Wrangel Island coordinates. Reserve Wrangel Island: animals and plants

Archaeological finds in the area of ​​the Devil's Ravine indicate that the first people (paleo-Eskimos) hunted on the island as early as 1750 BC. e.

The existence of the island was known to Russian pioneers since the middle of the 17th century according to the stories of local residents of Chukotka, but on geographic Maps he came only after two hundred years.

Opening
In 1849, the British explorer Henry Kellett discovered in the Chukchi Sea new island and named it in honor of his ship "Herald" Herald Island. To the west of the island, Herald Kellett observed another island and marked it on the map. The island got its first name: "Kellett's Land".

In 1866, the first European visited the western island - Captain Eduard Dallmann (German: Eduard Dallmann), who conducted trade operations with the inhabitants of Alaska and Chukotka. In 1867, Thomas Long, an American whaler by profession and explorer by vocation, - perhaps not knowing about Kellett's previous discovery, or misidentifying the island - named it after the Russian traveler and statesman Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel. Wrangel knew about the existence of the island from the Chukchi and unsuccessfully searched for it during 1820-1824.

In 1879, the path of the expedition of George De Long lay near Wrangel Island, who tried to reach the North Pole on the ship Jeannette (eng. "USS Jeannette"). De Long's voyage ended in disaster, and in 1881, the American steam cutter Thomas Corwin under the command of Calvin L. Hooper approached the island in search of him. Hooper landed a search party on the island and proclaimed it a US territory.

In September 1911, the Vaigach icebreaker from the Russian hydrographic expedition of the Arctic Ocean approached Wrangel Island. The crew of the Vaigach surveyed the coast of the island, landed and raised the Russian flag over it.

Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913-1916
On July 13, 1913, the brigantine of the Canadian Arctic expedition "Karluk" (born "Karluk"), led by anthropologist V. Stefanson, left the port of Nome (Alaska) to explore Herschel Island in the Beaufort Sea. August 13, 1913, 300 kilometers from the destination, "Karluk" was caught in the ice and began a slow drift to the west. On September 19, six people, including Stefanson, went hunting, but due to the drift of the ice, they could no longer return to the ship. They had to make their way to Cape Barrow. Later, allegations were made against Stefanson that he deliberately left the ship on the pretext of hunting in order to study the islands of the Canadian Arctic archipelago.

25 people remained on the Karluk - the team, members of the expedition and hunters. The drift of the brigantine continued along the route of George De Long's barque Jeannette until it was crushed by ice on January 10, 1914. The first party of sailors, on behalf of Bartlett and under the command of Bjarne Mamen, set out for Wrangel Island, but mistakenly reached Herald Island. Sandy Anderson, the senior assistant to the captain of the Karluk, remained on Herald Island with three sailors. All four died, presumably due to food poisoning. Another party, including Alistair McCoy (a member of Shackleton's Antarctic expedition in 1907-1909), undertook an independent trip to Wrangel Island (at a distance of 130 km) and went missing. The remaining 17 people under the command of Barlett managed to get to Wrangel Island and came ashore in Draghi Bay. In 1988, traces of their camp were found here and a memorial sign was erected. Captain Barlett (who had experience of participating in the expeditions of Robert Peary) and the Eskimo hunter Kataktovik together set off across the ice to the mainland for help. In a few weeks they successfully reached the coast of Alaska, but ice conditions prevented an immediate rescue expedition.

Russian icebreakers "Taimyr" and "Vaigach" in the summer of 1914 twice (August 1-5, then August 10-12) tried to break through to help, but could not overcome the ice. Several attempts by the American cutter "Bear" (eng. "Bear") were also unsuccessful.

Of the 15 people remaining on Wrangel Island, three died: two died as a result of pemmican poisoning, the third was killed. The survivors earned their livelihood by hunting and were only rescued in September 1914 by an expedition on the Canadian schooner King and Wing (eng. King & Winge).

Expeditions Stefanson 1921-1924
Encouraged by the experience of the survival of the crew of the Karluk and the prospects for marine fishing off Wrangel Island, Stefanson launched a campaign to colonize the island. To support his enterprise, Stefanson tried to get official status from first the Canadian and then the British government, but his idea was rejected. The refusal, however, did not prevent Stefanson from declaring support for the authorities and then raising the flag of Great Britain over Wrangel Island. As a result, this led to a diplomatic scandal.

On September 16, 1921, a settlement of five colonists was founded on the island: 22-year-old Canadian Alan Crawford, Americans Galle, Maurer (a member of the expedition on the Karluk), Knight and an Eskimo woman Ada Blackjack as a seamstress and cook. The expedition was sparsely equipped, as Stefanson relied on hunting as one of his main sources of supply. Having successfully overwintered the first winter and having lost only one dog (out of seven available), the colonists hoped for the arrival of a ship with supplies and a change in the summer. Due to severe ice conditions, the ship could not approach the island and people stayed for another winter.

In September 1922, the White Army gunboat Magnit (a former messenger ship armed during the Civil War) under the command of Lieutenant D. A. von Dreyer tried to pass to Wrangel Island, but the ice did not give her such an opportunity. Opinions differ on the purpose of the Magnit’s trip to Wrangel Island - this is the suppression of the activities of Stefanson’s enterprise (expressed by contemporaries and participants in the events), or, on the contrary, providing him with assistance for a fee (expressed in the newspaper of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation in 2008). Due to the military defeat of the White movement on Far East, the ship never returned to Vladivostok, the Magnit crew went into exile.

After the hunt failed and food supplies ran out, on January 28, 1923, three polar explorers went to the mainland for help. Nobody else saw them. Remaining on Knight Island, he died of scurvy in April 1923. Only 25-year-old Ada Blackjack survived. She managed to survive alone on the island until the arrival of the ship on August 19, 1923.

