Svalbard and Jan Mayen — map and facts

About Svalbard

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, lying roughly midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, at latitudes between 74° and 81° North. It is administered by Norway under the terms of the 1920 Svalbard Treaty, which grants nationals of signatory states the right to reside and conduct commercial activity there. The main settlement and administrative centre is Longyearbyen, on the island of Spitsbergen. The total population is approximately 2,500, including a Norwegian community and a Russian mining settlement at Barentsburg. The Norwegian state company Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani has historically operated coal mines, though the industry has declined. Today tourism, research, and satellite operations are the main economic activities. Svalbard is home to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a facility preserving crop diversity. There are no border controls and no income tax for residents, giving the archipelago an unusual legal and economic character.

Geography and Landscape

Svalbard covers approximately 61,000 square kilometres, of which about 65 percent is covered by glaciers and permanent ice. The main island, Spitsbergen, features dramatic mountain scenery with sharp peaks, deep fjords, and vast glaciers calving into the sea. Other significant islands include Nordaustlandet, Edgeøya, and Barentsøya. Permafrost underlies the entire archipelago. The climate is Arctic, with temperatures averaging around minus 15°C in winter and just above freezing in summer. Despite its latitude, the West Spitsbergen Current moderates temperatures somewhat. The archipelago experiences polar night from late October to mid-February and the midnight sun from late April to late August. Wildlife is abundant and includes polar bears, Arctic foxes, reindeer, walruses, and vast seabird colonies. The waters around Svalbard support rich marine life, including whales and seals. Svalbard National Park and several nature reserves protect much of the wilderness.

History

The islands were likely first sighted by Norse voyagers in the twelfth century and were known to Icelandic sailors, but the first clearly documented European discovery was by the Dutch navigator Willem Barentsz in 1596. The archipelago subsequently became the centre of intensive whaling activity by Dutch, English, and later Danish-Norwegian whalers during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, leaving behind many ruins of shore-based whaling stations. Coal mining began in the early twentieth century and attracted both Norwegian and Russian settlers. Following World War I, the Svalbard Treaty of 1920 assigned sovereignty to Norway while preserving the rights of signatory nations. During World War II the archipelago was evacuated and subjected to German military operations. After the war Norway resumed administration, and Norwegian sovereignty has been stable since. The Cold War gave Barentsburg strategic importance as a Soviet presence in the High Arctic, and that Russian community persists today under the Russian company Arktikugol.