History of Svalbard facts for kids
The Svalbard islands are a group of islands located in the Arctic, far north of mainland Europe. They were officially discovered by a Dutch explorer named Willem Barentsz in 1596. However, some people believe that Russian Pomors or even Norsemen (Vikings) might have visited the islands earlier.
For a long time, no country owned Svalbard. In the 1600s, people started whaling there, hunting large bowhead whales. English and Dutch companies were the main hunters, building stations like Smeerenburg. But over time, whaling slowed down. Later, hunting for animals like reindeer and polar bears became popular, first by Pomors, then mostly by Norwegians.
Scientists and explorers began mapping Svalbard and studying its nature. In the early 1900s, people started coal mining in places like Longyearbyen, Barentsburg, and Ny-Ålesund. In 1925, the Svalbard Treaty was signed. This treaty gave Norway control over the islands. It also said that Svalbard could not be used for war and that people from countries that signed the treaty could mine there. After this, the islands, once called the Spitsbergen Archipelago, became known as Svalbard. By the 1930s, only Norwegian and Soviet companies were mining.
During World War II, the towns on Svalbard were evacuated and bombed. But they were rebuilt after the war. In the Cold War, there was some tension between Norway and the Soviet Union, especially about building an airport. Over time, more than half of Svalbard became protected nature areas. From the 1970s, Longyearbyen started to become a regular town, not just a mining camp. Today, tourism and scientific research are very important for Svalbard's economy.
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Discovering Svalbard: A New Land in the Arctic
Who Found Svalbard First?
It's not clear who first set foot on Svalbard. Some archaeologists thought they found Stone Age tools from about 3000 BC, but most experts don't agree. Norwegian historians suggested that Norse sailors found the islands in 1194, calling them Svalbarði. This name is similar to the modern name, but there's no strong proof. Russian historians also thought that Russian Pomors might have visited as early as the 1400s, but this also lacks clear evidence. Some even think the Portuguese might have known about Svalbard earlier, based on an old map from 1502.
The first time Svalbard was definitely discovered was by a Dutch explorer named Willem Barentsz. He was searching for a shortcut to China through the Arctic, called the Northeast passage. He first saw Bjørnøya on June 10, 1596. Then, on June 17, he spotted the northwestern part of Spitsbergen. His journey was recorded on maps, and soon, Svalbard appeared on many world maps. Later, Henry Hudson explored the islands in 1607.
Whaling: An International Business
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The first hunting trip to Svalbard was for walrus on Bjørnøya in 1604. It was organized by the Muscovy Company from England. At first, they weren't very good at hunting, but they got better. They hunted so many walruses that the animals almost disappeared from the area.
In 1610, an English sailor named Jonas Poole saw many whales near Spitsbergen. The Muscovy Company then sent a whaling trip in 1611. They hired expert Basque whalers to hunt bowhead whales. However, their ships were wrecked. The next year, more English, Dutch, and Spanish whalers arrived. The English company claimed they had the only right to hunt there. In 1613, armed English ships forced other countries' whalers away.
This caused a big international argument. The Dutch said the sea should be free for everyone. Christian IV, the King of Denmark–Norway, claimed the whole Northern Sea belonged to him because Greenland was an old Norwegian territory. England tried to buy the rights from Denmark–Norway but was refused. In 1615, Denmark–Norway sent warships to collect taxes from whalers, but no one paid. The argument ended with no clear winner. Denmark–Norway and England claimed ownership, while France, the Netherlands, and Spain said it was a free zone.
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In 1614, the English and Dutch decided to divide the whaling areas to avoid fighting. The Netherlands created the Noordsche Compagnie, a large whaling company. They became very powerful and controlled most of the whaling. They set up in the northwest of Spitsbergen. The English whaled further south, and the French were in the north. By the 1630s, things became more peaceful.
At first, all countries hired Basque whalers, who were very skilled. Whaling involved pulling the whale onto land, cutting it up, and boiling its blubber (fat) to make oil. This was efficient because many whales were close to shore. The most famous whaling station was the Dutch Smeerenburg, which had up to 200 workers. By the late 1600s, there were hundreds of ships and over 10,000 whalers around Spitsbergen.
Later, whaling moved away from land stations. Whalers learned to cut up the whales on the ship, which allowed them to hunt further out at sea. The oil was then cooked on the mainland. This was cheaper, but it meant a lot of the whale meat was wasted. Dutch whaling decreased in the 1700s and stopped by 1770. The British took over, but by the early 1800s, bowhead whales became rare around Spitsbergen, and whalers moved to other areas.