In 1923, 13 settlers remained on the island for the winter - the American geologist Charles Wells and twelve Eskimos, including women and children. Another child was born on the island during the winter. In 1924, disturbed by the news of the establishment of a foreign colony on Russian island, the government of the USSR sent the gunboat Krasny Oktyabr to Wrangel Island (the former Vladivostok port icebreaker Nadezhny, on which guns were installed).

"Red October" left Vladivostok on July 20, 1924 under the command of hydrographer B.V. Davydov. On August 20, 1924, the expedition raised the Soviet flag on the island and evacuated the settlers. On the way back, on September 25, in the Long Strait near Cape Schmidt, the icebreaker was hopelessly trapped in ice, but a storm helped it free itself. Overcoming heavy ice led to excessive fuel consumption. By the time the ship anchored in Providence Bay, there was 25 minutes of fuel left and no fresh water at all. The icebreaker returned to Vladivostok on October 29, 1924.

Soviet-American, and then Chinese-American negotiations on the further return of the colonists to their homeland through Harbin took a long time. Three did not live to return - the leader of the expedition, Charles Wells, died in Vladivostok from pneumonia; two children died during the ensuing journey.

Development
In 1926, a polar station was established on Wrangel Island under the leadership of G. A. Ushakov. Together with Ushakov, 59 people landed on the island, mostly Eskimos, who previously lived in the villages of Providence and Chaplino. In 1928, an expedition was made to the island on the Litka icebreaker, the boiler room on which the Ukrainian writer and journalist Nikolai Trublaini worked, who described Wrangel Island in a number of his books, in particular “To the Arctic - through the tropics”. In 1948, a small group of domestic reindeer was brought to the island and a department of a reindeer-breeding state farm was organized. In 1953, the administrative authorities adopted a resolution on the protection of walrus rookeries on Wrangel Island, and in 1960, by decision of the Magadan Regional Executive Committee, a long-term sanctuary was created, which in 1968 was transformed into a sanctuary of republican significance.

Gulag
In 1987, former prisoner Efim Moshinsky published a book in which he claimed that he was in a "corrective labor camp" on Wrangel Island and met Raoul Wallenberg and other foreign prisoners there. In fact, contrary to legend, there were no Gulag camps on Wrangel Island.

Reserve
In 1975, musk oxen from the island of Nunivak were introduced to the island, and the executive committee of the Magadan Region assigned the lands of the islands to the future reserve. In 1976, to study and protect the natural complexes of the Arctic islands, the Wrangel Island nature reserve was founded, which also included the small neighboring island of Herald. In connection with the reserve, a 5 nautical mile wide buffer zone was established around the islands. The total area of ​​the reserve was 795.6 thousand hectares. In 1978, the Scientific Department of the Reserve was organized, whose employees began a systematic study of the flora and fauna of the islands.

Closed in 1992 radar station and the only settlement remained on the island - the village of Ushakovskoye. In 1997, at the suggestion of the Governor of Chukotka autonomous region and the State Committee for Ecology of Russia, the area of ​​​​the reserve was expanded by including in its composition the water area surrounding the island with a width of 12 nautical miles, by order of the government of the Russian Federation N ° 1623-r of November 15, 1997, and in 1999, around the already reserved water area by the decree of the governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Region N ° 91 dated May 25, 1999, a security zone 24 nautical miles wide was organized.

The area of ​​the island is about 7670 km², of which about 4700 km² are mountains. The shores are low-lying, dissected by lagoons, separated by sandy spits from the sea. The central part of the island is mountainous. There are small glaciers and medium-sized lakes, arctic tundra.
Relief

The relief of the island is strongly dissected. The mountains occupying most of the island form three parallel chains - the North Range, the Middle Range and the South Range - ending in the west and east with coastal rocky cliffs. The most powerful is the Sredny Ridge, in which the highest point of the island is located - Mount Sovetskaya (1096 m). The northern ridge is the lowest, it passes into a wide swampy plain, called the Tundra of the Academy. The southern ridge is low and passes not far from the sea coast. In 1952, a mountain in the central part of Wrangel Island was named after Leonid Vasilyevich Gromov.

Between the ridges are valleys with numerous rivers. In total, there are more than 140 rivers and streams on the island with a length of more than 1 km and 5 rivers with a length of more than 50 km. Of the approximately 900 lakes, most of which are located in the Academy Tundra (north of the island), 6 lakes have an area exceeding 1 km². On average, the depth of the lakes is not more than 2 m. By origin, the lakes are divided into thermokarst, which include the majority, oxbow (in the valleys of large rivers), glacial, dammed and lagoonal. The largest of them are: Kmo, Komsomol, Gagachye, Zapovednoe.

Climate
The climate is harsh. For most of the year, masses of cold arctic air with a low content of moisture and dust move over the area. In summer, warmer and more humid air from the Pacific Ocean comes from the southeast. Periodically dry and strongly heated air masses come from Siberia.

The polar day lasts from the 2nd decade of May to the 20th of July, the polar night - from the 2nd decade of November to the end of January.

Winters are long, characterized by stable frosty weather, strong northern winds. The average January temperature is −22.3 °C, especially the cold months are February and March. During this period, the temperature stays below -30 °C for weeks, frequent snowstorms with wind speeds up to 40 m/s and higher.

Summers are cool, frosts and snowfalls occur, the average July temperature ranges from +2 °C to +2.5 °C. In the center of the island, fenced off from the sea by mountains, due to better air heating and foehns, summers are warmer and drier.

The average relative humidity is about 82%, the annual precipitation is about 180 mm.

