Ferdinand von Wrangel
Encyclopedia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
explorer and seaman, Honorable Member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, a founder of the Russian Geographic Society. In English texts, Wrangel is sometimes spelled Vrangel, a transliteration from Russian
Romanization of Russian
Romanization of the Russian alphabet is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic alphabet into the Latin alphabet...
, which more closely represents its pronunciation in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, or Wrangell.
Von Wrangel was born into a Baltic German noble
Baltic nobility
The Baltic nobility was the privileged social class in the territories of today's Estonia and Latvia. It existed continuously since the medieval foundation of Terra Mariana...
family of Wrangel. He graduated from the Naval Cadets College
Sea Cadet Corps (Russia)
The Sea Cadet Corps , occasionally translated as the Marine Cadet Corps or the Naval Cadet Corps, is an educational establishment for training Naval officers for the Russian Navy in Saint Petersburg.It is the oldest existing high school in Russia.-History:...
in 1815. He took part in Vasily Golovnin
Vasily Golovnin
Vasily Mikhailovich Golovnin .-Early life and career:Vasily Mikhailovich Golovnin was born in April 1776, in the village of Gulyniki in Ryazan Oblast, on his father's country estate. Both his father and grandfather had served in the Russian military as officers in the elite Preobrazhensky...
's world cruise on the ship Kamchatka in 1817–1819. Wrangel led the Kolymskaya expedition in search of northern lands. He established that north of the Kolyma River
Kolyma River
The Kolyma River is a river in northeastern Siberia, whose basin covers parts of the Sakha Republic, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, and Magadan Oblast of Russia. Itrises in the mountains north of Okhotsk and Magadan, in the area of and...
and Cape Shelagsky there was an open sea, not dry land, as people thought. Together with Fyodor Matyushkin
Fyodor Matyushkin
Fyodor Fyodorovich Matyushkin was a Russian navigator, Admiral , and a close friend of Aleksandr Pushkin.Matyushkin graduated from Tsarskoselskiy College in 1817...
and P. Kuzmin, Wrangel described the Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
n coastline from the Indigirka River
Indigirka River
The Indigirka River is a river in the Sakha Republic in Russia between the Yana River and the Kolyma River. It is in length. The area of its basin is 360,000 km²...
to the Kolyuchinskaya Bay
Kolyuchinskaya Bay
Kolyuchinskaya Bay is a large bay in the Chukchi Sea on the northern shore of the Chukotka Peninsula, Russia. To the west is Cape Vankarem and to the east Neskynpil'gyn Lagoon and Cape Serdtse-Kamen. The length of the bay is 100 km. Its mouth is only 2.8 km because of the Serykh Gusey...
in the Chukchi Sea
Chukchi Sea
Chukchi Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the De Long Strait, off Wrangel Island, and in the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, beyond which lies the Beaufort Sea. The Bering Strait forms its southernmost limit and connects it to the Bering Sea and the Pacific...
. (See Northeast Passage) His expedition made a valuable research in glaciology
Glaciology
Glaciology Glaciology Glaciology (from Middle French dialect (Franco-Provençal): glace, "ice"; or Latin: glacies, "frost, ice"; and Greek: λόγος, logos, "speech" lit...
, geomagnetics, and climatology
Climatology
Climatology is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time, and is a branch of the atmospheric sciences...
and also collected data about natural resources and native population of that remote area.
After noticing swarm
Swarm
Swarm behaviour, or swarming, is a collective behaviour exhibited by animals of similar size which aggregate together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps moving en masse or migrating in some direction. As a term, swarming is applied particularly to insects, but can also be applied to...
s of birds flying north and questioning the native population, he determined that there must be an undiscovered island in the 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...
and started in 1820 a four year long expedition to search for it. Even though it was unsuccessful the island was later named Wrangel Island
Wrangel Island
Wrangel Island is an island in the Arctic Ocean, between the Chukchi Sea and East Siberian Sea. Wrangel Island lies astride the 180° meridian. The International Date Line is displaced eastwards at this latitude to avoid the island as well as the Chukchi Peninsula on the Russian mainland...
to honour him and his endeavor.
Wrangel led the Russian world voyage on the ship Krotky in 1825–1827. He held the post of the Chief Manager of the Russian American Company and was effectively Governor of its settlements in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
in 1829–1835. Prior to his departure for Russia’s American colonies, he got married in 1829 to Elisabeth Teodora Natalia Karolina de Rossillon, daughter of Baron Wilhelm de Rossillon. Von Wrangel was the first of a series of bachelor appointees to the office of governor who had to find a wife before assuming the duties in America, the Russian American Company rules having been changed in 1829.
Wrangel was a member of the board of directors of the Russian-American Company
Russian-American Company
The Russian-American Company was a state-sponsored chartered company formed largely on the basis of the so-called Shelekhov-Golikov Company of Grigory Shelekhov and Ivan Larionovich Golikov The Russian-American Company (officially: Under His Imperial Majesty's Highest Protection (patronage)...
in 1840–1849. He was the Minister of the Navy 1855–1857.
Wrangel retired in 1864. He opposed the sale of Alaska
Alaska purchase
The Alaska Purchase was the acquisition of the Alaska territory by the United States from Russia in 1867 by a treaty ratified by the Senate. The purchase, made at the initiative of United States Secretary of State William H. Seward, gained of new United States territory...
to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1867. Wrangel wrote the book Journey along the northern coastline of Siberia and the Arctic Ocean and other books about the peoples of northwestern America.
