Longyearbyen

Svalbard and the Spitsbergen Treaty

Svalbard was discovered in 1596 by the Dutch navigator Willem Barentsz; since the 1600s people of different nationalities have carried out various activities on Svalbard, e.g. hunting, trapping, research, mining and tourism. In the first half of the seventeenth century the right to catch whales in Svalbard was in dispute between several European nations, with conflicts occasionally resulting in bloodshed. Denmark-Norway and England both claimed sovereignty over the region; but as neither permanently settled the region, it remained a terra nullius.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the development of the mining industry created the need for change: it was important to have sole ownership of land and mineral deposits, and there was a need for legislation and courts to settle disputes, such as those between mining companies and their workers. Only with the Versailles treaty, ending the First World War, was an agreement reached in the form of the Spitsbergen Treaty, signed February 9, 1920. This made Svalbard part of the kingdom of Norway, but allowed citizens of other signing nations equal rights to residence, property, commercial activities and research. As a result, people from many nations live on Svalbard today^[2].

The Longyearbyen American period

The largest of the Svalbard communities is the Norwegian community on Longyearbyen. During the summer of 1900, businessmen from Trondheim formed Kulkompagniet Trondhjem-Spitsbergen (English: The Trondheim-Spitsbergen Coal Company) and occupied the coal mines in Longyearbyen. The company looked for foreign buyers, and in 1905 a deal was made with two American businessmen, John Munroe Longyear and Frederick Ayer; they established The Arctic Coal Company (ACC) in Boston, which developed the mining operation in what was called Longyear City, later the Norwegian Longyearbyen (byen in Norwegian means the city)^[2].

The period 1906-1915 (during which ACC ran the mines) is known as The American period. A couple of hundred miners were working in Longyearbyen every year; most came from Norway or Sweden, while the management was British or American. This pioneer period saw discontent and strikes. The workers’ living conditions were primitive: they were quartered in large 32- or 64-man barracks, in stalls for 4. Hygiene and food were poor due to limited supply, and the workers probably stayed due to the good wages, compared to those in the mines and construction sites on the mainland^[2].

The Norwegian period

In 1916, ACC and the American properties were sold to the Norwegian Det Norske Spitsbergensyndikat. The syndicate also bought the coal field in Grønfjorden, and in November 1916 Store Norske Spitsbergen Kullkompani AS (SNSK) was founded. During the winter of 1917-1918, around 180 men and 34 women and children overwintered. By 1920 the number had increased to 289, out of which 37 were women and children^[2].

The Svalbard Treaty then gave Norway sovereignty over Svalbard. This had a minimal effect on the community in Longyearbyen, which was run as a private company town by SNSK^[2].

World War II

During World War II, both Norwegian and German soldiers were stationed on Svalbard. There was little military action, the soldier's duty being that of collecting weather data, which would be useful for other military operations further south. British convoys sailed from England to the Soviet Union with allied supplies (the so-called Murmansk convoys), passing through the waters between Svalbard and Norway, which (together with the working coal mines) turned Svalbard into a strategic military location^[2].

In the autumn of 1941, the year the Germans established the first weather stations, the whole population of Svalbard was evacuated, a decision of the Norwegian Exile Government (in London) with the Allied Forces. In 1942 a small Allied force arrived in Svalbard on the ships Isbjørn and Selis, hoping to hold position in the Isfjorden area. The boats were bombed and sunk by the Germans in Grønfjorden, and the survivors moved to Barentsburg. The Germans then sent the battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst to Svalbard in 1943. These ships' crews shelled and burned Barentsburg, Grumant and Longyearbyen; later, a German submarine destroyed Svea and most houses in Van Mijenfjorden^[3].

Modern times

It was only in the 1960s that demand for modernization and normalization arose. Development rapidly increased in the 1970s, when the Norwegian authorities became actively engaged in Svalbard politics; their aim was that Longyearbyen should become a family community, as other towns in Norway^[2].

The opening of the airport in 1975 ended the isolation during the winter months. In 1976 the Norwegian state took over the shares in SNSK and hence control of the development of Longyearbyen.Until the early 1990s the coal mining industry was the major employer in Longyearbyen, and the daily life circled only around the mining business.