Flora
The first researcher of the vegetation of Wrangel Island, B. N. Gorodkov, who in 1938 studied the eastern coast of the island, attributed it to the zone of arctic and polar deserts. After a complete study of the entire island from the 2nd half of the 20th century. it belongs to the arctic tundra subzone of the tundra zone. Despite the relatively small size of Wrangel Island, due to the sharp regional features of its vegetation, it stands out as a special Wrangel subprovince of the Wrangel-West American province of the Arctic tundra.

The vegetation of Wrangel Island is distinguished by a rich ancient species composition. The number of vascular plant species exceeds 310 (for example, there are only 135 such species on the much larger New Siberian Islands, about 65 on the Severnaya Zemlya islands, and less than 50 on Franz Josef Land). The flora of the island is rich in relics and relatively poor in plants common in other polar regions, which, according to various estimates, are no more than 35-40%.

About 3% of the plants are subendemic (beskilnitsa, Gorodkov's poppy, Wrangel's poppy) and endemic (Wrangel's bluegrass, Ushakov's poppy, Wrangel's Potentilla, Lapland's poppy). In addition to them, another 114 species of rare and very rare plants grow on Wrangel Island.

Similar composition flora allows us to conclude that the original Arctic vegetation in this area of ​​ancient Beringia was not destroyed by glaciers, and the sea prevented the penetration of later migrants from the south.

The modern vegetation cover on the territory of the reserve is open and undersized almost everywhere. Sedge-moss tundra prevails. In the mountain valleys and intermountain basins of the central part of Wrangel Island, there are areas of thickets of willow (Richardson willow) up to 1 m high.

The fauna of the island as a whole is not rich in species, which is associated with harsh climatic conditions.

fish in coastal waters islands have not been explored enough. There are no fish in the freshwater reservoirs of the island.

At least 20 species of birds regularly nest on the island, and another 20 species are vagrant or irregularly nesting for the reserve.

The most numerous birds are white geese, which are among the rare animals. They form one main colony in the valley of the Tundrovaya River in the center of Wrangel Island and several small colonies. Passerines are also numerous, represented by snow bunting and Lapland plantains. For nesting and molting, black geese arrive in the reserve. Also among the inhabitants of the reserve are eiders, Icelandic sandpipers, tules, burgomasters, fork-tailed gulls, long-tailed skuas, snowy owls. Less common in the reserve are oystercatchers, pouts, arctic terns, skuas, red-throated loons, crows, and tap dances.

Quite often, birds fly into the territory of the reserve or are carried by the wind from North America, among which are sandhill cranes regularly visiting Wrangel Island, as well as Canada goose and various American small passerines, including finches (myrtle songbirds, common buntings, black-browed buntings, juncos, white-crowned zonotrichia).

The mammalian fauna of the reserve is poor. The endemic Vinogradov's lemming, previously considered a subspecies of the hoofed lemming, the Siberian lemming and the arctic fox live here permanently. Periodically, and in significant quantities, appears polar bear, whose maternity dens are located within the boundaries of the reserve. From time to time, wolves, wolverines, ermines and foxes penetrate the reserve. Together with people, sled dogs settled on Wrangel Island. The house mouse appeared and lives in residential buildings. Reindeer and musk ox were brought to the island for acclimatization.

Reindeer lived here in the distant past, and the modern herd comes from domestic deer brought in 1948, 1954, 1967, 1968, 1975 from the Chukotka Peninsula. The deer population is maintained in the amount of up to 1.5 thousand heads.

There is evidence that musk oxen lived on Wrangel Island in the distant past. In our time, a herd of 20 heads was imported in April 1975 from the American island of Nunivak.

On the territory of the island is the largest walrus rookery in Russia. Seals live in coastal waters.

In the mid-1990s, you could read about a startling discovery made on the island in Nature magazine. An employee of the reserve, Sergey Vartanyan, discovered here the remains of mammoths, whose age was determined from 7 to 3.5 thousand years. Despite the fact that, according to popular belief, mammoths died out everywhere 10-12 thousand years ago. Subsequently, it was discovered that these remains belong to a special relatively small subspecies that inhabited Wrangel Island back in the days when the Egyptian pyramids, and which disappeared only in the reign of Tutankhamun and the heyday of the Mycenaean civilization. This puts Wrangel Island among the most important paleontological monuments of the planet.

No, the island is not named after the famous Russian commander Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel.

A rare case when even in the dry academic reference of Wikipedia, the history of this island is read as a detective story.

So, Wrangel Island is a piece of land surrounded by ice in the Arctic Ocean.
The area of ​​the territory is about 7670 sq. km. Extremely harsh environmental conditions. The average temperature in July is +3 degrees. In January-February, it often drops to -37.

The first people, the Paleo-Eskimos, hunted on this island as early as 1750 BC. It is unlikely that the climate of those places was very different from what can be found now, therefore, these hunters had a hard time.

More than two thousand years passed before this island was first depicted on maps. The island received its first name, "Kellet's Land" in 1849, thanks to the English navigator, Henry Kellet, who described it during his expedition to the Chukchi Sea.

Another 16 years passed, and in 1866 a crew of a merchant ship landed on the island under the leadership of Captain Eduard Dahlmann.

The next year, in 1867, by a strange coincidence, the island receives a different name, with which it is included in all maps of the world. The American explorer and whaler Thomas Long, either not knowing about Kellett's discovery, or simply due to a navigational error, names the island in honor of the famous Russian traveler, geographer, statesman, admiral, Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel.

It may seem strange that an American gives the new island the name of a Russian traveler, but, given the wide popularity of Ferdinand Petrovich, who at that time already had three world travel and many other merits, the act looks quite normal.

