Tusenøyane is a group of small islands south of Edgeøya

Edgeøya

Edgeøya, occasionally anglicised as Edge Island, is an uninhabited Norwegian island in southeast of the Svalbard archipelago; it is the third largest island in this archipelago. An Arctic island, it forms part of the South East Svalbard Nature Reserve, home to polar bears and reindeer. Its eastern...

. They form part of 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. The group consists of over forty islands and islets, including Brotskjer

Brotskjer

Brotskjer is a rock about 11 miles west-southwest of Håøya in the southern part of Tusenøyane, an archipelago south of Edgeøya.-References:* Norwegian Polar Institute...

, Kulstadholmane

Kulstadholmane

Kulstadholmane is the southernmost group of islets in Tusenøyane, an archipelago south of Edgeøya. It comprises Håøya and the skerries or islets surrounding it: Håungen, Håkallen and Håkjerringa...

, Utsira

Utsira (Svalbard)

Utsira is a small islet in the western part of Tusenøyane, an island group south of Edgeøya. It is named after an island in Norway.-References:* Norwegian Polar Institute...

, Tufsen

Tufsen

Tufsen is an islet 1.2 miles east of Utsira, part of Tusenøyane, an archipelago south of Edgeøya.-References:* Norwegian Polar Institute...

, Kong Ludvigøyane

Kong Ludvigøyane

Kong Ludvigøyane is a small group of islands south of southwestern Edgeøya. The group includes Russebuholmane, Arendtsøya, Berentineøya and Bruhnsøya. They form part of Tusenøyane. They are named after King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Germany. The islands may be the Hopeless Iles. of the Muscovy...

, Bölscheøya

Bölscheøya

Bölscheøya is an island southwest of Negerpynten, the southeastern point of Edgeøya. It is part of Tusenøyane. The island was named in 1868 by the German geographer August Petermann after the German journalist Carl Bölsche, father of the German writer and zoologist Wilhelm Bölsche...

, Hornøya, Tiholmane

Tiholmane

Tiholmane is a group of ten small islands that form part of Tusenøyane, an archipelago south of Edgeøya. The largest of the islands are Lurøya, Kalvøya, Langåra and Rugla. The group also includes the smaller Sperra, Spunset, Bommen, Proppen, Rullesteinøya and Røysholmen.-References:* Norwegian...

, Meinickeøyane

Meinickeøyane

Meinickeøyane is an island group composed of two islets, Store Meinickeøya and Vesle Meinickeøya, that form part of Tusenøyane, an island group south of Edgeøya, part of the Svalbard archipelago. They were named after the German geographer Carl Eduard Meinicke .-References:* Norwegian Polar...

, Sletteøya

Sletteøya

Sletteøya is an island between Tiholmane and Schareholmane in Tusenøyane, an archipelago south of Edgeøya, Svalbard, Norway.-References:* Norwegian Polar Institute...

, Schareholmane

Schareholmane

Schareholmane is a group of three larger and a few smaller islets east of Tiholmane, part of Tusenøyane, an archipelago south of Edgeøya. The group includes Blokkøya, Kvalbeinøya and Havmerra. The islets are named after Schare, a man, who, along with four others, was forced to overwinter here...

, Skråholmen

Skråholmen

Skråholmen is an islet about 2 miles northeast of Schareholmane. It is part of Tusenøyane, an archipelago south of Edgeøya.-References:* Norwegian Polar Institute...

, Brækmoholmane

Brækmoholmane

Brækmoholmane is an island group composed of three islands, Store Brækmoholmen, Trønderen and Alkekongen. They form part of Tusenøyane, an archipelago south of Edgeøya. The islands are named after the Norwegian sailor and fisherman Sivert Brækmo , who visited Svalbard regularly between 1876 and...

, Tareloppa

Tareloppa

Tareloppa is an islet 2 miles northeast of Brækmoholmane, part of Tusenøyane, an archipelago south of Edgeøya.-References:* Norwegian Polar Institute...

, Vindholmen

Vindholmen

Vindholmen is a small islet southeast of Brækmoholmane, part of Tusenøyane, an island group south of Edgeøya.-References:* Norwegian Polar Institute...

, and Menkeøyane

Menkeøyane

Menkeøyane is a small island group south of Halvmåneøya, an island off the southeast coast of Edgeøya. The group includes Havella, Alka, Gassen, Teisten, Islomen and Blåmåken. They comprise part of Tusenøyane. The islands are named after the German cartographer and historical geographer Heinrich...

.

History

The Dutchman Joris Carolus

Joris Carolus

Joris Carolus was a Dutch cartographer and explorer. He served for both the Noordsche Compagnie and the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie .-Career:...

 was the first to distinctly mark a group of small islands south of Edgeøya

Edgeøya

Edgeøya, occasionally anglicised as Edge Island, is an uninhabited Norwegian island in southeast of the Svalbard archipelago; it is the third largest island in this archipelago. An Arctic island, it forms part of the South East Svalbard Nature Reserve, home to polar bears and reindeer. Its eastern...

. 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...

's map (1625) showed a vague mass of islands as well, some labeled, such as Wester I., Beare Iland, Heling I., and the Hopeless Iles. (perhaps Kong Ludvigøyane). G. Valk and P. Schenk (c. 1662) were the first to place a "great vague mass of islands stretching round the coast" south of Edgeøya. William Scoresby

William Scoresby

William Scoresby , was an English Arctic explorer, scientist and clergyman.-Early years:Scoresby was born in the village of Cropton near Pickering 26 miles south of Whitby in Yorkshire. His father, William Scoresby , made a fortune in the Arctic whale fishery...

(1820) is thought to have been the first to label them with the popular name of Thousand Islands, the name they retain to this day.