Jan Mayen

Jan Mayen, island of Norway, in the Arctic Ocean, between Greenland and Norway. Jan Mayen is 53 km (33 mi) long and 16 km (10 mi) wide. The highest point is Beerenberg (2,277 m/ 7,470 ft), a dormant volcano. The island was discovered in 1607 by the English navigator Henry Hudson, who named it Hudson's Tutches. The present name is derived from that of a Dutch sea captain, Jan Mayen, who had a whaling base on the island between 1611 and 1635. In 1929 the island was annexed by Norway. Whalers and seal hunters occasionally visit Jan Mayen, but the island is uninhabited except by the operators of communications and meteorological stations, which were first established in 1921 by the Norwegian government. During World War II (1939-1945), a United States Navy weather station was maintained on the island.