In 1881, Captain Hooper landed a search party on the island in order to save the expedition of George De Long, which went to the North Pole on the Jeannette ship two years earlier and crashed. At the same time, Captain Hooper sets the American flag on the island and proclaims it the territory of the North American United States. In this status, Wrangel Island existed for 30 years, before, already in the 20th century, in 1911, the team of the icebreaking steamer (!) Vaygach approached the island, photographed its coast, and installed the Russian flag, about which balls made a corresponding entry in the logbook.

1914
For about six months, from January to September, 15 crew members of the brigantine Karluk lived on the island in anticipation of a rescue expedition after their ship was crushed by ice 130 kilometers from the coast.

1921
Canadian polar explorer Williamour Stefanson establishes a settlement of five colonists on the island, proclaims the territory the property of Great Britain and raises the flag of the United Kingdom.

For two years, the colonists lived on the island without communication with the outside world. Several ships that during this time tried to bring provisions and equipment to the island could not pass through the ice. And only in August 1923, the only survivor was rescued from the island, 25-year-old Ada Blackjack, who had lived in absolute solitude for the last six months. The rest of the colonists died.

In 1923, another attempt was made to colonize the island, this time by the American geologist Charles Wells, who founded the camp, bringing with him 12 experienced inhabitants of the far north, with women and children. The colony existed for several months, until August 20, 1924, when it was taken out in full force by the Soviet warship Red October.

1926
A permanent settlement of 59 people is founded on Wrangel Island under the leadership of the Soviet Arctic explorer Georgy Ushakov. The foundation of the polar station is being laid.

1948-1960s.
Reindeer were brought to the island from the mainland, a reindeer-breeding state farm was organized, 2 more settlements were founded, and several military infrastructure facilities were built.

One of the residents of the village, V. Prydatko-Dolin, describes the state of the settlement in his book “Ushakovskoye: how was it?”:

By the end of the 1970s, there was a village council, a boarding school, a kindergarten and a boiler room, a cinema club, an office of the reserve (and later the Wrangel Island reserve) and a modest natural history museum, a shop (TZP) and an underground glacier for storing meat products, temporary corral (for autumn driving and slaughtering deer), post office, hospital, Rogers Bay polar station (Rogers), Rogers airport (for AN-2, MI-2, MI-6, MI-8) and a small air refueling station, a fuel and lubricants warehouse and bulk coal storage, a library, a diesel power plant and a bathhouse, and there was electricity in the houses.

During navigation, a temporary berth for barges worked. Since the beginning of the 1980s, a radiotelephone communication station, a frontier post, a canteen for employees of the reserve and air crews appeared and operated, television worked, and a lighthouse was restored on the Ushakov Spit.

But, already in the late 1980s, the military and permanent residents, due to lack of funding, began to leave the island, in 1992, after the collapse of the USSR, the radar station was closed.

In 1997, all the remaining residents of the village, except for those who refused to leave their usual home, were transferred to Cape Schmidt. A few years later, one of the residents of the village returned, but already in 2003 she died as a result of an attack by a polar bear.

Wrangel Island - on the border of the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas, as part of the 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. Separated from the mainland north coast Chukotka) by the Long Strait, which has a width of about 140 km in its narrowest part. Administratively it belongs to the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. It is part of the reserve of the same name. Is an object world heritage UNESCO. It got its name in honor of the Russian navigator and polar explorer Ferdinand Wrangel.

The territory of the Wrangel and Herald Islands, with the exception of the low plains of Wrangel Island, remained dry land throughout the Cretaceous period and the entire Cenozoic era. During the powerful Pleistocene transgressions, the territories of the islands repeatedly separated from the mainland, and during periods of sea regression coinciding with the ice ages, they were part of the vast Beringian land, which united the shelves of the East Siberian, Chukchi and Bering Seas and connecting Asia and North America. At the same time, the territory of the modern islands was located almost in the center of the Arctic part of Beringia, located to the north of the modern Bering Strait. It is especially important that during the entire Pleistocene the islands never experienced ice cover (there are traces of only mountain-valley glaciation in the central part of Wrangel Island), and they never completely flooded (transgressions covered only the plains of Wrangel Island, and even then no more than half of their length). That is, the organic world of the islands has developed continuously since the end of the Mesozoic era.

During the periods of existence of the Beringian land, the territory of modern islands was at the crossroads of migration flows of plants and animals leading from Asia to America, from America to Asia and from Central Asia in the Arctic region (due to the existence in this period of a single “tundra-steppe” hyperzone throughout the entire length from the central arid to the most high-latitude regions of Eurasia and North America) and, as is commonly believed, in the center of the largest area of ​​evolution of modern Arctic biota. During periods of transgression, when most of the shelf land was under water, the islands acted as a refugium for many species and communities distributed on the 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 the Arctic landscapes - the collapse of a single tundra-steppe zone and the mass expansion of hypoarctic flora and fauna to the north.

The latter, due to insular isolation, manifested itself in a very weakened form on the islands, which, together with the peculiarities of the physical and geographical situation (landscape diversity, while maintaining the “refugia” of continental conditions), ensured the survival of many relic elements here, as populations of individual species, as well as entire communities.

However, due to the same diversity natural conditions, relatively heat-loving hypoarctic elements survived here, which managed to penetrate the island and other similar territories at the turn of the Pleistocene and Holocene, but in most cases disappeared as a result of the Late Holocene cooling. Until the middle of the Holocene, large mammals also remain on the island, including the local subspecies of the mammoth, which have become extinct over the past 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 testify 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 Europeans discovered the Wrangel and Herald Islands, there was no native population on them. There were no traces of habitation 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 the map of 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.

