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History of Jan Mayen
From antiquity to the modern era — the historical eras, key events, and narrative that shaped Jan Mayen.
Overview
FIRST INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR
During the first International Polar Year in 1882-83 an Austrian/Hungarian expedition chose Jan Mayen as their base. They stayed for a full year and carried out extensive research and mapping of the island. Their map was in use until the 1950’s.
FOX HUNTING
At the beginning of this century Norwegian trappers began to spend the winters on Jan Mayen. Their main prey was blue and white foxes and an occasional polar bear. Overexploitation of the fox population resulted in a fast decline of the hunting profit, and in addition the barren island and unpleasant living conditions made the hunting come to an end in the 1920’s.
ANNEXATION
Official Norwegian activity on Jan Mayen has been continuos since 1921 when the first meteorological station on the island was established.
Weather reports from Jan Mayen are important for weather forecasting in Norway and the Norwegian Sea and in 1922 the Norwegian Meteorological Institute annexed the island for Norway. By Royal Decree of 8th May 1929 Jan Mayen was placed under Norwegian sovereignty and by law of 27th February 1930 the island was declared a part of the Kingdom of Norway.
WORLD WAR 2
Jan Mayen was not occupied during the World War II, and remained as "Free Norway". In 1940 the crew of the met. Station burned down their station and left the island, but in 1941 they came back with a few Norwegian soldiers. They re-established the meteorological station and were in continuos operation throughout the war years in spite of frequent air attacks from the Germans. Two German planes crashed on the island during the war. A four-engine bomber with 9 crewmembers hit a mountain near the Norwegian garrison in 1942. In 1950 a party of British geologists found the wreck of a German plane with 4 crewmembers on the south-west side of the island. In 1959 all remains of the crews from the two planes were moved to the war cemetery in Narvik.
In 1943 the Americans were allowed to establish a radiolocating station on the island. It was built on the north side and they called it Atlantic City. The main task of the station was to locate the secret German weather and radio stations on Greenland.
METEOROLOGICAL STATION
After the war the Norwegian Meteorological Institute used Atlantic City as their station until 1949 when their new station was built on a rise above Atlantic City.
In the period 1945 - 59 the only activity on the island was weather observations and this was supplemented by radiosoundings. That is balloons which are sent up to an altitude of 25 - 30 km carrying a package of measuring instruments and a small radiotransmitter which reports back information about temperature, pressure and humidity of the air together with information about wind speed and direction.
COASTAL RADIO
The new station was also equipped and tasked to operate a coastal radio station. It maintained contact with ships in the area and relayed messages to stations on the main land. It also kept continuos watch for possible distress signals in the area. Over the years Jan Mayen Radio has been of great importance for the safety and welfare of fishing and seal-hunting ships.
LORAN-C
In 1959 a new era came to Jan Mayen. NATO decided to build a radionavigation system called LORAN, which stands for "Long Range Navigation". Jan Mayen was chosen as one of the transmitter sites working together with transmitters on the Norwegian mainland, in Germany, on the Faeroes and Iceland. The Norwegian defence Communication Administration (NORECA) was given the task to establish and operate the two stations in Norway. All machinery, building materials and equipment for the new station was transported by ship and since Jan Mayen has no harbour the load was landed by small boats and rafts, often in rough sea. This was both hard and difficult work, and not without danger. The new station was called Olonkin City, named
Historical Eras
The major periods of {country}’s history at a glance.
Discovery & Whaling
1614 – 1650
Dutch and English whalers explored Jan Mayen beginning in the early 1600s, with Jan Jacobs May van Schellinkhout's 1614 visit giving the island its name. The Dutch established substantial whale oil processing stations, hosting over a thousand men during peak summer seasons and erecting fortifications to defend their operations. Intensive hunting drove the Greenland whale to near-local extinction, ending commercial whaling around 1640–1650 and leaving the island effectively abandoned.
Isolation & Exploration
1650 – 1882
For roughly two centuries following the collapse of whaling, Jan Mayen was visited only sporadically by passing vessels, with no permanent human presence. The island remained largely unmapped and scientifically unstudied, a remote and inhospitable volcanic outcrop in the Norwegian Sea. Occasional seal hunters and explorers touched its shores but left no lasting infrastructure or settlement.
Scientific Interest
1882 – 1921
The First International Polar Year of 1882–83 brought an Austro-Hungarian scientific expedition to Jan Mayen, where researchers spent a full year conducting meteorological, geomagnetic, and geographical surveys; their detailed map remained the standard reference until the 1950s. In the early twentieth century, Norwegian trappers began wintering on the island to hunt blue and white foxes, though overexploitation rapidly depleted the fox population and harsh conditions ended trapping by the 1920s.
Norwegian Annexation
1921 – 1940
Norway established its first permanent meteorological station on Jan Mayen in 1921, recognizing the island's strategic value for weather forecasting across the Norwegian Sea. The Norwegian Meteorological Institute formally annexed the island in 1922, and a Royal Decree of 8 May 1929 placed Jan Mayen under full Norwegian sovereignty; a law of 27 February 1930 incorporated it as part of the Kingdom of Norway. This period marked the transition from occasional visits to continuous, state-sponsored occupation.
World War II
1940 – 1945
Jan Mayen was never occupied by German forces and served as a pocket of Free Norway throughout the war, though the meteorological crew briefly evacuated in 1940 after burning their station to deny its use to the enemy. Returning in 1941 with Norwegian soldiers, they rebuilt the station and maintained continuous weather operations despite repeated German air attacks; two German aircraft crashed on the island during the conflict. In 1943 the United States established a radiolocation station, dubbed Atlantic City, tasked with detecting clandestine German installations on Greenland.
Modern Norwegian Territory
1945 – present
After the war, Jan Mayen settled into its role as a remote Norwegian outpost sustained by meteorological, radio, and later LORAN-C navigation operations. The long-dormant Beerenberg volcano dramatically resumed eruptions in 1970, confirming it as the northernmost active volcano on Earth and drawing renewed scientific attention. The island today is administered by Norway with no permanent civilian population, staffed only by rotating military and meteorological personnel.