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Bear Island
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Bear Island is the southernmost island of the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago. The island is located at the limits of the Norwegian and Barents seas, approximately halfway between Spitsbergen and the North Cape. Bear Island was discovered by Dutch explorers Willem Barentsz and Jacob van Heemskerck on 10 June 1596. It was named after a polar bear that was seen swimming nearby. The island was considered terra nullius until the Spitsbergen Treaty of 1920 placed it under Norwegian sovereignty.
Not who you're looking for? Others named Bear Island: one of the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior, northern Wiscon · island in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States · human settlement in New Brunswick, Canada · island in Colleton County, South Carolina, United States