Franz-Josef Land

Franz-Josef Land, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, north of Nova Zembla, extending, so far as it has yet been explored, between 80° and 83° N. lat. It consists of two large masses of land, Wilczek Land to the east, and Zichy Land to the west, separated by Austria Sound, running from south to north, and giving off a north-east arm, Rawlinson Sound, in 81° 40'. Between these two sounds lies Crown Prince Rudolf Land, whilst to the north of this again comes Petermann Land, and to the north-west King Oscar Land. The southern shores are deeply indented with fjords; and the whole archipelago, which rises into isolated flat-topped or dome-shaped mountains of basalt, 5000 feet high, is sheeted with ice. Owing to the open water round its shores in summer, and the comparative abundance of its animal life—bears, walruses, foxes, and numerous birds occurring—Franz-Josef Land is regarded by many experienced Arctic explorers as the most favourable base whence to make an attempt to reach the North Pole. The archipelago was discovered and partly explored by Payer and Weyprecht in 1873-74; its southern shores were explored by Leigh Smith in 1880-82, and much of it by the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition in 1895-96. See map at POLAR EXPLORATION.