The harsh latitudes of the Arctic Ocean hide many secrets. Traveling here is not much like a pleasure walk. But despite this, year after year, strong-willed people gathered on the road to find new ways and discover new lands. One of such discoveries was the islands of Anjou, about which today's story will go.
Studying the map
First of all, we will try to determine on the map where the islands of Anjou are located. And for this you will have to find the Novosibirsk archipelago. It is located on the border of two seas: the Laptev and East Siberian. More correctly, it is he who is the border that divided the two cold seas. The entire Novosibirsk archipelago consists of three island clusters. Anjou Islands are the central group and are considered the largest part of the archipelago. In terms of total area, the Anjou group reaches 29 thousand km².
Which islands are included in the Anjou group?
The group of islands of Anjou (Novosibirsk archipelago) combines both large and small islands. The biggest is about. Boiler room (23.2 thousand km²), the next - about. New Siberia (6.2 thousand km²). The small ones include Fr. Belkovsky (approximately 500 km²).
On the old maps, Fr. Faddeevsky and Bunge Land, but now they are recognized as part of Kotelny Island and are not separately designated.
Who are the islands named after?
The name "Anjou" the island received in honor of the famous explorer of the Arctic, Admiral of the Russian Navy Peter Fedorovich Anjou. Not yet having high ranks, as part of the Admiralty expedition, he explored these places, described them and tried to find the legendary Sannikov Land. In addition, the expedition studied and marked on the map the shores of the Arctic Ocean in a section bounded by the Yana and Indigirka rivers. Although the expedition did not find Sannikov’s Land, she did a great job carrying out hydrographic, astronomical, meteorological and geological analysis. And the team of sailors brought the most interesting ethnographic notes, which had significant scientific value.
A small digression ...
What is this legendary Sannikov Land, which many searched for, but nobody found? In 1810-1811, one of the explorers of the Novosibirsk Islands, which later would be called the Anjou Islands, "discovered" a ghost island. This man’s name was Yakov Sannikov. He was an experienced polar traveler, thanks to whom the islands of Stolbovoy and Faddeevsky were discovered. It seemed to Sannikov that to the north of Kotelny Island there is another large island. However, it turned out to be impossible to get to it because of the most difficult weather conditions and a very short navigation period.
It was also suggested that polar migratory birds go for wintering to Sannikov Land. And this meant that it was warm enough and there were fertile patches of land. This fact fueled interest in the mysterious island, but the answer turned out to be quite prosaic: Sannikov most likely saw a layer of soil on top of the permafrost of fossil ice. And geese flew along their "bird" routes to Canada and Alaska.
Affiliation
Who owns the islands of Anjou, discovered at different times by the industrialists Lyakhov and Sannikov? Located in the waters of the Arctic Ocean, they are part of Russia. Anju Islands are included in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), which is part of the Far Eastern Federal District.
Nature of the islands
Anjou Islands are sections of the flat arctic tundra. Above the sea level they are raised only by 60-80 m. The highest point on the islands is Mount Malakatyn-Tas (360 m). It is located on the island of Kotelny.
A distinctive feature of the island of New Siberia is its numerous rivers and lakes. However, these reservoirs cannot boast an abundance of living creatures. Only 2 species of fish are found here: slingshot and catfish. By the way, catfish is also found in the waters of Kotelny Island.
The islands are home to many birds, including white owl, geese, loons, partridges and others. There are also deer, blue fox, mouse (brown), polar bear and wolverine. But the vegetation in the harsh Arctic climate is quite scarce, it is mainly represented by grassy-artisanal species.
On the diamond-shaped island of Belkovsky, only low-growing grasses, lichen and mosses are found. The main representatives of the fauna are the polar bear and walrus.
All islands from the Anjou group are part of the Ust-Lensky nature reserve. Together with the subordinate territories, the area of the protection zone exceeds 1,050,000 ha.