Historical Overview

The discovery of Svalbard

In 1596, Willem Barents made the official discovery of the Svalbard Island, the island of Barentsøya, the Bear Island. In search of a new sea route from the Netherlands to China that was not controlled by Spain or Portugal, he ventured into unknown waters and, in addition to the group of islands, also found countless species of whales such as polar bears. His expedition led to the first documented wintering in the extreme northern latitudes in world history. Due to the adverse circumstances and challenges, Barents passed away on the way back to the Netherlands.

The time of whalers

In the 17th century, news of Svalbard's rich whale stocks spread throughout Europe. This attracted numerous whalers, mainly from England and the Netherlands to the islands. Their preferred prey was the Greenland whale. Competition was fierce, which led to conflicts and clashes, and at times it was common for warships to accompany the whalers. In 1693, three French warships captured some of the 40 Dutch whaling ships. At this time, the area was divided between the Dutch and the English for whaling.

Between 1669 and 1778, 14,167 Dutch fishing ships traveled to Svalbard and caught a total of 57,590 whales. During this period, the hunt also shifted to the open sea. The whale population has not recovered significantly to this day.

The beginning of scientific research

Up until 1900, scientific expeditions were dominated by research into meteorology, geomagnetism and the aurora borealis. In 1882, 14 research stations were set up by eleven different nations to investigate these topics.

In 1897, a balloon expedition was launched to the North Pole, but this was less for research purposes and ultimately failed. In 1912, a German shipping company marked out areas of Svalbard to be used for tourism purposes for the first time. However, these plans became invalid in 1914 due to the outbreak of the First World War.

The mining period

Coal and other mineral resources were discovered on Svalbard in the late 19th century. In 1906, John Munroe Longyear founded the first independent mining settlement. Both Russia and Norway were active in coal mining on Svalbard, with the only mine still active today belonging to Russia. Between 1900 and 1920, several mining companies opened coal mines on Svalbard. Due to a lack of regulations, conflicts frequently arose in which claims were marked out with signs and secretly exchanged. As a result of mining, the question of ownership became increasingly important. During the peace conferences after the First World War, the Norwegians were able to convince the other states to place Svalbard under their supremacy. This was regulated in the Svalbard Agreement, which was signed in 1920 and came into force in 1925. The treaty contains environmental protection guidelines, anti-discrimination laws and permanent demilitarization. It also guarantees every citizen of a signatory state the right to live and work on Svalbard. This explains the high proportion of non-Norwegians in the total population today, which is around 25 percent.

The Second World War

After the attack on the Soviet Union in August 1941, Svalbard was evacuated by British troops. The infrastructure was destroyed, and coal supplies and fuel were set on fire. In September 1941, a German weather squad operated on West Svalbard to make strategic weather forecasts and gain access to the Russian Arctic Ocean. It was one of a total of three German weather stations on the group of islands. Several automatic weather stations were also set up. These weather stations and teams helped to influence the course of the war in these strategically important areas. Norway occupied Svalbard again in 1942 but had to temporarily evade the German troops. In 1943, Longyearbyen was completely destroyed by a German military unit. The last German wartime weather station was evacuated in September 1945. All remnants of human culture from before 1946 are now classified as cultural monuments.