Editing Jan Mayen (section)

==History==
[[File:Arctic.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.3|In the [[:Category:Dutch exploration in the Age of Discovery|Golden Age of Dutch exploration and discovery]] (c. 1590s–1720s), Dutch navigators were the [[list of Dutch explorations|first non-natives to undisputedly explore]] and [[early modern Netherlandish cartography|map many largely unknown isolated areas of the world]], including Jan Mayen and the [[Svalbard archipelago]] in the Arctic Ocean.]]

===Unverified "discoveries" of a ''terra nullius''===
{{See also|Terra nullius}}
[[File:Jan mayen egg-oeja hg.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|A beach on Jan Mayen]]
Between the fifth and ninth centuries (400–900 AD), numerous communities of monks originating in Ireland ([[Papar]]) navigated throughout the north Atlantic in leather boats, exploring and sometimes settling in distant islands where their monastic communities could be separated from close contact with others. Strong indicators exist of their presence in the [[Faroe Islands]] and [[Iceland]] before the arrival of the [[Viking]]s, and medieval Gaelic chronicles such as the famous ''[[Brendan the Navigator#The Voyage of Saint Brendan the Abbot|Voyage of Saint Brendan the Abbot]]'' testify to the extensive interest in exploration at the time. 

A modern-day trans-Atlantic journey proved the ability of the early navigators to reach all lands of the north Atlantic even further from Ireland than Jan Mayen – and, given favourable winds, at a speed roughly equal to that of modern yachts.<ref>{{citation |last1=Severin |first1=Tim |title=The Brendan Voyage |publisher=Random House |year=2000 |orig-year=1978 }}</ref> Though quite feasible, there is nevertheless no direct physical trace of medieval landings or settlement on Jan Mayen.

The land named ''Svalbarð'' ("cold coast") by the Vikings in the early medieval book [[Landnámabók]] may have been Jan Mayen (instead of [[Spitsbergen]], renamed [[Svalbard]] by the Norwegians in modern times); the distance from Iceland to ''Svalbarð'' mentioned in this book is two days' sailing (with favorable winds), consistent with the approximate {{convert|550|km|abbr=on}} to Jan Mayen and not with the minimum {{convert|1550|km|abbr=on}} to Spitsbergen.<ref name="Wordie">J. M. Wordie (1922), "Jan Mayen Island", ''The Geographical Journal'' Vol 59 (3), pp. 180–194</ref> However much Jan Mayen may have been known in Europe at that time, it was subsequently forgotten for some centuries.

In the 17th century, many claims of the island's rediscovery were made, spurred by the rivalry on the Arctic whaling grounds, and the island received many names. According to [[Thomas Edge]], an early 17th-century whaling captain who was often inaccurate, "William {{sic}} Hudson" discovered the island in 1608 and named it "Hudson's Touches" (or "Tutches"). However, the well-known explorer [[Henry Hudson]] could only have come by on his voyage in 1607 (if he had made an illogical detour) and he made no mention of it in his journal.<ref name="Wordie" />

According to [[William Scoresby]] (1820: p.&nbsp;154), referring to the mistaken belief that the Dutch had discovered the island in 1611, [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]] whalers discovered the island "about the same time" and named it "Trinity Island". Muller (1874: pp.&nbsp;190–191) took this to mean they had come upon Jan Mayen in 1611 or 1612, which was repeated by many subsequent authors. There were, in fact, no Hull whalers in either of these years, the first Hull whaling expedition having been sent to the island only in 1616 (see below). As with the previous claim made by Edge, there is no cartographical or written proof for this supposed discovery.<ref name="Hacq"/>

===During the Golden Age of Dutch exploration and discovery (c. 1590s–1720s)===
{{See also|:Category:Dutch exploration in the Age of Discovery|l1=Dutch Republic in the Age of Discovery|Dutch mapping of Jan Mayen|Early modern Netherlandish cartography}}

