In what century was Wrangel Island discovered? Wrangel Island: wiki: Facts about Russia

It's easy to guess why Wrangel Island is called that. It was discovered by the Russian navigator, admiral, one of the founding members of the Russian Geographical Society - Ferdinand (Fedor) Petrovich Wrangel. The famous polar explorer and his expedition made a huge contribution to the exploration of Eastern Siberia. It would be surprising if they did not try to perpetuate his name for future descendants.

• Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean
• Island on Novaya Zemlya
• Cape Wrangel near the Aleutian Islands
• Mount Wrangel in Alaska

The modern Wrangel Island was called “Umkilir” by the inhabitants of Chukotka - a place for polar bears. They knew about its existence long before its discovery. It was from their elder that Wrangel learned about the “new” land.

To get there, the navigator equipped three expeditions. But everyone returned without achieving their goal. The obstacle was the expanses of open waters, which were not possible to cross. But Wrangel was so sure of the existence of this piece of land that he nevertheless put it on the map. True, I was a little mistaken in the coordinates.

In the mid-19th century, the Herald ship under the command of Captain Kellett, who was looking for the missing expedition, approached a small neighboring island. The crew that landed on it named the land after the ship. But the most amazing thing is that they didn’t even write down the coordinates of the object.

Formal opening

In 1967, a piece of land was discovered according to all the rules by the crew of an American whaler called "Thomas Long". The captain of the ship turned out to be an educated and decent person. He knew about geographical studies Wrangel, so he named a piece of land after him.

Revealed secrets of this tasty piece of land:

1. Europeans first set foot on the island in 1881. It was the American crew. ship "Thomas Corwin". The captain declared this place to be US territory.

2. Russian explorers planted the Russian flag here in 1911, arriving on the icebreaking steamship Vaygach, and 5 years after that, the Tsar’s government annexed the land to the empire.

3. In the 20s, contrary to government orders, polar explorer Stefanson raised the British flag here. This act provoked an international scandal.

4. The Soviet flag was placed in 1924.

Wrangel's treacherous land

In 1913, a team of a seemingly united Canadian Arctic expedition set off on the brigantine Karluk. The path was difficult. Due to weather conditions the ship had to drift, 6 people left it, allegedly landing for hunting.

The brigantine was crushed by ice at the beginning of 1914. Four of the remaining 25 people headed to Wrangel land, but ended up on Herald Island, where they died, either from carbon monoxide poisoning or food poisoning.

The next four were missing. They left in an unknown direction, never reaching the treasured island. The remaining 17 crew members were still able to reach the goal and set foot on the ground in Draghi Bay. The captain of the brigantine and the Eskimo hunter quickly (at that time) reached the mainland across the spreading ice in a few weeks to organize a rescue expedition for the remaining people.

Russian icebreakers set off. The faithful pair - "Taimyr" and "Vaigach" - after several attempts to get to Wrangel Island, were forced to turn back due to impassable ice. American colleagues also made several unsuccessful attempts. People were saved only after 9 months, but three of them died without waiting for help.

Settling a piece of sushi

In 1921, the first American-Canadian colony of five people was founded, but only one Eskimo woman survived before the ship arrived in 1923. In the same year, a winter camp was organized with the participation of the American geologist Charles Wells, who took twelve Eskimos (including women and children) as assistants. A year later they returned home, but three never saw their homeland. If you look into history, it was at this time that the extermination of the polar bear, arctic fox, white geese, geese, and walrus began.

The first Soviet settlement on the island was the Ushakovskaya meteorological station (named after the Arctic explorer), founded in 1926. The population consisted of sixty people, 59 were predominantly Eskimo in origin.

In the very center, near the mouth of the Khrustalny stream, pure rock crystal was mined for some time. Although it did not last long, the small town of Perkatkun was founded in 1940 because of crystal mining. In the 60s, another village called “Zvezdny” was built. Not far from it, an unpaved airfield was built to provide communication with the island. Just in case, a Soviet military radar station was placed on Cape Hawaii. Alas, such efforts were in vain: all this fell into disrepair within 10 years.

