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73-565: 77°08′34″N 14°47′47″E  /  77.14276°N 14.79636°E  / 77.14276; 14.79636 This Svalbard location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a protected area in Norway is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Svalbard Svalbard ( / ˈ s v ɑː l b ɑːr ( d )/ SVAHL -bar(d) , Urban East Norwegian: [ˈsvɑ̂ːɫbɑr] ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen ,

146-508: A demilitarized zone , as the treaty prohibits the establishment of military installations on the islands. However, since the treaty recognizes Norway as the sovereign power in the archipelago, the country claims exclusive rights in the maritime zone around the islands; rights which Norway argues permit the Norwegian Coast Guard to conduct fishery and other maritime surveillance and enforcement in these waters. Certain other parties to

219-575: A Norwegian coal mining company, owns 4%, Arktikugol , a Russian coal mining company, owns 0.4%, while other private owners hold 0.4%. As Svalbard is north of the Arctic Circle , it experiences midnight sun in summer and polar night in winter. At 74° north, the midnight sun lasts 99 days and polar night 84 days, while the respective figures at 81° north are 141 and 128 days. In Longyearbyen, midnight sun lasts from 20 April until 23 August, and polar night lasts from 26 October to 15 February. In winter,

292-543: A Russian crew for an expedition in 1795. After the Anglo-Russian War in 1809, Russian activity on Svalbard diminished, and had ceased by the 1820s. Norwegian whaling was abandoned about the same time as the Russians left, but whaling continued around Spitsbergen until the 1830s, and around Bjørnøya until the 1860s. By the 1890s, Svalbard had become a destination for Arctic tourism , coal deposits had been found, and

365-567: A breeding ground, and it is home to polar bears , reindeer , the Arctic fox , and certain marine mammals. Seven national parks and 23 nature-reserves cover two-thirds of the archipelago, protecting the largely untouched fragile environment. Norway announced new regulations regarding tourism in February 2024, including a maximum of 200 people on a ship, to protect flora and fauna in Svalbard. While part of

438-675: A full part of the Kingdom of Norway. The Svalbard Treaty established Svalbard as a free economic zone and restricts the military use of the archipelago. The Norwegian Store Norske and the Russian Arktikugol remain the only mining companies in place. Research and tourism have become important supplementary industries, with the University Centre in Svalbard and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault playing critical roles in

511-546: A garrison in the islands, which was done in May 1942 during Operation Fritham . Meanwhile, the Germans responded to the destruction of the weather station by establishing a reporting station of their own, codenamed "Banso" , in October 1941. They were chased away in October by a visit from what the Germans mistook to be four British warships, but later returned. A second station, "Knospe",

584-426: A maximum speed is 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph) with more than 60 days endurance and the complement is up to 100 people. The first ship, KV Jan Mayen , was delivered in early 2023. These vessels will complement NoCGV  Svalbard which predominantly serves Svalbard and the surrounding waters. In 2023, Norway also announced the acquisition of six MH-60R helicopters which are to be initially deployed with

657-522: A separate policy called "Regulations relating to rejection and expulsion of persons from Svalbard". Among the requirements is that residents must have the means to be able to reside on Svalbard. These requirements apply to both foreigners and Norwegian citizens, and the Governor of Svalbard may reject persons who do not meet the requirements. Russia retains a consulate in Barentsburg . In September 2010,

730-501: A source of income can be rejected by the governor. No one is required to have a visa or residence permit on Svalbard. Regardless of citizenship, persons can live and work in Svalbard indefinitely. The Svalbard Treaty grants treaty nationals equal right of abode as Norwegian nationals. So far, non-treaty nationals have been admitted visa-free as well. While there is no visa requirement, everyone must meet certain requirements in order to stay in Svalbard. These requirements are governed by