====First verified discoveries: mapping and naming====
[[File:C.G. Zorgdragers Bloeyende opkomst der aloude en hedendaagsche Groenlandsche visschery - no-nb digibok 2014010724007-V5.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|A map of Jan Mayen during the Golden Age of Dutch exploration and discovery (c. 1590s–1720s). This is a typical map created by Dutch cartographers from the [[Golden Age of Dutch cartography|Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography]].]]
The first verified discoveries of Jan Mayen, by three separate expeditions, occurred in the summer of 1614, probably within one month of each other. The Dutchman Fopp Gerritsz, whilst in command of a whaling expedition sent out by the Englishman John Clarke, of [[Dunkirk]], claimed (in 1631) to have discovered the island on 28 June and named it "Isabella".<ref name="Hacq">Louwrens Hacquebord, "The Jan Mayen Whaling Industry" in ''Jan Mayen Island in Scientific Focus'', Stig Skreslet, editor, Springer Verlag 2004</ref><ref name="Holland">
{{cite book
|last=Holland
|first=Clive
|title=Arctic Exploration and Development, c. 500 B.C. to 1915: an encyclopedia
|publisher=Garland
|year=1994
|location=New York
}}</ref><ref>Hart, S. ''De eerste Nederlandse tochten ter walvisvaart'' (1957), p. 50. Hart says it occurred in 1613.</ref> In January the ''[[Noordsche Compagnie]]'' (Northern Company), modelled on the [[Dutch East India Company]], had been established to support Dutch whaling in the Arctic. Two of its ships, financed by merchants from [[Amsterdam]] and [[Enkhuizen]], reached Jan Mayen in July 1614. 

The captains of these ships—[[Jan Jacobszoon May van Schellinkhout]] (after whom the island was ultimately named) on the ''Gouden Cath'' (Golden Cat), and Jacob de Gouwenaer on the ''Orangienboom'' (Orange Tree)—named it ''Mr. Joris Eylant'' after the Dutch cartographer [[Joris Carolus]] who was on board and mapped the island. The captains acknowledged that a third Dutch ship, the ''Cleyn Swaentgen'' (Little Swan) captained by Jan Jansz Kerckhoff and financed by ''Noordsche Compagnie'' shareholders from [[Delft]], had already been at the island when they arrived. They had assumed the latter, who named the island ''Maurits Eylandt'' (or Mauritius) after [[Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange]], would report their discovery to the [[States General of the Netherlands|States General]]. However, the Delft merchants had decided to keep the discovery secret and returned in 1615 to hunt for their own profit. The ensuing dispute was only settled in 1617, though both companies were allowed to whale at Jan Mayen in the meantime.<ref name="Hacq" />

In 1615, the English whaler [[Robert Fotherby]] went ashore. Apparently thinking he had made a new discovery, he named the island "Sir Thomas Smith's Island" and the volcano "Mount Hakluyt".<ref name="Wordie" /><ref>Alexander King, J. N. Jennings: The Imperial College Expedition to Jan Mayen Island. ''The Geographical Journal'', Vol. 94, No. 2 (Aug 1939), pp. 115-131</ref> On a map of c. 1634, [[Jean Vrolicq]] renamed the island ''Île de Richelieu''.<ref>Among others: Henrat, P. 1984. ''French Naval Operations in Spitsbergen During Louis XIV's Reign''. Arctic 37: 544-551, p.544. Conway, William Martin (1906). ''[https://archive.org/details/nomanslandahist00conwgoog No Man's Land: A History of Spitsbergen from Its Discovery in 1596 to the Beginning of the Scientific Exploration of the Country]''. Cambridge, At the University Press, p. 79. He called it "Pico" according to Dalgård, Sune (1962). ''Dansk-Norsk Hvalfangst 1615-1660: En Studie over Danmark-Norges Stilling i Europæisk Merkantil Expansion.'' G.E.C Gads Forlag, p.160</ref>

Jan Mayen first appeared on [[Willem Jansz Blaeu]]'s 1620 edition map of Europe, originally published by Cornelis Doedz in 1606. Blaeu, who lived in Amsterdam, named it "Jan Mayen" after captain [[Jan Jacobszoon May van Schellinkhout]] of the Amsterdam-financed ''Gouden Cath''. Blaeu made the first detailed map of the island in his famous "Zeespiegel" atlas of 1623, establishing its current name.<ref name="Hacq" />

====Dutch whaling base====
[[File:Jan mayen coast hg.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Road along the west coast, about {{convert|500|m}} off the station]]
[[File:Altes Grabkreuz für einen tapferen Holländer.png|thumb|upright=1.3|"HOLLENDERHAUGEN. HER HVILER TAPRE HOLLANDSKE MENN." Old cross on the grave of seven Dutchmen, reading "The Dutch men's hill. Here rest brave Dutch men".]]

