Svalbard

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Svalbard

(sväl`bärd), archipelago (23,958 sq mi/62,051 sq km), island group (2015 est. pop. 2,700), possession of Norway, located in the Arctic Ocean, c.400 mi (640 km) N of the Norwegian mainland and between lat. 74°N and 81°N. The main islands of the group are SpitsbergenSpitsbergen
, formerly Vestspitsbergen,
largest island (15,075 sq mi/39,044 sq km) of Svalbard, a Norwegian possession in the Arctic Ocean. It rises to Newtontoppen Mt. (c.5,650 ft/1,720 m), the highest point.
..... Click the link for more information. (formerly Vestspitsbergen), Nordaustlandet, EdgeøyaEdgeøya
or Edge Island,
island of the Svalbard group, 1,942 sq mi (5,030 sq km), Norway, in the Barents Sea, E of Spitsbergen. It rises to 2,349 ft (716 m). An ice field covers SE Edgeøya.
..... Click the link for more information. , BarentsøyaBarentsøya
or Barents Island
, island of Svalbard, 513 sq mi (1,329 sq km), in Barents Sea between Spitsbergen and Edgeøya. The island rises to 1,302 ft (397 m).
..... Click the link for more information. , and Prins Karls Forland; surrounding islands include Hopen, Kong Karls LandKong Karls Land
or King Charles Land,
island group, 128 sq mi (332 sq km), in the Barents Sea, part of the Norwegian possession of Svalbard, W of Spitsbergen. It includes Kongsøya, Svenskøya, and Abeløya islands.
..... Click the link for more information. , Kvitøya, and BjørnøyaBjørnøya
, island, 69 sq mi (179 sq km), in the Barents Sea, c.275 mi (440 km) N of Norway; southernmost island of Svalbard. It rises to 1,759 ft (536 m). There are polar fox and polar bear on the island. Probably known to Norsemen in the 12th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. (Bear Island).

Land and People

The islands form plateaus intersected by deep fjords, of which Isfjorden is the largest. Spitsbergen, the largest island, contains the highest mountain of the group (Newtontoppen, c.5,650 ft/1,720 m) and the principal settlements of LongyearbyenLongyearbyen
, town and administrative center of Svalbard, on Isfjorden, Spitsbergen island. It was founded (1905) as a coal-mining settlement by an American company and named after the American miner J. M. Longyear. Its coal mines were transferred to a Norwegian company in 1916.
..... Click the link for more information. (the administrative center), Ny-ÅlesundNy-Ålesund
[New Alesund], town, on Kongsfjorden, NW Spitsbergen island, Svalbard, Norway. Established as a coal-mining settlement, it is now a largely seasonal scientific research center.
..... Click the link for more information. , and BarentsburgBarentsburg
, town, Spitsbergen island, Svalbard, Norway. Though tourism is increasingly economically significant, Barentsburg was originally a coal-mining settlement, established (1912) by a Norwegian company.
..... Click the link for more information. . Spitsbergen has served as the base for many polar expeditions. Some 60% of the small population is Norwegian and 20% Russian and Ukrainian.

The warm North Atlantic Drift makes navigation possible for more than half the year along the western coasts. Ice fields and glaciers cover more than 60% of the area, but some 130 species of arctic vegetation flourish near the coast and on patches of interior tundra. Waterfowl abound, but land game has been rendered nearly extinct by hunting and is now protected, in addition to seals, walruses, and whales. The chief wealth of the islands was for decades derived from their mineral resources, most notably coal, but the tourism is now increasingly significant. Deposits of asbestos, copper, gypsum, iron, marble, zinc, and phosphate also exist. Scientific research is the third mainstay of the local economy.

History

Discovered (1194) by the Vikings, the islands were forgotten until their rediscovery (1596) by Willem BarentzBarentz or Barents, Willem
, d. 1597, Dutch navigator. He made three voyages (1594, 1595, 1596–97) in search of the Northeast Passage to Asia. He reached Novaya Zemlya on the first two expeditions.
..... Click the link for more information. , the Dutch navigator. For a decade after Henry HudsonHudson, Henry,
fl. 1607–11, English navigator and explorer. He was hired (1607) by the English Muscovy Company to find the Northeast Passage to Asia. He failed, and another attempt (1608) to find a new route was also fruitless.
..... Click the link for more information. reported (1607) good whaling there, English and Dutch whalers quarreled over the territory; in 1618 they compromised, the Dutch limiting their operations to the northern part, leaving the rest to the English, the French, and the Hanseatic LeagueHanseatic League
, mercantile league of medieval German towns. It was amorphous in character; its origin cannot be dated exactly. Originally a Hansa was a company of merchants trading with foreign lands.
..... Click the link for more information. . The Danes at the same time claimed the islands as part of Greenland.

After the decline of whaling, the group became (18th cent.) a hunting ground for Russian and Scandinavian fur traders. In the late 19th cent., the islands were mapped by many notable explorers, and important coal deposits were discovered. For a half century after the discovery of coal, Norway, Russia, and Sweden negotiated for the islands.

By a treaty signed at Paris in 1920 and subsequently ratified by the other claimants, they were awarded to Norway which took formal possession of them in 1925. The treaty prohibited military installations on the islands and ensured recognition of claims of other countries to parts of the coal fields. In World War II, Svalbard was raided (Aug., 1941) by an Allied party that evacuated the civilian population to England and rendered the mines inoperable. A German garrison was expelled in 1942 by a small Norwegian force. In Sept., 1943, the German battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst, with 10 destroyers, completed the devastation of the mines and mining installations by bombarding the islands.

In 1944 the USSR—which had not signed the 1920 treaty but which had later adhered to it—was refused a request to share with Norway in the administration and defense of Svalbard. After the war the mining settlements were rebuilt. Coal mining concessions operated from the 1930s by the USSR and later Russia once accounted for a significant portion of the coal shipped from Svalbard, but coal mining has greatly decreased from its height in the 1950s.

Svalbard

a group of islands in the Arctic Ocean, between 74° and 81° N lat. and 10° and 35° E long., including the Spitsbergen archipelago, Bear Island, and a number of small islands. The islands, which belong to Norway, have a total area of over 62,000 sq km. An area of 35,100 sq km is glaciated. Coal is mined on the island of Spitsbergen by Norwegian and Soviet companies. The most heavily settled area is Longyear City, the seat of government of Svalbard.

Svalbard

a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, about 650 km (400 miles) north of Norway: consists of the main group (Spitsbergen, North East Land, Edge Island, Barents Island, and Prince Charles Foreland) and a number of outlying islands; sovereignty long disputed but granted to Norway in 1920; coal mining. Administrative centre: Longyearbyen. Area: 62 050 sq. km (23 958 sq. miles)

Svalbard

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Svalbard

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Svalbard

Land and People

History

Svalbard

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noun a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean

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