Svalbard, also 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° north latitude, and from 10° to 35° east longitude. The largest island is Spitsbergen, followed in size by Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya. The largest settlement is Longyearbyen.
Spitsbergen is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norway.
Ny-Ålesund is a small town in Oscar II Land on the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway. It is situated on the Brøgger peninsula (Brøggerhalvøya) and on the shore of the bay of Kongsfjorden. The company town is owned and operated by Kings Bay, which provides facilities for permanent research activities by 19 institutions from 11 countries. The town is ultimately owned by the Ministry of Climate and Environment and is not incorporated. Ny-Ålesund has an all-year permanent population of 30 to 35, with the summer population reaching 114. Its facilities include Ny-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben, Svalbard Rocket Range, a port and Ny-Ålesund Town and Mine Museum, as well as a number of buildings dedicated to research and environmental monitoring activities. It is the northernmost functional civilian settlement in the world.
Sveagruva, or simply Svea, was a mining settlement in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, lying at the head of Van Mijenfjord. It was the third largest settlement in the archipelago. Around 300 workers living in Longyearbyen commuted to Sveagruva for work on a daily or weekly basis. The mine was operated by Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani. There is no road to Longyearbyen or any other settlements, so travel is done by air from Svea Airport and coal transport by ship from a port 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) southwest. Sveagruva closed in 2017 and currently has no permanent inhabitants.
The polar archipelago of Svalbard was first discovered by the Icelanders in 1194. The sources for this are Icelandic annals and the book of settlements. The book of settlements very clearly mentions Svalbarth in the beginning of the book as 4 days sail north of Langanes. These accounts are though very scarse not mentioning any names or even if it was rather norse hunters in Greenland as some have specualted.
Pyramiden is an abandoned Soviet coal mining settlement on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard which has become a tourist destination. Founded by Sweden in 1910 and sold to the Soviet Union in 1927, Pyramiden was closed in 1998 and has since remained largely abandoned with most of its infrastructure and buildings still in place, the cold climate preserving much of what has been left behind.
Svea Airport was a private airport located in and serving the Sveagruva in Svalbard, Norway. The airport was owned and operated by Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani, who used the airport to transport their coal mining workers from the company town to Longyearbyen and Svalbard Airport, Longyear. The airport featured a gravel runway measuring 800 by 30 meters. Flights were operated about thirty times per week by Lufttransport using their two Dornier 228s.
Gunnar Hansen Horn was a Norwegian petroleum geologist and Arctic explorer. He is most renowned as the leader of the Bratvaag Expedition that found the long-lost remains of S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 at Kvitøya in 1930. The headland Hornodden of Kvitøya is named after him.
Bjørnøen AS is a Norwegian government enterprise that owns all land and some heritage buildings on the uninhabited overseas territory of Bjørnøya.
John Munro Longyear, Sr. was an American businessman and noted developer of timber and mineral lands in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan who became the central figure behind the Arctic Coal Company, which surveyed and mined coalfields on Spitsbergen, now Svalbard, from 1905 to 1916. This company developed a settlement on Spitsbergen able to accommodate up to around 500 people which became known as Longyear City, now Longyearbyen, adjacent Advent Bay.
Einar Sverdrup was a Norwegian mining engineer and businessman. He was the CEO of the Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani, operating at Svalbard. When the integrity of Svalbard was threatened during World War II, he volunteered for a military operation, but was killed in action during Operation Fritham.
Johan Fredrik Gram was a Norwegian chemist.
Johannes Gerckens Bassøe was a Norwegian jurist and civil servant. He is known as the first Governor of Svalbard, assuming office in October 1925, although there had been an Acting Governor since August. Bassøe was later County Governor of Troms and Vestfold.
Store Norske may refer to:
The economy of Svalbard is dominated by coal mining, tourism and research. In 2007, there were 484 people working in the mining sector, 211 people working in the tourism sector and 111 people working in the education sector. The same year, mining gave a revenue of 2.008 billion kr, tourism NOK 317 million and research 142 million. In 2006, the average income for economically active people was NOK 494,700, or 23% higher than on the mainland. Almost all housing is owned by the various employers and institutions and rented to their employees; there are only a few privately owned houses, most of which are recreational cabins. Because of this, it is nearly impossible to live on Svalbard without working for an established institution. The Spitsbergen Treaty and Svalbard Act established Svalbard as an economic free zone and demilitarized zone in 1925.
Arctic Coal Company was a coal mining company that operated mines at Longyearbyen in Svalbard, Norway, between 1906 and 1916.
Peter Andreas Severinsson Brandal was a Norwegian sealer and businessman. He was one of the founders of the community of Ny-Ålesund on the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway.
Cape Amsterdam is a headland in Nordenskiöld Land on Spitsbergen on Svalbard. Headland marks the northwestern entrance to Svea Gulf that continues north to Sveagruva.
The Arctic World Archive (AWA) is a facility for data preservation, located in the Svalbard archipelago on the island of Spitsbergen, Norway, not far from the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. It contains data of historical and cultural interest from several countries, as well as all of American multinational company GitHub's open source code, in a deeply buried steel vault, with the data storage medium expected to last for 500 to 1,000 years. It is run as a profit-making business by private company Piql and the state-owned coal-mining company Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani (SNSK).
NOK 1,200 million
