Svalbard

Svalbard, formerly Spitsbergen, archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, about midway between Norway and the North Pole, and belonging to Norway. It comprises all lands between latitude 74° and 81° north and between longitude 10° and 35° east. The principal islands are Spitsbergen, Nordaustlandet, Barentsøya, Edgeøya, Kong Karls Land, Prins Karls Forland, and Bjørnøya, which have a total area of about 62,160 sq km (24,000 sq mi). Coal mining is the major industry. Svalbard appeared in early Norwegian stories, and the islands were rediscovered by a Dutch expedition under the navigator Willem Barents in 1596. No settlement took place, however, until after the Norwegians began mining coal here in the 1890s. In 1920, Norway's claim to the islands was formally recognized. The islands were used as the starting point of several polar expeditions, including that of Sir William Parry in 1827, Fridtjof Nansen in 1893, and Roald Amundsen and Umberto Nobile in 1926. Recently, tourism has been playing an increasingly important role in Svalbard's economy, which has raised serious environmental concerns. Population (1991) 3,309.