"text":"The archipelago may have been first discovered by Norse explorers in the 12th century; the islands served as an international whaling base during the 17th and 18th centuries. Norway's sovereignty was internationally recognized by treaty in 1920, and five years later it officially took over the territory. In the 20th century, coal mining started and today a Norwegian and a Russian company are still functioning. Travel between the settlements is accomplished with snowmobiles, aircraft, and boats."
"text":"arctic, tempered by warm North Atlantic Current; cool summers, cold winters; North Atlantic Current flows along west and north coasts of Spitsbergen, keeping water open and navigable most of the year"
},
"Terrain":{
"text":"rugged mountains; much of the upland areas are ice covered; west coast clear of ice about half the year; fjords along west and north coasts"
"text":"the small population is primarily concentrated on the island of Spitsbergen in a handful of settlements on the south side of the Isfjorden, with Longyearbyen being the largest"
},
"Natural hazards":{
"text":"ice floes often block the entrance to Bellsund (a transit point for coal export) on the west coast and occasionally make parts of the northeastern coast inaccessible to maritime traffic"
},
"Geography - note":{
"text":"northernmost part of the Kingdom of Norway; consists of nine main islands; glaciers and snowfields cover 60% of the total area; Spitsbergen Island is the site of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a seed repository established by the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the Norwegian Government"
"text":"Norwegian 61.1%, foreign population 38.9% (consists primarily of Russians, Thais, Swedes, Filipinos, and Ukrainians) (2021 est.)",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> foreigners account for almost one third of the population of the Norwegian settlements, Longyearbyen and Ny-Alesund (where the majority of Svalbard's resident population lives), as of mid-2021"
"text":"<br>Verdens Faktabok, den essensielle kilden for grunnleggende informasjon. (Norwegian)<br><br>The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information."
"text":"the small population is primarily concentrated on the island of Spitsbergen in a handful of settlements on the south side of the Isfjorden, with Longyearbyen being the largest"
"text":"ice floes are a maritime hazard; past exploitation of mammal species (whale, seal, walrus, and polar bear) severely depleted the populations, but a gradual recovery seems to be occurring"
},
"Climate":{
"text":"arctic, tempered by warm North Atlantic Current; cool summers, cold winters; North Atlantic Current flows along west and north coasts of Spitsbergen, keeping water open and navigable most of the year"
"text":"Svalbard (sometimes referred to as Spitsbergen, the largest island in the archipelago)"
},
"etymology":{
"text":"12th century Norse accounts speak of the discovery of a \"Svalbard\" - literally \"cold shores\" - but they may have referred to Jan Mayen Island or eastern Greenland; the archipelago was traditionally known as Spitsbergen, but Norway renamed it Svalbard in the 1920s when it assumed sovereignty of the islands"
"text":"territory of Norway; administered by the Polar Department of the Ministry of Justice, through a governor (sysselmann) residing in Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen; by treaty (9 February 1920), sovereignty was awarded to Norway"
"text":"the name in Norwegian means Longyear Town; the site was established by and named after John LONGYEAR, whose Arctic Coal Company began mining operations there in 1906"
"text":"only the laws of Norway made explicitly applicable to Svalbard have effect there; the Svalbard Act and the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act, and certain regulations, apply only to Svalbard; the Spitsbergen Treaty and the Svalbard Treaty grant certain rights to citizens and corporations of signatory nations; as of June 2017, 45 nations had ratified the Svalbard Treaty"
"text":"unicameral Longyearbyen Community Council (15 seats; members directly elected by majority vote to serve 4-year-terms); note - the Council acts very much like a Norwegian municipality, responsible for infrastructure and utilities, including power, land-use and community planning, education, and child welfare; however, healthcare services are provided by the state"
},
"elections":{
"text":"last held on 7 October 2019 (next to be held in October 2023)"
"text":"Svalbard Conservative Party [Kjetil FIGENSCHOU]<br>Svalbard Green Party [Pal BERG]<br>Svalbard Labor Party [Arild OLSEN]<br>Svalbard Liberal Party [Terie AUVENIK]<br>Svalbard Progress Party [Jorn DYBDAHL]"
"text":"high-income Norwegian island economy; major coal mining, tourism, and research sectors; recently established northernmost brewery; key whaling and fishing base; home to the Global Seed Vault"
"text":"the Svalbard Satellite Station - connected to the mainland via the Svalbard Undersea Cable System - is the only Arctic ground station that can see low-altitude, polar-orbiting satellites; it provides ground services to more satellites than any other facility in the world (2022)"
"text":"country code - 47-790; the Svalbard Undersea Cable System is a twin communications cable that connects Svalbard to mainland Norway; the system is the sole telecommunications link to the archipelago (2019)"
"text":"the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) began direct TV transmission to Svalbard via satellite in 1984; Longyearbyen households have access to 3 NRK radio and 2 TV stations"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control"
"text":"Svalbard is a territory of Norway, demilitarized by treaty on 9 February 1920; Norwegian military activity is limited to fisheries surveillance by the Norwegian Coast Guard (2023)"
"text":"<p><em>Norway-Russia</em>: after 40 years of on-again, off-again negotiations, the two countries signed an agreement in September 2010, defining their maritime boundaries in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean; the border extends the countries’ land border northward beyond the islands in the Barents Sea and into the Arctic Ocean, but the exact distance northward was not specified; because the area is considered the high seas, the passage of naval and commercial vessels will be unaffected; once their legislatures ratify the agreement, both countries will have the green light for oil and natural gas exploration in their newly defined maritime areas; Russia objects to Norway’s establishment in 1977 of the Fishery Protection Zone around the Svalbard Islands, extending Norwegian sovereignty to the shelf around the archipelago; Svalbard is strategically important – as a gateway from the Berents Sea to the North Atlantic – and its waters provide rich fishing grounds</p>"
