Svalbard, 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° 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 on the west coast of Spitsbergen.
Spitsbergen is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norway in the Arctic Ocean.
Svalbard and Jan Mayen is a statistical designation defined by ISO 3166-1 for a collective grouping of two remote jurisdictions of Norway: Svalbard and Jan Mayen. While the two are combined for the purposes of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) category, they are not administratively related. This has further resulted in the country code top-level domain .sj being issued for Svalbard and Jan Mayen, and ISO 3166-2:SJ. The United Nations Statistics Division also uses this code, but has named it the Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands.
Longyearbyen is the world's northernmost settlement with a population greater than 1,000, and the largest inhabited area of Svalbard, Norway. It stretches along the foot of the left bank of the Longyear Valley and on the shore of Adventfjorden, the short estuary leading into Isfjorden on the west coast of Spitsbergen, the island's broadest inlet. As of 2002 Longyearbyen Community Council became an official Norwegian municipality. It is the seat of the Governor of Svalbard. The town's mayor is Arild Olsen.
The polar archipelago of Svalbard was first discovered by Willem Barentsz in 1596, although there is disputed evidence of use by Pomors or Norsemen. Whaling for bowhead whales started in 1611, dominated by English and Dutch companies, though other countries participated. At that time there was no agreement about sovereignty. Whaling stations, the largest being Smeerenburg, were built during the 17th century, but gradually whaling decreased. Hunting was carried out from the 17th century by Pomors, but from the 19th century it became more dominated by Norwegians.
.sj is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) reserved for the designation Svalbard and Jan Mayen. The domain name registry is Norid, but .sj is not open for registration. The issuing of the domain was based on the ISO 3166 designation of Svalbard and Jan Mayen, which consists of two separately administrated integrated territories of Norway: the Arctic archipelago Svalbard and the nearly uninhabited volcanic island Jan Mayen. .sj was designated on 21 August 1997, at the same time as Bouvet Island was allocated .bv. Both were placed under the .no registry Norid, which is also the sponsor. Norwegian policy states that .no is sufficient for those institutions connected to both Svalbard and Jan Mayen, and therefore the domain is not open to registration. It is Norwegian policy not to commercialize domain resources, so there are no plans to sell .sj. Should the domain later come into use, it will be under regulation of the Norwegian Communications Authority and follow the same policy as .no. There are two second-level domains reserved for the two areas: svalbard.no and jan-mayen.no, but other web addresses are also used.
The Svalbard Treaty recognises the sovereignty of Norway over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, at the time called Spitsbergen. The exercise of sovereignty is, however, subject to certain stipulations, and not all Norwegian law applies. The treaty restricts military uses of the archipelago, but it is not demilitarized. The signatories were given equal rights to engage in commercial activities on the islands. As of 2024, Norway and Russia make use of this right.
The governor of Svalbard represents the Norwegian government in exercising its sovereignty over the Svalbard archipelago (Spitsbergen).
Svalbard lies under the sovereignty of Norway, but the Svalbard Treaty places several restrictions. Norway cannot use the archipelago for warlike purposes, cannot discriminate economic activity based on nationality and is required to conserve the natural environment. Uniquely, Svalbard is an entirely visa-free zone. Everybody may live and work in Svalbard indefinitely regardless of country of citizenship. Svalbard Treaty grants treaty nationals equal right of abode as Norwegian nationals. Non-treaty nationals may live and work indefinitely visa-free as well. "Regulations concerning rejection and expulsion from Svalbard" is in force on non-discriminatory basis.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Svalbard:
Norway's elongated shape, its numerous internal geographical barriers and the often widely dispersed and separated settlements are all factors that have strongly influenced the structure of the country's administrative subdivisions. This structure has varied over time and is subject to continuous review. In 2017, the government decided to abolish some of the counties and to merge them with other counties to form larger ones, reducing the number of counties from 19 to 11, which was implemented on 1 January 2020. Following protests, the new government decided to abolish three of the new counties in 2022, and re-establish seven of the old ones. Taking effect on 1 January 2024 there are fifteen counties in Norway.
ISO 3166-2:SJ is the entry for Svalbard and Jan Mayen in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The standard defines codes for names of principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1. Svalbard and Jan Mayen does not exist as an administrative region, but rather consists of two separate parts of Norway under separate jurisdictions—Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Further subdivision for Svalbard and Jan Mayen occurs under Norway's entry, ISO 3166-2:NO, namely NO-21 for Svalbard and NO-22 for Jan Mayen. There are currently no ISO 3166-2 codes for Svalbard and Jan Mayen.
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.
Agriculture in Svalbard – the archipelago containing the world's northernmost permanently inhabited settlements – has a short history, and remains a minor economic factor, but has nonetheless had a culturally and socially significant role, as well as an ecologic impact. Svalbard is home to the Global Seed Vault, which serves to protect the world's biological and agricultural diversity. Polar Permaculture Solutions, AS was formed in January 2015. Polar Permaculture has been focused on producing locally grown food in town, and also with composting food waste.
The archaeology of Svalbard is the study of human activity in the northerly Arctic Ocean archipelago's past. The geography, environment and climate of Svalbard have resulted in exceptional preservation conditions. Archaeological fieldwork on Svalbard is both expensive and physically exhausting, but new technology and infrastructure has allowed easier access. This easier access has also resulted in more damage caused by tourists.
The Barentsburg Pomor Museum is a small museum located in Barentsburg, a town in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Founded during the 1920s by the Dutch, the coal mining settlement was sold to the Soviet Union in 1932, and so it was the USSR which founded the museum in 1963. Today owned entirely by the Government of Russia through Arktikugol, Barentsburg is a shadow of its former self, with only a few hundred inhabitants compared to over a thousand during its heyday. The museum remains intact, however, receiving most of its visitors in the form of tourists. It shares the same building as the town's Sports and Culture Centre.
Cannabis in Svalbard is illegal. Practically functioning as ungoverned terra nullius prior to the Svalbard Treaty of 1920, the Arctic Ocean archipelago dominated by glaciers and barren rock, is part of Norway, and hence Norwegian law applies. Under it, there is a sliding scale approach to cannabis legislation. Possession for personal use, defined as up to 15 grams, is punished with a fine of between roughly 1,500 and 15,000 Norwegian kroner. Possession of amounts larger than that is punished by jail, ranging from 6 months all the way up to 21 years. These laws are enforced by the Norwegian Police Service, the small Svalbard district of which is run by the Governor of Svalbard.
Uniquely, the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, located in the High Arctic, is an entirely visa-free zone. However, travelers who have a visa requirement to enter mainland Norway/the Schengen area must have a Schengen visa if they travel via mainland Norway/the Schengen area. This must be a double-entry visa so they can return to mainland Norway/the Schengen area.
Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean belonging to the Kingdom of Norway, uses Central European Time (CET) during the winter as standard time, which is one hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+01:00), and Central European Summer Time (CEST) during the summer as daylight saving time, which is two hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+02:00). This is shared with the rest of Norway, as is Svalbard's use of daylight saving time, which the territory observes annually by advancing the clock forward on the last Sunday in March and back again on the last Sunday in October. However, as Svalbard experiences midnight sun during the summer due to being located north of the Arctic Circle, it gives daylight saving time no utility, and is only observed in order to make communicating with Norway Proper more convenient. At the 74th parallel north, the midnight sun lasts 99 days and polar night 84 days, while the respective figures at the 81st parallel north are 141 and 128 days.
