Billefjorden
Encyclopedia
Billefjorden is the central fjord of the three branching from the innermost part of the Isfjorden to the northeast, in 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...

, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. It is 30km long and 5-8km wide. Billefjorden lies between Dickson Land
Dickson Land
Dickson Land is a land area between Isfjorden and Wijdefjorden at Spitsbergen, Svalbard. It forms a peninsula between the Isfjorden branches Billefjorden and Dicksonfjorden. Dickson Land is named after Oscar Dickson....

 to the northwest and Bünsow Land
Bünsow Land
Bünsow Land is a land area at the inner end of Isfjorden at Spitsbergen, Svalbard. It forms a peninsula between Billefjorden and Sassenfjorden and Tempelfjorden. Bünsow Land is named after Friedrich Christian Ernestus Bünsow....

 in the southeast. Located on its northwestern shore is the former Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n mining community of Pyramiden
Pyramiden
Pyramiden is an abandoned Russian settlement and coal mining community on the archipelago of Svalbard, Norway. It was founded by Sweden in 1910 and sold to the Soviet Union in 1927...

 (abandoned in 1998). To the northeast is Nordenskiöldbreen
Nordenskiöldbreen
Nordenskiöldbreen is a glacier in Spitsbergen, Svalbard between Dickson Land and Bünsow Land. The glacier runs out to Adolfsbukta, in to Billefjorden and is 25 km long and 11 km wide....

.

The fjord is named after the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 whaler Cornelius Claeszoon Bille, who is mentioned as being active in 1675 by the Dutchman Cornelius Gisbert Zorgdrager. Originally another bay (now known as Adventfjorden
Adventfjorden
Adventfjorden is a 7 km long and 4 km wide bay on the southern side of Isfjorden, on the west coast of Spitsbergen. The name is a corruption of Adventure Bay, which was probably named after the Hull whaleship Adventure, which resorted to Isfjorden in 1656. The fjord was originally known as Klass...

) had been labeled as Klass Billen Bay, but Dunér and Nordenskiöld
Nordenskiöld
Nordenskiöld or Nordenskjöld or Nordenskjold or Nordenskiold may refer to:* Nordenskiöld , people with the surname Nordenskiöld-See also:* Nordenskjold Archipelago, an island group in the Kara Sea....

moved it to its present location.
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