In 1820, the Russian government sent two expeditions to the northern coast of Siberia. One, under the command of Anjou, in search of the “Sannikov land” and the other, under the command of Ferdinand Wrangel, to find the mythical “land of Andreev”

With amazing perseverance, energy and courage during the years 1820-1824. Wrangel makes a number of trips on the ice on dogs. On some of these trips, he retires sea ​​ice 250 km north of the coast of Siberia. But all these trips were fruitless. Finally, when meeting with a Chukchi foreman (in Chukchi “kamakai”), he learned from him that “between Cape Yerri (Shelagsky) and Cape Ir-Kaipio (Northern), near the mouth of one river, from low coastal cliffs on clear summer days high, snow-covered mountains are visible in the north beyond the sea, but in winter they are not visible.

In former years, large herds of deer came from the sea, probably from there, but, pursued and exterminated by the Chukchi and wolves, now they do not show up. He himself once, in April, pursued a herd of deer for a whole day on his sleigh harnessed by two deer, but at some distance from the coast the sea ice became so uneven that he was forced to return. Other Chukchi confirmed to Wrangel and his companions that "they themselves saw the earth on clear summer days from a place called Yakan."

According to the Chukchi legend, the foreman of the Onkilons - the people who used to live on the northern shores of Siberia - Krekhay, retired with his people to this overseas land.

The convincing stories of the Chukchi forced Wrangel to make an attempt to reach an unknown land on ice on dogs. Having reached Cape Yakan, Wrangel and his assistant midshipman Matyushkin did not see any signs of land in the north. Nevertheless, Matyushkin decided to make an attempt to reach the island. April 9, 1723 He rode across the ice on three sledges, having provisions for 15 days. Huge polynyas, met by him on the way, did not allow him to move further from the coast for 16 km. Thus, this attempt ended in failure. Nevertheless, Wrangel put this land on his map, noting: "The mountains are seen from Cape Yakan in the summer."

Thus, based on the stories of the Chukchi, with great accuracy, for the first time, an island was mapped, which later received the name “Wrangel Land”, or “Wrangel Islands”.

For the first time I saw Wrangel Island Collet, passing that ship "Herald" and discovered the island, named "Herald". From the top of Gerald he saw Fr. Wrangel (August 17, 1849). He failed to land on the island. He quite reasonably notes that the island he saw is a continuation of the land indicated by Wrangel.

The island has been seen by many whalers. It was drawn on the map by Long, passing (August 14, n. 1867) on the schooner "Nile" in the visibility of the island, Long first called the land he saw "Wrangel Island". After much debate, this name was adopted by all the prominent geographers of the time. In 1879 north of the island Wrangel drifted in the De Long ice on the Jeannette ship. Jeannette sank in the ice.

Vessels were sent in search of Jeannette. Two of them managed to land on Wrangel Island for the first time. The first ship to approach was the Thomas Corwin. On August 12, 1881, the captain of this vessel, Hooper, landed at the mouth of the Clark speech and declared the island to belong to the United States under the name "New Caledonia". On Skeleton Island at the mouth of the Clerk River, he hoisted the American flag, at the foot of which the New York Herald newspaper and two notes were left in a bottle:

1. “Customs Fleet of the United States steamer “Corvin”, Wrangel Land, August 12, 1881 (n.s.).

United States Customs Fleet of the steamer "Corwin" Captain K.L. Hooper landed here to look for traces of the Jeannette. The crate of provisions is placed in the second cliff, from here to the north. All is well on the ship."

We arrived here today, having previously landed on the island of Herald. On the northeastern upland of this island, a stone mound was erected, in which a report was laid. The finder is asked to send the contents of the bottle to the New York Herald.

12 days after the ship "Korvin" to the southeastern part of the coast of Wrangel Island, having also previously visited about. Geralda, the ship Rogers has approached, under the command of Captain Berry. On August 27, three parties were sent from Rogers to search for traces of the death of Jeannette, to describe the island and its position on the map. The main party under the command of Berry went deep into the island, climbed to its highest point, called "Berry Peak", and mapped the internal outlines of the island. The other two, under the command of Waring "a and Hunt" a, almost completely described its coast. The ship stayed near Wrangel Island on September 12, 1881.

From 1881 to 1911, not a single ship could approach Wrangel Island. September 2, 1911 (old style) Russian hydrographic vessel "Vaigach" under the command of K.V. Loman anchored off Cape Thomas, the southwestern tip of Wrangel Island. The ship stayed off the coast of the island until September 4, 1911 (O.S.). During this time (during the day) a small excursion to the shore was made, during which the geologist I.P. Kirichenko collected geological collections. Dr. Arngold (the ship's doctor on the Vaigach) describes this excursion as follows: “Geological exploration was of the greatest interest; I call it that because in one day, except for a cursory examination, nothing could be done. However, we managed to find many fossils, shells of various types, plant prints. Everything pointed to the fact that once there was, if not quite tropical, then at least a warmer climate, and in the exposed layers of one mountain in the depths of the island, about 20 kilometers from our campsite, we found large deposits of coal.

The testimony of Dr. Arngold is the first and only indication of the presence of minerals on about. Wrangel. In a note by Academician Tolmachev, who processed the geological collections and diaries of I.P. Kirichenko, there are no indications of the presence of coals, nor is there any mention of the fossil flora imprints, which Dr. Arngold speaks so definitely about in his diary.

After a brief stop at Cape Thomas, the "Vaigach" with a marine inventory was the first to bypass about. Vragel and at the top of its northernmost tip he placed an iron sign with a copper plate, on which the year, month and date of Vaigach's visit to Fr. Wrangel. There was no ice to be seen anywhere to the north, all the way to the horizon.