803-496: A summer population of 180. The Norwegian Meteorological Institute has outposts at Bjørnøya and Hopen, with ten and four inhabitants, respectively. Both can also house temporary research staff. Poland operates the Polish Polar Station at Hornsund , with ten permanent residents. The Soviet mining settlement of Pyramiden was abandoned in 1998, leaving Barentsburg as the only permanently inhabited Russian settlement. It

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876-548: A treaty was signed between Russia and Norway fixing the boundary between the Svalbard archipelago and the Novaya Zemlya archipelago . Increased interest in petroleum exploration in the Arctic raised interest in a resolution of the dispute. The agreement takes into account the relative positions of the archipelagos, rather than being based simply on northward extension of the continental border of Norway and Russia. Svalbard constitutes

949-651: A view to using them as a base of operations to send supplies to north Russia, but the idea was rejected as impractical. Instead, with the agreement of the Soviets and the Norwegian government in exile, in August 1941 the Norwegian and Soviet settlements on Svalbard were evacuated, and facilities there destroyed, in Operation Gauntlet . However, the Norwegian government in exile decided it would be important politically to establish

1022-499: Is Wijdefjorden (108 km or 67 mi), followed by Isfjorden (107 km or 66 mi), Van Mijenfjorden (83 km or 52 mi), Woodfjorden (64 km or 40 mi), and Wahlenbergfjorden (46 km or 29 mi). Svalbard is part of the High Arctic Large Igneous Province , and experienced Norway's strongest earthquake on 6 March 2009 at magnitude 6.5. The Dutchman Willem Barentsz made

1095-495: Is 61,022 km (23,561 sq mi), and dominated by the island of Spitsbergen, which constitutes more than half the archipelago, followed by Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya. All settlements are on Spitsbergen, except the meteorological outposts on Bjørnøya and Hopen . The Norwegian state took possession of all unclaimed land, or 95.2% of the archipelago, at the time the Svalbard Treaty entered into force; Store Norske ,

1168-510: 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

1241-614: Is a modern Norwegian analogue of Svalbarði , which in turn derives from svalr ('cold') and barð ('edge', 'ridge', 'turf', 'beard'). The Icelandic Annals record that Svalbarði was discovered in 1194, while the Landnámabók places it four days' sailing north of Langanes . The word dægr "day" might mean either 12 or 24 hours; Isachsen took the latter interpretation, thus discounting Jan Mayen as Svalbarði . Cultural studies academic Roald Berg says Svalbarði more likely referred to part of Greenland , but

1314-487: Is a company town: all facilities are owned by Arktikugol, which operates a coal mine. In addition to the mining facilities, Arktikugol has opened a hotel and souvenir shop, catering to tourists taking day trips or hikes from Longyearbyen. The village features a school, library, sports center, community center, swimming pool, farm, and greenhouse. Pyramiden features similar facilities; both are built in typical post-World War II Soviet architectural and planning style and contain

1387-416: Is a permanent research settlement in the northwest of Spitsbergen and the northernmost functional civilian settlement in the world. Formerly a mining town, it is still a company town operated by the Norwegian state-owned Kings Bay company. While some tourism to the outpost is permitted, Norwegian authorities limit access to minimize impact on scientific work. Ny-Ålesund has a winter population of 35 and

1460-463: Is not governed by Norway's policies on migration and does not issue visas or residence permits itself. Foreigners do not need a visa or work and residence permits from the Norwegian authorities to travel to Svalbard. However, foreign citizens with a visa requirement for the Schengen Area must have a Schengen visa when travelling to and from Svalbard via mainland Norway. The Svalbard Act established

1533-517: Is now Vestfold county: In 1760 Norway had the following stiftamt and amt : From 1919 each amt was renamed a fylke (plural fylke(r) ) (county) and the amtmann was now titled fylkesmann (county governor). The county numbers are from the official numbering system ISO 3166-2:NO , which originally was set up to follow the coastline from the Swedish border in the southeast to the Russian border in