Hunting on Svalbard
It's not known exactly when Russian Pomors first came to Svalbard, but they had permanent hunting camps by the mid-1500s. They hunted reindeer, Arctic foxes, seals, walruses, and polar bears. This activity was busiest in the late 1700s, with about 100 to 150 hunters staying through the winter. Unlike whaling, Pomor hunting was sustainable. They moved between different camps each season, so they didn't use up all the animals in one place.
Seal hunting between Svalbard and Greenland started with Germans in the late 1600s. Later, Norwegians and Danes took over in the 1700s. Seal hunting was less profitable than whaling but required less money to start. Norwegians learned from the Russians through trade. From the 1820s, Norwegian hunting trips to Svalbard became common. The city of Tromsø became the main port for these trips. By the late 1800s, about 27 Norwegian ships sailed to Svalbard each year for hunting. In the winter of 1872–73, seventeen seal hunters died in a tragic event known as the Svenskehuset Tragedy.
Exploring the Arctic Islands
Exploration of Svalbard began in the 1610s. Whaling companies sent small ships to find new hunting areas. By 1650, it was clear that Spitsbergen was an island, not connected to Greenland. Whalers learned a lot about the coastline, but the inside of the islands remained unknown.
The first scientific trip to Svalbard was a Russian expedition between 1764 and 1766. They tried to find the Northern Sea Route and measured water and land features. Another important trip was by the Royal Navy in 1773, led by Constantine Phipps. His ships got stuck in ice but collected animal and plant samples.
Scientific exploration grew in the 1800s. William Scoresby wrote many papers about the Arctic. Baltazar Mathias Keilhau was the first to explore the interior of the islands. Smaller, more focused expeditions became common. Science became the main reason for these trips. A French expedition in 1838–39 led to many scientific publications. Swedish exploration also began, with Otto Torell and Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld doing much research. Martin Conway created the first map of the inside of Spitsbergen.
Svalbard was also a starting point for attempts to reach the North Pole by air. S. A. Andrée's balloon trip failed in 1897. Ny-Ålesund was used for four attempts between 1925 and 1928. This included Roald Amundsen's first try with a flying boat. While Floyd Bennett and Richard E. Byrd claimed to reach the pole in 1926, it's now believed Amundsen's airship Norge was the first to fly over the North Pole. Another airship, Italia, crashed in 1928, leading to a huge search effort.
Industrial Growth and Mining
The first attempt to build a permanent settlement was by Sweden's Alfred Gabriel Nathorst in 1872. He set up Kapp Thordsen for mining, but it was abandoned. Whalers and hunters had always collected some coal, but large-scale mining didn't start until 1899. Søren Zachariassen was the first to create a company to mine minerals in Svalbard.
The first successful mining company was John Munroe Longyear's Arctic Coal Company. They founded Longyear City (now Longyearbyen) in 1906. By 1910, 200 men worked there. A Norwegian company, Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani, bought the town and mines in 1916. Other companies tried mining, but coal was the only truly profitable activity. Swedish companies started mines at Pyramiden and Sveagruva. Dutch investors established Barentsburg in 1920. During World War I, Norway wanted to produce its own coal, so Kings Bay started mining in Ny-Ålesund in 1916.
Who Owns Svalbard?
Even though Denmark–Norway had claimed Svalbard, the islands remained a "terra nullius"—a land without a government. People started pushing for a government in the late 1800s. The mining companies especially needed laws to claim land and solve arguments between workers of different nationalities.
The Norwegian government began talks with other countries in 1907. Several meetings were held, proposing different ways to share control. A breakthrough came at the Paris Peace Conference after World War I. Germany and Russia were not included, and Norway was seen as a friendly, harmless country. The Svalbard Treaty was signed on February 9, 1920. It gave Norway full control over Svalbard. However, it had two main rules: all countries that signed the treaty had equal rights to use the islands' resources, and Svalbard could not be used for "warlike purposes."
After much discussion, it was decided that Svalbard would be part of the Kingdom of Norway, but not a regular county. The Governor of Svalbard would manage the islands. The islands, previously known as the Spitsbergen Archipelago, were officially named Svalbard at this time. The new laws took effect on August 14, 1925. A mining code was passed, and by 1927, all mining claims were settled. Any unclaimed land became Norwegian government property.
