History

Svalbard is an archipelago situated in the far north. It is a real wilderness and offers many possibilities. There is no indigenous population. On their trips northwards, the Vikings reached some place they called Svalbard (sval=cold, bard=edge). This is probably where we are. The Dutch Willem Barentz wanted to find the northeastern polar passage to India. He didn't, but instead he found Spitsbergen (pointed mountains) in 1596. Spitsbergen is the largest island of Svalbard. The Dutch and British did a lot of whaling around Svalbard in the next 200 years. Smeerenburg in the northwest of Spitsbergen is the most famous whaling base. There is noth-ing left to see, except a plaque from Sysselmannen (you will soon know who that is), but it is a nice place.

The drawing is from the dutch 'Barentsz-expedition', when they were on Bjørnøya (Bear-island... I wonder why)

Adventfjorden is named after the British whaler "Adventure" who visited the area in 1656. Later on the Russians came from the east and called the archipelago Grumant. Their main activity was trapping and hunting. So was the Norwegians' after the 1750's. Later on several research expedi-tions gave names to a lot of fjords and glaciers, and tourist steamers started to visit the island. In 1899 the first coal was produced commer-cially on the north side of Isfjorden (Ice fjord). Just a few years later the coal mining town of Longyearbyen was established.

Svalbard had always been sort of no-man's land, but the Svalbard treaty from 1920 stated that Norway has sovereignty over the archipelago and that all 42 countries that signed the treaty have equal right to use and ex-plore the area. That's the history...

Places on Svalbard

Barentsburg: Russian coal community named after William Barentz. Mining since 1921. 900 inhabitants. Our true neighbours. A nice scooter ride (less than 2 hours). There is a hotel. The bar, the Pomor museum, and the souvenir shops open when tourists arrive. Sports competitions between Longyear-byen and Barentsburg during spring and fall. Best way to get known to some Russians and their drinking habits. Worth joining!

Pyramiden: Russian coal community closed 1998. Named after the shape of the mountain. Spooky ghost town, highly recommended scooter trip, 130 km. Ny-Ålesund International research community with approx. 35 people during the low season. In the summer up to 120 people from a lot of countries work there. Old mining town. The northernmost permanent settlement in the world with the northernmost train and funicular!

Svea: Norwegian mine with workers commuting from Longyearbyen. A nice scooter ride, 60 km. The students have a cabin near Svea (Salryggen). Hornsund Polish research community with approx. 15 people all year round. Oper-ated since 1957.

Isfjord Radio (Kapp Linné): Norwegian satellite/radio station at the outermost part of Isfjorden. Now the station is automated and controlled from Svalbard Radio in Longyearbyen, but Spitsbergen Travel operates it for tourists during the spring and summer. You can spend the night here or eat dinner if you re-serve in advance. Or you can stop by for a cup of coffee.

Longyearbyen: There are about 1400 people living in the settlement. Only 20 years ago Longyearbyen was a real mining community. It was named after John Munro Longyear, director of the American Arctic Coal Company that started coal mining in mine 1A above Taubanesentralen in 1906. Since then there has been mining in the area and the interior of the mountains around us are more or less removed. Today the community has changed...

Philosophy, religion and politics:

Longyearbyen is a rather special community, but you can experience this yourself. It is a very popular place for tourists and visitors, but most people that work here have an economical reason. You pay very low tax (13.8%). There is no real crime or visible social problems. A small amount of hobby-anarchism is accepted, but if you break Norwegian law, Sysselmannen will come and get you - and throw you off the island. You may summarize this as "tundra politics." Philosophical discussions should be continued over a glass of cognac, preferable Otard brand, which is the favorite strong drink. Today's community consists of the mining industry, different research activities, and a wide range of services (including many for tourists). It has become a family community with 170 children in the school and 2½ kindergartens. There is a hospital, 2 hotels, a post office and a bank, a youth club, a museum, a church, lots of shops and an administration center.

Practical information - Longyearbyen

A map of Longyearbyen (click for enlargement), the numbers behind the description refer to buildings on the map.

Sysselmannen (26): The Norwegian sheriff/governor who rules the place. Different depart-ments, including police, environmental and cultural protection, and others. Gives you permission to stay in Longyearbyen, hunt during early autumn, drive your scooter in the national parks and buy alcohol at Nord-polet. Sysselmannen's office is situated at Skjæringa - a steel building easily spotted from UNIS.

Nybyen (around 1): The most important spot on the map. You're gonna live there. As you can see imediately, it's way off, so you need to walk every day. But that is also a good thing. And you can bring your bike.

Social Security Office (24): This is in the same building as the bank and post office, on the second floor. If you stay in Longyearbyen more than 6 months you have to fill out a yellow form, which says where you are living. For this form, and to get a Norwegian bank account, you need a Norwegian social security number. This is where you get it; bring your passport.

Bank (24): Life is easier if you have a Norwegian bank account, it's cheap and easy to get, also for foreigners. You can also use credit cards in the shops, and to withdraw money in the ATM.

Post Office (24): As a semester student we can get a post box at UNIS. To get this you need to fill in a form and pay 100 NOK per year for a post box key at the post office. Students for short courses can get their mail at the UNIS reception.

Svalbardposten (24): is the newspaper to be bought every Friday. It is usually well written and gives all kinds of information about what is going on as well as a lot of interesting stories and photos from Svalbard. It is in Norwegian, but even if you don't read Norwegian you should still browse through it.

The Coal Power Plant (above 28): is located beneath Skjæringa. You can easily check the wind direction and air pressure from the smoke out of the chimney. It delivers all electricity and heat to the community. The heat is redundant warm water from the plant transported through the pipelines throughout Longyearbyen. If you blow up the plant to heaven it will be terribly cold and the pipes will freeze. The entire community will be evacuated immediately. Please don't blow up the plant.

Mining Gruve 7 (Mine 7): at the end of the road in Adventdalen is the only mine still in operation in Longyearbyen. The coal used in Longyearbyen's power plant is produced here.

The Hospital (25): is a huge yellow building with some doctors and a dentist. Minor acci-dents are taken care of here. Everything else is sent down by ambulance plane to Tromsø, mainland Norway. The ER is open whenever you get hurt. For less acute ailments, call or stop by to get an appointment.

Sport Center/Swimmingpool (17): Even though Longyearbyen is a very small community, the amout of in-frastructure is amazing. Because of the sports center and the swimming-pool you can do things like indoor climbing, volleyball, football, kayaking, morning swimming, underwater rugby, innebandy and god knows what else.

Svalbardbutikken (7): THE grocery shop. Very important. Be in time for things like milk, because sometimes it takes a day before there is new.

Lompensenteret (8): The shopping mall? Yes, I think that best describes it. It includes a variety of shops and . things.