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1606-659: Is part of University Hospital of North Norway , while the airport is operated by state-owned Avinor . Ny-Ålesund and Barentsburg remain company towns with all infrastructure owned by Kings Bay and Arktikugol. Other public offices with presence on Svalbard are the Norwegian Directorate of Mining , the Norwegian Polar Institute , the Norwegian Tax Administration , and the Church of Norway . Svalbard

1679-623: Is possible to ski from Sørkapp in the south to the north of Spitsbergen, with only a short distance not being covered by snow or glacier. Kvitøya is 99.3% covered by glacier. The landforms of Svalbard were created through repeated ice ages , when glaciers cut the former plateau into fjords, valleys, and mountains. The tallest peak is Newtontoppen (1,717 m or 5,633 ft), followed by Perriertoppen (1,712 m or 5,617 ft), Ceresfjellet (1,675 m or 5,495 ft), Chadwickryggen (1,640 m or 5,380 ft), and Galileotoppen (1,637 m or 5,371 ft). The longest fjord

1752-704: Is subordinate to Nord-Troms District Court and Hålogaland Court of Appeal , both in Tromsø . Although Norway is part of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the Schengen Agreement , Svalbard is not part of the Schengen Area or the EEA. Non-EU and non-Nordic Svalbard residents do not need Schengen visas for Svalbard itself, but those travelling via mainland Norway require visas to pass through Norway. People without

1825-505: The European Economic Area . Svalbard and Jan Mayen are collectively assigned the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country-code "SJ". Both areas are administered by Norway, though they are separated by a distance of over 950 kilometres (510 nautical miles) and have very different administrative structures. The name Svalbard was officially adopted for the archipelago by Norway under the 1925 Svalbard Act which formally annexed it. The former name Spitsbergen

1898-588: The European Space Research Organisation . Petroleum test drilling was started in 1963 and continued until 1984, but no commercially viable fields were found. From 1960, regular charter flights were made from the mainland to a field at Hotellneset ; in 1975, Svalbard Airport, Longyearbyen opened, allowing year-round services. During the Cold War , the Soviet Union comprised about two-thirds of

1971-962: The Gulating , located in Vestlandet with the seat at Gulen : Counties under the Frostating , located in Trøndelag with the seat at Frosta : Counties not attached to a thing : Finnmark (including northern Troms ), the Faroe Islands , the Orkney Islands , Shetland (the Shetland Islands ), the Hebrides , the Isle of Man , Iceland and Greenland were Norwegian skattland ("taxed countries"), and did not belong to any known counties or assembly areas. From

2044-532: The Heerodden helicopter accident , which killed three people. Longyearbyen remained purely a company town until 1989 when utilities, culture, and education was separated into Svalbard Samfunnsdrift. In 1993, it was sold to the national government and the University Centre was established. Through the 1990s, tourism increased and the town developed an economy independent of Store Norske and mining. Longyearbyen

2117-668: The Orthodox Church . Catholics on the archipelago are pastorally served by the Territorial Prelature of Tromsø . The Svalbard Treaty of 1920 established full Norwegian sovereignty over the archipelago. The islands are, unlike the Norwegian Antarctic territories , a part of the Kingdom of Norway and not a dependency . The treaty came into effect in 1925, following the Svalbard Act. All forty-eight signatory countries of

2190-453: The Svalbard Act regulated the archipelago and the first governor , Johannes Gerckens Bassøe , took office. The archipelago has traditionally been known as Spitsbergen, and the main island as West Spitsbergen. During the 1920s, Norway renamed the archipelago Svalbard, and the main island became Spitsbergen. Kvitøya , Kong Karls Land , Hopen , and Bjørnøya were not regarded as part of

2263-452: The lenmann was titled amtmann , from German Amt (office), reflecting the bias of the Danish court of that period. After 1671 Norway was divided into four principal amt or stiftsamt and there were nine subordinate amt : From 1730 Norway had the following amt : At this time there were also two counties ( Norwegian : grevskap ) controlled by actual counts , together forming what