He lived in his last years in Ruil
Roela
Roela is a small borough in Vinni Parish , Lääne-Viru County in northeastern Estonia.- External links :*...
in the eastern part of Estonia
Governorate of Estonia
The Governorate of Estonia or Estland, also known as the Government of Estonia or Province of Estonia, was a governorate of the Russian Empire in what is now northern Estonia.-Historical overview:...
. He had bought the manor in 1840.
List of places named after Wrangel
- Wrangel IslandWrangel IslandWrangel Island is an island in the Arctic Ocean, between the Chukchi Sea and East Siberian Sea. Wrangel Island lies astride the 180° meridian. The International Date Line is displaced eastwards at this latitude to avoid the island as well as the Chukchi Peninsula on the Russian mainland...
, the arcticArcticThe Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
island north of ChukotkaChukchi PeninsulaThe Chukchi Peninsula, Chukotka Peninsula or Chukotski Peninsula , at about 66° N 172° W, is the northeastern extremity of Asia. Its eastern end is at Cape Dezhnev near the village of Uelen. It is bordered by the Chukchi Sea to the north, the Bering Sea to the south, and the Bering Strait to the...
he failed to discover - Wrangell IslandWrangell IslandWrangell Island is in the Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle of southeastern Alaska. It is long and 8–23 km wide. It has a land area of , making it the 29th largest island in the United States...
, an island in the Alexander ArchipelagoAlexander ArchipelagoThe Alexander Archipelago is a long archipelago, or group of islands, of North America off the southeastern coast of Alaska. It contains about 1,100 islands, which are the tops of the submerged coastal mountains that rise steeply from the Pacific Ocean. Deep channels and fjords separate the...
, off the coast of AlaskaAlaskaAlaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
- Wrangell, AlaskaWrangell, AlaskaWrangell is a city and borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2000 census the population was 2,308.Its Tlingit name is Ḵaachx̱aana.áakʼw . The Tlingit people residing in the Wrangell area, who were there centuries before Europeans, call themselves the Shtaxʼhéen Ḵwáan after the nearby Stikine...
, a city on Wrangell Island and one of the oldest non-native settlements in Alaska- Fort Wrangel, a US Army base at Wrangell, originally Fort StikineFort StikineFort Stikine was a fur trade post and fortification in what is now the Alaska Panhandle, at the site of the present-day of Wrangell, Alaska, United States...
when under British control
- Fort Wrangel, a US Army base at Wrangell, originally Fort Stikine
- Wrangell AirportWrangell AirportWrangell Airport is a public airport located one mile northeast of the central business district of Wrangell, Alaska. The airport has a single runway. Airline service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.- Airline and destinations :...
, an airportAirportAn airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
near Wrangell, Alaska - Wrangell-Petersburg Census AreaWrangell-Petersburg Census Area, AlaskaPetersburg Census Area is a census area located in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is part of the unorganized borough and therefore has no borough seat. Its largest community is Petersburg. The population was 6,684 at the 2000 census, at which time it was named the Wrangell-Petersburg Census Area...
a census area containing Wrangell Island.
- Wrangell, Alaska
- Wrangell NarrowsWrangell NarrowsThe Wrangell Narrows is a winding, 35-km-long channel between Mitkof Island and Kupreanof Island in the Alexander Archipelago in Southeast Alaska. The Wrangell Narrows is one of the six Listed narrows in Southeast Alaska. There are about 60 lights and buoys to mark it because of its winding nature...
, a winding channelChannel (geography)In physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.A channel is also the natural or human-made deeper course through a reef, sand bar, bay, or any shallow body of water...
in the Alexander Archipelago - Cape WrangellCape WrangellCape Wrangell is the westernmost point of the U.S. state of Alaska from the geographic center of the United States. It is located on the island of Attu which is situated in the Near Islands.-External links:*...
of Attu IslandAttu IslandAttu is the westernmost and largest island in the Near Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, making it the westernmost point of land relative to Alaska and the United States. It was the site of the only World War II land battle fought on the incorporated territory of the United States ,...
, the westernmost point of Alaska (and the USA) - Mount WrangellMount WrangellMount Wrangell is a massive shield volcano located in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in southeastern Alaska, United States. The shield rises over above the Copper River to its southwest. Its volume is over , making it more than twice as massive as Mount Shasta in California, the...
, a volcanoVolcano2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
in Alaska- Wrangell Volcanic Field, named after Mount Wrangell
- Wrangell MountainsWrangell MountainsThe Wrangell Mountains are a high mountain range of eastern Alaska in the United States. Much of the range is included in Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve. The Wrangell Mountains are almost entirely volcanic in origin, and they include the second and third highest volcanoes in the...
, named after Mount Wrangell - Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and PreserveWrangell-St. Elias National Park and PreserveWrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve is a United States National Park in southeastern Alaska. It was established in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. The park area is included in an International Biosphere Reserve and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site...
, named after Wrangell mountains
- Wrangellia, a geologic terraneTerraneA terrane in geology is short-hand term for a tectonostratigraphic terrane, which is a fragment of crustal material formed on, or broken off from, one tectonic plate and accreted or "sutured" to crust lying on another plate...
of SoutheastAlaska PanhandleSoutheast Alaska, sometimes referred to as the Alaska Panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, which lies west of the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The majority of Southeast Alaska's area is part of the Tongass National Forest, the United...
Alaska - Ferdinand von Wrangell`i nim. Roela Põhikool, a basic school in Roela, named after Wrangell
External links
- Overview of Roela (in German: Ruil) manor (the family manor of von Wrangels) in Estonian Manors Portal
- Wrangell's 1839 Comparative Word-List of Alaskan languages