From 1615 to 1638, Jan Mayen was used as a whaling base by the Dutch ''Noordsche Compagnie'', which had been given a monopoly on whaling in the Arctic regions by the States General in 1614. Only two ships, one from the ''Noordsche Compagnie'', and the other from the Delft merchants, were off Jan Mayen in 1615. 

The following year a score of vessels were sent to the island. The ''Noordsche Compagnie'' sent eight ships escorted by three warships under Jan Jacobsz. Schrobop; while the Delft merchants sent up five ships under Adriaen Dircksz. Leversteyn, son of one of the above merchants.<ref name = "Muller">Samuel Muller. 1874. ''Geschiedenis van de Noordsche Compagnie.'' Gebr van der Post.</ref> There were also two ships from Dunkirk sent by John Clarke, as well as a ship each from London and Hull.

Heertje Jansz, master of the ''Hope'', of Enkhuizen, wrote a day-by-day account of the season. The ships took two weeks to reach Jan Mayen, arriving early in June. On 15 June they met the two English ships, which Schrobop allowed to remain, on condition they gave half their catch to the Dutch.<ref name="Dalgård">Sune Dalgård. 1962. ''Dansk-Norsk Hvalfangst 1615-1660: En Studie over Danmark-Norges Stilling i Europæisk Merkantil Expansion''. G.E.C Gads Forlag.</ref> The ships from Dunkirk were given the same conditions. By late July the first ship had left with a full cargo of [[whale oil]]; the rest left early in August, several filled with oil.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.geuzebroek.info/walvisvaart_1616.htm
|title=Journaal van schipper Heertgen Jansz d anno 1616
|language=nl
|access-date=11 July 2012
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403022501/http://www.geuzebroek.info/walvisvaart_1616.htm
|archive-date=3 April 2012
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>

That year 200 men were seasonally living and working on the island at six temporary whaling stations (spread along the northwest coast). During the first decade of whaling, more than ten ships visited Jan Mayen each year, while in the second period (1624 and later) five to ten ships were sent. With the exception of a few ships from Dunkirk, which came to the island in 1617 and were either driven away or forced to give a third of their catch to the Dutch,<ref name = "Dalgård" /> only the Dutch and merchants from Hull<ref>Appleby, John C. "Conflict, cooperation and competition: The rise and fall of the Hull whaling trade during the seventeenth century". ''The Northern Mariner'', XVIII No. 2, (April 2008), 23-59.</ref> sent up ships to Jan Mayen from 1616 onward. In 1624 ten wooden houses were built in [[Titeltbukta|South Bay]]. About this time the Dutch appear to have abandoned the temporary stations consisting of tents of sail and crude furnaces, replacing them with two semi-permanent stations with wooden storehouses and dwellings and large brick furnaces, one in the above-mentioned South Bay and the other in the [[Engelskbukta (Jan Mayen)|North Bay]]. In 1628 two forts were built to protect the stations.<ref name="Hacq" /> Among the sailors active at Jan Mayen was the later admiral [[Michiel Adriaensz de Ruyter]]. In 1633, at the age of 26, he was for the first time listed as an officer aboard ''de Groene Leeuw'' (The Green Lion). He again went to Jan Mayen in 1635, aboard the same ship.

In 1632 the ''Noordsche Compagnie'' expelled the Danish-employed Basque whalers from Spitsbergen. In revenge, the latter sailed to Jan Mayen, where the Dutch had left for the winter, to plunder the Dutch equipment and burn down the settlements and factories. Captain Outger Jacobsz of [[Grootebroek]] was asked to stay the next winter (1633/34) on Jan Mayen with six shipmates to defend the island. While a group with the same task survived the winter on Spitsbergen, all seven on Jan Mayen died of [[scurvy]] or [[trichinosis]] (from eating raw polar bear meat) combined with the harsh conditions.