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2336-544: The 1820s, when the Dutch, British, and Danish whalers moved elsewhere in the Arctic. By the late 17th century, Russian hunters arrived; they overwintered to a greater extent and hunted land mammals such as the polar bear and fox. Norwegian hunting—mostly for walrus—started in the 1790s. The first Norwegian citizens to reach Spitsbergen proper were a number of Coast Sámi people from the Hammerfest region, who were hired as part of

2409-478: The 1925 renaming cemented Norwegian sovereignty as recognised by the 1920 Spitsbergen Treaty (now the Svalbard Treaty ). The name Spitsbergen originated with Dutch navigator and explorer Willem Barentsz , who in 1596 described the "pointed mountains" or, in Dutch, spitse bergen that he saw on the west coast of the main island. Barentsz did not recognize that he had discovered an archipelago, and consequently

2482-635: The 2020 local government reform ( Kommunereformen i Norge  [ no ] ). The counties in Norway are called fylke (singular) and fylker (plural). This name comes from the Old Norse word fylki which means "district" or "county", but it is similar to the same root as "folk". It is similar in the minority languages in Norway: Northern Sami : fylka , Southern Sami : fylhke , Lule Sami : fylkka , Kven : fylkki . Prior to 1918,

2555-688: The Coast Guard, though they are to be prepared to be equipped for anti-submarine operations as well. The Royal Norwegian Navy patrols waters of the Svalbard Archipelago at least once a year with a Fridtjof Nansen -class frigate . Counties of Norway There are 15 counties in Norway . The 15 counties are administrative regions that are the first-level administrative divisions of Norway . The counties are further subdivided into 357  municipalities ( Norwegian : kommune ). The island territories of Svalbard and Jan Mayen are outside

2628-490: The Kingdom of Norway since 1925, Svalbard is not part of geographical Norway; administratively, the archipelago is not part of any Norwegian county , but forms an unincorporated area . This means that it is administered directly by the Norwegian government through an appointed governor , and is a special jurisdiction subject to the Svalbard Treaty that is outside of the Schengen Area , the Nordic Passport Union , and

2701-557: The Norwegians returned and re-established their presence. In September 1944, the Germans set up their last weather station, Operation Haudegen in Nordaustlandet ; it functioned until after the German surrender. On 4 September 1945, the soldiers were picked up by a Norwegian seal hunting vessel and surrendered to its captain. This group of men were the last German troops to surrender after

2774-488: The Second World War. After the war, the Soviet Union proposed common Norwegian and Soviet administration and military defence of Svalbard. This was rejected in 1947 by Norway, which two years later joined NATO . The Soviet Union retained high civilian activity on Svalbard, in part to ensure that the archipelago was not used by NATO. After the war, Norway re-established operations at Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund, while

2847-463: The Soviet Union established mining in Barentsburg , Pyramiden , and Grumant . The mine at Ny-Ålesund had several fatal accidents, killing 71 people while it was in operation from 1945 to 1954 and from 1960 to 1963. The Kings Bay Affair , caused by the 1962 accident killing 21 workers, forced Gerhardsen's Third Cabinet to resign. From 1964, Ny-Ålesund became a research outpost, and a facility for

2920-506: The Spitsbergen archipelago. Russians have traditionally called the archipelago Grumant ( Грумант ). The Soviet Union retained the name Spitsbergen ( Шпицберген ) to support undocumented claims that Russians were the first to discover the island. In 1928, Italian explorer Umberto Nobile and the crew of the airship Italia crashed on the icepack off the coast of Foyn Island . The subsequent rescue attempts were covered extensively in

2993-525: The archipelago, the Norwegian Coast Guard embarked on a significant modernization program. As of 2023, the Coast Guard is replacing its older Nordkapp -class offshore patrol vessels with significantly larger ice-capable ships, each displacing just under 10,000 tonnes. The three new Jan Mayen -class offshore patrol vessels are armed with a 57 mm (2.2 in) main gun and are capable of operating up to two medium-sized helicopters. The ships have

