Born in the
Grand Duchy of Finland at the time it was a part of the
Russian Empire, he was later, due to his political activity, forced to move to Sweden, where he later became a member of the
Parliament of Sweden and of the
Swedish Academy. He led the
Vega Expedition along the northern coast of
Eurasia in 1878–1879. This was the first complete crossing of the
Northeast Passage. Initially a troubled enterprise, the successful expedition is considered to be among the highest achievements in the history of Swedish science.
Adolf Erik was the father of
Gustaf Nordenskiöld (explorer of
Mesa Verde) and
Erland Nordenskiöld (
ethnographer of
South America) and maternal uncle of
Nils Otto Gustaf Nordenskjöld (another polar explorer). Nils Otto Gustaf Nordenskjöld's parents were cousins — Otto Gustaf Nordenskjöld (born in 1831 in Hässleby, Sweden) and Anna Elisabet Sofia Nordenskiöld (born in 1841 in Finland), who was the sister of Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld. The Swedish side of the family used the spelling "Nordenskjöld", whereas the Finnish side of the family used the "Nordenskiöld" spelling.
Biography
Early life and education
Nordenskiöld was born in 1832 in
Helsinki, the capital of Finland, but he spent his early youth on the family estate, the Alikartano Manor, located in the
Numminen village in
Mäntsälä.[2] He went to school in
Porvoo, a small town on the south coast of Finland. He then entered the
Imperial Alexander University in Helsinki in 1849 where he studied
mathematics,
geology, and applied himself especially to
chemistry and
mineralogy.[3] He received his master's degree in 1853. Two years later he published his doctoral
dissertation, entitled "Om grafitens och chondroditens kristallformer" ("On the crystal forms of
graphite and
chondrodite").
Upon his graduation, in 1853, Nordenskiöld accompanied his father to the
Ural Mountains and studied the
iron and
copper mines at
Tagilsk; on his return he received minor appointments both at the university and the mining office.[3]
Political activity and exile
Having studied under
Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Nordenskiöld belonged to
Liberal, anti-
tsarist circles that agitated for Finland's liberation from Russia by the Swedes during the
Crimean War. An unguarded speech at a convivial entertainment in 1855 drew the attention of the
Imperial Russian authorities to his political views, and led to a dismissal from the university.[3]
He then visited
Berlin, continuing his mineralogical studies, and in 1856 obtained a travelling stipend from the university in Helsinki and planned to expend it in geological research in
Siberia and
Kamchatka. In 1856, Nordenskiöld was also appointed
Docent in Mineralogy at the university. In 1857 he aroused the suspicion of the authorities again, so that he was forced to leave Finland, practically as a political
refugee, and was deprived of the right of ever holding office in the university of Finland.[3] He fled to Sweden.
In 1862, he was one of the founding members of
Sällskapet Idun, a men's association founded in Stockholm.[4]
Nordenskiöld's participation in three geological expeditions to Spitsbergen, followed by longer Arctic explorations in 1867, 1870, 1872 and 1875,[6] led him to attempt the discovery of the long-sought
Northeast Passage. This he accomplished in the voyage of the SS Vega, navigating for the first time the northern coasts of Europe and Asia. Starting from
Karlskrona on 22 June 1878, the Vega doubled
Cape Chelyuskin in the following August, and after being frozen in at the end of September near the
Bering Strait, completed the voyage successfully in the following summer. He edited a monumental record of the expedition in five volumes, and himself wrote a more popular summary in two volumes.[3] On his return to Sweden he received an enthusiastic welcome, and in April 1880 was made a
baron and a commander of the
Order of the North Star.[3]
In 1883, he visited the east coast of
Greenland for the second time, and succeeded in taking his ship through the great ice barrier, a feat attempted in vain during more than three centuries.[3] The captain on the Vega expedition,
Louis Palander, was made a nobleman at the same time, and took the name Palander af Vega.
Nordenskiöld died on 12 August 1901, in
Dalbyö,
Södermanland, Sweden, at the age of 68.