In the 1920s, mining faced economic problems, and some communities closed. By the 1930s, only Store Norske (Norwegian) and Arktikugol (Soviet) companies were left. This meant only two main countries had interests in Svalbard. Because the Norwegian Governor was often on the mainland in winter, there was little Norwegian control over the Soviet towns. Before the war, coal production was highest in 1936, with 1,900 people living on the islands. The 1930s also saw some fishing and a small amount of tourism.
Svalbard During World War II
When Nazi Germany occupied Norway in April 1940, Svalbard was not immediately affected. But after Germany attacked the Soviet Union, Svalbard became important for supplying the Allied forces. The Soviet Union suggested that they and Britain occupy Svalbard together, but Norway's government-in-exile refused. Instead, all Norwegian and Soviet settlements were evacuated in August and September 1941.
With the islands empty, German troops occupied Longyearbyen. They built an airstrip and a weather station. In May 1942, a Norwegian group was sent to free the island. They were attacked by German planes but managed to set up a base in Barentsburg. The German outpost was later abandoned. The Germans then launched Operation Zitronella. Battleships like the Tirpitz and Scharnhorst were sent to Isfjorden. They destroyed Barentsburg, Grumant, and Longyearbyen. Sveagruva was bombed in 1944. The Germans also set up a weather station on Hopen, which Norway took over after the war.
The Cold War Years
In 1944, the Soviet Union suggested that Svalbard be jointly ruled by Norway and the Soviet Union, except for Bjørnøya, which would go to the Soviets. Norway discussed this but rejected the idea in 1947. Norwegian towns were rebuilt quickly after 1945 and soon reached their old production levels. Soviet rebuilding started in 1946, but Arktikugol was slower. The Norwegian population was about 1,000, while the Soviet population was twice that. Both nations built their own services like postal services and radio stations.
Tensions grew between Norway and the Soviet Union after Norway joined NATO in 1949. The Soviet Union said Svalbard could not be under NATO control, but Norway disagreed. In 1958, a Norwegian company wanted to build a private airport in Ny-Ålesund. The Norwegian government stopped this to avoid upsetting the Soviet Union. There were also protests against the European Space Research Organization building a station, but it was built anyway. A compromise was reached in 1971 for a Norwegian civilian airport. Svalbard Airport, Longyear opened in 1975, serving both Soviet and Norwegian towns.
Grumant mine closed in 1961. The next year, 21 miners died in an accident in Ny-Ålesund. This led to the Kings Bay Affair, which caused the Norwegian government to resign. Oil drilling started in 1961 but no commercially useful oil was found. Another search in the 1980s also found nothing.
The Kings Bay accident and the oil drilling issues led to public discussions about how Svalbard was managed. More money was given to local and central government, and the Governor became more active in Soviet settlements. After mining closed in Ny-Ålesund, the Norwegian Polar Institute helped turn it into an international research station. In 1973, more than half of Svalbard became protected areas, including national parks and nature reserves. Store Norske, the main Norwegian mining company, was taken over by the government between 1973 and 1976. They started mining at Svea in 1973, stopped in 1987, restarted in 1997, and finally closed in 2020.
Svalbard Becomes a Normal Community
In the 1970s, a plan called "normalization" began to change Longyearbyen from a company town into a regular community. The first step was creating the Svalbard Council in 1971 for the Norwegian population. This council could give advice but didn't have much power. Public services were moved to a company called Svalbard Samfunnsdrift in 1989. Private businesses like construction companies and a mall also opened. Tourism grew with new hotels from 1995. In 2002, the Longyearbyen Community Council was formed, taking on many duties like a regular town council.
Since the 1990s, many research and high-tech centers have been built. These include the University Centre in Svalbard, the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (for radar research), the Svalbard Satellite Station, the Svalbard Undersea Cable System (for internet), and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (a giant seed bank).
The 1990s also saw a big drop in Russian activity. Schools closed in 1994, and many families moved to the mainland. This reduced the population of Barentsburg to 800 and Pyramiden to 600. While mining restarted at Svea in 1997, Pyramiden was completely abandoned in 1998. The Svalbard Environmental Protection Act came into effect in 2002, creating more national parks and nature reserves. From 1990 to 2011, the Russian and Ukrainian population fell from 2,300 to 370, while the Norwegian population grew from 1,100 to 2,000.