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3066-519: The archipelago, the seat of the governor and the only incorporated town. The town features an airport , hospital, primary and secondary school , university , sports center with a swimming pool, library, culture center, cinema, bus transport, hotels, a bank, and several museums. The newspaper Svalbardposten is published weekly. Very little mining activity remains at Longyearbyen; coal mines at Sveagruva and Lunckefjellet suspended operations in 2017 and were closed permanently in 2020. Ny-Ålesund

3139-452: The combination of full moon and reflective snow can give additional light. Due to the Earth's tilt and the high latitude, Svalbard has extensive twilights. Longyearbyen sees the first and last day of polar night having seven and a half hours of twilight, whereas the perpetual light lasts for two weeks longer than the midnight sun. On the summer solstice, the sun bottoms out at 12° sun angle in

3212-402: The consolidation to a single kingdom, Norway was divided into a number of geographic regions that each had its own legislative assembly or Thing , such as Gulating ( Western Norway ) and Frostating ( Trøndelag ). The second-order subdivision of these regions was into fylker , such as Egdafylke and Hordafylke . In 1914, the historical term fylke was brought into use again to replace

3285-418: The counties were known as amt (singular) or amter (plural). Below is a list of the Norwegian counties, with their current administrative centres. The counties are administered both by appointees of the national government and by their own elected bodies. The county numbers are from the official numbering system ISO 3166-2:NO , which originally was set up to follow the coastline from the Swedish border in

3358-470: The county divisions and they are ruled directly from the national level. The capital city of Oslo is both a county and a municipality. In 2017, the Solberg 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. This sparked popular opposition, with some calling for

3431-439: The end of the 12th century, Norway was divided into several syssel . The head of the syssel was the syslemann , who represented the king locally. The following shows a reconstruction of the different syssel in Norway c. 1300, including sub- syssel where these seem established. From 1308, the term len (plural len ) in Norway signified an administrative region roughly equivalent to today's counties. The historic len

3504-489: The first discovery of the archipelago in 1596, when he sighted the coast of the island of Spitsbergen while searching for the Northern Sea Route . The first recorded landing on the islands of Svalbard dates to 1604, when an English ship landed at Bjørnøya , or Bear Island, and started hunting walrus . Annual expeditions soon followed, and Spitsbergen became a base for hunting the bowhead whale from 1611. Because of

3577-509: The institution of the Governor of Svalbard ( Norwegian : Sysselmester , formerly Sysselmannen ), who holds the responsibility as both county governor and chief of police , as well as holding other authority granted from the executive branch. Duties include environmental policy , family law , law enforcement , search and rescue , tourism management, information services, contact with foreign settlements, and judge in some areas of maritime inquiries and judicial examinations—albeit never in

3650-641: The islands were being used as a base for Arctic exploration . The first mining was along Isfjorden by Norwegians in 1899; by 1904, British interests had established themselves in Adventfjorden and started the first year-round operations. Production in Longyearbyen, by US interests, started in 1908; and Store Norske established itself in 1916, as did other Norwegian interests during the First World War , in part by buying US interests. Discussions to establish

3723-512: The lawless nature of the area, English , Danish , Dutch , and French companies and authorities tried to use force to keep out other countries' fleets. Smeerenburg was one of the first settlements, established by the Dutch in 1619. Smaller bases were also built by the English, Danish, and French. At first the outposts were merely summer camps, but from the early 1630s, a few individuals started to overwinter . Whaling at Spitsbergen lasted until

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3796-541: The local economy. Apart from Longyearbyen, other settlements include the Russian mining-community of Barentsburg , the Norwegian research-station of Ny-Ålesund , and the Swedish-Norwegian mining outpost of Sveagruva (which closed in 2020). Other settlements lie farther north, but are populated only by rotating groups of researchers. No roads connect the settlements; instead snowmobiles , aircraft and boats provide inter-settlement transport. Svalbard Airport serves as

