Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2009
Ostrov Vrangelya, lat 71–72°N, long 178°E–177°W, is the largest island in the eastern Soviet Arctic. It has an area of 7 673 km2 and extends approximately 120 km east-west and 60 km north-south (see Fig 1). Five different flags have been raised on it—those of Great Britain, Canada, United States, Imperial Russia, and the Soviet Union—and it has had four different names in English since its first sighting by a white man: Kellett Land, Plover Land, New Columbia, and Wrangel Island. However, since 1924, no nation has disputed Soviet possession of the island.