Historian of early cartography
As an explorer, Nordenskiöld was interested in the history of Arctic exploration, especially as evidenced in old maps. This interest in turn led him to collect and systematically study early maps. He wrote two substantial monographs, which both included many facsimiles, on early printed atlases and geographical mapping and medieval marine charts, respectively the Facsimile-Atlas to the Early History of Cartography (1889)[9] and Periplus (1897).[10]
In 1858, Nordenskiöld took part in
Torell's first expedition to
Svalbard in the
sloopFrithiof. The expedition made biological and geological observations along the coast of
Spitsbergen.[12]
In 1861, he took part in Torell's second Svalbard expedition on board the Æolus. This included a boat journey along the scarcely explored northern coast of
Nordaustlandet as far as
Prins Oscars Land. They also began to measure a
meridian arc, but did not complete the work.[13]
In 1864, the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences placed Nordenskiöld in command of the
schoonerAxel Thordsen to complete the meridian arc survey. After conducting the necessary measurements in the south of Svalbard, they rescued 27 men who had to abandon their ice-locked ships.[14]
In 1868 on the schooner-rigged iron steamer Sofia, he went farther north than any vessel had ever been in the
Eastern hemisphere. He reached 82° 42' N, surpassing
William Scoresby's previous record by 12'.[15]
In 1870, he visited
Greenland to find out whether using sledge dogs was advisable for a polar expedition. He came to the conclusion that it would be impractical to procure and rely on a large number of dogs from Greenland in view of recent outbreaks of a contagious dog sickness. He made a journey ca. 48 km (30 mi) onto the inland ice. At Uivfaq on
Disko Island, several large blocks of native iron were found that Nordenskiöld assumed to be
meteorites.[16] Nowadays it is thought that the iron accumulated in
basalt formations through volcanic eruptions.[17]
In 1872, Nordenskiöld embarked on an expedition to reach the North Pole using
reindeer. To this end, the steamer Polhem, the steamer Onkel Adam, and the
brigGladan met by
Spitsbergen. At
Mosselbukta, the three ships were unexpectedly frozen in. Nordenskiöld was faced with feeding the 67 men throughout the winter, as well as helping out the crews from six Norwegian hunting vessels that had suffered the same fate. The situation was worsened when all but one of the reindeer escaped. Instead of a sledge journey to the pole, only a trip to Nordaustlandet could be undertaken during which one expedition member disappeared while searching for driftwood. The supplies ran dangerously low and
scurvy was rampant. Only one sailor succumbed to it however, because
Benjamin Leigh Smith on the steamer Diana found the beset ships and donated his provisions. Two weeks later, the ice opened up and the ships could return to Sweden.[18][19]
In 1875, he went to the
Yenisei River in
Siberia, on board the sloop Pröven, which he sent back while he went up the river in a boat and returned home by land.[20]
In 1876, Nordenskiöld repeated the journey to the mouth of the Yenisei with the steamer Ymer to prove that this route was not dependent on unusually favourable ice conditions.[21]
In 1878–1879 he was the first to complete the entire
Northeast passage along the northern coast of Eurasia. This he accomplished in the voyage of the Vega. Starting from
Karlskrona on 22 June 1878, the Vega doubled
Cape Chelyuskin in August. Vega was initially accompanied by the ships Lena, Fraser, and Express. The latter two parted way at the mouth of the Yenisei and traveled upstream. Lena navigated up the
River Lena to
Yakutsk. At the end of September, Vega was frozen in near the
Bering Strait and passed the winter among the coastal
Chukchi. By sailing through Bering Strait in July 1879, Vega completed the Northeast Passage.[22]
In 1882–1883 – 2nd Dickson Expedition ("Den andra Dicksonska Expeditionen till Grönland"[23]), he took Sofia to
Disko Bay where, together with three
Saami, he made an expedition to the inland ice sheet. He expected the interior of Greenland to be ice-free and perhaps covered in forests. Nordenskiöld quickly had to give up due to technical problems, but the Saami penetrated 230 kilometres eastward before returning. On the east coast of
Greenland, the expedition penetrated the great ice barrier—as the first after 300 years of attempts—and landed at
Ammasalik (Kung Oscars Hamn) 65° 37' N, only slightly to the north of where
Wilhelm August Graah was forced to turn his
Umiak expedition round in 1830.
^Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Facsimile-Atlas to the Early History of Cartography with Reproductions of the Most Important Maps Printed in the XV and XVI Centuries, trans. Johan Adolf Ekelöf (Stockholm, 1889; reprinted, New York: Dover, 1973).