into North Greenland and South Greenland was only relevant on the west coast). In the southern part of the district, the municipality of Ammassalik was established in 1963 , which also included this now uninhabited area. Since the administrative reform, which came into force on January 1, 2009, the northern part of the area belongs to the new Sermersooq municipality , which also includes the inhabited area of ​​the Ammassalik municipality around Tasiilaq, and the southern part to the Kujalleq municipality .

See also

literature

  • Susan Barr: Norway, a consistent polar nation? Analysis of an image seen through the history of the Norwegian Polar Institute . Kolofon, Oslo 2003, ISBN 82-300-0026-3 .
  • Gunnar Horn: Recent Norwegian Expeditions to South-East Greenland. Norges Svalbard- og Ishavs-undersøkelser, Meddelelse No. 45, Oslo 1939 ( PDF; 1 MB )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Einar-Arne Drivenes and Harald Dag Jølle: Norsk Polarhistorie . Gyldendal, 2004, ISBN 82-05-32654-1 , page 407
  2. ↑ Oddvar Svendsen: Radiobølger i isødet
  3. ^ A b Spencer Apollonio: Lands that Hold One Spellbound: A Story of East Greenland (=  Northern lights series . No. 11 ). University of Calgary Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1-55238-240-0 , ISSN  1701-0004 , pp. 188 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
  4. ^ William J. Mills: Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 2 . ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara 2003, ISBN 1-57607-422-6 , pp. 273 (English, limited preview in Google Book search).
  5. ↑ Skaergaard history
  6. ↑ Fridtjof Nansen: Eskimålif, 1891
  7. ↑ LORAN station Kudtlek

Web links

Coordinates: 62 ° 5 ′  N , 42 ° 9 ′  W