The village of Ushakovsky gradually developed, and by the 70s the following buildings had already been built: a village council, a kindergarten, an airport, a boiler room, a club, a store, a hospital, a post office, a bathhouse, a library and even a museum. In the 90s, funding decreased significantly, and it was decided to resettle people to the mainland. In 2003, the last resident was eaten by a bear. In 2010, after the construction of the weather station, 6 polar explorers lived on the island.

This is interesting:

According to excavations, Paleo-Eskimos existed on the island as early as 1750 BC. e.

Wrangel Island and neighboring island Herald in 1976 were declared a protected nature reserve named after Wrangel.

In the mid-90s, one of the reserve's employees discovered the remains of mammoths. Their age is supposedly 3.5-7 thousand years, they differ from their relatives in their smaller size.

The question of why the Bering Strait is called that has a simple explanation. Like most geographical names, its designation is closely related to its discoverer. In this case, this is the first sailor to sail along it. Oddly enough, Wrangel Island got its name in honor of a man who never visited there...

Wrangel Island - on the border of the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas, part of Russian Federation. Area approx. 7.3 thousand km2. Height up to 1096 m. It is located at the junction of the western and eastern hemispheres and is divided by the 180th meridian into two almost equal parts. It is separated from the mainland (northern coast of Chukotka) by the Long Strait, which is about 140 km wide at its narrowest part. Administratively it belongs to the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. It is part of the reserve of the same name. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It received its name in honor of the Russian navigator and polar explorer Ferdinand Wrangel.

The territory of Wrangel and Herald Islands, with the exception of the low-lying plains of Wrangel Island, remained dry throughout the Cretaceous period and the entire Cenozoic era. During powerful Pleistocene transgressions, the territories of the islands were repeatedly separated from the mainland, and during periods of regression of the sea, coinciding with the ice ages, they were part of the vast Beringian landmass, which united the shelves of the East Siberian, Chukotka and Bering seas and connecting Asia and North America. At the same time, the territory modern islands was located almost in the center of the Arctic part of Beringia, located north of the modern Bering Strait. It is especially important that throughout the Pleistocene the islands never experienced cover glaciation (there are only traces of mountain-valley glaciation in the central part of Wrangel Island), nor were they ever completely flooded (transgressions covered only the plains of Wrangel Island, and even then no more than half their length). That is, the organic world of the islands has developed continuously since the end of the Mesozoic era.

During the periods of the existence of the Beringian landmass, the territory of the modern islands found itself at the crossroads of migratory flows of plants and animals leading from Asia to America, from America to Asia and from Central Asia to the Arctic region (thanks to the existence during this period of a single “tundra-steppe” hyperzone throughout central arid to the highest latitude regions of Eurasia and North America) and is generally considered to be at the center of the largest area of ​​evolution of modern Arctic biota. During periods of transgressions, when most of the shelf land was under water, the islands served as a refugium for many species and communities common on drained shelves. In addition, periodic isolation contributed to the activation of speciation processes on the islands themselves. All this was the reason for the initially high biological diversity of the territory.

The last separation of the islands from the mainland occurred about 10 thousand years ago, which coincided with the global restructuring of Arctic landscapes - the collapse of the single tundra-steppe zone and the massive expansion to the north of hypoarctic flora and fauna. The latter, due to island isolation, appeared in a very weakened form on the islands, which, together with the peculiarities of the physical-geographical situation (landscape diversity, while maintaining the “refugia” of continental conditions), ensured the survival of many relict elements here, as populations of individual species, and entire communities. At the same time, thanks to the same diversity natural conditions, relatively thermophilic hypoarctic elements survived here, having managed to penetrate the island and other similar territories at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary, but in most cases disappeared as a result of the late Holocene cooling. Until the mid-Holocene, large mammals remained on the island, including the local subspecies of mammoth, which became extinct over the last 5-2 thousand years.

It is known that about 3.5 thousand years ago the island was inhabited by sea hunters, whose culture is classified as Paleo-Eskimo. The results of studies of the only known Neolithic site on south coast The Wrangel Islands indicate that this ancient population of the island used exclusively marine resources (no remains of terrestrial animals were found in the cultural layer of the site). By the time the Wrangel and Herald Islands were discovered by Europeans, there was no indigenous population on them. There were no traces of large land mammals.

