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Jan Mayen is an island in the Greenland Sea between northern Norway and Greenland. The Island belongs to Norway.

The early history of Jan Mayen is rather obscure. Some historians believe that an Irish monk, Brendan, who was known as a good sailor, was close to Jan Mayen in the early 6th century. He came back from one of his voyages and reported that he had been close to a black island, which was on fire, and that it was a terrible noise in the area. He thought that he might have found the entrance to hell. Viking sailors are also believed to have known about the island.

Evidence of human activity on the island dates back to the 15^th century. Discovered by Henry Hudson in 1607, it was annexed by Norway in 1929. The Dutch established land stations for whaling, which were gradually abandoned after 1634.

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. The remains of the research activities are still to be found in Maria Muschbukta, protected according to preservation regulations. Their map was in use until the 1950’s.

At the beginning of the 1900’s, Norwegians started to hunt for arctic fox on the island. Of the original 13 hunting cabins, five still remain. In 1921 Hagbart Ekerold established the first meteorological station on Jan Mayen, and the following year, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute annexed a part of the island. In 1926 the Institute annexed the whole island, but it was not until 27 February 1930 that Jan Mayen was incorporated in the Kingdom of Norway by law.

In 1940 the crew of the meteorological 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 continuous 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. Jan Mayen was not occupied during the World War II, and remained as "Free Norway". In 1950 a party of British geologists found the wreck of a German plane with 4 crewmembers on the southwest side of the island. In 1959 all remains of the crews from the two planes were moved to the war cemetery in Narvik.

As recently as 1985 there was an eruption from the volcano Beerenberg (2277 m) on the island - the world’s northernmost volcano above sea level, and Norway's only active volcano. There is a constant threat of new eruptions and earthquakes.

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