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iv. education and mental culture.
established for observations on shipboard. In 1872, Nordenskiöld started off once
more to Spitzbergen at the head of a larger expedition, to try, if possible, to
get yet farther north. The plan drawn up was, after wintering, to start off north,
in the Spring, from the northernmost parts of the archipelago, employing
reindeer. Certain mishaps that could not have been foreseen .reduced this
project to an excursion across the inland-ice in the North-East, undertaken by
Nordenskiöld and L. Palander (born 1842); it was the first considerable
exploration of its kind ever accomplished.
Spitzbergen and the adjacent islands having been in their main features
explored by these journeys, Nordenskiöld next (in 1875) turned his attention
eastwards to the Kara Sea, which had up to that time been regarded with so
much dread. In the year named, he reached the mouth of the Yenisei in a
sealing vessel and repeated the experiment a year later with the same success,
this time in a steamer. By this means the first communication by sea was
established between Europe and the great rivers of Siberia. The experience thus
gained giving support to the supposition of a North-East Passage being feasible,
Nordenskiöld carried through the celebrated expedition named after the vessel
engaged, the "Vega". Under the command of Palander and with a large staff
of scientists on board, the vessel left Karlskrona, on June 22, 1878. Their
expectations proved to be justified throughout: the ice-free coast waters of
northern Asia allowed the Vega rapidly to pass the mouth of the Yenisei, the
northernmost point of Asia, and the mouth of the Lena, serious inconvenience
from ice not being encountered till in the vicinity of the Behring Straits. The
Vega wintered, however, quite successfully from Sept. 18, 1878, to July 18,
1879. Only a few days after release from the ice, the Vega completed the
North-East Passage. Her voyage home was one splendid triumphal procession,
in acknowledgment of the accomplishment of one of the grandest exploits of the
century in the domain of geographical discovery. The contributions made by
Sweden, as was to be expected, did not cease with the success of this, the most
glorious of all expeditions hitherto despatched from Sweden.
Of the greater exploration-expeditions sent out since that must be mentioned
A. E. Nordenskiold’s expedition to Greenland in 1883, the first that penetrated
through the pack-ice and reached the south east coast, and the first to penetrate
over inland ice to the heart of the country: it was likewise the first to introduce
skis as a means of polar exploration: and A. G. Nathorst’s (born 1850) great
explorations in Spitzbergen and King Charles’ Land (1898) and the east coast
of Greenland (1899), during which latter journey the deep Frans Josef fjord
and an extensive, newly discovered system of fjords south of it — the King
Oscar fjords — were charted besides which he made a comprehensive collection
of scientific material. Moreover a very extensive work for the measurement of
the degree of latitude was carried on at Spitzbergen in cooperation with a
Russian expedition (1898—1902), led on the Swedish side first by E. Jäderin
(born 1852) and later by G. De Geer (born 1858). Undertakings smaller in
extent include A. E. Nordenskiold’s first and fruitful expedition to Greenland
in 1870, journeys to Spitzbergen by Nathorst, de Geer and A. Hamberg (born
1863), the meteorological expedition that passed the winter at Spitzbergen
(1882—83), under the leadership of N. Ekholm, (born 1848), G. Nordenskjöld’s
(1868—95) exploration for the same purpose 1890, expeditions to Greenland by
G. Kolthoff (1845—1914), and 0. Nordenskjöld (born 1869), to Beeren Eiland
1899 by J. G. Andersson (born 1874) and a fresh expedition to the Icefjord of
Spitzbergen under de Geer 1908, to which must be added no few explorations
with more special purposes, made to Greenland and Spitzbergen; among those
may be mentioned several voyages by B. Högbom (born 1888).
In the year 1895, S. A. Andree (1854—97?) brought forward his bold idea of
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