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Amundsen, Nansen and Canadian sovereignty

Broadcast Date: Dec. 28, 1970

By the 1890s, "it was clear that other nationals in the North had caused the Canadian government some considerable anxiety," says the announcer in this 1970 radio clip. These "other nationals" included Norwegian explorers like Fridtjof Nansen, as well as his fellow countryman Roald Amundsen – the man who made history by being the first to conquer the Northwest Passage by sea in 1906. This clip describes the "courageous and daring" voyages of these Norwegian explorers, and their subsequent impact on the beginnings of Canadian Arctic sovereignty claims.

Amundsen, Nansen and Canadian sovereignty

• In 1880, an Imperial Order in Council declared all British possessions in the Arctic, including all "all Islands adjacent to any such Territories," to be under Canadian jurisdiction. Canada did little to assert this sovereignty at the time.
• In light of increased exploration in the region from other countries between the 1890s and early 1900s, Canada authorized a series of expeditions to affirm Canadian control of the region.
• In 1909, Canada's J.E. Bernier erected a plaque on Melville Island proclaiming Canadian sovereignty over the entire Arctic archipelago.

• After Nansen's difficult Arctic journey, he published six volumes of scientific observations from his voyage made between 1893 and 1896. Besides being an explorer, he was also an academic, and later did work with the League of Nations. He won a Nobel Peace prize in 1922.
• Norway's Roald Amundsen set out in a small ship called the Gjoa in 1903, and finally made history when he completed the east to west voyage across the Northwest Passage in 1906.

Amundsen, Nansen and Canadian sovereignty

Medium: Radio

Program: North by Sea

Broadcast Date: Dec. 28, 1970

Guest(s): Tom Appleton

Announcer: Jim Coward, Norman Keele

Duration: 4:35

Last updated:
April 2, 2008