On January 10, 1914, the ship of Stefanson's expedition "Karluk" was crushed by ice. It sank 80 miles from about. Wrangel and 200 miles from the coast of Siberia. The team under the command of Captain Bartlet, R. Piri's companion when he discovered the north pole, safely descended onto the ice, managed to unload food, clothes, dogs, sleds, etc. Wrangel. Of the 25 people who were on the Karluk, 8 people died for various reasons, the remaining 17 (including two children, girls aged 3 and 11) reached about. Wrangel. On March 18, Captain Bartlet, accompanied by one Eskimo, on seven dogs, having provisions for 60 days, set off across the ice from about. Wrangel to the Siberian coast for help for his comrades. Having safely reached the mainland and from there crossed to Alaska, he organized assistance to the people who remained on Wrangel.

On September 7, 1914, the schooner "King and Wing" under the command of Olaf Swenson approached the island and took off people. Among the "Karluk" team, who lived on about. Wrangel, was a geologist Malloch, a Canadian by birth, but since he soon arrived on about. Wrangel died (May 17, 1914), and before that he was ill, then, probably, he did not make any geological survey.

In 1921, Stefanson sent a party consisting of Gell, Maurer and Knight to the island, under the command of Allan Crawford, the 22-year-old son of a famous Canadian professor; an Eskimo woman went with them as a cook and for tailoring. The party arrived on the island on September 1, 1921; she had food supplies for only half a year, she missed the hunting season. An auxiliary vessel was able to approach only in 1923. The head of the rescue party, Noyce, found only an Eskimo woman alive. Knight died June 23, 1923; Crawford, Gell and Maurer died trying to get across the ice to the coast of Siberia. Having removed the Eskimo, Noyce left a colony of 13 Eskimos on the island, under the command of Prospector Geologist-Reconnaissance Wells. The landing of a colony with the aim of alienating the island was contrary to international laws on polar countries. To restore their rights, remove the colony and hoist the Soviet flag, on about. Wrangel in 1924, the Soviet government sent the gunboat "Red October", under the command of hydrograph Davydov. August 12, 1924 at 2:50 a.m. The Red October anchored in Rogers Bay.

A mast and a hut were found on the shore. They immediately set about building a new mast; the next day, August 20, 1924, at 12 noon. The day the Soviet flag was raised on the island for the first time, and the island was ceremonially annexed to the USSR. After hoisting the flag, Red October went to Doubtful Bay, where he filmed an American colony with Wells, who had a large geological collection. In 1926, the first Soviet colony was landed on the island, consisting of the head of the island, G.A. Ushakov with his wife, Dr. N.P. Savenko with his wife, head. trading post of Pavlov, industrialist Skurikhin with his wife and eight-year-old daughter, industrialist Startsov and about 60 Eskimos.

Chief of the island G.A. Ushakov, during his three-year stay on the island, mapped its coast, and made very important changes to the previous maps of the island, collected a large botanical collection, processed by Academician Komarov, and a geological collection, subsequently processed by P.V. Wittenburg. .

Since during 1927 and 1928 not a single ship could approach Wrangel Island due to heavy ice, in 1929 an expedition was sent to the island under the command of Captain K.A. Dublitsky on a powerful ice cutter “F. Litke" with the task to reach the island and change the colony. Despite heavy ice, broken propeller blades, a hole through which water arrived in the forepeak at three feet per hour, the F. Litke "reached the island, bypassing about. Herald and passing to Rogers Bay by the Long Strait. On the ship for scientific work, a scientific part was sent, headed by geophysicist prof. V.A. Berezkin, consisting of: hydrologist G.E. Ratmanov, zoologist P.V. Ushakov and geomorphologist V.A. Kalyanov [Dublitsky, 1931; Nazarov, 1932; Kalyanov, 1934]. The ship stayed near the island for six days, during which all the scientists were doing their best for such a short period of work. Kalyanov went to the headwaters of the Klerk River, compiled a high-altitude profile (barometric), collected a collection of geological samples, and found fauna in the inner parts of the island - on the banks of the river. Clerk, took about 300 photographs. He also described the tundra of the inner parts of the island and the coast from Rogers Bay to Doubtful Bay, collected a botanical collection (45 species), processed by M.I. Nazarov, took three soil monoliths and two fragments of hummocks. The work was severely hampered by a two-day 8-magnitude snow storm. Because of strong storm the unloading of the ice cutter was even stopped.

The expedition of the ice cutter Litke removed the chief G.A. Ushakov and Dr. Savenko with their wives, the wife of the industrialist Skurikhin with her daughter, unloaded a three-year supply of food and left the head of the island Comrade Mineev, his wife Comrade Vlasova, Dr. E.N. Sinadsky, radio operators Bogayov and Shatinsky, meteorologist Comrade Zvantsev. From that moment on, regular weather reports began to be received from the island.

In 1932, geologist V.A. flew to the island. Obruchev and topographer K.A. Salishchev, who made an aerial topographic survey of Fr. Wrangel, significantly correcting the map of the island, compiled by the sea captain E.D. Bessmertny based on the materials of G.A. Ushakov.

As can be seen from the review of the discovery and exploration of the island, there is very little information about its geology. About minerals, with the exception of indications of Dr. Arngold's coal, there is no data in the press.

Wrangel Island lies within the Siberian shallow continental platform. The depths of the sea separating it from the mainland do not exceed 50-60 m. From the north towards the polar basin, the depths abruptly break off. Thus, the Wrangel and Herald Islands lie on the edge of the Siberian continental platform and represent a horst on the edge of the fault basin.

In 1948, a small group of domestic reindeer was brought to the island and a branch of a reindeer-breeding state farm was organized. In addition to the main settlement in Rogers Bay (Ushakovskoye village), in the 60s, the Zvezdny settlement was built in the bay. Doubtful, where an unpaved alternate airfield for military aviation was built (liquidated in the 70s). In addition, a military radar station was set up at Cape Hawaii. In the center of the island, near the mouth of the stream. Khrustalny, for several years rock crystal was mined, for which it was also rebuilt small village later completely destroyed.