The existence of a large island in this sector of the Arctic Ocean was predicted by M.V. Lomonosov. In 1763, Mikhailo Vasilyevich showed on a map the polar regions north of Chukotka big Island"Doubtful". The location of this supposed land turned out to be close to the real Wrangel Island. The indigenous inhabitants of Chukotka, subjects of the Russian Empire, knew about the existence of the island long before its discovery by Europeans. The first European to tell the world about the existence of the island was Lieutenant Russian fleet Ferdinant Petrovich Wrangel. He learned about the existence of land north of Chukotka from a Chukotka elder. In 1821-1923, the expedition of F. P. Wrangel undertook three trips into the ice in order to find this land. Each time, vast expanses of open water blocked the squad's path, forcing them to turn back to the mainland. The island was not found, but Wrangel was sure that it existed and put it on the map, showing the location correctly in latitude, but slightly shifted to the west.

In 1849, Captain Kellett, commanding the ship Herald, sent to search for the missing expedition of J. Franklin, approached a previously unknown island and landed on it, giving the island the name of his ship, but not even taking its coordinates. To the west of Herald Island, members of Captain Kellett's crew saw the tops of other mountains, considering them islands, but did not continue the geographical survey.
The European who formally discovered Wrangel Island in 1867 was the American whaler Thomas Long. Knowing about the geographical works of F.P. Wrangel, Captain Long gave the island the name of a Russian officer.

The first landing of Europeans on the island occurred only in 1881 - people from the crew of the American ship "Corwin", under the command of Lieutenant Berry, set foot on land (Captain Kellett landed on Herald Island in 1849, in search of the expedition of J. Franklin).

In 1911, the first Russian expedition reached Wrangel Island on the ship "Vaigach", planting the Russian flag on the island, and in 1916 the tsarist government declared the island to belong to the Russian Empire.

Despite this, the Englishman Stephenson in 1921, taking advantage of the devastation in our north, landed an occupation force on the island, raised the British flag and declared that this island was now the possession of Great Britain. The occupation detachment intended for replacement the following year could not be delivered to the island, since the ice did not allow the English steamer to approach the island. The British detachment located on Wrangel Island died from scurvy.
In September 1922, the gunboat Magnit, which was guarding our Russian territories, leaving the port of Nome in Alaska, headed to Wrangel Island to restore Russian ownership of the island and raise the St. Andrew's flag on it. In the twentieth of September, having passed Cape Dezhnev, Magnit waited for about two days for a change northern winds, which drove a mass of ice into the Bering Strait, thanks to which he could not break through.
A second attempt was made a few days later, but was also unsuccessful due to constant northerly winds. Further attempts were unsuccessful: ice began to threaten the integrity of the ship. Due to the need to return to guard the shores of the Kamchatka region and the lack of hope of breaking through the ice, the gunboat Magnit was forced to leave the northern waters.
Thus, the idea of ​​​​restoring Russia’s rights to own Wrangel Island belongs to the gunboat Magnit, led by its valiant commander, Lieutenant D. A. von Dreyer. The gunboat "Magnit" is the last ship of the Russian Navy under the St. Andrew's flag to leave Russian waters on November 2, 1922.
In 1923, the British delivered a new occupation detachment to Wrangel Island, and in 1924, the Soviet government sent an armed expedition there and restored Russia’s rights to this island, which caused rather tense relations between Moscow and London.
In 1924, the gunboat “Red October” planted the Soviet flag on the island, and two years later the Soviet government adopted a resolution on sovereignty over Wrangel Island. In 1926, the first Chukchi settlement was created on Wrangel Island, and A. Ushakov was appointed head of the island, who was replaced three years later by A. I. Mineev, who worked on the island for five years. A meteorological station was established on the island and regular scientific research began.

