Christiansen, Christian (explorer)

Christian Christiansen was born on February 16, 1865 on Tran's farm in Ogndal, Norway. Christian from an early age was forced to work hard, and performed well both on land and at sea. In 1881, the 16-year-old showed himself as a good skier by taking part in a ski event, where he took 13th place.

In 1879, the young Christian Christiansen met Otto Sverdrup . This was not the first meeting between Kristiansen and Sverdrup, since 5 years before Otto’s father, Ulrich Sverdrup, had bought the Trana farm from which Kristian himself was a native, at auction.

In 1888, Otto Sverdrup offered Nansen Fridtjof to take Christian on an expedition to cross Greenland on skis . Nansen agreed with Otto’s choice, and so Christian became the youngest member of the expedition, at the time of which he was 24 years old. Nansen himself was only 2 years older than Christiansen, being the second youngest member of the expedition. Despite the fact that Nansen did not regret the choice of Christian as one of the participants, the latter doubted the choice of the first. Moreover, Christian had to help Otto's father, Ulrich Sverdrup, in the work ahead. Nevertheless, Ulrich freed Christian from his duties for half a year, during which the expedition was to last.

On the expedition, Christian, as Nansen later wrote, turned out to be a “bizarre but pleasant person.” On the expedition, everyone trusted Christian. The experience of Sverdrup and Christiansen was especially useful during the crossing of two light boats with members of the expedition across the ice to the shores of Greenland. One of the boats later had to be repaired, repairing holes in it caused by ice. Despite this, during the expedition Nansen criticized Christian for eating about a quarter of the oil in the expedition’s reserves. This led to Christian gaining extra weight . At the same time, Christiansen found a tobacco addiction , from which Sverdrup, Samuel Balto, and Olaf Dietrikson suffered. Nansen had to issue tobacco products to expedition members only every Sunday. Balto proposed to divide the entire amount of tobacco by 4 times to save, and as a replacement for everything else, chew tar. To all this, during the expedition, Christiansen injured his knee when Balto and Ole Ravna refused to carry the sled at the initiative of Nansen. The idea of ​​the latter was to use a sleeping bag for three people to save weight and heat. As a result, the expedition was divided into 2 groups: Nansen, Olaf and Otto slept in one bag, and Christian, Ole and Balto - in the other.

Upon arrival in Gothab , the expedition settled in the same groups in two houses of local residents: Nansen, Sverdrup and Dietrichson lived with Laurit Bistrap, and Christiansen, Balto and Ravna settled in another house. During the wintering period, Christian, together with Balto, more than once took part in local dance parties organized by the inhabitants of these parts.

On May 30, 1889, the expedition safely reached Christiania , where a large crowd met the participants. The celebration of the return home for Christian and Nansen continued until June 10, when both reached Trondheim and then Steinjer , where they were met by the mayor and the judge. For his participation in the expedition, Christiansen received medals from Norway, Sweden and Denmark. He was also appointed an honorary member of Steinkäger ​​Skiklubba, where Christian received an honorary club medal during his 50th anniversary on December 29, 1935.

In 1893, Nansen called Christian for a new expedition . Having reached Trondheim together with Sverdrup, Christian decided to refuse his participation in the expedition, since he was already married and became a father. A week later, Christian left Trondheim and reunited with his family.

Later, Christian worked on a farm in Upper Tran for several years, but eventually became a land planner. In 1905, Christian took a job in the living room of a local campaign, where he worked until the end of his life.

June 30, 1943 Christian Christiansen died in Steinkjer and was buried on July 6 of the same year.

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  Christian (second from the right in the background) during the expedition

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  Christian (second from the right in the background) with all members of the expedition

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  Christian (second left in the background) during the return from the expedition

• Nansen Fridtjof
• Ole Ravna
• Samuel balto
• Otto Sverdrup
• Olaf Dietrikson

• Kubitsky G. I. The Great Glacier
• Kristian Kristiansen (not available link)