Svalbard is an
archipelago in the
Arctic Ocean, constituting the northernmost part of
Norway. Located north of mainland Europe, it is about midway between mainland Norway and the
North Pole. The group of islands range from
74° to
81° north latitude, and from
10° to
35° east longitude.
Spitsbergen is the largest island, followed by
Nordaustlandet and
Edgeøya. The administrative center is
Longyearbyen, and other settlements, in addition to research outposts, are the Russian mining community of
Barentsburg, the research community of
Ny-Ålesund and the mining outpost of
Sveagruva. The archipelago is administered by the
Governor of Svalbard. It is the northernmost place in the world with a permanent population.
The islands were first taken into use as a
whaling base in the 17th and 18th centuries, after which they were abandoned.
Coal mining started at the beginning of the 20th century, and several permanent communities were established. The
Spitsbergen Treaty of 1920 recognizes Norwegian
sovereignty, and the 1925
Svalbard Act made Svalbard a full part of the Kingdom of Norway. They also established Svalbard as a
free economic zone and a
demilitarized zone. The Norwegian
Store Norske and the Russian
Arktikugol remain the only mining companies. Research and tourism have become important supplementary industries, featuring among others the
University Centre in Svalbard and the
Svalbard Global Seed Vault. No roads connect the settlements; instead snowmobiles, aircraft and boats serve inter-community transport.
Interactive map of Svalbard from the Norwegian Polar Institute
Participants included:Claire Liberman,
Karen Power,
Laura Petrovich-Cheney,
Tom Snelgrove,
Kate Puccia,
Ari Belathar,
Han Sungpil,
Lauren Portada,
Allison Cameron,
Jolene Mok,
Joyce Majiski,
Elaine Spatz-Rabinowitz,
Diane Burko, Richard Ryan,
Lisa Goren,
Jane Isakson,
Deborah Hamon,
Hanna Campbell, Gisela Gari,
Kinez Riza,
Marlene Nicols,
Kaisu Koivisto,
Marianna Williams, Tina Kohlmann, Terry Adkins,
Vincent Huang