In 1928, the air route to Wrangel Island was mastered. A stable all-season connection between the island and the mainland made it possible to expand the colony. The villages of Ushakovsky, Zvezdny, Perkatkun, a school, a hospital, a bathhouse, a pig farm, warehouses for food and goods, fur warehouses, boats for hunting at sea, and a radio station were built. A weather station was equipped at Cape Blossom, and a number of advanced scientific station bases were built on the northern coast of the island. The airfield at Rogers Bay was expanded. Wrangel Island became the forward base of many scientific expeditions who explored the eastern Arctic region. From Rogers Bay, an expedition departed for the Pole of Inaccessibility in April 1941 on the N-169 aircraft (ship commander I. Cherevichny, navigator V. Akkuratov). Aircraft were based on Wrangel Island to ensure the drift of the North Pole-2 station.

The first settlers of the island were mainly indigenous inhabitants of Eastern Chukotka, who were resettled on the island to organize hunting. From the moment they arrived on the island, hunting for arctic fox, walrus, polar bear, white geese, geese and other species of animals began here. In 1948, a small group of domesticated reindeer was brought to the island and a branch of the reindeer-breeding state farm was organized. In addition to the main settlement in Rogers Bay (Ushakovskoye village), in the 60s the village of Zvezdny was built in the bay. Doubtful, where an unpaved reserve airfield for military aviation was built (liquidated in the 70s). In addition, a military radar station was established at Cape Hawaii. In the center of the island, near the mouth of the stream. Khrustalny, rock crystal mining was carried out for several years, for which a small village was also built, which was later completely destroyed.

In 1953, administrative authorities adopted a resolution on the protection of walrus rookeries on Wrangel Island, and in 1968, a reserve was organized on the island to protect walruses, polar bears, nesting grounds of the white goose, brant and colonial settlements of seabirds. In 1975, musk oxen from Nunivak Island were introduced to the island and the Executive Committee of the Magadan Region allocated the lands of the islands for a future reserve.
On March 23, 1976, Resolution N°189 of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR was signed on the organization of the Wrangel Island state reserve, including Wrangel and Herald islands, to protect the unique natural complexes of the islands. 12/26/83. A resolution was signed by the Magazhan Regional Executive Committee on organizing a 5 km wide protective zone around the islands. In 1997, at the proposal of the Governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the area of ​​the reserve was expanded by including the water area surrounding the island with a width of 12 nautical miles, and in 1999, around the already protected water area, by decree of the Governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, a protective zone with a width of 24 nautical miles was organized. nautical miles.

By the 80s, the state farm branch on the island was liquidated and the village of Zvezdny was practically closed, and hunting was also stopped, with the exception of a small quota of marine mammals for the needs of the local population. In 1992, the radar station was closed and the only one left on the island locality- Ushakovskoe village. In 1994, the reserve office, due to problems with life support in the village. Ushakovskoye was transferred to the village of Cape Shmidta on the Chukotka coast, and in 1999 - to the city of Pevek, which created significant difficulties in the work of the reserve.

Judging by the finds of archaeologists, the first people appeared here in 1750 BC. e., Wrangel Island was put on maps in the middle of the 19th century. In 1921, the colonization of the island began: first, settlers from the USA and Canada arrived here, and in 1924, the Soviet flag was raised over the island. The first polar station, under the leadership of the Russian Arctic explorer Georgy Ushakov, was created already in 1926.

The geographical position of this territory is surprising: Wrangel Island is divided by the 180th meridian into two almost equal parts, which means it is located simultaneously in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Today the island administratively belongs to the Iultinsky district of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Washed by the Arctic Ocean, the reserve is the northernmost in Far East, and by the number of endemic plants and animals (that is, living only in one climatic zone) has no analogues in the world and even surpasses Greenland.

The territory of the protected zone on Wrangel and Herald islands is almost 800 thousand hectares. Mountains, occupying two-thirds of the territory, are the main type of landscape. The rest is arctic tundra with small lakes and streams, of which there are about 900. Despite the proximity of the Arctic Circle, there are no glaciers on the island.

