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Baron Nils A(dolf) E(rik) Nordenskiöld (1832-1901) | |
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Finnish-born explorer and scientist who was in exile in Sweden from 1857. Nordenskiöld made his most famous expedition in 1878-1880. He navigated the 'North-east passage' on the Vega from northern Norway to the Bering Strait and described his journey in several books. They were translated during the following years into 11 languages. Nordenskiöld's literary oeuvre includes some 200 publications, from books to articles. The collection of his maps and geographical works is considered by UNESCO one of the world's most important collections of documents. "Nordenskiöld's voyage around the northern continents of the Old World has been likened in its importance to James Cook's circumnavigation of Antarctica. Considered the leading expert on Arctic regions after his navigation of the North-east Passage, Nordenskiöld encouraged other explorers; these included Fritjof Nansen, whom he hoped would carry through the attempt to cross the Greenland icecap which he himself had been forced to abandon. ... Nordenskiöld was the most important of his era's polar heroes, who were called Scandinavia's new Vikings..." (Cecilia af Forselles-Riska in 100 Faces from Finland, 2000) Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld was born in Helsinki into a well-to-do civil servant family. His father, Nils Nordenskiöld (1792-1865), was a notable scholar and superintendent of mining. Sofia Margareta von Haartman, his mother, was the daughter of the doctor and economist Gabriel Erik von Haartman. Nordenskiöld was educated with a private tutor. At the age of 13 he moved to Porvoo, where he studied at the grammar school headed by the national poet J.L. Runeberg. With his father Nordenskiöld explored parts of the Urals. He studied chemistry and geology at the University of Helsinki, receiving his M.A. in 1853, Ph.D. two years later, and continued his studies in Berlin. After making in 1857 a strong patriotic speech, which upset the Russian authorities and Governor-General von Berg, Nordenskiöld refused to apologize and was banished from Finland. In 1858 he participated on Otto Torell's expedition to the fjords on the west coast of Spitzbergen - it was Nordenskiöld's first arctic journey, and soon he had established a central place in Stockholm's scientific community. At the age of 26 he became the superintendent of the Mineralogical Department of the Swedish Royal Museum. Nordenskiöld held the office untul his death. Under his direction the mineralogical and geological collection covering northern regions grew rapidly and he also put together a collection of meteorites. When the governor-general changed in Finland, Nordenskiöld was able to visit his homeland. In 1863 he married at the Mannerheim's family estate at Louhisaari Anna Maria Mannerheim; they had four children. "But I shall go on. It is my plain duty." (Homer's legendary traveller Odysseus) In the 1860s Nordenskiöld made further expeditions -1861, 1864, 1868, during which he became convinced that it is not possible to reach the Pole by ship. His expeditions were supported by the governor of Gothenburg and Bohus, Count Albert Ehrensvärd, the Russian merchant Aleksandr Sibiriakov, and Sweden's King Oscar II. Oscar Dickson, a wealthy merchant, sponsored his journey to Greenland in 1870. He penetrated the island farther than ever been done before. In 1872 he tried unsuccessfully reach the North Pole. He had chosen reindeers as draught animals and they escaped at Mossel Bay camp in Spitzbergen. One of the explorers died next year in a snow storm. Nordenskiöld also travelled to Greenland in 1883 and explored the country from the west coast. Nordenskiöld served two years in the Swedish lower house before his fifth expedition. During this period he became interested in the great northward-flowing rivers of Siberia. In 1875 and 1876 he led expeditions across the Kara Sea and to the Yenisei River, and found a passage from Norway to the Yenisei, which has been in use ever since. Nordenskiöld's most famous journey through the Northeast Passage was made between the years 1878 and 1879. Nordenskiöld started his journey from Karlskrona on June 22, 1878, abroad the steamship Vega. Nordenskiöld believed that when small boats had failed to find the passage, a powerful steamship might succeed. Vega, built in Bremerhaven in 1872-73, was a 43 metres long whaling ship and had a 60 horse-power steam engine. The crew consisted of 21 men, plus numerous scientists and officers. The Vega's commander was the Swedish naval lieutenant Louis Palander. "Huhu kummallisten muukalaisten tulosta näkyy äkkiä levinneen. Meitä käytiin nimittäin etäämmältäkin katsomassa, ja Vega muuttui pian levähdyspaikaksi, johon jokainen ohimenevä muutamaksi tunniksi koirinensa pysähtyi, uteliaisuuttaan tyydyttämään, tahi hyvästä puheesta eli muusta tuntuvammasta tavarasta saamaan lämpöistä ruokaa, vähän tupakkaa ja joskus pahalla säällä ryypynkin, jota tshuktshit nimittävät ram'iksi. Tämä sana ei johdy ruotsalais-norjalaisesta dram sanasta, vaan englantilaisesta sanasta rum." (from Vegan matka Asian ja Europan ympäri, trans. into Finnish in 1881) Accompanied with three other ships, he sailed on Vega to the Bering Strait, where spent in ice the ten month winter, and then continued to Japan. With a strong vessel Nordenskiöld had demonstrated that one could navigate the North-east passage, but in wider scale shipping did not began until the mid 20th century. Nordenskiöld returned to Europe by the Suez Canal. He reached Yokohama on September 2, 1879, as a celebrated hero. It was 325 years since Willoughby and Chancellor had first attempted the passage and 230 years since Dezhnyon had demontrated that the journey was feasible. In 1880 Nordenskiöld was created a baron, and in 1893 he was appointed a member of the Swedish Academy. Although commercially the journey did not open expected traffic through the Bering Strait, the adventure attracted peoples imagination - it was the time, when Jules Verne published his Voyages extraordinaires and Stanley had found Livingstone from the jungles of Africa. With experts from different fields of science Nordenskiöld published his results in the bestsellers NORDOST-PASSAGEN (1897) and VEGAS FÄRD KRING ASIEN OCH EUROPA (1881). The remaining years of his life he spent in the study of early cartography. Nordenskiöld was appointed in 1893 director of the Swedish Academy. He died in Dalby, Södermanland, on August 12, 1901. His map collection - 24,000 historical maps from the 15th century onwards - was sold to the Imperial Alexander University of Helsinki. Nordenskiöld's expeditions inspired many arctic researchers, among them the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen, Russian Stepan Makarov and American Robert Peary. When Vega sailed to Stockholm in 1880, Nordenskiöld the hero of the fifteen-year old Sven Hedin, who later gained fame as an explorer of Asia. "The only true voyage of discovery is not to go to new places, but have other eyes." (Marcel Proust in Remembrance of Things Past, 1913-1927) For further reading: The Arctic voyages of Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, 1858-1879 by A. Leslie (1879); Nordenskiöld. Notice sur vie et ses voyages by Ch. Flauhault (1880); Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld by Sven Hedin (1926); Nordenskiöld, merenkulkija by Henrik Ramsay (1950); Noth-east passage. Adolf ErikNordenskiöld, his life and times by George Kish (1973); A.E. Nordenskiöld - a Scientist and his Library by Esko Häkli (1980); Matka-arkku, ed. by Markku Löytönen (1989); 100 Faces from Finland, ed. by Ulpu Marjomaa (2000) - Note: Nordenskiöld's nephew Otto Nordenskiöld, professor of geography at Göteborg University from 1905, explored in the 1890s Patagonia. He traveled through the Klondike and Alaska and also explored the south polar regions and Greenland. Selected works:
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