Bear Island
(redirected from Bear Island (disambiguation))Bjørnøya
Bjørnøya (byörnˈöyä), island, 69 sq mi (179 sq km), in the Barents Sea, c.275 mi (440 km) N of Norway; southernmost island of Svalbard. It rises to 1,759 ft (536 m). There are polar fox and polar bear on the island. Probably known to Norsemen in the 12th cent., it was rediscovered by Willem Barentz, the Dutch navigator, in 1596, and was formally annexed by Norway in 1915. It is also known as Bear Island.
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Bear Island
(Bjørnøya), an island in the Barents Sea, south of West Spitsbergen; a possession of Norway. Area, approximately 180 sq km. The northern part of Bear Island is a plain with numerous lakes, and the south an elevated plateau (elevations to 536 m). There is tundra vegetation. Herring and cod are fished. Bear Island was discovered in 1596 by W. Barents.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.