Flora and fauna of the island

The Chukchi name of Wrangel Island, Umkilir, translates as “island of polar bears.” Indeed, the number of dens of this northern predator here is the largest in the world. Every year, 400–500 bears hibernate on the island. And the history of creating a full-fledged reserve began with another mammal - the musk ox. They were brought in in 1975 in the amount of 20 individuals and after many years of adaptation they took root. There are currently about 900 individuals on the island. Another ungulate, reindeer, was introduced here in the early 1950s, and today it is the only large population of reindeer on the islands (9-10 thousand individuals). The coast is home to walruses that migrate to the Bering Sea for the winter. And in the waters of the reserve, scientists study cetaceans; The most common species are beluga whales and gray whales, and sometimes the bowhead whale. The island is home to Asia's largest colony of white geese. And in general, the fauna is unique in terms of population size. Also inhabited here are the arctic fox, wolverine, wolf, red fox, Siberian lemming and Vinogradov's lemming - the aborigines of this territory.

The harsh climate does not contribute to the diversity of flora: there are no frosts only 20 days a year; The polar night, when the air temperature drops to -30°C and the wind reaches 40 m/s, lasts over three months. However, the island has 417 plant species: more than anywhere else in the Arctic climate zone. These are mainly lichens, mosses and dwarf trees.

Tourist routes

Due to climatic conditions, the only settlement on this territory was officially declared non-residential in 1997: only groups of research scientists and reserve employees are on the island. Visits to the Wrangel Island Nature Reserve are limited, but there are about 10 tourist routes summer and autumn. They include traveling along rivers and ravines on all-terrain vehicles or, very rarely, on foot, but most importantly, watching animals: deer, polar bears... and whales, if you're lucky, of course. You cannot move more than 20 m away from the guide, so as not to meet one-on-one with the ferocious northern predators.

In 2004, the Wrangel Island Nature Reserve was included in the list of objects World Heritage UNESCO.

Geographical position

"Wrangel Island"- state nature reserve, occupies the most northern position (located mainly north of 71° N) of the protected areas in Russia.

Created in 1976. The total area is 2,225,650 hectares, including the water area - 1,430,000 hectares. The area of ​​the protected zone is 795,593 hectares. It occupies two islands of the Chukchi Sea - Wrangel and Herald, as well as the adjacent water area, and is located in the Shmidtovsky district of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.

Approximately 2/3 of the territory of the Wrangel Island is occupied by mountains. The climate in the area of ​​the islands is arctic with a significant influence of cyclonic activity. The frost-free period on the islands usually does not exceed 20-25 days.

How to get there

Today Wrangel Island is one of the most inaccessible nature reserves in the world. To visit it, several special government permits are required.
Getting to the island is not easy: in winter you have to fly by helicopter, and in summer you have to sail on an icebreaker.

Climate

The climate in the area of ​​the islands is arctic with a significant influence of cyclonic activity. The frost-free period on the islands usually does not exceed 20-25 days. Winter, with constant frosts and strong winds causing snowstorms, reigns for most of the year. The cool summer does not last long, it is often interrupted by frosts and snowfalls, but despite this, during the polar day, vibrant life flares up on the islands.

Population

Officially, the village of Ushakovskoye on Wrangel Island was declared uninhabited in 1997. However, several people refused to leave him. The last 25-year-old female islander named Vasilina Alpaun was mauled to death in 2003 polar bear. After her, the only civilian left on the island was the man Grigory Kaurgin, who practices shamanism. The presence of people on the island was again ensured by the Russian military from the troops of the Eastern Military District (VMD), who on October 1, 2014 settled in the military town created for them.

Nature

The flora of Wrangel Island has no analogues in the Arctic in its richness and level of endemism. To date, 417 species and subspecies of vascular plants have been identified in the reserve. This is more than is known for the entire Canadian Arctic Archipelago and is 2-2.5 times higher than the number of species in other Arctic tundra areas of similar sizes. About 3% of the flora of Wrangel Island consists of subendemic species. Among the vascular plants, 23 taxa are endemic to the island. In terms of the number of endemics, Wrangel Island has no equal among the Arctic islands, including Greenland. A number of endemic plants (Oxytropis ushakovii, Papaver multiradiatum and Papaver chionophilum) are common on the island. Endemics also include a variety of anthrax, a subspecies of Lapland poppy, Gorodkov and Ushakov poppies, and Wrangel's cinquefoil. The number of known species of mosses (331) and lichens (310) on Wrangel Island also exceeds other areas in the Arctic tundra subzone.

