History of Svalbard
The polar archipelago of Svalbard was first discovered by Willem Barentsz in 1596, although there is disputed evidence of use by Pomors or Norsemen.
Exploration was initially conducted to find new whaling grounds, but from the 18th century some scientific expeditions took place.
The most important scientific explorers were Baltazar Mathias Keilhau, Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld and Martin Conway.
The Svalbard Treaty came into effect in 1925, granting Norway sovereignty of the archipelago, but prohibiting "warlike activities" and establishing all signatories the right to mine.
Swedish archeologist Hans Christiansson found flint and slate objects he identified as Stone Age tools dating from ca.
The first undisputed discovery of the archipelago was an expedition led by the Dutch mariner Willem Barentsz, who was looking for the Northeast passage to China.
The first hunting expedition, to Bjørnøya, was organized by the Muscovy Company led by Steven Bennet in 1604.
They hired Basque experts to hunt the bowhead whale, but both ships were wrecked and the crews rescued by English interlope.
Christian IV claimed that Denmark–Norway had the rights to all of Northern Sea in view of Greenland being an old Norwegian tax-land.
After the Muscovy Company fell into financial difficulties some years later, the Noordsche Compagnie got the upper hand and was able to dominate the whaling and fend off the English.
[12] They established themselves in the northwestern corner of Spitsbergen (around Albert I Land) and only permitted a limited Danish presence.
[13] Initially, all nations hired Basque whalers,[14] although they gradually disappeared after their knowledge was learned by their companions.
[22] Unlike the whaling, Pomor activity was sustainable, they alternated stations between seasons and did not deplete the natural resources.
The first Norwegian citizens to reach Spitsbergen proper were a number of Coast Sámi from the Hammerfest region, who were hired as part of a Russian crew for an expedition in 1795.
[27] Exploration of the archipelago started in the 1610s as the whaling companies would send out small ships to find new areas to exploit.
[30] Scientific exploration increased through the 18th century, with the most extensive surveys being carried out by William Scoresby, who published several papers on the Arctic, and Baltazar Mathias Keilhau.
[31] A notable exception was the French Recherche expedition of 1838–39, which resulted in numerous publications in multiple fields and the construction of an observatory.
Swedish exploration started with Sven Lovén in 1837, with lead way to Sweden dominating scientific investigations in the last half of the century.
He established Kapp Thordsen on Isfjorden in 1872, but the planned phosphorite mining was not carried out and the settlement abandoned.
Søren Zachariassen of Tromsø was the first to establish a mining company to exploit Svalbard minerals.
[40] During the First World War, Norway saw the advantage of increasing self-supply of coal and Kings Bay established mining in Ny-Ålesund in 1916.
Germany and Russia had both been excluded, while Norway enjoyed much goodwill after their neutral ally policy during the war and was at the same time seen as harmless.
[45] After significant political debate, a proposal to establish Svalbard as a dependency and administer it from Tromsø was rejected.
Because both the Governor and the Commissioner of Mining only had a single person, which was stationed on the mainland during the winter, there was little Norwegian control over the Soviet communities.
[56] Reconstruction of the Norwegian settlements started in 1945 and they were quickly operational, and reaching pre-war production levels within a few years.
[57] A new protest was issued in 1958 after Norsk Polar Navigasjon proposed building a private airport at Ny-Ålesund, which was then actively opposed by the Norwegian Government to avoid agitating the Soviet Union.
[61] The following year, 21 miners were killed in an accident in Ny-Ålesund, which led to the Kings Bay Affair, ultimately resulting in the withdrawal of Gerhardsen's Third Cabinet.
[61] After mining was closed in Ny-Ålesund, the Norwegian Polar Institute took a dominant role in converting it to an international research station.
[63] In 1973, more than half the archipelago was protected through four national parks, fourteen bird sanctuaries and four nature reserves.
[68] The first steps towards local democracy were taken with the 1971 establishment of the Svalbard Council for the Norwegian population, although it only had a commentary function.