During the first phase of whaling the hauls were generally good, some exceptional. For example, Mathijs Jansz. Hoepstock caught 44 whales in [[Hoepstockbukta]] in 1619, which produced 2,300 casks of whale oil. During the second phase the hauls were much lower. While 1631 turned out to be a very good season, the following year, due to the weather and ice, only eight whales were caught. In 1633 eleven ships managed to catch just 47 whales; while a meager 42 were caught by the same number in 1635.<ref name="Hacq" /> The [[bowhead whale]] was locally hunted to near-extinction around 1640 (approximately 1000 had been killed and processed on the island),<ref name="Hacq" /> at which time Jan Mayen was abandoned and stayed uninhabited for two and a half centuries.

===19th and 20th century expeditions===
[[File:Jan Mayen-Stations-en1 1.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|Map of settlements on Jan Mayen]]
[[File:Jan mayen sign hg.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Traditional signpost with directions to civilization on Jan Mayen station]]

During the [[International Polar Year]] 1882&ndash;1883 the [[Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition]] stayed one year at Jan Mayen. The expedition performed extensive mapping of the area, their maps being of such quality that they were used until the 1950s. The [[Austro-Hungarian Empire|Austrian]] polar station on Jan Mayen Island was built and equipped in 1882 fully at [[Count Johann Nepomuk Wilczek|Count Wilczek's]] own expense.

[[Polar bear]]s appear on Jan Mayen,<ref>Michael Jones and Kenneth Olwig. 2008. ''Nordic Landscapes: Region and Belonging on the Northern Edge of Europe'', University of Minnesota Press, {{ISBN|0-8166-3914-0}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8166-3914-4}}</ref> although in diminished numbers compared with earlier times. Between 1900 and 1920, there were a number of Norwegian trappers spending winters on Jan Mayen, hunting [[Arctic fox]]es in addition to some polar bears. But the exploitation soon made the profits decline, and the hunting ended. Polar bears in this region of the Arctic are genetically distinguishable from those living elsewhere.<ref>
{{cite web
 |first=C. Michael 
 |last=Hogan 
 |year=2008 
 |url=http://globaltwitcher.auderis.se/artspec_information.asp?thingid=36084 
 |title=Polar Bear: Ursus maritimus 
 |publisher=globaltwitcher.com 
 |editor-first=N 
 |editor-last=Stromberg 
 |access-date=11 July 2012 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081224205716/http://globaltwitcher.auderis.se/artspec_information.asp?thingid=36084 
 |archive-date=24 December 2008 
}}</ref>

The [[League of Nations]] gave Norway jurisdiction over the island, and in 1921 Norway opened the first meteorological station.<ref name="Rigge">Rigge, Simon (1980), ''War in the Outposts'', pp. 24–25. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books.</ref> The Norwegian Meteorological Institute annexed the middle part of the island for Norway in 1922 and the whole island in 1926 when [[Hallvard Devold]] was head of the weather observations base on the island. On 27 February 1930, the island was made ''[[de jure]]'' a part of the Kingdom of Norway.

===Second World War===
During [[World War II]], continental Norway was [[Operation Weserübung|invaded and occupied by Germany]] in spring 1940. The four-man team on Jan Mayen stayed at their posts and in an act of defiance began sending their weather reports to the United Kingdom instead of Norway. The British codenamed Jan Mayen 'Island X' and attempted to reinforce it with troops to counteract any [[Nazi Germany|German]] attack. 

On 8 November 1940 the Norwegian patrol boat {{HNoMS|Fridtjof Nansen|1930|6}} ran aground on [[Nansenflua]], one of the islands' many uncharted lava reefs, and the 68-man crew abandoned ship and joined the Norwegian team on shore. The British expedition commander, prompted by the loss of the gunboat, decided to abandon Jan Mayen until the following spring and radioed for a rescue ship. Within a few days a ship arrived and evacuated the four Norwegians and their would-be reinforcements, after demolishing the weather station to prevent it from falling into German hands. 