Sedge-moss tundras predominate; the middle and lower zones of the mountains are occupied by grass-lichen and shrub-forb tundras. There are swamps with sphagnum, low and creeping willow thickets. In the upper zones of the mountains there are extensive rocky areas.

Natural conditions are not conducive to the richness of the fauna.

There are absolutely no amphibians or reptiles in the reserve; fish (cod, capelin and some others) can only be seen in coastal waters. But on the island there are 169 species of birds, most of which are vagrants; nesting is registered for 62 species, of which 44 species nest on the islands regularly, including 8 species of seabirds. For example: gulls, guillemots, etc. Among birds, we must first of all mention the white goose, which forms its only large autonomous nesting colony of several tens of thousands of pairs preserved in Russia and Asia. Brent geese nest regularly (moreover, non-breeding geese fly here in the thousands to molt from mainland Chukotka and Alaska), common eider and crested eider, and in very small numbers Siberian eider, pintails and waders. On the steep seashores there are bird colonies, which in the 60s, according to the famous explorer of the North S.M. Uspensky, numbered 50-100 thousand thick-billed guillemots, 30-40 thousand kittiwakes, 3 thousand cormorants. V.V. Dezhkin in his book “In the World of Reserved Nature,” published in 1989, writes “Now there are fewer of these birds,” and on the official website of the reserve the total number of seabird colonies is estimated at 250-300 thousand nesting individuals.

The bulk of the bird population consists of tundra species, most of which have circumpolar ranges and are common throughout the Arctic tundra. These are the Lapland plantain, snow bunting, tules, turnstone, Icelandic sandpiper and a number of other species. At the same time, there are known cases of nesting of species uncharacteristic for the Arctic, such as the turukhtan, the ruby-throated sandpiper, the puffin and puffin, and the common warbler, for which Wrangel Island is the most northern point nesting. Ipatka in last years began to nest on the seabird colonies of Wrangel Island regularly and its numbers are growing.

The world of mammals is poorer, and its most typical representatives are the Siberian lemming and Vinogradov’s lemming, which in years of high numbers are very important in the ecosystems of the reserve. Arctic fox, ermine, wolverine, wild reindeer, wolves live, and red foxes wander in. But a particularly famous resident of both islands is the polar bear. Wrangel and Herald Islands are known as the world's largest concentration of polar bear maternity dens. V.V. Dezhkin writes: “In some years, up to 200-250 bears had dens in the reserve.” On the reserve’s website there is information that “every year from 300 to 500 bears lie in dens on the islands. Approximately 100 ancestral dens from this number are located on a small island. Herald." In the spring, with slightly stronger offspring, they set off on a journey through the expanses of the Arctic.

Ungulates are represented in the reserve by two species - reindeer and musk ox. Reindeer were brought to Wrangel Island in the late 40s and early 50s: they were brought in two batches of domesticated reindeer from the coast of Chukotka. Currently, they represent an island population of wild reindeer, unique in history and biological characteristics, the number of which in certain periods reached 9-10 thousand individuals. In 1975, a year before the establishment of the reserve, 20 musk oxen captured on the American island of Nunivak were brought to Wrangel Island. The period of adaptation of musk oxen on the island and their development of the entire territory passed with difficulties and was extended for several years, after which the survival of the original herd was no longer in doubt and the population began to actively grow. Currently, the number of musk oxen on the island is about 800-900 individuals, according to the situation in the fall of 2007 - perhaps up to 1000. According to paleontological data, both species of ungulates lived on the territory of Wrangel Island in the late Pleistocene, and reindeer much later - only 2 -3 thousand years ago.

Finally, walruses, the most interesting and valuable sea animals, set up rookeries on the coasts of the reserve. Their protection and study are the tasks of local scientists. The Pacific walrus lives here, for which this water area is the most important summer feeding area. In certain years, during the summer-autumn period - from July to the end of September-beginning of October - most of the females and young animals of the entire population accumulate near the islands. Walruses stay near the edge of the ice and prefer to crawl out onto the ice floes to rest, as long as they are in the water area. When ice disappears near the most feeding shallow areas, walruses approach the islands and form the largest coastal rookeries in the Chukchi Sea on certain spits. At the same time, a total of up to 70-80 thousand animals were recorded in the coastal rookeries of walruses on Wrangel Island, and taking into account the animals swimming in the water, up to 130 thousand walruses gathered here. Walruses migrate to the Bering Sea for the winter.