In 1953, the administrative authorities adopted a resolution on the protection of walrus rookeries on Wrangel Island, and in 1968, a reserve for the protection of walruses was organized on the island,

polar bears,

nesting sites of white goose, black goose and seabird colonies.

For a long time the island was rarely visited by border guards until hundreds of butchered walrus carcasses were discovered on its northeastern coast in 1967. The experts, having studied them, agreed that poaching was carried out by foreign fishing vessels. Already next year, the outpost on Wrangel, with a base in the village of Ushakovsky, was put up.

It existed until the end of the 90s of the last century, having briefly outlived the once very populous "capital" of Wrangel. Then, due to lack of funding, Moscow decided to remove the outpost from the island, but as soon as the border guards left Wrangel, scientists from the biosphere reserve created here began to report mysterious ships passing near the island.

In the absence of sufficient material support, the command of the North-Eastern Border Directorate decided to set up a post in the summer, consisting of several people, led by an officer. And then it turned out that the island is indeed visited by foreign guests ...

In 1975, an experiment began on the acclimatization of musk oxen. Two groups of animals were brought from North America from Nunivak Island. The first - consisting of 30 individuals - was released into the wild in Taimyr. The second in the amount of 20 animals - to Wrangel Island.

The animals did not immediately adapt to local conditions, and in the first few years the livestock was halved. However, since the beginning of the 80s, the number of musk ox on the island began to grow steadily, and by 2003 the number reached 600 animals. Moreover, they turned out to be even more adapted to local conditions than the reindeer. The reason, according to experts, is simple: in winter, the musk ox mainly feeds on accumulated fat reserves. He needs pasture in minimal quantities.

The well-known advantages of the musk ox over deer were clearly demonstrated by the winter of 2003-2004, when, due to ice on Wrangel Island, the deer could not get to the reindeer moss. Of the total herd, numbering eight and a half thousand heads, about 6 thousand deer fell. The sight was terrible. Deer were in herds. And among the musk oxen, due to the peculiarities of their winter diet, the losses were relatively small.
Currently, the herd of musk oxen on the island reaches 900 heads and there are plans to relocate part of the herd to the mainland.

On March 23, 1976, Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR N ° 189 was signed on the organization of the Wrangel Island State Reserve, which includes the Wrangel and Herald Islands, to protect the unique natural complexes of the islands. 12/26/83. A decree of the Magazhan Regional Executive Committee was signed on the organization of a 5 km wide buffer zone around the islands. By the 80s, the branch of the state farm was liquidated on the island 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 local population. In 1992, the radar station was closed and the only one left on the island locality- Ushakovskoye village.

In 1997, at the suggestion of the Governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and the State Committee for Ecology of Russia, the area of ​​the reserve was expanded by including in its composition the water area surrounding the islands with a width of 12 nautical miles, by order of the Government of the Russian Federation N ° 1623-r dated November 15, 1997, and in In 1999, around the already protected water area, by the Decree of the Governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug N ° 91 dated May 25, 1999, a buffer zone 24 nautical miles wide was organized.

Wrangel Island is the northernmost nature protection complex in Russia. Its name comes from the name of the famous domestic conqueror of the seas Ferdinand Wrangel, although the locals call the island itself Umkilir - "Land of polar bears".

It is also considered one of the largest reserves and fits in an area of ​​2.2 million hectares. At the same time, the marine area occupies half of the territory, but only 800 thousand hectares belong to the protected zone. "Wrangel Island" owns a couple of large islands in the Chukchi Sea - Gerald and Wrangel. They are located in the east of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The decree establishing the state reserve was promulgated in 1976.

Peculiarities

Initially, the reserve was created to study the ecosystems of the island regions of the Arctic. In addition, this complex was aimed at preserving rare animal and plant species, among which there are many endemics. So, a year before the announcement of this zone as a protected area, a musk ox was acclimatized on it. The modern buffer zone was formalized in 1983, and at sea - in 1999. In 2012, the last change took place, associated with an increase in the coastal protected area.

The main part of the reserve is a mountainous landscape with elements of the arctic tundra. The island has over a hundred small rivers and streams, as well as approximately 1,000 small lakes. A windy and frosty climate reigns on the islands, which partially complicates the work of scientists and hinders the tourist opportunities of the reserve.

It is characteristic that the reserve "Wrangel Island" was the first nature protection zone in the USSR, where it was allowed to carry out fishing activities among the indigenous population. Some of the island's lands are of value to archaeologists. Here, not only the remains of ancient mammoths were found, but also the remains of the life of a caveman.

The limited excursion program on the island is travel on ATVs and all-terrain vehicles. Tourists visit the "Doubtful Bay", Devil's ravine, Mount Percantum.

The wealth of flora on the island

The flora of the reserve is unique in terms of the number of endemics. In total, about 500 plant species have been registered on these lands, which is many times more than the standard indicators of the Arctic tundra. Among the interesting endemic species, it is worth highlighting several types of poppy, cinquefoil, arthropod, and succulent. Scientists also count 300 species of mosses and lichens in this area. The main part of the mountains is occupied by grass, shrub and lichen cover. You can find swampy areas, and in the southern latitudes of the island - forest plantations. The tops of the mountains are stone mounds.

Animal world of the reserve

Due to the harsh climatic conditions, the fauna of the nature protection complex is significantly limited. There are no representatives of amphibians and reptiles in the special zone at all. The fish lives only along the coast. The key advantage of the reserve is a large number of birds, not excluding marine and constantly building nests on the island. Of interest to researchers are the white goose, black geese, eiders, waders. sea ​​shores are distinguished by such an interesting phenomenon as bird colonies, consisting of cormorants, kittiwakes and guillemots.

