Kare Berg Norwegian Maritime Explorers and Expeditions

Norwegian Maritime Explorers and Expeditions Over the Past Thousand Years Auteur: Kare Berg Taal: Engels

Auteur: Kare Berg etc.

• Engels
• Hardcover
• 175 pagina's

The book, which has contributions by four authors, isdivided into 10 chapters, five of which, as well as theIntroduction, are written by 0ystein Kock Johansen, awell-known archaeologist who has specialised in Nordicand maritime archaeology. Johansen's first chapter isabout the ninth-century voyages of Ottar the Viking, whois credited with sailing both to the White Sea and to theWessex of King Alfred. The next chapter looks at theNorse discovery of the New World. Johansen indicatesthat, according to the Greenlandersaga, Bjarni Herj61fssonwas the first Norse mariner to sight the east coast of NorthAmerica, some time around 986. However, both that andthe other great Vinland saga, Eirik's saga, agree thataround the year 1000 Leif Eiriksson was the first Europeanto go ashore in the New World, landing most likely onBaffin Island (which he named Helluland), Labrador (whichhe called Markland), and, finally, Newfoundland (hisfamous Vinland). In the next five chapters, the other three authors dealwith polar exploration. Henrik Ulven writes about JensMunk's Northwest Passage expedition of 1619-20, onwhich only three of the original 65 men survived thescurvy that appeared during their wintering at the estuaryof Churchill River on Hudson Bay. Thor N. Devig makesthe one Antarctic contribution to the volume with a chapteron Carl Larsen, who, after having served as a sealer andwhaler in the Arctic, was captain of Antarctic on OttoNordenskjbld's Swedish Antarctic expedition (1901-04)and then became a pioneer in the Antarctic whaling indus-try. There are three chapters by Kare Berg, one aboutFridtjof Nansen's Arctic drift on Fram (1893-96), one onOtto Sverdrup's second Fram expedition (1898-1902),and one on Roald Amundsen's magnificent attainment


















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