One-hundred-and-fifty years ago Professor Adolf Erik Nordenski?ld, together with a team from Sweden travelled to Svalbard on boat in for the start of an expedition that lasted a bit more than a whole year. In the beginning of May 1873, after a challenging winter on Svalbard, the team set off to reach the North Pole on ski and g?rris. The attempt was abandoned, but instead they were the first persons to have travelled around the Northeast Land. This year, in May, a team consisting of adventurers, a film crew and scientists set of for the same route travelled by Nordenski?ld some 150 years ago.
Many are familiar with the Vega expedition and its remains, but what was left from the Svalbard expedition of 1872-1873? Expeditions are rarely conducted, or even accomplished, by one and only person. The expedition consisted of people with different backgrounds, abilities and knowledge. In this seminar, Markus Fjellstr?m (University of Oulu) will focus on the four employed Sámi from Northern Norway to accompany the trip. What do the written records and the photographs tell us about the past? What was their role in this expedition and what about their stories?