Arctic

Franz Josef Land, Franz Joseph Land, or Francis Joseph's is an archipelago located in the far north of Russia. It is found in the Arctic Ocean north of Novaya Zemlya and east of Svalbard. Franz Josef Land consists of 191 ice-covered islands and is largely uninhabited.

At latitudes between 80.0° and 81.9° north, it is the most northerly group of islands associated with Eurasia. The extreme northernmost point is Cape Fligely on Rudolf Island. The archipelago is only 900 to 1110 km from the North Pole, closer than all land masses except for Canada's Ellesmere Island and Greenland.

The archipelago was possibly first discovered by the Norwegian sealers Nils Fredrik Rønnbeck and Aidijärvi aboard the schooner "Spidsbergen" in 1865 who, according to scarce reports, sailed eastward from Svalbard until they reached a new land, denoted Nordost-Spitsbergen. It is not known if they went ashore, and the new islands were soon forgotten.

The officially recognized discovery took place in 1873 by the Austrian polar explorers Payer and Weyprecht, who named it in honour of the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I. As the expedition was only privately sponsored and not official, these islands have never been part of Austria. In 1926 the islands were taken over by the Soviet Union, and a few inhabitants came for research and military purposes. Access by ships is possible only for a few summer weeks and requires a special permit.

Franz Josef Land is included on our Voyage to the North Pole as well as selected multi-centre itineraries. Find out more »