Ringed seals and bearded seals are common in coastal waters throughout the year. Ringed seals are the main food for polar bears during all year round, providing the complete life cycle of the predator.

In the summer-autumn period, the water area adjacent to the Wrangel and Herald islands— feeding and migration area for cetaceans. The gray whale is the most numerous here. In recent years, the number of gray whales in the summer-autumn period off the coast of Wrangel Island has noticeably increased. Every year large herds of beluga whales pass along the shores of Wrangel Island during their autumn migration. Based on satellite tagging data, it was established that beluga whales approach Wrangel Island in the fall and gather to give birth in the Mackenzie River delta (Canada).

The rocky island, washed by the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean, proudly bears the name of the Russian navigator and explorer Wrangel. On the island there is a reserve of the same name, protected by UNESCO.

The island, where nature fascinates with its immense beauty, lies at the junction of the western and eastern hemispheres. From mid-November to January, the polar night sets in, diligently enveloping the island in a black shroud. At this time, seeing the border between land and sea depths becomes almost impossible. The local landscape takes on thousands of shades thanks to the moonlight reflecting from the icy surface. Lovers of local beauty recommend visiting this protected corner of the Arctic, if only to see the incredible a natural phenomenon- northern lights.

The polar day, lasting from May to July, enlivens the entire environment of the island and the reserve in particular. Although the heat from this solar event does not increase, the flora and fauna become more active. At this time, Wrangel Island is filled with many species of birds flying to this area for nesting grounds.

If we talk about the size of the island, they are quite impressive. The area is 7670 km², more than half of which is filled with mountains. The width is 150 kilometers, and the length reaches 125. Highest point The island is considered to be Mount Sovetskaya, the peak of which is at 1096 meters.

Wrangel Island records:

The remains of a dwarf mammoth, a previously unknown species, were discovered on the island. The mammoth lived in this territory even 6000 years after the established date of extinction of the mammoth population throughout the world!

The climatic features of the island are very harsh, even global warming of the planet is not improved by the harsh icy winds without moisture during the polar night, as well as frequent dense fogs with the onset of the polar day. The average annual temperature is around +11°C.

Features of the Wrangel Island Nature Reserve.

The flora is very unique, and still breaks records in terms of its quantitative significance. 331 species of mosses and 310 species of lichens grow here, which makes the reserve a leading position among the subzones of the Arctic tundra. Also on the territory of the reserve there are almost all types of landscapes characteristic of the Arctic zone, with the only exception being glacial ones. Exists interesting feature flora, because the height of plants does not exceed 10 centimeters, and the giant among them is considered to be the shrubby willow, growing up to a meter mark.

There are many streams running through the reserve, as well as lakes and rivers that are not very deep. Part protected area also includes Herald Island. As for the fauna, arctic wolves, wolverines, arctic foxes, walruses, polar bears, lemmings and seals have become permanent residents of the area.

Currently, eco-tourism is being developed on the island, so getting here is becoming much easier. The complex reserve is being studied by numerous scientists, and the charms of pristine nature bewitch everyone who was able to find themselves in such a unique place.

Wrangel Island is one of the largest islands in the Arctic Ocean and the reserve of the same name. It is separated from Chukotka by the Long Strait, whose width is on average 150 km. The area of ​​Wrangel Island is 7670 sq. km, and most of it is covered with mountains maximum height at 1096 meters.

Wrangel Island is a very harsh region and people have practically never tried to develop it. There were small military bases and polar stations here for a short time, the last of which closed in 2003. But there is no need to make a tragedy out of this, because the island is essentially a desert, and according to the classification it belongs to the Arctic tundra. Animal and vegetable world is presented very poorly, and titanic efforts must be made to develop these lands. For example, there is no summer here at all and the average temperature even in summer is only 2-3 degrees Celsius and during the remaining 9 months the temperature rarely rises above zero.

