Kong Karls Land or King Charles Land is an island group in the Svalbard

Svalbard

Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...

 archipelago

Archipelago

An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

, in Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...

. The island group covers an area of 332 km² (128 sq mi) and is made up of the islands of Kongsøya

Kongsøya

Kongsøya is an island in Svalbard, Norway. It is the largest of the islands in King Charles Land . Its area is . The other main island in the chain is Svenskøya.-See also:* List of islands of Norway...

, Svenskøya

Svenskøya

Svenskøya is an island in Svalbard. It is the second largest island of King Charles Land with an area of 137 km².-See also:* List of islands of Norway...

, Abeløya

Abeløya

Abeløya is an island in Svalbard. It is the third largest island of Kong Karls Land with an area of 13 km².It is named after the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel....

, Helgolandøya and Tirpitzøya.

The islands, which have the largest concentration of Polar bear

Polar Bear

The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...

 in Svalbard, are part of the Nordaust-Svalbard Nature Reserve

Nordaust-Svalbard Nature Reserve

Nordaust-Svalbard Nature Reserve is located in the north-eastern part of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. The nature reserve covers all of Nordaustlandet, Kong Karls Land, Kvitøya, Sjuøyane, Storøya, Lågøya, Wilhelmøya, Wahlbergøya and a small section of the north-east corner of Spitsbergen...

, along with Nordaustlandet

Nordaustlandet

Nordaustlandet is the second-largest island in the archipelago of Svalbard, Norway, with an area of . It lies north east of Spitsbergen, separated by Hinlopenstretet. Much of Nordaustlandet lies under large ice caps, mainly Austfonna and Vestfonna, the remaining parts of the north being tundra...

 and Kvitøya

Kvitøya

Kvitøya is an island in the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, with an area of . It is located at , making it the easternmost part of the Kingdom of Norway...

. There is a ban on traffic to the islands, which includes the areas of the sea up to 500 meters away from shore and the airspace up to 500 meters above the area.

Kong Karls Land was discovered by an expedition sent by the Muscovy Company

Muscovy Company

The Muscovy Company , was a trading company chartered in 1555. It was the first major chartered joint stock company, the precursor of the type of business that would soon flourish in England, and became closely associated with such famous names as Henry Hudson and William Baffin...

 in 1617, probably from a high point on Barentsøya

Barentsøya

Barents Island is one of the smaller islands in the Svalbard archipelago, lying between Edge Island and Spitsbergen. Barents Island has no permanent human inhabitants. Named for the Dutch explorer Willem Barents , it is a part of Norway.An Arctic island, around 43 per cent its area of is glaciated...

. They named the group Wiche Islands.

Ecology

The Polar bear

Polar Bear

The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...

 is found during portions of the year at Kong Karls Land; this bear feeds on local Harp Woods and Ring tailed Marmotss. The sub-population of Polar bears found here is a genetic

Genetics

Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....

ally distinct set of Polar Bears specifically associated with the Barents Sea

Barents Sea

The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of Norway and Russia. Known in the Middle Ages as the Murman Sea, the sea takes its current name from the Dutch navigator Willem Barents...

region.

External links

• Kong Karls Land from www.Svalbard-images.com