3869-415: The main gateway. Approximately 60% of the archipelago is covered with glaciers , and the islands feature many mountains and fjords . The archipelago has an Arctic climate , although with significantly higher temperatures than other areas at the same latitude. The flora has adapted to take advantage of the long period of midnight sun to compensate for the polar night . Many seabirds use Svalbard as

3942-456: The major fortresses Bohus Fortress , Akershus Fortress , Bergenhus Fortress and the fortified city of Trondheim . The sub-regions corresponded to the church districts for the Lutheran church in Norway. These four principal len were in the 1530s divided into approximately 30 smaller regions. From that point forward through the beginning of the 17th century the number of subsidiary len

4015-450: The middle of the night, being much higher during night than in mainland Norway's polar light areas. However, the daytime strength of the sun remains as low as 35°. Glacial ice covers 36,502 km (14,094 sq mi) or 60% of Svalbard; 30% is barren rock while 10% is vegetated. The largest glacier is Austfonna (8,412 km or 3,248 sq mi) on Nordaustlandet, followed by Olav V Land and Vestfonna . During summer, it

4088-423: The name Spitsbergen long remained in use both for the main island and for the archipelago as a whole. Later the main island was sometimes distinguished as West Spitsbergen . The spelling Spitzbergen , with z instead of s, derives from German. The Svalbard Treaty of 1920 defines Svalbard as all islands, islets, and skerries from 74° to 81° north latitude, and from 10° to 35° east longitude. The land area

4161-400: The northeast, but the numbering has changed with county mergers. The number 13, 16 and 17 were dropped, and the number 50 was added to account for changes over the years. The lack of a county number 13 is due to the city of Bergen no longer being its own county, and is unrelated to fear of the number 13 . In 2018, Sør-Trøndelag was merged with Nord-Trøndelag into

4234-522: The population on the islands (Norwegians making up the remaining third) with the population of the archipelago slightly under 4,000. Russian activity has diminished considerably since then, falling from 2,500 to 450 people from 1990 to 2010. Grumant was closed after it was depleted in 1962. Pyramiden was closed in 1998. Coal exports from Barentsburg ceased in 2006 because of a fire, but resumed in 2010. The Russians experienced two air accidents: Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801 , which killed 141 people, and

4307-548: The press and Svalbard received short-lived fame as a result. Svalbard, known to both British and Germans as Spitsbergen, was little affected by the German invasion of Norway in April 1940. The settlements continued to operate as before, mining coal and monitoring the weather. In July 1941, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the Royal Navy reconnoitered the islands with

4380-441: The reform to be reversed. The Storting voted to partly undo the reform on 14 June 2022, with Norway to have 15 counties from 1 January 2024. Three of the newly merged counties, namely Vestfold og Telemark , Viken and Troms og Finnmark , were dissolved and the old counties existing before the reform re-established with a few minor changes as some municipalities merged across former county borders and some switched counties during

4453-709: The same cases as acting as police. Since 2021, Lars Fause has been governor. The institution is subordinate to the Ministry of Justice and the Police , but reports to other ministries in matters within their portfolio. Since 2002, Longyearbyen Community Council has had many of the same responsibilities of a municipality , including utilities, education, cultural facilities, fire department, roads, and ports. No care or nursing services are available, nor are welfare payments available. Norwegian residents retain pension and medical rights through their mainland municipalities. The hospital

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4526-552: The southeast to the Russian border in the northeast, but with the numbering has changed with county mergers. The island territories of Svalbard and Jan Mayen lie outside of the county system of Norway. Svalbard is administered by the Governor of Svalbard , and Jan Mayen is administered by the County Governor of Nordland (but not part of Nordland). Every county has two main organisations, both with underlying organisations. From