History of discovery

The first people lived on the island from ancient times, and the oldest sites found date back to 2 thousand years BC. The remains of the island’s mammoths, the youngest of all those found on our planet, also date back to this period. In appearance, they were dwarf relatives of mainland mammoths. It is unknown exactly when people left the island, but by the time the first explorers arrived, the island was already empty.

Despite the severity of the climate and the impossibility of development, there was a serious struggle for the island, which ultimately ended in favor of Russia. Wrangel Island was first put on maps in 1849 by the English explorer Henry Kellett. He named it after himself - Kellett Land, but the name did not stick, and few people were interested in the island itself. The next news about the island dates back to 1866, when an American trade expedition visited it. The expedition was led by Thomas Long, who named the island in honor of Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel, who searched for this island in the 20s of the 19th century but never found it. The next visitors to the island were the American rescue ship, which was searching for the missing De Long expedition. The Americans landed on the island to inspect its coast and at the same time declared it US territory, but this was somehow quickly forgotten, and in 1911 the Russian icebreaker Vaigach approached the island and planted the Russian flag on the island.

In 1913, an event occurred that again launched a sluggish round of struggle for the island. The Canadian Arctic expedition, sent to explore the Canadian Arctic shelf, was trapped in ice and could not get out on its own. The ship drifted among the ice for some time and ended up near Wrangel Island. A year later, the researchers were rescued, but only half of the team was able to survive the winter. The expedition was commanded by Vilhjalmur Stefanson, who immediately saw the possibility of fishing near the shores of Wrangel Island and planned to establish a colony on the island. However, neither Canada nor Great Britain agreed to his proposal. Then Stefanson decided to act with cunning. In 1921, the first five settlers arrived here and the British flag was hoisted, which immediately gave rise to a big diplomatic scandal. The British quickly disowned the entrepreneur's grief. However, two years later, 13 more settlers arrived here and this time declared the island American territory, which could not go unnoticed, and a small icebreaker with a detachment of military men and armed with cannons immediately headed towards the island. In 1924, he forcibly removed the colonists and hoisted the USSR flag over the island.

This story served as a good lesson, and after the expulsion of the uninvited guests, plans emerged for the colonization of the island by the USSR. 60 colonists were brought to the island, most of whom represented indigenous northern peoples. This event finally staked out the island for Russia. In the 60s, two small military settlements were founded, and military infrastructure facilities were built. In the 90s, residents left the island and the military infrastructure was abandoned.

Flora and fauna

For the most part, the island is inhabited exclusively along coastline, since the sea is the main source of food for almost all animals. For a long time inner part inhabited only by small rodents feeding on plant foods, as well as birds. Among the permanent residents of the island's birds are only owls that hunt rodents; the rest of the birds fly to nest, for example, the rarest species of wild hollow geese, which establish their colony here. But there was no place for other predators in the depths of the island, since the rivers and lakes freeze completely and are fishless. In the middle of the century, colonists brought reindeer here, but they scattered across the island and, in the absence of predators, multiplied very quickly. In 1975, musk oxen were brought to the island, which also took root here and found an excellent home for themselves without any threats from predators and humans.

The only large predator is the polar bear, which wanders along the coast in search of food. Also on the shore you can find entire colonies of seals and walruses, which feel very comfortable here, because the human presence here is practically reduced to zero. The walrus colony here is the largest in our country. Birds also choose the coastal zone for their temporary colonies. However, such abundance does not last long and already in the fall, with the onset of ice, many species move away from the coast, or like the polar bear, they simply hibernate until warmer weather arrives, and deer go to the mountain valleys, where they find food for themselves in winter.

The island's plants are not much different from the tundra of other places, but the range of species is unique. Most of these are dwarf plants, and due to the strongest northern winds, their height is no more than 10 cm. But with all this, most species have very ancient origin and has not changed its appearance for many thousands of years. In total, there are 114 rare species on the island, and due to the distance from the mainland and the harsh climate, the plant composition here is much better preserved than on others northern islands. There are also small dwarf trees - Willow, which are found in mountain valleys and gorges, protected from the wind. Their size rarely exceeds 1 meter in height.