Speaking of mammals, it should be noted that there are many lemmings, deer, ermines, arctic foxes and wolverines. However, the polar bear is rightfully considered the most famous inhabitant of Wrangel Island. Here the maximum number of his ancestral dens is arranged.

For a long time, scientists have also been monitoring reindeer and musk oxen, which were brought to this territory and acclimatized for a long time.

The coast of the reserve is a walrus rookery, and in the water area itself you can meet beluga whales and gray whales.

Wrangel Island - nature reserve located in the Arctic. This is the only territory that Russia managed to conquer from America and England. But there was no power as such. During the reforms on the island, the last inhabitant left this world. Since there were no more people left, the development of flora and fauna here began to develop at a rapid pace. A large number of polar bears could be found on the territory, which migrated to the island to spend the winter. Numerous herds of musk oxen also lived here.

Name

Why is Wrangel Island so called? The locals call it Umkilir, which means the island of polar bears. But it owes its official name to the Russian navigator Ferdinand Wrangel.

Nature

The area of ​​Wrangel Island is approximately 7670 sq. km. Most of it (about 4700 sq. km) is occupied by mountain ranges. The shores are dissected by lagoons and sandbars. The central part of the island is a mountainous area. On the territory there are small lakes and glaciers. The description of Wrangel Island would be incomplete without identifying the relief features of this area.

Relief

The area is heavily dissected. Mountains line up in parallel chains - ridges. Conventionally, they are divided into three parts - the Northern, Middle and Southern ridges, which end on the western and eastern sides are rocky cliffs. The most solid is the middle part. Here is the Soviet mountain, which is the most high point islands. The northern ridge smoothly turns into a swampy area and is considered the lowest. This plain is called the Tundra of the Academy. The southern ridge is closest to the sea coast. In the center of the island is a mountain named after Leonid Gromov.

Rivers and lakes

Mountains make up the main area of ​​Wrangel Island. But at the same time there are a large number of rivers and lakes. In total, there are more than 140 rivers and small streams on the island, the length of which is about 1 km. There are approximately 900 lakes on the island, most of them are located in the Academy Tundra. Several of them occupy an area exceeding 1 km. sq. The lakes are not deep, on average no deeper than 2 m. Where is Wrangel Island located?

Location

The terrible cold of the Arctic reigns on the island. Such a climate is practically unsuitable for human habitation.

The geographical position of Wrangel Island influences its history. It is located 140 km from the northern coast of Chukotka. That is why the island was discovered very late. In the middle of the 19th century, large states were not interested in the development of the Arctic wilderness.

Discovery history

But already at the beginning of the 20th century, interest in this area increased dramatically. In 1911, the Russian flag was raised on the island. But Great Britain and Canada also became interested in this territory. At that time, the Civil War was going on in the Far East. Canadians took advantage of this circumstance and in 1921 raised the British flag on the island. The Government of Canada declared with full confidence that its territory belongs to Great Britain. A year later, migrants from the United States began to arrive on the island. Now the American flag was flying there.

feathered

Another prominent representative of the fauna of Wrangel Island is the snowy owl. The nesting density is considered to be the highest in the country. The reserve has the largest bird market in the entire Chukotka Peninsula. Most of them are sea birds.

The birds of Wrangel Island are represented by 169 species. But not all of them nest in this area.

In summer, more than 50 species of birds are permanent inhabitants of the island. Many of them are nowhere else to be seen. Most species live exclusively in northern latitudes. For example: gulls, guillemots, etc. Among the 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 that has survived in Russia and Asia. Black geese regularly nest (moreover, thousands of non-breeding geese come here to molt from mainland Chukotka and Alaska), common eider and comb eider, Siberian eider, pintails and waders in very small numbers.

Birds arrive in the reserve in May, arrange nests in inconspicuous, hard-to-reach places. Often they can be found on ledges of rocks. Here they lay their eggs, feed the chicks until they learn to fly on their own. After that, the birds gather in flocks and fly south in winter, and in the spring they return to their homeland with a harsh climate.

Many people know Wrangel Island as the last refuge of mammoths. Scientists testify that it was in the reserve that the dwarf form of these animals was discovered. This species lived together with normal individuals. Excavations have established that more than 3 thousand years ago mammoths lived in the Arctic.

Flora

Unique plants grow on the island, which are perfectly adapted to local conditions. For the most part, all these species can be found in the tundra of other regions, they differ only in their size. Mostly dwarf plants grow on Wrangel Island. Strong northern winds don't let them grow. Therefore, often their height reaches no more than 10 cm. However, here you can find plants of ancient origin. They have not changed over time. More than 114 species of plants grow in the reserve, the composition of which is perfectly preserved due to the climate and remoteness of the island.

In the reserve grow dwarf trees Ivyanka, no more than 1 meter high. You can meet them at mountain gorges well protected from the wind.

Tourism

Despite the harsh climate and remoteness from civilization, Wrangel Island annually receives tourists from all over the world. Ecotourism is developing at a rapid pace. People want to touch the magnificence of nature, to see with their own eyes its rare representatives. Wrangel Island is one of the best places to do this. Today, tourists have access to several excursion routes. Unforgettable adventures await brave travelers here. If you are tired of the hot resorts of Asia, feel free to come to Wrangel Island for thrills. This, of course, is not Turkish resort but nevertheless a very interesting place.

It is very difficult to get to where Wrangel Island is located. As a rule, people get on tourist ships. This usually happens from August to September. At other times, it is dangerous to visit the reserve because of the glaciers. Tourists move around the reserve on all-terrain vehicles.