The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe
With a Historical Review of Previous Journeys along the North Coast of the Old World

This 1881 account details the flora, fauna, geology and people encountered on the first crossing of the North–East Passage.

Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (Author), Alexander Leslie (Translated by)

9781108049832, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 May 2012

552 pages, 121 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 3.1 cm, 0.69 kg

The Finnish geologist and Arctic explorer A. E. Nordenskiöld (1832–1901) spent much of his life in exile in Sweden, where he was made a baron. He served as Superintendent of the Mineralogical Department of the Swedish Royal Museum, and later became a Member of the Swedish Academy. Following a number of expeditions during the 1860s, he concluded that the North Pole could not be reached by ship, and in 1872 he tried unsuccessfully to reach it overland. A great historian of cartography, he amassed a huge collection of maps, now included in UNESCO's 'Memory of the World' Register. This two-volume work, published in Swedish in 1881, describes his most famous voyage, the first crossing of the North-East Passage. Volume 1 includes details of the flora, fauna, people and geology encountered on the journey from Tromso to the Bering Strait, along with a review of previous exploration in the region.

Author's preface
Translator's preface
Introduction
1. Departure
2. Departure from Maosoe
3. From the animal world of Novaya Zemlya
4. The origin of the names Yugor Schar and Kara Sea
5. The history of the North-East Passage
6. The north-east voyages of the Russians and Norwegians
7. Departure from Port Dickson
8. The voyage of the Fraser and the Express up the Yenisej
9. The new Siberian islands
10. Wintering becomes necessary.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]