Adolf Nordenskjold

Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskjold (1832-?) was a Swedish explorer and mineralogist.

He studied at the University of Helsingfors.

In Stockholm he became superintendent of the Mineralogical Museum. In 1858, 1861, and 1864 he went with expeditions to Spitsbergen, and in 1868 he went in a small vessel farther north than any vessel had ever been in the Eastern hemisphere.

In 1870, he visted Greenland and in 1871 went again to Spitsbergen and stayed there all winter, nearly starving to death.

In 1875, he went to the Yenisei River in Siberia, in a small vessel, which he sent back while he went up the river and returned home by land. The next year he went to the United States and was a juror at the Centennial Exhibition.

In 1878 he sailed around the north coast of Asia, returning home by the way of the Bering Strait, being the first European to accomplish the Northeast passage. On this voyage he made large collections of curiosities.

His father was chief of the mines in Finland. As a boy, Nordenskjold collected minerals and insects.

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