[1] Administratively this island belongs to the Krasnoyarsk Krai Federal subject of Russia and is part of the Great Arctic State Nature Reserve, the largest nature reserve of Russia.

[2] Shpanberg Island is located in the central area of the archipelago on the southern side of the Lenin Strait.

[3] It is part of the Pakhtusov Islands (острова Пахтусова) subgroup of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago.

[4] In 1900, the islands of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago were explored by Russian Navy Captain Fyodor Matisen, who named most of them.

This island was named after the Dano-Russian naval officer and explorer Martin Spanberg, who served as one of Vitus Bering's lieutenants in both Kamchatka expeditions,[5] performed the first Russian diplomatic mission to Japan, and helped accelerate Russian occupation of the Kurils in series of voyages in 1738, 1739, and 1742.