Franz Josef Land

Located to the east of Spitzbergen in the northern Arctic Ocean, this archipelago was discovered in 1873 by the Austro-Hungarian North Polar Expedition led by Julius Payer and Carl Weyprecht, and named after Emperor Franz Joseph. Made up of numerous islands, which are mostly covered in ice, the group constitutes the northernmost islands associated with the Eurasian continent and are Russian territory.
The name of the archipelago – in Russian Земля Франца-Иосифа (in transcription: Zemlya Frantsa Iosifa) – was retained even during Soviet times, despite its imperialist overtones.