Dolgiy Island

Dolgiy Island ( _ru. Долгий Остров) is an island in the Pechora Sea, east of the Khaypudyr Bay. Its latitude is 69° 15' N and the longitude 59° 04' E. Long and narrow, this island is 38 km in length, with an average width of 2.8 km. It stretches roughly from northwest to southeast and there are smaller islands at both of its ends, Matveyev Island in the north and Bolshoy Zelenets and Malyy Zelenets in the south, which are a prolongation of the same submarine structure.

Dolgiy Island's southern tip is only 12 km from the mainland. This island belongs to the Nenets Autonomous Okrug administrative region, which is an autonomous okrug of Arkhangelsk Oblast.

This island should not be confused with other islands called "Dolgiy", one of which is located in the Barents Sea itself in the bay southeast of Khodovarikha and the other in Karelia. Dikson Island was also formerly called "Dolgiy".

History

Stepan Malygin undertook a voyage starting from Dolgiy Island in 1736-1737. There were two ships in this early expedition, the "Perviy", under Malygin and the "Vtoroy" under the command of captain A. Skuratov. After entering the little-explored Kara Sea, they sailed to the mouth of the Ob River.

Malygin took careful observations of these hitherto almost unknown areas of the Russian Arctic coastline. With this knowledge he was able to draw the first somewhat accurate map of the Arctic shores between the Pechora River and the Ob River.

References

* Albert Hastings Markham, "Arctic Exploration" 1895
* [http://worldmaps.web.infoseek.co.jp/russia_guide.htm Location]
* Leonid Sverdlov, (Member of the Russian Geographic Society), "Russian Naval Officers and Geographic Exploration in Northern Russia".
* C. Raymond Beazley, "The Russian Expansion Towards Asia and the Arctic in the Middle Ages (to 1500)". The American Historical Review

ee also

*History of the Northern Sea Route
*Stepan Malygin