CHAPTER 1I 
ARCTIC DISCOVERIES PRIOR TO 1800 
THE most remarkable Arctic discoveries of 
recorded history are those made by the Norsemen, 
in or before the ninth century, which are summa- 
rized in the chapters on Greenland and Iceland. 
The extent of knowledge as to arctic geography at 
the commencement of the eighteenth century is 
shown by the map (page 1) of G. Delisle: “Voy- 
ages au Nord” (Amsterdam, 1715). Hudson Bay, 
[celand, Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Spitsber- 
gen are known and charted. While the southern 
half of Greenland was mapped, yet it was thought to 
be bisected by Frobisher Strait. Barely two cen- 
turies ago, more than one half of the arctic coasts 
were unknown to geographers. Novaya Zemlya 
was yet believed to be a part of the mainland of 
Asia. The great Siberian rivers, the Lena and 
Yenisei, are charted, as the delta of the Lena had 
been reached by Elisha Busa in one of his three 
voyages (1636-1639) to explore the Lena, Olenek 
and Yana. Deshnef’s strait (Bering) and the 
Amur River valley are mapped under Yecco Land, 
an isolated province of Asia. Thence eastward to 
Baffin Bay is an uncharted area. 
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