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May 2, 2024 · Svalbard, archipelago, part of Norway, located in the Arctic Ocean well north of the Arctic Circle. The islands lie between longitude 10° and 35° E and latitude 74° and 81° N, about 580 miles (930 km) north of Tromsø, Norway. The archipelago is composed of nine main islands: Spitsbergen (formerly West Spitsbergen), North East Land, Edge ...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Four Discovery Theories
- Willem Barentsz’S Discovery of Svalbard
- Booming Whaling Industry
- Trappers & Sealers
- The Arctic Coal Rush & The Industrialisation of Svalbard
- The Global Seed Vault
The Dutch discovery of Svalbard in 1596 is acknowledged as historical fact, but this is the western viewpoint and competes with an earlier Russian claim. There is also a Norse claim and a suggestion that Svalbard was settled during the Stone Age, around 3000 BCE. The four theories are: Stone Age settlement. In the 1970s, two Scandinavian archaeolog...
Willem Barentsz (c. 1550-1597) – anglicized as William Barents or Barentz – was a Dutch cartographer and navigator. He was born in Terschelling, an island in the northern Netherlands, and made three voyages in search of the coveted Northern Sea Route to Asia. The Dutch were already engaged in commercial activities in the Arctic and with northern Ru...
Curiously, Barents did not seem to note Svalbard's natural resources, such as oil and fur. It was not until May 1607 that English navigator Henry Hudson (d. 1611) on the Hopewell found whales, walruses, and seals in the waters around Spitsbergen. Hudson was not aware of Barents' discovery of Svalbard, but it is possible that he discovered Jan Mayen...
As the whalers abandoned Svalbard for new hunting grounds on the open seas, the next phase of Svalbard's history began with fur trappers and sealers arriving. In 1697, Russian vessels called lodyas with a crew of 24 men were seen in Spitsbergen waters and were sent by private companies such as the White Sea Fishing Company, private adventurers, and...
Although polar bears were hunted until being protected on Svalbard in 1973, coal exploitation in the early 1900s was the next phase of Svalbard's history, particularly on the west coast. Coal had been discovered in Kings Bay by English sealer Jonas Poole (1566-1612) in 1610, but its economic potential was not fully realised until the Arctic Coal Co...
Svalbard is best known today as a remote place in the high Arctic where Norwegian lawrequires residents to carry guns to protect themselves against polar bears and where no burials or cats are allowed (due to the permafrost and birdlife). Svalbard's future may be to save humanity. The Global Seed Vault (also called the Doomsday Vault), situated dee...
- Kim Martins
Svalbard ( / ˈsvɑːlbɑːr ( d )/ SVAHL-bar (d), [4] Urban East Norwegian: [ˈsvɑ̂ːɫbɑr] ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it lies about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range from 74° to 81 ...
- 1,718 m (5,636 ft)
- 62,045 km² (23,956 sq mi) (not ranked)
- 917x
Oct 1, 2020 · A week or so later they found Spitsbergen, Svalbard’s largest island, where they explored a little and set up a post bearing the Dutch coat of arms. The voyage then returned to Bear Island and a disagreement led to the two ships splitting up and taking different courses. Tragedy struck and Barentsz lost his life.
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Svalbard has the northernmost settlement in the world. The largest being Longyearbyen with around 2400 inhabitants from around 53 countries. Other settlements are Barentsburg with around 360 inhabitants, Ny-Ålesund all year population of 30 to 35 and summer population reaching 114, Hornsund with a population around 10, and the two ...
Svalbard is a unique archipelago located in the Arctic Ocean, halfway between Norway and the North Pole, sitting between longitude 10° and 35° East and latitude 74° and 81° North. Longyearbyen coordinates are: 78.2232° N, 15.6267° E. Svalbard is approximately 400 miles away (650km) from the North Pole and 580 miles (930km) from mainland ...
Oct 1, 2021 · Svalbard in old Norse means “cold coast”. It is a Norwegian archipelago that lies in the Arctic Ocean well above the Arctic Circle. This group of islands lies on top of the world. It lies almost midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. Being the Northernmost year-round settlement globally, Svalbard is home to people ...