The Germans attempted to land a weather team on the island on 16 November 1940; the German [[naval trawler]] carrying the team crashed on the rocks just off Jan Mayen after a patrolling British [[destroyer]] had picked them up on radar. The detection was not by chance, as the German plan had been compromised from the beginning with British wireless interceptors of the Radio Security Service following the communications of the [[Abwehr]] (the German Intelligence service) concerning the operation, and the destroyer had been waiting.<!--Mysterious old ref"TNA HW 19/37" deleted. May refer to British The National Archives--> Most of the crew struggled ashore and were taken prisoner by a landing party from the destroyer.<ref name="Rigge" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2018/12/11/the-weather-war-of-wwii/|title=The Weather War of WWII|website=Warfare History Network|author=Eric Niderost|access-date=12 August 2020|archive-date=23 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923004705/https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2018/12/11/the-weather-war-of-wwii/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Allies of World War II|The Allies]] returned to the island on 10 March 1941, when the Norwegian ship ''Veslekari'', escorted by the patrol boat ''Honningsvaag'', dropped 12 Norwegian weathermen on the island. The team's radio transmissions soon betrayed its presence to the [[Axis Powers|Axis]], and German planes from Norway began to bomb and strafe Jan Mayen whenever weather permitted, but did little damage. Soon supplies and reinforcements arrived, and even some anti-aircraft guns, giving the island a garrison of a few dozen weathermen and soldiers. By 1941, Germany had given up hope of evicting the Allies from the island and the constant air raids stopped.

On 7 August 1942, a German [[Focke-Wulf Fw 200]] "Condor", probably on a mission to bomb the station, crashed into the nearby mountainside of Danielssenkrateret in fog, killing its crew of nine,<ref>
{{cite web
 |url=http://home.online.no/~vteigen/planecrash.html 
 |title=The crash site at Danielssenkrateret 
 |access-date=11 July 2012 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004043357/http://home.online.no/~vteigen/planecrash.html 
 |archive-date=4 October 2012 
}}</ref> and at an unknown date another German plane with four crew members crashed on the southwest side of the island, this crash only becoming public knowledge when the crash site was discovered in 1950.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.jan-mayen.no/history.htm
|title=Jan Mayen History
|access-date=29 May 2014
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150306230118/http://www.jan-mayen.no/history.htm
|archive-date=6 March 2015
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> In 1943, the Americans established a radio locating station named Atlantic City in the north to try to locate [[Greenland_in_World_War_II#German_weather_stations|German radio bases in Greenland]].

===Cold War===
After the war, the meteorological station was located at Atlantic City, but moved in 1949 to a new location. Radio Jan Mayen also served as an important radio station for ship traffic in the [[Arctic Ocean]]. In 1959 [[NATO]] started building the [[LORAN-C]] network in sites on the Atlantic Ocean; one of the transmitters was to be on Jan Mayen. By 1961 the new military installations, including a new airfield, were operational.

For some time scientists doubted that the [[Beerenberg volcano]] would become active, but in 1970 it erupted for about three weeks, adding another {{convert|3|km2|abbr=on}} of land area to the island. It also erupted in 1973 and 1985. During an eruption, the sea temperature around the island may increase from just above freezing to about {{convert|30|C|F|abbr=on}}.

Iceland and Norway had a brief territorial dispute over the island from 1979-1980, with the dispute being resolved with Iceland recognising Norwegian sovereignty over the island.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://gudnith.is/efni/jan_mayen_dispute_24_jan_2013|title= The Jan Mayen dispute between Iceland and Norway, 1979-1981|website=Guðni Th. Jóhannesson|date=24 January 2013}}</ref>

Historic stations and huts on the island are Hoyberg, Vera, Olsbu, [[Puppebu]] (cabin), Gamlemetten or Gamlestasjonen (the old weather station), Jan Mayen Radio, Helenehytta, Margarethhytta, and Ulla (a cabin at the foot of the Beerenberg).