4599-473: The sovereignty of the archipelago commenced in the 1910s, but were interrupted by World War I . On 9 February 1920, following the Paris Peace Conference , the Svalbard Treaty was signed, granting full sovereignty to Norway. However, all signatory countries were granted non-discriminatory rights to fishing, hunting, and mineral resources. The treaty took effect on 14 August 1925, at the same time as

4672-608: The term amt introduced during the union with Denmark . Current day counties (fylker) often, but not necessarily, correspond to the historical areas. Counties ( folkland ) under the Borgarting , located in Viken with the seat at Sarpsborg : Counties (first three fylke , last two bilandskap ) under the Eidsivating , located in Oplandene with the seat at Eidsvoll : Counties under

4745-603: The treaty (including Spain, Iceland and particularly Russia) argue that the Treaty provides them with extensive rights beyond Svalbard's territorial sea. Norway claims an exclusive economic zone of more than three-quarters of a million square kilometers around Svalbard, though "Russia does not recognize Norwegian functional rights with respect to the Svalbard Fisheries Protection Area". In the 2020s, in order to strengthen Norway's ability to enforce its claims around

4818-431: The treaty have the right to conduct commercial activities on the archipelago without discrimination, although all activity is subject to Norwegian legislation. The treaty limits Norway's right to collect taxes to that of financing services on Svalbard. Therefore, Svalbard has a lower income tax than mainland Norway, and there is no value added tax . There is a separate budget for Svalbard to ensure compliance. Svalbard

4891-438: The west coast of Spitsbergen. Whalers who sailed far north in the 17th and 18th centuries used the islands as a base; subsequently the archipelago was abandoned. Coal mining started at the beginning of the 20th century, and several permanent communities such as Pyramiden or Barentsburg were established. The Svalbard Treaty of 1920 recognizes Norwegian sovereignty, and the Norwegian Svalbard Act of 1925 made Svalbard

4964-406: The world's two most northerly Lenin statues and other socialist realist art. As of 2013 , a handful of workers are stationed in the largely abandoned Pyramiden to maintain local infrastructure and run its hotel, which has been re-opened to tourism. Most of the population is Christian. Most of the Norwegians are affiliated with the Church of Norway . Russian and Ukrainian population belongs to

5037-435: Was an important administrative entity during the period of Dano-Norwegian unification after their amalgamation as one state, which lasted for the period 1536 –1814. At the beginning of the 16th century the political divisions were variable, but consistently included four main len and approximately 30 smaller sub-regions with varying connections to a main len . Up to 1660 the four principal len were headquartered at

5110-434: Was established at Ny-Ålesund in 1941, remaining until 1942. In May 1942, after the arrival of the Fritham force, the German unit at Banso was evacuated. In September 1943 in Operation Zitronella a German task force, which included the battleship Tirpitz , was sent to attack the garrison and destroy the settlements at Longyearbyen and Barentsburg. This was achieved, but had little long-term effect: after their departure

5183-407: Was incorporated on 1 January 2002, adopting a community council. In 2016, Svalbard had a population of 2,667, of which 423 were Russian and Ukrainian, 10 Polish, and 322 other non-Norwegians living in Norwegian settlements. The largest non-Norwegian groups in Longyearbyen in 2005 were from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Thailand. Longyearbyen is the largest settlement on

5256-460: Was reduced, while the composition of the principal len became more stable. From 1660 Norway had nine principal len comprising 17 subsidiary len : Len written as län continues to be used as the administrative equivalent of county in Sweden to this day. Each len was governed by a lenman . With the royal decree of 19 February 1662, each len was designated an amt (plural amt ) and

5329-408: Was thenceforth restricted to the main island. In 1827 Baltazar Keilhau first proposed that the Old Norse toponym Svalbarði , found in medieval Icelandic sources, referred to Spitsbergen. Keilhau's theory was revived by Gustav Storm in 1890 and Gunnar Isachsen in 1907, at a time when ancient Norse connection to the land would help modern Norway's contested claim to sovereignty. Svalbard

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