236 POLAR PROBLEMS 



and the United States in particular, recognize that Greenland is a 

 Danish land. In 1916 our Government formally declared, in connec- 

 tion with the Convention- for the cession of the Virgin Islands, that it 

 "will not object to the Danish Government extending their political 

 and economic interests to the whole of Greenland." 



Norwegian Sovereignty and Claims 



Spitsbergen (including Bear Island), with its valuable coal and 

 other mineral deposits, is Norwegian. The history of this archipelago 

 is instructive. Discovered as far back as 1596, the subject of many 

 conflicting claims and much diplomatic correspondence in the seven- 

 teenth century, it came to be recognized as terra nullius and was for- 

 mally so described in the Protocol of 1912 drawn up by representatives 

 of Norway, Sweden, and Russia. Still more formally, Norwegian 

 sovereignty was recognized by the Treaty of 1920,^ a treaty which the 

 United States ratified in 1924. While Russia is not yet a party to 

 that treaty, the Norwegian Government is in effective occupation 

 of the region, and there can be almost no doubt that her title is perfect 

 to "all the islands situated between 10° and 35° longitude east of Green- 

 wich and between 74° and 81° latitude north." It is reported that 

 Norway, in a note to Canada, has made some claim to Axel Heiberg 

 Island (and perhaps one or two other islands) based on the discoveries 

 of Sverdrup. Now Axel Heiberg, while unoccupied by any one, is 

 within the region claimed by Canada. Its northern tip. Cape Thomas 

 Hubbard, was chosen for the airplane base of the MacMillan expedi- 

 tion of 1925, although finally, because of remoteness, it could not be 

 established there. The possibility of Norwegian title to land in 

 this region becoming a reality is highly remote. 



The island of Jan Mayen in the Greenland Sea (71° N. and 9° W.) 

 is considered by Norway as falling within the Norwegian sphere of 

 interest. This declaration^ was made in the Storting on May 4, 1927, 

 by Minister of State Lykke; he added that the foreign Powers con- 

 cerned had been notified to that effect. Actually the island has been 

 occupied since 1921 by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, a 



in that part of the country. Exception was made of Angmagssalik and of a tract about Scoresby Sound 

 provided it be populated by Greenlanders. Steps towards such occupation have already been taken. 

 A prehminary voyage was undertaken by Ejnar Mikkelsen in 1924, and colonists were carried thither 

 in 1925. A concession similar to that for Norway was made to Great Britain in 1925" (Geogr. Rev., 

 Vol. 16, 1926, p. 146; see also Ejnar Mikkelsen: The Colonization of Eastern Greenland: Eskimo 

 Settlement on Scoresby Sound, ibid.. Vol. 17, 1927, pp. 207-225, especially p. 210 and p. 214). The text 

 of the Convention of 1924 is printed in League of Nations Treaty Series, Vol. 27, pp. 204-212, Geneva, 

 1924. 



2 Convention for the Cession to the United States'of the Danish West Indies, Signed at New York, 

 August 4, 1916, in: Treaties, Conventions, International Acts, Protocols, and Agreements Between the 

 United States of America and Other Powers, 1776-1923 (3 vols.. Senate Doc, Washington, 1910-23), 

 Vol. 3, pp. 2558-2566; reference on p. 2564. 



2 League of Nations Treaty Series, Vol. 2, pp. 8-19, Geneva, 1920. 



^ Morgenbladet (Oslo newspaper). May 5, 1927, and personal communication from the Norwegian 

 Legation in Washington. 