Today, the community offers a wide range of activities and facilities: there is a swimming hall, a climbing wall, a big sports hall, a grocery store, three pubs, three hotels, one church, several tourist shops, a cinema (Sundays), one night club, and a squash court. There is also the University Centre in Svalbard, which represents four Norwegian universities and provides university-level education in Arctic studies.

At the end of 2007, Longyearbyen had around 2060 inhabitants. 500 people (or 25% of the current population) moved in Longyearbyen during 2007. About 300 people, or 15% of the population, are non-Norwegian nationals, with Thailand, Sweden, Russia and Ukraine being the most highly-represented nationalities^[1].

Owing to its location far north of the Arctic Circle, Longyearbyen is in polar night from November 14 to January 29, and in polar day from April 19 to August 23.^[1]. Longyearbyen has an Arctic tundra climate (see Geography of Norway)

In the 1930s it was discovered that bodies buried in the town's graveyard were not decomposing, because the permafrost was preserving them. People may not be buried there, and so those who fall gravely ill must be taken to another part of Norway, where they can be buried if they die.^[4]

Mining, Study and Research

Mining still plays a major role in the community. The Norwegian mining company, Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani, runs two coal mines (Longyearbyen #7 and Svea), and coal mining employs about half the residents.

In 1993, the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) was opened; it is a cooperation of all four Norwegian universities, providing lectures in geophysics, arctic biology, geology and Arctic technology as well as bachelor, master and PhD positions. The faculty consists of 20 fulltime professors, 21 assistant professors and 120 guest lecturers. English is the official language of work, and currently about 350 international students take at least one course per year at UNIS. The student body consists of 50% Norwegian and 50% international students; there are no tuition fees, and most students live in six renovated mining barracks in Nybyen^[5].

Research also includes ionospheric and magnetospheric facilities in regard to the EISCAT radar, the Auroral observatory and a magnetometer belonging to the IMAGE chain.

Nicknamed "Doomsday Vault", the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, an Arctic safe capable of storing millions of crop seeds, is located near Longyearbyen. Global Crop Diversity Trust administers the facility. The safe has been designed to protect against natural and human disasters, including global warming, floods and fires, and nuclear holocaust. The site was chosen for both its remoteness and ambient temperature of the permafrost. ^[6]

Tourism

Most tourists to Longyearbyen arrive during spring and summer. Spring is very popular since Spitsbergen is one of the few places in Norway where a snowmobile can be driven in open country without special permission. However, due to strict environmental laws not all of the main island of Spitsbergen is accessible. From February until November several tour operators provide a wide range of guided trips.

Longyearbyen is the world's most northern easily accessible settlement, with Svalbard Airport just outside town offering regular flights to and from Tromsø and Oslo, Norway. The airport served 120,000 passengers in 2007. It is also the northernmost town over 1000 inhabitants; it houses a large number of northernmost places and objects of interest: the northernmost church, university campus, Rotary club, bank, automated teller machine, hospital, kindergarten, public library, night club, pub, school, supermarket, tourist office, permanent airport with scheduled flights, bus station, commercial sea port, taxi station, art gallery, cinema, climbing wall, squash court, swimming hall, and indoor target range.

The climate in Longyearbyen is rather cold, with highest average temperature being 7°C (45°F) in July, and the lowest average temperature -21°C (-6°F) in February.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Longyearbyen.

• Template:Wikitravel
• Longyearbyen.net News from Svalbard
• Official tourist information
• Webcams in Longyearbyen
• Svalbardposten - News from Svalbard (In Norwegian)
• The University Centre on Svalbard
• The University Centre on Svalbard Alumni/Student site
• The Kjell Henriksen Observatory - the northern lights observatory
• Spitsbergen Travel Tour Operator
• Wildlife Service Tour Operator
• The Governor (Sysselmannen)
• Svalbard Science Forum SSF - Information for and about research in Svalbard
• The Store Norske Coal Mining Company
• Svalbard Airport:Facts and pictures from Avinor
• Island railways north of Europe
• Mission Svalbard — Pictures of Longyearbyen and Bjørndalen
• "A Speck of Sunlight Is a Town’s Yearly Alarm Clock," Elisabeth Rosenthal. The New York Times, March 3, 2008.
• Spitsbergen Airship Museum

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