Spitsbergen
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Map of Svalbard, showing Spitsbergen in the West. |
Spitsbergen (formerly known as
West Spitsbergen) is the largest
island in the
Svalbard archipelago, situated in the
Arctic Ocean. The island of
Spitsbergen covers approximately 15,075 square miles (23,641 square kilometers). Formerly, this name was also applied to the entire
archipelago of Svalbard, and occasionally still is. It is around 280 miles (450 kilometers) long and between 25 and 140 miles (40 and 225 kilometers) wide.
The name Spitsbergen means "jagged peaks", and was given by the
Dutch explorer
Willem Barents, who discovered the island while searching for the
Northern Sea Route in
1596. However, this archipelago may have been known to Russian
Pomor hunters as early as in the 14th or 15th century, though solid evidence from before the 17th century is lacking. They concluded that the land they had found was a part of Greenland and, therefore, named it
Grumant (Ð"румант). The archipelago may also have been discovered by the Vikings/Norwegians in 1194. The name
Svalbard is first mentioned in
Icelandic sagas of the 10th and 11th centuries, but they may also refer to the
Jan Mayen island or even
Greenland.
Spitsbergen is one of three inhabited islands in the archipelago, and according to the terms of the
Svalbard Treaty, citizens of any of the signatory countries may settle in the archipelago. Currently only
Norway and
Russia make use of this right. The largest settlement on Spitsbergen is the Norwegian town of
Longyearbyen, while the second largest settlement is the Russian
coal mining settlement of
Barentsburg (which was sold by the Netherlands in 1932 to the Soviet company Arktikugol).
Early
whaling expeditions to Svalbard tended, because of currents and fauna, to cluster around West Spitsbergen and the islands off-shore.
Kvadehuksletta, on western Spitsbergen, is notable for its unique stone structures, including very circular stones and labyrinthine patterns. These structures are believed to be the result of
frost heaving.
The island was invaded by Canadian soldiers in 1941 in order to prevent German occupation of the islands. While the island had officially been ceded to Norway in the 1920s, and Norway fell under German occupation in 1940, the majority of inhabitants on the island were Russian and Russia had a non-aggression pact with Germany until June 22, 1941. After the invasion of the Soviet Union, the UK and Canada sent military forces to the island to destroy installations and prevent the Germans from occupying the island.
[canadiansoldiers.com article]By 2007, the Norwegian government is planning on building a
$3 million "doomsday vault" on the island, which would house 10,000 seeds from various plants in case of nuclear war or sudden and severe ecological or environmental change. As reported by
BBC News, the Norwegian government built this bank by hollowing out a cave on Spitsbergen and then putting in as many seeds as possible in the vault, with support from countries around the world. The proposed bank will have top security, blastproof doors, and would have two airlocks. The amount of seeds deposited will depend on the number of countries participating in the project.
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Polish Polar Station, Hornsund - Hornsund fjord, operated since 1957
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Russenorsk*
General information on Spitsbergen*
Spitsbergen Maps*
Stone circles explained, with pictures of stones in Kvadehuksletta
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BBC News report on seed bank*
Spitsbergen Banknotes*
information on Spitsbergen*
information on the nature of Spitsbergen, with many pictures*
West Spitsbergen. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 16, 2005, from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
